July 04, 2019 at 06:00AM by CWC I recently fell down an internet rabbit hole that taught me the scintillating history of—I kid you not—boredom. I closed my laptop with a newfound appreciation for the family road trips of my childhood that, at the time, made me want to cry for the sheer purpose of having something to do. That’s because what I didn’t know then is that research suggests that those rare moments when we’re not preoccupied with our screens, caught in the riptide of our inner-monologues, or out to dinner with friends are undiscovered gold mines for creativity. Tedium has existed throughout the course of human history, but not quite in the same way it does now: John Eastwood, PhD, of Toronto’s York University tells Smithsonian Magazine that the type of boredom the Kardashians must feel as directors shoot reel after reel of them lazing around on the couch, hashing out the minutiae of their lives (Kanye! Sushi! Pickles!) is relatively new. Over the last 100 years, humankind has gotten a taste of a new flavor of unbridled entertainment thanks to the likes of Netflix, Candy Crush Saga, and Pokémon Go. Now, any idle moment stands out in stark contrast. “We are very used to be passingly entertained,” Dr. Eastwood says. “We have changed our understanding of the human condition as one of a vessel that needs to be filled.” Essentially, we don’t know how to do nothing. ad_intervals[‘399462_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘399462_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);});
Tag: WFH
Your 4-step guide for rehabilitating a totally botched first impression
July 03, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC If you’re ever afraid you made a bad first impression, take comfort in the fact that you’re not Blair Waldorf. During my annual re-watch of Gossip Girl, I noticed the most spectacular first-impression eff-up in the history of pop culture: Chuck says he’d like to introduce Blair to his date for the evening, and Blair swipes back with, “Why? So she can warn me about the effects of too much Botox?” Great line, but his date happens to be Duchess Beaton, who is the stepmother of Blair’s current boyfriend. Whoops. So that’s a pretty specific, melodramatic example that probably won’t directly affect your life, but considering that it takes approximately seven seconds to make a first impression (or even a tenth of a second, depending on whom you ask), you’ve probably witnessed or been guilty of some pretty stellar missteps as well. But if you don’t knock it out of the park the first time you meet someone, how do you nail a second impression and reverse the damage? ad_intervals[‘402556_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘402556_div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-7435403-3’);}); } }, 100); That problem was resolved in classically CW way for our Gossip Girl friends: Blair caught the Duchess having sex with Nate, Blair’s ex, on the library floor and was able to use that tidbit against her. Very convenient. In real life though, it might have help to have some more practical tools in your toolbox, should you ever flub a job interview,
The foam rolling technique an orthopedic surgeon swears by for hip pain
June 17, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC I used to think hip pain was only something cute little old ladies complained about. But if you’re glued to a desk all day at work, you’re probably familiar with. Spending that much time planted in a chair in front of your laptop surely helps you achieve your career goals, but it doesn’t do any good for your body. Luckily, one expert says combating hip pain with a foam roller is easier than you think. The causes of hip pain are many, says New York City-based orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine expert Steven Struhl, MD. Sometimes it’s from tight hip flexors that become stiff from being in a seated position for long periods of time, and other times it’s from running, sprains, and strains. Whatever the case may be, dealing with hip pain isn’t fun, and grabbing your trusty foam roller is a simple and effective way to fix it. “In a nutshell, foam rolling smooths out your fascia—connective tissue that binds and stabilizes your muscles—and is similar to giving yourself a deep tissue massage,” Dr. Struhl says. “Foam rolling is able to release knots or trigger points in muscles and connective tissue, which cause pain. Similarly, it’s able to increase blood flow in the muscles, help with recovery, and enhance joint mobility.” ad_intervals[‘400805_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘400805_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’);}); } }, 100); Dr. Struhl says the best way to go about relieving hip pain with a foam roller is
Is it even possible to have a chill wedding?
