March 04, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC If someone were to suddenly win a few million bucks, there would surely be a list of things they’d run to put that money to: vacation (and probably debt), for obvious starters. And unquestionably: beauty products. It’s the golden age of skin care, when drugstore products churn out major results; however, it’s undeniable that even with all of the pocketbook wins, there are some skin-care products that are worth the splurge. In Well+Good’s Beauty Geek Facebook group (join it if you haven’t yet!), we posed the question to our readers: If you could splurge on one beauty product, what would it be? And our followers happen to have wish lists full of dermatologist-recommended skin-care essentials. Their picks range from science-backed brands like SkinCeuticals and Augustinus Bader to California cult-faves like Vintner’s Daughter. To see their picks, and hear why these items really are worth the splurge, keep scrolling. 1. SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic Serum, $166 Photo: SkinCeuticals This is the vitamin C serum that skin-care devotees mention as their dream product time and time again, and it’s one that Mona Gohara, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and our Dear Derm host recommends on the reg. It’s potent, effective, and truly brightens your complexion. One reader says it’s “amazing” and “worth the high price tag.” 2. Dr. Barbara Sturm Enzyme Cleanser, $75 Photo: Dr. Barbara Sturm A lot of Well+Good readers cited Dr. Barbara Sturm products in their splurge-worthy picks, including this cleanser. The product basically works
Tag: Well+Good
The 5 best heart-healthy snacks that nutrition experts love
March 04, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC There are a lot of things that people can do to take good care of their heart health, like exercise, eat a Mediterranean-style diet, avoid smoking, and manage your stress levels. But I have good news for you: You can protect your heart and avoid hanger (a daily struggle!) at the same time with heart-healthy snacks. “Foods that are good for heart health include fiber-rich foods, like produce and legumes, and sources of healthy fats, like salmon, avocado, nuts and seeds,” says Charlotte Martin, RDN, CPT. While you might think those are only dinnertime foods, there are lots of opportunities to eat heart-healthy foods throughout the day—if you build it right. “A good heart-healthy snack should be well-balanced, be low in sugar and salt, and contain fiber. As a good rule of thumb, whole foods-based items will have less sodium and sugar and more fiber than packaged goods, too,” says Maggie Michalczyk, RD. Fiber’s role in supporting heart health stems from its ability to help lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Plus, fiber-rich foods, like produce, are often rich of other heart-healthy nutrients, like vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, adds Martin. She specifically aims for a snack that has at least a few grams of fiber, five to 10 grams of protein, and no more than five grams of added sugar for optimal heart health. “The good news is that these foods are easy and delicious to eat in a variety of ways and
Lube and arousal oil aren’t the same—but here’s why each deserves a place in your nightstand
March 04, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC While it’s great to optimize your orgasm for ease in terms of time, duration, and tools, before streamlining, it’s key to understand potential issues in your way. One big, Sahara Desert-size issue you may encounter? Vaginal dryness, which advocacy organization Women’s Health Concern estimates affects about 17 percent of vulva-owners ages 18 to 50 and only increases in rate during and after menopause. “A range of factors can affect vaginal lubrication including diet, hydration, medication, menstrual cycle, menopause, overall health, stress, and pressure. The body’s response to arousal is not always predictable,” says sexologist Jess O’Reilly, PhD. Now, here’s the good news since you can’t control that very-common dryness: Many products exist that can assist with vaginal dryness, but it’s important to note that two power players on the market—personal lubricant and arousal oil—are not the same. Both work toward a similar goal of snagging you orgasmic sex, but when and how you use each varies. Below, get a primer on how to use each best, plus the key difference between lube and arousal oil. Arousal oil Arousal oils are a kind of topical aphrodisiac that’s meant to, well, get you in the mood. “Arousal oils are meant to be used externally to help promote blood flow in the vulva tissue and clitoris so you get wet,” says Rebecca Alvarez Story, sexologist and founder of Bloomi Arousal Oil ($58) (a product that worked for yours truly in five minutes flat). “Think of them as
Washing your hands sounds trivial—here’s the science behind why it works
