The bedroom is, in many senses, the most important room in any home. It’s where you’ll spend a considerable chunk of your time if you’re getting the recommended eight hours of sleep every evening. Designing a space that’s right for getting you relaxed and ready to drift off is important. But what changes might you make to create the ultimate relaxation-promoting bedroom? Let’s take a look.

The Importance Of Sleep

Sleep is something that most people aren’t getting enough of. It will help to refresh your mind, improve concentration, stave off depression, improve athletic performance, and reduce your risk of a whole host of diseases.

The negative effects of sleep deprivation can be cumulative. Thus, even if you think you’re coping with just a few hours of sleep a night, you might be suffering negative consequences in the long-term. Some of these consequences you might not even recognise!

Making Your Bedroom More Relaxing

So, what practical change might you make to allow you to enjoy a better night’s sleep? While there are multiple components to good sleep hygiene, the right environment is a significant one.

Your first change should be to make sure that the space is kept dark at night time, and light during the day. This means investing in a heavy set of blackout-lined curtains. Draw them, and you might find that you save on your energy bills, as well as help to deal with light pollution.

You should also invest in a quality mattress. Something that’ll support you, and allow your skin to breathe during spells of warm weather. Mattresses tend to be highly subjective. Make sure that you thoroughly road-test yours before you commit to a purchase.

You’ll also want to declutter the space. This will help to ensure that you’re able to relax, and that there aren’t any loose items distracting you when you’re trying to drift off.

Soothing colours might also be beneficial. This tends to mean muted pastel shades. You don’t want to be looking at garish, loud colours or patterns in the minutes before you drift off.

The lighting you choose should also be multi-layered. A combination of overhead lights, standing and table lamps can all be beneficial. You might also consider investing in smart-bulbs that can be dimmed according to the time of day.

You might also address the air in the room, too. The right scent can help to add just the right amount of calm, and you don’t need to create a fire hazard in order to do it. If you’re concerned about the heat during summer, then you might want to invest in a quiet fan to help circulate the air and keep you cool whilst asleep.

Taking the points above into consideration will help prepare you and your bedroom for the perfect night’s sleep.

Source link

The post How To Design A Bedroom That Helps You Sleep appeared first on Heal your health yourself.

If you are on a weight loss journey, one food you need to add into your daily diet is quinoa.

“Quinoa is typically lumped in with the other types of ancient grains on the shelf, but it’s technically not even a grain, it’s actually a seed!” says Roxana Ehsani, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN, registered dietitian nutritionist and National Media Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Quinoa comes in many different colors: white, black or red, or all together, tri-color, which Ehsani notes all provide pretty much the same nutritional breakdown when cooked.

“It’s loaded with good-for-you nutrients like fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. It specifically contains manganese, iron, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, B6, copper and riboflavin,” she says.

One cup of cooked quinoa has 222 calories, eight grams of protein, four grams of total fat, 39 grams of carbs, and five grams of fiber.

Here are six ways that adding quinoa to your diet will help you lose weight, according to dietitians. And for more healthy eating tips, check out People Who Lost 20+ Pounds Swear by These 13 Weight Loss Tips.

Quinoa contains five grams of dietary fiber per one cup cooked. “Consuming a high-fiber diet is often the missing piece when a person is trying to lose weight. Consuming enough fiber will keep a person full for longer, so you are less likely to overeat at meals or snack between meal times,” says Ehsani.

She adds that since fiber is digested a lot slower by the body, it provides a slow and steady release of energy over time, so you won’t get a blood sugar rush (which helps support blood sugar management). Fiber also adds bulk to your stool, so you are able to have more regular bowel movements and not suffer from constipation.

“Finally dietary fiber found in quinoa also promotes healthful bacteria into your gut, which can influence your weight as well,” says Ehsani. “Researchers found that the bacteria in our gut can actually either help or prevent you from losing weight. Plant foods like quinoa can absolutely assist in helping you lose weight.”

“For the bulk of quinoa, it packs not a lot of calories,” says registered dietitian Jonathan Valdez, RDN, owner of Genki Nutrition and a spokesperson for the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “More volume = more satiety, which can help you lose weight.”

Quinoa is also high in protein, and it contains eight grams per cup. It also contains all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein.

“This is great news for vegans, vegetarians, or people who are eating meatless meat,” says Ehsani. “Protein is an important component to have at each meal and snack, as it requires extra calories to digest and process the protein. By eating protein, your body uses up calories, which can aid in weight loss. It also provides feelings of satiety, since it is digested at a much slower rate and can keep your blood sugar more stable, which also helps keep your hunger levels in check.”

“When combined with lean meats and vegetables, quinoa heightens satiety,” says Valdez. “Keep this consistent, and you will shed the unwanted weight.”

