August 30, 2019 at 04:28PM by CWC Every so often, I’ll notice apocalyptic-level hair loss in the shower—as in, major clumps released in the rinse process. Alarm bells ring, Google searches ensue, and neglected biotin supplement consumption resumes. Instead of freaking out, however, I could just go to my dermatologist to be evaluated because, as it turns out, hair thinning/loss is one of the most common conversations they have with their patients. If you’re like me and only see your derm for mole checks every few years, it might be awhile before you get in to interrogate them around your mane-centric concerns. My panics most often come and go by the time I finally get in for an appointment, after which point the issue mysteriously resurfaces in time to wait another three years for evaluation. Stylists and colorists, who you may see more often, can be great resources to fill this void, but some questions are best posed to doctors. I reached out to a MDs to find out what questions they get asked most frequently with respect to their patients’ hair in the hopes of either saving you a co-pay or motivating you to get a date with the doc on your books. After all, hair may not be the window to your soul, but it can be a thermometer of sorts for your overall health (or, at the very least, a cry for help around your styling practices). ad_intervals[‘418959_div-gpt-ad-7520022-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘418959_div-gpt-ad-7520022-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7520022-3’);});
Tag: Well+Good
Add some color to your bedtime routine with pink noise for deeper sleep
August 30, 2019 at 04:13PM by CWC In the everlasting quest for a good night’s sleep, listening to white noise remains as one of the classic methods for knocking yourself out. But, “classic” can also mean “tired”—and not in the sought-after way that’ll help you doze. Also, it’s simply not for everyone, including yours truly. That’s why my ears perked when I heard about the (very millennial-sounding) pink noise sleep benefits. Just hearing that pink noise for sleep is a thing appealed to the side of me that still idolizes Barbie, can’t watch Legally Blonde enough, and downs rosé with gusto. But, back to pink noise for sleep—what’s it even mean? “Pink noise is similar to white noise but has more amplification of the lower tones,” says clinical psychologist, sleep expert, and author of The Women’s Guide to Overcoming Insomnia, Shelby Harris, PsyD. “It hasn’t caught on as much yet in the mainstream, but it does mask noise while having the memory and deep sleep enhancement that white noise itself doesn’t necessarily have.” ad_intervals[‘419040_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘419040_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);}); } }, 100); “[Pink noise] hasn’t caught on as much yet in the mainstream, but it does mask noise while having the memory and deep sleep enhancement that white noise itself doesn’t necessarily have.” —sleep expert Shelby Harris, PsyD Before you turn yourself on to this fabulous shade of sleep sounds, allow Dr. Harris to provide some deeper intel as to what distinguishes pink noise from all
How I undressed the remarkable power of burlesque
August 30, 2019 at 03:01PM by CWC An average day for me is not particularly glamorous. My muggle job is at a cupcake bakery in New York City, so basically I’m an indie movie cliché. I was an assistant manager at the bakery for a while, but I moved to New York to pursue acting and the arts. Waking up at 3 a.m. stressing out about wedding cakes was not part of the dream. I stepped down from being an assistant manager and now hold a part-time position there. The bakery is where I first came in contact with burlesque. I used to work with a performer who goes by the name of Pearls Daily, who’s been on the scene for years and currently holds the title of Miss Coney Island. She’s fantastic! I went to see her Harry Potter burlesque show, and it struck me that… I could do this. Around the same time, I saw another performer—Rosie Cheeks—who was just phenomenal. She’s classically beautiful—this leggy, fantastic looking woman—but that’s not why she’s good. She’s able to set someone on fire with a look. She’s so precise and choreographed. I remember watching her unlace something with one little finger in one swift move. She didn’t even have her clothes off yet! The specificity with which she was able to do each move made me think, “Oh, I want to be able to do that!” ad_intervals[‘418974_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘418974_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);}); } }, 100); What’s really nice
The expert-approved formula for building a perfectly healthy lunch every single time
