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Can’t Sit Cross-Legged? Here’s Why, Plus 4 Exercises to Get You There

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If you struggle to sit cross-legged, the issue may be limited hip mobility, stiff knees, or weak glutes. A physical therapist explains why and provides four lower-body moves can help limber you up.

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A preventive neurologist shares 3 simple habits she follows to help reduce her Alzheimer’s risk

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Preventive neurologist Dr. Kellyann Niotis focuses on strength training, zone 4 cardio, and lots of hydration to keep her brain sharp.

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16 Upper Glutes Exercises Personal Trainers Swear By for ...

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Strong glutes, strong legs, strong life.

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Kelly Kennedy, RDN, LDN and Sarah Garone

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Coffee and Hydration: Does It Count Toward Fluid Intake?

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Coffee can contribute to daily fluid intake despite caffeine’s diuretic effects, but it isn’t a substitute for water. Check how coffee compares for optimal hydration.

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Behavioral Symptoms of Stress: Examples and Tips

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There are many different types of reactions to stress. Behavioral symptoms is one of them.

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QHow can you add more joy to each day?

AThere are so many routes you can take. Today, we’re going to focus on the power of glimmers and joy lists.

✨ First up: Glimmers!

These are little moments of happiness, peace, or comfort that exist throughout the day that most of us overlook. Think: the first sip of your morning coffee, warm sunshine on your face, or slipping into cozy pajamas after taking a hot shower.

Noting your glimmers can help retrain your brain to refocus on positives, rather than anxiety triggers. The more you practice tuning in to them, the easier it’ll be to become more mindful of those joyful experiences and reach for them during hard times.

To get started, try listing all the glimmers you notice throughout your day, then reflecting on how they made you feel in a journal at night.

📋 Next up: Joy lists

As you might expect, this is a list of whatever brings you joy. It can change and expand over time, and some items might overlap with your glimmers.

Joy listing is a simple yet powerful practice that helps shift your focus away from the negative stuff in your life (and the world) to things that help you to feel abundant and grateful. They’re also a good reminder that you don’t have to wait for X, Y, and Z in order to be happy. There are moments of happiness to be found in your day, wherever you are in your journey — you just have to keep an eye out for them.

To learn how to create a joy list and see examples of what one might look like, read our full guide below.

START A JOY LIST

If you’d like to request a specific topic, offer feedback, or chime in with your answers to our weekly questions, feel free to email us at newsletters@healthline.com. We look forward to connecting with you and supporting you on the path to mental well-being.

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The best face moisturizer is one that fits with your skin type. These picks are great for dry, oily, sensitive, and mature skin.

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Death by suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, know you’re not alone and help is out there. We’ve compiled a resource guide that includes hotlines, online forums, and other methods of support.

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10 Puzzles and Games to Give Your Brain a Workout

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Cognitive health is more important than ever — so give your brain a daily boost of exercise with these fun games.

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Podcast: Why Negative Self-Talk Feels True (And How to Stop Believing It)

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Why “just think positive” doesn’t stop negative self-talk is explored on this Inside Mental Health podcast episode. Listen!

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How to Improve Concentration: 14 Tips to Help You Focus

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You may be able to improve your concentration with brain games and meditation. Learn tips to help you focus.

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7 Strategies for Managing a Depressive Episode

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Depression can feel endless when it returns — but it doesn’t have to control you. After more than a decade of living with it, here’s what’s helped me find steadier ground each time it resurfaces.

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These easy-to-make cookies are gluten-free and dairy-free. They're also low in carbohydrates, coming in at just under 15 grams of carbohydrates per serving. The almond butter gives them a nice nutty flavor that pairs perfectly with the chocolate, and the brown sugar adds just the right amount of sweetness.

Choosing your chocolate

When choosing a chocolate, look for a dark chocolate that is 70% cocoa or higher. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the darker the chocolate. A really dark chocolate may taste bitter to some people, so it's a good idea to test out different percentages to find one that suits your taste.

Keep in mind that when darker chocolate is used in baking, the sweetness of the dough can balance out some of the chocolate's bitterness.

You shouldn't feel limited to chocolate chips, either. For most recipes that call for chocolate chips, including this one, you can instead buy a chocolate bar and chop the chocolate into chunks if you prefer. This will lead to less-uniform chocolate pieces in your cookies but will give you more control over the type and brand of chocolate you use.

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Almond Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe

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These easy-to-make cookies are gluten-free and dairy-free. They're also low in carbohydrates.

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Certain foods may help you avoid fatigue. Watch this video to learn the best foods to eat for a positive impact on energy levels.

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life-like particle system

gems alliances red menace acrobats mitosis planets ships (randomize) motion blur random colors

Clusters A particle microworld with ambiguous entities

Clusters runs much faster in the Chrome browser.

Clusters uses a unique algorithm that gives life-like behaviors to particle systems.

This algorithm was inspired by the theories of biologist Lynn Margulus .

All organisms naturally gravitate to other kinds of organisms, and likewise are repelled by different organisms. These particles experience attractions and repulsions with other particles of different colors. They cluster into social pods, or scatter and flee, often mimicking biological behaviors. Clusters shapeshift and exchange parts of their identities, much like the tiny organisms that came together in early evolution to form symbiotic unions

A video showing collaboration with Leap Motion...

Jeffrey Ventrella explains the concept

See the Particles video from Leap Motion:

Watch the effects video...

Clusters was created by Jeffrey Ventrella
www.ventrella.com

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life-like particle system gems alliances red menace acrobats mitosis planets ships (randomize) motion blur random colors Clusters A particle microworld with ambiguous entities Clusters runs much faster in the Chrome browser. Clusters uses a unique algorithm that gives life-like behaviors to particle systems. This algorithm was inspired by the theories of biologist Lynn Margulus .

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Keeping your brain in shape

Physical fitness gets plenty of attention, and for good reason. A healthy body can prevent conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, and help you maintain independence as you age.

Mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness, and shouldn't be neglected. Including mental dexterity exercises into your daily routine can help you reap the benefits of a sharper mind and a healthier body for years to come.

Mental fitness means keeping your brain and emotional health in tip-top shape. It doesn't mean training for "brain Olympics" or acing an IQ test. It refers to a series of exercises that help you:

It's no surprise that the more you help your body, the more you help your mind. Physical activity increases the flow of oxygen to your brain. It also increases the amount of endorphins, the "feel-good" chemicals, in your brain. For this reason, it's not surprising that people who are in good physical shape also tend to enjoy a higher level of mental agility.

Engaging in a vigorous physical workout can help you battle depression and gain a more positive outlook on life. It's also a great way to beat stress, which can harm you mentally and physically.

While exercise is good for the brain and the body, so is meditation. Meditation, in conjunction with other methods, is an alternative way to treat depression. Calming the mind allows you to problem solve in a more relaxed way.

When you go to bed after a long day, your body begins to relax. But the mind doesn't always follow.

Visualization can help. You can often achieve a sense of peacefulness through imagery, the process of picturing a tranquil scene or location. This practice can reduce tension in both your body and your mind by challenging neurons in the less-dominant area of your brain.

The less-dominant side of your brain is the area that controls feelings of self-confidence and optimism. When you think about something other than your daily worries, you increase activity in the neural structures of that area of your brain.

Ultimately, visualization can boost your emotional well-being and calm you down mentally.

Keeping your mind mentally fit isn't as difficult as getting ready for a marathon, but it's a good analogy. You can add mental exercises to the many activities you already perform, such as:

You might try the following approaches to increase your mental fitness.

Stop multitasking

You may think that multitasking enables you to get more things done at once, but it actually creates more problems than it solves. Focusing on one task at a time will improve your concentration and help you to be more productive.

Be positive with yourself

Positive affirmation is one avenue to increased mental proficiency.

Affirmation, or talking to yourself in a positive way, involves strengthening neural pathways to bring your self-confidence, well-being, and satisfaction to a higher level.

To start, make a list of your good qualities. Remind yourself that you don't have to be perfect. Set goals for what you want to improve and start small to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

Try something different

New experiences can also set you on the path to mental fitness. You can fit new approaches into your daily life in a variety of ways:

Try new foods.

Try new ways to accomplish routine tasks.

Travel to new places.

Take a new way to work or the grocery store.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, research shows that keeping your brain active increases its vitality. Doing new things in new ways appears to help retain brain cells and connections. It may even produce new brain cells. In essence, breaking out of your routine can help keep your brain stay healthy.

Games that test reasoning and other portions of your brain are fun ways to keep your mind sharp. Consider these games:

Games are a great way to build up your brain muscle. Even fast-paced action video games may boost your ability to learn new tasks, according to a study in the journal Current Biology. The study found tentative evidence that video games may increase your attention span, reaction time, and task-switching ability. In addition to video games, try any game that employs the use of:

Reading is great for your brain. Even as you're reading this sentence, your brain is processing each word, recalling the meaning instantly.

Beyond the mechanics, reading helps you visualize the subject matter on the pages before you, and imagine what voices sound like in the written dialogue. This can also be a great relaxation technique.

Reading is a great activity because it can stoke the imagination and ignite so many different parts of the brain. There are endless genres and types of reading material. It's unlikely that you'll run out of interesting things to read.

Take the time

Mental fitness doesn't have to take up a lot of your time. Spending a few minutes on it every day can help you feel better and think more clearly. Remember that relaxation and visualization are just as important in a mental workout as the more energetic activities, such as memory exercises or game-playing. Try adding one or two activities at a time to your mental workout, such as:

Mental fitness is important to maintaining your brain and your body healthy, especially as you age. There are many types of mental dexterity exercises, and you don't need to go to the gym to do them. They include active ones, such as learning a new song or playing a game, as well as restful ones, such as relaxation and visualization exercises. Schedule a mental fitness break into your calendar right next to your workout schedule. Your mind and your health are worth it.

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Mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness. Learn more about how to exercise your mind and keep your brain in shape.

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Foods rich in tryptophan may boost the production of serotonin in the brain. These foods include eggs, some hard cheeses, soy-based products, turkey, and more.

Serotonin is a natural neurotransmitter (brain messenger) and hormone associated with mood regulation. Doctors consider serotonin levels to be a key factor in overall mental health.

While some people may require medication to regulate their levels, some foods may help boost its production.

If you're taking medication for anxiety and depression, ask a healthcare professional about increasing your intake of serotonin-boosting foods. High levels of serotonin may pose health risks.

Here are seven foods high in tryptophan that may help regulate serotonin levels.

According to a 2018 research review citing older studies, the protein content in eggs can help boost blood plasma levels of tryptophan.

Just make sure you don't leave out the yolks, which are rich in this amino acid, along with:

Cheese (and other dairy products) are excellent sources of tryptophan. Cottage cheese and hard cheeses, such as Parmesan, Gouda, and Cheddar, are particularly rich in this essential amino acid.

Dairy also provides some calcium and protein to help keep your bones healthy and your stomach feeling full.

Soy products

Soy products, such as tofu, are rich sources of tryptophan (and almost all other nine essential amino acids).

You can use tofu in place of pretty much any protein. This way, you can also enjoy some of tryptophan's benefits even if you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet.

Some tofu is also calcium-fortified, meaning that the manufacturer has added calcium, providing a great calcium boost for your bones.

It's true that salmon is high in tryptophan. You can also find a healthy dose of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D in salmon, both of which help support healthy:

Nuts and seeds

Pick and choose your favorites because all nuts and seeds contain some tryptophan. They're also good sources of:

A 2018 research review also indicates that eating a moderate amount of nuts regularly may help lower the risk of heart disease by improving lipid and apolipoprotein profiles.

