March 07, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC I dread the changing of the clocks at the end of winter because, let’s be honest, it’s the bad one. As terrible as it is, “spring forward” has to exist in order for us to have “fall back,” wherein you can have an extra hour of sleep. There can be no good without evil. On March 8 we have to face the evil and turn our clocks forward an hour. But on the bright side this means we get an extra hour of daytime. Since my face is going to be bathed in more sunlight than it has during the winter, I was curious if there were any tweaks I should make to my daytime skin-care routine. So I called in the experts. First up: sunscreen. It is skin-care canon that everyone should wear sunscreen every single day. Ninety percent of aging comes from unprotected UV exposure, dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, told Well+Good in a recent episode of Dear Derm. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLlrv7VBPPU] There are two types of sunscreen: chemical and physical. Dr. Gohara says that if you see words like avobenzone and octinoxate on the label, it’s a chemical sunscreen. She also notes that chemical sunscreens have that “piña colada” classic sunscreen smell. If you see zinc oxide or titanium dioxide on the label, it’s a dead giveaway that it’s a physical sunscreen. Chemical sunscreens work by being absorbed into the skin, while physical sunscreens form a physical barrier on the skin. There
Category: Beauty
How I’m preparing my skin-care routine for an extra hour of daytime
March 07, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC I dread the changing of the clocks at the end of winter because, let’s be honest, it’s the bad one. As terrible as it is, “spring forward” has to exist in order for us to have “fall back,” wherein you can have an extra hour of sleep. There can be no good without evil. On March 8 we have to face the evil and turn our clocks forward an hour. But on the bright side this means we get an extra hour of daytime. Since my face is going to be bathed in more sunlight than it has during the winter, I was curious if there were any tweaks I should make to my daytime skin-care routine. So I called in the experts. First up: sunscreen. It is skin-care canon that everyone should wear sunscreen every single day. Ninety percent of aging comes from unprotected UV exposure, dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, told Well+Good in a recent episode of Dear Derm. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLlrv7VBPPU] There are two types of sunscreen: chemical and physical. Dr. Gohara says that if you see words like avobenzone and octinoxate on the label, it’s a chemical sunscreen. She also notes that chemical sunscreens have that “piña colada” classic sunscreen smell. If you see zinc oxide or titanium dioxide on the label, it’s a dead giveaway that it’s a physical sunscreen. Chemical sunscreens work by being absorbed into the skin, while physical sunscreens form a physical barrier on the skin. There
Slept wrong? Try a professional stretchers 4 best moves for working out the knots
March 07, 2020 at 12:00PM by CWC Opening your eyes first-thing to realize you have a kink in your neck or back kinda gives a whole new meaning to “waking up on the wrong side of the bed.” You don’t have to go ahead and consider the day a wash, though. According to Keren Day, DC, a chiropractor and professional stretcher at Racked NYC, what you do next will make or break the time between now and your next sleep. “A common mistake people make when they wake up with aches and pains from sleeping in the wrong position is overcompensating with intense stretching,” says Dr. Day. It may seem like a contradiction, but taking the edge off your sleep borne pain is all about smart, simple stretching. “While it might be satisfying in the moment, avoid pushing into the area that hurts to the point of pain when moving or stretching as it can cause even more irritation,” says Dr. Day. Before you even think about doing a neck roll or a backstretch, though, Dr. Day recommends hopping in the shower. “This places systemic heat into the entire body and helps increase circulation through your body helping warm up the area that has become stiff,” she says. Once you’ve toweled off, going for an easy-peasy walk to relax your muscles and allow blood to flow throughout the entire body. Then (and only then!) are you ready to stretch. Dr. Day says that you should feel (almost) brand-new after you
Yoga has literally thousands of poses, but a stretching expert says this one unwinds every muscle
March 06, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC No one has an exact count of the number of asanas out there (it could be thousands or millions), but trainer and massage therapist Joe Yoon, author of the newly-released book Better Stretching, says that one pose outperforms the others when it comes to better mobility and flexibility: cat-cow stretch. “When I was a trainer, I thought ‘oh this is just a yoga move for the extension and flexion of the spine,” says Yoon. Once he started studying up on stretching, he learned that the movement works way (and I mean, way) more than just your vertebrae. “When I started to actually look at the movement, I noticed that you’re moving your shoulder blades into protraction and retraction, too,” says Yoon. “So it’s almost like you’re reaching for something and then when you’re dropping your chest down and pulling your shoulders down and back.” And that’s just what cat-cow does for your upper body. Cat-cow asks you to pull your chest forward (cow) then puff up your back (like an angry cat), but this move doesnt’ happen in isolation, it pulls the rest of the kinetic chain—your middle and lower body—along with it. For example, “It’s great for [alleviating] pelvic tilt. So your hips tuck under and then they arch. That’s another thing that people just don’t have awareness of,” says Yoon. But reader, this is just scratching the surface. Below, Yoon and yoga teacher Beth Cooke share the tiny cat-cow tweaks that can
