Wellness Archives - Page 3 of 43

Everyday Stressors for Women and Ways to Overcome It

October 23, 2020 by Mandy

There’s no way to get around the fact that stress and motherhood go hand in hand. So much is required of you daily to ensure your children’s safety, happiness, and well-being. Though the love for your children keeps you going, there are times when things get out of control. Life seems to pile things up on you to the point you feel emotionally and physically drained. You know that continuing to live this way is harmful, but reducing your stress levels is easier said than done.

Identifying Stressors

Eating a nutritious diet, exercising regularly, and getting adequate sleep are effective ways to reduce any stress you might be experiencing. However, these solutions won’t work if you haven’t identified and remedied the core cause of your stress. For example, if you’re overwhelmed by your finances but do nothing to fix it, no amount of exercise, dieting, or rest will help resolve your problem. Every time a new expense pops up or a financial emergency arises, you’ll find yourself right back in that unhealthy place.

So, how do you pinpoint the sources of your stress? You evaluate each area of your life to discern what causes the greatest overwhelm. As several factors could be stressing you out, here are some common ones to consider.

Familial Responsibilities

One of the most significant stressors for moms is the many responsibilities of taking care of a household. Children have a lot of needs. On top of that, you have obligations to your spouse, and whomever else might live in your home. You’re only one person, and with only 24 hours in a day, getting to everything seems impossible.

If you’re feeling inundated with the responsibilities of being a mother, there are some things you can do to reduce the stress. Start by identifying stressful times of day for you. Perhaps your mornings are overwhelming, trying to get yourself and the kids out the door for school and work. Maybe the evenings are worse when you’re trying to prepare dinner, check homework, and get the kids ready for bed.

Once you’ve identified the triggers, you can devise a plan to reduce them. Creating routines and giving your kids, partner, family, or friends responsibilities would ease the tension.

Lack of Self-Care

When you’re always taking care of the needs of others, your needs take a back seat. You skip meals because you’re in a hurry or want to make sure the kids have enough food. You take 5-minute showers, throw on whatever isn’t dirty, and put your hair in a ponytail or messy bun because there’s no time for anything else. Your passions, pastimes, and friendships have all but dwindled as you sacrifice for the happiness and well-being of your family.

As you might imagine, failing to take care of yourself adversely impacts your health. That’s why you must take the time for self-care. There are things you can do to prioritize your needs. You can wake up an hour earlier to incorporate exercise, showering, skincare, and beauty routines. You can take multivitamins and stress tablets with CBD every morning. You can also meet up with your girlfriends or indulge in a talent or passion a few times a month.

Financial Problems

Every mother wants to ensure that her kids are well provided for, but the financial obligations are plentiful. From the mortgage and utilities to groceries and clothes, there’s a lot to cover. Whether you’re doing it alone or with the support of a partner, financial problems can get out of hand quickly.

If money matters are stressing you out, it’s time to create a plan. Start by evaluating your income, verse your expenses. If your monthly costs are higher than your income, there are some adjustments you can make. Start by eliminating unnecessary spending, then develop a reasonable budget you can follow; lastly, create a debt repayment and savings plan to secure your future.

It doesn’t take long to realize how stressful motherhood is. Though you’d bear the weight of the world to ensure your kids have a great life, taking on too much will make this harder to accomplish. You may not be able to eliminate stress from your life forever, but you can make changes to improve your emotional and physical well-being. Start by identifying the core cause of your frustration, then take steps like those listed above to provide peace of mind.

How To Overcome The Work at Home Blues

October 22, 2020 by Mandy

Whether you’ve transitioned to working from home due to the pandemic or you’ve been running a home-based business for several years, this dynamic is quite the adjustment. You have to learn how to discipline yourself to remain productive while also finding the time to accommodate your family’s needs. Not to mention the emotional impact of being home all the time.

Working from home provides women with the flexibility to be there for their kids while bringing home the bacon. On the other hand, not being able to enjoy certain activities, and the consistent loneliness gets overwhelming. Failure to deal with these issues only results in health problems that bleed into their personal and professional lives.

If living this isolated and sedentary lifestyle is causing the work at home blues, there are ways to turn things around. Continue reading to learn more.

Routines Go a Long Way

Incorporating self-care rituals into your day makes it easier to prioritize your needs. You’d be surprised at how something as simple as meditating, exercising, taking a shower, completing your skincare and beauty regimens, and sitting down to enjoy a decent breakfast can be in improving your mood. Start your day off right by waking up an extra hour early to get yourself prepared before waking the kids.

Get Dressed

The idea of working in your pajamas sounds great, but after a few weeks of foregoing your favorite fashions, your self-confidence starts to decline. Though wearing a business suit in the house might feel a bit crazy; getting dressed every day can boost your mood. Instead of pj’s, why not throw on a pair of skinny denim jeans, a matching top, and some slip on sneakers? It’s a lot better than worn-down, oversized pajamas while still being comfortable. Not to mention, it also works well if you need to run some errands.

Leave The House

Modern conveniences like online shopping and same-day delivery services are convenient for those who work from home. It saves time throughout your day, and it reduces your risk of catching the coronavirus. Be that as it may, staying cooped up indoors can lead to depression and other health problems.

