May 09, 2019 at 05:00AM by CWC Since I have my skin-care routine on lock by now, most of the beauty experimenting that I do happens in the shower. So when it comes to my shower beauty regimen, I get wild and am constantly cycling through different body washes, body lotions, scrubs, soaps—and the list goes on. One peek behind my shower curtain and you’ll find clouds of bubbles or even remnants of coffee, cacao, or Himalayan salt lining the tub, all in the name of research. And…I don’t hate it. One of the best places to score all these concoctions to try out? Ulta. For your shower enjoyment, I’ve rounded up my favorite personal care products from the beauty mecca that don’t top $15. Photo: Pursoma Pursoma Flawless Flora Body Polish, $15 The luxe bath and shower brand just launched in Ulta stores, which is majorly good news. This beautifully-smelling hibiscus body scrub uses the flower to rejuvenate and strengthen the skin. Photo: Mario Badescu Mario Badescu A.H.A. Botanical Body Soap, $8 I love a good chemical exfoliant, and this one works wonders on a flaky bod (or a bod covered in dead skin cells from the driest month). It’s got exfoliating fruit extracts that slough off all of that roughness to reveal baby-soft skin. Photo: Iroha Iroha Repairing Peach Foot Mask Socks, $9 I know these are funky, but hear me out: I slip these on post-shower as I’m doing my long skin-care routine. Once 15 minutes are up, I
Category: Relaxation
I got into bed with a sleep robot for 3 weeks and have never known deeper love—or rest
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
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
How belly breathing can help you activate untapped energy in your workout
May 07, 2019 at 06:00AM by CWC I was in a Pilates class the other day when my instructor suddenly stopped me and said: “You need to be breathing out of your diaphragm.” It’s something I’ve been told to do before in yoga or meditation classes, but have never quite been able to nail it. As all the pros say, though, diaphragmatic breathing can be incredibly helpful. It differs from shallow or thoracic breathing because it’s all about drawing inhales through your nose and all the way down the stomach. As a result, it has a deeper effect. “When the diaphragm contracts and moves lower, the chest cavity enlarges, reducing the pressure inside the lungs,” says Payel Gupta, MD, a New York City-based allergist and immunologist. “It allows us to inhale and take a deeper breath in. When we take a deep breath, we use our diaphragm even more, and the diaphragm moves down further and allows more room for the lungs to expand and for more air to enter into our lungs.” As a result of breathing more conscientiously and deeply, more oxygen begins flowing throughout your body. Because of this newfound air flow and slowing down of the breath, it has a soothing effect on your nerves. “There’s some thought that deep breathing is a way of interrupting the fight-or-flight response and triggering the body’s normal relaxation response,” says Dr. Gupta—hence why she points out that it’s particularly recommended and useful during a yoga practice, meditation, or simply when
We’re calling it: Magnesium is officially the new melatonin
May 07, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC As a society, our collective stress levels are, well, not great. (Need I remind you that 95 percent of Well+Good readers reported feeling stressed in a 2018 survey?) Is it any wonder that the CBD trend has reached new heights in popularity? We know we need to chill out—we just need a little help doing so. And while five years ago stressed people might have turned to melatonin to help them sleep (and perhaps now, it’s CBD), more and more people are better starting to understand the perks of magnesium. “Magnesium is a mineral that is part of many metabolic processes in the body,” says neuroscientist Tara Swart, MD. “We need it just as much as we need all the essential vitamins and minerals.” Some of its benefits include supporting higher brain function and helping produce melatonin for a better night’s rest. But the nutrient doesn’t just help the mind recover; it helps muscles recover, too. “One of its primary roles is to regulate muscle function,” says Nick Bitz, ND, a licensed, board-certified naturopathic doctor and the chief scientific officer at Youtheory. “Whereas calcium is needed for muscles to contract, magnesium is needed for muscles to relax. So if your body is low in magnesium, your muscles will stay contracted, resulting in muscle tightness and cramps.” While certainly a person could take a magnesium supplement if they so chose (with their practitioner’s blessing, of course), a lot of brands are taking the mineral to
Get in bed with the sleep hypnosis meditation that’s one of Apple’s top health podcasts
May 06, 2019 at 08:38AM by CWC Oh, sleep. How is it that a single syllable contains so much meaning and causes the human population so much grief? Feeling tired all the time seems to be the collective mood of the 21st century. So many of us are in relentless pursuit of a good night’s rest. And if Apple’s trending podcasts are any indication, sleep hypnosis meditation is the audible solution we’ve all been dreaming of. Being the wellness podcast nerd that I am, I often scroll through Apple’s top 100 podcasts just for fun. It’s there that I first noticed an episode called “Autogenic Relaxation for Sleep,” which has been dominating the list for a few weeks (by my count). The 15-minute sequence was created by Meditation Oasis, and involves drawing attention to how each of your body parts feel from head to toe (e.g., my hips are warm and heavy) as you’re lying between your heavenly soft sheets. Calming music rounds out the listening experience. Autogenic relaxation is a method developed by psychiatrists defined as “a technique which involves progressive relaxation of the extremities, heartbeat stabilization, and maintenance of slow, deep breaths,” according to anxiety.org. If you’ve ever done a body scan in yoga class or tried the U.S. army’s technique for falling asleep, you’re familiar with the mesmerizing process of checking in with each and every extremity. A 2002 meta-analysis of 73 studies found autogenic relaxation useful for treating sleep disorders, as well as hypertension, migraines, and
