Wednesday, October 21

HEALTH

3 Smart Fall Sweets Swaps And Tips
NUTRITION, TOP FOUR

3 Smart Fall Sweets Swaps And Tips

(BPT) - As the leaves begin to change color and the temperatures get a little cooler, it can be challenging to stay on track with your nutritional goals. Cooler months often come with less outdoor activity as you begin to hunker down indoors. But the change in seasons doesn’t have to mean giving up on your wellness — or sacrificing a sweet treat you enjoy. “There are many ways to follow a balanced lifestyle that allow you to live your best healthy life,” said Colette Heimowitz, vice president of Nutrition and Education at Simply Good Foods Company. “All it takes is a little planning, and snack options without a ton of sugar — that still taste delicious and fit into your lifestyle.” Heimowitz offers a few easy and tasty ways to incorporate healthy habits into your lifestyle this fal...
Black Licorice Spooky And Dangerous Side
SELF-CARE, TOP FOUR

Black Licorice Spooky And Dangerous Side

Black licorice may look and taste like an innocent treat, but this candy has a dark side. On Sept. 23, 2020, it was reported that black licorice was the culprit in the death of a 54-year-old man in Massachusetts. How could this be? Overdosing on licorice sounds more like a twisted tale than a plausible fact. I have a longstanding interest in how chemicals in our food and the environment affect our body and mind. When something seemingly harmless like licorice is implicated in a death, we are reminded of the famous proclamation by Swiss physician Paracelsus, the Father of Toxicology: “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.” I am a professor in the department of pharmacology and toxicology and author of the book “Pleased...
Everyone Needs A Spa Every Once In A While
SELF-CARE, TOP FOUR

Everyone Needs A Spa Every Once In A While

Everyone needs a little break from their busy life, don't they? And what else will be a great idea to pamper yourself by giving a spa treat for your body. Every salon provides the variety of spa-treatments according to your requirement. Most people visit spa centers just to de-stress themselves and rest. These centers provide various treatments to cure back-pain, joint-pain, insomnia, muscle-strains, headaches, etc. Go through your requirements and communicate same to your therapist, as you're paying them a good amount it's your right to avail all the services for enriching your experience. Talk to your therapist and seek all the advice and choose the right treatment as per your need. TYPES OF TREATMENT OFFERED IN SPA CENTERS- 1) Aromatherapy- In this therapy the magic is done...
What Happens If Our Brain Needs Sleep, And We Don’t Get Enough?
SLEEP, TOP FOUR

What Happens If Our Brain Needs Sleep, And We Don’t Get Enough?

Many of us have experienced the effects of sleep deprivation: feeling tired and cranky, or finding it hard to concentrate. Sleep is more important for our brains than you may realize. Although it may appear you’re “switching off” when you fall asleep, the brain is far from inactive. What we know from studying patterns of brain electrical activity is that while you sleep, your brain cycles through two main types of patterns: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and slow-wave sleep. Slow-wave sleep, which occurs more at the beginning of the night, is characterized by slow rhythms of electrical activity across large numbers of brain cells (occurring one to four times per second). As the night progresses, we have more and more REM sleep. During REM sleep we often have vivid dreams, and our brains ...
Building Lasting Wellness Habits That Fit Your Life And Goals
MENTAL HEALTH, SELF-CARE, TOP FOUR, WELLNESS

Building Lasting Wellness Habits That Fit Your Life And Goals

Busy parents juggling work and wellness, shift workers on uneven schedules, and caregivers managing everyone else’s needs often set thoughtful wellness and self-care goals, then watch them fade. The real consistency challenges usually aren’t motivation; they’re packed calendars, stress that derails mental health maintenance, and all-or-nothing thinking that turns one missed day into quitting. Even general readers interested in wellness can struggle to protect physical well-being routines when life stays loud and unpredictable. A steadier approach makes long-term habit formation feel doable, even when circumstances aren’t ideal. Build a Sustainable Wellness Plan That Fits Your Life This process helps you pick wellness goals you can actually keep, turn them into realistic weekly target...
Lifestyle Options
LIFESTYLE, SELF-CARE, TOP FOUR

