If you always feel tired, it may be sleepiness or fatigue and theres a key difference. Sleepy people would sleep, given the opportunity, and it will often give them more energy. Fatigued people tend to have low energy levels regardless of sleep, and generally dont feel like doing much.

There are many causes of sleepiness and fatigue. Whether its lack of sleep, poor sleep quality, a nutrient deficiency, or an underlying condition here are some of the most common reasons why you may be feeling tired.

If you find yourself feeling tired throughout the day, you should first assess whether you are getting enough sleep each night. According to the National Sleep Foundation, most adults should get seven to nine hours of sleep, while children need more depending on their age. Yet, an estimated one in three American adults dont get the recommended amount.

The quality of sleep is just as important as the number of hours, says Rajkumar Dasgupta, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine at Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.Sleep apnea, for example, can cause fragmented sleep, preventing you from getting into deeper, more restorative, sleep stages, which can lead to excessive sleepiness during the day.

If you think that lack of sleep, or low-quality sleep is the problem, then sticking to a routine may be helpful, says Stephanie Stahl, MD, a sleep medicine physician at Indiana University Health. Our bodies operate on internal clocks that regulate organ function, and maintaining regular cycles by going to sleep and waking up at the same time helps regulate this internal clock.

If your sleep pattern is frequently changing, your body doesnt know when its supposed to be awake or asleep and other body functions may be thrown off too, Stahl says. Disrupting your internal clock, or circadian rhythms, can result in less restful sleep cycles, making you feel tired.

This is especially important if you have an unusual schedule, like working a night shift. Studies have found that night shifts can be detrimental to overall health and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. By sticking to the same schedule every day and limiting light exposure to create a dark, night-time environment, many shift workers can reset their internal clocks and adapt to their schedules, Stahl says.

If youre not getting sufficient nutrients each day, or not drinking enough water, it may be part of the reason why youre always feeling tired.

You may need to rework certain parts of your diet to boost energy:

The level and type of physical activity each person needs to feel energised depends on many individual factors, Smarr says.

For example, one study found that low-intensity exercise, like walking, reduced symptoms of fatigue by 65% in sedentary people who regularly experience fatigue, and was even more effective than moderate exercise. The timing of exercise doesnt necessarily make a difference in energy levels throughout the day, Smarr says, but staying consistent with regular physical activity can help improve fatigue.

Smarr says a lack of physical activity can also leave you feeling tired, particularly after eating. This is when blood sugar spikes, and if you remain sedentary, those blood sugar levels remain high, which inhibits the bodys ability to convert glucose from blood into cells for energy.

Even the act of standing for a few minutes after your meal radically shortens the amount of time the blood sugar is in your blood, Smarr says.

Though you shouldnt necessarily engage in an intense workout after consuming a meal, moving around a little can help stabilise your blood sugar and reduce feelings of sluggishness associated with high blood sugar.

These underlying medical conditions can cause you to feel tired:

If its not physical, it may be mental. Stress can disrupt sleep at night, which can cause daytime sleepiness, Dagupta says. Prolonged periods of stress can also contribute to fatigue and exhaustion.

Moreover, fatigue is a common symptom of depression, and both depression and anxiety can make it difficult to fall asleep at night, Dasgupta says. This cycle can perpetuate itself, as sleep deprivation can worsen depression and anxiety.

If you think your fatigue is associated with depression or anxiety, talk with your doctor. A health care provider can discuss medication options or help you make lifestyle changes to improve your sleep.

Site highlights each day to your inbox.

Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Go here to read the rest:
Why am I always tired? The main causes of sleepiness and fatigue - Business Insider Australia

A healthy, engaged and productive work environment starts with conversations about peoples needs. So whether you have always been on a co-located team or are a veteran of remote work, there are new circumstances and the old rulebook doesnt quite help. The change has been sudden, in a sustained moment of uncertainty, and has disrupted employee routines and support structures.

People who are used to working from home are not necessarily used to their homes being a coworking facility for the whole family. People who are used to living alone are not necessarily used to being alone all week, around the clock. Teams who are used to connecting virtually are not used to doing so while worrying about the future and their loved ones that they cannot reach.

Peoples ability to work well together as a team requires them being physically, cognitively and emotionally well. In our day-to-day routines, we have learned to fine-tune our surroundings, processes and habits to find our productive balance.

This has been thrown into disarray, and you can help people by having conversations about their needs and how to adjust their individual and teamwork practices to create a new balance.

New dimensions

To that end, here is a checklist based on the six dimensions of wellbeing that Steelcase WorkSpace Futures researchers identified for establishing a healthy, engaged and productive workplace. Whether you lead a team or are a member of a team, these are good topics of conversation to make sure everyone is thinking holistically about their wellbeing.

Vitality

As we know, staying healthy requires sleep, a balanced diet, exercise and an adequate, safe environment.