June 03, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC I’m sitting in front of my laptop right now, a document open in front of me titled, ominously, “Wedding Spreadsheets.” That’s right, not just one spreadsheet, but many. The first has nearly 300 lines and stretches 10 columns across. It’s filled with an array of information: names of guests, likelihood of their attendance, actual costs of everything ranging from rental chairs to lemonade, estimates for whatever we don’t have real numbers on, things for which we’ve put down a deposit, things we haven’t decided at all. Move to the second spreadsheet and you’ll find a “Wedding Weekend” log, which will eventually contain a variety of tasks and who’s in charge of each. The last spreadsheet is a play-by-play of the wedding day itself, a minute-to-minute scheduling mastersheet that I hope to hand off to some TBD person (or people)—TBD because I can’t really afford a planner and also feel the masochistic need to do as much of this as I can myself. This all kind of flies in the face of the note I wrote to myself about the kind of wedding I wanted to have when I started planning 6 months ago: Not a pain in the ass; good food & booze; NOT TOO EXPENSIVE; can party late?; enough room for people/not too hard to get to? Also: chill/quirky/fun like us, not super fancy or uptight or boring/bland/basic. Spreadsheets are not remotely quirky (even if they are color-coded), and they’re certainly not
Having good “facial posture” is a thing, and it’s just as important as sitting up straight
May 25, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC The importance of having good posture and not hunching like Quasimodo over my laptop all day has been so ingrained into me by now that you can sort of, kind of say that I sit up straight. (For all of my coworkers that are raising an eyebrow, I said kind of.) But to add another thing to keep top of mind, yesterday I learned that it’s equally important to have good facial posture. Yes, it’s a thing. The idea was introduced to me by the three beauty experts behind brand-new skin- and self-care brand Wildling—Britta Plug (holistic facialist), Jill Munson (formulator), and Gianna de la Torre (acupuncturist and herbalist)—and my very first question was,”Do you mean like, resting bitch face?” Which they confirmed that it is, at least, somewhat. “There are all of these unconscious patterns we have in our lives in every way—physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically,” de la Torre explains to me. “My personal experience with facial posture began on the yoga mat. You realize you have all of these things going on in your body—your left side is much tighter than the right, for instance. And as our culture has gotten more used to being explorative of the body, we become more aware of those things and the places we’re holding our tension. But one of the very neglected aspects of that is the face, which is what we greet the world with.” So your facial posture is how you hold your facial
Whether you’re a night owl or an early bird, here’s what your bedtime says about you
May 12, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC Have you ever been awake, late at night (or even into the wee morning hours), hopelessly wondering, “What time should I go to bed?” Probably, since sleep and feeling sleepy is a pretty constant topic of conversation, and (spoiler alert!) most of us aren’t getting enough. In fact, a survey of nearly 1,500 Well+Good readers revealed that people spend an average of six sleepless hours in bed a week, and 92 percent report feeling fatigued more than once a week, which is, you know, not ideal. So is your bedtime part of the problem, or is it just a matter of preference? According to one pro, there’s no right bedtime. “Honestly, I don’t really ever prescribe an ideal bedtime because there’s natural variations from one person to another,” says licensed psychologist and sleep-health expert Shelby Harris, PsyD. “Some people are early birds, myself included—I’d LOVE to be asleep by 9:30 p.m. every night. And others are night owls—my husband, for instance, likes to stay up until 1 a.m. sometimes.” Rather, the main issue at play here is making sure you get the right quality of sleep, and that your sleep duration makes sense with your bedtime of choice. But if you’re still curious about what your bedtime might actually signify about you and your sleeping habits, scroll down for Dr. Mary Grace’s* expert observations. Hour by hour, here’s what your bedtime says about you. 8 p.m.: You are either a farmer or a journalist
Pull those shoulders back, STAT: Your alignment affects a whole lot more than your posture
