by kerryfarriss | Jun 13, 2016 | Family life, Self care
We are so dedicated to keeping our babies and kids’ sleep routines but we often neglect our poor tired selves! Here are some ideas to help you customize a nightly routine that works into your lifestyle. You’ll be sleeping like a baby in no time (well, hopefully better than a baby)!!
1. Listen to your body and learn your rhythm/cycle to determine the ideal time for you to go to bed and wake up each day. Ideally you will go to bed at the same time and wake naturally feeling refreshed at the same time every day. If this is impossible ensure you have a routine at each sleep time (no matter how short, to ‘train’ yourself to know when to switch off and sleep).
2. Endeavour to slow things down so you’re not rushing to finish work/chores just before bedtime. Just 15 minutes to an hour of unwinding time will benefit your sleep patterns.
3. Avoid screen time for an hour before sleep. TV’s, computers and tablets emit EMF’s (Electromagnetic Fields) and blue light which stimulates the brain and messes with your internal body clock by suppressing melatonin.
4. Avoid caffeine, alcohol and sugary drinks. Alcohol may feel like it puts you to sleep faster but the quality of your sleep will be affected. Enjoy a herbal tea instead. Additionally, don’t go to sleep on a full tummy or an empty tummy. Eat your evening meal early.
5. Incorporate relaxing rituals to train your body to sleep well. These may include a bath, hot towel rub, reading a real book or deep breathing exercises.
6. Spend a few minutes writing any thoughts/worries that may be playing on your mind or write a list of things you need to do the next day so you don’t spend precious sleeping time worrying about the day gone by or the one coming up.
7. Use calming oils in your bath or on the inside of your wrists. Oils like lavender, rose, sandalwood, chamomile, juniper and marjoram are known for their soothing effects.
8. Make sure regular exercise is part of your day. Exercise and/or lots of movement every day will promote better sleep.
9. Avoid napping too late in the day or it might affect your falling asleep at night.
10. If you find you are lying awake for longer than 15-30 minutes, get up and read a book until you feel tired.
by Diga Patel | Mar 15, 2016 | Fitness for mums, Mama Health, Natural living, Self care
It takes time and effort to take care of your body. It’s incredibly important to find time to exercise because the benefits of exercise are too important to ignore.
Yet most of us are too busy to even make time for what we WANT to do, let alone find time to create new, healthy habits. It’s not exactly relaxing to start a new exercise routine when you’re already exhausted from work.
Thankfully, there are lots of ways to fit exercise in without having to go to the gym every single day. Doing the same thing day in and day out can get boring, and habits we find boring aren’t habits we’re likely to keep up forever.
Here are six great ways to sneak exercise into your daily routine. Each tip is tested for sustainability, and will make exercise a lot more fun than those one-size-fits-all routines you’ve probably tried in the past.
1. Rethink your seating. At your workplace, do you sit in a normal office chair? If so, consider shifting to a standing desk, which exercises your leg muscles much more actively than if you sit passively. Even sitting on an exercise ball forces your core muscles to activate, helping your body exercise to keep stable. It may not seem like much, but those efforts stack up to greater muscular strength over time.
2. Rethink your commute. If you’re in a position where you can walk or bike to work, that can be a start to your day that’s both active and relaxing. You’ll walk into the office centered from the movement and time spent listening to your own thoughts. Even doing exercises based around sitting can add up. Some shoulder flexion action during the morning traffic jam can go a long way toward preventing stiffness and tightness in the body.
3. Do what you’re a fan of. Love watching Dancing With The Stars? Take up ballroom dancing or even Zumba. Like watching sports? Try a few drills that the players are doing next time you’re at the park. By building upon what you already love, you’re setting the stage to have a lot more fun than doing exercise you “have” to do.
4. Recruit your friends. Ever hear the saying, “The more, the merrier?” It applies to fitness, too! Grab a friend or two for a hike, jog, bike ride, or leisurely stroll. You’ll find that the time flies – and you might even find yourself looking forward to your next excursion!
5. Don’t punish yourself for low activity. The body adapts to activity levels, but it also loves resting. Even if you just stretch your body during commercial breaks, keeping your body from growing sedentary is a very good thing. So keep it going to see benefits! You’ll never regret exercising, even if it feels like “not enough.”
6. Join a competition. Do you consider yourself to be a competitive person? Then joining a competition could be the perfect option for you! Even if you don’t have the skills to compete in a league for your activity of choice, you can still challenge your friends or yourself to up your game.
