November 12, 2019 at 05:31PM by CWC Grinding of the teeth, or bruxism, is so common that you might be doing it without even realizing it. If you’re doing it as you sleep, you might wake up in the morning with a sore jaw, a headache, and damage to your teeth. Not exactly the best way to start your day. One way to get some relief is a daily masseter massage, says Inna Chern, DDS, a dentist in New York City. The masseter muscle is the strongest muscle in your body by weight. “The masseter is one of three muscles known as elevator muscles, and those muscles are responsible for closing the mouth and setting the teeth together so we can chew. The masseter is located behind the cheeks and can generate hundreds of pounds of force,” sats Dr. Chern. That force is compounded when you clench your jaw or grind your teeth. “Like any other sore muscle, it’s important to relieve the tension before it becomes chronically problematic,” says Dr. Chern. “A masseter massage is a great way to help alleviate the strain that’s often felt in the morning hours after a bout of grinding while asleep, and it often helps with grinding-related headaches and migraines.” It’s incredibly easy to do, too. All you need to do is apply firm kneading motions to massage the masseter with your fingers or knuckles, says Dr. Chern. How to give yourself a masseter massage 1. Find it The masseter muscle is located
Tag: Well+Good
“Cardio yoga” will hands down give you the best full-body sweat you can ask for
November 12, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC When I hear someone complain that they “hate yoga” because it’s “boring” and “not a good enough workout,” I can’t help but get annoyed. Because clearly, they aren’t going to the right yoga classes. Not only can yoga double as a serious strength training workout (especially for your core!), but it can also double as your daily dose of cardio—or should we say cardio yoga—by way of one-beat flows. These series pair breath with movement, so that instead of holding poses for long periods of time you’re moving through them rapidly every time you inhale and exhale. This, understandably, will get your heart racing. “One breath per movement will increase the heart rate depending on the pacing and rhythm of the practice,” says Kajuan Douglas, founder of Merge New York, adding that timing is key with these types of flow. “Instead of moving like you’re taking a leisurely stroll in the park, move in your yoga practice like you a have some place to be five minutes ago. Create a tempo that means business.” In addition to getting your heart pumping, these one-beat flows can also be helpful for centering your practice, too. “I truly believe that the breath is the most powerful tool in a yoga practice,” says yoga instructor Bee Creel. “It encourages us to move fluidly and with intention, it establishes a point of focus, and most importantly, it helps us create space where we feel stuck, both physically and mentally.”
What it’s like to stay at the world’s first ever WELL-certified hotel
November 12, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC San Diego offers no shortage of vegan restaurants, boutique fitness options, and crystal shops, but if those offerings aren’t enough of an enticement to the city for wellness-minded travelers, perhaps this sustainable-hospitality win will sway opinions: As of July 2019, Encinitas—a beach town within San Diego—became the first-ever locale to boast a WELL-certified hotel. The Inn at Moonlight Beach is the five-suite wellness destination that achieved the highest certification honor possible—the WELL Platinum level. And though it’s certainly impressive that the property snagged this designation for satisfying the WELL Building Standard criteria—which, per the Inn’s website, “focuses on enhancing people’s health and wellness through the buildings where we live, work, and play”—I couldn’t tell you what exactly that means in practice. So I decided to experience the newest standard in sustainable hospitality for myself in order to find out. I pulled up to the property with a friend just before golden hour on a Thursday. The building is small and inviting, emanating literal and figurative warmth from the cozy outdoor firepit and patio where guests gather to watch the sunset. Rhys, the property’s general manager greeted us with a steaming cup of the Inn’s detoxifying tea, available at all times in the Inn’s communal living space. Mug in hand, we followed him along a tour through a series of unique spaces on-site, each designed to help guests work on their well-being in whatever way they see fit. For some, this means spending time
Why derms say it’s not a bad idea to take a break from your skin-care routine