This 20-week training plan can get any runner through their first marathon
May 05, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC So. You want to run a marathon. First of all, congratulations! Second of all, it’s time to get to work. The thought of pounding the pavement for 26 (.2) straight miles can feel nothing short of overwhelming, but with a proper routine in place, there’s no doubt that you can do it. If this is your first rodeo, a 20-week marathon training plan is a great way to make it happen. “The best candidates for a 20-week plan are folks who are training for their very first marathon, those who want a more gradual mileage buildup, those who are returning to the marathon distance after some time off, and those who can use help establishing some structure into their running lives,” says New York Road Runners (NYRR) coach Melanie Kahn. “The biggest benefit of a 20-week plan is more time to get a really solid foundation under you. Think of building a house for a second: the stronger the foundation, the stronger the overall structure of the building. The same thing applies in running.” Here, she shares everything you need to know so you can hit the ground running for the next 20 weeks. Literally. Plan your training Once your timeline is in place, it’s all about picking the proper plan—and there are a lot of options out there. The NYRR virtual training plan, for example, starts you out with four weeks of “base-building miles” in order to help you establish a solid aerobic base and
Apparently no one knows what a vulva is—so we made this reproductive-themed glossary for your reference
May 02, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC Here’s a non sequitur to trot out at your next party: According to dictionary.com, searches for “vulva” are up 817 percent in 2019. Which, what? How do we not know what this is by now? If you’re a person with a vagina, we think it’s incredibly important that you know your bits like the back of your hand—especially since your reproductive system (of which the vulva is a part!) has huge implications for your overall health and well-being. So with the help of Carolyn DeLucia, MD, FACOG, resident OB/GYN at VSPOT in New York City, we’re here to walk you through the ABCs of your nether regions. So sit back, relax, and remember this female reproductive system anatomy for good. Check out this diagram of the female reproductive system, and then read on for the full definitions of everything you’ve got going on ~down there~. Photo: W+G Creative Anus When you call someone a butthole…well, you’re really calling them an anus. It’s the opening to the rectum and large intestine where solid waste comes out, and is separated from the vagina by a centimeters-long strip of skin called the perineum. (It can also be a place to incorporate into foreplay and beyond.) Cervix The cervix is the mouth of the uterus, says Dr. DeLucia, acting as a canal between the vagina and the rest of the uterus. Semen passes through here during unprotected sex in order to potentially fertilize a mature egg in the
Real talk: Which are more effective sit ups or crunches?
May 01, 2019 at 01:05PM by CWC Crunches and sit ups are the Dax Sheppard and Zach Braff of core exercises. Sure, sure, they’re both superstars, but I probably couldn’t tell the difference between which one was in Scrubs and which one just so happened to be the Armchair Expert. And the same kinda goes for the blockbuster abs-quaking exercises: I know which is which, but not so much the difference between what crunches and sit ups target, anyways. The terms tend to be used interchangeably when most people talk about “ab exercises.” But actually, they’re two totally different things, which, I’m going to admit, is pretty confusing. “From the starting position, these exercises look very similar,” says Tone House Head Coach Joe Rodonis. “The main difference is the range of motion between the two. The crunch is more of an isolated movement on the core; only requiring you to raise your head and shoulder blades off the ground. While the sit up requires more range of motion and activates other stabilizing muscles. With a sit up, you activate your hip flexors, for example, and will raise your torso off the ground.” Both moves work your core, but in different ways—crunches are made up of smaller movements to hit more targeted muscles, while sit ups require a full up-and-down range of motion. Here, Rodonis breaks things down even further to explain when to do which move. Crunches Don’t let the itty-bitty movements that crunches require fool you—these things mean business.
Hit the reset button with our 30-day mental wellness challenge
May 01, 2019 at 11:13AM by CWC Show me a person who’s never felt stressed or down in the dumps. No really, I’d like to meet that glittery rainbow unicorn. And so would the Well+Good reader, 95 percent of whom reported being stressed in a 2018 survey. It’s Mental Health Awareness Month, which means that it’s the perfect time to re-prioritize our mental well-being. That’s why we created a 30-day Mental Wellness Challenge: a month’s worth of daily tasks designed to help you prioritize your mental wellness needs. “The data shows that small changes build up. When we notice ourselves making changes to feel better, we start to feel better,” says Natalie Dattilo, Ph.D., director of psychology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry and a member of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Datillo regularly uses the pneumonic “ESCAPE” to discuss mental wellness with her clients. The acronym stands for Exercise (an instant mood booster and stress reducer), Sleep (which helps your brain function at its best), Connect and Appreciate (because social connections and gratitude can foster better mental health), Pleasure (an important component of overall happiness), and Exhale (a powerful way to calm anxieties and reduce stress). These six strategies, she says, are the most science-backed ways to manage stress and emotions to promote better mental well-being. Each tip in the month-long challenge (which we’ll be sharing on Instagram, too) is designed to help you to re-define self care, manage daily stressors, start a conversation around mental health, or