November 26, 2018 at 10:21AM The whole “monkey see, monkey do” thing can be cute when your little one is trying on your beloved matte lipstick or mimicking your moves from the boutique fitness class you stream on the daily. But while some copy-cat behavior is fun (funny, even), others can majorly impact your kiddo’s health now and in the future. In a new study published in BMJ Open, researchers analyzed the activity levels and body mass index (BMI) of more than 4,400 Norwegian parents and their children for an 11-year period, and they found that the rise and fall of the children’s BMIs closely followed their mothers’. Meaning, when Mom lost weight, so did the kids. And when she decreased her activity level, her children’s BMIs increased. The fathers’ weight, meanwhile, didn’t correlate with their kids’. The team thinks there’s one likely explanation for why mothers are more influential than fathers when it comes to BMI: the patriarchy, basically. As in, women are still primarily responsible for the family’s lifestyle habits, like what’s being eaten on the day-to-day and the activities on the schedule. “Parents have a major impact on their children’s health and lifestyle. Behaviors that lead to obesity are easily transferred from parent to child,” said Marit Næss, study author and doctoral candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in a press release. “Mothers whose activity levels drop as their children are growing up are linked to children with higher BMI in adolescence.” Not exactly groundbreaking to say
Tag: Well+Good
Sorry, but your Thanksgiving leftovers don’t last nearly as long as you think
November 26, 2018 at 10:13AM If you’re planning on reliving your melt-in-your-mouth good Thanksgiving dinner by eating exclusively leftovers all week long, you might want to rethink that decision. Sure, eating leftovers days after the fact seems like it would be totally fine, but just because it still looks as fresh and tasty as it did on day one doesn’t mean it is. (Nope, not even the Paleo pumpkin pie.) Unfortunately, the expiration date on leftovers isn’t nearly as long as you think. According to the USDA, you can only keep them in the refrigerator for three to four days before bacteria starts to take over your feast. So if you ate your big meal on Thanksgiving, that means today is the day you’ve gotta make the decision to eat everything or toss it out, because if you do decide to try your luck tomorrow, you might be setting yourself up for getting sick. And who wants to spend their first week back at work with a nasty foodborne illness? Now, not all hope is lost. As long as it’s not over four days, you can still freeze your leftovers today so you can enjoy ’em later. The USDA says the quality is still A+ as long as you don’t eat anything after six months. But again, you have to freeze them today in order to ensure that you’re not freezing bacteria with it, too. Other than that, it looks like it’s back to your regular meal-prepping schedule. They’ll be plenty more
This derm-approved trick lets you try natural deodorant *without* soaked underarms
November 26, 2018 at 09:46AM By now, pretty much everyone I know is on board with clean beauty. They’ve swapped skin-stripping cleansers and chemically packed moisturizers for skin-care products with more nourishing, plant-based ingredients (praise). But, the hardest product to swap out, no doubt, is antiperspirant in lieu of an aluminum-free natural deodorant. I understand: Finding a natural deodorant is a lot like finding the one. Some are too wet, some are too powdery; some leave pits irritated at the hands of baking soda; and still some, though otherwise perfect, just aren’t antiperspirants. A quick refresher (ahem) on the difference between deodorant and antiperspirant: The former simply helps to wick away armpit sweat and help mask any odor that comes from the area; while the latter actually plugs the sweat glands to keep you from sweating altogether. So why choose one over the other? In recent years, aluminum-laced deodorants have come under scrutiny linking them to breast cancer, and while the American Cancer Society firmly says there’s no connection, many people are opting to replace them anyhow and just sweat it naturally. And that’s why I’m happy to report that I’ve found a way to start using natural deodorants on pits most days and still prohibit that pesky sweat: It’s called deodorant cycling. To do this, you simply alternate between using natural deodorant for two days in a row and then on the third day, you use an antiperspirant. This works because many antiperspirants prevent sweat in the area for 48 hours, during which time you can
How to answer super-nosy questions without making things awkward
