April 23, 2019 at 08:01AM by CWC While making an appointment with your primary-care physician is a no-brainer when you’re not feeling well, deciding to go to therapy, especially for the first time, can feel like a big step, especially if you typically work through personal and emotional issues on your own or by talking them through with friends and family. But sometimes, going at it alone or even calling in opinions of loved ones isn’t enough to resolve the issues completely. Sometimes, a specially trained, neutral third-party source may just be, well, what the doctor ordered. But even if you wonder whether you might benefit (or even really need) therapy, psychologist Simon Rego, PsyD, says many waffle about actually scheduling an appointment. Here’s the thing: Mental-health experts say that if you think you might need therapy, you probably do. “If you have an inclination to see a therapist, it’s a good idea to give it a try,” says psychologist Paul Coleman, PsyD. “If you have an inclination to see a therapist, it’s a good idea to give it a try.” —psychologist Paul Coleman, PsyD And psychiatrist Cecilia Livesey, MD, agrees, adding that it’s been shown to be an effective method that poses few downsides: “Therapy is also a chance to have a healthy, non-judgmental, trusting relationship with someone who is completely focused on helping you understand yourself and realize your goals. In today’s busy world, it can feel like an oasis.” Instead of wondering whether you’d benefit from therapy,
Category: 2019 Health
5 easy-to-digest dinners to help you drift off to sleep without late-night bloat
April 23, 2019 at 07:52AM by CWC There are some celebrities—regardless of gender—that really make you think: Man, what do they eat?! Chances are, this is one (of many) thoughts that will run through your head when you take a look at Chris Hemsworth. Australian news site Nine got the low-down on what the Avengers: Endgame star uses for fuel straight from his chef, food expert Sergio Perera. While he says Hemsworth isn’t exactly a picky eater, there are a few rules he follows using easy-to-digest-foods. “Always aim for wholesome and nutrient-dense foods; always fresh and bright,” says Perera. “Limit the use of boxed and processed foods.” (The exceptions are high-quality protein powders and supplements.) Perera also has some specific recommendations for recipes on nights when you get home late (you know, after a long day of fighting bad guys). You want to satisfy your grumbling stomach, but you don’t want to be up all night digesting your meal. So what does he recommend on these nights? Seafood. “I feel that for night time, easier proteins such as seafood is much better to process and assimilate before going to bed,” he says, specifically calling out salmon, trout, sardines, mackerel, shrimp, scallops squid, and mussels. (Not-so-surprising fun fact: Perera is from Spain, in the Mediterranean region.) 5 seafood dinners using easy-to-digest foods Photo: The Iron You 1. Easy ginger, chili, and lemon salmon As Perera points out, when eating a late night meal, making something that’s easy on your digestive system
Can’t touch your toes? These 8 flexibility moves will get you there
April 23, 2019 at 07:00AM by CWC Remember being a kid, and sitting in a straddle while watching TV, or just being able to bend over and tie your shoes without wincing a little? If those fleeting memories of flawless flexibility feel like a lifetime ago, it’s time to reclaim your flexibility. “Flexibility is imperative to the overall functioning of our bodies and our lives,” says Bethany Lyons, founder and CEO of Lyons Den Power Yoga. “If you want to be able to stand up straight and maintain good spinal function and posture, your quadriceps, hip flexors, and hamstrings must be able to move enough to be able to accommodate this. And if you want to be able to pick up your kids, your groceries, or anything that drops on the floor, you need to have the functional flexibility to be able to do so.” Most people associate flexibility with yogis, dancers, or gymnasts—and power to them all—but flexibility is about more than being bendy. By stretching just a little bit a day, even if you have super tight muscles and think you’re not good at stretching, you’ll improve your posture and range of motion, and will decrease your chances of injury. 8 moves to loosen up your hamstrings, quadriceps, and hip flexors. https://content.jwplatform.com/players/np12lrKz-dUl83MEz.js 1. Downward dog with across stretch Start in downward-facing dog, with the hands shoulder-width distance apart, the toes tucked, and the hips back and lifted. Hold for five full breaths, then take the right hand across
If you’re sore all the time, chances are you’re overtraining—here’s how to fix that
