Author: melissa

Sometimes when people want to practice self-care, the task alone is enough to stress them out. Then, they don’t want to even consider it.

Daily life is a constant reminder of what needs done. You want to take a bubble bath? Oh, you better scrub the entire shower first! Doesn’t sound like a relaxation technique does it?

This article will help you get some ideas for ways to practice self care that aren’t a huge pain to do.

1. Music – There is some excellent relaxation music out there. Play it on your favorite speakers. If you don’t have a quiet home, put some earbuds in or some headphones on and discover new soothing music. It only takes the effort of opening your music app and finding some earbuds or headphones.

2. Breathing exercises – Wherever you are, whenever you like, you can relax with simple breathing techniques. In times of stress or impatience, this skill can come in handy. Sit down, close your eyes, breathe in through your nose for four seconds. Hold your breath for seven seconds. Exhale using your mouth for 8 seconds. Repeat until calm.

3. Lay on the floor – As adults, it is rare for us to lay on the floor at home. That’s what kids usually do right? Well there are a few ways this can be relaxing and helpful. First, laying flat on the floor helps stretch your back out and line your spine up better. Second, being on the floor has a way of changing your mind state and trigger some helpful thought processes. Third, once on the floor, you can use the time to do some light and enjoyable stretches. You’ll feel great!

4. Your future self – Leave gifts or do things for your future self. Support yourself by doing little things to make life easier for yourself in the future. Did you leave a plate on the sink that’s gonna annoy your future self when it is time to clean? Take care of the plate really quick. Do you have to get up early in the morning and wanna help yourself? Choose your clothes the night before and set them out in an easy to find place. Are you going to look for something if it isn’t in the right place? Make sure to put things back where they go so that your future self finds it easy to do every day tasks!

5. Laugh all the time – As often as you can, be sure to seek out laughter. Allow yourself the pleasure of letting loose and not being in total control all the time. Listen to someone’s jokes, watch a comedy show, make your own jokes, or seek out funny videos online. Laughter helps reduce stress hormones.

Be sure that if you follow at least a few of those tips, your life is going to be much more relaxed. Good luck on achieving your new goal of being more relaxed.

The winter blahs, cabin fever, stuck inside?

This is a terrible atmosphere to want to get up and exercise!

It’s cold, you’re cozy and safe on the couch, and the TV is calling your name.

You realize you haven’t worked out in a week and you’re starting to get anxious. You think it’s time to take care of your body again. You should, and here is how!

This article has some secrets about how you can not only be motivated to work out in winter, but actually enjoy it.

Getting there is most of the battle – If you’ve ever noticed how good you feel once you’ve finally got to the gym or wherever you work out, you realize the hardest parts about it were getting up off the couch or your bed, getting ready, and getting to the workout destination. Just that process can get your blood pumping enough to keep you ready to go all in.

Include a friend or family member – It is easier to hold yourself accountable when another person is involved. They can help motivate you and support you, and vice versa. If they don’t want to skip the gym, you’re more likely to want to join them. If you are alone, you’re probably gonna convince yourself not to go. Have them pick you up in their nice warm car if you need them to, or vice versa.

Use free time wisely – Standing at the oven waiting for cookies to bake? Do some exercises in the kitchen while you’re waiting. Or, see how many times you can run up and down the steps before the timer goes off. Think of fun games to play with yourself to make it more fun.

Just move – Even if you’re not motivated enough to get far from the couch, try using open floor space. Put on your favorite music, and move in whatever way you can. This often leads to a more productive, enjoyable, and longer workout that you didn’t see coming. The body sometimes craves movement, so it produces hormones and energy to keep you wanting to move for a while longer.

Spring will be back, just hold on a few more months and it will feel like we’re all alive again! We’ll be sure to welcome the sunshine when it is here to stay a while.

There is a difference that everyone should know between health and wellness. There was a full article posted on this website recently. To put it simply, health means you’re not experiencing any physical, mental, or social problems that are affecting your life.

If you are healthy, it mostly comes down to luck and chance. To be healthy doesn’t mean you are doing your best. It just means you’re doing ok.

Wellness means you are constantly trying to improve in your exercises, your diet, and feeling good overall. If you are seeking out wellness, your life must revolve around making good choices frequently.
The definition of wellness is “an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.” The following tips will help you get more in touch with your ability to achieve wellness.

There are eight dimensions of wellness you must strive to achieve. These include emotional, physical, occupational, social, financial, environmental, intellectual, and spiritual. If you are experiencing misery or stress in any of these eight parts of your life, it will affect your wellness. Read more below on what each element means.

Physical wellness requires good sleep, adequate nutrition (good diet), and physical activity.

Emotional wellness requires healthy coping mechanisms for stress, meaningful relationships, and an awareness of your feelings and the ability to share them with others.

