‘At once intolerable and addictive’: five wellbeing courses and apps, road-tested

From bibliotherapy to burpees, gratitude journals to cathartic workouts, Nadine von Cohen logs into Australia's new crop of wellbeing apps

Australians are the world's biggest consumers of health and wellness apps, punching well above our per capita weight in our quest for peak physical and mental condition, according to research from telecommunications company Uswitch. In recent years we have also been making them - with everyone from fitness influencers to mental health advocacy groups launching digital products.

I'm partial to a bit of mobile-based movement and mindfulness myself, but I have a complex relationship with wellness. While I love green juices, pilates and my ness" being well", I can't abide many contemporary uses of the word. In the diet, fitness, fashion and other industries, wellness" can feel like a barely repackaged weight loss", while healthy" has replaced slim" as companies respond superficially to the body positivity movement without really changing their ways.