Being contained at home reduces our options. Ask people to think about the following:

Do you have a space at home where you can work comfortably, in terms of posture and noise levels? If its not ideal, are there small creative adjustments you could make to improve it?

Goals:

Mindfulness

Mindfulness has become synonymous with meditation, but its much more than that. Its about being attentive in the present moment, whether its listening closely to what someone is saying, or listening closely to your own bodys needs and your emotions. Practicing mindfulness helps us become more aware of what helps us feel better and can actually boost our moods and immune system.

Are you able to be present with what you are doing or who you are speaking to?

Goals:

Authenticity

Increasingly, people want to be able to be themselves at work and not hide behind a mask. However, for many, this new working arrangement might expose them more than they would like video conferencing can feel suddenly too intimate, as colleagues can see into our homes and relationships more than they can when we work in the office. People might feel like they are letting team members down if they have to take care of young children instead of being in the meeting or cant deliver the originally agreed-upon deadline. Consider discussing:

How do I feel about having virtual meetings from my home?

How is my work schedule disrupted, and how does it need to be adjusted to fit this new reality?

Goals:

Belonging

Feeling connected to and cared for by other people is a fundamental human need. Social distancing and isolation over time will impact wellbeing, and for many will eliminate the daily informal interactions that they were used to.

What are the interactions you used to look forward to and are now missing?

Goals:

Meaning

One of the most important elements to feel well on a day-to-day basis at work is to know that your work is building toward something and helping others. This can be difficult to see when working remotely and solely on devices. Explore ways to make your work more tangible.

What gives you the most satisfaction from your work on a daily basis? How has this new situation changed your ability to get that satisfaction? How might you find new creative ways to obtain that satisfaction?

Goals:

Optimism

In these highly uncertain and constraining times, we can feel anxious and helpless. Its important not to give in to that sentiment, and remember we still have opportunities to make the most of the situation.

Is there anything in particular you are struggling with? How could you, your family or we as a team make it better?

Goals:

There is no right or wrong. These are suggestions individuals can explore to find what they respond to best. Leaders can encourage their teams to share their ideas with each other. And above all, remember to be kind and forgiving to yourself and everyone else well get through this together.

Beatriz is the WorkSpaceFuture manager for Steelcase EMEA based in Munich and specializes in the psychology of human emotions and behaviors, and how they relate to working life and work environments.

Visit link:
The new dimensions of workplace wellbeing - Workplace Insight

Will Kwon (center left) and Eunsol Noh wear masks as they walk at White Rock Lake on March 29, 2020 in Dallas.

Although there is no cure or specific treatment for COVID-19, there are some things you can do to strengthen your immune system against the coronavirus.

Here are scientifically supported ways to help fight off illness.

The amount of sleep youre getting each night can make a big difference in your bodys ability to fight infection, health experts say.

One 2015 study found that people who sleep less than six hours each night were more likely to catch a cold than those who slept seven or more.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults sleep at least seven hours each night. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day, sleeping in rooms without electronics or screens, and avoiding large meals, caffeine and alcohol before bed are ways to improve your sleep.

Research shows that regular, moderate exercise can reduce inflammation and support your immune systems cells.

Health experts recommend moderate exercise at least 150 minutes each week, or about 20 minutes a day. You can also do 75 minutes of more intense exercise a week, or do a combination of both.

Moderate exercise includes brisk walking, biking, swimming or jogging, while more intense exercise includes running or other cardio.

Staying hydrated isnt directly connected to preventing disease, but it can help with your overall health.

Healthline says you should drink enough water each day to make your urine a pale yellow, while other health experts recommend drinking eight glasses of water a day, or about half a gallon.

In this age of uncertainty, lowering your stress level is easier said than done. But health experts say high stress levels have negative impacts on your bodys ability to fight off illness.

A series of studies in the 1990s led by Sheldon Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, found that people who reported higher levels of stress were more susceptible to the common cold.

Cohen led another study published in 2012 that found psychological stress can cause the body to lose its ability to regulate its inflammatory response, which may promote the onset and progression of some diseases.

Health experts recommend stress management techniques such as avoiding social media, meditating, practicing controlled breathing, doing yoga, or other activities that help you feel relaxed.

No one food will prevent infection, but following basic dietary guidelines, like eating plenty of fruit, vegetables and protein is a good start.

There are several specific items you can add to your diet to strengthen your immune system and overall health.

Health experts recommend eating certain foods that are high in vitamin C, like red bell peppers, broccoli, strawberries, spinach, and citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and grapefruit. Sunflower seeds and almonds are recommended because they are high in vitamin E, while other foods, like yogurt, garlic, poultry and chickpeas, have other health benefits.

Ginger, turmeric, green tea, papayas, kiwis, shellfish and mushrooms are also good items to add to your diet, health experts say.

