If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you may want to consider taking a trip out into the wild, blocking out the stress from your mind and taking in nature in all its beautiful glory. Some might enjoy the sounds of nature, but seeing it with your own eyes is simply remarkable.

Then again, not everyone has the time or resources to spontaneously venture out into the woods, or climb a mountain, or trek through a suffocating jungle. If that’s the case for you, then you can do the next best thing – browse through some high quality galleries full of beautiful, awe-inspiring photos of nature in its splendor.

National Geographic

When you bring together “nature” and “photography,” there’s always one massive entity that snatches the number one spot – National Geographic. Compiling galleries full of nature photos is what they do, and they do it to near perfection. It’s hard to think of anyone else who can do the whole “photos of nature” endeavor better.

Head on over to their website and you’ll find thousands of photographs in dozens of galleries, ranging from animals and wildlife, to natural landscapes, to weathers and seasons, to underwater environments.

Stormgasm

This website has a name that borders on the inappropriate, but Stormgasm really lives up to the implications of that name. Their photo galleries may leave you wanting in terms of technical prowess and convenience, but the photos themselves are top tier.

Do you love tornadoes? They’ve got it covered. Hurricanes and tsunamis? They’ve got that, too. Have an interest in lightning bolts? Yup! And if that isn’t enough for you, they even have a video gallery full of cool storm-related clips.

Free Roaming Photography

If the landscape of the American Southwest is something that intrigues you, then you’ll love what this gallery has to offer.

Free Roaming Photography is a website run by Mike Cavaroc, and it features hundreds of photos (as well as a dozen or so videos) from Arizona, Utah, the Yellowstone area, and more.

The galleries are lacking in terms of spiffy web technology (they’re nothing more than simple image links), but the photos are astounding. Cavaroc has snapped plenty of beautiful pictures of both landscapes and wildlife.

Wildlife Pictures Online

If you’re dying to see some amazing photos of exotic wildlife, Wildlife Pictures Online is exactly where you want to be. A lot of their pictures are taken in Africa, but even so, they’ve got a large and diverse selection of animal shots to enjoy.

From elephants to rhinos, from birds to zebras, they’ve got almost every kind of African animal that you could want to see.

And for those of you who are photographers, many of the photos in the gallery have a caption indicating what sort of equipment (camera, film, etc.) was used. Just a little bonus for the curious.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Alright, so empty blackness littered with stars and planets may not exactly qualify as “nature” in the traditional sense, but outer space sure passes for a wonderful canvas. If you ever get sick of rolling green hills and high towering pines – how could anyone get sick of that? – then you may want to check out NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Every day, NASA updates the page with a new image related to astronomy. Below the image, they provide an explanation of what exactly it is that you’re looking at.

The best part is that they keep an archive of every single Picture of the Day that they’ve had, and it goes as far back as June 1995. Wow!

When it comes to viewing free nature galleries on the web, what are some of your favorite websites?

Image Credits: Shutterstock, National Geographic, Stormgasm, Free Roaming Photography, Wildlife Pictures Online, FORS, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO

I am also intrigued by the other way around – devices and apps that have the ability to affect your brain. Jackson seems to be equally as intrigued as I. In 2009 he wrote a couple of cool articles covering just such apps, like his list of apps that help you sleep, relax or concentrate. His list of 9 iPhone apps that help you sleep were along the same lines as well. This week, I was complaining at work about being tired and not getting enough sleep, and one of my colleagues mentioned that I might want to consider trying binaural beats.

Improving Your Life With Binaural Beats

“Binaural what?” you ask.

That’s right, binaural beats – sounds of varying frequencies that, when played in each ear, supposedly produces a sort of “resonant frequency” in the center of the brain that can actually induce a specific mental state. The evidence for this interesting brain artifact comes from published research at the University of Florida, the University of California, and discussed in publications like the MIT Press and Scientific American.

If you want to try this phenomenon for yourself and you have an Android, you can. The goal with the apps I’m going to review in this article is to play those frequencies long enough to induce your brain toward that desired mental state.

Binaural Beats Therapy

If you’re ready to try this out, I highly suggest you first download my favorite app, Binaural Beats Therapy. This app consists of 7 preset frequency configurations that will play a carefully modulated tone in each ear, in order to produce the desired mental state that you choose in the main menu.

The display screen while the tone is playing is fairly boring – just flashing dots on the screen or the entire screen may flash different colors.

The audio itself is pretty high quality, and with this app there doesn’t seem to be any lag at all, even for audio that lasts about 2 hours.