That’s why you should make leaving the house a daily habit. You don’t have to run a bunch of errands; just spend at least 15 minutes to an hour outside. You can take a walk around your neighborhood, walk the dog, or get the kids out of the house for playtime at the park. The fresh air and sunlight are ideal for strong bones, healthy skin, and a positive mood.

Plan a Girl’s Day

Working from home gets lonely. Though you have your children and your significant other at home, you miss out on the social interaction with other like-minded people. During the pandemic, social distancing and sheltering in place also means limiting your time with friends and family.

Reduce your loneliness of working from home by making time to hang with your friends. A girl’s day once a month gives you something to look forward to, which improves your mood. Whether you head to your favorite restaurant for a weekend brunch, host a small dinner at your house, or plan a virtual movie night with your favorite chick flicks, being around your friends will make a significant difference in your mood.

Join a Support Group

You’re not the only one that suffers from the work from home blues on occasion. Millions of people are currently experiencing the same thing. By joining a support group, you can get emotional support and advice from people who have been where you are. They can give you tips on how to combat the blues, find a better work-life balance, and much more.

Working from home has many advantages. It’s an efficient way to earn a living while being there for your family. It’s also ideal for protecting your health and safety in the middle of a national health crisis. Unfortunately, working from home even hurts your emotional well-being. If you’ve been feeling down lately, take the advice above, and to boost your mood.

Tips for Taking Care of Your Skin this Fall and Winter

October 22, 2020 by Mandy

Fall is here and soon winter will follow. Unfortunately, it’s not only the weather that changes. Your skin will also go through its own changes as a way of adapting to the cooler weather. Some people experience dry, flaky skin and chapped lips, while others prone to facial outbreaks may experience an increase caused by extra oily skin. Thankfully, there are treatment options available to help you achieve and maintain beautiful, healthy skin.

Contributing Factors

While the dropping temperature plays a role, other factors, such as taking frequent hot baths and showers, turning on the heat, and the selection of materials in heavier winter garments, will also contribute to skin changes.

Limiting Shower Time

To warm up, many people take longer and hotter showers during the cold weather months. Reducing your time in the shower, and lowering the temperature, will prevent the skin from drying out and becoming itchy, red, and irritated.

Applying Moisturizer After Bathing

Applying a light moisturizer, preferably skincare for sensitive skin, immediately after drying off from your shower, will enrich the skin with necessary moisture. Try to find products that contain ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and glycerin.

Hydrate with Serum

Include a serum that hydrates into your daily skincare regimen. It will give your skin a more youthful glow. In addition, a high-quality serum works to reduce the appearance of both fine lines and wrinkles. Apply generously daily to achieve the best results.

Lip Balm

You may think that lip balm is something you apply in the summer to protect your lips from harmful sun rays. While this is true, a lip balm free of petroleum can protect your lips from dryness which can lead to painful cracks.

Benefits of Retaining Water

During the winter the indoor air quality tends to dry skin out. Adding a humidifier to your living space and bedroom will restore lost moisture to the air and allow for improved skin hydration.

Cover Your Hands

You spend more time indoors during the cold-weather months which often leads to completing more house cleaning chores. When handling cleaners and dish soaps, make sure to wear disposable gloves. The less exposure to chemicals, the less likely your skin is to break out.

Sunscreen Isn’t Just for Summer

Sunscreen protects the skin from over-exposure to potentially harmful rays. Most people put their sunscreen away during the fall and winter months. However, when the skin is dry and irritated it’s easier for the sun’s rays to penetrate the skin. Make sure to protect all exposed areas of the body during daylight hours.

Hand Cream

Your hands come in contact with water many times throughout the day. Keeping a tube of hand cream in your possession allows you to reapply as often as necessary to keep them soft, supple, and properly hydrated.

Exfoliate the Skin

Removing dead layers of skin will promote a healthy glow. After months of spending time outdoors, your skin needs a revival. Using a product with oil will scrub off dead skin cells and leave behind a protective barrier that coats the skin.

Change to a Gentle Acne Product

If you’re prone to acne, using a harsh cleanser that dries out the skin can have a negative impact during the winter months. Since cold weather already promotes dry, flaky skin, switching to a gentle cleanser will offer better results.

Remain Indoors Until Your Skin is Dry

When the weather is warm you often head outdoors immediately after showering. However, this same practice during the winter can leave your skin dry and irritated. If you need to shower prior to work or school, set your alarm a half-hour earlier to allow more time.

Maintaining healthy, hydrated skin in the fall/winter is possible. By making a few slight changes to your daily skincare routine, you’ll avoid the potential for dry, irritated, and chapped skin.

5 Ways to Help Your Teen With Anxiety

October 20, 2020 by Mandy

Being a teen isn’t easy.

That’s because the teen years are filled with tremendous change, including internal changes, social changes, and the shifting psychology of gradually making the change from child to young adult. Hormones are going crazy, you’re trying to figure things out, attempting to establish your place in the world, and perhaps discovering the opposite sex for the first time.