Texans may be eager to take advantage of alcohol delivery and to-go cocktails since Gov. Greg Abbott waived regulations restricting restaurants from providing such services. But health experts say you should be careful about how much you drink if you want to put your body in a good position to fight off disease.

Research shows excess alcohol consumption can make your body more susceptible to respiratory illness, including pneumonia and other lung diseases. It can also decrease your body tissues ability to heal wounds. Health experts say this is true for chronic and binge drinkers.

While health experts say the occasional glass of wine at dinner wont hurt you, you should avoid overdoing it.

Health experts have differing opinions on the use of vitamin and other supplements. They can be pricey, and they dont prevent anyone from catching a disease, no matter how much you take.

Health experts say other disease prevention methods, like frequent hand-washing, is going to help you more than any supplement will.

However, there is some evidence that regularly taking certain supplements can reduce the duration of certain illnesses.

One 2013 study found that regularly taking vitamin C reduced the duration of colds in adults by 8% and in children by 14%. A similar 2017 study found that the duration of colds among people taking more than 75 mg of zinc per day was 33% shorter than those who didnt take zinc.

An exception to the supplement rule that most health experts agree on is vitamin D, which helps your body fight off infection. You can get vitamin D naturally through certain foods, like salmon, or through exposing your body to sunlight. Some health experts recommend taking a vitamin D supplement during winter months, when sunlight is harder to come by.

If youre going to take supplements, its important not to take too many. Some health and wellness influencers and Youtubers have recommended taking extremely high doses of supplements in recent weeks in response to COVID-19. But health experts warn that can be dangerous. Taking high doses can cause dizziness, nausea and headaches and damage your organs in more serious cases.

Healthline recommends taking supplements that have been tested by a third party, such as United States Pharmacopeia, NSF International, and ConsumerLab, because supplements arent regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Practicing habits to strengthen your health does not mean you should stop following other public health guidelines. You should still be social distancing, avoiding nonessential errands, washing your hands often, wearing a face mask in public and following stay-at-home orders, health experts say.

See the original post here:
Here are the best ways to strengthen your immune system during the coronavirus pandemic - The Dallas Morning News

Summary: Industrial revolutions are not one big event. They are many incremental changes with giant effects. Wars and pandemics often accelerate them, changing society unexpectedly with fantastic speed. The shift to working at home is one such change, forced by COVID-19 changing everything.

There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen. Paraphrase fromMarxs letter to Engels, 9 April 1863.

Male fantasy image of a woman working at home.

A crisis can spark a jump in a societys evolution. America after WWII was drastically different than before it. Technology leaped forward, the shift of population and vitality to the West coast accomplished in a few years what might have taken a decade otherwise. The power and reach of the Federal government expanded to a revolutionary degree. Social patterns also changed, as millions of people left their homes to travel across the nation or the world and millions of women went from homemakers to industrial workers. The effects of these changes took decades to fully play out, but were irreversibly set in motion by WWII.

COVID-19 might have some similar, albeit smaller, effects. The economic and political changes can only be guessed at now. But one is big, with effects gigantic if as yet unseen: the shift of work back to homes. The shift to telecommuting was an obvious and early prediction after the popularization of the Intenet. It began to accelerate after 2004 from small numbers (graph from a Fed study). COVID-19 has taken this trend and shifted it to warp speed.

I think this is a watershed moment in terms of wider acceptance and implementation of work-from-home. Employees that have tasted the benefits of more freedom and autonomy are going be hard-pressed to let it go. Philippe Weiss, president of Seyfarth Shaw at Work, a Chicago-based workplace training firm. From Chicago Tribune.

Gallup Research found that in 2016 43% of workers sometimes worked remotely (not necessarily from home). Their 2014 survey found that 76% of workers said that the ability to work remotely was a positive development. Their 2020 report found that a large fraction of workers preferred remote working the more the worked remotely, the better they liked it. Less time and expense commuting. Less time preparing for work. Less need for a work wardrobe. Often (not always) a better work environment and sometimes, using better technology.

Improved productivity, happier workers, fewer absences are benefits businesses immediately report when shifting employees to at home work. But this change is a gift that keeps giving. Employees usually pay for their own IT equipment, repairs, and communications. The increasing burden of monitoring workers interactions the cost and time spent in annual training, the managers time spent, the big HR staff, the liability insurance, the bills are reduced, melting like last years snow.

Eventually, businesses will need less square footage. That means less expense for rent, taxes, maintenance, and insurance. The prospect of bigger profits at each step on the road will be an irresistible inducement for businesses.

