December 14, 2019 at 10:00PM by CWC The only thing most people care about when buying bras and undies is the size. And, well, how cute they are. But before you make your next big purchase, you might want to add some other items to your checklist. While bras and undies seem harmless, Sapna Palep, MD, board-certified dermatologist and the CEO of the online lingerie retailer Journelle, sees her patients dealing with the same issues over and over again in her daily practice. And some of them are caused by seemingly innocent factors, like the material and fit. From underwear causing persistent fungal infections to bras causing pressure cysts, these are the things you should pay attention to when buying lingerie. The top 4 things to think about when buying bras and undies 1. Underwires While underwire bras are great at giving your girls a boost, you shouldn’t be wearing them all the time. Dr. Palep says it’s important to make sure you have non-underwire options in your drawer, too, in order to protect your body. “There are certain activities and times of the day and year where wireless bras and bralettes are a better solution,” she says. “Sweating, for example, can cause increased irritation with a wired bra. Rapid and repetitive movements during busy schedules and exercise are also a frequent cause of pressure cysts, abrasions, infections, and contact or irritant dermatitis.” If you’re sleeping in a bra, it’s also important to make sure it’s wireless. You’ll still have
Day: December 14, 2019
7 easy ways to upcycle your brown paper grocery bags into wrapping paper
December 14, 2019 at 08:00PM by CWC While I do my best to use reusable bags, I admit I often forget them at home. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a stack of brown paper grocery bags from Trader Joe’s waiting to be recycled. But why not give them another life as an eco-friendly wrapping paper for the holidays? There are so many different ways to upcycle brown paper bags. You can paint them, attach evergreen sprigs with string to give your presents a brand-new look. If you’re in need of some inspiration, these are some of the cutest—and easiest!—paper bag wrapping ideas to try this season. The best paper bag wrapping paper ideas Photo: Lovely Indeed 1. DIY botanical wrapping paper Grab a few sprigs of berries or some evergreen on your walk, attach it to your gift with string, and you’re good to go. Photo: Almost Makes Perfect 2. Brushstroke gift wrap For a quick design, create simple brushstrokes on your paper bag wrapping paper with a square edge paint brush. Photo: Splash of Something 3. Paper straw stars Give those paper straws sitting in your cupboard a new life by creating this simple star design for the front of your gifts. Photo: Fellow Fellow 4. DIY Christmas tree gift toppers All you need to do is go outside and pick up some sticks then wrap them with embroidery thread to create these cute Christmas tree gift toppers. Photo: Something Turquoise 5. Word search gift wrap Turn
The serum so hydrating, you’ll ditch your moisturizer (even in the dead of winter)
December 14, 2019 at 06:00PM by CWC I don’t ask for much. When the holidays come around and my family asks what I want, nothing ever comes to mind. “Barry’s Bootcamp classes?” I inevitably shrug. But this year, I’m taking a stand. To whomever is looking to buy me a gift: I really, really want—nay, need!—the Monastery Flora Botanical Cream Serum ($118). I’ve written about my love of multitasking beauty products plenty of times, because I am a relatively low-maintenance kind of gal. The faster I can get ready, the better. So when I discovered a serum that could also serve as a moisturizer—knocking out yet another step of my streamlined skin-care routine—I immediately put it on my wish list. It’s literally a cream and a serum, which would whittle my regimen to a commendable three steps. Three! As we all know, a serum is meant to bring real changes to skin: It’s the product filled with the active ingredients such as vitamin C, retinol, niacinamide, and the list goes on and on. The Monastery Cream Serum contains a skin-care cocktail of multiple weights of hyaluronic acid (that plumps both the skin’s surface and deeper layers of the epidermis), fruit and floral extracts to calm and nourish skin, and ellagic and ximenynic acids to brighten. Thanks to the creamy texture, the serum hybrid can also stand in as a moisturizer, helping to build the barrier of skin while also giving it multiple active ingredients. When you swipe it onto your
For better sleep tonight, pair carby snacks with *this* ingredient
December 14, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC Speaking from experience, having poor sleep leads to making a lot of questionable decisions, like ordering a random pasta maker on Amazon or responding to your ex-boyfriend’s 2 a.m. text. According to the results of Well+Good’s sleep survey, feeling le tired is something 92 percent of our readers experience more than once a week. There’s even a cute acronym for this feeling: TATT, or Tired All The Time. But according to a new study, eating a diet high in fiber could help improve sleep. A large new analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the food journals of over 50,000 postmenopausal women using data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study to compare eating habits with the odds of experiencing insomnia. The researchers found that people whose diets had lots of high glycemic index foods (read: foods that have a more dramatic impact on blood sugar levels, like refined carbohydrates and sugars) had higher rates of insomnia, compared to people whose diets were rich in fiber. The researchers speculate that foods high on the glycemic index (like white bread and my personal fave, fries) could trigger insomnia because they typically cause spikes in the body’s blood sugar levels; unstable blood sugar levels in general are associated with poor quality of sleep. Speaking of foods and sleep, here’s the case for eating a bit of chocolate before bed: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XunIxyXbyQs] However, it’s important to note that this study is observational and
Level up your health and wellness knowledge in 2020 with these 8 online courses
December 14, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC As much as I love a good Netflix binge, after a few hours of being a couch potato, I often feel wish I had an avenue for channeling some quality productivity…preferably while still remaining comfortably recumbent on my couch. Enter: digital learning. Thanks to a number of online courses and memberships spanning an endless spectrum of topics and interests, it’s now entirely possible to gain empowering knowledge and know-how, right from your own home. So, in the spirit of a new year, new you mentality, rounded up below are eight of the best online courses covering a variety of wellness, spirituality, and personal-development topics to add to your queue. Check out the 8 best online courses to level up your health and wellness needs in the new year. 1. “The Journey by Pause Breathwork” Breath work is mindfulness tool that asks your body and your breathing patterns to do the healing work for you. “The Journey by Pause Breathwork,” taught by speaker, author, and wellness coach Samantha Skelly, is a great place to start for learning more about this. During the six-week online course, Skelly shares a powerful breath pattern to unlock and release stagnant emotions and empower you to feel safe in your own body. Pro tip: Keep some tissues handy. Duration: Six weeks (weekly modules with a brief video lecture, breathwork aduio, and worksheet) Available: Year-round Price: $197 2. “Life-Force Academy” With any mindful or movement practice, the most important component is