Quinoa is chock full of vitamins and minerals, and contains an especially high dose of manganese.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

“Manganese is an essential nutrient that supports bone health, helps reduce inflammation and risk of disease thanks to its high dose of antioxidant power, and also plays a role in hormone health too, especially your thyroid,” says Ehsani. “If a person is not eating enough manganese, they may be at risk for developing hypothyroidism, which could cause a hormone imbalance and weight gain over time. Sufficient intake of manganese is also linked to lower levels of abdominal obesity too.”

Another plus about quinoa: it’s quick and easy to cook, so anyone can add it into their healthy eating plan.

“You can flavor it up easily by adding dried herbs and spices to the cooking water you use, or cook it in low-sodium veggie or chicken stock for additional flavor,” says Ehsani. “You can make it into a sweet breakfast porridge and add milk and fruit on top. You can even pop quinoa, like you would popcorn, it can be easily popped in a pan. You add a little seasoning and enjoy it as a snack, or even make your own granola using popped quinoa.”

Source link

The post 6 Ways Eating Quinoa Helps You Lose Weight, Say Dietitians — Eat This Not That appeared first on Heal your health yourself.

Sobriety is a wonderful thing. That said, whether you’re just getting out of a detox center in Ohio or you’ve been living clean for years in Florida, you probably understand how scary relapse is. How tempting it can sometimes be.

There are a lot of different ways to fight back against this impulse: you’ll want to get professional help, as well as removing yourself from situations. Exercise can also be a powerful tool in the fight against relapse and to help you stay sober.

How Exercise Helps To…

Reduce Stress

Stress is one of the major triggers that can precipitate relapse for many people. Exercise counteracts this by releasing endorphins into your system.

These endorphins have short-term effects, meaning it’s a good habit to start exercising when you’re concerned about your stress. That said, it also has long-term effects, and putting together a regular workout plan can help you feel better consistently.

Improve Your Mental Health

Exercise has been shown to help reduce anxiety and depression. By keeping your head as clear as possible, you get rid of any distractions that could potentially get in the way of your recovery. The better you feel, the less likely you are to fall back on an addictive substance.

Find A Purpose

Especially during the early stages of recovery, it can be hard to find meaning. Often, people turn to substances to try to escape something, and that can lead to a lack of self-worth once you’re no longer defining yourself with that substance.

It’s even better if you manage to find a community. Talking to someone at the gym or on your regular run can help you meet people who are similarly committed to their health and happiness.

Do Different Kinds Of Exercise Have Different Benefits?

The research on the positive effects of aerobic is stronger than that on the positive effects of anaerobic exercise.

That said, when trying to maintain your sobriety, we recommend choosing one that you really enjoy doing. Along with the sense of accomplishment, you also want to find a physical activity that you can engage in regularly and feel accomplished with.

This feeling of accomplishment will be stronger if you enjoy what you’re doing and this will help you stay sober.

Does The Effectiveness Of Exercise Vary Based On The Substance You’re Addicted To?

Research has been done into how exercise impacts the likelihood of relapse for smokers, alcoholics, and polysubstance drug users. In all these cases, exercise has been linked to a decrease in relapse.

How Sobriety Helps You Exercise

If you or a loved one are currently suffering from addiction, regular exercise may seem impossible. Depending on the substance being used and the amount of time it was used for, it can take your body time to begin feeling more energized after withdrawal.

That said, over time, exercise helps you build back your strength. Instead of being focused on a substance, you’ll have the clarity that allows you to commit to an exercise regimen. As you build muscle, you’ll find exercise more enjoyable since it can give you a sense of achievement.

Even stranger? You may even start enjoying the workout! Relapse is often a scary idea for people recovering from addiction, but exercise can help you feel more confident in your ability to stay sober.

Source link

The post How Exercise Helps People Stay Sober appeared first on Heal your health yourself.

For millennia, people have written about the joys of being in nature. Now that nature is no longer as much a part of our lives as it was for our forebears, it’s become clear that humans are, in a way, meant to be in touch with the wild and that our modern lifestyles are, to put it mildly, wreaking havoc on our mental health.

Today, it is fully understood by urban planners that views of green spaces, bodies of water, and other natural features do a lot to help improve the ambiance and “feel” of a space. However, there is now growing evidence that being in nature and doing activities in a natural setting can also help our minds heal.

For instance, it’s been found that patients with post-traumatic stress (PTS) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are likely to benefit from regular outdoor exposure, either through nature hikes or by doing regular therapy sessions outdoors.

Because PTS and PTSD often contribute to substance use disorder (SUD) and other mental health issues like generalized anxiety disorder, this kind of intervention has the potential to dramatically reduce the load on our overburdened mental healthcare system.

