Category: Stress Relief

 

 

A wide variety of indoor plants have many benefits, from purifying the air to promoting relaxation, which can also help you sleep better. Here are some of the best.

Why Plants Soothe Us

In today’s fast-paced environment, finding natural ways to boost your mood and reduce stress is more important than ever. Fortunately, certain plants have been shown to have calming effects on your heartbeat and breathing.  In addition, plants sustain both visually and aromatically, helping to create a purifying effect on our spaces.

Instead of wandering in forest preserves, simply gazing upon your greenery calms and steadies your nervous system. For just a few moments, you’re transported away from the stresses of your day.

Real, not fake

Having certain indoor plants brings the benefits to you. Fake foliage won’t cut it—studies have shown artificial flowers and plants don’t have the same effect. Choosing and nurturing your own plant seems to amplify the benefits.

Basically, whether placed in your living room, bedroom, or office, these plants can be a simple yet effective way to nurture your mind and spirit. With minimal care and maximum benefit, these plants are your perfect natural stress-relievers.

Lavender

Known for its calming scent, this plant is often used in aromatherapy to promote relaxation and sleep. Also, lavender’s essential oils can be diffused or added to a bath for a soothing experience

Jasmine

The sweet, exotic fragrance of jasmine is known to uplift moods and alleviate stress. Often used in teas and essential oils, its calming effects are well-documented.

Rosemary

Often associated with culinary use, rosemary’s aromatic leaves can also enhance mental clarity and reduce stress levels. 

Aloe

In addition, aloe not only is good for your skin and hair health, but it also aids in purifying air and emitting oxygen to help you sleep more soundly.

Pothos

Generally, pothos is one of the easiest plants to care for, increasing your self-satisfaction and well-being.  It works hard to increase oxygen levels in your home.

English Ivy

English ivy is celebrated for its air-purifying properties, removing pollutants and promoting a healthier indoor environment.

Snake Plant

Specifically, one Snake Plant clears the air of 107 toxins while also emitting large amounts of oxygen, helping you breathe better. Chiefly, it provides more energy and eases the pain of headaches.

Arceca Palm

The Arceca Palm purifies your air and adds moisture into the air. Moreover, breathing in the clear air created from the Areca Palm will assist in lowering anxiety and blood pressure.

Peppermint

Peppermint’s invigorating scent is known to enhance alertness.  As you breathe in the aroma of Peppermint, you will likely feel more ready to take on your day. Add it to your bath to feel the positive effects of the plant’s menthol, instantly relaxing muscles and the mind. 

Chamomile

Chamomile can easily be grown in your backyard garden. Surprisingly, when used as a tea, it reduces inflammation and aids in sleep.  Also, it makes a beautiful flower for your floral arrangement.  

Cover by pottedpatch.com

Related Reading:  Stress Relief Hobbies that Help Manage Anxiety – TUTORING YOU

 

If you yearn for those bygone summer days, it is possible to recreate that feeling, even just for a moment. Here are some nostalgic things to do this summer that will help you tap into the past and make you feel like a kid again:

Host a slumber party

Slumber parties were one of the best things to do during the summer, especially when they involved talking with your friends all night. As adults, we pay a lot of attention to getting enough sleep so we can be our best selves in the day ahead. But summer is the perfect excuse to forget about your alarm clock for a night. Text the group chat and invite your besties over for a slumber party. You can either go all out with decorations and a spread of junk food or keep it simple and have everyone show up with a snack, drinks, and a sleeping bag. If you have a backyard, consider moving your slumber party outdoors. Or, as we know from childhood sleepovers, even a crowded living room with floor space will do. Bonus points if you stay up all night and watch the sun come up together.

Reread your favorite summer break books

Did you have a favorite book series that totally altered your brain chemistry as a kid? Or maybe you remember the high school years when you were assigned books to read over the summer. Rereading one of these books is sure to give you all the nostalgic feelings. If you no longer own the books, check out your local library and see if they have any copies. It’s amazing what an original cover of a beloved book can spark in your memory. Then, take a day to sit outside and pour through the story with no agenda. Invite a friend to read next to you or have a solo day. Most importantly, enjoy the feeling of reading just for fun.

Make friendship bracelets

If Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is any indication, making friendship bracelets will never go out of style. Meet your friends in a local park, bring the supplies, and start crafting. For easy beaded bracelets, all you need are the beads, thread, and fasteners. For a more complex crafting experience, pick up embroidery floss in several colors, and try your hand at some woven patterns. To make this activity even more fun, have everyone create a bracelet for someone else, then swap at the end.

