Blog – Page 2

Struggling To Sleep? Try This Before Reaching For The Sleeping Pills

October 1, 2020 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

Chronic sleeplessness is a growing problem for adults in the US. Whether it’s the effects of our 24/7, always-on culture, sloppy habits when it comes to night time preparation or factors such as anxiety, it’s never been as hard to get a good night’s sleep as it is now – and a certain global pandemic, with all of its worries, hasn’t made it any easier. Yet, when we don’t get the duration or quality of sleep that our bodies need, every aspect of our well being suffers when we’re tired. From losing focus and becoming more irritable, to making the wrong choices about food and exercise, lack of sleep causes problems in our lives. It’s not just the immediate impact either. Cumulative sleep deprivation has a host of implications for our long-term health and raises the chances of various diseases. It’s a building block that needs correcting in order to live life to your full potential and make the most of the opportunities that come your way. So if you are struggling to drop off, what can you do?

Switch Off For A While

One simple rule that is very effective for a lot of people is to ban all electronic devices from the bedroom. Often televisions, phones and tablets keep us up way past our bedtime. The lure of one more episode on Netflix, the evening scroll through social media that ends up taking several hours, the notifications that ping up just as we’re dropping off – it’s easy to see why these devices aren’t compatible with a restful night. Even worse, all of these gadgets emit blue light, which disrupts the body’s natural production of melatonin, a hormone that signals to your body that it’s time to shut down for the night. Help yourself out by putting your Wifi on a timer plug so it cuts out after a certain time, or by making it a rule to charge devices overnight away from the bedroom. You can even download apps that block social media temporarily if you can’t keep away from your feeds.

Try Some Mood Enhancers

Relaxing can be easier said than done for a lot of us. Getting into the mindset for relaxation sometimes needs some extra help. Many people find that products containing lavender are really useful – pillow sprays or aromatherapy diffusers can help you to enjoy the scent. Others prefer CBD products, which you can source online from suppliers such as Made By Hemp, and come in a variety of applications from drops to add to your bath to gummies and skin creams.

Develop A Wind Down Routine

Going at full tilt all day and then suddenly expecting to be able to stop and drift off to sleep is unrealistic. Your body and brain need a transitional period leading up to falling asleep to gradually wind down. Creating a bedtime routine can be really helpful in this respect. What works for one person may not for another, so it’s all about finding the rituals that are relaxing to you. Some people find that keeping a gratitude journal is helpful, or doing a brain dump list of all the outstanding tasks they didn’t tackle during the day. Others find that listening to a mindfulness podcast or practising some simple breathing techniques can help them destress. When you find something that works for you, allocate time to it an hour before you want to fall asleep to promote gradual relaxation.

Thank you for reading!

Health

Three Types of Therapy That Will Change Your Life

October 1, 2020 By lyndsinreallife 1 Comment

Although more and more people are attending therapy in this day and age, it is still an undiscovered game-changer for many people. Most people consider therapy to be something you attend when you are severely mentally ill, or have undergone a huge, devastating blow, like the death of a loved one. Similarly, there are certain types of therapy, such as ESDM therapy, designed for autistic children, which is highly specialized for individuals with certain conditions. While it is true that therapy is necessary for those situations, anyone and everyone can benefit from having a therapist. We all carry trauma, although some people carry more and others less, and we all have unhealthy habits or mentalities which would benefit from being challenged.

If you have never considered going to therapy, here are three types of therapy which will change your life for the better.

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy, also known as CBT, is a very popular form of therapy worldwide. It consists of a trained therapist having one-on-one sessions with a patient who is experiencing any kind of difficulties with their thoughts, emotions or interactions with others – such as depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, paranoia or guilt. This type of therapy seeks to help the patient understand what thoughts are, how they operate and how our brains can form patterns of thinking. If you are having anxious thoughts all the time, eventually your brain will automatically go down the anxiety route when anything happens. CBT seeks to help your brain un-learn all of the negative cognitive behaviors in your brain and learn fresh, rational ways of thinking. It involves making diaries and doing cognitive exercises with your therapist.

EMDR Therapy

EMDR therapy, standing for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a form of therapy which involves consciously replicating the REM stages of sleep with a therapist. When we sleep, our eyes move backwards and forwards under our lids – this is called REM, rapid eye movement, and it allows our brain to process what has happened over the day.

If we go through a particularly traumatic experience, our brains can’t process it properly using REM. So instead it gets stored away unprocessed, and can return to us in the form of PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, which can involve flashbacks and panic attacks. EMDR therapy involves thinking about the experience, bringing it to the front of your mind, and moving your eyes back and forth as if you were in the REM stages of sleep. It helps us process traumatic events.