Just a small handful of nuts and seeds almost daily is enough. Keep in mind that nuts are high in calories.

Tryptophan isn't a magical nutrient that boosts serotonin levels or suddenly improves mood. Many factors are at play, and research on this topic is still emerging.

However, tryptophan-rich foods may help, especially if you combine them with carbohydrates.

Carbs cause your body to release more insulin, signaling amino acid absorption and leaving tryptophan in your blood for longer. Mixing high tryptophan foods with carbs may give you a temporary serotonin boost.

Still, this may not be enough to regulate your mood, especially if you have a chronic condition like depression or another mood disorder.

Food isn't the only natural way to improve serotonin levels. These may also help:

What foods help boost serotonin the most?

Eggs, salmon, cheese, tofu, nuts and seeds, and turkey are among the highest sources of tryptophan, essential for serotonin production.

These foods are also great sources of more nutrients, including protein, vitamins, and other essential amino acids.

Eggs, salmon, cheese, tofu, nuts and seeds, and turkey are among the highest sources of tryptophan, essential for serotonin production.

These foods are also great sources of more nutrients, including protein, vitamins, and other essential amino acids.

What natural alternatives are there for improving mood?

Tryptophan-rich foods paired with healthy carbohydrates may help boost serotonin, which is a key hormone involved in mood regulation.

However, many other factors are involved in mood regulation, so consuming tryptophan-containing foods may not be enough to improve your mood on its own.

Consider talking with a healthcare professional if you need more support.

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Serotonin is a chemical messenger that's believed to elevate your mood. Here are 7 serotonin-boosting foods, including turkey and cheese. Learn how these foods affect your body.

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Walking After Eating: Benefits and Downsides

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In recent years there has been a growing trend in the health and fitness community of taking short walks after each meal to yield various health benefits. This article reviews whether walking after eating is good for you.

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Trouble Sleeping? A Sleep Mask Could Be a Game-Changer

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What if all you need to get those elusive Zzz’s is a little piece of fabric covering your eyes?

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What are three changes a person can make to help them maintain a healthy weight that don’t cost anything?

A:Maintaining a healthy weight by creating a vibrant lifestyle doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Explore the resources available to you, on the house!

Work regular activity into your routine

Walk more: Walking is a simple, free, and accessible way to burn calories and increase overall movement. Explore local parks and walking trails.

Strength train with body weight exercises: Exercises, such as squats, pushups, planks, and lunges, can be done at home without equipment. You can find free strength training videos online.

Move more throughout your day: Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away from your destination, or get up and move while watching TV. Any movement burns calories and gets that blood pumping.

Practice mindful eating

Take your time and savor your food: Enjoy the textures, tastes, and aroma of your meals, and allow your body time to register fullness.

Listen to your hunger and fullness cues: Don’t wait until you’re hangry before eating. Avoid eating when you’re not truly hungry.

Eat more plants: Make mindful food choices when possible by adding more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains into your diet while reducing the intake of sugary and high fat foods.

Minimize distractions while eating: Turn off the TV, put down your phone, and close the laptop. Eat sitting at the table, focusing on your meal and enjoying the company of others. (Join our series on mindful eating in one click!)

Focus on self-care

Meditate: Mindfulness meditation can help reduce stress, improve focus, and promote overall well-being. Many free resources, such as guided meditation videos or apps, are available online to help you get started.

Make sleep a priority: Establish a consistent sleep schedule and a relaxing bedtime routine. You need 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep a night.

Journal: Writing down thoughts, feelings, and experiences can be a therapeutic self-care practice. Journaling can help promote self-reflection, emotional processing, and stress relief. Spend time dreaming big and visualizing what can be.

RUTH ABATE, HEALTH COACH

Want to learn more about food, diets, cooking, or some other nutrition subject? Let us know at nutritionedition@healthline.com and we'll look into it for you! (Heads up, we may use your response in an upcoming newsletter.)

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Many factors, like financial concerns or dealing with conflict, can trigger anxiety symptoms. Being aware of the cause can help you cope with stressors and manage your anxiety.

Anxiety can cause feelings of worry, fear, or tension. For some people, anxiety can also cause panic attacks and physical symptoms, like chest pain or shortness of breath.

What causes anxiety and anxiety disorders can be complicated. It's likely that a combination of factors, including genetics and environmental reasons, play a role.

But it's clear that some events, emotions, or experiences may trigger symptoms of anxiety to begin or may make them worse. These are called triggers.

Keep reading to learn about these anxiety triggers and what you can do to manage your anxiety.

Identifying your triggers is an important step in managing them. Anxiety triggers can be different for each person, but many are common among people who experience anxiety.

1. Health issues

A health diagnosis that's upsetting or difficult, such as cancer or a chronic illness, may cause or worsen symptoms of anxiety. This is a powerful trigger because of the immediate and personal feelings it produces.

You can help reduce anxiety caused by health issues by being proactive and engaging with a doctor. Talking with a therapist may also be useful, as they can help you learn to cope with your emotions around your diagnosis.

2. Medications

Certain prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications may trigger anxiety. That's because active ingredients in these medications may have side effects that cause your body to respond with certain symptoms of anxiety.

Those feelings can set off a series of events in your mind and body that may lead to even more anxiety symptoms.

Medications that could cause anxiety include:

Talk with a doctor about how these medications make you feel. They can help you find alternative options that may not lead to symptoms of anxiety.

Many people rely on their morning cup of joe to wake up, but it might actually trigger or worsen anxiety.

In a involving 429 20-year-old adults over a 2-year period, consuming energy drinks increased anxiety in males but not in females.

4. Skipping meals

When you don't eat, your blood sugar may drop. This can lead to shaky hands and a rumbling tummy.

Eating balanced meals is important for many reasons. Nutritious foods provide you with energy and important nutrients. Plus, they keep those hands from shaking.

If you can't make time for three meals a day, healthy snacks are a great way to prevent:

5. Negative thinking

Your mind can impact how your body feels, and that's certainly true with anxiety. When you're upset or frustrated, the words you say to yourself can trigger greater feelings of anxiety.

If you tend to use a lot of negative words when thinking about yourself, you can learn to refocus your language and feelings when you start down this path. Working with a therapist can be incredibly helpful.

6. Financial concerns

Learning to manage these types of triggers may require seeking professional help, such as from a financial advisor. When you feel like you have a companion or guide in the process, it can ease some of your concerns.

7. Parties or social events

If a room full of strangers doesn't sound like fun, you're not alone.

Events that require you to make small talk or interact with people you don't know can trigger feelings of anxiety, which could be a symptom of social anxiety disorder.

When possible, bring along a companion to help ease your worries or unease. But it's also important to work with a professional to find coping mechanisms that make these events more manageable in the long term.

Relationship problems, arguments, disagreements - these conflicts can all trigger or worsen anxiety. If conflict particularly triggers you, you may need to learn conflict resolution strategies.

Consider talking with a mental health professional to learn how to manage the feelings these conflicts cause. If you're in conflict with a friend or partner, you may be able to go to a counselor together.

Daily stressors like traffic jams or missing your train can trigger symptoms of anxiety. Long-term or chronic stress can even contribute to a person developing an anxiety disorder or worsening symptoms.

Stress can also lead to behaviors which may trigger or worsen symptoms of anxiety like:

Treating and preventing stress often requires learning coping mechanisms. A therapist or counselor can help you learn to recognize your sources of stress and handle them when they become overwhelming or problematic.

10. Public events or performances

Common triggers of anxiety include:

public speaking

talking in front of your boss

performing in a competition

reading aloud in front of others

If your job or hobbies require this, a doctor or therapist can work with you to explore ways to be more comfortable in these settings.

Also, positive reinforcements from friends and colleagues can help you feel more comfortable and confident.

11. Personal triggers

These triggers may be difficult to identify, but a mental health specialist is trained to help you identify them. These may begin with a smell, a place, or even a song. Personal triggers remind you, either consciously or unconsciously, of a bad memory or traumatic event in your life.

Identifying personal triggers may take time, but it's important so you can learn to overcome them.

Although you may sometimes feel anxious for apparently no reason, there is usually an underlying cause. That trigger just might be beyond your awareness at the moment.

Genetics: Anxiety disorders may be hereditary. If someone in your family has an anxiety disorder, you have a higher chance of having one, too.

Brain functioning: A 2021 brain imaging study suggests that people with GAD usually have denser neurons in some areas of their brains and fewer in other areas. This can affect how you process fear and regulate your emotions.

Co-occurring health conditions: Some medical conditions, such as arthritis, asthma, COPD, and diabetes, may be associated with anxiety.

If you're feeling anxious but don't know why, talking with a therapist may help determine possible risk factors.

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11 Common Anxiety Triggers and How to Identify Yours

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Many things can trigger anxiety, but some are more common than others. We explain how to identify and manage your anxiety triggers.

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Sep 21, 2025; San Francisco, CA, USA; Team World celebrates their victory at the Laver Cup at Chase Center. / David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Once again, the Laver Cup proved that it was an integral part of the ATP's fall schedule. There were plenty of dramatic highlights on the court and lighthearted moments off the court.

While part of me wants to name Team World captain Andre Agassi as the MVP of the tournament thanks to the many viral videos of him celebrating on the sidelines, the biggest winner was American star Taylor Fritz.

Despite entering the competition as underdogs, Fritz led Team World to a 15-9 victory over the stacked Team Europe roster. Not only did Fritz upset Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday, but he also defeated Alexander Zverev on Sunday to clinch the championship in a straight-sets win: 6-3, 7-6(4).

Fritz has now beaten Zverev in six straight matches. Even better for his teammates, Team World has now won the Laver Cup in three of the last four years.

"We're going to have a fun night," Fritz said before the trophy ceremony. "Definitely popping some champagne in the locker room in a few minutes."

Fritz added, "Just seeing these guys on the bench getting pumped up, seeing a legend of the sport like Andre jumping out of his seat, cheering for me, it's impossible not to be so fired up and just give it everything you have."

Fritz's win displayed his dominance over Zverev and unflappability in crucial moments. Earlier in the day, Carlos Alcaraz picked up a doubles and singles win for Team Europe.

The victory cut Team World's lead to 12-9 in the first-to-13 competition, with each Sunday match worth three points.

However, it was Alex de Minaur who moved Team World within one match of winning the Laver Cup by beating Jakub Mensik in straight sets: 6-3, 6-4.

"Everybody played a part in making this one of the most memorable weeks I've ever spent on a tennis court," Agassi said after celebrating the victory.

"And that's saying something, because it was a lot of years I've been out there in one form or another with a perceived team, but this really was a team. So proud of the guys. Just unflappable. They never stopped believing."

Another Laver Cup is in the books, and the tennis world shifts focus solely to Beijing for the China Open (an ATP 500 and WTA 1000 event).
Iga Swiatek pulls off a dramatic comeback to win the Korea Open. Jannik Sinner has hired a prestigious ATP physiotherapist. Jannik Sinner's brainwaves are the subject of Pablo Torre's latest investigation. Emma Raducanu unraveled against Barbora Krejčíková in the Korea Open. Can Stefanos Tsitsipas save his season (and make a lot of money) at the Six Kings Slam?
Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's Serve On SI for all of your tennis news from the court and beyond.

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Taylor Fritz Beats Alexander Zverev to Clinch 2025 Laver Cup

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Recap from the final day of action in the 2025 Laver Cup, including Taylor Fritz's clinching win over Alexander Zverev.

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Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip with Apple Slices

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You’ve probably dipped apple slices in peanut butter as a quick, but filling, snack. This recipe takes it one step further by adding Greek yogurt to the peanut butter. Each serving contains 13 grams (g) of protein, making it a high protein snack.