Below are some of the ways nature therapy may be beneficial for trauma. If you’re in North Texas and need to learn about rehabs that offer regular outdoor and nature therapy, check out this resource on inpatient drug rehabs in Dallas, TX.

1. It Gives Opportunities For Enjoyable Exercise

People with trauma and other mental health conditions will often benefit from some form of regular exercise. Exercise can help burn off anxious energy which is often common in people who have experienced trauma. It also makes your body release natural hormones that could help stabilize your mood and improve sleep — a problem often encountered by people with PTS and PTSD.

While exercise in urban areas is certainly a good option, nature also offers other perks that we’ll discuss later. If one has access to the beach, safe forest or desert trails, or other suitable natural features, chances are these offer enjoyable exercise opportunities for people of all ages.

Hiking, swimming, kayaking, and cycling are just some of the more common moderate impact outdoor activities that could help recovering individuals get the exercise they need. If one is up to the challenge, they can also try out more strenuous activities like rock climbing, cross-country skiing, surfing, and trail running.

Apart from their stress and anxiety-busting benefits, many of these exercises allow participants to be in a focused, meditative state, which in itself has direct benefits for reducing the effects of mental trauma.

2. Enjoying Nature May Help Build And Improve Emotional Resilience

While it takes much more than a nature trip to heal people who’ve had serious traumas, there is growing evidence that outdoor therapy can build emotional resilience in both children and adults. Some studies seem to suggest that activities held in the elements can help build a sense of control that influences other aspects of our lives.

Emotional resilience is usually defined as the ability to continue normal functioning after experiencing trauma. It is our ability to adapt and overcome when we’re faced with a particularly serious event.

Resilience, however, is not an all-or-nothing quality. Unfortunately, trauma has a way of expressing itself in ways that are not obvious to either the victim or outside observers. Trauma survivors could be functional or superficially productive while also engaging in self-destructive behaviors like using drugs, stress eating, gambling, or impulse buying. Having better resilience may help prevent these negative behaviors from happening.

Outdoor activities in small groups are especially beneficial for improving emotional resilience for people of all ages. These group activities can build a sense of “relatedness” that can prevent recovering individuals from reaching for unhealthy coping strategies.

3. We Tend To Be Happier And Less Anxious When Close To Nature

Studies on groups of people with PTSD (particularly combat veterans and other people who encounter continuous traumatic experiences) seem to show that being in nature or in places that mimic nature like parks and gardens can significantly improve PTS and PTSD symptoms. Engaging in exercise and mindfulness practices in these settings further improves this effect.

Why this is the case is not entirely clear. However, given the benefits, natural settings may eventually be key to cost-effective trauma interventions in an increasingly overburdened healthcare system.

4. It Offers Opportunities For Social Bonding And Peer Support

The growing evidence in favor of outdoor therapy has also made it an increasingly popular supplemental intervention for all kinds of mental health issues, including PTSD, depression, anxiety, and even substance use disorder. In the context of trauma recovery, outdoor and nature therapy is often done in a group setting, which offers a variety of benefits for recovering individuals.

Because participants in group therapy sessions tend to have similar or at least relatable experiences, recovering individuals are better able to let their guard down, without fear of being misunderstood. Group therapy is also a source of new friendships and bonds, which may remain important throughout one’s life.

One may not even have to join these types of outdoor group therapy sessions to benefit. Simply bonding with other people over common interests can already help recovering individuals to heal and move on.

It seems that being in nature doesn’t only feel good, it may help us heal from invisible mental scars as well. For people with serious psychological trauma, exposure to nature can be key to allowing conventional therapy like cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication-assisted therapy to do its work.

As with any supplemental approach, nature therapy is not a substitute for conventional psychiatric intervention. However, because nature therapy is flexible and relatively easy to implement, it could be tried out by virtually anybody, with nothing to lose and much more to gain.

*collaborative post

Source link

The post 4 Ways Being Outdoors Helps With Trauma And Mental Health Recovery appeared first on Heal your health yourself.

The recent development of trauma-informed yoga (or trauma-sensitive yoga) has shed light on the meaningful benefits of yoga when specifically tailored to help trauma survivors. Long after a traumatic experience has ended, trauma reverberates throughout the mind and body in ways that can lead to mental and physical depletion, as well as a desire to dissociate from life. With the goal of helping traumatized individuals regain a sense of safety and self-regulation through heightened body awareness and re-engagement, trauma-informed yoga explores the specific sensitivities harbored by people suffering from the effects of trauma. Recent studies have illuminated the efficacy of treating people with trauma-informed yoga classes in populations such as girls in the juvenile justice system, survivors of sexual abuse, and veterans.

What is Trauma-Informed Yoga?