Talk Therapy

Sometimes the best way to deal with a difficult event is through talking. If you are going through the death of a loved one or another emotional event, talking therapy can allow you to gush out all your feelings that have been bottled up, with a licensed therapist who can help you rationalize and process the feelings. This can help alleviate anxiety, stress and feelings of guilt you have held inside, and allow you to heal and move on more quickly.

•Have you tried any of these methods of therapy? I swear by EMDR!

Thank you for reading!

Health

4 Healthier Alternatives To Coffee When You Are Feeling Tired

September 29, 2020 By lyndsinreallife 1 Comment

Caffeine is the first port of call for most people when they’re feeling tired. In the morning, when you’re trying to wake yourself up and get your day started, a cup of coffee can really help things along. But relying on caffeine to boost your energy levels isn’t a good idea because it actually makes things worse in the long run. After that initial energy boost, you will crash and feel even more tired, which means that you are then reliant on caffeine to keep going throughout the day. Drinking too much caffeine can also increase feelings of stress and anxiety, so it’s important to limit your intake. If you think that you are drinking too much caffeine, why not try some of these alternative ways to boost your energy levels.

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Cleaner Caffeine

A cup of coffee doesn’t just contain caffeine, it contains other additives and often sugar and milk, neither of which are good for your energy levels. If you still feel like you can’t do without your caffeine but you want a better way to consume it, look into cleaner caffeine options instead. Zero calorie caffeine powder, with added chemicals, can easily be stirred into any food or drink so you get the boost that you want without any of the added extras. It’s still best to try to cut back on caffeine as much as possible but replacing your morning cup of coffee with a clean caffeine alternative is a great start.

Water

Often, when you wake up in the morning and you feel tired and sluggish, it’s because you are dehydrated. The cup of coffee wakes you up partly because of the caffeine but also because of the water. If you just drink a glass of water before your coffee and see how you feel, you will probably notice a similar effect.

CBD Products

CBD products have a lot of great health benefits and they are perfect for boosting your energy levels in the morning and helping you to start the day right. You can get some great CBD inhalers online from Kaya Hemp Co. and there are some specially formulated ones to help boost your energy levels. CBD also helps to improve sleep and reduce stress, which will help to beat fatigue as well.

Yogurt

Eating a healthy amount of protein in the morning is a brilliant way to boost your energy levels so if you are the kind of person that skips breakfast or eats an unhealthy snack, you need to make some changes. Swapping your morning cup of coffee for a healthy greek yogurt is the perfect way to start the day. It’s packed full of protein, which will boost your energy levels and get your brain in gear. If you add some chopped fruit or other healthy toppings to it, you are getting lots of vital nutrients as well as the protein that your body needs to wake up, so you will notice a huge difference in the way that you feel.

The occasional cup of coffee is fine and you don’t need to cut it out completely, but you should try some of these alternatives instead because they will help to sustain your energy levels throughout the day.

Thank you for reading!

Food

The Traditions Of Easter Food

September 25, 2020 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

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At different times of the year, we have traditional dishes and meals we associated with that occasion. For example, we eat Turkey at Christmas and also on Thanksgiving. At Easter, it is lamb.

It is something that we have done for many years, and a lot of us never question the reasons why. After all, we are simply used to it, and it is the way it is. However, it is certainly interesting to delve deeper and find out why these traditional meals have become staples for dates like this.

That is what we are going to take a look at in this blog post. We will reveal why lamb is the chosen meal for Easter, as well as looking at eggs and their link with this spring celebration.

First and foremost, it is vital to take a look at the role lamb has played over the years when it comes to this celebration and Christianity in general. Let’s look at a few examples!

The reference to lamb in Christianity goes way back. In fact, it stars in the work of Genesis, when Abraham was summoned to sacrifice his offspring.
It was popular superstition that the devil could never take the shape of a lamb, despite being able to take the form of all other animals. This is because of a lamb’s religious symbolization.
Lamb is a lucky omen. Many centuries ago it was considered lucky to meet a lamb. This was the case at all times of the year, but even more so during this holiday.
A prayer for the blessing of lambs was written by the Benedictine monks in the 7th century.
A whole roasted lamb has long been a feature of the Pope’s Easter Dinner.
Availability must also be considered. This is because lambs historically came to the market around the time of Easter.
As you can see, there are many different reasons why lamb has become the meat of choice during this period. Of course, there are two other popular symbols associated with the celebration as well – eggs and the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny does not have any religious symbolization. Rather, it represents the arrival of spring.

