May 07, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC I remember the day my Somnox Sleep Robot, a jelly-bean-shaped mechanical pillow I promptly named Frances Bean Garis, was delivered to me. It came with a little blank birth certificate and I, completely baffled, plugged it into a charger. You know, like an iPhone. Or an iPad. Or any number of iThings, that are emotionless, digital, rectangular bits of high-grade plastic. So imagine my shock when once plugged in, it started breathing. “It’s sentient,” I thought as I jumped back. Turns out, it’s not sentient—just a little more personable than other sleep-promoting interventions, like, say, a red night light. The strangely adorable Sleep Robot was developed to help people fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up more rested. While those may seem like simple goals to achieve, consider that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 1 in 3 people don’t get enough sleep and a survey of nearly 1,500 Well+Good readers found that 92 percent feel fatigued more than once a week. The general vibe is that we’re tired—and we’re tired of being tired. So, I sought to find out whether sleeping with Frances Bean could help. How does a Sleep Robot even work? Upon first thought, I assumed I’d be spooning with some Bicentennial Man–inspired creature every night, and with all due respect to Robin Williams…no. In reality, the Somnox Sleep Robot is more like a digitized, faceless stuffed animal with extras. It has a carbon-dioxide sensor to
Category: 2019 Health
The healthiest things to order at the sushi bar, according to a registered dietitian
May 07, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icSqwrDvyN4] While hitting up your fave sushi bar can be v enjoyable, it’s also low-key overwhelming. Salmon or tuna? White rice or brown? To keep your meal healthy, you have to order strategically—and we’re here to help. In our latest installment of You Versus Food, Well+Good’s video series on all things nutrition, registered dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman shares her healthy take on the best sushi order. Read this, bookmark this, and then definitely text your friend about getting sushi for dinner tonight. Because if this doesn’t make you hungry, I don’t know what will. The best sushi appetizers “Before you even touch your sushi roll, I recommend starting strong with some apps,” Beckerman says. Here are her favorites: 1. Edamame. Beckerman says this filling option is low in fat, high in fiber, and contains all nine essential amino acids (a bonus if you’re on a plant-based diet). Thanks to edamame’s tough outer pod, Beckerman says eating this dish also helps you slow down a little bit while munching—which can be “a peaceful and calming way to kick off the meal.” 2. Miso soup. Beckerman also recommends miso soup as part of your sushi order. The tofu and seaweed it contains add more antioxidants and nutrients to your meal, she says. (FYI: The broth can be a bit high in sodium, so have a smaller portion if you’re sensitive to salt.) 3. Seaweed or house salad. Both will give you a hearty does
5 weeks to happiness? This online course is designed to reduce stress and boost satisfaction
May 07, 2019 at 11:58AM by CWC People shake their fists at the fact that none of us make it out of school with “practical” knowledge (like how to do taxes or invest in the stock market). Personally, though, I’ve always wondered why curriculum doesn’t include strategies for finding the nine-letter feeling we all crave like avocado toast on a Saturday morning: happiness. Finally, online classes are cropping up to do just that, and a new study suggests that, to some degree, happiness is a choice. A brand-new study published in Health Journal found that hundreds of caregivers in charge of watching over loved ones suffering from dementia greatly benefited from a course in gratitude, reports NPR. The eight gleeful techniques they learned include: mindfulness; “reframing” the less-than-fun aspects of life; reflecting on strengths; sharing a positive event on social media; finding one positive thing to give thanks for each day; performing acts of kindness; deep breathing, and setting goals. Over the course of five weeks, depression scores of participants went down 16 percent and their anxiety scores also decreased by 14 percent. “These skills can definitely help people, no matter what type of stress they are experiencing, even if it is ‘minor’ everyday stress.” “These skills can definitely help people, no matter what type of stress they are experiencing, even if it is ‘minor’ everyday stress,” Judith Moskowitz, PhD, who designed the class, told NPR. Best of all, the researcher points out that what you really have here is a
The super sneaky ways that working out can bring on bloating