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QRCode for Gulf Shores Middle School Counseling Program Needs Survey (1)

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Suicide Awareness & Prevention with GSMS Peer Helpers PSA 1

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Suicide Awareness & Prevention with GSMS Peer Helpers PSA 1

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Red Ribbon Leadership Winner Recognition Ceremony 2025-2026

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Red Ribbon Leadership Winner Recognition Ceremony 2025-2026

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A big Thank You to the Drug Education Council in Mobile for recognizing all of these wonderful students through out Baldwin County as they start their year as Leadership Winners on their campuses and for providing the signs to bring welcome attention to them! GSMS RRLW 2025-2026 is Katelyn Hamilton!

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GSMS Red Ribbon Leadership Winner 2025-2026 Katelyn Hamilton

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GSMS Red Ribbon Leadership Winner 2025-2026 Katelyn Hamilton

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We look forward to a great year with you Katelyn!

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14 Exceptionally Fun Math Games for Middle and High School

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Robust skill-building and reinforcement of key mathematical concepts lie beneath the excitement of these games.

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Anxiety Disorders: Types, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment

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Anxiety disorders can be treated, even in severe cases. Although anxiety usually doesn’t go away, you can learn to manage it and live a happy, healthy life.

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A MATCH POINT FOR THE BOOKS! https://t.co/kD0xp5F7aL

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A MATCH POINT FOR THE BOOKS! https://t.co/kD0xp5F7aL

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A MATCH POINT FOR THE BOOKS! pic.twitter.com/kD0xp5F7aL
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 29, 2025

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A MATCH POINT FOR THE BOOKS! https://t.co/kD0xp5F7aL

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A MATCH POINT FOR THE BOOKS! https://t.co/kD0xp5F7aL

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A MATCH POINT FOR THE BOOKS! https://t.co/kD0xp5F7aL

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Official Site of the 2022 US Open Tennis Championships - A USTA Event

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The official site of the 2022 US Open Tennis Championships. Live tennis scores, watch every match live stream, listen to live radio, and follow the action behind every match.

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Yoga combines breathing exercises, meditation, and poses that are proven to benefit mental and physical health. Here are 12 evidence-based benefits of yoga.

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Yin Yoga Poses to Melt Tension, Restore Health, and Revive Your Spirit

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Yin yoga poses are a beneficial way to bring a more restorative, meditative practice to your current fitness or yoga routine. Here are the benefits and considerations you need to know before beginning a yin yoga practice.

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Diet can influence cancer risk. Discover which foods can help reduce your risk.

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Social Anxiety Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, and Diagnosis

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Social anxiety disorder, also called social phobia, is a type of anxiety disorder that causes extreme fear in social settings. It is different from shyness.

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A few times a year, I get an urge to purge. Whether it's spring cleaning or taking a moment to archive last year's emails, I find it incredibly gratifying to dump stuff I don't need. There's a whole lot of hippie rhetoric about how clutter-free environments lead to clarity of mind. I'm not necessarily saying this works for everyone or guaranteeing that it will improve your productivity, but I sure do feel less stressed and more able to focus when the junk is gone.

As kids, most of us learn to clean our rooms, tidy our desks, donate or throw out items that we don't need or want, and put away our physical stuff. As adults, however, many of us never learned to do the same thing with our digital material. It's no surprise we never learned. Who would have taught us? If you're an adult now, you're part of the first wave of people to figure out how to do it and teach such skills to younger generations.

If you enjoy a good purge and have a messy digital life, here are five tasks to start with.

1. Clean Up Your Desktop

Sometimes, you might place a file on the computer desktop so it'll be in your line of sight and easy to remember. Then, you repeat this action a few more times. Before you know it, the principle defeats itself. How can you see and remember a file among a messy heap of others?

(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)

View Desktop Files in List View

The easiest way to get started is to view your files in a list rather than as icons on the desktop. In other words, open a Finder window in macOS or File Explorer in Windows. This view makes it easier to see which files you can delete or put away.

Make a Few Folders

You don't have to trash all your files to clean up your desktop. Instead, make a few folders with names like In Progress and Photos to help you sort what you have.

Don't think too deeply about the correct classification for each file. Keep it simple. Folders called Work, Personal, Fun, and Old are fine. You might also have one folder for PDFs, another one for Photos, and so forth.

I sort files by year because I think about my work and personal files based on when they happened. I have one folder for every year and create whatever subfolders make sense to me. As an example, I have a 2020 folder with subfolders called 2020 PHOTOS, 2020 TAXES, and so forth. Putting files into folders is similar to archiving them. They're out of sight, but I can still find them if I need them.

Sort Your Files

Go into the list view and select files to move into one of your new folders. The list view lets you sort by date created or last edited, file type, and size, so it's easy to group similar files. Turn on the preview option for images, PDFs, and other files if you need to glance at them before deciding.

Don't leave your folders on the desktop. They'll only create more visual clutter. Tuck them out of view but somewhere convenient, such as within the My Documents folder or in a file-syncing folder.

2. Empty Your Email Inbox

Ready to trash everything in your email inbox? No? You're not alone. A lot of us hesitate to throw away emails because we're afraid of missing a million-dollar opportunity or an important message. OK, so don't! You can clear your inbox without deleting any messages or tossing them into the Archive abyss.

This method relies on the same concept as above: Sweep those old emails out of sight by moving them into folders.

Bulk moving Gmail messages (Credit: Google/PCMag)

Create a Folder or Two

Start by creating a new folder...or two or three. It depends on how many messages you have to clear out. If it's fewer than, say, 100, one folder will do. If you have many hundreds or thousands of emails, putting them into one folder will simply move them out of sight. If that's all you want to do, so be it. In that case, you might as well archive all the messages because it's effectively the same thing. Sorting your mail into folders, however, not only clears out old emails but also gives you a plan for coping with incoming mail.

Create a new folder (or, in Gmail, a label) and name it the current year. You could also name it the year and the quarter or the year and the month. Choose the system that works best for you. Make additional folders if you need them for other recent years, quarters, or months.

I like time-based folders for email because they save you the trouble of making additional decisions. Every email message or thread has a date when it started, so you make fewer decisions about how to sort them. Fewer decisions means easier, faster, and more efficient cleanup. They practically sort themselves. Sure, if a thread spans several weeks or months, you may have to decide whether to file it by the first message date or the most recent date. Still, you only have to make that decision once and then apply it across other threads. Done and done.

Bulk-Move Messages

Next, move messages en masse into the appropriate folder based on the date of the message. Depending on what email program you have, you might be able to move them by creating a rule. Otherwise, just sort your inbox by date, select all the messages in a certain year, and drag them into the new folder. Easy.

You're not deleting anything. But you're restoring your inbox as a place for new, incoming mail. You don't have to deal with every unopened or unanswered message to get a fresh inbox. All you have to do is bulk-move old messages.

Develop New Inbox Habits

Now that your inbox is clean, it's an excellent time to develop some new, positive email habits. If you take a little bit of time to set up rules for managing email and stick with them, you might find that email doesn't have to be an unmanageable mess.

Remember, you don't have to be perfect in managing email. The goal of decluttering is to ease the stress associated with having an unmanageable inbox and perhaps feel a metaphorical weight lifted. We tidy up because it makes life easier going forward.

3. Transfer Photos From Your Phone

Nothing says purge like removing photos and videos from your phone. Nearly everyone hangs onto them, but clearing them out not only frees up space but also makes it easier to find the images you choose to keep there. Here are some of your options:

Use a cloud storage service, such as iCloud, Dropbox, or OneDrive (this is usually the quickest method).

Transfer photos directly to a computer using a cable).

Transfer photos wirelessly to a computer using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth).

Physically remove a memory card (not all phones have this option).

Share images to a social media account or email.

You don't have to remove every photo. That wouldn't be practical. Keep a few dozen images, including any headshots or selfies you use for online profile pictures. And don't touch the pictures and videos that make you happy or that you love to share. Not to get all KonMari, but if a picture or video sparks joy, keep it! If it doesn't, move it somewhere else.

Moving images from a mobile phone to Dropbox to clear out space (Credit: Apple/Dropbox/PCMag)

You can always put a copy of any photo or video back on your phone at any time. Sometimes, just remembering that your images are available satisfies the urge to keep them all on your phone.

Tip: One place where photos and videos tend to accumulate is in messaging apps, where people share them with you, and you immediately forget about them. So, don't forget to clear out photos and videos in your messages.

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4. Get Rid of Unused Apps

Do you download apps, check them out, and then never touch them again? Dumping unused apps is one more way you can start purging the digital clutter from your life, as well as free up more space on your phone (or desktop PC).

Before you remove apps willy-nilly, start by backing up your phone. This allows you to restore not only an app but also all of its data. The app can often restore data from the cloud when you reinstall it, but it's a good idea to back up regardless.

Deleting an app from an iPhone (Credit: Apple/PCMag)

To choose which apps to remove, start on the screen that's farthest from your home screen. Your home screen probably has apps you use all the time, whereas the farthest screen likely has apps you never use.

For and apps, simply press and hold them. Choose Remove App or wait until it jiggles, then tap the X that appears. Then, you have to choose between the Delete App and Remove from Home Screen options. I recommend the first; it wipes the app off your phone or iPad completely. The second option removes the app icon from your screen but keeps the app accessible from the App Library, search bar, and Settings.

For Android apps, press and hold the app icon until you see options. Then, tap Uninstall or drag it up to the Uninstall area.

Deleting an app from an Android phone (Credit: Google/PCMag)

Apple devices have an option that lets you offload apps automatically when you don't use them frequently. This particular setting keeps the data you generate with the apps, such as the details of your runs in a running app, but removes the app itself and the necessary memory to host it. Head to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Offload Unused Apps.

Android devices can also identify unused apps. After a few months, the OS rescinds permissions, stops notifications, and removes temporary files for them.

5. Close Your Browser Tabs

Are you a tab hoarder? The biggest problem with tab hoarding is that it prevents you from cleaning out the internet cache, which you should absolutely do from time to time.

There are many solutions for managing excessive browser tabs. The easiest one is to bookmark all your open tabs.

Microsoft Edge has a few stellar features, including one called Collections that lets you bookmark pages into groups and then shows you what you've saved in a card-like display. When you bookmark or save your open tabs, the URLs are available for you to open again quickly at any time. Thus, you can close them for now, dump the cache, and start over with a fresh browsing session.

Microsoft Edge collections feature (Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)

Make a Fresh Start

Few people have good habits when it comes to cleaning up digital junk. If you're not one of them, you're not alone. And it's to be expected! Digital clutter is relatively new. We don't yet have a lot of established rules for maintenance and hygiene. Try cleaning up your desktop, email account, phone, and web browser. It can be as rewarding and relieving as cleaning up physical clutter.

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Best free fitness app

Work out with Nike trainers live or on-demand with the Nike Training Club app. After downloading the app, you'll get customized workout suggestions based on the results of a quick quiz.

The app offers a range of exercise styles, including:

You can also search by muscle group, workout focus, and equipment to find a class.

Healthline editor Melissa Lee used the app as a tool to learn different types of exercises while gyms were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. She notes this is a useful app for beginners or those trying something new who might want some guidance without paying for a personal trainer.

Healthline SEO associate Taylor Morelli, who is an ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist with a Master of Science in exercise physiology, also recommends this app because of the well-balanced exercise programming. She also loves that it syncs up with her Apple Watch so she can check off the rep-based exercises on her watch and quickly view her heart rate.

Best app for group fitness lovers

This app brings the feel of a boutique group fitness class to your living room with more than 20 types of classes, including HIIT, dance cardio, sculpt, and more.

