Wellness Tips – May 20, 2020
1. Try a New Activity Once a Month: Our schedules can turn us into creatures of habit. We can easily just start going through the motions if we’re not careful to try new things, but this can also make us bored, unhappy, and possibly lose our passion for things we care about such as being active, our jobs, and even our healthy eating habits. So the answer is to try a new activity when you can, possibly once a month. This can be something as simple as trying a new cooking method, trying a new exercise, working in a different atmosphere, trying a new approach to something at your work, or even just shopping at a local farmer’s market instead of a commercial grocery store. Expose yourself to new activities and see how great it can make you feel!
2. Do Something Nice for Someone When You Can: Doing something nice for others doesn’t just benefit them but also you too. We’re meant to be giving creatures, yet many of us see giving as a form of sacrifice. This is simply not true. When we give, we get so much more in return in more ways than one. It doesn’t have to be related to money at all either, but could be a simple as sending a card, an email, making a dish for someone, running errand for a friend, sending flowers, taking someone to lunch, or even just letting someone ahead of you in line at the grocery store. Or, give to an animal organization, volunteer at one, or just do something to promote cultural awareness and animal welfare. Doing small things for the good of others on a regular basis is an important part of long-term wellness. Try it and see how fulfilled it makes you feel, and how you might just change the lives of others in ways you may never even know.
3. Have a great summer! Get outside, play, be safe, and have fun! 😊
Wellness Tips - May 13, 2020
1. Do Something You Love Every Single Day: This can be as small as something such as cooking your favorite breakfast, writing in a journal a few minutes a day, , participating in a favorite hobby, or anything else that you just truly love. Doing something small for yourself every day is a great way to enhance serotonin levels in the body to raise those feel good hormones on a regular basis.
2. Drink a Glass of Water When You Wake Up: A new health practice that many observe, drinking water is essential to hydrating your body first thing in the day after a night long fast. It helps wake you up and is an excellent way to flush out your body first thing to keep you regular, a key part of staying healthy. Remember, your body contains (and needs) more water than most of us realize. Be sure you are giving it enough, starting first thing!
3. Lift Something Heavy for 5 Minutes Every Day: Pick something heavy, whether it be a kettlebell, a dumbell, or even a household item you can grasp in your hands that is heavy but still light enough to pick up. Lift one of these items for just five minutes a day, preferably over your head like you would if you were in the gym, along with by your sides to work your arms, and even hold this while you do a few squats too. Resistance training not only improves your metabolism, but also boosts testosterone in the body that improves your sense of motivation, focus, and even your energy. It also aids in strengthening the body, even in just five minutes. Five minutes is enough to get you out of breath just enough to get good results. If you can do this three different times throughout the day, you’ve lifted weights for 15 minutes without realizing it.
4. Eat Good Fats: Healthy fats are like fuel for a good mood. They’re one of the most important things to include in your diet to promote a healthy mood (and a balanced metabolism). Healthy fats also promote good heart health, reduce cholesterol, and contain none of the harmful side effects associated with animal-based saturated fats. Go for raw coconut, avocados, almonds, walnuts, acai fruit, flax seeds, cashews, hemp seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds or tahini, pecans, and olives. Many of these are also packed with protein, B vitamins, and magnesium to enhance brain health even further.
5. Learn to Love Sleep: Sleep is a gift, something that’s just as important as the food on our plate and our exercise habits. It’s the time of the day that our body resets itself, detoxifies, and allows us to be able to conquer the next day ahead. Depression, weight gain, stress, and even food cravings can occur when we don’t get enough rest. For some of us, our sleep needs may be 8 hours, and others it could be 9 or 10. Don’t just yourself by how much sleep you need — get enough until you wake up at the same time each day without the need for an alarm clock.
Wellness Tips - May 6, 2020
1. Eat Berries With Breakfast: Berries are an incredible food, rich in nutrients for our brain, our digestion, and they are disease-preventative. They’re also a fresh source of produce and keep us fuller than processed cereals with dried fruits. Add 1/2 cup of your choice frozen or fresh berries to either a smoothie, oatmeal, or just have some with some unsweetened coconut yogurt and a little chia or flax seeds. Berries are also a great source of vitamin C to kickstart your immune system.