May 07, 2019 at 11:48AM by CWC After a particularly grueling workout, I usually expect to feel strong and ready to take on the world. But every once in a while, I’ll hop off the mat and instead of feeling ready to go, I sort of feel like I need to take a beat, because I’m little bloated. And I’ve gotta ask: WTF? Can exercise result in bloating? In a word: yes. However, some modalities are more apt to leave you feeling meh than others. “While most styles of workouts can help us reduce our bloating, there are few types that can cause bloating—the biggest culprit is HIIT,” says Ally McKinney, Gold’s Gym certified personal trainer. “As we build in intensity, our breathing can become very forceful. In these moments we can actually fill our stomach, along with our lungs, full of air. Once air gets trapped in our stomachs, it will be retained for some time and cause that post workout bloat.” Another reason why your HIIT workouts could be leading to bloating is because of the stress they cause to your body. “When we reach a new level or try a more stressful workout our body will respond by releasing cortisol, and cortisol loves to disrupt our digestive functioning and can cause bloating,” says McKinney. Take a look at what you’re eating More than what you’re doing on the mat, however, what you choose to fuel yourself with ahead of time can also make a difference. “Are you eating
Of the thousands of skin-care products on Amazon, these are the six a derm would buy
May 07, 2019 at 11:21AM by CWC As much as I love Amazon, I can get pretty, prett-ay (as Larry David says) overwhelmed with its selection of goodies. More specifically, the amount of incredible beauty buys you can find on the mega-site. If you pull up the beauty section, you’re met with zillions of SKUs that all promise to beautify your complexion, all with a simple click of “add to cart.” So help navigate the massive selection, I tapped a dermatologist to help me shop. Her advice? “I like to search these products in order of how I would apply products in actuality—cleanser, moisturizer/sunscreen, and then a night cream/anti-aging cream or mask,” says Rachel Nazarian, MD, board-certified dermatologist with New York’s Schweiger Dermatology. “I look for active ingredients which I know have evidence-based results, and then cross check with the reviews and stars. This ensures the product has ingredients that I know are effective but also that the product’s well made.” Derms—they’re just like us! That means she’s looking at skin-care MVPs like vitamin C, retinol, and—of course—a solid SPF. Ready to shop Amazon’s beauty products with a pro? Below are Dr. Nazarian’s six skin-care picks from Amazon. Photo: Dove Dove Sensitive Skin Beauty Bar, $3 “This gentle cleanser is unscented, so much less likely to cause irritation than other more aggressive soaps,” says Dr. Nazarian. “It also doesn’t strip away natural skin or oils, and is great for year-round use. A perfect gentle cleanser to use twice a day, setting the
Neon shoes will light the way forward this summer
May 07, 2019 at 11:18AM by CWC As a kid, neon-themed school dances were my jam. Who can forget the American Apparel acid pink tights that made girls look like they were walking on highlighters? At Monday’s Met Gala, Serena Williams cast a shadow on the looks of electric-sliding middle schoolers everywhere with a pair of neon Nike x Off-White Air Force One sneakers peeking out from beneath her Versace gown. Meaning, love, 15, 30, 40… we’re all game for neon shoes. To be fair, the vibrant look isn’t exactly “new.” Neon had a moment in the summer of 2018 as well as in the otherwise bleak months of winter. But like all fashion breakthroughs, Williams showed us a new way to rock it. No, we can’t all go meet up with Versace for a who-knows-how-expensive custom design, but we can take our neon kicks into more formal settings. (You know, date night, dinner parties, and dance class.) View this post on Instagram #MetGala 2019. Co-Chair of CAMP. Thank you @versace for bringing camp to the carpet and @audemarspiguet for keeping me on time. A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on May 7, 2019 at 6:05am PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js However you prefer to wear your neon—splashed on flats, sandals, or sneakers—we’ve got a standout #lewk you can add to your closet. At first, you might feel shy about sporting yours in public, but just remember, every glow stick has to be broken (in) before it shines. So don’t be
Everything you need to know about growing your own herbs
May 07, 2019 at 11:06AM by CWC I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who has a glorious indoor herb garden. For as much as I cook, it would be really rewarding to use a fresh batch collected from my own garden instead of using the overpriced little bunches at the grocery store. Clipping a few fresh sprigs of basil for an heirloom tomato salad—it doesn’t get any better than that. There’s not a lot of room to grow your own greens when you live in a tiny apartment without outdoor space, but you don’t need a yard or a green thumb to learn how to grow basil and other herbs. One master of all herb-related indoor farming is Joanna Gaines. The host of Fixer Upper is a big fan of bringing homegrown options to the table, and she recently shared some of her top tips on doing just that on her blog. To make the process as easy as possible, she first recommends ditching the seeds and going with something that’s already thriving from a nursery or garden center. Then after re-potting the herbs into bigger containers, the rest is making sure you provide them with the two things they need to thrive. “Full sun and moist soil are ideal growing conditions for basil plants,” Gaines writes. “You can use basil to make homemade pesto, infuse oils, top a homemade pizza, or add to soups.” If there’s not a good spot in your home that brings in a