The app offers live classes every day of the week - filmed in a fun neon studio - in addition to its extensive on-demand library of more than 7,000 classes.

Workouts range from 10 minutes to 1 hour. The top-notch instructors bring the energy and will even give shout-outs during the live classes.

It's also a favorite of Healthline nutrition and fitness editor Kelli McGrane, MS, RD, who appreciates that the large selection of 20-minute classes makes it easy (and fun) to squeeze a sweat session into her day.

Best tried-and-true fitness app

Peloton is best known for its cycling classes, but with the Peloton digital app, you can also access other types of workouts. You'll find everything from strength training and HIIT to outdoor running and yoga.

You can work out in real time with expert instructors and other members from around the world or take a prerecorded class.

Peloton classes feature curated music playlists, and each instructor brings their unique style to their classes.

Just keep in mind that although the instructors provide modifications, true beginners may find most of these workouts too challenging.

Several Healthline editors have commented that the Peloton app is the key to their at-home fitness success. Healthline senior SEO associate Sydney Hanan started using the Peloton app during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to use it to supplement her in-person gym and exercise classes. She appreciates its wide range of classes and the flexibility it offers.

Healthline senior copy editor Anne Arntson originally paired the Peloton app with an Echelon Smart Connect bike to get in on the spin classes she was missing during the pandemic. As she began testing some of the app's other classes, she realized how much she enjoyed the range of class types and lengths available.

Best fitness app for community

A community created for women by women, Fit Body features 12 programs led by four expert trainers to help you reach your fitness goals.

The classes are designed to be 30 minutes or shorter, but if you have extra time, we recommend taking advantage of the stretching and foam rolling videos as well.

What's more, the app offers 72 weeks of meal plans with custom portion recommendations according to your daily calorie needs, plus access to more than 300 recipes to create your own meal plan.

There's also a community function within the app, allowing you to connect with others on your wellness journey.

Best personal trainer-led fitness app

Created by Charlee Atkins, CPT, Le Sweat TV essentially gives you a personal trainer at your fingertips.

During each workout, Atkins is right there with you, providing helpful cues and modifications for all fitness levels.

You can browse the 250-plus workouts by body part, equipment needed, or desired class length (5-30 minutes) to get started. You can also stream the videos on demand or download them for sweat sessions on the go.

Best prenatal and postpartum fitness app

Designed by prenatal and postnatal exercise specialist Brooke Cate and taught by other experts, Studio Bloom classes help expecting and new parents perform workouts safely during and after pregnancy.

The app offers more than 300 classes, including:

Best size-inclusive fitness app

Created by Louise Green - author of "Big Fit Girl" and "Fitness for Everyone," and president of the Size-Inclusive Training Academy - the Big Fit Girl app makes fitness accessible, no matter your size, age, or fitness level.

Starting with chair exercises and working up to more advanced moves, Green offers a wide range of on-demand cardio and strength workouts.

If you're brand new to working out or have injuries, Green's app will meet you where you are, allowing you to work your way up safely and confidently.

Best yoga app

Whether yoga is part of your regular routine or you're new to the practice, there's something for you on the Glo app.

The app includes over 5,000 on-demand classes as well as daily live classes for when your schedule allows. You can even download classes to access while you're on the go.

There are 16 styles of classes to choose from, all of which are taught by experienced and credentialed instructors. Morelli is a fan of this app, saying she loves how easy it is to filter the workouts to find her favorites, like Vinyasa flow with instructor Tiffany Cruikshank.

Best app for runners and cyclists

If you love to run and cycle outside, Strava is a must-have app. In addition to mapping your routes, the app tracks your progress, offers challenges, and even shares your location with friends for safety.

The free version of Strava is pretty basic. It allows you to record your activity and share your location with three designated safety contacts.

However, for about $8 per month, the app allows you to participate in asynchronous competitions, set and track goals, create training plans, and measure your performance.

Healthline senior editor Candice Abellon notes that following other people on the app - including people she knows in real life and high profile athletes - motivates her. However, she mentions that data privacy concerns are something to keep in mind when deciding which tracks to keep private and whether to start and end your track at your home.

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Finding the right fitness routine and sticking to it can be overwhelming for many people - which is why these top-rated apps are here to help get you sweating and keep you on track with your fitness goals.

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In This Article

Sure, the word sounds funny, but a Fartlek workout is one of the greatest training techniques in the realm of distance running.

What is Fartlek running, exactly? It's a dynamic running method that blends steady running with bursts of intensity. Runners who have done Fartleks will agree, this practice that hails from Sweden provides incredible physiological improvements while actually being fun.

Perhaps the toughest part of Fartleks is knowing how to incorporate them into your training cycle. So, we chatted with a few experts to find out how to safely and effectively use Fartlek training.

Here, we'll explore the origins, physical adaptations, mental benefits, and practical applications of Fartlek training. Whether you're a seasoned runner or just starting your fitness journey, Fartlek training might be the extra spice you need in your running routine.

What Is Fartlek Training?

"Fartlek is Swedish for 'speed play,' says RRCA-certified run coach Erica Coviello, CPT. "It's a running workout in which you, quite literally, play around with different speeds."

The technique was invented in Sweden by Gösta Holmér in the 1930s. The Swedish Olympic coach needed an effective way to improve both the speed and endurance of his runners. The idea was that the training would work on steady-state running and quick bursts of speed simultaneously.

The world caught on to the effectiveness of this type of training when Holmér's runners started breaking world records. In 1942, one of these athletes, Gunter Hägg, set a whopping ten world records in seven different events in just 82 days.

In the traditional workout as conceived by Holmér, you'd run about seven miles with up to 3.1 miles at or faster than 5K race pace. But throughout the years, tweaks have been made. Fartlek training now is less of a prescribed workout and more of a loose and free run with some harder, quicker efforts sprinkled in.

"It's a form of speedwork that's relatively free and usually lower key," says exercise physiologist and RRCA-certified run coach Janet Hamilton, RCEP, CSCS. "I tend to use Fartleks as a lower-intensity form of speedwork."

What's the Difference Between Fartlek and Interval Training?

Even though other types of speed workouts work similarly in your body to improve times and endurance, Fartlek workouts are very different from repeats and intervals. Coviello and Hamilton use the word "unstructured" to describe Fartlek training, whereas a track workout or tempo run requires runners to hit certain paces within 2 seconds or so and go specific distances.

"I don't usually give [runners] a real strict pace to follow," Hamilton, owner of Running Strong, says. "I'll tell them to go with what feels like whatever race they're after. So, for example, half- marathon pace or 10K pace, and hold that for 1 to 2 minutes and then drop back to your easy effort for 3 to 4 minutes. And I say that at the end of this workout, you should feel invigorated, not exhausted."

Hamilton explains that strict pacing during speed workouts comes later in an athlete's training cycle. These repeats, done at speeds similar to 5K race pace, can often be close to an athlete's VO2 max (maximal amount of oxygen you're able to use during exercise). Fartleks aren't meant to totally gas you, and they should be easier to recover from than these harder speed workouts.

The Benefits of Fartlek Training

1. It Can Help You Run Faster

Possibly one of the best Fartlek run benefits is its ability to make runners faster. A February 2018 study in ‌Physiological Reports‌ found that speed endurance training boosts running economy and speed. Runners did speed workouts over the course of 6 weeks and their average 10K time improved by 3.2 percent.

How do these improvements happen? When you perform high-intensity training, like track workouts, hill training, tempo runs and Fartleks, you recruit your fast-twitch muscles and elevate your heart rate so that it's working in the anaerobic zone (80 to 90 percent of your max heart rate). A June 2023 review in ‌‌ says this greatly improves your VO2 max over time.

And, an October 2019 study in the ‌Think India Journal‌ concluded that 12 weeks of Fartlek training significantly improved the muscular endurance of cross-country runners when compared to a control group that did not incorporate Fartlek training into their running plans.

In addition to the physical adaptations that happen, you're also showing your body and brain how to get the speed you want.

"The goal is to teach your body to start moving faster, and Fartleks do that without the physical or mental stress of longer, harder running," Coviello says.

Plus, the physical stress of doing long or really fast-paced runs can lead to injury. So, Fartleks provide a way to include speedwork without having to run hard for your whole workout.

2. It Provides a Mental Break

If you ask experienced runners what their favorite training runs are, they'll probably say Fartlek runs. For so many runners, it truly does feel like playtime.

"Maybe it's the variation. Maybe it's that they're working but it's a little less of a high-intensity pace than a 5K repeat, and it feels a little easier. Or maybe it's just the fact that they know they're not tied to anything. That it's freedom," Hamilton says.

For some runners, it's a great way to break up the monotony of easy training miles, long runs or the doldrums of a long training cycle. Coviello says she likes to use them as part of a reset.

"When you're in a funk or on a day where you just don't feel like doing much, they're a good way to boost your fitness without feeling too overwhelming," she says.

3. It's Accessible for Runners of All Levels

Coviello is a big fan of Fartlek runs because any runner can learn to do them, complete them and improve on them over time.

"It's easy to tailor to any ability, fitness level or training style," she says. "You can turn the 'easy' part of the running into a walk, and the harder parts into an easy run. More advanced runners can bump it up a notch by adding a little more structure with timing and pace. You can do just a few in a short run or do a bunch in a longer run. There are so many possibilities, which is what makes Fartleks so enticing for so many people."

The Disadvantages of Farlek Training

Fartleks aren't magic for everyone. Hamilton explains that there aren't many downsides to Fartlek training, but there are some circumstances for specific athletes where she won't use them.

"The only disadvantage is if an athlete is trying to work on strict pace awareness - that would usually require a more structured and disciplined approach to speedwork," she says.

Coviello has a similar take: "If you're a more experienced or advanced runner looking to hit big goals like [qualifying for the Boston Marathon] or a super fast 5K, there are other workouts that will be much more effective at getting you there, especially the further along you are in a training cycle."

Finally, it's important to remember that if you're injured or recovering from injury and just coming back, you should literally take it slow.

"As with any form of speedwork, you need to be healthy and injury-free to be doing this," Hamilton says. "So don't do speedwork just yet - even Fartleks."

How to Add Fartleks to Your Training Plan

For runners just starting out, Fartleks are a great way to get a feel for speedwork. And, after working to get your aerobic capacity to the point where you can sustain 30 minutes of running at a time, Farltek training can give you something a little different as you continue to work on your endurance.

"If you've got somebody who is wanting to make the transition from walking to running and they're at the point where they're able to continuously run for a reasonable distance - a mile, two miles, three mile - and they're like, 'Hey, can we do something fun or different?' Sure!," Hamilton says.

Hamilton advises the runners she coaches to find a nice shady path and gives them a loose structure to follow. For example, she'll say to alternate between a slow and medium-fast pace. She says to go telephone pole to telephone pole or mailbox to mailbox - whatever marker you want to choose to play around with speed.

The trick, Hamilton says, is not to do Fartlek running for every workout. Once per week for beginners is plenty. See how your body responds over the course of a few weeks.

"And if you find that you like the workout and you're having fun and your body's not barking at you, then you can probably get away with two," she says.

Intermediate and Advanced Runners

When Hamilton trains an athlete over the course of several months, she will build their base and then use Fartlek training as a way to "test the waters" of speedwork.

"I finally let you loose, because for weeks I've had you holding yourself back doing nothing but easy effort," she says. "Fartleks will give you the chance to be free."

After 4 to 8 weeks of base training, you can safely add a Fartlek workout to your weekly training schedule. Coviello echoes this strategy and adds that it's great for athletes as they begin to ramp up into the racing season. During this "pre-season," she says you don't have to do them that often.