Visit childhood friends

You can obviously visit childhood friends any time of the year, but there’s something special about planning a summer get-together. If you have friends you’ve held onto since your younger years, think back to what you used to do when you hung out as kids. That could mean hitting the mall, making up dance routines, giving each other makeovers, getting active outside, or simply chatting about your crushes. Whatever it is that you and your childhood friends loved doing in the summertime, make time to experience it again as adults for a day. The act of rekindling the origins of your friendship will allow you and your friends to reconnect and unwind at the same time.

Host a nostalgic summer movie marathon

Whether you loved adventure movies or lighthearted rom-coms when you were growing up, a summer movie marathon is always a fun way to look back on the past. Rewatch some of the classics you remember from when you were a kid, especially those that were released in the summer months. You can get an inexpensive projector and host an outdoor screening, or take a break from the heat of the day by watching the movies indoors. Don’t forget to pop some popcorn and stock up on your favorite movie snacks from childhood.

Source: theeverygirl.com©

Photo credit: Source: Dupe | Ashley Diego

 

 

There never seems to be enough hours in a day. And in those few hours, you’re loaded with deadlines, responsibilities, errands and expectations. With stress weighing you down, daily tasks get harder and harder to handle — like a heavy backpack getting heavier as the day goes on.

Fortunately, there are 4 steps to help reduce stress and cope with the inevitable stressors of everyday life.

1. Avoid.

Believe it or not, it is possible to escape some of the minor stressors that tend to trouble people:

• Take control of the stress that fills your day by finding ways to ways to make the situation better. For example, if your commute is stressful, try buying a new CD to make it more enjoyable.
• Create distance between you and something that causes stress. If a co-worker continually irritates you, create physical distance between the two of you.
• Say no when necessary.

2. Alter.

Communicate clearly and let people know your expectations. It can make a world of difference:

• Respectfully ask someone to alter how they are treating you. Remember to use “I” statements when addressing someone about how you feel.
• State your limitations in advance. For example, you can say, “I only have five minutes to talk.”

3. Accept.

Accepting the situation can ease much of the stress when avoiding and altering doesn’t work:

• Talk with someone about how you are feeling. Call a friend, get coffee with a relative or schedule an appointment with a therapist.
• Forgive yourself or others. It is an important element of accepting stressful situations, and moving on is easier than sitting around stressing about uncontrollable situations.

4. Adapt.

Changing your standards and expectations of stressful situations can help you cope with stress:

• Don’t strive for perfection. Instead make reasonable substitutes throughout your daily life.
• Choose dinners that are easier to prepare and still make your family happy.
• Don’t replay stressful situations over and over in your head.
• Choose to focus on the positive aspects in your life.
• Change your perspective by asking yourself if the stressor will matter in five years.

Stress is a part of everyday life. Practicing these four steps can help to provide balance for a healthier, happier lifestyle.

Source:  mayoclinichealthsystem.org©

 

 

 

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Brain fitness has basic principles: variety and curiosity. When anything you do becomes second nature, you need to make a change. If you can do the crossword puzzle in your sleep, it’s time for you to move on to a new challenge to get the best workout for your brain. Curiosity about the world around you, how it works and how you can understand it will keep your brain working fast and efficiently. Use the ideas below to help attain your quest for mental fitness.

Play Games

Brain fitness programs and games are a wonderful way to tease and challenge your brain. Suduko, crosswords and electronic games can all improve your brain’s speed and memory. These games rely on logic, word skills, math and more. These games are also fun.

You’ll get benefit more by doing these games a little bit every day. Spend 15 minutes or so, not hours.

Meditation

Daily meditation is perhaps the single greatest thing you can do for your mind/body health. Meditation not only relaxes you, it gives your brain a workout. By creating a different mental state, you engage your brain in new and interesting ways while increasing your brain fitness.

Eat for Your Brain

Your brain needs you to eat healthy fats. Focus on fish oils from wild salmon, nuts such as walnuts, seeds such as flax seed and olive oil. Eat more of these foods and less saturated fats. Eliminate trans fats completely from your diet.

Tell Good Stories

Stories are a way that we solidify memories, interpret events and share moments. Practice telling your stories, both new and old, so that they are interesting, compelling and fun. Some basic storytelling techniques will go a long way in keeping people’s interest both in you and in what you have to say.

Turn Off Your Television

The average person watches more than four hours of television every day. Television can stand in the way of relationships, life and more. Turn off your TV and spend more time living and exercising your mind and body.

Exercise Your Body to Exercise Your Brain

Physical exercise is great brain exercise too. By moving your body, your brain has to learn new muscle skills, estimate distance and practice balance. Choose a variety of exercises to challenge your brain.

Read Something Different

Books are portable, free from libraries and filled with infinite interesting characters, information, and facts. Branch out from familiar reading topics. If you usually read history books, try a contemporary novel. Read foreign authors, the classics, and random books. Not only will your brain get a workout by imagining different time periods, cultures and peoples, you will also have interesting stories to tell about your reading, what it makes you think of and the connections you draw between modern life and the words.

