March 24, 2019 at 06:30PM by CWC Is there anything more frustrating than lying in bed expecting instant blissful sleep, only to have your brain replay that one super embarrassing thing you did in high school? Yeah, it’s the worst. But when your options for shutting off your overactive mind aren’t much better (flipping on Netflix, counting sheep, or popping a sleep supplement that takes too long to kick in and makes you feel groggy the next morning) is sleeping for eight hours a night even possible? Liquid I.V. founder Brandin Cohen had the same problem: typical 21st-century sensory overload during the day leading to major sleep issues with no relief. Then, the lightbulb went on. He realized he could use the same breakthrough technology utilized in Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier to help people fall asleep faster. With the aim of helping people catch those elusive zzz’s, Cohen enlisted the help of medical director Brad Thomas, M.D. to explore the possibility. “Over a third of Americans don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis—and it’s killing us,” Dr. Thomas says. “Sleep affects us on so many levels. When you toss and turn all night, the next day can be brutal—your focus is off, you’re emotionally reactive, and your performance can really suffer. And long-term, you’re more susceptible to weight gain and serious illness.” Enter Liquid I.V. Sleep—a product that helps you fall asleep fast in a way those sheep never could. That’s right, your trusted source of mega hydration is using its groundbreaking Cellular
Category: Relaxation
What your go-to sleeping position says about you, according to the pros
March 22, 2019 at 11:40AM by CWC Everyone from scientists to mental health professionals to Arianna Huffington agrees that getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your well-being. You’ve probably heard the arguments for getting eight to 10 hours of shut-eye every night, and you’ve committed yourself to at least attempting to snooze more. But what you may not know is that different sleep positions can be just as important as how much you sleep, and it can tell you some pretty significant things about your health and habits. Whether you snooze on your side or are a hard-core on-the-back relaxer, here’s what different sleep positions are trying to tell you about your body. Photo: Stocksy/Lyuba Burakova If you sleep on your back There’s a reason why every yoga class ends with savasana. According to some experts, being on your back is one of the better sleep positions in which you can relax. “The reason it’s an excellent position is that there’s no compromise of any circulation,” says sleep expert Nancy H. Rothstein. “Everything is free to flow.” But if sleeping on your back is has you feeling more “ouch!” than “om,” your body could be trying to tell you something. Keelyn Nielsen, a sleep disorder coordinator in New York City, says an issue called “positional sleep apnea” can be triggered when you’re on your back. “When someone is lying on her back, gravity alone is going to weigh her down,” she explains. “So if they
Start every day the right way with the best morning routine for your Myers-Briggs personality type
March 22, 2019 at 08:54AM by CWC If you’ve ever shared a bathroom with siblings or had roommates, you’re probably well aware that anyone’s unique personality can factor into your routine and wake-up styles. Some people are up early, making themselves an egg-white omelette and cherishing a few minutes for themselves before embarking on the day; others are late risers who prefer to browse their feeds before truly turning on their minds for work. How do you start your day? And more importantly, what’s the best morning routine for you? Your Myers-Briggs personality type can shed light on how you wake up best, and why that’s your “thing.” (Don’t know what your MBTI is? Read this first!) Below, get some insight into what might stoke your creativity, according to you personality type. Start every day right with the best morning routine for you, according to your Myers-Briggs personality type W+G Creative ISFJ You love to start the day with a time for reflection. Meditation or prayer can feel very centering before you tackle your to-do list—just a pause to feel thankful and reflect on what matters the most to you is a great place to start. Apps like Headspace and Simple Habit are right up your alley. ESFJ ESFJs often wake up with boundless energy, and about six or seven people to contact immediately—after checking in with social feeds, of course. You prefer to get plans into motion as soon as you rise, whether it’s checking in with a colleague
I literally showered myself in CBD, and let me tell you, it was luxurious