November 12, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC Recently, I went through a particularly lazy weekend during which I did absolutely nothing to my skin—and I really mean nothing. Sure, I’ve gone weekends without wearing makeup about a zillion times before, but this time I even ignored my skin-care products for two and a half straight days (mainly due to the combo of pure laziness and zero plans). Come Monday morning, guess what? Instead of facing a complexion riddled with breakouts and cracked from dryness, my skin looked great. Amazing, actually. If you’re shocked, trust me—I was too. But, just as breaks can be a good thing—like taking a break from your workouts or taking a break in a relationship—a skincare break can do major favors for your skin. And dermatologists agree with me. “The fewer products you use on your face, the better,” says Michele Green, MD, a board-certified cosmetic dermatologist. “You don’t want to overcomplicate things for your skin, especially since your face is so delicate. Giving your complexion a break from skin-care products will let your skin breathe and rest.” It’s more obvious that skipping makeup once in a while is great for your skin, because not all makeup has skin-care benefits. “Makeup is like a mask with more than one layer, so laying off from these products will let your skin rest,” says Dr. Green. With skin care, though, she notes that it’ll give your complexion a chance to rejuvenate itself and get some much-needed air. “Giving your
Here’s what your go-to snack should be, according to your zodiac sign
November 12, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC You might have already turned to your zodiac for insight into a stress relief technique that works best for your personality or the type of partner you’re most likely to be compatible with. But your horoscope and food go together like…well, like Castor and Pollux. (Geminis, you got that one, right?) Just knowing your sun sign can help you figure out what snacks will make you truly feel fed—as in on a deep, spiritual level. Everybody knows that reaching for a handful of nuts is healthier than a candy bar, but let’s be real here: If your snack choice doesn’t satisfy you emotionally as well as physically, you’re going to be rummaging through your pantry again before your next legit meal. That’s where the newly released Your Astrological Cookbook by Catherine Urban comes in. Each astrological sign has a dedicated chapter and over a dozen recipes spanning breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and drinks. Keep reading to get an (ahem) taste of her new cookbook, with tips from the book on the types of foods that work best for each sign when it comes to finding something to nosh on between meals. Scroll down to see what to keep in mind when whipping up a snack, based on your zodiac sign. Photo: Getty Images/Larissa Veronesi Aries As Urban points out in her book, Aries are adventurous in nature. A run-of-the-mill granola bar likely isn’t going to be all that enjoyable for you.
5 techy gadgets that can actually make your holiday season less stressful
November 12, 2019 at 01:30PM by CWC Once Halloween is behind us, we’re full steam into holiday mode (if Mariah says so it’s gotta be true). And while dreaming about Thanksgiving recipes and humming holiday tunes are just a few of the many joy-inducing parts of the holidays, when stress creeps in it can make the whole season… not-so-cheerful. Despite the bad rap tech gets for contributing to stress (the Instagram comparison trap is real), there are a few mindful devices that can actually help you chill out when you start to feel overwhelmed by your endless holiday to-do list. From a smart fitness tracker to a snooze-boosting white noise machine, we rounded up the wellness-ified gadgets that will help you hang on to your Zen all season long. Keep reading for our 5 picks for techy gadgets to help reduce holiday stress. Amazon Echo Alexa-enabled Bluetooth Speaker, $100 With all the things you have to remember to do during this jam-packed time (buy cookie ingredients, pick up a gift for your aunt, find the perfect New Year’s Eve outfit) lists are your friend. Instead of slowing yourself down with a physical list, dictate your to-do’s to Alexa. Pro tip: Keep it in your kitchen so you can add items to your grocery list as you notice you’re running out to help keep your healthy habits on track. Fitbit Versa 2 Smartwatch, $200 Your workout routine is often the first thing to get the boot when your schedule is filling
I went to a toe reader to get insight about my life path—and the results were totally on point
November 12, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC “You have really nice toes. To be honest, I don’t see a lot of toes like these.” I raise an eyebrow when Angela Wieland tells me this, because I’ve never considered my feet to be even a little bit attractive. But if I’m going to take this type of compliment from anyone, it’d be from Wieland. As the Four Seasons Resort, Punta Mita, Mexico‘s resident toe reader (which is kind of like a palm reader, but with a strict, below-the-ankles focus on things like toe length meaning), Wieland sees dozen of digits every week—maybe more than anyone other than a podiatrist or a foot-modeling agent. When Wieland seeks to find symbolism in a given foot, she looks at toe length meaning in addition to size, straightness, and relationship to other toes, and combines this intel with her own intuition to give clients insight into their life path. Basically, she says, she uses toes like other readers use tarot cards or lines on a hand. The main distinction is that she doesn’t give future predictions, meaning the length of your third toe won’t distill intel, like, say, how many kids you’re going to have. Rather, all of the information Wieland supplies is rooted in the past and present. “I give you a snapshot of where you are right now based on where you’ve been,” she says. “It’s a summary of your belief systems, your upbringing, and the stories you’ve told yourself.” There’s also an