March 04, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC As COVID-19 and influenza continue to spread across the country, everyone from coworkers to the CDC wants you to wash your hands. Using a face masks is ineffective (and makes it harder for heath care workers to buy masks), and while hand sanitizer is a good option, it’s still second to good old fashioned hand washing. “There’s really no substitute for controlling the spread of viruses to hand washing—nothing we do is going to work as well as that,” says Russell Buhr, MD, PhD, a pulmonary and critical care physician at UCLA Medical Center. “When you look at it historically, it used to be that infant mortality was a huge problem, right? A lot of it was because people weren’t appropriately doing hand washing, because we didn’t understand what germs were and how they worked.” Why is washing your hands so effective? “Some of its mechanical, the act of scrubbing and rinsing that stuff off is carrying the dead virus away,” says Dr. Buhr. “We know that soap helps break down the viruses, because soap works by dissolving fats and lipids and so the viruses are surrounded in a lipid shell.” He says soap chemically destroys the virus. “Sounds banal, but soap really is an amazing weapon that we all have in our homes,” says Karen Fleming, PhD, a scientist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, on Twitter. “This is because coronavirus is an ‘enveloped’ virus, which means that it has an outer
The newest alternative milk on the block: chia milk
March 04, 2020 at 03:00PM by CWC At this point in the alternative milk revolution, almond milk and oat milk are about as basic as pumpkin spice lattes and bathroom mirror selfies. While many healthy eaters wouldn’t dream of giving up their fave alternative milk, many are still in pursuit of the latest and greatest. What can we milk next… The answer: Chia seeds. Chia-centric brand Mamma Chia recently launched a (you guessed it) Unsweetened Chiamilk in two flavors: original and vanilla ($4.99 each). “It was truly eight years in the making,” the brand’s CEO Janie Hoffman says. “It’s been a dream of mine for that long.” Now that the chia milk finally has the taste and nutritional profile Hoffman was aiming for, it’s on the market and ready to drink. Here, she shares more about what exactly is in the drink and a registered dietitian weighs in on how healthy it really is. Plus, the verdict on how it tastes. (You know you want to know.) What is chia milk, anyway? Curious about what goes into the making of chia milk? Here’s a run-down of what’s in the product (which is organic and GMO-free): coconut milk, chia oil, chia protein, pea protein, calcium carbonate, guar gum, sunflower lecithin, natural flavor, vanilla extract, gellan gum, vitamin A, vitamin D2, and vitamin B12. Wait, is that coconut milk on the ingredients list? Isn’t this chia milk? Well yes, in the sense that coconut milk is the base into which the other
I tried vibrating ‘Bond bracelets’ to bring a sense of physical touch to my LDR
March 04, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC It’s Sunday night, and yet again I’m FaceTiming with my boyfriend (let’s call him, Joe) who resides 1,000 miles west of New York City, where I live. We’ve been doing the whole long-distance dance for a few months now, and while grateful that technological advancements have let us stay in contact to this extent, we could, well, use some extra help in terms of bridging the physical space between us using alternate methods. Enter: Bond Touch bracelets ($98 for a pair), the wearables that “mimic your partner’s touch” via mutually exchanged vibrations that you can exchange from anywhere in the great, wide world (using cell service or Wi-Fi, that is). “I can just tap the bracelet and your wrist will vibrate,” I tell Joe. “Isn’t that cool?!” The good sport he is, he agrees to at least try it out to humor me. So I order a pair and give him his during a recent weekend visit. We connect our two bracelets via the Bond Touch app and choose our digital color (which you can change at any time). The bracelet then registers my full tapping pattern and sends an exact copy to his, so decide to make up a language—our very own Morse code of sorts—for our vibrational combos. Here’s what we decide: One tap: “Hi!,” “hello!,” or some equivalent greeting Two taps: “Good morning” or “good night”—depending on when the tap comes in Three taps: “I love you.” Four taps: “I’m
Hate meditating? Here are 3 ways to reap the self-compassion benefits without sitting on a cushion
March 04, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC Like cilantro, meditation is a divisive topic: When the practice comes up in conversation, people either offer words of enthusiasm (“It works wonders on my mental health!”) or dismiss it with the verbal equivalent of the shrugging emoji (¯\_(ツ)_/¯). The latter crowd may well be interested in the results of a recent study because it found that it’s entirely possible to reap the brain-boosting benefits of meditation—specifically the practice’s ability to boost compassion toward yourself and others—without actually sitting down on your cushion. How? Well, it turns out that self-compassion is something you can exercise and practice with your eyes wide open. Published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, the study of 828—only half of whom would label themselves as “meditators”—used a statistical technique called structural equation modeling (SEM) to study what, exactly, makes mindfulness so effective. Ultimately, researchers concluded that the brain benefits include finding deeper meaning in life, better overall mental health, and, yes, way more self-compassion. But even if you don’t meditate, psychotherapist Michele Burstein, LCSW says you can still get in on the goodness of that final particular benefit. Researchers found benefits of meditating include finding deeper meaning in life, better overall mental health, and more self-compassion. But even if you don’t meditate, you can still boost your self-compassion. “In order to have self-compassion, you have to give yourself understanding, acceptance, and, of course, forgiveness,” says Burstein. “We usually are our own toughest critics and give ourselves little room for