Learn a New Skill

Learning a new skill works multiple areas of the brain. Your memory comes into play, you learn new movements and you associate things differently. Reading Shakespeare, learning to cook and building an airplane out of toothpicks all will challenge your brain and give you something to think about.

Make Simple Changes

We love our routines. We have hobbies and pastimes that we could do for hours on end. But the more something is ‘second nature,’ the less our brains have to work to do it. To really help your brain stay young, challenge it. Change routes to the grocery store, use your opposite hand to open doors and eat dessert first. All this will force your brain to wake up from habits and pay attention again.

Train Your Brain

Brain training is becoming a trend. There are formal courses, websites, and books with programs on how to train your brain to work better and faster. There is some research behind these programs, but the basic principles are memory, visualization, and reasoning. Work on these three concepts every day and your brain will be ready for anything.

Article By Mark Stibich, PhD Medically reviewed by Shaheen Lakhan, MD, PhD, FAAN

Graphic by usupdates.com

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You head to yoga, squeeze in mani/pedis and treat yourself to the occasional wine and rom-com action when you need to soothe your stress-filled mind. But did you know that you could be practicing a little extra self-care by simply stocking your home with greenery? These seven miracle plants are scientifically proven to help you chill the heck out.

1. MINT

It’s lovely to have mint around for cooking—but this fragrant herb also has serious stress-relieving properties. A study by Wheeling Jesuit University found that sniffing it can actually lower frustration levels and boost alertness.

2. JASMINE

Yes, jasmine is beautiful and lovely to smell. But according to a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, its scent was found to be “as calming as Valium” to the nervous system. (When the scent was released into a cage of mice, they became so chilled out, they all sat quietly in a corner.) Woah.

3. ALOE

You already love this plant for soothing your sunburns and moisturizing your skin. But did you know that it also purifies the air of common carcinogens and emits oxygen at nighttime, helping us to sleep better? P.S. In a recent study, it was also found to reduce depression in mice.

4. LAVENDER

This fragrant, flowering herb has been used medicinally to calm nerves and aid in depression for centuries. (Erm, aromatherapy anyone?) One particularly illuminating study found that the scent of lavender had major effects on lowering pulse rates on nursing students in stressful situations.

5. SNAKE PLANT

According to NASA’s clean air study, this lush-looking plant clears the air of over 107 toxins and emits tons of oxygen throughout the night. This cocktail can improve your energy levels, ease headaches and quite literally have you breathing easier.

6. BASIL

This—may we mention? —delicious herb contains high amounts of an organic compound called linalool (which is commonly used in aromatherapy). A team of Japanese scientists famously conducted a lab rat study that found that exposure to linalool reduces the activity of hundreds of genes that typically go into overdrive during stressful situations.

7. ARECA PALM

This leafy, statement floor plant is also a hard worker: It’s proven to remove nasty toxins like formaldehyde, trichloroethylene and benzene from the air. As a reminder, breathing purer air (whether awake or asleep) lowers your blood pressure. Say it with us now: Ahhhhhhh.

The source of this wonderful information is:

By purewow.com (Grace Beuley Hunt)

Related reading:  Calm Your Mind, Improve your Air – TUTORING YOU

 

These good-for-you activities can help you live longer — and the good news is, you might already be doing some of them.

1. Gardening

 

Go green: Studies showing that gardeners are less stressed and live longer come as no surprise to longevity expert Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones. “If you garden, you’re getting some low intensity physical activity most days, and you tend to work routinely,” he said.

Plus, said Dr. Bradley Wilcox, a gerontologist at the University of Hawaii, “Gardening gives you that something to get up for every day.”

2. Reading

Turn the page: “Older individuals, regardless of gender, health status, wealth or education, showed the survival advantage of reading books,” said Becca Levy, professor of epidemiology and psychology at the Yale School of Public Health. “We know that reading involves two cognitive processes that could [help in living a longer life]: the slow, deep immersion needed to connect to content, and promotion of empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence.”

3. Playing or listening to music

Take note: Per the folks at Johns Hopkins Medicine: “If you want to keep your brain engaged throughout the aging process, listening to or playing music is a great tool. It provides a total brain workout. Research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness and memory.” In fact, one study showed that going to gigs on a regular basis can help add a decade to your life.

4. Dancing

Bust a move: “Dancing is mainly linked to physical health benefits,” explained the British Heart Foundation. “But when you dance, you are moving different parts of your body in a coordinated way, and this activates several parts of the brain.” That’s always a plus in the fight against age-related diseases such as dementia.

5. Doing yoga

Stretch out: According to experts at Henry Ford Health: “Studies show practicing yoga can help lower blood pressure, slow down heart rate, reduce stress and trigger the release of feel-good chemicals in the brain. So it’s no surprise yoga can help maximize your health and longevity.”

