March 04, 2020 at 01:00AM by CWC As evidenced by the dearth of hand sanitizers at your local drugstore, people are concerned about contracting COVID-19 as it spreads throughout the world. As of Monday, the disease has infected approximately 90,000 people in 65 countries. While it’s more important than ever to wash your hands, the emotional uncertainty health crises evoke is undeniably universal. And so it’s imperative to take care of your mental health if you find yourself afraid of coronavirus. When it comes to an outbreak of this nature, we typically see a rise in four components that impact our mental stability and security: fear, suspicion, hyper vigilance, and paranoia, says clinical psychologist Aimee Daramus, PsyD. Below, she shares four tips to strengthen your mental health. Fear: Don’t jump to conclusions from a headline alone Your newsfeed is artery clogged with breaking news about how we’re all doomed. It’s important to stay informed, you just want to be sure that you’re getting legitimate, helpful information. You might even consider eschewing social media altogether in favor of taking a free online course to learn all the facts about COVID-19. “Be picky about where you get your facts and avoid thinking with your feelings,” says Dr. Daramus. “Fear and hope are powerful motivators, but they give us very poor guidance a lot of the time. If a piece of information makes you feel scared or hopeful, double-check to see that it’s from a good medical source before you act on it.”
Tag: Well+Good
I got into a hyperbaric chamber to speed up the healing process—here’s what happened
March 03, 2020 at 11:02PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lvYjoV2tpA] What does a hyperbaric chamber do? Watch the video to find out. We know a thing or two about recovery here at Well+Good. We’ve tried everything from gymnast-led stretching classes to cold compression cuffs. In the latest episode of What the Wellness, host Ella Dove dives into a hyperbaric chamber for the ultimate recovery. A hyperbaric chamber is a big tube that kind of looks like a tanning bed, but instead of harmful UV rays, this machine floods your body with oxygen. What does a hyperbaric chamber do? “They speed up every biochemical healing process,” says Johnathan Leary, PhD, a chiropractor and CEO and founder of Remedy Place. “It doesn’t matter if its expedited recovery after surgery, recovery after a long fight or a late night out, this does everything.” Remedy Place is a social wellness club in West Hollywood dedicated to recovery. In addition to the hyperbaric chamber, the club offers an infrared sauna, a cryotherapy chamber, a meditation room, compression boots, IV drips, and movement therapy. Dr. Leary says the hyperbaric chamber is the most powerful tool their arsenal. “Fully saturating the body with oxygen, it just helps in speeding up every biochemical healing process,” he says. “Think of it as every single reaction in the body to maximize recovery is just being enhanced.” For the claustrophobic among us, the door is glass so you can see out. And for people who feel like they might have a hard
The world’s largest healthy product convention was just postponed—here’s how it’ll impact what you eat this year
March 03, 2020 at 10:49PM by CWC This week was supposed to mark one of the biggest wellness events of 2020. Every year, more than 3,500 health brands and over 85,000 attendees descend upon Anaheim, California for ExpoWest—the world’s largest healthy product convention—to showcase what they’ll have to offer in the coming months. Brands spend thousands of dollars to attend, and for many startups, it’s their major chance to pitch products to retailers. But as of Monday evening, the massive event got postponed indefinitely, after hundreds of brands starting pulling out from the show just two days before it was slated to start. Why? Organizers and brands hoped to keep those who would be traveling from all over the world safe from COVID-19, and reduce the risk of the illness becoming even more widespread. “Ultimately, we listened to our community, and the position of our community changed very rapidly over 24 hours, due to the COVID-19 situation and its mainstream media and social media coverage,” says Carlotta Mast, the senior vice president of content and market leader for New Hope Network, which hosts the event. “By the afternoon of March 2, it was clear that despite the city of Anaheim being open and operating as usual and the continued assurances from local Anaheim authorities that the city was prepared to host Natural Products Expo West, the majority of our community wanted the show postponed.” Mast says she recognizes the conflicting emotions many are feeling about the postponement. Many, she says,
The expert-approved products to buy at Dermstore’s Beauty Refresh Event
March 03, 2020 at 08:00PM by CWC When it comes to finding the best of the best skin-care products online, a great first stop is the expert-curated Dermstore. (It was founded by dermatologists, after all!) Because stocking up on everything on your wish list can add up quickly, it can definitely be worth waiting until the prices drop—and this week there’s a massive skin-care sale called the Beauty Refresh Event you can take full advantage of. Dermstore’s Beauty Refresh Event is currently in full swing, where you can score some of your favorite products up to 20 percent off through March 9. Now, I’m not going to lie—sifting through hundreds of products can be intimidating. Plus, who has time to read through that many product descriptions? That’s why we put together a list of the options skin-care experts can’t get enough of that you’re sure to fall in love with, too. The 7 best products to order at the Dermstore Beauty Refresh Event 1. Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel Packettes, $120 for 60 When half of the Well+Good editors use the same peel pads, you know they’re good. I mean, one editor said—and I quote—she’d sell her soul to get a lifetime supply. They contain alpha hydroxy acids and glycolic and beta hydroxy acids, which together provide all the exfoliation and brightening powers your skin will ever need. 2. Bioderma Atoderm Cleansing Oil, $16 If you’re not already using a shower oil, now’s the time to start.