Fitness studios are taking precautions against COVID-19—and cancellation policies should reflect that
March 04, 2020 at 12:00PM by CWC In the last few days, fitness enthusiasts have seen their inboxes flooded with e-mails about the “medical grade hand disinfectants” and “extra precautions” that their go-to studios are taking to guard against COVID-19. Orangetheory is encouraging people to skip the high fives, Barry’s will add disposable wipes and hand sanitizers at studios, Equinox is sanitizing its gyms multiple times a day, and SLT is asking patrons to wipe down their machines before and after they use them. By and large, boutique fitness studios across the country are requesting that people “stay home if they don’t feel well,” but there’s one catch: Many cancellation policies aren’t reflecting that. To their credit, some are. Classpass and Solidcore will both be offering more leniency in waiving late cancellation fees for members who are feeling unwell, and Y7 is encouraging students to contact their studio if they’re too sick to come to class. “If you’re sick, you should have the ability to cancel and not be penalized for it,” says Jason Tetro, microbiologist and author of The Germ Files. “If gyms can provide the assurance that if you’re sick and have to cancel, you won’t be charged for a class, that can increase the confidence that people will only show up when they are healthy.” Understandably, studios financially incentivize people to show up to classes, but these hard-and-fast rules are contributing to the problem. As of Tuesday afternoon, 100 cases of COVID-19—and nine virus-related deaths—had been reported in
3 exercises that prove that a simple step can make your workout more explosive
March 04, 2020 at 03:00AM by CWC There are plenty of ways to make a workout more challenging. You can add a workout finisher to spike your heart rate at the end of an exercise or even increase the weights or resistance that you’re working with. But perhaps the simplest way to up your workout? Adding in an elevated step to the moves you’re already doing. Steps have been around since the era of, you guessed it, step aerobics. They’re essentially elevated platforms that you can step onto, or off of, to mix things up in your workout. These days, it’s also found in the form of plyo boxes, which are more square versions of the traditional step. But the idea is the same: A platform adds resistance and challenges the muscles that you’re using. “By implementing a foreign piece of equipment [like a step], the point is to increase the intensity of the exercise,” says Luke Milton, trainer and founder of Training Mate in Los Angeles. When you’re stepping up, Milton explains that you’re recruiting more energy from the muscles in use since the elevation works as resistance. “Plyo boxes and steps create variety and intensity, and are a great way to implement dynamic movements into the workout,” he says, pointing to Bulgarian split squats and incline push-ups as examples of exercises you could do with one. “A box step-up, for instance, strengthens the major muscle groups of the lower body, while a box jump is great to increase
Hydro-massage is the latest way to recover at the gym, and we’re *here* for it
March 04, 2020 at 02:00AM by CWC From dynamic stretching to percussive therapy, there are a lot of different things you can do after a particularly grueling workout for the sake of muscle recovery. But none of them are quite as enjoyable in that hurts-so-good kinda way as a good, old-fashioned massage. While old-school styles like deep-tissue and hot stone have long proven their body benefits on the recovery front, the most effective massage modality one ups them all by adding heat and water into the mix. Hydromassage—which has been popping up in brick-and-mortar gyms across the country—combines heat and water to ease tension in the body. It takes place on top of a bed filled with jets, and the combination of pressure and warm H2O helps to dissipate muscle knots caused by tightened fascia. According to Theodore Savage, the fitness training director at Planet Fitness, it does it even better than a set of human hands could. In addition to feeling damn amazing, hydromassage comes along with some legit benefits. First up? Alleviating muscle soreness. “As we work out, we are tearing down our muscle tissue continuously and, as a result, the muscles release lactic acid. HydroMassage works to break down that lactic acid and keep it from building up locally,” says Savage. This creates proper blood flow throughout your tissues, which aids in recovery time and offsets injuries. The warm jets are also said to relieve pressure in your joints, which helps increase range of motion. “This is