The definitive ranking of every alt-pasta at Trader Joe’s because #carbs
May 07, 2019 at 10:23AM by CWC Pasta has been my favorite food since childhood, and my love of carbs has only gotten stronger now that I’m a grown-up. I spend an inordinate amount of time scanning the Trader Joe’s pasta section, thinking about all the meals I can make throughout the week. The only thing that’s changed since my days of smashing spaghetti in a high-chair while sporting a bib covered in sauce is the wide variety of protein-packed alt-pastas. They says if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, lucky me, I spent a whole week eating every alt-pasta from Trader Joe’s. Alt-pastas have taken the food industry by storm. White or wheat has turned into a long list of healthier options that utilize mostly gluten-free ingredients to get that same beloved taste and texture. While brands like Banza and Explore Cuisine were at the forefront of the trend, with chickpea penne and edamame spaghetti, traditional companies like Barilla now sells a line of legume pastas. But when it comes to price and taste, it’s hard to beat Trader Joe’s, which offers high-quality products made from organic ingredients. Here’s exactly what to expect from the alt-pasta section before your next trip to the Trader Joe’s: The definitive ranking of all 10 Trader Joe’s pasta alternatives Photo: Trader Joe’s 10. Organic brown rice spaghetti pasta I love spaghetti, so I wasn’t sure what I would think of this brown rice Trader Joe’s
If my brows and I were stranded on a desert island, this is the only product we’d take
May 07, 2019 at 10:16AM by CWC My eyebrow has a cowlick. Yes, that’s a thing, and no, there is literally nothing I can do about it. It’s on the inner corner of my left brow, and is a smattering of sparse, rogue hairs that stick straight up instead of going in the same direction as all of its other colleagues. It’s been there for my entire life, and while I’ve more or less gotten used to it, it still makes me a little miffed whenever I look in the mirror. I’ve tried trimming it, partially tweezing it, and the next-level extreme of waxing it completely off, until finally I reached the fifth and final stage of grief and just learned to accept it. C’est la vie, amiright? Shortly after I’d resigned myself to my slightly wonky-looking fate, celebrity eyebrow artist Joey Healy introduced me to his namesake Brow Lacquer ($28), and the game was changed forever. Healy has worked on the brows of A-listers like Hilaria Baldwin and Vanessa Hudgens (and, on two of the best days of my life, Z-lister me), and has his own line of products to keep their (and everyone else’s) brows on fleek between appointments. I like to refer to the lacquer as my “triple-threat” brow product, because with one swipe it does all of the things that I normally need three different products to use. It slicks my rogue cowlick hairs in the right direction while defining each hair, and actually holds them
Sex feeling… less than orgasmic? Your period could be to blame
May 07, 2019 at 10:05AM by CWC To be frank, sex doesn’t always feel amazing—even with CBD lube and the most skilled of partners. One possible reason for this? Your hormone cycle. (Surprise, surprise.) Your reproductive hormones (the ones that govern your menstrual cycle and all that jazz) can actually affect how pleasurable sex is. “Sex can feel differently depending on which point of your menstrual cycle you’re in,” says Richard Firshein, MD, leading expert in integrative and precision-based medicine and founder of Firshein Center. “Something might be enjoyable during ovulation—mid-cycle—but could be way less comfortable towards the end of your menstrual cycle or towards your period.” That’s because those hormone shifts create some physiological changes that make sex feel more or less pleasurable. Pre-ovulation, your body is priming you for pregnancy, says Julie Von, MD, a holistic fertility doctor—so sex is more likely to feel freaking fantastic. “Up to and around ovulation, vaginal lubrication and cervical fluid is greatly increased,” says Dr. Firshein. “That natural lubrication can make sex more comfortable and pleasurable.” You’re also more likely to have an orgasm during this time, he says, because of the normal changes in hormones like estrogen and progesterone. Going farther south on the anatomical ladder, Dr. Firshein says there is some research that suggests “the clitoris increases in size from about the fifth day prior to ovulation,” he says, which should make it easier to stimulate and therefore more pleasurable. (However, for some people, he says the sensation may be a bit