April 23, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC “You’re overtraining,” was the first thing celebrity fitness trainer Harley Pasternak (who’s worked with Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, and Rihanna) told me upon meeting him. It’s not because I’m super ripped or anything, but after explaining my current workout regimen to him, he shook his head, and told me to cool it. What was the grand clue? I wake up every single day and am sore. “Prolonged muscle soreness is a big warning of overtraining,” says Pasternak, who personally does strength training three days a week supplemented with walking everywhere. “Resistance exercise is like taking antibiotics. You need a specific dose, for a specific duration, at a specific intensity. So if the doctor says take one for the next ten days, and you try taking two a day for five days to work faster, it’s not going to.” “If you tear the muscles and then 48 hours later tear them again (and again), you create macro tears.” —Harley Pasternak So, yeah—I’m not looking to sabotage all this hard work I’m putting into in my fitness game. Not only that, but overtraining can even potentially lead to injury. “Strength training and plyometric are designed to challenge a muscle and muscle groups enough where you overload it,” says Pasternak. “When you overload, you’re tearing the fibers—which is a good thing. They’re mico-tears, and when they heal, they heal stronger than before. But if you tear the muscles and then 48 hours later tear them again,
On the cusp: What being an Aries-Taurus cocktail means for your astrological personality
April 23, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC As a late-April baby, I’m well aware of my Taurus zodiac status, but I’ve also always sensed that I teeter along the Aries-Taurus cusp. I’m down with being a bull, but nearly every “who you are, according to your zodiac sign” article makes me feel like either the stars are wrong, or I might be infused with some Aries energy. According to astrologer Stefanie Iris Weiss, I’m not wrong: Aries season gave way to Taurus on April 20, and my birthday isn’t far behind—and that timeline is, indeed, astrologically significant. “The important thing to know about being ‘born on the cusp’ is that you’re always one sign or the other.” Weiss says. “The difference is that if you’re an Aries born at the very end of the sign, you’re a Taurus-flavored Aries. If you’re born at the very beginning of Taurus season, you’re an Aries-flavored Taurus. But you’re definitely one sign or the other.” “To use the cocktail analogy, an Aries-flavored Taurus might like a bit of spice in her more floral cocktail, whereas a Taurus-flavored Aries might like a floral note in her otherwise spicy Bloody Mary.” —Stefanie Iris Weiss, astrologer If you’re born between April 17 and 23, you could indeed be an Aries-Taurus cocktail, and below, Weiss breaks down exactly what that may mean for you. As a refresher, here are the traits of an Aries Rams are far more fiery than the bulls, as they are very much literally
Trail running made me feel like a beginner in a sport that I felt like I’d mastered
April 22, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC I felt as though I was barely moving. I wanted to stop. I most definitely wanted to cry. The original invitation to participate in an all-ladies run camp in Ibiza sounded like a dream: Run through beautiful landscapes, learn how to properly recover, connect with other like-minded women. Check, check, check—I was down for all of it. Fast forward a month later, and there I was, alone, and running to the soundtrack of my breath in the steep, rocky Spanish mountains. It wasn’t as though I wasn’t prepared. Roughly five days a week at home, I start my day on foot. I’m a seven-time marathoner, including last year’s Boston, which was all sorts of apocalyptic with 20-to-30 mile-per-hour headwinds and a windchill in the 20s. Those 26.2 miles were arguably the hardest that I’ve ever earned, and they instilled in me that I can accomplish anything that I set my mind to. Yet, mentally on a 64-degree day with the sun shining down, I felt as though I was back on Heartbreak Hill. With inclines topping anything I’d ever tackled on a treadmill at Equinox, I had fallen behind the leaders of our group, but managed to stay ahead of the back of the pack. Even though I’d been on trail runs before, it was nothing like the task at hand. The views surrounding me were stunning, but I felt my chest getting tighter with each stride. Every single time I had a
10 tips to align your mind, body, and spirt when regular life blows up your balance
April 22, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC Between work, friends, family, and numerous other adult things—like, oh, a side hustle, self care, and sleep, to name a few—it’s very easy for the mind, body, and spirit to get, or at least feel, off-balance. To be honest, it’s a near inevitable aspect of being a human. And the key to getting back into alignment? Having key tools available to help you out whenever you need them. Or better yet, resolving to incorporate these strategies into daily rituals. Below, Kelsey Patel, a Los Angeles-based reiki master, meditation teacher, and Well+Good Council member, shares her go-to tips and tools for balancing the mind, body, and spirit like a total pro. Read on for a reiki master’s tips to balance the mind, body, and soul. 1. Meditate in a way that works for you It’s no secret that a meditation sesh can help center you, regardless of what’s going on. But if the idea of sitting still isn’t your thing, Patel recommends just tossing a small ball between both hands as you take some deep, cleansing breaths. This allows you to focus your attention on something other than overwhelming thoughts, feelings of anxiety, or anything else you may be navigating. 2. Do a breath-work ritual Breath work is another powerful practice to restore alignment, Patel says. One easy practice she recommends starts with you placing your right hand underneath your left armpit, leaving your thumb sticking out, and doing the same with the opposite