Social wellness requires having a sense of belonging with others and a support system for when things go badly. Maintain social wellness by developing and maintaining relationships.

Occupational wellness means you have a job or hobby you are satisfied with. Try to find work that aligns with your passions and interests. Your job should give adequate breaks and treat you well.

Intellectual wellness means you’re always trying to learn more and improve your intelligence. It is best to learn the difference between facts and opinions.

Financial wellness is being aware of what financial behaviors are wise and which aren’t. Gambling your last $100 each week when you have no food or shelter is an example of a poor financial choice.

Environmental wellness means you can breathe the air, drink the water, and enjoy the land you live on and spend time on without being sick from it. Whenever possible, get outside and enjoy nature.

Spiritual wellness means you have a sense of purpose or meaning in your life. It doesn’t have to be a religion, it can be a connection to yourself or other people. Sticking to your morals and beliefs is important, and always be sure your beliefs aren’t hurting others.

Which of these areas do you need work on?

When it comes down to it, eating healthy is much harder than it seems. Whether you struggle with self-discipline or you have a poor appetite for healthy foods, there are ways to make it easier. This article includes some good tips on how to help yourself eat better. When you eat better, you feel better.

1. Drink Water – If you can make it a habit to drink one glass of water as soon as you wake up, it will benefit you in many ways. First, it helps your digestive system start the day right and make it easier to digest food for the rest of the day. Second, it helps hydrate you inside and out, including your skin. If your skin is dry, it can cause itchiness, irritation, and unattractive flakes. Third, water helps your muscles prepare for whatever your day includes.

2. Half Vegetable Plate – As often as possible, cover your lunch or dinner plate halfway full of vegetables, which can include some fruit. Not only are you going to eat more nutrients, but they will help you feel full for longer, and will aid the digestion of your other meal components. This will also help you avoid illness or problems related to nutrient deficiencies.

3. Apple Cider Vinegar – It has often been referred to as curing everything. It doesn’t cure everything, but it sure does help. The best kind you can get is raw, unfiltered, and organic. All you need is one teaspoon per glass of water. If you don’t want to drink that much, dilute it as much as you want with water and drink it that way. The benefits include reducing inflammation, reducing bloating, aid digestion, boost the immune system, level out blood sugars, and more.

4. Frozen Is Better Than None – If you simply can’t seem to find fruits and vegetables at the grocery store that will last long enough to be eaten, get frozen. Fill your freezer with every kind of vegetable, fruit and healthy stuff as you can. Choose low carb TV dinners or make yourself a fruit smoothie with frozen fruit or vegetables and some juice. Not everyone has the time or energy to clean, dry, cut, and cook fresh vegetables every day. Give yourself a break.

Hopefully these ideas will help boost your health and well being. The healthier you eat, the better you are going to feel. When you think about quitting healthy foods, think about why you started.

Most people go through life thinking that health and wellness are the same thing with the same overall purpose. However, the difference between them is somewhat shocking. To learn about this is sure to raise your awareness of how you are doing with your health and wellness.

Read the list below to see why it is important to know what it means to have health vs. wellness.

Health

The definition and main point of health is to be mostly fine and functioning despite the existence of any health issues, injuries, illnesses, diseases, and more. Someone with a few health problems can actually be considered healthy, if the problems aren’t affecting their lives or feelings of well being. You can be a healthy person with unhealthy habits. You can be a healthy person even if you don’t frequently eat right or exercise. It can just be a thing of luck. If you have a good social life, you feel good mentally, and you feel fine physically, you are healthy.

Wellness

Now, the big difference is that wellness shows you are really trying. Wellness means you are doing the best you can and pursuing your top potential. You make good choices, you pay close attention to your body, and you get treatment for your health problems that make you feel better. Those who can say they are well are those who are actively trying to be well. If you are constantly eating bad foods, avoiding exercise, and avoiding healthy activities, you are not well. However, you may still be in luck and healthy. “Wellness is also comprised of eight different components, including emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual wellness.”

So, now that you know they are different, there should be a much more clear picture in your head of how you are doing. Are you just sliding by, hoping to stay lucky and healthy? Or are you going to actively treat your mind and body to good choices that will benefit you in the present and future?
Try thinking about your daily life and making some lists of the things you would like to do to achieve wellness.

Let’s face it, life is stressful, and there’s not much you can do about that. However, you may be surprised to know that you can avoid, reduce and treat the stress that you go through. Some of the most basic tips are exercising, taking some time for yourself, getting enough sleep, and so on.

This article will uncover some secrets for getting through the tough times in life, and include extra details you can use to help yourself.