Lifestyle Options

It seems like now more than ever there are hundreds of different lifestyle choices a person can make. It is a good thing there are so many options because a person's lifestyle choice has a direct bearing on the things they do, the people they hang out with, the clothes they wear, and the things they consume. Lifestyle choices also happen to be incredibly diverse in that they can range from choosing to be healthy to choosing to pledge allegiance to a certain type of music, to even deciding on a lifestyle devoted to religion. With so many lifestyle choices, it is no surprise that people devote themselves to actual lifestyles on various degrees. For instance, a teenager might become infatuated with punk rock and decide to devote themselves to that style. At this stage they can choose ...
Strategies For Handling Back-To-School Stress
MENTAL HEALTH, SLEEP, TOP FOUR

Strategies For Handling Back-To-School Stress

With the start of a new academic year come increased appointments, chaotic schedules and new environments. Helpful strategies minimize stress and frustration build-up. Real Simple’s tips include: ‒ Get enough sleep. High schoolers need a solid eight to 10 hours, according to the National Sleep Foundation. ‒ Plan ahead. A whiteboard in a prominent place, featuring a week’s worth of appointments, practices, classes, tutoring, etc., is a visual reminder. A study of 197 college freshmen published by the National Institutes of Health determined that ”... increased stress level was significantly associated with lower sleep quality and greater negative emotions (fear, anger). Exercise was an effective stress coping strategy while other coping methods (Internet usage, meditation and self...
Solutions To Overcome FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
MENTAL HEALTH, TOP FOUR

Solutions To Overcome FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

FOMO contributes to a person’s dissatisfaction with their own social lives FOMO is a pervasive modern anxiety perpetuated by social media. Noah Webster, in his first “American Dictionary of the English Language” published in 1828, had no reason to include the word. Yet in 2003, MySpace launched and was followed by Facebook in 2004. Thousands of people began sharing posts of daily life. Before 2004 closed, FOMO was a real word defined in the dictionary that still bears Webster’s name as “fear of not being included in something (such as an interesting or enjoyable activity) that others are experiencing.” In an April 2018 report, businessinsider.com expounded ”... FOMO contributes to a person’s dissatisfaction with their own social lives ... It triggers negative feelings like boredom and ...
How Babies Adapt To Their Mother’s Physiological State
MENTAL HEALTH, PARENTING, TOP FOUR

How Babies Adapt To Their Mother’s Physiological State

The classic image at New Year's where old Father Time represents the year just ended while the bannered New Year's baby emerges onstage, heralds the iconic star of a conference I attended in San Diego recently. Sponsored by the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) the international congress addressed the scientific and psycho-social discoveries centered on "the conscious baby." Founded in 1983 by Canadian psychiatrist Thomas R. Verny MD, and David Chamberlain PhD, the APPPAH started as a small group of people who shared an interest in the sensitivity and consciousness of babies. Membership chair and parental educator Barbara Decker explains, "Their premise is that babies are having experiences in the womb-welcoming or not being welcomed, experiencing fear...
A Neurologist Explains Why Springing Forward Into Daylight Saving Time Is A Step Back For Health Is Worse Than The Fall Time Change
SLEEP, VIDEO REELS

A Neurologist Explains Why Springing Forward Into Daylight Saving Time Is A Step Back For Health Is Worse Than The Fall Time Change

Springing forward into daylight saving time is a step back for health – a neurologist explains the medical evidence, and why this shift is worse than the fall time change. As people in the U.S. prepare to set their clocks ahead one hour on Sunday, March 12, 2023, I find myself bracing for the annual ritual of media stories about the disruptions to daily routines caused by switching from standard time to daylight saving time. About one-third of Americans say they don’t look forward to these twice-yearly time changes. And nearly two-thirds would like to eliminate them completely, compared to 21% who aren’t sure and 16% who would like to keep moving their clocks back and forth. But the effects go beyond simple inconvenience. Researchers are discovering that “springing ahead” each March is...