The best of the best drugstore shampoos for every hair type—and not one is more than $10
December 14, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC There’s really no need to spend a fortune on expensive shampoos when you have a drugstore right around the corner. Yep, the place that carries some of your favorite affordable makeup products also has an impressive hair product selection, including stellar shampoo options for every hair type. Whether you have curls for days, fine hair that could use some volume, or oiliness you can’t seem to get rid of, these are some of the best drugstore shampoos. The best drugstore shampoos for every hair type 1. Fine, straight hair Product: John Frieda Luxurious Volume Touchably Full Shampoo for Fine Hair, $6 If you have fine, flat hair that’s lacking volume, this shampoo will help. Instead of weighing your hair down, it boosts it up. 2. Kinky, curly hair Product: Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen & Restore Shampoo, $8 If you rock natural curls or waves, this shampoo is loaded with quality ingredients—including Jamaican black castor oil—that protects your strands and restores moisture and shine. 3. Thick hair Product: OGX Extra Strength Damage Remedy + Coconut Miracle Oil Shampoo, $6 Especially great for thick to course hair, this coconut oil-based option moisturizes, repairs, and softens your strands. 4. Dry hair Product: Head & Shoulders Itchy Scalp Care Dandruff Shampoo, $7 If you’re always dealing with a dry hair (especially during the cold winter months!), grab this shampoo that moisturizes your scalp and strands to remove oil and flakes and calm itchiness. Extra
I’m a professional stretcher and this is the one thing I’d never, ever do to muscles
December 14, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC You might think that stretching, in any way, shape, or form, is simply the right thing to do, and that doing it at all is an achievement. I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t always the case. If you try and stretch cold muscles, you’re going to sabotage how well you perform in your workout. Having “cold” muscles basically means that your muscles are the opposite of warmed up, and are not at all prepared for activity. “The concept of warming up promotes blood flow and quite literally makes them warmer,” says Jeff Brannigan, director of programming at Stretch*d in New York City. If your muscles are cold, on the other hand, they’re in a “tense” or “stale state,” he explains. On a deeper level, cold muscles means there’s not a lot of water in your muscle tissues and that your neurological system isn’t fully awake, says Eric Owens, musculoskeletal expert and co-founder of Delos Therapy. Cold muscles tend to feel stiff—which might seem like an ideal time to stretch them, even though it’s not. “Any time you start to stretch [cold muscles], that causes a stretch reflex that gets your muscle tissue to activate a protective mechanism to not over-stretch,” says Owens. That’s what happens in static stretching before a workout, something he says all research confirms is the worst thing you can do. “If you [stretch] with your body in a cold state before your nerves are awake
8 tried-and-true stress relief products for staying calm in every situation
December 14, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC Even if your home is a Zen respite and your workplace epitomizes what a healthy office can offer, it’s hard to keep your cool 24/7. We dwell in a gloriously effed up burnout culture that overloads us at all times, so emotional and mental exhaustion is the default, and calm is something we work toward. The good news? Stress-relief products exist to help achieve that sense of calm. The less-good news? Plenty of stress-relief products exist to help achieve that sense of calm, so how can you decipher which ones will work best? Truth be told, every person is different, so every person may find different strategies work best for de-stressing. So to take out some guesswork (and expensive trial-and-error-style testing), rounded up below are several standout stress relief products team Well+Good swears by for restoring a sense of calm in the most frazzling of moments. Whether you’re buried under too many assignments at work, more social events than feels manageable, or an irritating number of texts from your mom asking for help on how to send an attachment on an email, there’s something great you can try in order to put yourself at ease. Below, find 8 tried-and-true stress relief products for big-time Zen feels. 1. Lord Jones Royal Oil, $100 While the world may have reached peak CBD-product saturation (thus making room for other cannabinoids to take their turn in the spotlight), this one is still of note for the regal-leaning
Atypical anorexia is proof that eating disorders can affect anyone at any size
December 14, 2019 at 12:00AM by CWC It has long been assumed by healthcare professionals, researchers, and the general public that the defining characteristic of anorexia, an eating disorder that affects 1 percent of women, is being extremely thin. Until the 2013 publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–5), which is used by practitioners to diagnose mental illnesses, an anorexia diagnosis required a person to be at an abnormally low body weight. However, the reality is that anorexia can affect anyone, at any size—even a person who doesn’t appear to be underweight. This is called atypical anorexia, a condition where a person meets most of the criteria for anorexia (like severely reducing their food intake in order to lose weight, being afraid of gaining weight, and denying the seriousness of their condition), but is still technically at a normal or even high BMI. But the enduring stereotypes about what the condition “looks” like can make it harder for people who need help to get it. “The assumption that patients with low weight are more ill is reflected widely in recommendations for assessment, hospitalization, re-feeding, and recovery,” says Andrea Garber, PhD, RD, an associate professor of pediatrics in the division of adolescent medicine at the University of California (UCSF). A doctor, health professional, or even friends and family might not recognize the disorder in someone if they aren’t fully educated to recognize other signs and symptoms of the eating disorder, such as a preoccupation with losing weight