February 24, 2020 at 08:18PM by CWC While training for the New York City marathon last year, I spent miles and miles silently praying to the recovery gods: Please, oh please, bless me with a Band-Aid capable of patching up the aches and pains in my body! Alas, I now know that no such bandage exists, but there is kinesiology tape (“KT tape” for short). According to Cameron Yuen, DPT, a doctor of physical therapy at Bespoke Treatments in New York City, the stuff can keep you moving through the achiest seasons of your chosen sport, but just how does kinesiology tape work? “Kinesiology tape is a type of elastic tape that is applied to an area of musculoskeletal dysfunction,” says Dr. Yuen. “Think strains, sprains, or swollen joints. This tape encourages movement and awareness, as opposed to athletic tape, which is used to brace and prevent movement.” Essentially, it puts a check on your form so that you can keep moving the way that you love to—running, dancing, skiing, whatever—within patterns that are sustainable for your body. With time, that means you’ll be able to take off the tape to find that your body has created better postures. “The most current research suggests that it is most important as a sensory feedback tool,” says Dr. Yuen. “The tape helps gate some of the pain you are experiencing by providing a different sensory input.” You apply the tape tautly when your muscles aren’t fully extended so that when you straighten
Month: February 2020
The soothing yoga pose variations that provide a stretch where you need it most
February 24, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtTbsrp55Ns] Yoga itself is incredibly soothing. A simple flow will have you rolling up your mat feeling more limber and energized than you did before. And the best part about the practice is there are so many yoga pose variations you can do to engage more full-body benefits—especially in those tight and often overlooked areas that need your attention the most. According to New York City yoga instructor Beth Cooke, some simple tips and tricks could turn you into your own masseuse. “It’s a really cheap way of self-soothing the body,” she says. “You don’t have to spend millions of dollars at the spa. You can do it right here on your own.” Start by focusing on three unexpected areas that will make you feel like a million bucks all throughout your body: your abdominal muscles, armpits, and calves. The next time you’re looking for relief, use these easy-to-follow yoga pose variations. Once you go through this flow once, you’ll want to do it every day. The most soothing yoga pose variations for full-body relief Photo: Elena Mudd 1. Tabletop with calf massage variation Start in a tabletop position. Take your right shin and place it on top of your left calf. Roll your shin down your calf so you’re rolling through the calf muscle. Keeping your shin in place, move into a child’s pose, pressing your left hip slightly more to the left. Complete 5 inhales and exhales. Repeat on the
A gastroenterologist’s top 5 ways to stop nervous poops—because if anything’s going to make you *more* nervous, it’s that
February 24, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC Nervous poops are a real thing. Sure, it may not part of polite dinner conversation, but your mental health and digestion are more connected than you may think—and that can certainly cause some issues in the bathroom. But if anyone knows how to stop nervous poops before they start, it’s a gastroenterologist. Dealing with anxiety is already hard. Your nerves can cause you to have physical reactions like nervous poops. “The gut’s nervous system—also known as the enteric nervous system—relies on neuropeptides and neurotransmitters like serotonin to regulate both intestinal motility and secretion,” says Andrea Culliford, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist with the Medical Offices of Manhattan. “Nervousness or anxiety can cause one to feel the need to go to the bathroom frequently in anxious situations and is related to the brain and gut’s nervous systems sending each other messages in times of stress or anxiety.” Luckily, there are some expert-backed ways to stop your nerves from taking control of your bathroom schedule. If you’ve ever experienced nervous poops (even Olympian Adam Rippon has struggled!), start utilizing these tactics as soon as possible. A gastroenterologist’s top 5 tips on how to stop nervous poops 1. Decrease caffeine intake Your morning coffee is what kickstarts your day, but you might want to take a break from it if you’re experiencing nervous poops. According to Dr. Culliford, it’s crucial to decrease caffeine intake as it “may exacerbate the need to go to the bathroom.” 2. Be
7 reasons your therapist might break up with you—and what to do next