This is the best type of foundation for every single skin type
March 06, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC The year is 2020, and we’ve reached the golden age of foundation. A product category that once referred only to thick, cakey face makeup now encompasses an entire range of complexion-perfecting products. And with the mass of options, finding the right one to meet your specific needs is easier than ever. “A foundation is a product that you apply to your entire face as a way to even skin tone and provide a clean, consistent canvas for your other products—like blush, bronzer, and highlighter,” says Leilah Mundt, founder and CEO of Crème Collective. “This can take the shape of a thin, light formula that will allow some natural skin to show to a more ‘full coverage’ product that creates an opaque finish.” But the expansiveness of the offerings on the market has created a problem: There are so many different options—Sephora currently has 260 foundations on their website and Target’s got 293—that sussing out what to use for your particular skin concerns can feel like a daunting task. To help you select the right one, we broke down the benefits of every type of foundation there is, and which you should be adding to your collection to celebrate the golden age of even-complected glory. Best for combination skin: water-based liquid Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Foundation, $64 Water-based foundations are like the little black dress of the beauty world: they’re great for everyone. Formulas have hydrating ingredients that make dry skin happy, and the
6 myths about COVID-19 doctors want you to stop believing
March 06, 2020 at 04:32PM by CWC In the three months since the first case of COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan, China, the headline-grabbing respiratory illness has circulated the globe with alarming speed. At press time, there have been more than 95,000 confirmed cases and nearly 3,400 deaths across 77 countries, and those numbers are climbing every day. It’s hard not to feel fear in such an uncertain climate, but experts worry that certain coronavirus facts can be hard to separate from fiction, and it’s causing people to worry unnecessarily. Public health officials don’t yet know much about the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, so given its swift proliferation, they’re taking serious steps to protect the public. In the U.S., for example, lawmakers signed an $8.3 billion dollar bill to provide emergency funds for a COVID-19 response, while counties and states are declaring public health emergencies so that they can respond more effectively to the crisis at hand. “There have been lots of rumors, unverified facts, and conspiracy theories that have been spread across the internet,” said Chi-Man (Winnie) Yip, PhD, professor of global health policy and economics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in a recent Harvard forum. Not only is unwarranted fear unhealthy for one’s mental state, but it can also cause people to take actions that cause more harm than good. “Immediately overnight, people buy up all the medicine, all the masks—which are actually not needed—and all the food,” said Dr. Yip. Here, we’ve rounded
4 freezer staples that make plant-based cooking so much easier
March 06, 2020 at 03:00AM by CWC It’s a common misconception that in order to eat a primarily plant-based diet, everything has to be fresh. While a crisper bursting with colorful produce is certainly welcome, it’s not the only way to make plants the primary part of your meals. A majorly helpful hack in making plant-based eating easy—especially when there’s no time to go to the store is keeping your freezer stocked with some versatile go-tos. “I think of the freezer as the new modern pantry,” says clinical nutritionist Sharon Brown, CN. “Frozen is the new pantry for modern cooks.” Brown says that she aims to make 90 percent of her diet plant-based and the other 10 percent from humanely raised proteins. Healthy plant-based frozen foods that make cooking easier 1. frozen fruit “I always have frozen fruit on hand to add to smoothies, grain-free hot cereals, grain-free pancakes and quick desserts,” Brown says. The cool (no pun intended) thing about frozen fruit—and veggies for that matter—is that they are flash frozen at peak ripeness, so you are still getting all the amazing nutritional benefits that you would from buying your fruit fresh from the fresh produce section of the grocery store. 2. frozen vegetables Brown says one of her easy, go-to dinners is bone broth with veggies. “Frozen vegetables are a must when you’re in a pinch,” she says. “Simply sautee them with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and the bone broth, which adds collagen to the meal.” 3.