Eggs on the other hand have a wide association with Christianity. They were decorated and exchanged as gifts before the birth of Christ. Early Christians were not allowed to eat them during Lent, so when Lent concluded they celebrated by eating eggs. They also symbolize rebirth and rejuvenation.

We often give people Easter Eggs and we partake in egg decorating activities for Easter. However, you can also incorporate eggs into your Easter meal. For example, you can serve eggs at breakfast. The eggs florentine recipe here is a delicious one!

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the different types of food that are served over the Easter period. Next year, you can eat your Easter meal knowing where the tradition has come from and why it is considered so important.

Thank you for reading!

Fitness Health Las Vegas

Working My Way Toward Wellness with Stretch Therapy – Week One

September 19, 2020 By lyndsinreallife 1 Comment

I’ve been experiencing some kind of chronic pain for at least 5 years. My worst pain is in my low back, followed by hip pain (in both hips, but mainly my right hip), and as of the last year, my right neck/shoulder (thanks to surgery and at least one wonky nerve).

In Las Vegas (Summerlin specifically), there’s a stretch therapy studio called Kika Stretch Studios. I think it might be my saving grace!

At this studio, a highly trained Kika therapist gently assists the client with stretching. I’d say Kika stretch therapy is a mash up of yoga, Pilates, physical therapy, and massage therapy (4 of my favorite things!). The stretch sessions are designed to relieve the body of muscle pain, tension, and fatigue.

“Revive your body and ease your mind. The Kika Method© is meant for anyone who wants to move and feel the natural way that you were designed to.”
Kika Studios Website

I’m starting a 5-week wellness journey where I’ll participate in a Kika stretch therapy session every Friday (after the busy work week and before the relaxing weekend!). The stretch therapist I’ll be working with is Tamara.

I’m really excited and can’t wait to share all about my experience and progress – I hope you choose to follow along with me! I’ll be posting here on my blog, as well as my Instagram and Facebook pages.

Be on the lookout for a “first session” post in a couple days!

Health

Don’t Let Chronic Pain Break Your Back

September 10, 2020 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

Do you suffer from chronic pain? Well, you’re not alone. Chronic pain is a lot more common than most people realize. Indeed, millions of people suffer from issues with chronic pain and this certainly becomes more of a common issue as you age. It’s important that you don’t let chronic pain take over your life. Instead, you need to figure out how to deal with it the right way. So, let’s look at some of the best options.

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Think About Cause

The first step should always be trying to determine what is the cause of your chronic pain. Now, unfortunately, this isn’t often an easy question to answer and there are a few reasons for that. First of all, it’s possible that there isn’t a known cause for your pain even when you go to the doctor’s. Second, you might find that it’s something that you didn’t expect or weren’t prepared for. You might suffer from GERD and this condition can cause severe pain. If you think this might be the issue, then you should consider consulting a gastroenterologist. They can provide the treatment you need.

Pain can also be psychological which is why many individuals find that they benefit from getting cognitive therapy. With cognitive therapy, you can usually address the root cause of the pain which could be an emotional issue from your past.

Once you understand the cause of your issue, you will be more than halfway to tackling the problem! However, it’s not quite enough.

Look At Coping Mechanisms

The next step will always be to explore coping mechanisms and ways to deal with your chronic pain more effectively. Cognitive retraining therapy can help a great deal. With this type of therapy, you can train your mind to essentially ignore the pain and treat it like a sensation that is not relevant. This allows many people to live with the pain far more effectively and lead more normal lives.

You might also want to think about trying herbal medicine rather than the typical meds prescribed by a doctor. For instance, many people have found great results with CBD. This is understandable as CBD does seem to have widespread benefits for both the body and the mind.

A lot of people who suffer from chronic pain do tend to avoid exercise however this can be beneficial too. Or at least it will be as long as you choose the right type of exercise. Specifically, swimming can be great because the water helps release and loosen the joints and muscles throughout the body. Tension will always make chronic pain far worse and more noticeable.

We hope this helps you understand some of the best and most effective ways to deal with your chronic pain. Chronic pain can feel like a nightmare, but if you take the right steps and follow the best strategy, then it doesn’t have to take over your life. You can still enjoy yourself and have fun with your passions as well as your family.

Thank you for reading!

Health

5 Signs You’re Close To Burning Out

September 9, 2020 By lyndsinreallife 2 Comments

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Human beings can only take so much stress and physical exertion. If you’re constantly pushing your body and mind to the limits, you’ll eventually burn out.

Nobody wants to reach this ‘burn-out’ stage – you’ll either get to a point where you don’t want to get up in the morning or you’ll have a nervous breakdown. You could even push yourself to the point of physical illness or self-harm if you’re not careful.