Those benefits to workers and businesses mean fewer jobs. That picture of a happy woman working at home is a fantasy. Shell be in jeans and a t-shirt. Her budget for cosmetics, nice clothes, and hair products will be slashed. The people who sold her lunch, the janitors, the painters many of these will be unemployed. That is an inevitable side effect of increasing national productivity. In the past, new jobs were eventually created to replace those lost. But that is not a law of nature. As discussed in other posts, this industrial revolution might be like the Horse Revolution. Their jobs were lost, without new ones being created for the unemployed horses.

Niagara Falls in 1904. Every factory with its own hydropower! It wasnt ideal.

Industrial revolutions introduce new technology and methods that can drastically boost productivity. But it does not happen immediately. It takes time to develop new ways to make the most of these innovations. At first, they are seen as news ways to continue the old ways: artificial writing (the printing press), the horseless carriage and iron horse, the wireless telegraph (radio), glass teletype (early computer terminals). Only when people break free from old models can the full potential of innovations flourish.

The psychology of working from home requires changes by both managers and employees. Managers fear losing control and an inability to build team spirit. Employees lose the comaradary of work and must develop self-discipline. New e-tools monitor productivity and allow remote interactions. None of this comes quickly or easily. The Chicago Tribune describes how companies are adapting, such as this.

Thats been a sea change for managers, {Weiss} said. Manager myths are falling by the wayside because their people have had to come front and center. Weiss said Seyfarth at Work has been getting a lot more training requests recently on how to supervise remote employees, which requires a different approach than when they are sitting in a nearby cubicle or when casual conversations can be had en route to the elevators. Managers must set clearer expectations, offer more frequent praise and have more purposeful check-ins on progress when their workers are remote, he said.

This article in The Atlantic also describes these challenges.

As businesses concentrate into giant mega-corps located in a few regions, the rest of America empties out while living expenses skyrocket for workers. They live in areas like NY City and the San Francisco Bay Area where everyting is more expensive. And housing prices are high and climbing. A shift to work at home can break this emprisonment, allowing people to work in nicer and cheaper areas. It might be the shift to suburbs after WWII but on a different scale.

Our social lives also will change. As Americas intermediate institutions such as churches, fraternal organizations, and social clubs have faded, work remains the major focus of many peoples lives. Where they have personal contact and meet people of other kinds and classes. That goes away when working from home. Perhaps the next generation will have a large fraction of people who work and play remotely from other people, as science fiction author Isaac Asimov described in his 1956 novel The Naked Sun

These and other wonders await us in the 21st century as a new industrial revolution unfolds. See my posts about it.

Ideas!For some shopping ideas see my recommended books and filmsat Amazon. Also, see a powerful and disturbing story about Birth of a Man of Steel for the Soviet Union.

If you liked this post,like us on Facebookandfollow us on Twitter. See all posts about singularities, about robots, how the 3rd industrial revolution has begun, andespecially see these

By Ray Kurzweil. See his website.

From the publisher

At the onset of the twenty-first century, humanity stands on the verge of the most transforming and the most thrilling period in its history. It will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged, as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity.

For over three decades, the great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence

That merging is the essence of the Singularity, an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity. In this new world, there will be no clear distinction between human and machine, real reality and virtual reality. We will be able to assume different bodies and take on a range of personae at will. In practical terms, human aging and illness will be reversed; pollution will be stopped; world hunger and poverty will be solved. Nanotechnology will make it possible to create virtually any physical product using inexpensive information processes and will ultimately turn even death into a soluble problem.

While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, The Singularity Is Near maintains a radically optimistic view of the future course of human development. As such, it offers a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

Like Loading...

The rest is here:
Working from home the next revolution, now happening - Fabius Maximus website

Finding places where you can have space for yourself to reflect and think and feel is crucial in this moment, said Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, M.D., a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Lakshmin pointed out that all of the in between transition times we used to have to ourselves like during our commutes, and after we dropped off our kids at school are gone. So its important to create those spaces for yourself in new ways, she said.

Dr. Lakshmin mentioned meditation as a great option. And in fact, parents with children under 18 at home are more likely to meditate than the general population right now, according to a new report from the American Enterprise Institute, a public policy think tank. Thirty-six percent of these parents say they have meditated to cope with stress in the past week, the report said, compared with 30 percent of Americans overall. If you want to receive the full benefits of meditating, Dr. Lakshmin said, consistency is the most important thing. Five minutes every day is a lot better than 30 minutes every week.

One excellent self-care idea was sent by a reader named Anne Diss. To mark the end of a good day, my husband and I have started having cocktails on some evenings: We sort through our drinks cabinet and pull out the things we never drink (like a bottle of Martini Bianco that has been with us, unopened, for decades) and try to find a nice online cocktail to make with it, Anne emailed us. Anne lives in France, obviously. We look for nice glasses, garnish them with whatever we have around and set out a few nibbles too. Our kids have a soft drink and we all gather around and toast to confinement, she wrote.