February 24, 2020 at 06:09PM by CWC In a perfect world, your experience with going to therapy would be 100 percent on your own terms. You’d schedule sessions for times that fit in perfectly with your calendar and lifestyle, and, at some point, perhaps you’d move on from therapy—but only when you decide the time is right. Unfortunately, that’s not always the way it goes, and you might find yourself saying “my therapist terminated me, and I don’t know why.” When therapists are the ones who decide it’s time to end a relationship with a patient, it can be a jarring experience. In this case, your therapist should first take the time to explain why they’re cutting ties with you, says Lily Brown, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. However, that’s not how script always goes. So below, your therapist may sever professional ties with you, and the best next steps to take if that does happen. 7 reasons your therapist might break up you To be clear, therapists say it’s not very common for a counselor to be the one who terminates the relationship with a client, so there’s no need to live in fear that your therapist is going to ditch you. Every case and every patient is different, but there do tend to be common behaviors and issues that may lead a therapist to catalyze a breakup. 1. You don’t really buy into the idea of therapy Psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe
Why some experts think lab-grown, ‘cultured’ meat is the sustainable future of protein
February 24, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC Even though vegan meat tastes more like “the real thing” than ever before, there’s still a great divide between meat eaters and non-meat eaters, and if we’re being realistic, there will likely always be one. The truth is, a lot of Americans really love meat. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, meat-eating reached a record high in 2018 (the latest year stats are available): Americans had access to an estimated 222.4 pounds of meat and poultry per capita. Whether you eat meat or not, virtually everyone can agree that factory farmed meat is the least sustainable route to go; the environmental impact has been calculated to be particularly high. Many believe the solution lies in eating less meat, whether consuming one of the many plant-based substitutes or blended meat options. But others say that it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to give up meat forever, especially when meat offers up benefits like protein, iron, and B vitamins. This tension is giving rise to another possible solution: cultured meat, also often referred to as cultivated meat or lab-grown meat. Never heard of it? Cultured meat is made from the stem cells of animals, which are collected and then taken to a lab where they are fed nutrients in order to grow into living tissues. The end result, in theory, is ready-to-eat meat, without having to grow, feed, and kill an entire animal. It’s a “best of both worlds” type solution, and one
6 relationship traits that show it’s possible and even worthwhile to move past infidelity
February 24, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC When you find out your partner cheated on you, it puts a blurring filter over the entire relationship, muddying up a formerly crisp picture and making everything look worse. You might feel blinded by rage, consumed with sorrow, and left questioning the whole entire relationship. You wonder if your partnership is even worth saving, and even if you do have the strength to move forward someday, should you? Should you forgive a cheater and task yourself with the time-consuming, trust-building, and quite frankly painful process doing so likely requires of you? How do you know if the bond you have—or, rather, the bond you had—is truly worth fighting for? If you’re reflecting and trying to pick between two options of should you forgive a cheater or should you just cut your losses, there’s intel you can use to help: Below, relationship pros share six key traits of partnerships that signify there’s likely good stuff worth fighting for, even after someone cheated. Should you forgive a cheater? Pros say when relationships include the following 6 traits, you might want to consider it. 1. You’ve always been honest with each other “Always” may feel like a stretch right now, particularly if you’ve been blindsided by the news of your partner stepping out of the confines of your relationship agreement. Trust will need to need to be rebuilt—there’s no doubt about that. But if this event really feels uncharacteristic given your shared history, keep that in
Fatigue your entire upper body in just 6-minutes with this Pilates arm workout
February 24, 2020 at 12:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReP0UzlrkAo] There are a slew of different ways you can work your arms. You can turn to traditional strength training a la push-ups, hop onto a machine like an elliptical, try a boxing workout… or you can take a shortcut and try this Pilates arm workout that uses weights and slow movements for a killer burn. Triana Brown, our Trainer of the Month and Solidcore instructor, is taking us through an arm-quaking, Pilates-inspired upper body workout that will fatigue your muscles to failure (which is a good thing) in under 10 minutes. Though going slow might sound simple, as opposed to whizzing through bicep curls, it’ll make you feel every ounce of your upper body as it gets activated and stronger. It might feel challenging to work through, but you’ve got this. All you’ll need? A pair of light weights. Brown goes with five pound dumbbells, but grab whatever works for you… and get ready to feel the burn. Try this 5-move Pilates arm workout with weights 1. Dual-tricep kickback: Grab your weights and stand hip-width distance apart. Stagger your stance, puff up your chest, and brace your abs. Lift your elbows so that they’re nice and close to your ribs. Squeeze your triceps to extend at the elbow, and then slowly come back to bring your hands in line with your elbow. From there, extend back out nice and slow. Don’t arch your low back, and squeeze your abs throughout the