Brainwave Tuner Lite

A similar app is Brainwave Tuner Lite, which has only three selections to choose from – one for each major “state of mind”. That includes “sleep and healing”, “meditation and relaxation” and “Focus and Learning”.

It took me a while to choose between using this one or the previous app the majority of the time that I was writing this article. I like the constant tone of Binaural Beats Therapy – Brainwave Tuner fades in and out, which I don’t particularly like. However, it does have a more creative screen while the sound is playing, which I do like.

One of the things that my colleague described to me is an iPhone app he uses to run through an entire program of frequencies. That’s really what I want to do, so I continued hunting for just such an app.

Binality

I found such an app in Binality. Like the previous two binaural beat apps, Binality offers a decent list of target mental states that you may want to pursue. These include concentration, lucid dreaming and meditation and more. Although, I’m not so sure about the “out of body experience” option…

What I really like about this app is the display while the tone is playing. It shows you the entire programmed frequency range as the program works its way through it.

You can jump around if you’d like by choosing a spot on the control bar, but I hear that you get the best results if you allow the entire program from start to finish.

edenBeats

Another interesting binaural beats app is edenBeats. It offers far fewer options as far as preset frequency tones – the menu only lists four at the moment – but the app is much more flexible because it allows you to alter each frequency as you see fit.

The tone generation screen allows you to turn off or on each base and beat frequency settings if you want to.

Best of all, you can create your own custom binaural beats from scratch if you want – and if you really know what you’re doing.

One-Use Binaural Beat Apps

There are two other apps that I should mention briefly. These are intended to be used for one particular purpose – as very targeted therapy. The first app is called Confidence Now. Be forewarned, when you first launch the app, you’ll need to download multiple large files, so try to do it while on Wi-Fi.

Confidence now offers a very long session created by certified hypnotherapist David Ridgeway, which takes you through relaxation, hypnotic induction, and the main session where Ridgeway makes hypnotic suggestions to improve your confidence, with a binaural beat in the background.

The last app is one that claims it can help people that suffer from depression, called Depression Help. This is a very simple app that just plays one preset setup of tones which the app creators claim can eventually alleviate symptoms of depression.

As to its effectiveness, I can’t really say. The comments area for the app has about half of the users saying it worked and half saying it did zilch.

So why not give binaural therapy a shot, and see if you notice any impact in your daily life. If you’re always tired, groggy or distracted, maybe one of these apps could give you the mental boost that you need. If you do give any apps a try, let us know how it works out. And if you know of any other cool Android apps similar to these, please share them in the comments section below.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

I will be the first one to tell you that the ultimate solution is to spend less time at the computer. Taking a walk or looking out the window are all effective ways to relieve eye strain. Unfortunately, we can’t always get up when we feel like it and go for a stroll. It’s also hard to remember to take breaks when we’re so engrossed in our work. So how can you remember to give your eyes some relief without totally losing your train of thought in the process?

EyeDefender [Windows]

EyeDefender operates under the same principle as many eye relief web apps – break reminders – but being a desktop app, it’s harder to get away from.

The app sits in your tray, and counts down to the next break. When the time comes, you can choose from four different eye-resting activities: looking at pictures of your choosing, doing some eye exercises, activate the default screensaver or just pop up a balloon reminder (for those with excellent will power).

I find the visual training to be especially useful. The screen darkens, and you get to follow the display with your eyes and move your eyes around a bit. This works even on dual monitors, and you cannot get back to work until the break is over. A definite improvement to the constant staring at a bright screen.

Workrave [Windows & Linux]

Workrave is a nice open-source break reminder which includes reminders for micro-breaks (short), rest breaks (long) and daily limits for computer time.

You can set the breaks any way you want, and choose whether you want to have the option to skip or postpone the break. The break is simply a window letting you know of the break, but when it’s activated, you can’t use your computer until the break is over (or until you choose to skip or postpone).

During the breaks, you can get up from the computer, look away, or do some exercises the app provides in its interface.

f.lux [Windows, Mac & Linux]

If you want to relieve computer eye strain even while you work, f.lux is an excellent solution. This well-known app automatically adapts your screen brightness to the time of day, thus preventing the eye strain which comes with staring at a very bright screen in a dark room.

All you have to do is set your current location, and f.lux will automatically determine what time the sun sets and will dim your display at the right moment every day. If you’re doing color-sensitive work, you can disable f.lux for one hour. This is a great way to relieve eye-strain between your resting breaks.

Sunglasses [Chrome]

Sunglasses is a cute Chrome extension which lets you control the browser’s brightness separately from the rest of your computer.