"Once a week or every other week for a few weeks is usually enough to help you find your groove," Coviello says.

While it's best to talk with a running coach or trainer prior to implementing speedwork in your training plan, these workouts will give you an idea of how to do a Fartlek run. Remember, you should feel strong, happy and energized at the end - meaning don't go all out on the "hard" efforts.

Coviello recommends this 45-minute Fartlek workout:

5-minute warmup (jog or walk)

3 x 1 minute hard, 3 minutes easy

3 x 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy

3 x 1 minute hard, 3 minutes easy

5-minute cooldown

Hamilton says to follow this pattern to hit your time or distance goal for that day:

Run at 10K race effort for 1 to 2 minutes

Settle back to easy effort for 3 to 4 minutes

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Want to Be Able to Run Faster? This Training Method Will Help - and It's Actually Fun | Livestrong.com

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Learn how Fartlek training, a form of interval training that combines steady-state running with bursts of faster-paced running, can boost speed and endurance.

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We know that walking is good for your body -think heart health, bone health, and joint health, for instance. But new research shows the higher your step count, the better it is for your mind, too. That's right: Something as straightforward as putting one foot in front of the other could actually help reduce symptoms of depression.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the average American takes 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day-that's significantly lower than that magical " 10,000 steps a day " rule so many people try to follow. But recent research shows a sweet spot of at least 7,000 steps daily could be enough to boost your mental health. Keep scrolling to learn more.

More about the research

In a systematic review published on December 16 in JAMA Network Open, researchers analyzed 33 different studies that involved more than 96,000 adults over 18 years old. Each study participant, who had to have an official depression diagnosis or present depressive symptoms, measured their daily step counts via a smartphone, pedometer, or accelerometer.

After reviewing the data from each study, the researchers concluded that those who took 5,000 steps or more each day presented fewer depressive symptoms compared to those who had lower step counts. What's more, taking 7,000 daily steps or more was associated with a lower risk of depression in general.

The researchers acknowledge there are limitations to their observations-most importantly, that correlation doesn't mean causation. Translation? There's a connection between walking more and reducing depression, but that doesn't mean getting your steps in will 100 percent "cure" you. More evidence is needed, but researchers do conclude that these findings could shape the approach to public health.

Tips to manage depression

Managing depressive episodes can feel challenging, but small, intentional steps can help you regain a sense of control. Here are a few tips to help you manage your depression, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine:

Start with the basics: Get out of bed, take a shower, and eat something-even if it's small. Simple, everyday actions can set a foundation for feeling a bit more grounded.

Establish a daily routine: No matter how minimal, this can provide stability when everything feels chaotic.

Prioritize physical activity: Working out can help mental health, but don't feel pressured to overdo it. Start with a short walk, light stretching, or even a few minutes of dancing to your favorite song. Movement helps release endorphins, which can improve your mood.

Stay connected: Depression often urges you to isolate, but reaching out-even with a quick text or phone call-can make a huge difference.

Be kind to yourself: Avoid self-criticism over what you "should" be doing, and instead celebrate small victories. Creative outlets like journaling, drawing, or listening to music can help you process emotions.

Prioritize good sleep hygiene, hydration, and nutrition: Your physical health and mental well-being are closely connected, so pay attention to both.

Most importantly, know that it's okay to ask for help. Reach out to a therapist, counselor, or trusted loved one when things feel overwhelming. And consider talking with your doctor about treatment options that include medication.

The bottom line

There's no denying movement can help you feel better mentally. This latest research supports the belief that the more you move, the more your mood will be lifted. There's plenty of benefits of walking, but there's still more scientific evidence needed in order to conclude that a higher step count lessens depression symptoms-and walking more is certainly not a cure-all for those living with major depressive disorder.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, call SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or go to FindTreatment.gov for resources and treatment options. If you're having thoughts of harming yourself or others, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

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Higher Daily Step Count May Reduce Depression Symptoms | Well+Good

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We know that walking is good for your body-think heart health, bone health, and joint health, for instance. But new research shows the higher your step count, the better it is for your mind, too. T

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Dr. Webb, Emma Kakish Red Ribbon Leadership Winner, Wendy McIntosh Holmes

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Living with social anxiety disorder can mean that even the most casual social interactions leave you trembling, dizzy, and afraid of criticism or rejection.

Severe social anxiety can affect your day-to-day life by making it difficult to engage in commonplace activities, such as:

talking with co-workers

buying groceries

eating in public

attending classes at school

going on dates

Managing social anxiety usually isn't as simple as tossing yourself into a crowd, but it's still an entirely achievable goal.

Looking for ways to feel more comfortable in social situations and interact with others more easily? These 9 strategies offer a place to begin.

Despite what some people might suggest, social anxiety goes beyond shyness, or feeling uneasy and nervous around new people. Social anxiety is a mental health condition, and it's not always possible to work through symptoms yourself.

You can do a lot on your own to manage the anxiety and distress you experience, but getting professional support is always a good place to start.

A trained mental health professional can:

offer more insight on the difference between social anxiety and shyness

help you identify social anxiety triggers

teach helpful coping strategies, social skills, and relaxation techniques

offer guidance with challenging and replacing or reframing negative thoughts

Therapy also offers a safe environment to practice navigating anxiety-provoking situations through graduated exposure, one potential treatment for social anxiety.

Your therapist might recommend group therapy or support groups, which give you the chance to practice social skills and interact with other people also coping with social anxiety.

A therapist can also refer you to a psychiatrist, who can prescribe medication for social anxiety. Medication can provide some relief from severe symptoms, making it easier to start working through them in therapy.

Social anxiety doesn't show up in the same way for everyone.

You might feel anxious about any situation where you worry about others judging you, from ordering food at a restaurant to leaving for the restroom during a class lecture. On the other hand, you could feel mostly fine simply being around others - as long as they don't expect you to share your thoughts or speak up.

Pinpointing why and when you feel most anxious can help you take the first steps toward finding solutions to power through those feelings.

Tip: Start by listing situations that cause the most discomfort, the ones you feel utterly unable to face. These might include:

interviewing for a new job

meeting with a professor to ask for help

introducing yourself to someone you're attracted to

Chances are, you spend a lot of time thinking about the potential negative outcomes of those social situations you just listed.

accidentally saying something rude or offensive

calling someone by the wrong name

tripping or spilling something on yourself

laughing, sneezing, or coughing at the wrong time

getting sick in front of other people

These things do happen on occasion, and they certainly can cause some short-term discomfort. It can feel frightening to imagine yourself in a similarly awkward situation, but try to keep things in perspective.

Even if you do make a small social blunder, that doesn't mean other people will look down on you. In fact, they might remember a time when they found themselves in a similar position and offer empathy and compassion instead. Bonding over past awkward experiences could even help you make a new friend.

When you begin to feel overwhelmed by anxious thoughts, try challenging and replacing them with more helpful ones through a technique called realistic thinking. You can try this by asking yourself some basic questions about the scenario that's worrying you and providing honest, balanced answers.

Understanding the spotlight effect - the tendency to think others notice your mistakes more than they actually do - can also go a long way toward easing feelings of social anxiety.

You might believe everyone's staring at you after an awkward faux pas, but most people probably didn't even notice. Those who did? They'll probably forget what happened pretty quickly.

When it comes to managing social anxiety, it's just fine to start with little changes. You don't have to volunteer to lead a meeting or strike up a conversation with everyone you meet.

At the store, skip the self-checkout and challenge yourself to make small talk with the cashier instead.

Raise your hand in class to ask a question.

Compliment a classmate's or co-worker's outfit.

Host a small gathering for close friends and loved ones - socializing in your own space can help you feel more comfortable.

Some people also find it helpful to rename anxious feelings.

Instead of thinking "I feel so nervous about tonight," try thinking "I'm so excited to see what people are like outside of work!" instead.

All those negative outcomes you worry about? Practicing ways to get through them ahead of time can help you feel more prepared to handle them if they come up during an interaction.

Ask a trusted friend or family member to role-play some everyday conversations with you.

You're searching for an item at the drugstore and have to explain what you're looking for to the clerk.

You pronounce the name of your friend's date wrong and they correct you.

Your boss asks a question during a work meeting and you give the wrong answer.

You trip and fall in front of a large crowd of people.

Tip: To get more familiar with best- and worst-case outcomes, ask your conversation partner to offer different positive, negative, or neutral reactions.

Like general anxiety, social anxiety can involve overwhelming and uncomfortable physical symptoms, including:

sweating

a pounding heart

difficulty breathing

lightheadedness

an upset stomach

Relaxation exercises can help calm these physical reactions, making it easier to manage worry, fear, and the other emotional symptoms you experience.

1. Inhale slowly through your nose for a count of 4 seconds.

2. Hold the breath for 7 seconds.

3. Exhale slowly for a count of 8 seconds.

1. Slowly tense each group of muscles in your body, beginning with your toes.

2. Hold the tension for a count of 5 seconds.

3. Slowly exhale as you release the tension. Focus on the new looseness in your muscles for a count of 10 seconds, breathing slowly.

4. Move on to the next muscle group and repeat.

In a 2015 study of 115 college students living with social anxiety, performing small acts of kindness for 4 weeks helped reduce the desire to avoid social situations.

The link between kindness and social anxiety may not be immediately clear, but it makes sense, when you think about it.

Social anxiety generally involves some fear of rejection or disapproval. But if you've just done something kind and thoughtful, like bringing a sick co-worker their favorite soup or offering to pick up your neighbor's grocery order, the person you help is far more likely to have positive feelings toward you than negative ones.

Earning this approval on a regular basis can help decrease your fears around social situations, so you might find that interacting with others gradually becomes easier.

A drink or two often seems like a great way to ease social anxiety and feel more comfortable in social settings. Certainly, a small amount of alcohol can help you feel more relaxed - but alcohol can also intensify feelings of anxiety and leave you feeling worse.

If you regularly use alcohol to manage social anxiety symptoms, you could eventually reach a point where you find it impossible to socialize without alcohol. You might also end up needing to drink more to see the same effects.

Consider trying out a mindful drinking approach, which involves cultivating awareness around when you drink, how much you drink, and how it makes you feel.

OK, so you know avoiding social situations entirely won't do much to improve social anxiety. But you'll also want to steer clear of tactics that keep your participation superficial. For example:

At parties, you keep busy in the kitchen, washing dishes and preparing food.

When you find yourself in a conversation, you encourage the other person to talk about themselves.

In a group, you stick to the edge, looking down at your phone so no one talks to you.

You might feel safer among the crowd when you show up without really engaging, but this doesn't do you any favors when it comes to overcoming social anxiety. People may not reject you, but they can't really get to know you unless you truly make an effort to interact.

Letting go of these not-so-helpful coping tactics may feel tough at first, but most people find the eventual payoff - improved relationships - well worth it.

Feeling self-conscious around others and fearing the possibility of their disapproval can make it difficult to forge connections with potential friends or romantic partners.

It's perfectly fine to stay single or have only a few friends. But when social anxiety holds you back from new relationships, a few changes can make a big difference.

True, some people you meet may simply not like you, but that's OK. It happens. The more interactions you have, the more likely you'll encounter people who really do get you - and welcome you with open arms.

Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she's committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues.

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How to Get Over Social Anxiety: 9 Expert-Backed Tips

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Looking to overcome social anxiety once and for all? These 9 practical strategies can help you expand your comfort zone on your own terms.

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What Really Happens to Your Body When You Eat Processed Foods | Livestrong.com

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Processed food is a big part of most diets. Here’s what can happen if you eat too many highly-processed goods, including how it effects your weight, heart and more.