Another ritual Dr. Lakshmin suggested is keeping a gratitude, or silver lining, list, which you can either do yourself or as an activity with your family. You can put it up on a white board or on the fridge, for everyone to keep track of unexpectedly fun things that have come up during this time, she said.

To be honest with you, in normal circumstances, meditation and gratitude journals are distinctly Not My Bag. But I am genuinely finding succor in talking to my kids about their favorite part of the day at dinnertime, and by chatting with my husband about what were most thankful for every night before we fall asleep.

Read the rest here:
Crying in Your Car Counts as Self-Care - The New York Times

The coronavirus outbreak forced people to come up with creative workouts while staying at home. USA TODAY

As more U.S. states issue stay-at-home orders to combat the spread of coronavirus, many people are working from home and spending long hours streaming their favorite TV shows and movies.

That's concerning for health officials.

Researchers have continuously found that sitting for long periods is bad for your health. It can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, even result in death, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Zhaoping Li, chief of the Division of Clinical Nutrition at UCLA, told USA TODAY that some of her patients have been watching too much television, not getting enough sleep, or not being active in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic.

This is the right time people need to do more active things, not just sitting around, Li said, adding that muscle loss and weight gain are among the risks associated with inactivity.Take this opportunity to do self examination, self inspection and self care. This is the time we'll have no excuse to say, I'm too busy.

Another health risk that can arise from sedentary behavior is thrombosis, or blood clots, said Dr. Mary Cushman, professor of medicine and pathology at the University of Vermont.

Maureen Lewis leads an outdoor morning exercise routine for neighbors on her street in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, on March 27. Lewis stands in the street to allow participants to see her from their driveways while observing social distancing. The workout includes light stretches and exercises for 10 to 15 minutes.(Photo: Scott Ash, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA TODAY NETWORK)

There are two types of thrombosis that can form in any vein or artery, slowing or blocking normal blood flow andincreasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke. In fact, on average, one American dies of a blood clot every six minutes, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Blood clots are often diagnosed in one leg or the other, Cushman said, and can cause pain, swelling and redness.

And the thing is, you don't always have to have all the symptoms, so that's where it gets tricky for patients to know what's going on and sometimes even for doctors to figure out, Cushman toldUSA TODAY.

Amid coronavirus, Cushman said shes mainly worried about venous thromboembolism. Thats when blood clots form in the veins and can lead to part of the clot traveling to the lungs and causing blockage, also called a pulmonary embolism.The symptoms can include chest pain and shortness of breath.

Mapping coronavirus: Tracking the U.S. outbreak

She said blood clots can affect anyone but VTE is about 60% higher in African Americans.

The lifetime risk of VTE after age 45 is 11.5% in African Americans, while this is 6.9% in whites in the U.S., Cushman said, attributing the difference to a higher percentage of obesity in black communities and differences in socioeconomic status. Recent data also shows that COVID-19 is disproportionately killing black people at an alarming rate.

How can you help yourself? Here are a few tips fromLi and Cushman:

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/04/08/coronavirus-inactivity-health-experts-tips-self-care-quarantine/2967723001/

Read more:
You're not 'too busy' to stay active during coronavirus quarantine: Health experts worry about blood clots, weight gain and more - USA TODAY

Eleanor Morgan: Who knew that filling your spare time with activities besides phone scrolling might feel nice? Photograph: Jean Goldsmith/The Observer

When the lockdown was announced, I worried that losing the option of seeing friends would be disastrous for my mental health. I live alone and often work from home, so solitude is my baseline. It can be lonely, of course. My dogs need for exercise and attention breaks things up even if her conversation is limited but planning to see people keeps me buoyant. The first few days were ripe with catastrophising. One afternoon, my throat felt dry. I thought: Here we go, the panic attacks are starting. That I had been silently staring out the window, eating one Digestive after another, is by the by.

Jealousy of friends with partners and gardens quickly swelled; shared meals and body warmth felt so far away. Of course, it goes both ways: my aloneness is something that friends with rambunctious toddlers envy. In lockdown, life has shrunk to the size of a few rooms, so the volume of our inner dialogue shoots up. Theres so much time to think. The elastic quality of time right now because we dont know when this ends is distressing, too, and as a self-employed person Im scared, but Ive surprised myself mentally. Im doing all right so far.

After the anxious prophesying passed (I will 100% go completely mad alone!), I started confronting a concept I have struggled to sever from ideology: self-care. Thanks to capitalism, the term has been commodified, so often sold back to us particularly women as products we never knew we needed. In reality, self-care looks different for everyone. I broadly see it as a loose commitment with yourself to eat, exercise, get outside regularly, sleep and, almost above all else, to acknowledge our fundamental need for connection with other human beings. Identifying the activities that bring us pleasure and peace is also part of the picture.