A derm swears by the ‘2 product test’ to tell if your skin is truly sensitive
March 03, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC Ask a beauty aficionado what their skin type is, and the majority of them will say “sensitive.” These days, it’s among the most commonly self-diagnosed skin types, and some studies estimate that a whopping 70 percent of women report having sensitive skin. In actuality, though, dermatologists say that—more often than not—skin isn’t actually sensitive, but sensitized. “In my clinical experience, the vast majority of these women don’t truly have sensitive skin, but they have skin that has become sensitized to certain ingredients in skin-care products,” says Loretta Ciraldo, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist and founder of Dr. Loretta Skincare. Sensitive skin means you’ve got a history with eczema, rosacea, or specific allergies to topical products, she says; sensitized skin, on the other hand, is a consequence of using harsh ingredients or topicals that cause irritation, itchiness, redness, or flakiness. Dr. Ciraldo says that you can tell if you have sensitized skin versus sensitive skin because removing a problematic skin-care ingredient or ingredients will usually help solve whatever skin qualm you’re dealing with. “After a couple of months, you can typically go back to using products you had previously tolerated,” she says. However, if you truly have sensitive skin, irritation, redness, and other issues will persist long after you stop using a specific ingredient. According to her, problematic ingredients can include sulfates, artificial fragrance, alcohol, or acetone (though she notes that sensitization can also occur from over-use of exfoliants and/or retinol). While you’re repairing your skin
I’m a professional chef, and this is the plant-based meal I make every week
March 03, 2020 at 05:05PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfK9aDhqU_8] Meal fatigue is real. You can only make your favorite recipes so many times before your taste buds are begging you to switch things up. But for one chef, something that never gets old is fried rice. Especially when you make it the healthy way. With years of experience, it’s safe to say chef Dale Talde has mastered the art of cooking fried rice to perfection. He’s perfected his recipe with exacting detail, from the temperature of the pan to all the creative ingredients that boost the flavor. In an episode of Well+Good’s video series Cook With Us, Talde introduces a new way to make fried rice that’s so healthy you can enjoy it multiple nights a week. Better yet, you can make it in less than 30 minutes. Talde’s plant-based fried rice is loaded with veggies. Instead of actual grains, this heathy fried rice recipe is packed with a mix of cauliflower and broccoli rice, shiitake mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, kimchi, ginger, and other flavorful cooking staples that make it the ultimate healthy comfort meal. “Anything you can eat in a bowl on your couch with the TV on is a win for me, so this is exactly that meal,” he says. It also comes with creative toppings, like shredded seaweed. “To me, it adds another level of umami—that real nice savoriness you want in dishes that keeps you coming back to it. It makes it feel heartier.” While this recipe
The 8 Myers-Briggs cognitive functions can help you understand your personality on a whole other level
March 03, 2020 at 04:36PM by CWC When most people hear “Myers-Briggs,” they think of the personality test, and the four letters associated with their resulting personality type: introverted (I) or extroverted (E), intuitive (N) or sensing (S), thinking (T) or feeling (F), and judging (J) or perceiving (P). But these traits only tell part of the story. Did you know you also have four key MBTI functions that correspond to your type? Psychologist Carl Jung (essentially the father of typology) talked a lot about the cognitive functions, which Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers then utilized to create the MBTI system we use today. These eight functions are critical to understanding how you operate in the world, and are worth knowing as a tool to help you delve deeper into how you and anyone else ticks. Using descriptions of the MBTI cognitive functions is also how I’ve learned to get a sense of people in real life, without them needing to take the personality test first. These eight functions are critical to understanding how you operate in the world, and are worth knowing as a tool to help you delve deeper into how you and anyone else ticks. There are eight total MBTI cognitive functions; let’s break down what makes up each below. The 8 MBTI functions 1. Extroverted Sensing (Se) Extroverted sensing is using taste, touch, smell, sound, movement and sight to easily absorb information in the physical world. As strongly observant, these people pick up on