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Certain foods like almonds, and herbs, such as chamomile, can benefit brain function and potentially relieve anxiety symptoms.

In many cases, medication is often required as a main course of treatment. However, there are several strategies you can also use to help reduce anxiety symptoms, from exercising to breathing techniques.

Additionally, there are many foods you can eat that may help support brain function and lower the severity of your symptoms, mostly due to their brain-boosting properties.

Here are 9 science-backed foods and beverages that may help ease anxiety.

Though a promising field of research, more human trials are needed to explore the direct relationship between yogurt consumption and anxiety.

It's also important to note that not all yogurt contains probiotics. For the benefits of probiotics, choose a yogurt with live active cultures listed as an ingredient.

That said, more research is needed.

Blueberries are high in vitamin C and other antioxidants, such as flavonoids, that have been studied for their ability to improve brain health and relieve anxiety (, , , ).

Some animal studies also suggest that certain compounds found in blueberries may reduce oxidative stress and ease symptoms of depression and anxiety (, ).

Still, additional studies are needed to evaluate the effects of blueberries on anxiety.

However, while several of the nutrients in eggs may be beneficial, further research is necessary to understand the effects of eggs on anxiety specifically.

While some of the foods listed below have not been studied specifically for their anti-anxiety effects, they're rich in nutrients thought to improve related symptoms.

Turkey, bananas, and oats: These are good sources of the amino acid tryptophan, which is converted to serotonin in the body and may promote relaxation and anxiety relief (, ).

Meat and dairy products: These provide high quality protein including essential amino acids that produce the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, potentially improving mental health (, ).

Chia seeds: Chia seeds are another good source of brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to help with anxiety (, ).

Citrus fruits and bell peppers: These fruits are rich in vitamin C, which has antioxidant properties that may help reduce inflammation and prevent damage to cells that may promote anxiety (, ).

Though these foods may support your mental well-being, they should not replace any medications or other therapies prescribed by a healthcare professional.

Anxiety is a complicated mental health disorder that requires a multitude of approaches to manage it effectively.

Along with medication and therapy, the foods you eat may help support your mental health, reduce anxiety symptoms, and promote better brain health. In particular, whole, minimally-processed foods high in antioxidants appear beneficial.

However, there's not enough research to support using food as a first-line treatment for anxiety and therefore should not replace any medications or therapies recommended by a healthcare professional.

Nonetheless, adding these foods to your diet is a great way to support brain health and overall well-being.

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Anxiety is a common problem characterized by worry and nervousness. This article lists 9 foods and beverages that can help to reduce it.

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Marijuana Use Linked to 50% Lower Chance of Graduating High School

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What causes anxiety and depression - Inside Out

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Did you ever feel like another kid was trying to get you to do something you didn’t want to do? If so, you’ve felt peer pressure. Find out more in this article for kids.

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So very sad....

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JustThinkTwice.gov sent this bulletin at 10/24/2024 01:06 PM EDT

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Pink Cocaine: The Drug Found in Liam Payne’s Body

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This family-focused list of top Amazon and Netflix documentaries will open the door to life-changing discussions with your kids.

. . .

As parents, it can be hard to explain to our children why we are choosing an alternative lifestyle, especially once kids hit double-digits. The things we teach our kids often go against many of the beliefs they're hearing from friends at school.

I think at some point (if your kids are a bit older, like ours), they can start to think some of the stuff we share with them is BS. And that is ok, after all, we must teach our children to think for themselves.

We should teach them to question everything - including us.

Make some room in your schedule to spend some quality screen time with your kids. Watching these Netflix documentaries - that allow you to indirectly discuss your values, choices, and a decision to move toward Becoming UnBusy - is a powerful parent-child experience.

When watching this list of documentary films be sure to have the remote on hand to pause the show and talk.

3 Netflix Documentaries That Will Change How Your Kids See The World

These shows open the door to a global perspective and allow your kids to see for themselves (with you there to guide them) that an alternative lifestyle is truly a powerful choice.

1. The Kindness Diaries - A Netflix Documentary Series
Netflix Documentaries Summaries: Watch Leon Logothetis travel around the world on his yellow motorbike, Kindness One, relying only on people's kindness at each stage of his travel. This show is about sharing everything that you have, even if you don't have much. Watch this documentary series now on Netflix]
The Kindness Diaries is actually a full Netflix documentary series, not a single show or documentary movie. Every episode of The Kindness Diaries begins with this statement:

The host of the Netflix documentary, Leon Logothetis, continues...

And that is what inspired my journey; a journey where random acts of kindness are repaid with unexpected and life-changing gifts.

The Kindness Diaries documentary series opened deep discussions of gratitude, war, cultural and religious differences, acts of service, education, healthcare, and just overall happiness with our two girls. Time and time again this travel documentary reminded us that love makes the world go round and that little is needed to be truly happy. I wholeheartedly believe this is one of the best documentaries on Netflix. Watching this series together truly changed how my girls see their own lives (and the world).
Parent-to-Parent Tip: A strong word of warning, Episode 11 (The Gift of Sight) was overwhelming. In this episode, Leon stops at Cambodia's Killing Fields and pays tribute to all the thousands of lives that were brutally lost there. This particular episode should be watched with extreme caution. You know your child's personality, please use your best judgment.
2. Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things

Netflix Documentaries Summaries: More, newer, cooler: That's the American Dream. But these creative people see the dream as being more about happiness. [Watch it on Netflix now or buy the documentary here]
The Netflix documentary Minimalism opened the door to a variety of conversations with our girls about "stuff," advertisements and marketing, popular brands at school, and what happiness means to us. The intro with Ryan Nicodemus really struck a chord with me. He explains:

When I heard about minimalism, it wasn't just about getting rid of my stuff. It was about taking control of my life, and stop being told what to do and deciding what I wanted to do.

On the surface, it may seem like minimalism and your stuff have little to do with Becoming UnBusy, but the two topics are inseparable. Our stuff dictates where our money goes each month, our stuff affects our required monthly budget, our stuff mandates our work schedules and career choices, our stuff affects our ability to control our lives.

This Netflix documentary allowed us to talk to our girls about why our family is making changes in our life to move toward Becoming UnBusy.

Heads-up: After watching this minimalism documentary our entire family committed to THIS - we're so excited to share more about it with you!

---> OUR FAMILY'S TOP UNBUSY GOAL <---

Amazon Summary: Four young friends set out to live on just $1 a day for two months in rural Guatemala. Armed with only a video camera, they battle hunger, parasites, and extreme financial stress as they attempt to survive. [Watch on Amazon Prime]
It has been amazing having the kids involved in the process.
Netflix Documentaries Summaries: A filmmaker and his musician girlfriend attempt an epic road trip with their dog, traveling across North America in a refurbished school bus. The preview is in German, but in the movie, the couple speaks English. [Watch it on Netflix now]
3. Living On One Dollar - Amazon Prime Documentaries

What is unique about this documentary is that the college students attempted to not only live on a dollar a day but to simulate the dynamics of an unstable field worker's income. In other words, they had allocated $60 for 60-days, but the amount they received each day was arbitrary. The hardship, support, and joy of the community that embraces them is eye-opening. We watched this documentary with our ten and twelve-year-old daughters. Some of the topics covered were tough, seeing children in poverty is heavy, but it was an enlightening experience.
Parent-to-Parent Tip: There is a section of the film where the couple is having issues with their U.S. Visa and their dog who is gravely ill is taken from them. There are about five minutes of unsettling footage where they are deeply concerned about the well being of their pet. It was hard for my girls to watch. If you've recently lost a furry friend, be sure to fast forward through this section.
BONUS: Expedition Happiness - Netflix Documentaries

My tween daughter was searching through Netflix documentaries and found this for our family to watch. The music and nature footage in Netflix documentaries is often spectacular, but what made this travel documentary appealing was knowing that this couple captured the footage themselves. This documentary film is a piece of art combining story, imagery, and powerful music.

While we watched this documentary, we spoke about topics like - how much space do we really need to live, what makes us happy, and where we want to travel as a family. The girls loved being able to pop over to YouTube to watch additional footage about how they prepped the bus, their travels, and other behind the scenes footage.

SPOILER ALERT: While this travel documentary inspires wanderlust, it also focuses on the love of family. The couple has to cut their trip short because their dog is ill unexpectedly. The film concludes with the couple surprising their family, who don't know they've returned early. It is a perfect opportunity to chat with your kids about the phrase, "Home is family."

The Best Documentaries List - UnBusy Community Suggestions

We've had some great discussion over on Facebook around this list of documentaries. Here are some additional recommendations of good documentaries that our UnBusy Community has made:
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
Let's chat about the best documentaries on Netflix, Amazon Prime, at the local library, and on the Web!

Do you have any other documentaries, movies, TV shows or books that have helped you connect with your kids and explain your unique life choices to your kids? We're always looking for inspiration to share with our kids.

Have you seen any of these documentaries? I'd love to hear about the different conversations you had with your kids while watching them. Please leave us a note below or a message on the Becoming UnBusy Facebook Page. We'd love to hear about it.
WATCH VIDEO

This 'Alike' Video Will Have You Tearing Up

This unsettled feeling stirs within me, continually urging me towards an UnBusy Life. Yet, this unique life we're trying to lead is anything but simple. A friend recommended this inspiring short film 'Alike' to me today.

As I watched, I got goosebumps - then tears began to well up ...

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3 Documentaries That Will Change How Your Kids See The World

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. As parents, it can be hard to explain to our children why we are choosing an alternative lifestyle, especially once kids hit double-digits. The things we teach our kids often go against many of the beliefs they're hearing from friends at school.

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Below are motivational words from S.C. Lourie inspiring a collection of ten inspirational quotes about slow living, self-care, and life!
. . .

This collection of quotes is inspired by these motivational words from writer, poet, artist and story lover - S.C. Lourie of Butterflies and Pebbles.

Today's Motivational Words

"Go into this week with the attitude that your peace, your health of mind, and your heart means more than getting everything else done. That your smile matters. That feeling rested matters. That holding the hands of your loved ones matter.

So pause lots, function at a pace that doesn't pull you apart. Honour the things that make you feel good inside, the things that make you feel alive. Give time to those things this week.

Make time the gift it is, by giving it to what really matters to you."

- S.C. Lourie

UnBusy Resource: 10 Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW to Choose Small Moments of Joy

10 Quotes Filled With Motivational Words For You

As you move forward this week, making time the gift it is by giving it to what really matters, remember these three things:

Saying no means saying YES to the things that make you feel alive.

Amazing things happen when you slow down and get honest with yourself.

Not all situations deserve your time, energy and focus.

Sometimes it doesn't feel like it, but we all make small daily choices that affect our lives. Choose wisely, my friend.

1. Saying no means saying YES to the things that make you feel alive

"Sometimes we need to say, 'No, I can't do that right now,' with no further explanation." - Holly Homer

"You can be a good person with a kind heart and still say no."

"If you don't know how to say no, your body will say it for you through physical illness." - Dr. Gabor Mate

UnBusy Resource: A Practical Guide For Saying No + 18 Easy Things You Can Do Right Now To Make Yourself Happier

2. An amazing thing happens when you slow down and get honest with yourself

"The great benefit of slowing down is the reclaiming of time and tranquility to make meaningful connections - with people, with culture, with work, with nature, with our own bodies and minds." - Carl Honore

"The quieter you become the more you are able to hear." - Rumi

"An amazing thing happens when you get honest with yourself and start doing what you love, what makes you happy. You stop wishing for the weekend. You stop merely looking forward to special events. You begin to live in each moment and you start to feel like a human being. You just ride the way that is life, with this feeling of contentment and joy. You move fluidly, steadily, calm and grateful. A veil is lifted, and a whole new perspective is born."