As the author of two mental health-related books, now training as a psychologist and having spent the last year in supervised practice, I have used the words self-care in relation to other people many times. In all honesty, I am not sure I have applied it wholeheartedly to myself. I mostly eat and sleep well, exercise outside daily and socialise. But despite everything I have learned about self-compassion which the notion of self-care feeds into I sometimes struggle to identify what makes me feel good.

This enforced solitude has been a wake-up call. Im realising how much properness I have attached to doing things with other people, and the sense of pathos to doing them alone; as if enjoyable stuff is only half-real if no one is enjoying it with me. As is so common, this is tied up in questions of self-worth, but as a kind of experiment, Ive been making an effort to make an effort. Who knew that filling your spare time with activities besides phone scrolling might feel nice?

Cooking has been the big one. I am a confident cook but usually eat very simply when alone. In the past three weeks I have made pho, various curries and homemade tacos. I forget that my love of chopping vegetables can just be for me. Im rummaging around in the woody bits of Hampstead Heath, connecting with eight-year-old me who loved turning over logs to see what crawled out, because why not? Ive even taken a magnifying glass out on a couple of my daily walks. Im asking people to hang out on FaceTime rather than waiting to be asked a personally significant thing. This year kicked off with a double-whammy of pain: major surgery, then a break-up during the recovery. I am also certain I have had the virus, which, as an asthmatic, felt a bit hairy. Now, in the utterly strange and frightening time that has followed, I realise that, for me, surviving probably means trying to thrive, too.

More:
The truth about self-care: how isolation has changed the way I look after myself - The Guardian

You have run out of free articles. You can support our newsroom by joining at our lowest rate!

Please call 800-660-2472 to upgrade your subscription.

Register for more free articles

Stay logged in to skip the surveys

Back pain is a complicated topic with as many causes as there are care options. Many people experience low-grade back pain and stiffness, regardless of their size, condition or ambition. This type of low-grade back pain is often caused by the muscles in the back. These muscles are responsible for keeping you mobile, standing straight and effectively executing your lifes demands. They flex you, extend you, and laterally bend you to provide a multi-dimensional movement experience.

The common problem today is that we spent an inordinate time sitting. We now know couch potato inactivity raises the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and initiation of full respiratory decline. This may sound shocking and a bit exaggerated, but theres honesty in the message.

Here are four simple exercises you can do to counteract simple low-back pain.

1. Low-back extensions (LBE): Place your hands on your hips so the web of your hands rest on your hips just above legs and your thumbs wrap around your back. Begin by keeping your knees extended, not locked, and bend back, using your thumbs to add pressure and provide support. Extend back as far as you can comfortably, and then return to upright position. This is a movement exercise, not a stretch. Complete 10 to 25 repetitions at a time, three to five times per day.

2. LBE with added head extension: This is the exact same movement exercise as described above, but while youre in a back extension, extend your head back for a count of two and return to the upright position.

See the article here:
START THE WEEK OFF RIGHT: Self-help strategy for lower back pain - Quad-Cities Online

Since novel coronavirus became a thing, I wake up every morning with my remix of Sinead OConnors song Nothing Compares to You. This morning, it went a little something like this:

Its been who knows how many hours and how many days since you took our lives away.

I. Am. Tired. Of. Rona.

I took an informal poll on Facebook, and Im not the only one tired of hearing the daily updates on new cases, deaths and whatever other story can be crafted to tell us were in a state of emergency. I appreciate the dedicated journalists who are working to keep us updated heck, Im a journalist and public relations person by training, so I get it. However, the constant barrage of new stories and new angles can be depressing and information overload.

Here are nine ways we can ignore Rona and put some happiness back into our lives.

Journaling is a powerful healing practice that helps improve mental clarity, focus and understanding. Keeping a consistent routine allows you to explore your emotions, connect with hidden feelings and commit to goals on paper. Theres no one way to journal; it can take many forms, including writing morning pages and using guided prompts.

Many people believe that meditation requires you to sit still and completely free your mind of all thoughts. Thats false. Meditation simply means being in the present moment by focusing your mind and awareness on whats happening now not what happened yesterday or what will happen in 20 minutes. Forms of meditation come in different varieties, but the simplest way is through breathwork.

Charlottean Tesia Love is a clinical Ayurveda specialist Ayurveda is an ancient Indian practice that takes a holistic approach to physical and mental health. On April 8, Love will lead a breathwork session during Kombucha, Wine and Chill, a virtual game night. The online event starts at 7 p.m. at Bea Healthy CLT on Instagram.

Build or grow your business, heal yourself or learn a new skill through online classes. Now is the time to get the additional training you need to take you to the next level.

Some classes to check out:

With gyms closed, fitness trainers are offering free virtual workouts. Theres no reason you cant get fit and fully snatched while at home.