November 26, 2018 at 09:04AM Ahhh, the holidays. That special time of year when nosiness is in the air, and your entire family unanimously decides that no topic is off limits. Your relationship status, political views, and current income will all be on the table for possible dinner fodder, so having an expert-approved game plan in place for navigating many a probing (and involuntary) round of Table Topics may be key for making it to the new year unscathed. In a recent episode of the Savvy Psychologist podcast, Ellen Hendriksen, PhD, tackles how to answer nosy questions in the heat of the moment (without it leading to a Real Housewives of New Jersey table-flipping moment). Here are her four methods. 4 tips to keep your cool when asked about hot-button topics 1. Push back: As the most aggressive of Dr. Hendriksen’s tips, this method involves calling out whoever’s giving you the third degree. “The direct method isn’t for everyone, but if you’re so over being asked when you’re going to get married, set an unmistakable boundary such as, ‘I’m really not comfortable being asked that’,” she says. So if you’re feeling extra done with the current round of 20 Questions, this may be your best course of action. 2. Offer a non-answer: Before you head home for family festivities, go ahead and store a few non-answers up your proverbial sleeve. A few of the psychologist’s favorites include “That’s so nice of you to ask,” “How sweet of you to be concerned,” and “That’s a great question—I
I detoxed my home from plastic and it’s going to save me thousands of dollars
November 26, 2018 at 08:39AM I became weirdly plastic-phobic after reading an article about how sperm counts have decreased by 50 percent in 40 years, and how there is some expert consensus that this change is likely due to neuroendocrine disruptors like the BPA found in plastic. (And also, receipts.) Now, why do I care about sperm counts as a lady (who is not trying to conceive)? Perhaps because reproductive issues are seen as sort of the canary in the coal mine when it comes to health—meaning, they are often the first sign that something in our bodies is going wrong. And while science may not be 100-percent settled in terms of plastic’s effects on our systems, health isn’t the only reason it makes me cringe. Not long after reading that article, I was fortunate enough to take a trip to the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. No plastic was allowed on the island I visited, and I actually noticed…meaning, I’m so used to seeing plastic littered all over natural environments and washing up on shore that I actually noted its absence. This stressed me out—and for good reason. According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, eight million tons of plastic enter the ocean annually, and a recent study showed that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. This isn’t just bad for the marine life—for whom it’s really bad—it’s also bad for those of us who consume them (and, you know, the overall ecosystem
A sleep therapist’s 5-step, ZZZ-inducing meditation that works every time
November 26, 2018 at 08:38AM There are plenty of reasons why it’s hard to fall asleep at night. There’s the stress of the job, an overly packed schedule, too much caffeine late in the day (damn you, deadlines!), a pup hogging the bed—you name it. To make matters worse, unfortunately there’s no magic solution that’s instantly going to make you doze off the second you close your eyes, but one sleep therapist does have a method—with a solid track record, BTW!—that’s worthy of adding to your sleep arsenal. Meditation has been long-proven to not only help you ditch the anxiety and worries keeping you up at night, but also to prepare your body for sleep, putting you into a fully relaxed state. While there are different types, London-based physiologist and sleep therapist Nerina Ramlakhan, PhD, swears by “acceptance meditation” for quality shut-eye, which she says has perks beyond just waking up totally refreshed and energized. “Being hard on yourself stops you from letting go. It stops you from feeling at ease and accepting rest and deep sleep. Practicing loving self-acceptance is an important step toward a good night’s sleep,” she writes in The Little Book of Sleep. So, how exactly do you achieve self-acceptable—especially past your bedtime? According to the Daily Mail, Ramlakhan has a five-step ritual that can help wind down in a loving way and reach “sattvic” sleep, which restores, heals, and realigns your body on both a mental and physical level. The next time you’re having trouble dozing off, try this
How to not feel like a jealous failure in light of other people’s achievements
November 26, 2018 at 08:20AM While I try my hardest to not be someone who compares herself to other people, there is one event for which this rule does not apply: the release of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Every year when it’s published, I can’t help but read it with a mixture of awe and panic. It’s not that I’m straight-up jealous of the honorees; I’m proud of my accomplishments, which I personally feel to be noteworthy. But still, when I find myself reading about some embryo (read: a grown-up human a few years younger than I am) who’s obviously kicking considerable ass—recognition-worthy ass, that is—it weighs on me. Because, even if I am doing great, without my photo on some list, do my accomplishments even count? These feelings, it turns out, are totally valid. “It’s completely normal to engage in some degree of comparison between yourself and other people, whether those people are the subjects of these stories, your coworkers, your siblings, or even your friends,” says New York City-based therapist Daniel Olavarria, LCSW. In fact, he adds that a competitive nature can be a motivating force for many. “This can be especially true when people are led to believe that pursuing a dream or making a difference can wait until later.” Still, this motivation of sorts can certainly backfire. “Normalizing those types of pessimistic reactions can leave you feeling chronically negative and gloomy,” Olavarria says. “If you find that other people’s success tends to elicit feelings of shame,