How do you make sure you get enough exercise? How do you make your exercise work in your routine? Share your experience in the comments!
by Diga Patel | Feb 5, 2016 | Family life, Mama Health, Natural living, Self care
Photo Credit: Pic Jumbo
Are you doomed to slower reflexes and poor memory as you age?
Science says, “Not necessarily!”
Every person’s brain, like their body, is uniquely different. Not everyone is subject to the slowing down of mental faculties that tends to come with aging.
The Benefits of Brain Exercises
Like every muscle, the brain needs stimulation and exercise to sustain its function. Exercising the brain has as many benefits as exercising the body: You’ll be able to remember things later on in life, you won’t forget as many details about other people, and you won’t have as many ‘senior moments’ as perhaps you may fear.
But brain training isn’t limited to those who are approaching their golden years. Experiments with multiple sclerosis patients with cognitive damage have shown that doing activities specifically tied to brain training can help the brain develop stronger connections. Their brains literally became stronger through the power of exercise. There’s also a suggestion that doing brain exercises early in life can expand the amount of cognitive reserve you have later in life (i.e. how much your brain can bounce back as you age).
Some Brain Exercises You Can Complete On Your Own
Not all brain exercises need a machine or website to provide benefits to their users. Neuronation and Lumosity have become popular in recent years, and have proven very popular but these activities still help give your brain a boost:
1. Reading. What’s the last full book you read? The more you stimulate your brain by learning, the harder and longer your brain will be able to work.
2. Protecting your head. Wear a helmet when riding and take proper precautions if you think you may have a risk of a concussion. This endangers your brain health more than anything else.
3. Staying in touch with friends. Maintaining social ties is extremely important. Having people around to talk to and challenge you keeps your brain working in a way that it wouldn’t ever work when you’re by yourself.
4. Talk about problems. Holding on to problems is much more troublesome to your health than just annoying you in the moment. It can lead to serious stress, and can even impair your brain’s abilities later in life. So, if you’re feeling depressed or have a mental problem you want to address, bring it up sooner rather than later. You’ll save yourself a lot of stress and potential harm to your brain.
5. Try new things. Force your brain to be creative, whether by building something in your backyard, learning a language or playing a game of squash for the first time. It’ll do your brain good!
6. Quit smoking. This decision benefits many parts of your body, but the fact that your brain will potentially reverse deterioration is a very good benefit!
7. Sleep more. Sleep doesn’t just restore your body. Your mind also benefits from having enough time to rest through the night.
Do you do brain exercises? If so, what have you found benefits you most?
Share your story in the comments!
References:
http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/exercise-your-brain-like-you-do-your-muscles-for-the/article_32660af2-1288-5379-9244-717d6af2f67b.html
http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/zimney-health-and-medical-news-you-can-use/keeping-your-brain-active-10-tips-for-improving-your-brain/
by Diga Patel | Jan 21, 2016 | Family life, Natural living, Self care
Pic Credit: Pic Jumbo
Good health goes beyond just nutrition and exercise. It comes from achieving balance in every area in our lives. That includes the emotional and social parts of our lives, too!
If there is someone in your life who’s draining your energy or causing you stress, you could be dealing with a toxic relationship.
Toxic relationships can take many forms, including draining energy, causing drama, or even violating the boundaries of other people in order to get the emotional benefits they need.
Toxic people often don’t realize the destruction they cause. Interactions with these types of people can lower our self-esteem and captivate our energy in a negative way. Many people see a toxic person and feel the need to take care of them, often leading to the depletion of their own wellness. This is just as destructive as the pain of confronting or withdrawing from the behavior of a toxic person.
So, how do you navigate a relationship with a toxic person?
Ideally, we would cut off contact with anyone who doesn’t benefit our emotional wellbeing. We would simply never talk to the people who drag us down. However, there are some people that we just can’t avoid, such as parents, siblings, and bosses.
Thankfully, there are middle grounds between engaging with destructive people and completely cutting them off. You can learn and practice different communication techniques, such as Nonviolent Communication or Conscious Communication. If you must interact with a person on a personal level, you can look up support groups in your area for support and love from other people. Lots of online support options also exist.
Take care of yourself first.
For some people, this is the hardest lesson they ever have to learn. In order to serve others and be of service, you have to take care of yourself first, otherwise you won’t have the resources to share of your time and energy with others.
If avoiding a toxic person entirely is what’s necessary for you to take care of yourself, do what you need to do for your own stress levels. Stress wears upon your body, from your sleep all the way to your blood pressure.
How have you managed to deal with toxic people in your life? What relationships stress you out most in your life? Share your story in the comments!