Say you’re reading a lengthy article in Chrome, and at some point find the whole thing to be way too bright. Simply click the sunglasses icon on the top right, choose your new brightness and click save. You can now continue reading or working in a much darker and more soothing environment. This controls only your browser, so the general brightness settings will not be touched.

The extension also sports keyboard shortcuts if you’re a keyboard person. One thing I would like to see added is the option to set different brightness settings for different tabs.

Didn’t get enough? For some more break-reminder tools, check out Tina’s 3 Tools To Remind Yourself To Take A Break & Relax While Working At The Computer.

How do you get relief from long hours of staring at the screen? Any innovative methods or tools? Share in the comments.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Tina showed you just how when she looked at The 5 Best Ways To Relax Using Online Tools. Music, videos, games, social chats, and just lazy browsing are nice.

Then if you working in your Chrome browser, the next best thing to shutting it down is to play around with these six relaxing Chrome extensions and let the stress ebb away.

Pulsate

Music is one the best stress relievers. Random music could be cacophonic or oddly pleasing. Pulsate is a Chrome app that lets you create musical patterns from randomly colliding circles. While the music plays on, the patterns on the screen are hypnotic. The more circles you create with a click of your mouse on the black background, greater will be the randomness of the music. As the screen shows, you can configure a few of the settings. Try out this simple app and see if it reduces your stress just a little bit.

Announcify

The trouble with digital lives is that despite your best efforts, you have to connect yourself to the computer. It’s either to read a mail or check out something on the web. As the extension description says – This is a handy extension that will let you rest your tired eyes and at the same time, let you learn new stuff. This text-to-speech extension can be carefully calibrated with volume, voice, speed, and pitch. You don’t need to select any text; the test-to-speech extension reads the whole page with playback controls. The neat feature is that the extension focuses on the text that’s being read while blurring the rest.

Focus

Our eyes are constantly strained by the flood of information. You can reduce the bombardment with the help of this simple extension that helps you focus on the part that you are reading right now, rather than get distracted by neighboring content. Just place your mouse on the paragraph you are reading (you don’t even have to click) and the extension blots out the rest.

Relaxpls

Okay, you get beautiful vista and sounds of nature right inside your Chrome browser with the help of this extension, and that’s very relaxing. The changing scenery helps of course. But I hope the developer does something about removing the Facebook like button from the scenery…it’s the only little thing that mars this simple relaxation inducing Chrome extension.

Bonomo

Remember the absolute joy of splashing colors on a white page with abandon? Bonomo brings you the same fun but in a geeky way with this cool abstract drawing app built on HTML5. It can be creatively used of course, but I just like to go a bit wild on it watching the different styles merge together in colorful patterns. The HTML5 app also allows you to save your creations in case you are artistically inclined.

Divvr is another similar abstract drawing app you can try out.

20 Cubed

Okay, if you are reading this rather lengthy piece of prose, then it’s time to relax your eyes for a bit. Looking away from the monitor at a distant object is an advice computer users should take quite seriously. This Chrome extension serves as a reminder tool that prompts you to look away every 20 minutes. Look away…focus on something else for a change…and then come back to what you are doing on screen. You can’t be that busy!

These 6 apps have helped me relax while working on the compute. I have avoided Chrome games extensions and music app and looked at other ways to relax while working. Are you a digital citizen? How do snatch a few moments of rest while working on the computer? Let us also know about your favorite Google Chrome fun extension.

And, if you are looking for some other cool stress-reducing tips, look here:

• 8 Best Daily Jokes Sites To Lighten Up Your Mood
• 6 Free White Noise Sites To Relax Or Set Yourself To Sleep
• 5 Free Android Games To Help You Lower Your Stress Levels At Work
• Sounds To Help You Sleep, Relax, Concentrate Or Wake Up

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Each of these Android apps are offered for free on the Android Market, but you’ll also find the download scan code for your convenience. If any of these issues are the sort of thing you find yourself dealing with every day, go ahead and give them a try.

Carr Matey Will Find Your Car

So you took your family to the mall, and everyone was excited about a fun-filled day of shopping. You all enjoy a great day – forgetting all about the fact that you’ll eventually need to remember where you parked the car. With some parking lots stretching for acres, it’s not always an easy feat. However, with Carr Matey you’ll never lose track of your car again.

With GPS enabled, the software recognizes where you are. All you have to do is click on “Drop Anchor” and it notes where your car is parked. The pirate theme is kind of cheesy, but it’s also one of the best car locator apps on the Android market.

If you’re using a parking meter and you want to make sure you don’t go over the time limit, just use the built-in timer to alert yourself that it’s time to get back to your car. When it’s time to go back, you can spot your car on the map by the icon of a ship.