“Stretching intervals” are the easiest way to sneak stretches into any workout
November 12, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC If you ever happen to spy on me as I work out, you’ll undoubtedly see me gasping to catch my breath whenever I finish a strength training set. Once I hit my arbitrary reps quota, all I can think about doing is dropping my weights or collapsing onto the mat so that I can mentally and physically prepare for the next round. Now, I know better: that break time should really be spent stretching. “It’s using time while you’re resting to get energy for your next exercise—you might as well be stretching, because you’re every second of your time in a smart way,” says Sarah James, a certified Pilates instructor and founder of Pilates by Sarah James. I trained with her the other day, and in between hardcore ab exercises, she had me do various stretches before we went into our next set—and it felt really good. James, who used to be a dancer, notes this is something that ballerinas do constantly. “You’re still stretching while watching the teacher give you a new combo—you never take a break from doing something productive, and the most beneficial thing you can do is stretch,” she says. Not only is this a sneaky and time-effective way to get your stretches in (especially if you’re like me, and don’t exactly prioritize it as a part of your routine), but doing them mid-workout when you’re already warmed up helps increase flexibility. In our sweat sesh, James had us
Eat like a caveman at these 5 Paleo-friendly restaurants in NYC
November 12, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC The Paleo diet has a lot of pros in its favor. It’s high in protein and healthy fats (always a good thing), it can help fight off inflammation, and many doctors love it. However, its very particular rules can make ordering Seamless or meeting up with friends for happy hour a bit complicated; the eating plan prohibits all grains, legumes, dairy, and processed foods for the sake of truly eating “like a caveman.” Meaning that the strictest of Paleo followers will have to ask even about what cooking oil the restaurant uses to make sure their entire meal is compliant. Living Paleo, of course, isn’t impossible. Heather Mangieri, RDN and author of the book Fueling Young Athletes, emphasizes that the Paleo diet’s “message is not that different from what other nutrition experts have been shouting for years—less sugar, more fruits and vegetables, less processed foods.” As with any eating plan that proposes wholesale eliminations, she says it’s cruicial to ensure you get your nutrients from other sources. “The diet forbids all dairy foods, which can make it hard to meet the recommendations for calcium and vitamin D,” Mangieri says as an example. (Some people make exceptions for grass-fed butter or ghee.) That’s why she suggests folks on Paleo consider supplementing their calcium and vitamin D to ensure they meet their daily nutritional requirements. Want to bone up on your Paleo diet know-how? Here’s the lowdown from an expert: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGvJ61nBFBo] The eating plan
If you’re acupuncture-curious, but scared of needles, you should know about Moxa
November 11, 2019 at 10:30PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRrarktKfI0] Curious what getting a Moxa treatment really entails? Watch what happens, here. Lighting incense is fun and all, but have you ever had your entire body turned into an incense garden? (Me neither. Good on you, if so.) But Ella Dove, our senior video producer, is here to do just that in our latest episode of What the Wellness, Well+Good’s YouTube series where she tries the most out-there treatments the industry has to offer. In this week’s episode, she tries out Moxa treatmen at Los Angeles’ Vie Healing, a holistic wellness spa. It has many of the same benefits of acupuncture, except the treatment relies on dried herbs instead of needles. Moxa is a Traditional Chinese Medicine practice that uses lit incense “towers” at certain meridians along your body to active your blood flow and nervous system (a treatment like this one runs about $85 ICYWW). “Moxa is a heat therapy, and what it does is it draws heat into the muscles, veins, and capillaries into the body,” explains Mona Dan, acupuncturist and owner of the spa, noting that oftentimes people store coldness in their bodies, which constricts our blood vessels, leading to inflammation. So this heat from the Moxa—which is an herb that’s dried and lit—works to relax the entire body, resulting in purported wellness perks galore. But having lit, dried herbs placed all over your body can sound a little nerve-wracking, to some (especially when you’re a Moxa novice). What