UnBusy Resource: Why You Need To Make Room For BIG Conversations

3. Not all situations deserve your time, energy, and focus

"In six months from now you can be in an entirely different space, mentally, spiritually, and financially. Keep working and believing in yourself."

"As you are shifting, you will begin to realize that you are not the same person you used to be. The things you used to tolerate have become intolerable. You are beginning to understand the value of your voice and there are some situations that no longer deserve your time, energy and focus."

"Life is a one time offer, use it well."

UnBusy Resource: Going Nose to Nose With Fear for an Uncluttered, Unshackled, UnBusy Life

At the end of the day...

Of course, it is easy to share these motivational words, but the truth is, life is hard. Give yourself credit for small wins and remember, my friend...

"At the end of the day, what really matters is that your loved ones are well, you've done your best, and you're thankful for all that you have."

xoxo

Love this collection of motivational words? Sharing it would make our week. 💛

It would make our week if you took a second to share this post on your favorite social media spot. That's how we know we're on the right track and should continue creating inspirational collections like this!

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Make time the gift it is by giving it to what really matters to you

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Below are motivational words from S.C. Lourie inspiring a collection of ten inspirational quotes about slow living, self-care, and life! . . . This collection of quotes is inspired by these motivational words from writer, poet, artist and story lover - S.C. Lourie of Butterflies and Pebbles.

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First and foremost, wherever you are in the world, I hope you and your loved ones are safe.

If you're struggling with anxiety - know that I am here with you.
I see you, my friend.
When the world feels out of control, the best place to start reducing anxiety is within.

This 21 Day Anti-Anxiety Challenge is meant as an uplifting resource to help you, or someone you know, during these uncertain times. Stress lowers our immune response, which is exactly the opposite of what you want right now.

If some of the practices in the guide don't resonate with you, that's 100% okay. Take what works for you and leave the rest.

Please know, you don't have to solve your whole life overnight. And you don't have to feel ashamed for being where you are. All you have to focus on is one small thing you can do today to get closer to where you want to be. Slowly and lightly, one step at a time. You can get there.

21 Day Anti-Anxiety Challenge

Here are twenty-one simple things you can do to help you cultivate a calmer, stronger, healthier mental state.

1. Designate a reward - perhaps order a new book, open a bottle of wine, or even rent a new movie release online - as an incentive for completing this twenty-one-day challenge. You decide what's right for you.

2. Practice a 1-minute meditation today. (New to meditation? Watch this first.)

3. Listen to the song Weightless on headphones. Neurologists say it reduces anxiety by up to 65% and calms the nervous system by helping slow listeners' heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

4. Pop on over to the Good News Movement Instagram feed and spend 5-minutes reading about kind acts and everyday heroes.

5. Write down three things you're grateful for today.

6. Light a candle; studies show that aromatherapy can decrease anxiety and improve sleep.

7. Schedule a 7-minute workout for yourself; with this free app Workout for Women, no equipment is needed.

8. Pick a messy hot spot in your house and declutter for 8-minutes or if you're feeling more daring, challenge yourself and your family to Get Rid of 100 Things.

9. Download the free Headspace app and do a 5-minute meditation.

10. Watch a stand-up comedian performance on Netflix, Amazon or YouTube. Research shows laughing is proven to reduce stress and improve your immune system.

11. Call a friend. Don't text; call. Connecting with friends helps release oxytocin, a natural stress reliever.

12. Pop on to Instagram or Facebook and give yourself permission to unfollow anyone who makes you feel anxious or less-than.

13. Watch this video on diaphragmatic breathing and take three deep breaths.

14. When the pain around you feels overwhelming, practice turning negative vibes into positive fuel with this practice.

15. Skip social media for a full day.

16. Write a thank you letter to someone who has made a difference in your life.

17. Get a dose of inspiration; read about people doing Good Good Good.

18. Let go of the tension with twenty minutes of beginner yoga for anxiety and stress.

19. Explore the Enneagram - after you find your primary type, read through the different anxiety triggers, and go here to learn more about your potential Enneagram type.

20. Send a "remember when" or "thinking of you" text to someone you care about but haven't seen in a while.

21. Celebrate with the reward you designated for yourself at the start of this challenge.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but I hope these simple anxiety-reducers will introduce you to websites, apps, and practices to help you take the edge off your anxiety during this turbulent time.

Your Anti-Anxiety Guide

Join our email list and get a FREE copy of the 21 Day Anti-Anxiety Challenge, plus five additional à la carte opportunities to add to your challenge. You can print it or keep the digital PDF on your desktop or phone for easy access!

Get your copy by subscribing below.

May you have the courage...

Focusing on mental and emotional self-care over the next three weeks will allow you to remain a strong resource for your families, friends, and community. A calm and collected YOU will have a remarkable ripple effect on those you love most in this world.

You might also like: 25 Helpful Things to Say to a Someone Whose Anxiety Is Skyrocketing (and 5 to Avoid)

Important Disclaimer
The contents of the Becoming UnBusy website, such as text, graphics, images, and other material contained on the Becoming UnBusy website ("Content") are for informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your mental health professional or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding your condition. Never disregard professional advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on the Becoming UnBusy website.
I f you are in crisis or you think you may have an emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. If you're having suicidal thoughts, call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to talk to a skilled, trained counselor at a crisis center in your area at any time (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). If you are located outside the United States, call your local emergency line immediately.
Reliance on any information provided by Becoming UnBusy, others appearing on the website at the invitation of Becoming UnBusy, or other visitors to the website is solely at your own risk. The website and the content are provided on an "as is" basis.

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21 Day Anti-Anxiety Challenge - Cultivate a calmer, stronger, healthier you

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First and foremost, wherever you are in the world, I hope you and your loved ones are safe. If you're struggling with anxiety - know that I am here with you. I see you, my friend. When the world feels out of control, the best place to start reducing anxiety is within.

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We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here's our process.

The benefits of fitness go on and on, but you need consistency and discipline in order to stick with a routine long enough to reap those benefits. That's where technology can help. The right app can act as a virtual personal trainer or training partner to keep you motivated and accountable.

Healthline looked high and low for the best fitness apps to help you out, and we chose the year's winners for their quality, user reviews, and overall reliability. Find one that suits your needs, and get your fitness on.

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Exercise gives your mind and body a boost in so many ways - from mood and energy to bones and skin. But finding the right fitness routine and sticking to it can be overwhelming for many people - which is why these top-rated apps are here to help get you sweating and keep you on track with your fitness goals.

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The wondrous world of coping skills, made a little simpler.

I don't know about you, but if I have to hear the word "unprecedented" one more time, I might actually lose it.

Sure, it's not inaccurate. During a global pandemic, we're facing challenges that are... well... pretty new.

And yes, the mental health toll of all of this uncertainty and fear is very understandable. This is a time when our emotional reserves are low, our anxiety is high, and our brains are a little scrambled.

But hearing the same platitudes over and over again can start to get a little grating, especially when you need support and you don't know where to find it.

Maybe it's your first (or hundreth) panic attack. Maybe it's inexplicable exhaustion that you can't seem to sleep away. Maybe you're spiraling, unable to discern if you need to go to urgent care for COVID-19 or call up a psychiatrist for some anti-anxiety meds.

If you're feeling maxed out or even a little cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs (#notanad), you're not alone - and there are resources that can support you, no matter what you're up against.

So take a deep breath, hang tight, and let's explore your options.

It's time for a check-in! Which of the following statements best describes what you're struggling with right now?

Being human was hard enough before a pandemic. It makes a lot of sense that so many of us are struggling right now. The silver lining? You don't have to go through this alone.

Hey, before we get into it... are you having suicidal thoughts? Like maybe there's no point in sticking around, or that you wish you didn't have to struggle anymore? I ask because there are folks out there who want to support you.

Click here to view a full list of suicide prevention resources.

I'd also encourage you to read this essay about being suicidal but too afraid to die (from someone who's been there!).

Support can look a lot of different ways!
Here are some additional options: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
"Me? Depressed?" If I had a nickel for every time I've said this, I could afford my own pandemic-proof bunker by now.

A quick refresher: Depression can look like intolerable boredom, a loss of pleasure or enjoyment, overwhelming sadness, struggling to "bounce back" from setbacks, or even emotional numbness.

When you're in it, it's not always easy to recognize, and it can show up a little differently for everyone.
If you haven't really felt like yourself lately, here are some resources to explore: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Anxious? Welcome to the club. It's not exactly a fun club, but at least with physical distancing, you no longer have to worry about people noticing your sweaty palms when they go in for our Official Club Handshake.

(Pro-tip: If you don't see what you're looking for here, you can also check out our resources on health anxiety and panic attacks!)
Some COVID-specific resources: Coping tools for the long haul: Just breathe! Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Not-so-fun fact: Anxiety can trigger a fight-or-flight reaction with physical symptoms!
If you're wondering if you're sick or just worried sick, these resources can help:
Still think you might have it? Here's what to do next if you suspect you have COVID-19.
Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
When sheltering in place, it makes a lot of sense that we might start to feel cooped up, stressed out, and agitated. If that's your struggle, you've got options!
To chill out: When hell is other people: To get moving: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
In my article on anticipatory grief, I wrote, "A mourning process can occur even when we sense that a loss is going to happen, but we don't know exactly what it is yet." This can show up as exhaustion, agitation, hypervigilance, a sense of being "on edge," and more.
If you're feeling drained or wound up (or both!), it might be worthwhile to explore these resources: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Or don't, you know? It's a freaking pandemic, so yes, your concentration is going to be impacted. Radically accepting that we're not firing at full capacity - and that, yes, that's okay - can be incredibly helpful.

That said, it's never a bad time to explore some new coping skills for concentration.
Check these out: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Sleep is a critical part of our well-being (I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but it's true!).
If you're struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep, check out these tips and remedies: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Whether you're a panic attack veteran or a newbie to the wondrous world of capital-P Panic, welcome! (Be sure to check out our section on anxiety, too, if you need more support!)
These resources are just for you: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Isolation is tough regardless, but it can be especially hard for people who have relied on substances to cope with anxiety and stress.

For some of us, this means our sobriety will be difficult to maintain. For others, we may become more aware of our problematic relationship to substances for the very first time.
Wherever you're at in your journey with substances, these reads are designed to help you navigate these challenges: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
With an uptick of social media posts lamenting weight gain in self-quarantine, there's a lot of pressure to change our bodies and diets - despite the fact that our weight should be the least of our concerns right now!

Your body is your ally in survival, not your enemy. Here are some resources to consider if you're struggling right now.
A common sense proposal? Ditch the diet (yes, really):
You may also want to consider reading " The F*ck It Diet" by Caroline Dooner, which is a great intro to intuitive eating (snag a copy here!).
For folks with eating disorders: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Human connection is such an important part of keeping ourselves steady during times of crisis. That's part of what makes sheltering-in-place such a challenge right now.

If you're having a hard time with it, don't panic! Check out the resources below for some extra support (and if you're craving some physical touch, check out these resources, too!)
If you're struggling with loneliness: When working from home: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Parents, my heart is with you. Being a parent during the COVID-19 outbreak is anything but easy.
If it's proving to be more of a challenge than you expected, here are some links worth exploring: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
Have you heard of something called "skin hunger"? Human beings often crave physical touch, and it's part of what helps us emotionally regulate and destress.

If you're needing human touch right now, you're not the only one.
Here are some workarounds worth checking out: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again!
That's not exactly news though, is it? In a lot of ways, this outbreak isn't exactly a new set of challenges, so much as a slightly different set.