May 10, 2019 at 10:57AM by CWC I’ll never forget the day in 9th grade theater class when my teacher called me out in front of everyone to point out that my head juts forward. “You should straighten your neck,” she said, as I immediately straightened up (… and teared up, feeling absolutely mortified). Ever since that moment, it’s stuck with me that your head should be sitting straight on your spine via your neck—not jutting out forward or backwards. It’s easier said than done—as I, apparently, know firsthand—but I spoke with a physical therapist and yoga pro who explained to me why neck alignment is absolutely crucial. “The reason is because the entire cervical spine is lined up with natural curves—one vertebral body sits on top of the other as an amazing structural machine,” says Lara Heimann. “It’s stacked in these columns that line up to be able to support the vertebrae above and below. Each area of the spine has a different function to it. The cervical spine’s big function is to be mobile so we can look all around us.” According to Heimann, your body is inherently unstable, which is what makes this supportive column so important. “On top of the cervical spine you have this large object—your skull—that can be anywhere from 12 to 15 pounds,” she says. “And the skull is sitting on the first cervical vertebrae called C1 or the atlas. It’s like the mythology of holding the globe—there it needs to be sitting
What’s in a work bag? A lot of things, including a message about your personality
May 07, 2019 at 08:07AM by CWC The modern woman has spoken, and she really can’t be weighed down any longer by the accumulation of S’well bottles, journals, or a packed lunch. In what’s perhaps the most functional throwback trend ever, backpacks are officially…back. According to market-research firm NPD, sales for the posture-improving carryall have shot up 28 percent this year, with proponents citing comfort as a main impetus (in conjunction with the rise in ubiquity of sneakers, athleisure, and the general pilgrimage toward self care). Of course, not everyone is ready to re-embrace the trend, back-to-school-style. I, for one, still come into the office every morning with a raw-red shoulder indent. Hey, old habits die hard, and I tend to live and breathe symbols of hyperfemininity, even when they’re problematic—like a classic shoulder bag that might as well be full of heavy stones, weighing me down and keeping me from reaching any ceilings including glass ones. (I know, I know, backpack offerings have expanded since the days of those monogrammed L.L. Bean numbers—and if anyone wants to gift me a sleek Gucci model, I’ll wear it. Until then, let me and my sore shoulder live.) But I digress. Amid this transitional period of the backpack renaissance, I looked around my own office and saw a veritable buffet of carryall options. On the continuum between my old-guard staple and styles so minimalist they could make Marie Kondo break out in song and dance, I quickly realized how many varieties exist. So,
If your lower back is sore, this is the sneaky place you might not be stretching enough
May 01, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC Despite the fact that I’m teetering on the edge of 30, I often come home from work with the same issues that a full-on grandma would have. “Alexa, my back hurts,” I complain to the closest thing I have to a roommate (bonus points: she doesn’t complain about my incessant complaining). And it’s true: After spending over eight hours a day hunched over my laptop, things start to hurt—so much so I’ve spent many an evening on the couch with a hot water bottle parked above my derriere. And while I’m cool spending my weeknights acting like an 85-year-old (hot tea, Turner Classic Movies, and single-serving candies? Um, yes please), I would prefer to have my bodily issues act my age, thank you very much. While my heating pad admittedly helps with my lower back issues to some degree, there’s one other thing I should be doing to help ease the pain, and that’s stretching—but not necessarily the way you’d think. “More often than not, a tight or sore muscle is caused by a problem elsewhere,” says Brad Walker, founder of StretchLab. “The lower back is one of the most common areas where people experience consistent chronic pain, and one of the most common causes of this pain is tight hip flexors. When the muscles in the front of your body, around your hips and quads, became tight and restrictive, they pull your hips out of alignment, which puts a lot of strain on
Dear therapist, why do I swoon at PDA in rom-coms but judge it (and hate it) on social media?
April 16, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC Last week our collective gag reflexes were put to the test when in an unprovoked public social media display of affection, Justin Bieber shared a love poem he wrote for his wife, Hailey. And, uh, let’s just say that Biebs almost certainly has no future as a poet laureate. I mean, the thing starts with a misspelling of “abyss” and snowballs from there. Sure, there are definitely worse things than “publicly honoring” your partner, like global warming or the line at Trader Joe’s after 5 p.m. on a weekday. But when someone gets gooey about their relationship on social media like that, even when other mediums (ahem, rom-coms) celebrate the grand gesture, I still get a rough case of the icks—and I’m not the only eye-roller scrolling the ‘gram. Cringing at a gushing Instagram poem or at a viral proposal video or at someone who @s their S.O. in their Twitter bio is a common experience, and generally more of a reflection on who we, the bystanders, are rather than who the people in the relationship are. “There can be a very fine line between what we find exciting and romantic, and what we just find intrusive,” says licensed clinical psychologist Aimee Daramus, PsyD. “You might have experienced this with people asking you out, too. Somebody genuinely thinks they‘re being charming, but for you, it‘s too much too fast. So part of it has to do with boundaries. A lot of us might