4 Tips For Handling Stress:

1. Exercise – You do know a bit about why this helps. It releases endorphins and all that. However, did you know you can trick your mind and body into thinking it is doing better and resolving issues? When you are working out, your mind and body has to come together to focus on your workout. It gives stress the boot out of your head while it serves a function to workout. Then, you can enjoy keeping your mind off the problems while you get the endorphins from exercising. At the end of your workout, you should have an easier time processing your troubles.

2. Keep Lists, Calendars, and Organizers – It isn’t fair to your brain to have to perfectly remember every detail of your daily life. That is especially if you’re trying to remember everything you have to do plus everything your kids and family members have to do. Use your electronic devices to set reminders and timers, such as Alexa or Siri. Get a daily planner and calendar. Write everything down. Keep notebooks and pens near the areas you spend the most time, so you can quickly note what you must remember.

3. Help Others – If you are kind, supportive and loving to other people, you don’t have to spend any time stressing about how bad you feel or stressing about apologizing. Being ashamed of your mean or angry behavior will stress anyone out to their breaking point. When you want to react to something, think of how much the people will hurt and how much your future self is going to suffer. Get the help you need so that those who are close to you can trust you.

4. Spend Time Alone – As much as you may love those in your life, everyone needs to be alone sometimes. It is also important to know when to give your loved ones time to themselves. It is a simple human experience to need time to process your life, your thoughts, and your feelings. If there’s always people around you taking time and energy from you, you will struggle to live a healthy life. This can cause physical and mental health issues. Make sure to work out some alone time as often as possible.

These tips on lifestyle and habits should help you greatly reduce, treat, and prevent stress. One of the best things you can do to stay healthy is to have a good plan to work through what bothers you.

Whether you have to spend time outdoors for your job, you like to be outdoors in winter, or you have to walk to work, it is a lot more tolerable when you feel warm.

You can wear nice socks, boots, thick pants, and a nice warm coat and hat. However, you may still feel like you need to be warmer.

Did you know that certain foods will help your body sustain warmer temperatures? Megan Hall is a licensed and registered dietitian. This article will include her recommendations on what foods will help you stay warm this winter.

Megan says “In general, foods that take longer to digest can help raise your body temperature and make you feel warmer. The medical term for this process is thermogenesis, which is the process of your body producing heat caused by food metabolizing. Look for food that’s high in healthy fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Many of these foods are more complex and take longer to digest.”

Foods For Warmth:

1. Fruits and Vegetables – The best options are bananas, sweet potatoes, ginger and butternut squash. Bananas have Vitamin B and magnesium which help keep your thyroid gland and adrenal glands healthy, which will keep you warmer. Ginger is good for digestive health and stimulates thermogenesis (as mentioned above), as well as being a diaphoretic when drank as a hot tea, which means warms you from the inside out.

2. Drinks – coffee or tea help because of the caffeine and because you can drink them hot and raise your temperature from the inside. If you are sensitive to caffeine, just drink decaf tea or coffee and drink an extra cup of it hot. Also, drinking plenty of water keeps your body running as it should and help keep you warm. You must avoid alcohol in order to stay warm. Although it feels like you get warmer when you drink, the reality is your body temperature goes down.

3. Others – Red meat and Oats are two other great options. Oats have whole grains and fiber. Red meats such as lamb, beef, and some cuts of pork are packed with Iron and B12. Those with low iron or B12 in their blood are often very cold and can’t maintain body temperatures well.

Keep these foods in mind when you spend time in cold temperatures this winter.

It may seem like common knowledge that colder temperatures mean dry air, dry sinuses, and dehydration. However, many people do not know that cold temperatures, forced air furnaces, and other winter elements can severely dry you out, even on the inside.

With every breath you take and much of the movements you do every day, your body loses moisture due to evaporation. When it is below freezing outside, that means that all the rain and water outside is frozen and unavailable. It doesn’t evaporate or get spread around.

Add to that inside your home, where the furnace sucks all your home’s air into the heating element and heats the air up. Then, it dries the air in your home out while it heats and blows the air around. The same thing happens to the air in your car.

Mix the indoor dryness with the outdoor dryness and you’re in for some bloody noses, irritated or painful sinuses, allergy issues, and possible dehydration. Did you know that when the air is dry, particles of all kinds are able to fly easier and stay in the air longer because moisture isn’t there to weigh them down.

The first and most important thing you should do is drink plenty of water. The dry air will take moisture from your skin, breath, and more. Keep enough water in your body.

The following tips should help you keep the air moisture up:

Humidifiers – You can choose between cold mist or hot mist humidifiers. If you have a large home, you’re going to need 3 or more, or 1 per room. If you have a small home, two of them should do the trick. Find them online or at one of your favorite department stores. Remember to grab a couple for your car as well!