This $17 skin balm has 101 different uses—here are 5 that will change your life
March 03, 2020 at 03:00PM by CWC In the beauty world, multitasking products are a dime a dozen. There are tinted lip balms, SPF moisturizers, and blush-highlighter hybrids that look just as gorgeous dusted over your eyelids as they do dappled onto the apples of your cheeks. But with all of these things, “multi-use” really maxes out at two, maybe three different options. But prepare to have your mind blown, because we discovered a $17 ointment that has a whopping 101 ways to use it. Lanolips 101 Ointment ($17) got its name because it has 101 different uses, and a more than two-thirds of them are related to your beauty routine. It’s made with lanolin, a by-product of sheep’s wool that’s famous for its dry-skin saving properties (and don’t worry—their version is harvested humanely and is cruelty-free). The ingredient holds 400 times its weight in water, and helps skin hydrate from within, while also acting as a barrier to protect it from the elements. Because of all this, the 101 Ointment is commonly used for things like chapped lips, windburned cheeks, and dry nostrils—the usual dry skin issues that tend to pop up during the winter months. While all 101 uses make the stuff well worth adding to your arsenal, we sussed out five that will legit change your life—or at least your hair-care, skin-care, and makeup routines—for the better. Photo: Lanolips 5 genius uses for Lanolips 101 Ointment 1. Make retinol more tolerable: If you’re one of those people who
A laughing yoga session in India gave me the most powerful sense of human connection I’ve ever felt
March 03, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC “We’re going to be late!” Our tour guide, Umesh, had us park our bikes outside Jaipur’s morning vegetable market, and told us to run. After eight straight days of unlimited naan while on a solo tour of India with a group called Flashpack, that was not exactly an easy feat, but I followed the direction and took off into a dead sprint through the vendors. I weaved through the streets as quickly as I could, with absolutely no idea where I was going, avoiding stray animals and women carrying hundreds of pounds of vegetables on their heads. Ten out-of-breath minutes later, my nine travel companions—who were complete strangers before we’d touched down in Delhi a few days prior—arrived at a park. It was just before 8 a.m., and the grass still smelled like dew. “This,” I thought to myself as I looked from the empty patch of grass to the faces of my confused companions, “is a strange thing to have to sprint for.” As if he could hear my thought, at that moment, Umesh asked us to stand in a circle, then put two fingers into his mouth and wolf-whistled into the air. Within a minute, a group of 15 Indian men who had been hanging out in various other parts of the park made their way toward our little congregation. “These men are going to let us join them for laughing yoga,” he says. What is laughing yoga? Laughing yoga involves
There are 3 different types of smiles, and 1 of them isn’t so friendly
March 03, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC I never trust anyone with a Cheshire grin, smiling ear to ear with an alarmingly devilish glint in their eyes, because those are the kind of smiles that get people swindled, deceived, or even heartbroken. That’s why I’m often left confused when I hear people talk up how forcing a smile can boost your happiness or fuel your workout, that smiling makes the world go ’round, and that a smile is basically a hug in mouth form. As it turns out, my confusion makes sense, because there are actually several types of smiles, and not all of them are of the objectively pleasant variety. Research has found that there are three types of smiles—smiles of affliction, smiles of reward, and smiles of dominance—and many more strains fall under those bigger umbrellas. “Smiles of reward are the same as smiles of affiliation; they are just positive smiles,” says body language expert Patti Wood. “Smiles that show dominance are complex, and can easily be seen as acquiescing.” To get more detail about what constitutes these main types of smiles, below Wood describes each. Affiliative smiles Affiliative smiles denote happiness and friendliness without the person displaying one having reacted to anything in particular. It’s the smile someone makes when, after a long day at work, their Bernese mountain dog greets them hello at the door. This is a smile of camaraderie that communicates a general sense of good-naturedness and understanding of trust—it’s called “affiliative” because it