Trauma-informed yoga is a modern style of hatha yoga that’s been adapted for people who have experienced previous traumatic events. The specific teaching techniques of this type of yoga allows an individual to do yoga in a class with minimized trauma triggers and use mindful and grounding tools provided to cope with the aftereffects of a trauma. The practice creates a sense of safety, comfort and peace to help process and release traumatic memories. A trauma-sensitive yoga class is carefully structured to create a sense of safety, comfort and peace to help process and release traumatic events.

Trauma-informed yoga proposes that traumatic memories lurk in the physical sensations of the body. The dissociation that often accompanies trauma can feel strategic and vital to the traumatized individual, forming a protective layer that serves to obscure the fear and vulnerability of an experience. Someone who is sexually assaulted by an acquaintance, for instance, may cut themselves off from any feeling of connection or intimacy with another individual for fear of bringing back the confusion of their betrayal. Dissociation becomes a secret weapon against manipulation and abuse; a trick to stay in control so something like that never happens again. Trauma-informed yoga attempts to address the dissociation embodied in these individuals and provide a means to overcome it.

A Trauma-Informed Yoga class is more than just asanas. It’s a complete holistic program designed to help you approach and overcome your trauma and move into a place of healing and growth.

A trauma-sensitive yoga teacher has a deep understanding of trauma and is aware of the possibility that students may experience traumatic reactions during class. The teacher focuses on the breath and encourages students to connect to their physical body in order to center themselves. Teachers are mindful of their words and language and give students a sense of control over their experience.

Principles of Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Classes

• Creates a safe, trusting and non-judgmental environment
• Honors and listens to the body and breath
• Grants permission for self-exploration
• Strengthens the mind-body connection
• Connects with the breath to help slow down and relax
• Deepens awareness of the physical body
• Encourages self-regulation, self-calming, and self-soothing
• Teaches how to release and let go
• Builds motivation, curiosity, and self-esteem

The Healing Power of Trauma-Informed Yoga Practices

In a recent report by Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality, trauma-informed yoga unveiled the potential for profound neurological and physical transformations among traumatized girls incarcerated into the juvenile justice system. The trauma-informed yoga teachers guided the girls through focused breathing, yoga poses, and mindfulness practices, all in the context of heightened sensitivity to their traumas. Rebecca Epstein, lead author of the report and executive director of Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality, explained that these tools have the potential to slow the girls’ responses to stressful situations and rewire their brains so that they pause before having a destructive reaction.

Missy Hart, a survivor of sexual abuse and gang-related street trauma who was incarcerated into the juvenile justice system in Palo Alto, CA, told NPR how trauma-informed yoga helped with her healing process from sexual abuse. Hart appreciated the modifications in the trauma-informed yoga sessions that aimed to address specific sensitivities.

“They always ask you if you want to be touched,” Hart said about the instructor’s adjustment in a pose. “I see now that really helped me.”

“Being asked to be touched, it gave us a little power back in a place where all our power is taken,” she explained.

Trauma-Informed Yoga Creates a Safe Space

A person who has been sexually abused may not feel comfortable with another person’s touch or closing their eyes within a group of people. Trauma-informed yoga instructors make an increased effort to help students feel empowered and safe enough to let down their barriers and reconnect their mind with their bodies.

Likewise, veterans returning from war who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) learn to suppress sensation as a way to avoid the horror of their memories and have also found relief through trauma-informed yoga. Recent studies at the Trauma Center and the Department of Defense, have offered evidence that trauma-informed yoga has the potential to bolster the recovery of veterans suffering from PTSD.

Reports by individual veterans also suggest promising results. Marine Sgt. Senio Martz told the Huffington Post how trauma-informed yoga has helped him with his PTSD after returning home from Afghanistan, following an explosion of a deadly roadside bomb that knocked him unconscious, and killed Marines under his command.

In the Huffington Post article, he recounts the constant feeling of anxiety and hyper-vigilance that won’t let him rest since the blast; the sense of guilt and responsibility that keeps him poised for danger at all times, while remaining locked in an emotional numbness. Thus, a wave of relief overtakes him during his yoga practice. As he engages with his own sensations in a safe context of guided movement and breathing, he can finally let his guard down and relax.

“I gotta push myself to try some of these techniques,” Martz said in the article. “But last night after yoga, I had a good sleep. That’s a place I haven’t been in a long, long time.”

Benefits of Trauma-Informed Yoga

• Encourages a sense of belonging and trust
• Fosters a sense of empowerment and control
• Decreases the overall effects of PTSD
• Increases energy and concentration
• Builds mental and emotional resiliency and stability
• Reduces stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia

Source link

The post Trauma-informed Yoga Helps Heal Hearts and Minds • Healyourhealthyourself appeared first on Heal your health yourself.