March 22, 2019 at 07:00AM by CWC By now, there’s so much buzzing about CBD that it’s practically been incorporated in some manner of fashion into most parts of my life. It’s a steady part of my beauty routine (for both my skin and hair), my supplement regimen, my workout recovery, and it’s even in my, uh, bedroom (ICYDK: CBD lube is a thing). But it’s not like I’m showering in the stuff. Just kidding. As of this week, I have been. The wellness ingredient known for its stress-reducing and anti-inflammatory benefits is now sitting alongside surfactants in bar soap, so that I can take my skin-cleaning to new heights with extra bubbly benefits. Leef Organics’ Nooks + Crannies bar soap ($22), has 20 milligrams of CBD in it that are meant soothe inflammation and work as a nourishing antioxidant. “This small bar of soap yields mighty results with topical skin irritations,” says Emily Heitman, CMO and COO of brand Leef Organics. “It contains a carefully curated ingredient deck that feeds the skin thoughtfully and calms irritations to reduce long-term discomfort.” Since my skin’s just battled the dry air of the winter, it’s definitely thirsty for some soothing hydration both in and out of the shower (namely: my flaky elbows and shedding legs). When I get the bar all sudsed up in the shower, it provides a nice lather that feels moisturizing at the same time. There’s none of that unhealthy stripping action going on, which is thanks to the other ingredients like coconut milk and
Why you shouldn’t hold a stretch for longer than 3 seconds
March 22, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC There’s a reason why everyone from Simone Biles to your local spin instructor swears by stretching as an important part of any fitness routine: Not only does it help soothe sore muscles, but it also helps get them prepped and ready to function in fighting force during your next workout. Chances are, you’re familiar with the usual roster of moves that seem to appear at the beginning and end of every workout class. But Well+Good recently did a deep dive into the world of stretching, and discovered a principle of flexibility worth putting on our radars. For a new episode of What the Wellness, our brave video producer Ella Dove got professionally stretched (yup—that’s a thing) at NYC’s Stretch*d studio. In the video, she described the experience as “the best thing of her life” and like a “stretchy roller coaster”—both of which sound a-m-a-z-i-n-g if you ask me. But during her time at Stretch*d, she also learned an important lesson that the rest of us can steal as a part of our own stretching routines. You see, Stretch*d sessions are based on the principles of “active flexibility,” which means that you’re moving in and out of stretches so that you’re never in any particular position for longer than three seconds. This, apparently, helps you avoid over-stretching, so you’re less apt to pull anything or hurt yourself. “The whole idea behind the is that it’s movement-based, so it’s never pushing past of flexibility,” explains Vanessa Chu,
There’s a depressing reason time flies faster as we age—so here’s how to slow things down
March 21, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC Digesting that the first day of spring came and passed was a toughie—and not just because the park outside my apartment still looks like the forest from the Blair Witch Project. Rather it’s because of how fast entire seasons—and thus, years—seem to fly by. Honestly, wasn’t it just the holidays? Well, new research shows you’re not crazy—time does seem to be moving more quickly, but the reason why is kind of a downer. We’re all getting old, and our brain needs new viewing material. The theory, recently published in European Review, hypothesized that as we get older, the speed at which we process new images slows down, because our seasoned psyches are simply processing fewer new images. As the web of nerves and neurons grows with age, it gives more resistance to the flow of electrical signals. That negatively impacts the rate at which fresh images are acquired and processed with age. Basically, we’re seeing less new stuff than we used to but within the same brackets of time, and this lower density of stimulus makes time feel as if it’s passing faster. “People are often amazed at how much they remember from days that seemed to last forever in their youth,” lead researcher Adrian Bejan, PhD and professor of mechanical engineering at Duke, tells Science Daily. “It’s not that their experiences were much deeper or more meaningful, it’s just that they were being processed in rapid fire.” “People are often amazed at how much
Vacation time and being off work are no longer the same, so avoiding burnout is trickier than ever
March 21, 2019 at 09:00AM by CWC Picture yourself on a restorative vacation: You’re swaying in a hammock, sipping a fruity cocktail, and letting all your troubles slip away with the sound of each lapping wave. That’s the dream, right? In reality, some of that vision may ring be true, but there’s a good chance that while you’re enjoying that piña colada, you’re also scanning your inbox for fear of missing an urgent work email, or lurking on Slack after your phone’s push notifications lured you there, or simply ruminating about your nine-to-five. No matter where you are in the world, part of you is mentally not OOO. If this scenario sounds all too familiar, you’re hardly alone, according to a 2018 study (called The State of American Vacation) from the U.S. Travel Association and market-research firm GfK of more than 4,000 full-time American workers with paid time off. It found that more than half of employees don’t use all their vacation time—and all signs point to this being a deeply-rooted problem: While this year’s results show the average employee takes 17.2 days of vacation per year, the long-term average from 1978 through 2000 was 20.3 days. What the heck happened? Well, a number of things—including shifts in vacation policy, workplace culture and expectations, and the connectivity that technological advancements allow for. In fact, more than half of respondents cite work-related reasons as the culprit chaining them to their desks, like the fear of coming across as replaceable (61 percent), having
