A Mercer University student hopes his new app will help people be more mindful and proactive about their wellness. Brady Simon’s “MindFull: Anxiety Tracker” is now available for download on Android and Apple devices.
Simon, a computer engineering major in his final year of the 4+1 Master of Science in Engineering program that allows students to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years, said he began working on the app on his own at the beginning of the summer using the Flutter programming tool. He had just finished making another app and was looking for his next project when his mother, a licensed therapist, suggested something related to mental health. She helped him develop the vision for the app, and the app was approved in August for the App Store and Google Play.
MindFull allows users to identify physical and emotional symptoms each day, rate the severity, make notes, and track their data over time to see trends. They can filter their data by symptom and view graphs by week, month and year to see when symptoms are most mild, frequent or severe.
Physical symptoms listed in the app include headache, chest pain, nausea, shortness of breath and disruption of sleep. Emotional symptoms include feelings of anger, hopelessness, panic and fear, avoidance and difficulty paying attention.
The app is designed with anxiety in mind, but it could be used to guage many other specific health issues. For instance, Simon injured his chest earlier this year and tested the app by monitoring his chest pain and his improvement.
MindFull is not a medical-grade app and not meant to diagnose or treat issues, but it could help people to gain more insight into their stress, anxiety and general health, Simon said.
In addition, they would have their data and observations collected and ready for discussions if they visited a doctor. It can be hard to remember past specific emotions and their severity, but having a place to regularly record and rate symptoms is really helpful.
“I made this app since the world is in a rough spot right now, and I wanted to build something that might help others feel better,” Simon said. “I certainly don’t want to claim that it will cure anxiety, though, as an app will never do that on its own. But, with proper usage, I think that MindFull could help others be more mindful of their mental and physical health.”
The app costs $2, but users can try it for free for 30 days. Simon is already working on new features for the app, including pie charts that compare the percentage of emotional to physical symptoms.
