6 ways your Amazon Echo can help keep you healthy

Trying to work in fitness, healthy eating and mind-resetting all in one day can be a challenge for anyone, even if you’ve got the best habits and intentions. A little help can come in the form of your Amazon Echo, which can play coach and give you a boost when your resolves are flagging. 

Your Amazon Echo has functions built-in that can help you meal prep for the week, do a quick workout in as few as five minutes and keep your mind fresh and positive. Read on to learn how you can get your mind and body back on a healthy schedule with Alexa’s help.

Let Alexa whip you into shape

Before you decide to sink into the couch after a long day, throw your fitness clothes on as soon as you get home and get a quick workout in. Staying physically active can help improve your overall well-being and the Amazon Echo offers guided workout routines that you can easily access and do without having to leave the house. 

Go through the list of workout skills in the Alexa app and enable several that you like. When you’re ready for a workout, say something like “Alexa, start five-minute plank” or “Alexa, ask Fitness Guru to give me a core exercise.” 

After you’ve finished the workout, always remember to stretch. Enable a skill, like Daily Stretch, and say “Alexa, ask Daily Stretch for a hamstring stretch.”

Watch what you eat

Eating healthy is just as important as being physically active and you don’t want to ruin the hard work you’ve been putting in by bingeing out in the kitchen (I see you, bag of Doritos). Alexa can help you plan your meals with healthy recipes, make sure the foods you’re consuming are still fresh and let you know how many calories you’ve eaten for the day.

The Save The Food skill in the Alexa app can tell you how to store certain foods and when you should toss them. Just say “Alexa, ask Save The Food how to store avocados” or “Alexa, ask Save The Food if it’s OK to eat wilted celery.” Then use a skill like AllRecipes to plan meals based on the foods you’ve already got in the fridge. 

Curious about the calorie count? Enable the Nutrition Label skill and ask Alexa how many calories are in that cheeseburger you were thinking about eating.

Drink more water

Keeping yourself hydrated is a must when it comes to staying healthy. Water helps digest the foods you eat, circulate nutrients to your vital organs, keep your skin glowing and help you feel fuller. 

However, you may not always remember to drink water throughout the day, especially if you’re in a time crunch. This is where Alexa can help. You can ask your Amazon Echo (or ask Alexa in the Alexa app if you’re not home) to remind you to drink a glass of water every hour and you can download a skill, like Water Log, that lets you track how much water you’ve drank for the day.

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Sleep better

Falling asleep can be challenging when you’ve got a hundred to-do items running through your mind. Use your Amazon Echo to distract you with rain and relaxation sounds. 

Just say “Alexa, play rain sounds” and your Echo will start playing soothing rain noises. Or if you prefer other nature sounds, like crickets, you can get the Sleep Sounds skill that has over 125 sounds to choose from. 

Check out these other tips for getting a better night’s sleep with Alexa.

Guided meditation

Calming your mind with meditation is a great way to slowly forget about the stresses of the day and relax enough to fall asleep. 

Start by saying “Alexa, open Guided Meditation” and then follow along with what the guide tells you to do. There’s a different meditation to follow along with each day, so you’ll always have a new way to calm your mind.

Affirmations

Who doesn’t love to hear a compliment when they need a little pick-me-up? Enable the Daily Affirmation skill in the Alexa app and say “Alexa, ask Daily Affirmation for my affirmation.” Now you can start hearing positive thoughts from your Echo speaker. 

Need more Amazon Echo tips? Check out these five surprising things you didn’t know your Amazon Echo could do.