This period of human development often fills a teen with anxiety. Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place for advice. This article takes a look at how to help an anxious teen get through such a confusing stage in life. Keep reading to discover insight into how to make their transition into adulthood a bit less stressful.

1. Teach Them How to Meditate

In recent years, more and more people have begun to discover the benefits of mindfulness meditation. This is a practice that enables the individual to realize that much of their mental activity is involuntary. In other words, thinking more or less happens automatically.

Meditation helps you separate from your thoughts, thus you can choose to ignore them rather than being controlled by them. You teen can meditate for as little as a few seconds at a time, allowing them to take a deep breath while the feelings of anxiety simply rise and fall like the waves in the ocean.

2. Teach Them that Feelings Will Pass

Meditation also teaches you that feelings come and go. That’s right, all feelings are temporary. The key is to learn to relax the mind enough to give anxious thoughts the space needed to pass from your focus. This is obviously very important for reducing anxiety in teenagers.

3. Help Them Connect with Others

Spending time with peers can also help reduce anxiety. Teens can often relate to each other more than they can with adults. This is perfectly natural and normal.

The key is to choose the right type of friends and then communicate effectively with them. Quality social interaction during teen years is one of the best ways for a young person to realize they aren’t the only person feelings you’re feeling.

Here’s a resource where you can learn more about social anxiety in teens.

4. Teach Then to Focus on Positive Things

It’s very easy to experience a repeating pattern of negative thoughts. After all, people in the modern world are constantly bombarded with negative imagery that causes tremendous anxiety.

Because of this, it’s not unusual for a teen to lose sight of the beauty that surrounds them. Thus you need to remind them of how wonderful the word is, that they have family and friends who love them and that they can become anything they work hard to achieve.

5. Make Sure They Get Enough Sleep and Exercise

Never overlook the value of quality sleep and exercise. After all, the body needs rest. In fact, a teen should get 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Exercise is also important. A young person needs cardiovascular exercise as many times a week as possible in order to sweat and develop strong muscles.

A Guide to Ways You Can Help a Teen with Anxiety

Growing up can often feel like an impossible challenge. Fortunately, these tips for helping a teen with anxiety can help them develop into a healthy and happy person.

Keep scrolling to discover more helpful lifestyle advice on this blog.

Do Fisio At Home: Save Your Health And Your Money

October 19, 2020 by Mandy

Save your health and your money almost sounds like a sales pitch. Not really what you want to hear when seeking professional, medical, help. And especially if you’re post-surgery or have a nasty, ongoing, back problem.

Thankfully, the reality of doing your fisio at home isn’t a load of ‘cheap talk’. You can save your health whist also saving your money. And from the comfort of your own home or a residence if you’re a in the elder age bracket..

Because getting treatment for any ailment, especially those fairly common and treatable by a fisio, should be considered a necessity rather than luxury, it is important that such therapy and treatments are available to all. They should be simple and direct and easily accessible.

The problem, and one made much worse with the coronavirus restrictions of 2020, is getting access to that treatment. At one point, aside from Covid-19 patients and emergency surgery patients, health care and treatment virtually stopped for everyone else. Treatment was still required. We just needed to find a new way of delivering it.

Doing Fisio At Home

Due to the increasing amount of time spent at home and varying travel restrictions, either through government lockdowns or even decreased mobility, it made sense to find a way of being able to complete any necessary physical therapy rehabilitation at home.

The gap caused by needing to be treated, but having a treatment that was out of reach, needed to be filled. By utilising online physical therapy and creating the likes of fisio kits that gap was filled.

The kits are designed to help with a range of common ailments which are treatable at home. They can come with explainer videos featuring expert advice to ensure you get the best results from your required treatment.

Is Doing Fisio At Home Really Saving My Health?

The main concern you may have when doing your physical therapy at home compared to the traditional means may be the lack of a physical presence of an expert. A trained physiotherapist.

There is a comfort in getting your treatment the way you, and everyone else, has always done. You feel like you’re in the right place to get the right work done with the right person. It isn’t your home. It is a place of repair and rejuvenation. A professional, medical environment.

You can’t deny some aspects of traditional physical therapy are comforting. Your home is comforting too when you think about it. It is where you feel safe and secure. Warm and happy.

What your really can’t deny is that no matter where the treatment takes place, or how it is administered and by whom, the end result will be the same. The improvement or alleviation of your ailment. Does it matter whether your expert advice is given face-to-face or via a video if the same advice will be given?

Fisio at home will save your health and for less than it would usually cost.

Is Doing Fisio At Home Really Saving Me Money?

There’s no long answer here. The answer is yes. Doing your fisio at home, using a fisio kit, is saving you a lot more money than having to go for expensive physical therapy treatments elsewhere..

It makes sense really. Overheads have been cut down. The ability to provide accurate, up-to-date medical advice, in a common, repeatable and easily digestible form has been found. And negating the need to transport yourself to a location possibly some miles away have all meant a reduction in costs all round.

Home fisio is something which will continue to be useful and important to use as we try to maintain our health through, and past, this current pandemic era.

At least with such accessible, and affordable treatments, we can ensure that whoever needs that bit of physical therapy gets it and benefits from it.