Archive for the 'Stress' Category

The science of sleep

A study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association compared sleeping patterns and stroke risk among 93,175 women aged 50 to 79 years.

Researchers controlled for other known stroke risk factors (such as race, lifestyle factors, and depression symptoms) in analyzing the link…

Stress Less: You snooze, you lose

Stress, that is. A timely story about sleep posted that discusses why sleep is so urgent in so many ways to our health. Of course, one of those ways is managing stress hormones. And, of course, I am struggling through the after an entire night of insomnia.

According to the essay, our bo…

Stress Less: Massage works, but why?

Try to find a person who doesn’t enjoy a massage to relax. You’d be hard-pressed. Of all the stress-relieving techniques out there, massage is my absolute favorite.

Certainly, massage relieves muscle pain and soreness, but it appears to be most popular for stress relief. It’s effectiveness is…

Life Fit with Laura Lewis: Can Anti-Depressants Affect More Than Mood


Being Life Fit is about your total health, including the health of all of your relationships. Life Fit is a journey, not a destination. It is a process of continual growth: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Check in each Tuesday to Life Fit with Laura Lewis, author of “52 Ways To…

Stress Less: The simplest solution

Time. Our greatest resource. I’ll debate it with anyone. And I’ll win.

Lack of it is responsible for most of what stresses us out. And taking it back is what makes us feel better. The view of taking a few minutes to relax at the end of the day is possibly the most commonly given advice for re…

7 ways to spend more duration external that summer

I didn’t go external once nowadays, and I’m really disappointed about that. How dare I let a beautiful, sunny, summer day go by without at least getting a few minutes of sunshine on my face? It’s not something that happens very often, but obligations kept me inside and out of the summertime sun….

Stress Less: Hiring cleaning help

I have houseguests arriving that afternoon. And my daughter’s birthday party is that weekend. So, I’ve just spent two days cleaning my house. Granted, I don’t clean often, so it was pretty dirty. But two days? Sore feet? Sore back? The money I could have made working in the duration I spent scra…

Does money form us happier?

Money can’t buy you happiness. That’s how the saying goes, besides. But has anyone ever subjected to that theory to any kind of scientific method? As a matter of fact, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have, and their findings seem to support that popular tenet.

According to …

Stress Less: Borrowing from Buddhism

When I was a child, my great uncle would bring me gifts from the Far East. He worked as a waiter on a cruise ship, a job that offered ample opportunity for visiting places all by the world, particularly the Orient.
One of his gifts was a pair of Laughing Buddhas, which he explained would bring me…

Make being healthy your new ‘pet’ project

It seems that just about everything in that world can hurt us. We are inundated with reports about the dangers of every possible disease, diet, behavior, and cataclysmic event known to man. And, these reports of danger uncommonly seem to come just after hearing reports that the opposite of that …

Pretend the gym is closed

Think it doesn’t matter where you put one foot in front of the other? Think again. As effective an exercise as running on a treadmill is, putting in some miles outdoors offers even greater benefits to your health.

Women’s Health online reports that taking your run external can help you burn f…

Stress Less: Surviving summer with kids

One of the biggest stress inducers for me lately has been finding ample activities to keep my young daughter occupied. Structure and focus seem to be requirements to prevent afternoons filled with whining and crying. Park and pool trips, walks, craft projects, Play Doh and coloring books, and wh…

13 ways to destress in 5 minutes or less

The other day, after a particularly stressful wee hours, I got into my car and suddenly took stock of myself. My heart was racing, I was breathing quickly, and my head was pounding. “That’s it,” I thought to myself, “You need to take five minutes and get yourself together. that isn’t healthy.”

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