Below are five signs that you may be getting close to burning out (and what you can do to prevent this).

You feel physically and emotionally exhausted

Physical and emotional exhaustion are a clear sign that you’ve been pushing yourself too hard. This is likely from denying yourself free time, and possibly even sacrificing sleep to juggle responsibilities.

You constantly feel restless – even after accomplishing a task

People on the brink of burn-out often feel as if they have an ever-growing queue of tasks to complete. As a result, when one task is accomplished, you may not feel any sense of gratitude, because there are still so many tasks left to take on.

You no longer see the value of certain responsibilities

Certain responsibilities may have lost the value that they once held. In most cases, people stop caring about their job. The idea of meeting targets and impressing customers may all seem meaningless. Similarly, you may start to see no value in doing tasks such as housework or exercise.

You feel like the quality of everything you do is slipping

You may feel that you’re constantly making mistakes or cutting corners to get things done. While you may just about be staying on top of things, there could be a sense that nothing is being done as well as you’d like.

Any free time you get is spent recovering

Instead of doing anything productive with your free time, you could find that any free time you get is spent recovering – you may not want to do anything more than nap or watch the TV. Even this recovery time may not be enough, causing exhaustion to continue building up.

How to prevent burnout

Think that you may be on the brink of a burn-out? If you act now, you may be able to prevent things getting any worse. Here are just a few ways to prevent burn-out.

Allow others to take some of the strain

Consider the responsibilities that you are juggling and whether there is any way of getting support. If parenthood is getting on top of you, consider asking someone to babysit regularly to take some of the strain off. If caring for aging loved ones is taking up a lot of your energy, you could consider looking into hospice care. At work meanwhile, there may be tasks that you can delegate to colleagues or get help with.

Set clear boundaries

Try to keep clear boundaries between work and family life. Make sure that you’re finishing work at a certain time so that you can spend enough time with your family. Similarly, make sure that family life isn’t interfering with your work performance.

Avoid being a perfectionist

Perfectionists are often more prone to burn-out because they invest huge amounts of time ensuring that all the details are attended to. Not all these details may be necessary – it could be time to prioritize what is important.

Eliminate unhealthy sources of stress

Your stress could be due to an overly demanding employer or a toxic partner that expects too much of you. It could be time to quit your job or leave your partner to help eliminate the burden.

•Are you feeling burned out? What do you do to try to remedy that?

Thank you for reading!

Health Nutrition

The Most Important Dietary Requirements We All Have

September 9, 2020 By lyndsinreallife 1 Comment

Anyone keen to improve the diet they are eating will need to first look into what kind of changes they might need to make in general. You might be keen to try and improve your overall health, for instance by eating better and exercising more, and you might have a specific goal in mind like losing a certain amount of weight over a period of time. But before even all of that, it’s good to know about some of the essentials of the kind of dietary requirements that we all have – the sorts of things that you should be aiming to fit into your diet for the sake of posterity. Let’s take a look at some of those now!

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Fiber

First of all, make sure that you are getting plenty of fiber in your diet. Without fiber, your digestive system can’t properly break down the waste in your food, and you could give yourself stool problems. If left alone, those issues can later become much more serious, to the point where you might need to rely upon ostomy supplies or where you could even find yourself with colon cancer – a very serious problem indeed. You can help to keep all that at bay simply by getting a little more fiber into your diet every day, which you can do by eating more grains and cereals, and beans.

Vitamins

One of the main reasons why it is so important to eat a wide variety of vegetables and fruits is that it allows your body to get all those vitamins that are necessary for your good health and for your survival. If you are eating a rainbow of different veggies, you will be getting vitamins A, C and E, amongst others, and that will enable your body to operate as well as possible at all times. If you lack any of these vitamins, it can mean that your body is going to struggle to work as well as you would hope, and you could even cause yourself to have a weaker immune system in the long run as well. Make sure you get plenty of vitamins and you could really make a difference to your life.

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Variation

The most important thing of all when it comes to diet is to ensure that you are eating as much of a variation of different foods as you can. That is absolutely true when it comes to making sure you have many different kinds of vegetables, but also more broadly in ensuring you are eating something from each of the major food groups. While that doesn’t mean you have to follow the old rules of eating a certain amount of meat and so on every day – you can actually get by without meat perfectly healthily – it does mean that you should focus on getting all of the same minerals and nutrients that you would have done with meat. If you can do that, you will be much healthier indeed.

Thank you for reading!