You can either walk to your car by following your location on the map until you reach the ship, or click on “Find Vessel” and use the built-in compass.

You can download Carr Matey using this code:

Live360 Offers Family Safety

Another area of major concern, and a source of a lot of stress for many parents, is the safety of children and teens when they’re away from home. An amazing app that can help parents let go a little bit is Life360.

Life360 is like a window to the location of all family members, and the dangers in the area. When you first launch the app, it shows local hospitals, fire departments, police departments and even the registered addresses of local sex offenders.

So, if your preteen wants to go to a party that’s located in a neighborhood where there are 2 or 3 convicted sex offenders living next door, at least you’re better informed to make your decision.

The best feature of Life360 is that it helps you keep tabs on the entire family. Just install the app on their mobile device, and they can check in using the app to let you know that they’re okay.

Install the app using this code:

GTracker Solves Your Grocery Shopping Confusion

Who has time to keep an inventory of the food in your pantry, add those to a grocery list, and then remember to take that list with you? Most of us end up standing in the aisles without any list, because we forgot it at home. Well now there’s a mobile app that can help.

The cool thing about the app is that it turns several steps into one. You go through your kitchen, take inventory of your food, and then you’re done. Taking inventory involves either typing in the details of each item, or just scanning the barcode on each package.

When you see that items in your inventory are down to zero, just click to add the item to your shopping list.

While you’re going through the grocery store, just click off the items as you buy them. The app keeps track of everything.

The application is full of a lot of features, so there’s a bit of a learning curve, but once you get use to it, it’s an amazing time saver.

Download GTracker with this code:

Get Some Rest With Relax and Sleep

I think this is one of my favorite Android apps. There are a lot of people that really struggle to get a good night’s rest, and realistic background noise is the one thing that can do the trick. A cool app called Relax and Sleep provides over thirty amazingly realistic sounds that are sure to lull you to sleep in no time.

Just to make sure you don’t leave it running all night, you can set up the sounds with a timer so that it’ll shut off automatically.

Download Relax and Sleep with this code:

These four Android solutions for some of those simple life problems can really reduce the stress in your life and help you enjoy the things that you really love to do, rather than worry about those little things that you don’t.

Have you ever tried out any of these apps? Do you know of any other cool Android apps that solve some of those annoying everyday problems? Share your own resources in the comments section below.

Image credit: Gary Mcinnes

Many people suffer from poor sleep. They may have trouble falling asleep or they wake up in the middle of the night and are not able to go back to sleep.

Sleep hygiene i.e. controlling behavioral and environmental practices that affect sleep, may provide relief. Sometimes relaxing is the key.

One thing that naturally aids falling asleep is calming white noise. It soothes the mind and helps to fade out nagging thoughts or surrounding noise. Whether you are looking for a way to fall asleep quickly or to calm down for a power nap, free white noise can help.

Here is a collection of six pages that provide different types of free white noise and music for better sleep and relaxation.

RainyMood

RainyMood features a 15-minute high-quality loop of various types of free white noise including gentle rain sound, accompanied by thunder and chirping birds. The site recommends to combine the free white noise with your favorite music, which indeed works very well.

White Noise 24/7

This website offers more than just “a random signal with a flat power spectral density“, i.e. free white noise. You can playback nature sounds, e.g. a flowing river or hard rain, and mechanical sounds, including a washing machine and ventilator. Some of the free white noise can also be downloaded, which is very convenient in case you don’t want to go to bed with your iPod, rather than your computer running all night.

WhiteNoisePlayer

For those of you suffering from Tinnitus or annoying sounds from the outside, free white noise may provide a major relief. At WhiteNoisePlayer you can choose from eight different sounds, like the radio, crickets, or wind and play them indefinitely.

SoundSleeping

SoundSleeping lets you  create your own relaxing sound mix. You can pick from four controllers with nine natural sounds each and a fifth controller with four music sounds. For each controller you can individually adjust the volume. A “How To” explains what the different sounds are good for and what steps you can take to sleep better in general.

Last.fm – Absolute Sleep Music Radio

You can also create a relaxing mix on Last.fm or listen to a dedicated station. This station contains soothing tunes and sound collections that can help you relax. Since the tracks change every few minutes, the station is probably less suited for falling asleep. However, it’s excellent background material for Yoga or Tai-Chi.

NapSounds

Finally, if it’s not sleep you desire, but a short and refreshing nap, give NapSounds a try. You can replay the tunes online or download and listen to them on your favorite mp3 player. Choose from electronic, classic or nature background music or sounds and nap away.

