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Month: March 2019

2019 Health

A snooze habit may not be the healthiest, but it’s one we should be be allowed make

4 min read

March 22, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC Bad news, sleep deviants: There’s a chance the snooze button might be snoozed…permanently. Sleep-wellness company Eve Sleep is lobbying for Apple to remove the “five more minutes!” function from its next software update, with experts citing it as a health hazard. And like a dad’s ringtone blaring the opening chords of “Bad to the Bone,” I hear the message loud and clear. I get it, snooze = no good, but just like my reaction to a dad’s ringtone blaring the opening chords of “Bad to the Bone,” I have to say, plz stop. I know snooze isn’t my healthiest habit, but ugh is my love for it ever so real. In case you’re not up to snuff, one of the many crimes of snooze is that it causes prolonged sleep inertia, AKA that drowsy-grumpy feeling you get sometimes upon first waking up. “The snooze button is on my list of ‘sleep killers’ because continual snoozing usually leaves people feeling less well-rested than they would be if they got up when the alarm went off in the first place,” says Janet K. Kennedy, PhD, licensed psychologist and founder of NYC Sleep Doctor. “The sleep we get between snoozes is not restorative, quality sleep, and too much of it can leave us feeling very groggy and even disoriented when we finally do get up.” The thing is, sleep inertia is really only supposed to last 15 to 30 minutes after waking up. However, one study showed that sleep inertia

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2019 Health Vegetarians

Yes, You Should Be Spring Cleaning Your Freezer, Too—Here’s How to Do it Like a Dietitian

4 min read

March 21, 2019 at 06:30PM by CWC Spring is here, and that means it’s time to break out the rubber gloves and scrub every inch of your home until it sparkles and wafts of fresh-cut grass and bird songs come floating in your open windows. Okay so maybe that’s just how spring cleaning goes in your dreams, but if you want to get that same new season, new me feeling without going full Cinderella on your place, we suggest tackling this oft-forgotten spot: your freezer. Yes, your freezer requires some TLC at least once a year, and if Marie Kondo taught us anything, it’s that your kitchen (freezer included) should be filled with all the joy-sparking foods you love—not shunned as the hideout for frozen pizzas and freezer-burned leftovers. “Don’t be afraid of frozen foods. They’re one important weapon in your healthy eating arsenal to keep you from resorting to takeout.” ICYMI: Your freezer can actually be home to a ton of good-for-you foods that come in clutch when you’re in a pinch, and the prime example is Grainful® Frozen Meals. These upgraded takes on your favorite homemade grain bowls are frozen for mindful mid-week munching sans meal prep, and come in a variety of food-truck-inspired flavor profiles—hello, Wednesday night Thai Curry. Plus, the clean ingredients cater to whatever eating style you follow, from gluten-free to vegan, and more. To make room for the food you actually want to eat—instead of moving around the stuff just sitting in your freezer collecting

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2019 Health

Send slathering to the curb: “Piano fingers” are the best way to apply skin care

2 min read

March 21, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC When I met with facialist Georgia Louise last night at an event—AKA the esthetician who adds a glow to the faces of Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, and plenty others—I had to pick her brain about all things skin. So I started with the most important question: What’s the one thing everyone should be doing to their complexion every single day? Louise, who’s a La Mer Global Skincare Advisor, replied with two words: piano fingers. She then showed me what that meant by proceeding to tap each finger quickly across her face, from the chin to her forehead (as if she were playing her skin like a piano). “It’s an important massage technique and one that I really adore,” she tells me as she continues performing what looks like a Beethoven interlude on her face. I’m intrigued—especially because most of the facial massage methods I’ve seen are higher in intensity. The secret’s actually in the soft touch. “The piano fingers motion really activates the microcirculation and really energizes the muscles,” says Louise. “Your microcirculation system is very superficial, so it doesn’t require a lot to activate it. Some people think you have to pull and tug your skin to get results, but actually the lightest touch is sometimes the strongest.” “Actually the lightest touch is sometimes the strongest.” —Georgia Louise Facial massage in general is a useful practice not only for stimulating circulation and collagen, and to lift and tone, but it’s also key for lymphatic

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2019 Health

Green tea extract is not the same as green tea—and that matters for your health

4 min read

March 21, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC Even though there always seems to be a new trendy wellness tonic people are talking about (golden milk! CBD sparkling water!), nothing has withstood the test of time quite like green tea. One of the most popular teas in the world, it’s accessible virtually no matter where you are. But don’t call it basic. There’s a very good reason why everyone from wellness influencers, doctors, and nutrition experts love it—including registered dietitian and nutritionist Maya Feller, RDN. “In my opinion, having a cup of green tea is great!” she says. Green tea (and all the antioxidants it contains) offers all kinds of cancer-fighting, bloat-reducing, metabolism-boosting benefits. But some people claim a cup of tea isn’t the only way to get those perks. Green tea extract—which contains the concentrated antioxidants, polyphenols, vitamins, and flavonoids of green tea—is available in capsule form, too. But here’s what you should know before adding it to your supplement routine. What are the potential green tea extract benefits? One thing green tea extract likely cannot do? Promote weight loss—most human trials show only a small (and not often significant) effect on body weight. It also likely cannot help with exercise performance (research is very mixed on this front), despite claims to the contrary. Yet it remains a very common ingredient in diet pills and other supplements. However, green tea extract does have some potential benefits, including the following: 1. It could help with cognitive function. Feller credits several components of green tea

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2019 Health Relaxation

There’s a depressing reason time flies faster as we age—so here’s how to slow things down

4 min read

March 21, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC Digesting that the first day of spring came and passed was a toughie—and not just because the park outside my apartment still looks like the forest from the Blair Witch Project. Rather it’s because of how fast entire seasons—and thus, years—seem to fly by. Honestly, wasn’t it just the holidays? Well, new research shows you’re not crazy—time does seem to be moving more quickly, but the reason why is kind of a downer. We’re all getting old, and our brain needs new viewing material. The theory, recently published in European Review, hypothesized that as we get older, the speed at which we process new images slows down, because our seasoned psyches are simply processing fewer new images. As the web of nerves and neurons grows with age, it gives more resistance to the flow of electrical signals. That negatively impacts the rate at which fresh images are acquired and processed with age. Basically, we’re seeing less new stuff than we used to but within the same brackets of time, and this lower density of stimulus makes time feel as if it’s passing faster. “People are often amazed at how much they remember from days that seemed to last forever in their youth,” lead researcher Adrian Bejan, PhD and professor of mechanical engineering at Duke, tells Science Daily. “It’s not that their experiences were much deeper or more meaningful, it’s just that they were being processed in rapid fire.” “People are often amazed at how much

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