Looking for a free virtual workout? Check out 10-minute morning routines with @getfitwithchrys each weekday at 6:30 a.m. Cant make it that early? No worries. Catch the replays on her IGTV channel.

Want to try yoga? Charlottes Peace Filled Mama Kelly Palmer leads a virtual pay-what-you-can yoga session on Mondays at noon and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. Yoga instructor Davena Mgbeokwere also shared 13 Charlotte-based options for online yoga classes.

Charlotte native Sahnia Oates loves to crochet. She started after getting laid off from her job a few years ago to help manage her stress. The lesson? Find what you love and do that thing.

You may not be able to do the normal happy hours at your favorite bar or restaurant, hit the club with your friends or have Sunday dinner at Big Mommas house, but you can still connect and have fun doing it.

For those who are quarantined with others in their home, consider cooking dinner together or simply watch some good television. Keep the fun going by creating an activity jar. Take a cup or old spaghetti jar and drop in activity ideas. Choose one each day and do it.

If youre thinking about joining one of the many online challenges flooding your timelines, consider the #GirlWhatchuDoing challenge started by Jenn Elaine, Ohavia Phillips and Natoya Williams. Theyre three local ladies who also give us the weekly Pardon My Chic podcast.

It can get a bit lonely if youre quarantining solo. Dont let it get you down. Connect virtually with friends by grabbing a class of your favorite beverage and snacks, then enjoy all the shenanigans that transpire. Alone time can also allow you to explore new podcasts or catch up on some of your favorites.

Expand your circle of fraaans and entertainment options by attending virtual events. Before Rona, people were planning all kinds of in-person events. Many of those events have gone virtual and include everything from free DJ sets to self-help workshops.

Heres a handful of upcoming virtual events to add to your calendar:

While many have the good fortune of still working during this time, there are thousands who are laid off or furloughed. For Black-owned small businesses, the economic slowdown could be the thing determining their existence. This can be a tough time for them and their families.

If you can support them, do it. Continue to patronize these businesses and consider making donations to those who cant work during this time. Theres the opportunity to support local creatives through the Creatives Are Essential website.

Show appreciation to the frontline workers making sure were healthy and safe. Post messages of appreciation and motivation using #Grateful2020.

Its an extremely stressful time, and its OK to just do nothing.

Brandi Bea Williams is a life and health coach, trainer and cultural curator who uses her more than 20 years experience in public relations to educate, inspire and empower people of color in the areas of public relations and holistic health.

View original post here:
Journaling, meditation and other self-care things to do at home - Qcity metro

To the wellness industry, the coronavirus represents not just a loss but an opportunity for self-actualization. Miranda Kerr and Tom Brady are among the celebrities on the bandwagon.

We all have our coping mechanisms, some more productive than others. Lately Ive found a perverse form of escapism by scrolling through the Instagram feeds of wellness influencers intuitive nutritionists, adaptogenic alchemists, plant-based-lifestyle evangelists to see how well theyre doing now.

In a word, they are glowing. Miranda Kerr, the model turned organic beauty entrepreneur, is posing with a bitten apple in a leafy yard and optimizing her quarantine by spending extra time on my skin care routine and doing a daily mask. Jordan Younger, who blogs as the Balanced Blonde, is reporting from the midst of a 14-day water fast, advising her followers to go inward as this time on earth is happening FOR us and not TO us. And Amanda Chantal Bacon, a lifestyle guru who sells earthy supplements through her company Moon Juice, is ensconced in a white bathrobe, cradling a mug in one hand and an infant in the other, her beatific gaze framed by a luxe tumble of hair.

The caption is riveting. Bacon has assembled a menagerie of emoji toadstool, ringed planet, garlic bulb, DNA double-helix, lathered bar of soap, the yin and yang symbol suggesting a sordid congress between the scientific and the mystical. She proffers her wisdom as an immunomodulation enthusiast, counseling against sugar, fighting, alcohol, fear, processed foods, isolation and stagnation and instead pushing liposomal vitamin C, acupuncture, broth, one-minute cold showers and the consumption of various adaptogens a category of herbal supplements that claim to protect the body against stressors, which Moon Juice grinds into dusts and sells for $38 per 1.5 ounce jar.

Theres nothing like a pandemic to clarify the distinction between wellness and actual health. Our collective health is, most would agree, not so good. But through the logic of wellness branding, this situation can represent not just a lossof lives and livelihoods,but an opportunity. With the right motivational texts and quasi-medicinal products, well-positioned individuals are empowered to recast their quarantine as a self-actualization incubator, a chance not just to fend off the virus itself but to achieve their peak physical, mental and spiritual forms.

There is something ghastly about these efforts. Even when a pandemic is not raging, the very idea of a person advertising a 14-day fast makes me want to call the police. Yet the wellness evangelists have intuited a real paradox in this moment: As our health care system buckles under the strain of the virus, and citizens are isolated at home, self-care has never felt more urgent.