How to quash those pesky ants in your pants and finally just relax
March 20, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC I excitedly anticipate every weekend the same way: With a gravitational-pull-strength desire to kick back and binge-watch reality television after waking from an extra-long slumber. “I’m going to have such a relaxing, restorative weekend!” I habitually say to myself come Friday evening, after an inevitably long, busy AF week. But then, like clockwork, after about a whole two hours of straight chillin’, I get restless. So begins the process of texting all my friends to make last-minute plans for…right at this very second, or finding errands to run, or a museum to visit, or a a movie to see, or whatever—anything to get me out of my apartment. My sister says both my dad and I have a serious case of shpilkes, a Yiddish term describing nervous restlessness. I.e., I chronically have ants in my pants, and I know a ton of other people have trouble leaning into their valiant hygge intentions to do a whole bunch of nothing. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong, per se, with having a go-go-go personality—but there is a downside: Come Monday a.m., you’re likely still exhausted rather than recharged from your weekend. You know, because of those ants, or according to clinical psychotherapist Jennifer Silvershein, LCSW, an inability to relax, largely supported by the millennial lifestyle. “Growing up, we had to do all of these things in order to be amazing—get good grades, be in extracurriculars, get a scholarship, go to college, get a job,” she says. “Where in that
9 things that actually make you happy, according to science
March 20, 2019 at 09:40AM by CWC What’s the one thing you’re pining for in your life that would make you happier, if only it would happen? A new job? Romance? More Instagram followers? There’s always something, that’s for sure. Research shows external factors have the power to make us happier in the moment, but cultivating a deep sense of happiness is a much different project that spans far beyond any promotion or number of likes. “It’s a very personal thing,” says Sheenie Ambardar, MD, a Los Angeles-based psychiatrist who specializes in happiness. “It’s something internal, it’s some kind of peace or contentedness, some kind of psychological well-being that you have inside of you, so it’s not related to any of those external things.” Dr. Ambardar says many of her clients find themselves struggling against external ideas about what should make them happy. “There are so many conceptions out there that you have to have something by a certain age, you have to have everything in place,” she says. “That’s such an insidious, oppressive idea.” Instead, there are some science-backed ways to find true happiness—and they’re not nearly as complicated as you think. So how do we go about cultivating true happiness? Here’s what the research says. Photo: Stocksy/Lumina 1. Get more sleep This one should be a no-brainer by now, but getting enough sleep is so important for our overall well-being, on so many levels, that three American scientists won the Nobel Prize for work on the biology of sleep. And
Foam rolling’s secret perk? Doing it *before* a workout makes your muscles even more effective
March 19, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC These days, “foam rolling” and “recovery” have practically become synonymous—despite the fact that you can, apparently, use your foam roller for an actual workout, too. But what you may not know is that everyone’s favorite recovery tool has another important function aside from helping soothe sore muscles after a workout: They can actually be used before your workout to make your time on the mat even more effective. The process, referred to by some trainers as “neuropriming,” helps warm up your muscles so that they are fully relaxed before you start working them. That way, when you enter into your workout, they’ll be able to fully compress—allowing you to reap the full benefits of the work you’re putting in. Basically, it’s giving you a full muscle pump instead of the limited one that tight muscles restrict you to. “That’s 100 percent recruitment of the muscle,” explains John Burns, CEO of Tom Brady’s wellness company, TB12. “Imagine you’re doing your quad exercises with 90 percent of the muscle: How much more stable could you be, how much more powerful could you be, how many more reps could you do [if you were using all 100 percent]?” I mean, a lot. And that’s not the only reason why you should be rolling it out before you’re sweating it out. “Foam rolling before your workout helps increase circulation, decreases tension, and primes the neuromuscular system by driving the parasympathetic nervous system to maximize movement capabilities,” explain Dariusz Stankiewicz and Corinne Croce, the