If an acne treatment and concealer had a baby, it’d be these 6 zit-zapping formulas
April 22, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC I dab my trusty concealer on my face for a number of reasons, like hiding dark circles, covering up skin redness, or blurring my post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. The most common reason, though? Concealer is my number one weapon for camouflaging any rogue, monster zits that sprout up on my face uninvited. But with the rise of makeup that has skin-boosting benefits—like foundations that double as skin care or mascaras that can make your lashes grow longer—I don’t want to just dab on any ol’ concealer: I hereby declare that the only way to conceal a zit is to use a concealer that also fights acne. Yes, this is a real product that exists; No, it is not too good to be true. Since one of the main reasons why people use concealer is to hide pimples, it makes sense that product formulators began spiking the stuff with antibacterial zit killers like salicylic acid or tea tree oil. “Salicylic acid breaks down dead skin cells, so it unclogs pores and helps to clear up a pimple faster,” says Shirley Chi, MD, a California-based dermatologist. “So once a pimple comes up, if you put salicylic acid on it, it could make it go away a little faster.” So as you’re masking your acne with creamy coverage, opt for the makeup bag essential that’s going to work double duty so you can shrink your zits at the same time—rather than just sitting on top of your skin to
5 sweaty AF Tabata workouts with more than 200K views on YouTube
April 22, 2019 at 12:45PM by CWC In the world of fitness, HIIT (high-intensity interval training) is a precious DIY gem. By adjusting the time and content of your intervals, you can spice up your workouts and design them to target every muscle from your nose to your toes. For the noble cause of burning out your muscle groups, no breed of HIIT is better than Tabata workouts. “Tabata workouts are high intensity interval workouts that take as little as four minutes to complete,” says Mauro S. Maietta, trainer and district fitness manager for Crunch Fitness. “They can be done in a gym, outside a gym, and with or without equipment. They are broken up in to 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for eight rounds.” You can then stack round after round of the 4-minute workout together to make your gym routine as long as you so desire. Don’t let their relatively short duration fool you. Tabata is i-n-t-e-n-s-e. And if you follow your increments to the letter—super effective. Phil Timmons, a trainer at Blink Fitness, tells me that doing these types of workouts two to three times a week can improve your endurance and boost your metabolism for the 24 to 36 hours following the HIIT session. Before you try Tabata on for size, Timmons has a few words to the wise. (Sorry, unintentional rhyme!) “The 20 seconds of high intensity effort needs to be at perceived max effort for the individual,” says Timmons. “Due
OK, TMI: Here’s why you queef during sex (and yoga)
April 22, 2019 at 12:11PM by CWC If I asked the members of my yogi group text message to spill their most embarrassing vinyasa stories right this minute, I’d wind up with a robust list of #yogafails. Farting, falling flat on your face in crow pose, and out-of-tune Oms—these are casual occurrences that happen when you unroll your mat. And so is queefing. Vaginal flatulence happens in the studio for the same exact reason it happens during sex, says Adeeti Gupta, MD, founder of Walk In GYN Care in New York City. “Sometimes you’re sucking in your abs while also squeezing your pelvic muscles (like Kegels) during exercise,” explains the OB/GYN. “That could suck in air which then gets released with the change in vaginal or abdominal pressure.” You move from cobra to downward facing dog and, before ya know it, you’ve expelled the tiniest “poofff” without ever moving into wind-relieving pose. (It’s a real thing!) Similarly, when couples are in the throes of passion, the individual (or individuals) being penetrated are likely to queef because air is being actively pushed into the vaginal opening. “It can happen if air gets trapped in the vagina, if the penis comes in and out. Or even if it doesn’t, air could get trapped with the movement,” says Dr. Gupta. Sure it’s embarrassing, but sex writ large rarely looks like it does in the movies. “Sex involves bodies, and bodies do weird things sometimes,” states Planned Parenthood’s website. “Even if queefing sounds kind