Blogging + Business

Could Your Reltionship To Money Change? Let’s Explore

August 28, 2020 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

Whether you are in your 20’s right now, hitting the later years in life, or are looking back at that time in your life, the relationship any person would have had with money and their bank balance will more resemble a roller coaster right than stability. Wouldn’t you agree? It’s that whole desire to start being an adult and responsible for things, and bad decisions or choices can be made. Not saving money and investing it into a property. Getting into debt because you want the latest fashion trends or you just couldn’t resist that big night out that was planned at the end of the month. Many of us will relate to the somewhat frazzled relationship with money and find that the older we get, the wiser we can become. But, it is always worth it to try and change your relationship. So if you happen to be starting out your adult years right now, or want to educate someone younger, here are some of the top tips to help change your relationship with money in your young adult years.

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Is debt the answer?

Well, no. Credit cards and loans can be the right course of action if you need to make a big purchase, but it isn’t the right answer for you if it happens to be that you rely on credit cards or an overdraft to simply pay your bills and survive each month. Something’s got to give. This is why it is worth looking at your financial situation and making some changes. This is why websites like dtss.us/money-creation.html can be very useful and informative. Of course, debt sometimes is necessary, for example, we can get ourselves into debt through college and university. But even then, there are ways to ensure that you have a much better relationship with it once you leave and graduate. What we must always remember is that we only get the benefit of debt once, and then it needs to be paid off.

Researching other ways to boost your bank balance

There has got to be different ways you can boost your bank balance. Some people like to sell unwanted things online and keep them home decluttered. Others like to fill out online surveys or perform mystery shops. People make and sell things on online platforms like Etsy, and even blog and use their own internet spaces to make money through advertising. The options are endless it is just a case of finding the right thing for you.

Budgeting wisely to ensure that you stretch every penny

Finally, budgeting is something that we should be educated on from a young age as sometimes when you have a bank balance boosted by wages, it is difficult to ensure that bills get paid and what you can or can’t spend your money on. Budgeting is an excellent way to ensure that every penny stretches as far as it can do. Things like meal planning and regularly analysing your outgoings are great ways to reduce your bills.

Let’s hope these suggestions help you to have a better relationship with your money moving forward! Good luck!

Thank you for reading!

Health

Common Digestive Issues That You May Face

August 28, 2020 By lyndsinreallife 1 Comment

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Digestive issues are pretty common nowadays. Different conditions require different treatment, or different changes in lifestyle, to alleviate symptoms and offer relief. So, it’s important that you are aware of the symptoms of issues you may face. This will help you to make the relevant changes as quickly as possible if you ever do experience them! Here are three of the most common digestive issues experienced by adults!

Constipation

Constipation is one of the most common digestive issues in the world. If you are constipated, you will experience difficulty passing stools as easily and regularly as you should. You may have fewer than three bowel movements a week, you may pass dry or hard stools, you may have to strain during bowel movements or you could even experience a rectal blockage. Now, for most people, constipation is an occasional thing. But for others, it is regular. Common causes of constipation include:

a low-fiber diet
a diet high in meat, milk or cheese
dehydration
lack of exercise
delaying the impulse to have a bowel movement
travel or other changes in routine
medications like high calcium antacids and pain medications
Pregnancy

Most of these can be tackled easily or are temporary. If you change your lifestyle to encourage bowel movements and are still experiencing problems though, you may want to visit a doctor. They could recommend stool softener tablets or diagnose underlying conditions causing the constipation.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Another common digestive issue is IBS or “irritable bowel syndrome”. It is estimated that one in five people suffer from this condition at any given time. It is identified by:

Stomach cramps
Bloating
Diarrhoea
Constipation

While few people will experience these problems constantly, they do come and go and IBS tends to be a lifelong issue that doesn’t resolve itself. There’s no cure for IBS, but it can be managed with help from medication and lifestyle changes. If you feel you may be suffering from IBS, make sure to consult a doctor who will be able to confirm your suspicions and can give specific recommendations in regards to your lifestyle and habits.

Diverticulitis

Diverticulitis isn’t as well known as constipation or IBS. But it is still a relatively common digestive issue. When you have diverticulitis, you develop pouches – or “diverticula” – within your colon walls. These pouches can become inflamed or irritated, causing severe discomfort. Unfortunately, this is another condition that doesn’t have an outright cure. But doctors generally recommend that people with diverticulitis incorporate more fibre into their diet to help with the condition. Again, if you are worried that you may have diverticulitis, it’s best to visit your doctor for an official diagnosis and individual advice.

These are just three digestive issues that commonly affect the adult population. So, it’s important that you are aware of their symptoms. If you have any concerns with your own digestive health, the best piece of advice is to visit your doctor. They’ll be able to identify the specific cause and set you out on the right path to relief and comfort!

Thank you for reading!

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