Keep your humidifiers filled – It is useless to have them if you don’t remember to fill them with water often. You have the option to purchase some humidifiers with a larger reservoir so that you only have to remember every 24 hours. However, most of them need filled every 8-12 hours. Set a timer on your phone or some other reminder. It helps to fill them once when you wake up and once before you fall asleep.

Steam – You can generate steam by 1 or 2 big pots of boiling water on your stove, running the shower hot with the drain plugged and the door open. Beware not to let the water on the stove run out or you can damage your pots.

Water by the vents – If you place a bowl or pot of water next to or on top of your heater vents that blow warm air, this can help generate moisture in your home. Make sure to fill it when it runs out.

Hopefully these tips will help you feel much more comfortable and healthy during the dark, cold, awful winter months. Let’s just keep our minds on spring and summer weather coming up in April or May!

Winter blahs, cold temperatures, lack of sunlight, and being stuck in smaller spaces can really put a damper on your health and happiness. You might feel dried out, cold, claustrophobic, and like it is going to be dark forever. Where have the hours in the day gone?

This article will provide some ideas for how to keep yourself feeling your best until spring arrives.

1. Use Humidifiers – Winter often means dry sinuses, bloody noses, and allergens flying and hanging in the dry air. If you have a forced-air furnace or other dry heat in your home, a humidifier is a life saver. If you have a small home, 1-2 humidifiers are best. If your house is medium sized, use three or four. If you have a larger home, it is best to put one in every room that you use often. Guest bedrooms may not be necessary, unless you have guests. If you do not have a heating method that dries the air out in winter, disregard this tip.

2. Make Room – One of the hardest things about winter is being stuck indoors. If you have a small living space, find out if you can move things, organize things, give things away, or throw things away to make room in your home. You may even be able to find storage space in your attic, garage, or somewhere else on your property. If you make some space, you can move around more freely. This leaves more space to work out and play at home. You will be surprised how much more space can make you feel better.

3. Sunshine Replacements – First step is to be sure you’re getting enough vitamin D. Take a supplement or find out which foods are high in this vitamin. The sun isn’t here to give us that vitamin, so we need to supplement. Secondly, consider purchasing or finding a light box. These are used to trick your mind and body into thinking there’s sunlight. Many people with seasonal depression find them useful. There may be UV ray lights on the market, such as lights you can use to grow indoor plants. Another option is to get a tanning bed, although expensive. These may provide the light you crave in the winter months. By the time February rolls around, this may be more important.

Very few people love winter. It can be very hard to get through, especially in regions with long winters that seem to take up 6 months of the year. The most important things to do are to keep your home moisture levels normal, make enough space so you don’t go crazy, exercise, and try to get vitamin D and light wherever you are able to.

We all know that bad posture is not very attractive, right? However, bad posture can actually hurt your overall health.

Slouching puts pressure on muscles, bones, and joints that are necessary for keeping your backbone in its place.

Slouching also squishes your organs together, and it can make it harder for your intestines and lungs to work correctly. Too much slouching can cause digestion issues and breathing issues.

Now that you understand the importance of learning and maintaining good posture, here are tips on how to help yourself.

1. Stand Up Straight – Pretend you are getting your height taken at the doctor’s office. Keep your head and your shoulders up, and tuck your belly in a little. Try looking in the mirror to see how you do. You should look like you have a string attached to your head, pulling you up to the sky.

2. Sit Correctly – Leaning back and slouching in your chair is bad. Especially if you spend hours a day there. Scoot your bum to the back of your chair, place a sweater, pillow, cushion or rolled up towel at your middle back. Make sure your knees are bent at 90 degrees, and keep your feet flat on the floor. Make sure your chair is at the right height.

3. Smart Phone Neck – Be aware that using your smart phone or other device can cause posture issues. When you have your head bent down to look at your phone, it strains the spine more than you’d think. Try to keep the phone at eye level whenever possible. Pay attention to your body positions when using your phone. Keep your head straight and your chin up. Take breaks, and stretch your back and neck once in a while.

4. Avoid High Heels – Although it may look nice, wearing high heels is bad for the back. They make the base of the spine move forward, and over-arches the back. This can cause nerve damage over time. High heels are also bad for your knees and ankles. Only wear them when you must.

5. Tone Your Core Muscles – Did you know that having belly weight puts stress on your back? When your core muscles are out of shape and weak, that is even worse. Tone your core, do some abdominal exercises, pay attention to your gut area, and build your spine-supporting muscles!

These tips are sure to help you. One last tip is to check your back. Stand with your back against a wall, with the back of your head touching the wall. Move your feet 6 inches away from the bottom of the wall. Your bum should touch the wall and your neck and lower back should be about 2 inches from the wall. If this doesn’t seem to be the case, you may want to see a doctor about your back.

Stand up straight, keep those shoulders back, support your spine, and enjoy a much healthier self!