It’s not Halloween, but the new moon in Pisces might make you see ghosts this week
February 23, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC The week begins with a new moon in Pisces on February 23, which happens at 4 degrees in the sign of the fish. The intuitive, trance-like new moon evokes spirituality, creativity, and a sincere capacity to connect to art. Simultaneously, Venus in Aries squares Jupiter in Capricorn, inviting you to deepen your emotional intelligence and compassion by seeing drama in your life and tension in the world. With the sun and moon conjoined close to Mercury, this new moon continues to emphasize the lessons of patience and intuition we can learn from the planet’s retrograde transit. Pay attention to your dreams, visions, and desires; use art, music, and storytelling to open your tender heart. Resilience requires finding healing, transformation, and growth in areas that bring you pleasure, joy, and ease. Give yourself the space you need to nourish and nurture your creative spirit because doing so now pay dividends in the long-term. And of course, if it’s part of your practice, go ahead and do a new-moon ritual to nurture your spiritual connection. The new moon in Pisces wants you to get moving Given the lack planetary influence in the air signs during this new moon in Pisces, you may feel particularly heavy, especially with so many other planets in Capricorn. To counterbalance this, conjure air in your life. Open windows, burn incense, do transformational breath work, journal, go on a long walk outdoors. Even though a new moon suggests a time to
4 little-known realities of ‘resting B face’ that a body-language expert wants you to know
February 23, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC I woke up this morning with two creases between my eyebrows that were so deep, they might as well have been independently memorizing the philosophies of Nietzsche to share at an upcoming dinner party. This state of perma-furrow, thanks to some weird sleeping position I vow to never repeat, left me actually feeling frustrated rather than my everyday situation of just looking frustrated. You see, because I suffer from resting bitch face (RBF), I don’t need additional features or accessories to make me come across as less friendly—with the operative words here being “come across as.” That’s because I’m not actually unfriendly—it’s just, you know, the way my resting face looks. What I wish everyone would realize, though, when parsing answers to the question of what does RBF mean and what does it not is that there are many ways to convey emotions, and not all of them rely on what your face is doing. Supporting my contention that having RBF really has little if anything to do with actually having the attitude of a B is a recent study by Ohio State University, which points out that facial expressions don’t always show the full spectrum of what a person is feeling. So, what does RBF mean if not conveying a sense that the person sporting the expression is angry, unenthused, and unwelcoming? To help me fight the good fight against RBF stigma, below, a body-language expert explains the demystifies why RBF is received the
I’ve never gotten more compliments on my brows than when I paired these 2 treatments
February 23, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC Not gonna lie: My eyebrows have always been my favorite feature. Usually, I just zhuzh them in the mornings with some brow gel, and I’m off. But in the name of really trying out a full-on, full brow (without having to draw it on each morning), I decided to pair a brow tinting and brow lamination in a single service. If you’ve lusted after really strong boy brows while scrolling Instagram lately, it’s likely that you’ve been admiring the effects of brow lamination. To get brow hairs to stand up in place and look full, they’re combed and a chemical gel is applied to them, kind of like a perm. Once that step is complete, brows are dyed using a colorant that makes them look more pronounced. Photo: Rachel Lapidos | Graphic: Well+Good Creative “A brow tint combined with the lamination is a dynamic duo,” says Josh Beeler, lash and brow specialist with Shen Beauty in Brooklyn. “The brow lamination redirects the hairs and pushes them in whatever direction you want. In most cases, that’s up so that the brow looks fuller. The brow tint also fluffs up the individual hairs to make them look a little puffier.” Often, the people who need this treatment have brows that just need a little extra love, and this one-two punch treatment helps to deliver. “Brows can appear spotty sometimes, or not as full in some areas as others, but a tint fills in those holes