August 30, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC Let’s face it—lunch is pretty important, but often gets forgotten due to work stress and back-to-back appointments. Or it’s grabbed in a rush at the nearest fast-food eatery. Either way, we all could do a better job with our mid-day meal. “Living in such a busy society, lunch is usually eaten away from home and sometimes on-the-go. This means you’ll need to plan in advance to ensure you have enough of the right foods with you, or you’ll need to stop and think rationally when ordering out versus just going with what seems easiest in the moment,” explains Kelly Jones MS, RD, CSSD, LDN. You also want to make sure what you prepare at home is both exciting and filling so that you don’t end up going out to get something in addition, says Maggie Michalczyk, MS, RD. “You want to have the right thing to fuel the rest of your day and be able to tackle the rest of your tasks without feeling like you’re in a food coma,” she says. ad_intervals[‘419565_div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘419565_div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’);}); } }, 100); But easy, healthy lunch ideas that aren’t just a sad desk salad have been pretty hard to come by…until now. Use this guide to make building the perfect lunch a total cinch. Your winning lunch formula, broken down “At any meal, I encourage clients to include a protein source, starch, vegetable or fruit, better-for-you fats, and flavor. This
The most common thing people in therapy discuss about their parents, according to therapists
August 30, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC The Netflix film Otherhood follows three empty-nester mothers (played by Felicity Huffman, Angela Bassett, and Patricia Arquette), who decide to invade the lives of their neglectful grown sons under the guise of being helpful. The ill-fated plan of the overbearing parents eventually leads each woman to realize what she needs more desperately than attention from her child is to form an identity outside of motherhood—both for the good of herself and her child. Though none of the three sons in the film attended therapy as a method for handling stress and feelings associated with events related to their…intrusive mothers, based on what two pros tell me, it seems like the very topic that comes up most often when clients discuss their parents in sessions. “Common conversations I have with clients about their relationship with their parents revolve around having overbearing or ‘helicopter’ parents and having difficulty creating boundaries with them,” says counselor Liz Higgins, LMFT and founder of Millennial Life Counseling in Dallas. ad_intervals[‘411373_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘411373_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);}); } }, 100); This often happens as a result of people needing to develop the capacity to rely on themselves early in adulthood, and trying to detach from parents to some degree, says Portland, Oregon-based psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock, LPC. Parents who are overbearing or even simply too available make this separation incredibly difficult, and as a result, some people, especially generations that are currently navigating the earlier stages of
An artificial intelligence running coach helped me run farther and faster
August 30, 2019 at 01:44PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RF6_uKiOI0] When I used to envision the future as a young child, I pictured hovering cars, very advanced, Jetsons-style robots, and lots of artificial intelligence action. So when news of an artificial intelligence-based fitness app came across our desks at Well+Good, senior video producer Ella Dove (who’s always down to try anything) jumped right on it. In our latest episode of Well+Good’s YouTube series What the Wellness, we get to witness Dove do just that: She ventures to Brooklyn to let an artificial intelligence running coach (AKA: the Vi app) take her through a serious sweat sesh on the treadmill. Vi involves an actual, AI-based trainer to improve your personal running technique, give you feedback in real time, and act as a more accessible (and affordable) personal trainer. It’s like Siri as a running coach that pushes you to squeeze more miles out of the same time sequence you might be used to. ad_intervals[‘419340_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘419340_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’);}); } }, 100); So, real talk: Does she (because the AI in this scenario is a lady) yell at you when you slack? Is she a strict coach? “We call it tough love, let’s put it this way,” says Vi’s founder and CEO Omri Yoffe. Dove gets onto the tread, and the Vi greets her with a mysterious “What we do today is just a taste of the adventure you’re in for.” How does the workout wind up? Does Dove slay
Can’t kip (yet)? Here’s how to get strong enough to touch your toes to the pull-up bar
August 30, 2019 at 01:01PM by CWC I sometimes wonder if certain people at my gym are secretly wizards. The physical fortitude required for pull-ups, push-ups, and contortionist abs moves is more impressive than any spells found on the pages of Harry Potter. One such enchanting movement is “kipping”—or, bringing your toes to your fingers while hanging from the pull-up bar. Because I, too, would like to be in on the magic, I asked Maillard Howell, owner of CrossFit Prospect Heights and founder of the The Beta Way, how to master the trick, er, “move.” He tells me that the move is totally achievable—so long as you have a baseline of fitness. “I generally don’t have beginners swinging from the bar with their body weight if they can’t pull their own body weight maybe two to three times,” he says. “Until you can do a strength pull-up two to three times, I generally don’t let my clients hang from the bar and start swinging their body weight. That’s my baseline to know the musculature in the shoulder is strong enough to pull the body weight. Then you can start dabbling with the kip.” Once a trio of pull-ups feels doable—even, gasp, natural—for you, you’re ready to start training your kip. Below, Howell breaks down the six training steps that will get you there. ad_intervals[‘419364_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘419364_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’);}); } }, 100); Learn how to bring your toes to the bar—AKA, “kip”—in just 5 steps. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BContPDoOpk] 1. Dead
