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Year: 2019

2019 Health City

Why you should always toss a tennis ball into your carry-on

2 min read

March 25, 2019 at 07:01AM by CWC At this point, you’re probably adept at packing a carry-on bag to perfection. Lavender essential oil? Check. Moisturizer? Check. Chic headphones? Check. The one thing you’re missing, though? A tennis ball. It might sound strange—unless, you know, you’re a tennis player—but one doctor made a case for toting around the small yellow orb while traveling. Ali Ghoz, MD, a London-based surgeon, told Daily Star that the ball make is the perfect tool for stretching mid-flight and massaging painful knots and muscle aches. (Because you can only crawl over your neighbor to walk it off so many times before they start to hate you.) Increase circulation in your body by rolling a tennis ball everywhere from your shoulders and lower back to legs and the bottoms of your feet, Dr. Ali Ghoz said. If you have a tennis ball, Dr. Ghoz said you can increase circulation in your body by rolling it everywhere from your shoulders and lower back to legs and the bottoms of your feet, as well as any other trigger points. Just hold the bright-yellow round to whatever area you choose, apply pressure, and feel your muscles start to loosen up. Don’t worry if you don’t have a tennis ball on hand, though. Ghoz also noted you can use other methods too: “If you don’t have a massager, you can use your hands to stroke your muscles from the ankles upward, which will get the blood flowing back to your heart,” he told Daily Star. Aside from giving yourself a mini massage, Ghoz mentioned drinking water regularly to

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2019 Health

Dear diary, I heard journaling can improve my love life…so I’m sharpening my pencils

7 min read

March 25, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC The other day, I was talking to my mom, and she mentioned that she’d found a box of my old journals from college. I knew exactly what was in them: page after cringe-y page of whining and complaining and pining over my on-again, off-again boyfriend of four years. So I asked her to burn them and throw the ashes in her cat’s litter box, because closure. (Not bitter, swear!) I haven’t been big on journaling about my love life since my dorm-room days, mainly because it never ended up being very productive back then. (Clearly, my emo musings didn’t help that doomed relationship.) But it turns out I may have just been approaching the journaling thing from the wrong angle. According to Laura Rubin, who hosts creative journaling workshops and retreats as the founder of notebook brand Allswell Creative, writing down your feelings is a powerful tool for relationships because by doing it, you get to know the number-one most important person in your life: yourself. “The quality of any romantic relationship is going to be directly correlated to your own self-worth,” she says. “You are the person you really need to get to know, and journaling is a great ally in that process.” “The quality of any romantic relationship is going to be directly correlated to your own self-worth. You are the person you really need to get to know, and journaling is a great ally in that process.” —Laura Rubin, founder

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2019 Health Vegetarians

Weirdly, skin can get malnourished, too—here’s what to know

6 min read

March 25, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC I do all of the things I’m supposed to do in order to boost my immunity and nourish my bod. I drink a shot of apple cider vinegar every morning, try to include ginger in my diet whenever I can, and I load up on vitamin C (not just topically). But I’ve never really thought about the immunity of my skin, or that my complexion might be able to get malnourished, and as it happens that might be a mistake. “The skin is your body’s largest organ and plays an important role in overall immunity by providing a barrier of protection to the body,” says Naomi Whittel, wellness expert and founder of OMI Skin Nutrition, a new line of skin care launching this month. “The skin also has its unique microbiome, and the beneficial bacteria that live in and on it contribute to the immunity of your skin.” After all, skin is the first thing that pollution, chemicals, and all the crud from the environment touches. The outer layer is protecting your body from a ton of environmental aggressors, and that’s precisely why you want your skin to be well-functioning and strong. According to the pros, here’s how to strengthen the barrier function of skin for optimal skin immunity and nourishment. How to tell if your skin’s malnourished Essentially, your skin’s a reflection of what’s going on in your body. “When your body’s lacking key nutrition including water, collagen, omega-3 fats, vitamin A,

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2019 Health

Why unwanted pregnancies are more common among military women

12 min read

March 25, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC In December 2018, the journal Military Medicine released a small report aimed at understanding the experiences women on active military duty have in accessing birth control after having an abortion. Hidden inside this report was an important piece of information: The unintended pregnancy rate for women in the military is higher than it is in the general population. The researchers cited a statistic from a 2017 report by Ibis Reproductive Health: 7 percent of active-duty women aged 18 to 44 reported an unwanted pregnancy in 2010 (the most recent year this info is available), compared with 4.5 percent of women of reproductive age in the general U.S. population. That shakes out to about 72 unwanted pregnancies per 1,000 women in the military, versus 45 unwanted pregnancies per 1,000 women overall. These are small numbers, but the delta in unwanted pregnancy rates is significant because military members have access to world-class health care and contraception coverage (something many, many civilian women in the U.S. lack). TRICARE, the medical insurance available to all active duty and military spouses, covers well-woman exams annually with no cost or copay. It also fully covers most birth control methods, including the pill, IUD, and diaphragms, as well as non-prescriptive emergency contraceptives, such as Plan B One-Step Emergency Contraceptive. “I’ll be honest with you, when I was in the Marines, it was actually easier [to get birth control] than it is as a civilian,” says Risa Carpenter, a retired Marine Corps veteran. “I had an easier time

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2019 Health Fashion Vegetarians

3 tips for a more sustainable home, according to a wellness guru

5 min read

March 24, 2019 at 06:30PM by CWC We get it, no one has time to spend hours outside picking up trash in the name of saving the planet. But even if you can’t control the way the rest of the world treats the environment (looking at you, litter bugs), you can manage your own impact by turning your home into a mini sustainable sanctuary. And before you get overwhelmed at the prospect of a total home revamp, Property Brothers-style—don’t. Upping your place’s sustainability status is simple if you make a few strategic changes. Take it from movement-and-meditation maven Kait Hurley, who started her personal eco-friendly home makeover in 2010 when her sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “Shortly after her diagnosis, she started overhauling her lifestyle and shopping smarter,” Hurley explains. “My sister’s healthy habits rubbed off on me. It’s funny how what’s good for our bodies is often what’s good for the environment.” “It’s funny how what’s good for our bodies is often what’s good for the environment.” The creator of The Move + Meditate Method started her home upgrade by swapping plastic food containers and water bottles for glass, and switching her beauty essentials to cleaner alts. She re-painted her bedroom with non-toxic paint in 2015, and is rolling her home green-up into this year. “I didn’t make all the changes all at once—that would have been overwhelming and expensive,” she says. To help you create your own personal environmentally friendly ecosystem, Hurley is sharing her real-life advice for designing

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