A dermatologist is begging you to stop making these face-washing mistakes
March 05, 2020 at 11:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwMeaiiyzHo] Dermatologists are well-equipped to answer all of your skin-related brain busters, like, “what products should I be using if my skin is oily and dry?” “What’s the deal with topical collagen?” and “Do hair loss supplements actually work?” But the most common skin questions MDs get actually have to do with the most seemingly simple part of your routine. In the latest episode of Dear Derm, we asked board-certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, to spill the deets on the skin subjects her patients are frequently confused about. And the one that made the top of the list? The right way to wash your face. Washing your face the right way is the most important element of keeping your skin clean and healthy. While it may seem like an easy lather-and-rinse regimen is all you need, there are certain small things you should be doing when you cleanse that can make or break the effectiveness of your routine. For example, did you know that some cleansers need to stay on your face longer than others? Or that micellar water doesn’t actually wash your face? Because I, a beauty editor, did not. Dr. Gohara breaks down a whopping eight face-washing no-no’s in the video (click the vid above to see all of them!), but one that will truly blow your mind? “Soap” and “cleanser” are two totally different things, and one of them has no place on your skin. “Never, ever, ever, ever use a soap on your
Use the ‘hip to lip’ method to max out your fastest sprint ever
March 05, 2020 at 10:00PM by CWC Running gets written off as a leg-centric sport, and for good reason: pounding the pavement demands a lot of your quads, hamstrings, and hips. What people often forget, though, is that a powerful arm swing can shave seconds (or even minutes!) off your race pace. So to get your full body on board for lightning-fast miles, trainers recommend a little something called the “hip to lip” method to teach you how to swing your arms while running. “A proper arm swing counterbalances and stabilizes the body,” says Melissa Wolfe, a coach at New York City’s Mile High Run Club. “While one leg is driving upwards ahead of us and the opposite arm is driving back behind us—and vice versa. That balance is enabling us to move forward in a straight line.” When you drive your elbows back powerfully and then swing your arms up beside your face (the “hip to lip” method), your lower body reacts by kicking your heels up higher and creating a more forceful stride. “For sprint pacing, when we pump our arms faster our legs will also follow with a faster turnover.” Wolfe tells me that everyone’s body and running form is unique, but generally, two things will get in your way of performing the hip to lip swing. First, your arms should be swinging forward. “If you had an imaginary line down the center of your body, you’d want to keep your arms and hands from crossing to the other side,”
Have trouble asking for what you want during sex? This 5-minute exercise will help you communicate orgasmically
March 05, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC I’m in a room packed with strangers when I learn something new about myself: On a scale of 1 to 10, I prefer to be touched at a pressure that lands somewhere around a four. And I like a little bit of dragging-nail action, too. (Spicy! Who knew?!?) No, I’m not at an orgy or participating in some kind of innovative new workout. Rather, I’m taking a mindful sex workshop hosted by pleasure brand Dame, led by somatic psychologist and certified sex therapist Holly Richmond, LMFT, who says that for so many of us, communicating how we want to be touched is difficult for one key reason: We’ve never actually asked ourselves what turns us on, which makes knowing how to ask for what you want in bed extra complicated. “It sounds so simple to ask for what we want in sex, but it’s so hard,” says Richmond. “We always have to be open if we are in long-term relationships so that when our partner’s preferences change, our feelings won’t get hurt when they ask for someone different.” As challenging as it is to voice what you want, research confirms the point that—particularly in the case of longer-term sexual relationships—it’s a beyond-vital skill. Take a 2016 study published in the Journal of Sex Research, which found that rates of “sexual satisfaction and maintenance of passion were higher among people who had sex most frequently, received more oral sex, had more consistent orgasms, and