2. Eat One Green Food Per Day: Eating one green vegetable per day or one leafy green is a great way to get yourself healthier in the kitchen without much thought. It can be a cup of broccoli at dinner or spinach snuck into a smoothie. A cup of green beans at dinner or some leafy kale tossed with chopped sweet potato and some simple seasonings. Anything counts, just make sure it’s green, natural, and from the earth. These foods provide us with more nutrition than any food out there. They alkalize our bodies, promote mental wellness, and protect us from major forms of disease.
3. Aim to get in a 20-30 Minute Walk or Jog: This might sound difficult but is easier than we all think. If you like to run, even better, but walking is great too. Moving first thing in the day boosts your serotonin levels, provides energy to the body, and also helps you focus better throughout the day. It is also an easy way to improve your metabolism to help manage your weight.
4. Don’t Over Sit Your Welcome: It is tremendously important that we don’t “over sit” our welcome. We need to stand more throughout the day, even if that’s while chatting with friends, talking on the phone, or just getting up in between nightly relaxing activities before bed. If you like to watch television, be sure not to sit there for hours on end while doing so. If you work at a computer all day, get up and move around or try to stand and work however possible. Sitting too long makes you tired, can cause brain fog, increases your insulin levels, and slows down your metabolism. It can even lead to a bad mood, and antsy nature. The body likes to move; give it what it needs.
5. Do Some Sort of Stretching Per Day: Stretching is one of the most overlooked exercises that improves your mood. It releases muscle tension, prevents muscle cramps, improves lymphatic flow and blood flow that can make you happier and also keeps digestion working well. It also prevents muscle stagnation that can just make you feel badly. Stretch in the morning a little and a little more at night before bed. Even just a couple minutes will make you feel better.
6. Spend a Little Time Outside Daily: Take a stroll around your neighborhood each day. If you have a dog, take them for a five minute walk down the street. Or, maybe you have the option to exercise outside — try it; it’s rejuvenating compared to indoor treadmills! Being active outside, even just for a few minutes, is a great way to enlighten your spirits without even trying. It puts you in touch with nature, which studies show can actually benefit our brains, prevent depression, and exposes us to the most natural source of vitamin D available to us: the sun.
Wellness Tips – April 29, 2020
1. Get up and drink a bottle of water. In Japan, people drink two glasses of water first thing in the morning. Interestingly, it has the greatest overall longevity being the only country with over 50,000 centenarians.
Benefits of drinking water in the morning: Rehydrates your body, flushes out toxins, improves metabolism, increases brain power, and boosts the immune system.
2. Get outside for fresh air. Research shows that getting fresh air affects the levels of serotonin that makes us feel good about ourselves.
Benefits of getting some fresh air: good for your lungs and skin, improves blood pressure and heart rate, relieves anxiety and stress, makes you happier and energetic, and strengthens your immune system.
3. Play happy songs while you are getting ready in the morning. Music is known to evoke all kinds of emotions. It is actually very actionable and can be used to manipulate your mood. Make a playlist of your favorite upbeat and happy songs and play it in the morning to set the tone for the rest of the day.
Benefits of listening to good music: improves mental focus, soothes and relaxes blood vessels, makes you happier, reduces stress levels, and gets dopamine flowing.
4. Eat more fruits and green salads. Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness. About 70-80% of health is eating the right food at the right time. Understand your body type and its nutritional needs. Leafy greens and fruits are a great source of natural fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Benefits of eating fruits and vegetables: healthy weight maintenance, controls blood sugar, reduces LDL (the bad cholesterol), and protects your heart and improves skin tone.
5. Sit up straight. The way you stand, sit, and walk is also part of your well-being and health care. If you are always slouching or walking like a zombie, you need to take care of your posture because not doing so could result in physical deformities and other health problems. To maintain a good posture, place your body in a neutral position so that your pelvis, trunk, and head are in alignment. It is an optimal position that helps you work efficiently even for long hours.
Benefits of good posture: keeps bones and joints in correct alignment, decreases stress on ligaments, prevents fatigue, prevents backache and muscular pain, and contributes to a good appearance.
Wellness Tips – April 22, 2020 (Earth Day)
Researchers have long talked about the physical benefits of walking, such as increased oxygen intake, revved-up circulation, a healthier heart and calorie burning. But walking can also shed stress and enhance calm energy. “Mindful walking means that you’re living in the moment,” says Laura Farres, a Vancouver sport psychology consultant. So instead of pounding the pavement with your head down and earphones in, enjoy active meditation, time to re-energize and think.