Hate to break it to you, but your coffee habit might be making your anxiety worse
November 26, 2018 at 06:44AM Coffee drinkers wear their caffeine consumption like a badge of honor (*raises hand proudly*). But while there’s no question that coffee can make even the Monday-est of Mondays bearable, the truth is that the bev—and other caffeine-packed foods and drinks—might not be for everyone. Particularly those with anxiety. “I don’t make any friends talking about this because everybody loves the caffeine. I get it, I get it, but I think that caffeine is an anxiogenic substance. That’s fancy medical speak for it’s like a drug that causes anxiety,” said holistic psychologist Ellen Vora, MD, a panelist at last week’s Well+Good TALKS: Generation Anxiety event at The Assemblage NoMad in New York City. Photo: Elena Mudd Dr. Vora said ditching coffee (and ultimately, all caffeine) is “low-hanging fruit” when it comes to dialing back your anxiety. And she’s not alone: Keri Glassman MS, RDN, says that caffeine is a stimulant to your nervous system. “It triggers your fight-or-flight response and this is known to make anxiety go up. It can also make you feel flat out moody and nervous,” she says. While more research still needs to be conducted on the relationship between caffeine and anxiety, two separate studies have reported finding higher mean anxiety scores in participants “dependent” on caffeine than their non-dependent counterparts. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that drinking coffee automatically will give you anxiety. “Some people are able to tolerate caffeine any time of day with limited negative side effects or disruption to sleep hygiene,” says Becki Holmes, MS, RDN, LDN, and founder
Here’s How This Urban Oasis is Paving the Way for Wellness in Miami (Plus What to do When You Visit)
November 26, 2018 at 06:34AM The Sacred Space founder Karla Dascal Amidst all the white sandy beaches and glamorous night clubs that come to mind when you think of Miami, there’s simultaneously a wellness revolution going on in the Magic City. Exhibit A: The growing popularity of The Sacred Space Miami, which is basically an entire campus dedicated to all things wellness. The space takes up nearly an entire acre in the Wynwood Arts District, and it’s leading the charge in making Miami as well known for its wellness presence as it is for its night life. “A mass awakening is happening here in Miami,” says The Sacred Space founder Karla Dascal. “Miami has just jumped on the same train as New York City and Los Angeles. Since 2008 through the Sacred Space’s opening in 2016, I have been cultivating the conscious community and bringing the plant-based scene to Miami.” The Sacred Space Miami is leading the charge in making Miami as well known for its wellness presence as it is for its night life. Whether you’re headed down to see what all the buzz is about, booked on our next Well+Good Retreat (which will be taking a field trip to The Sacred Space’s plant-based restaurant), or just jonesing for a warm-weather getaway, you’ll want to check out Dascal’s favorite Sacred Space activities to really experience wellness in Miami like a local. “Overall, visitors should know that The Sacred Space Miami is an all-encompassing place for wellness,” Dascal says. “As soon you
Flash sale alert: Snag Sweaty Betty duds for 70 percent off today *only*
November 26, 2018 at 06:21AM I’ll never forget the first time I pulled on a pair of Zero Gravity Leggings from Sweaty Betty. As promised, they were light, tight (without cutting off my circulation), and did about as good a job of sculpting my bum as a J.Lo butt workout might. I realize this is high praise for a pair of workout tights, but I’m hardly alone in my affection (ahem, borderline obsession) for the bottoms from this British activewear line; Well+Good readers swear by them too. And for today only, you can score a pair for 70 percent off because Sweaty Betty is having a mega Cyber Monday flash sale, which I discovered via my trusty Instagram feed this a.m. Of course, I had to click through. And I’m glad I did because I learned that the aforementioned leggings are hardly the only deeply discounted duds available. There are also a slew of other active styles that are perfect for wearing to so many places other than the studio—like neon knits and a particular reversible jumpsuit I’ve stopped more than one woman on the street to inquire about. The overwhelming inventory is a lot to sort through, especially if you’re feeling fatigued from other holiday sales. So I’ve gone ahead and put together a list of the best deals below. Behold, the can’t-miss items from Sweaty Betty’s Cyber Monday flash sale. Photo: Sweaty Betty Celestial Reversible Barre Jumpsuit, $86 Available in sizes XXS to L Photo: Sweaty Betty Shirley Pants, $82 Available