Month: February 2019

February 28, 2019 at 09:00AM by CWC This past fall, I was in the market for a new mattress. At about 10 years old, my current one wasn’t ancient in terms of popularly held beliefs of a mattress’ lifespan, but it was certainly past its golden years. The since-discontinued Sealy Posturepedic, ultra-firm, foam-springs hybrid queen belonged to my husband before I came into the picture, and for five years, he slept on it in the middle by himself (or so he tells me…). So since I’ve entered the mattress’ life, I’ve had to contend with a grown-man-size dip in middle. With each passing year, its elasticity has become less and less ultra-firm and forgiving, and eventually, in the battle of Bed vs. Human, I was the losing contender night in and night out; my husband and I would roll from our designated side into the middle, wake up multiple times, toss, turn, try unsuccessfully to get comfortable, rinse, repeat. So when I got an email from Casper in early October gauging my interest in testing its newest mattress, the Wave, (which, full disclosure, would be gifted to me), I felt like I won some kind of targeted-advertising lottery. “Heck yes” was my answer. Surely my sleep game could only get better with the help of this tool that, thanks to a complex ergonomic system, promised to support my often achy-by-day’s-end body at 33 key points, right? And with its temperature-regulation abilities, I assumed I’d be all “night sweats who?” in

Read More

February 28, 2019 at 08:54AM by CWC In Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, there’s an ongoing joke about doing a period-sex musical number. Brief clips of the song get aired before other events cut off the tune since the topic is deemed too dirty to run on TV. (Don’t worry, the whole thing was gloriously released online.) And it’s frustrating, considering sex sans period is totally okay to reference on TV, meaning periods—a bodily function half of humans experience—are the issue here. Sure, we’re making progress; a film centered upon menstruation just won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short. But still, menstruation and period sex and everything adjacent to it should be on the table for acceptable conversation (and song material!), and no one should feel dirty or embarrassed about it. Because it isn’t embarrassing at all; it’s natural and normal. But while comfort is one thing, being all-knowing is another. And when events transpire unexpectedly, you may need to enlist some pros to answer the toughies. To that point, while there are some real-deal biological benefits behind period sex, those surely don’t preclude the act from sometimes getting pretty messy. And depending on what kinds of intimate acts you’re engaging in, even techy products designed specifically to streamline period-sex spills can’t keep stray blood from ending up in unintended places…like your mouth. Whether the period blood got in your gullet from the direct source or from a secondary source, like a finger or another mouth or another body part, it can happen—especially if the person

Read More

February 28, 2019 at 08:09AM by CWC When it comes to my relationship with weightlifting, I’d consider it up and down—literally. We may go steady together—as in, I lift those dumbbells several days a week—but the weight of the weights that I actually choose differs as much as my daily lunch of choice. This isn’t so savvy, though. According to numerous trainers, it’s key to be making incremental increases in order to actually build your muscles (whoops). “In order to make progress in your fitness, you shouldn’t stay stuck in the same spot for too long,” says Tom Lavoie, Fitness Together trainer, owner, and operator. “You need to make incremental increases between each set in order to put enough stress on your body for it to respond and react, which in turn increases strength and builds muscle.” It’s essentially just how fitness works. “One of the main principles of fitness is overload,” says Riley O’Donnell, a trainer at The Fhitting Room, a New York-based fitness studio. “The moment you master one weight, it’s time to move up to the next.” The magic number to shoot for? Five pound increases. “Five pounds can make a huge difference, especially in unilateral movements where you’re working one side of your body,” she says. “But you need to work on mastering that five pounds before you can get up to 10.” “The moment you master one weight, it’s time to move up to the next.” —Riley O’Donnell If you don’t move up, you’re hindering

Read More

February 28, 2019 at 08:05AM by CWC If I could have any superpower, it would be the ability to conjure up Beyoncé vibes at a moment’s notice—you know, that wildly self-assured, boss-like energy that completely takes over whatever space she’s inhabiting. While I’m not quite there yet, I do know super-powerful people, like Adam Rippon and Bella Hadid, often turn to crystals in an effort to keep their auras extra sparkly. So I’ve decided to follow their lead and tap into amber healing properties, as the stone is said to bestow mega-watt confidence on whoever carries it. Granted, there’s zero scientific evidence to back up this idea. But metaphysical scholars think that amber’s molecular vibration balances the third chakra, an invisible energy center in the body that’s associated with personal power, ambition, and courage. Even old-school civilizations knew what was up with amber, says Mariah K. Lyons, the crystal healer, herbalist, and Reiki master behind gemstone footwear line Astara. She notes that ancient Greek and Roman women would wear amber beads to amplify their fertility, while Vikings carried amber animal talismans with them into battle. (Who run the world? Exactly.) What’s special about amber is that it isn’t a mineral crystal, like rose quartz, malachite, and others you may have in your collection. Instead, says Lyons, it’s an organic gemstone—fossilized resin from 30- to 60-million-year-old trees in Mexico, Tanzania, and the Baltic region, to be exact. “Amber is a form of solidified sunlight, as it is created by the synthesis of light

Read More

February 28, 2019 at 06:47AM by CWC When you stock up your spice rack, your first priority is probably to make sure the basics are covered: garlic powder, a little cayenne when you want a kick of heat, turmeric for your anti-inflammatory lattes, and, of course, OG salt and pepper. But, the next time you’re on a mission to rebuild your inventory, you might consider adding another health-benefiting staple to your cart: cloves. Cloves might not be a common ingredient in your recipes (yet!), but they’re more than worthy of having a spot in your diet. The flower buds come from a type of tropical evergreen tree native to Indonesia and have been used for centuries in many different types of cuisines—a popular example being the Indian curries. They’re also a notable ingredient in Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine thanks to their many pain-relieving abilities. Here’s exactly why you should give them a try. The benefits of cloves 1. THEY can help regulate your hunger levels Cloves are kind of magic because they can play a role in keeping your stomach from growling between meals. “For a spice, cloves have an impressive amount of fiber—a nutrient that can help regulate your hunger levels,” says nutritionist Amy Gorin, RDN. “One teaspoon of cloves alone provides close to a gram of fiber.” 2. THEY can keep your blood sugar levels in check Anyone who’s watching their blood-sugar levels will be happy to know one great strategy for keeping things in order is to simply add cloves into

Read More