Blue Monday, blue funday – top tech for beating the January blues

The hustle and bustle of Christmas is over. December’s pay day came early and now there are six long weeks of waiting for the next one to come around. Add to that the infamous, though not officially accredited, Blue Monday – the shortest, and some claim the most depressing, day of the year, and, well, January can seem like a truly redundant month.

The good news is that nothing is permanent, and when something is at its shortest – it can only get longer. Soon the days of sunshine will come streaming our way, and much like the death card from a tarot deck, which doesn’t actually mean death but new beginnings, January too can offer people hope.

In fact, January is, for many, a month of resolutions and new starts.

So, to celebrate a fresh new year and a fresh new you, we have rounded up some of the best tech to help keep your motivation going, inspiration flowing, and well-being in check.

Flow headset and app

If you struggle with depression and mental wellbeing, Flow is a brain stimulation headset and behavioural therapy app that targets depression as well as psychological and environmental factors.

By using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique delivered via a headset, a weak current (2 mA) is sent to the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) via electrodes which helps restore brain activity and reduce symptoms of depression.

Moleskine Smart Writing Set

If you have creativity at your fingertips and flit between analogue and digital – aka pen and paper, and a computer – then this is a great hybrid.

The smart book allows you to write freehand, whilst a smart pen – which has a camera near the nib – captures what you are writing. The information is then stored in the pen until it is transferred to the app, M+ Notes. The app will transcribe the notes and they can be filed and organised in a way that suits you.

Umay Rest

This digital rest and recovery tool is designed to give your eyes a well-deserved break.

Using thermal meditation, aka heating and cooling, technology, it is designed to aid waking-up and winding down in a healthy way, with a view to aid a better night’s sleep and improve eye health.

Beurer TL 30 daylight therapy lamp

The winter months can be painstakingly dull and can leave us craving sunshine and vitamin D.

The Beurer TL 30 is designed to bring a daily dose of sunlight and some winter well-being back into your life.

The mains operated lamp can be used at home or at work. So if you have no windows in your office, now is the time to put some light into your life.

Todoist

The app that helps you to “become focused, organised and calm”.

This planning and organisation tool is designed to help you stay on track, hit your targets and build good habits – whether that’s to be more productive at work or to plan, and execute, getting a new job.

By breaking tasks down into manageable sized chunks, the todoist can really get you revved up for smashing pre-conceived notions about the January blues.

Whatever your views on January are, we hope that these give innovative devices help you to be the best you can be on your winter journey.