Going outside for a family walk once a day is an excellent way to celebrate nature and get your family moving more. Even just ten minutes in nature can help relieve some stress and improve moods.
There is something about planting a seed and seeing it grow – gardening teaches about food through time and experience. It has also been shown to help promote healthy eating habits. A “Pizza Garden” is a fun way to start and to get experience with easy-to-grow tomatoes as well as peppers and herbs.
Fish is a healthy protein alternative to red meat or pork. It has significantly less saturated fat than mean and is rich in omega-3 fatty acid. In addition to the health benefits of eating fish (like reducing the risk of heart disease associated with red meat diets) going fishing it a way to relax and connect with nature.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Cleaning out junk and limiting the stuff you buy is good for your mental health, the environment, and your wallet.
Before putting it in the trash, find out if it can be recycled.
Turn off your devices to decompress.
Find a quiet place outside to stretch and practice quiet, slow breathing.
As always, drink plenty of water and get lots of rest.
Wednesday Wellness Tips – April 15, 2020
Right now, spending an uninterrupted time with your family is a gift we have been given during this time of quarantine. Playing board games is an excellent way to get together and strengthen your family bond.
One of the effects of playing board games is laughter and it has been found out that this increases endorphins. This chemical in our body is known to elevate the feeling of happiness.
The areas of the brain that are responsible for complex thought and memory formation are the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. These parts most benefits when playing board games together and strengthen your family bond.
Playing board games keeps your mind engaged by exercising it and building it stronger.
It’s good to note that stronger brain has lower risks of cognitive decline.
As playing board games effects to laughing and endorphins. These things can help lower or maintain blood pressure.
Playing board games help children develop their logic and reasoning skills, improve critical thinking and boost spatial reasoning. The ability to concentrate and focus for a longer period of time
is also developed with just playing board games.
Most types of board games require players to use fine motor skills to pick up or move pieces which are actions that both involves coordination and dexterity. And have been found out that can really be helpful when added to occupational therapy treatments.
As always, drink plenty of water and get lots of rest.
Wednesday Wellness Tips – April 1, 2020
Adding walking to your daily activities can help you: Reduce risk of heart disease, improve your blood pressure, improve your blood sugar levels, enhance your mental well-being, maintain a healthy weight, strengthen your bones, and improve your balance and coordination.
Keep positive thoughts on your minds. Have a gratitude challenge with your family. Customize this to your family so you can take on this challenge. Give everyone their own gratitude journals, a jar to put daily gratitude reminders or a group message board.
Find something to be grateful for every day.
As always, drink plenty of water and get lots of rest.
Wednesday Wellness Tips – March 25, 2020
Playing with jigsaw puzzles helps to enhance mental and intellectual growth in young children.
It also improves hand-eye coordination.
Jigsaw puzzles are easy on the eyes, as there is no backlight and no glare that slowly wears down your vision, as opposed to today’s internet, video games and television.
Assembling jigsaw puzzles helps to clear your mind and relax. You will feel delight as you see the puzzle getting closer and closer to completion with every piece you piece together. Not to mention, the sense of achievement and satisfaction when you complete your jigsaw puzzle!
Vegetables and fruits are loaded with prebiotic fiber, vitamins, minerals, and many antioxidants, some of which have potent biological effects.
Studies show that people who eat the most vegetables and fruits have a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other illnesses.
Nuts are an ideal nutritious snack. They are linked to a reduced risk of heart disease and may help prevent certain cancers, depression, and other illnesses. Despite being relatively high in fat, they are very filling.
Drink plenty of water and get lots of rest.
Wednesday Wellness Tips - March 18, 2020
Doing aerobic exercise is one of the best things you can do for your mental and physical health.
Although some people find it hard to find and keep the motivation to change unhealthy habits, more and more studies are demonstrating that using devices to monitor physical activity, such as basic pedometers that count every step we take, is an effective way for people to increase it.
Eat a healthy snack - Apples are high in fiber and polyphenol antioxidants that improve your healthand reduce heart disease risk.
Peanut butter may have additional benefits for heart health. It has been shown to increase HDL (good) cholesterol and reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides.
Drink plenty of water and get lots of rest.