Here’s how to untie every knot in your neck in 3 minutes flat
August 30, 2019 at 02:01AM by CWC Almost every single night, I wind up with the same exact problem: a super tight, cramped-up neck. Between sitting hunched over my laptop all day and having way too many Netflix binge-watching sessions, it’s really no surprise that it’s a regularly occurrence. While getting rid of that pain isn’t exactly easy—or cheap!—there is one super-affordable option that helps almost immediately. I’d love to a masseuse on call to help banish those knots in the neck, but that’s just not realistic. Instead, I’m left with the next best thing: a tennis ball. The solution seems so ridiculously simple—especially considering aspirin has been my BFF lately. And even though it can’t fix crappy posture, it can definitely provide some relief until we all finally decide to sit up straight (it’s hard, okay?). Here’s exactly how to give yourself an epic neck massage right at home. ad_intervals[‘419325_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘419325_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);}); } }, 100); How to give yourself a massage when you’ve got knots in the neck To give yourself a neck massage with a tennis ball, first find a comfortable spot on the floor to lie down. Then, follow these simple instructions. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5VkX9SygWQ] Side-to-side: Bend your knees, keeping the pressure off your low back, and place the tennis ball in the groove on the back of your neck. Take a few seconds to breathe, letting the tennis ball sink into the muscle tissue. Slowly turn your head to the
The case for treating your relationship as a rental and having check-ins about renewals
August 30, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC No matter how long or short your given relationship is, there are likely certain topics you’d rather not discuss. In the beginning, maybe it’s a DTR-style moment, and later on maybe it’s the implementation of money dates—or maybe it’s something else. Regardless, there’s good reason to break through the vibes of discomfort and check in about the state of your union. And while a formal relationship contract is likely over the top, there is good reason to regard your partnership as a rental rather than a forever home and to make sure to check in regularly before renewing. “Many things change for a couple over the course of time,” says relationship expert Susan Winter. “Routinely reassessing your partnership goals allows you to continue to grow as a couple. Life will impact your relationship. External and internal changes will impact your relationship. Knowing this, it’s only prudent to allow for amending and revising your partnership agreement to keep current with your lives.” ad_intervals[‘413195_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘413195_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);}); } }, 100); And if you can’t come to an agreement with amendments? It might be time to consider whether you want to renew or find a new place to live, so to speak. While the idea of a check-in can be beneficial for couples committed to working on themselves and being honest about their relationships, be sure to keep an open mind about how regarding your partnership as temporary in a
There are 2 key differences between intimacy and ‘instamacy’—know them to keep your expectations realistic
August 29, 2019 at 11:24PM by CWC As the poets Nazareth sang in the ’70s, love hurts and love scars (ooh, love hurts, ooh). Yes, getting rejected does not feel good. When you’re dating rejection is, unfortunately, just part of life. You’re not going to have a mutual connection with everyone. You gotta kiss a lot of frogs apparently (what happens when the frogs run out is what I want to know). That’s why knowing the difference between real intimacy and “instamacy” can be majorly helpful in keeping your expectations realistic, and making rejection sting a little less. Jill P. Weber, PhD, tells Psychology Today that it’s important to be aware if you are overly personalizing a connection with someone. Let it be known that I have literally never done this before in my life (LOL). I asked Dee Stacey, certified sexual health educator for Blume, to expand a little bit on how knowing intimacy versus “instamacy” can be beneficial. There are two key things to keep in mind: depth of connection and time. “Of course everyone is capable of having meaningful and deep conversations right off the bat, but true intimacy—a real sense of closeness—needs time,” she adds. ad_intervals[‘419453_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘419453_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);}); } }, 100); She likens it to the difference between love and infatuation. “People experiencing infatuation often do feel a passion and a closeness, but it’s more of an obsession,” she says. “It might feel like they need to spend as much