Article written by Morning Honey ©

Photo credit:  Unsplash© Morning Honey

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Who doesn’t love fall?  The initial excitement of pumpkin-flavored drinks and sweater weather is fantastic. However, shorter days and chilly temperatures can leave me feeling physically and mentally drained. If this is the case for you, too, you’re not alone. As the season changes, it’s natural for our moods to shift too. Experts have confirmed that a decrease in daylight can affect our sleep, energy levels, and social ability. You need a boost!

You need a ritual!

While it’s essential to take steps to protect your mental health all year round, the change in seasons may require extra support. We need to be proactive to prevent the fall and winter blues from setting in. If you struggle with mental health concerns, consult with your primary care provider or a licensed therapist or counselor. This year, I’ve decided to make a commitment to protect my mental health by engaging in rituals that support me in a positive way. Here are seven wellness rituals you can implement now for a happiness boost that will last the entire upcoming season.

1. Pick up a new hobby

As the weather outside turns frightful, we spend more time indoors. And if you’re anything like me, this means you tend to spend more time mindlessly scrolling, making you feel less energized. As you cozy up inside this fall, consider putting down your phone and picking up a new hobby. Hobbies help to relieve stress while providing a creative outlet. As a bonus, hobbies can also allow you to connect with community members who share your interests. They can even help you perform better at work. So whether it is picking up an instrument, learning to knit, or trying a new workout, there’s something for everyone to try this fall. 

2. Spend time in nature 

Summer might be ending, but it doesn’t mean your hot girl walks have to. Regardless of the season, experts have proven that spending time in nature boosts mood, eases stress and helps increase confidence. Bundle up in your favorite fall layers to enjoy walks or workouts outside. And if you’re looking for more ways to reap the benefits of nature, consider taking advantage of fall-themed activities, such as hiking, apple picking, corn mazes, and pumpkin patches.

3. Try a new recipe

I could go on and on about how much I love to cook and bake in the fall. Call me basic, but I will take all the pumpkin- and apple-flavored foods. When it comes to fall cooking, I feel like the possibilities are endless for creating comforting and nourishing meals. Take this as your sign to try out new fall recipes. By making it a point to try a new recipe each week, you create intention, purpose, and something to look forward to, which can be energizing and inspiring. Better yet, invite your friends over to cook together or consider starting a monthly cookbook club and taking turns hosting. 

4. Plan something to look forward to 

Having something to look forward to can increase happiness and make you feel more creative and productive. But that doesn’t mean you have to go on a luxurious vacation or plan a huge party. This fall, try planning experiences with your friends or family, such as a Halloween costume party, pumpkin carving contest, football watch party, or Friendsgiving. These events can help build anticipation in a positive way. And on a smaller scale, take the time to make your morning cup of coffee or work outfit exciting, which can also boost your happiness.

5. Do a fall cleaning session

You’ve heard of spring cleaning, but what about fall cleaning? Like the leaves falling, the changing season is the perfect time to let go of what’s no longer serving you. Consider this your moment to go full Marie-Kondo-meets-The-Home-Edit and clear away items you no longer use, wear, or need. Check out local organizations in your community to donate old items or organize a clothing swap with friends. And aside from physical objects, fall is also a great time to check in on your inner self and reflect on the current year and the months ahead. Are you meeting your goals? What habits are you looking to form? What behaviors are no longer serving you? Dive in to make the last few months of the year the best ones yet. 

6. Bring the outside in

As we spend more time indoors, it’s easy to start feeling restless. We know that spending time in nature is great for our mental health, but did you know having elements of nature in your home can have similar effects? Some studies have found that interacting with indoor plants or incorporating natural elements in a room can help reduce stress and anxiety. Luckily, fall decor leans heavily on natural elements (dried flowers, wreaths, pumpkins, etc.), so those fall essentials you’ve been eyeing may be more than just cute decorations. If pumpkins and gourds aren’t your ideal decor, there are plenty of other options. Try moving your desk chair next to a window for more sunlight exposure. Add indoor plants and photos of the great outdoors to your living space. Burn scented candles or use diffusers that smell like the outdoors. All of these easy options can help improve your mental health. 

7. Prioritize rest 

When the days get shorter, it’s natural to feel more tired. You shouldn’t push through it or get down on yourself for feeling less energized. Take a cue from nature and use this time to prioritize rest–physically and mentally. Getting enough sleep is proven to help strengthen our immune systems, which is something we can all benefit from this time of year. Make it a point to create a consistent sleep schedule that works for you, and if your sleep is already in check, find other ways to protect your energy this season. That could mean choosing your commitments wisely, spending less time scrolling, or cultivating more self-love. 

Article by Morgan Harm for theeverygirl.com©

Photo by Source: @waityouneedthis

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