Would you like to nap with music from your iPhone? Check out Jackson’s articles on 9 iPhone Apps To Help Soothe You To Sleep and Sleep Better & Re-Energize On The Go With Pzizz For The iPhone. He also wrote Sounds To Help You Sleep, Relax, Concentrate Or Wake Up!.

What helps you to fall asleep peacefully?

Image credit: qudbyesai

I’ve tried everything from soothing music to warm milk. Once in a while, they work but more often than not, I’m up until the sun rises. Insomnia is a terrible thing to suffer from and luckily, I don’t really have it that badly.

In the past, I’ve reviewed a couple of web apps that help with sleep. Among all of them, I listed Pzizz first. Their desktop application really helped me fall asleep and it was quite different from the rest of the apps I reviewed. Pzizz uses a combination of soothing sounds, binaural beats and the power of suggestion to help their users with sleep issues.

Unfortunately though, Pzizz is a paid app that will always remain that way. And rightly so — it’s a quality product! You don’t expect Louis Vuitton bags to be cheap or you’ll think there’s a defect somewhere, right? The closest you’ll get to “free” is a 5-minute demo of their desktop app for Windows or Mac.

Their new iPhone applications — Pzizz Sleep and Pzizz Relax are also paid applications albeit much cheaper than the desktop versions. At $9.99, that’s considered pretty costly for an iPhone app although you have to remember, we’re dealing with quality product here.

Luckily, MakeUseOf writers have always been known to go that extra mile. I managed to hook up with Edward Laing from Pzizz Technology Ltd and convinced him that MakeUseOf readers would enjoy Pzizz immensely. He graciously agreed to provide us with a considerable amount of promo codes for their iPhone apps. In turn, we are giving them out to you!

But first, let’s take a look at Pzizz Sleep and Pzizz Relax for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Pzizz Sleep

Let’s start with Pzizz Sleep. I had a really hard time reviewing this app. After ten minutes of listening to Michael Breen and I’d be snoozing. In short, I can testify that it works!

Upon launching Pzizz Sleep, you’ll be shown a warning that certain people should not use this application. It also shouldn’t be used when driving or during other activities which require complete alertness. If you’re not sure if you should be using Pzizz, consult with your medical physician.

Once I was past that, I explored the app a bit and tweaked the settings to suit my needs — track length (between 15-60 minutes), audio levels, etc. Then I tapped on Start and the Pzizz experience began. The concoction of soothing sounds, binaural beats and the power of Michael’s suggestions calmed me down. Like I said, ten minutes later, I was asleep.

Every time you use Pzizz Sleep, a new unique track is played. It’s nothing like other one-track “hypnotic” apps which you can remember what the next line is going to be. That’s what makes Pzizz Sleep such a pleasant experience — it’s different each time.

Pzizz Relax

On the other hand, Pzizz Relax is a totally different application. It’s not designed to help you fall deeply into sleep. Actually, its goal is to help you sneak that 20-30 minute power nap in the middle of your busy day. By blocking the thoughts running through your head and relaxing your body, it essentially re-energizes you immensely to tackle the rest of the day. It’s best used when you’re feeling exceptionally tired or saturated from work. Spend that 20 minutes with Pzizz Relax and you’re refreshed and ready for more. Here’s a personal suggestion: enable Airplane mode before starting your power nap so you won’t be bothered.

Pzizz Relax allows you to set the duration of your nap — anywhere between 10 to 90 minutes. What’s new here is the addition of alarm choices. You’ll need this if you ever want to wake up after the power nap! The soundtrack in Pzizz Relax also differs from Pzizz Sleep since its goal isn’t to help put you to sleep. Rather, Michael suggests a couple of relaxation techniques accompanied by a different soothing background tune, with a hint of the same winding sound that’s found in Coffee Replacement.

Pzizz Sleep and Pzizz Relax are both available from the iTunes Store [iTunes link] and priced at $9.99 each.

Giveaway: We’ve convinced Edward Laing from Pzizz that MakeUseOf readers will appreciate Pzizz for the iPhone and he’s given us a generous amount of promo codes! Valid for US iTunes Store accounts only. To get your hands on an absolutely free copy of Pzizz, either:

1. Share this post on Facebook by clicking on the Share button below or;
2. Click on the retweet button to share on Twitter or;
3. Do both!

Then tell us where you’ve shared it and which app you would prefer: Pzizz Sleep or Relax. Don’t forget to enter your email so that we can get in touch with you. Winners will be chosen randomly. Enjoy!

[Update: The promo codes have been given away. Congratulations to Ame, Doug, Chris, Dan, Diana, Chris, Jay, Lawrence, Jessica and LaShawnda!]