The virus has the power to kill the people it has infected, and to instill stress, grief, loneliness and despair in the people it has not. The anxiety is what is most oppressive here, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a recent briefing. Lifestyle brands invite us to regain a sense of control, if only over our nutritional intake, hygienic practices and apartment interiors.

In the past few weeks, it seems as if the entire internet has pivoted to wellness. Actors have transformed into home-cooking instructors; pop stars are leading meditations; fashion bloggers are hawking sponsored loungewear. The showbiz couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon have rolled out a podcast, Staying In with Emily and Kumail, about adapting to indoor life with the help of a Nintendo Switch. The public is seeking self-care tips from Cuomos PowerPoint presentations and from a loner who has lived in an abandoned mining town for 50 years. I am doing yoga for the first time ever, ending every day by bowing my head and whispering namaste to my virtual instructor.

These coronavirus self-help guides offer tips on how to maintain mental health and relationships under quarantine. But some wellness practitioners are reaching further.

Everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Tom Brady is pushing an immune support supplement, which sure seems to imply immunity from the virus. Kerr was recently publicly shamed for sharing a virus protection guide from a medical medium who credits himself as the leader of the global celery movement. And Bacon was dinged for posting an immunity guide that intermingled hand-washing tips with Moon Juice products like Power Dust and Spirit Dust.

With just a feeble tweak of messaging, however, these same influencers have solicited praise for their epidemic response. Moon Juice is running a coronavirus giveaway on its Instagram, shipping off immuno packs to people who deliver groceries or work in nursing homes; Kerr recently donated a bunch of her brands vitamin C face serums to health care workers at the Ronald Reagan U.C.L.A. Medical Center, then shared grateful posts from nurses on her feed.

With a firm command of the woo-woo lexicon, a brand is capable of capitalizing on the crisis without saying anything at all. The pice de rsistance of coronavirus branding is perhaps this Moon Juice post from March 24, which offers a cosmic perspective on the situation: This New Moon offers us a date with destiny. We are being called to birth new versions of ourselves, as the world morphs around us. Let us burn off resistance and dance with the unknown. It concluded: We are learning just how resilient we are.

The text was followed by a recipe for a blend of hot milk and coffee with a dusting of Cordyceps, a bioactive supershroom, which Moon Juice claims is said to increase drive, stamina, and reduce fatigue.

The modern wellness movement in America arose in the 1960s as counterprogramming to the predominant idea of health. If health was framed as the prevention of disease, and managed through the medical system, wellness was pitched as an active, positive pursuit organized around the self. The idea was fused with productivity: Halbert Dunn, chief of the National Office of Vital Statistics, promoted the idea of high-level wellness, an integrated method of functioning, which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable. And it could be spun into a whole lifestyle, complete with its own consumer accessories, from jogging gear to Jane Fonda videos, Lululemon pants to GOOP goops.

Its easy to see how this idea migrated from its nominally countercultural beginnings into a luxury feature. When Audre Lorde wrote about self-care as an act of political warfare in the 1980s, she was talking about managing her cancer in the face of a system that was hostile toward her as a black lesbian. Health care remains a pricey commodity in America, but now wealthy people have co-opted self-care as a status symbol. They have the ability to appear not just healthy but radiantly well. Now, as the health care system flails in its coronavirus response with basic needs like tests, masks and ventilators terrifyingly scarce the promises of strange elixirs and fine powders feel more deranged and seductive than ever.

Wellness content used to merely gesture at some kind of spiritual necessity, but it has now proved itself truly crucial. Moon Juice likes to say that it offers self care for communal care, and while it is ludicrous to imagine that spooning ground mushroom into ones coffee benefits ones community in any way, in this case it borders on being technically correct. Public health legitimately relies on the efforts of each individual to cope in isolation, and if it helps to lace a beverage with mushroom powder, then great. The optimism of this content borders on the delusional, but we have been told to keep our spirits up. Wellness may be fundamentally self-absorptive, but we can be forgiven for gazing at our own navels when theres not much else for us to look at.

Still, there is something disquieting about the slick translation of the crisis into the logic of branding. When a fleet of lifestyle bloggers turned a public health warning into a synergistic exercise they each held up a sign in flowery influencer script, collectively informing their audiences to Stay home for the people you love. Be kind! Wash your hands. Lets flatten the curve! they probably thought they were using their platforms for good. But they were also helping to reaffirm the reorganization of community under their various cults of personality.

We are living in an upside-down time where the president of the United States is promoting unproven virus cures on television, but Paltrow appeared in a protective mask on Instagram more than a month before the C.D.C. recommended that everyone put them on. Health may be scarce, but wellness is still in stock.

See the article here:
Our Health Is in Danger. Wellness Wants to Fill the Void. - The New York Times