With that in mind, I've compiled some relevant reads that can help support you during this time.
Especially for you: For folks who just don't get it: Didn't find what you were looking for? Let's check in again! Sam Dylan Finch is an editor, writer, and digital media strategist in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's the lead editor of mental health & chronic conditions at Healthline. Find him on and , and learn more at SamDylanFinch.com.

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The wondrous world of coping skills, made a little simpler. Sure, it's not inaccurate. During a global pandemic, we're facing challenges that are... well... pretty new. And yes, the mental health toll of all of this uncertainty and fear is very understandable.

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Watch - Discuss - Act

Learning compassion increases students' own sense of wellbeing and improves the learning environment for all learners. By teaching kindness, empathy, and compassion we are setting students up for long term success in every aspect of life.

Activity

In this video, we learned that compassion is when you SEE someone in need, CARE about their feelings, and DO something to show you care.

Who in this story needed compassion?

Why do you think they needed it?

What did David do when he saw that Tye needed compassion?

If you had a friend that was upset like Tye, what would you do to show them compassion? Can you think of a time when you helped someone in need? How did you show them compassion?

Take Course for Free
Grade Level: 2-4
Subject Fit: ELA
Total Lessons: 15 standalone lessons, approximately 20 minutes each
Standards Alignment: Common Core State Standards (CCSS); CASEL SEL framework

About the Compassion Project

With so much emphasis placed on improvements in math and science, skills like compassion often receive less classroom time. This unintended trade-off may be short-sighted, as compassion is an important social-emotional skill that begins to develop in early childhood and is essential for lifelong health and success. The Compassion Project curriculum is the first comprehensive, no-cost program designed to help educators facilitate lessons around fundamental SEL skills.

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The Compassion Project: What Am I Good At?

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Watch - Discuss - Act Learning compassion increases students' own sense of wellbeing and improves the learning environment for all learners. By teaching kindness, empathy, and compassion we are setting students up for long term success in every aspect of life.

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Pollen is one of the most common causes of allergies in the United States.

Pollen is a very fine powder produced by trees, flowers, grasses, and weeds to fertilize other plants of the same species. Many people have an adverse immune response when they breathe in pollen.

The immune system normally defends the body against harmful invaders - such as viruses and bacteria - to ward off illnesses.

In people with pollen allergies, the immune system mistakenly identifies the harmless pollen as a dangerous intruder. It begins to produce chemicals to fight against the pollen.

This is known as an allergic reaction, and the specific type of pollen that causes it is known as an allergen. The reaction leads to numerous irritating symptoms, such as:

Some people have pollen allergies year-round, while others only have them during certain times of the year. For example, people who are sensitive to birch pollen usually have increased symptoms during the spring when birch trees are in bloom.

Similarly, those with ragweed allergies are most affected during the late spring and early fall.

About 8 percent of adults in the United States experience hay fever, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI).

About the same percentage of American children were diagnosed with hay fever in 2014, according to the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The allergy is unlikely to go away once it has developed. However, symptoms can be treated with medications and allergy shots.

Making certain lifestyle changes can also help relieve the symptoms associated with pollen allergies.

A pollen allergy may also be referred to as hay fever or allergic rhinitis.

There are hundreds of plant species that release pollen into the air and trigger allergic reactions.

Here are some of the more common culprits:

Birch pollen allergy

Birch pollen is one of the most common airborne allergens during the spring. As the trees bloom, they release tiny grains of pollen that are scattered by the wind.

A single birch tree can produce up to 5 million pollen grains, with many traveling distances of up to 100 yards from the parent tree.

Oak pollen allergy

Like birch trees, oak trees send pollen into the air during the spring.

While oak pollen is considered to be mildly allergenic compared to the pollen of other trees, it stays in the air for longer periods of time. This can cause severe allergic reactions in some people with pollen allergies.

Grass pollen allergy

Grass is the primary trigger of pollen allergies during the summer months.

It causes some of the most severe and difficult-to-treat symptoms. However, the AAAAI reports that allergy shots and allergy tablets can be highly effective in relieving symptoms of grass pollen allergies.

Ragweed pollen allergy

Ragweed plants are the main culprits of allergies among weed pollens. They're the most active between the late spring and fall months.

Depending on the location, however, ragweed may begin spreading its pollen as early as the last week of July and continue into the middle of October. Its wind-driven pollen can travel hundreds of miles and survive through a mild winter.

Pollen allergy symptoms most often include:

nasal congestion

sinus pressure, which may cause facial pain

runny nose

itchy, watery eyes

scratchy throat

cough

swollen, bluish-colored skin beneath the eyes

decreased sense of taste or smell

increased asthmatic reactions

Your doctor can usually diagnose a pollen allergy. However, they may refer you to an allergist for allergy testing to confirm the diagnosis.

An allergist is someone who specializes in diagnosing and treating allergies.

The allergist will first ask you about your medical history and your symptoms, including when they started and how long they've persisted.

Make sure to tell them if the symptoms are always present or get better or worse at certain times of the year.

The allergist will then perform a skin prick test to determine the specific allergen that's causing your symptoms.

During the procedure, the allergist will prick different areas of the skin and insert a small amount of various types of allergens.

If you're allergic to any of the substances, you'll develop redness, swelling, and itchiness at the site within 15 to 20 minutes. You might also see a raised, round area that looks like hives.

As with other allergies, the best treatment is to avoid the allergen. However, pollen is very difficult to avoid.

You may be able to minimize your exposure to pollen by:

staying indoors on dry, windy days

having others take care of any gardening or yard work during peak seasons

wearing a dust mask when pollen counts are high (check the internet or the weather section of the local newspaper)

closing doors and windows when pollen counts are high

Medications

If you still experience symptoms despite taking these preventive measures, there are several over-the-counter (OTC) medications that may help:

antihistamines, such as cetirizine (Zyrtec) or diphenhydramine (Benadryl)

decongestants, such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) or oxymetazoline (Afrin nasal spray)

medications that combine an antihistamine and a decongestant, such as Actifed (triprolidine and pseudoephedrine) and Claritin-D (loratadine and pseudoephedrine)

Allergy shots

Allergy shots may be recommended if medications aren't enough to ease symptoms.

Allergy shots are a form of immunotherapy that involves a series of injections of the allergen. The amount of allergen in the shot gradually increases over time.

The shots modify your immune system's response to the allergen, helping to reduce the severity of your allergic reactions. You may experience complete relief within one to three years after starting allergy shots.

Home remedies

A number of home remedies may also help relieve pollen allergy symptoms.

These include:

using a squeeze bottle or neti pot to flush pollen from the nose

trying herbs and extracts, such as PA-free butterbur or spirulina

removing and washing any clothing that has been worn outside

drying clothes in a dryer rather than outside on a clothing line

using air conditioning in cars and homes

investing in a portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter or dehumidifier

vacuuming regularly with a vacuum cleaner that has a HEPA filter

You should tell your doctor if your symptoms become more severe or if your medications are causing unwanted side effects.

Also, be sure to consult your doctor before trying any new supplements or herbs because some can interfere with the effectiveness of certain medications.

Pollen allergies can interrupt your everyday activities with sneezing, stuffy nose, and watery eyes. Lifestyle changes and medications can help reduce your symptoms.

Avoiding the trees, flowers, grasses, and weeds that trigger your allergies is a good first step.

You can do this by staying indoors when pollen levels are high, especially on windy days, or by wearing a dust mask to avoid breathing in the pollen.

Medications, both prescription and OTC, can also help reduce symptoms.

Your doctor may also recommend immunology (allergy shots).

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pollen allergy types symptoms and treatment

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Pollen Allergies: Types, Symptoms, and Treatment

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Pollen is one of the most common causes of allergies in the United States. Pollen is a very fine powder produced by trees, flowers, grasses, and weeds in order to fertilize other plants of the same species. Pollen allergies affect millions of Americans. Learn about pollen allergy symptoms, types, and treatment.

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Stress and anxiety can negatively impact your health in many ways. However, several types of breathing techniques can help bring about a relaxation response, which may help you feel calmer and more centered.

If you feel breathless due to anxiety, there are breathing techniques you can try to alleviate symptoms and start feeling better.

Let's look at several you can do on at any point during your day or build into longer moments for yourself.

Inhaling deeply may not always calm you down. Taking a deep breath in is actually linked to the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the fight-or-flight response. But exhaling is linked to the parasympathetic nervous system, which influences our body's ability to relax and calm down.

Taking too many deep breaths too quickly can actually cause you to hyperventilate. Hyperventilation decreases the amount of oxygen-rich blood that flows to your brain.

When we feel anxious or under stress, it's easier to breathe too much and end up hyperventilating - even if we're trying to do the opposite.

1. Before you take a big, deep breath, try a thorough exhale instead. Push all the air out of your lungs, then simply let your lungs do their work inhaling air.

2. Next, try spending a little bit longer exhaling than you do inhaling. For example, try inhaling for four seconds, then exhale for six.

3. Try doing this for two to five minutes.

This technique can be done in any position that's comfortable for you, including standing, sitting, or lying down.

Breathing from your diaphragm (the muscle that sits just beneath your lungs) can help reduce the amount of work your body needs to do in order to breathe.

To learn how to breathe from your diaphragm:

Check-in

1. For comfort, lie down on the floor or bed with pillows beneath your head and knees. Or sit in a comfortable chair with your head, neck, and shoulders relaxed, and your knees bent.

2. Then, put one hand under your rib cage and one hand over your heart.

3. Inhale and exhale through your nose, noticing how or if your stomach and chest move as you breathe.

4. Can you isolate your breathing so you bring air deeper into your lungs? What about the reverse? Can you breathe so your chest moves more than your stomach?

Eventually, you want your stomach to move as you breathe, instead of your chest.

Practice belly breathing

1. Sit or lie down as described above.

2. Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach somewhere above your belly button.

3. Breathe in through your nose, noticing your stomach rise. Your chest should remain relatively still.

4. Purse your lips and exhale through your mouth. Try engaging your stomach muscles to push air out at the end of the breath.

For this type of breathing to become automatic, you'll need to practice it daily. Try doing the exercise three or four times a day for up to 10 minutes.

If you haven't been using your diaphragm to breathe, you may feel tired at first. It'll get easier with practice though.

When deep breathing is focused and slow, it can help reduce anxiety. You can do this technique by sitting or lying down in a quiet, comfortable location. Then:

1. Notice how it feels when you inhale and exhale normally. Mentally scan your body. You might feel tension in your body that you never noticed.

2. Take a slow, deep breath through your nose.

3. Notice your belly and upper body expanding.

4. Exhale in whatever way is most comfortable for you, sighing if you wish.

5. Do this for several minutes, paying attention to the rise and fall of your belly.

6. Choose a word to focus on and vocalize during your exhale. Words like "safe" and "calm" can be effective.

7. Imagine your inhale washing over you like a gentle wave.

8. Imagine your exhale carrying negative and upsetting thoughts and energy away from you.

9. When you get distracted, gently bring your attention back to your breath and your words.

Practice this technique for up to 20 minutes daily when you can.

Another form of breathing that stems from the ancient practice of pranayama yoga is equal breathing. This means you're inhaling for the same amount of time as you're exhaling.

You can practice equal breathing from a sitting or lying-down position. Whichever position you choose, be sure to get comfortable.

1. Shut your eyes and pay attention to the way you normally breathe for several breaths.

2. Then, slowly count 1-2-3-4 as you inhale through your nose.

3. Exhale for the same four-second count.

4. As you inhale and exhale, be mindful of the feelings of fullness and emptiness in your lungs.

As you continue practicing equal breathing, your second count might vary. Be sure to keep your inhale and exhale the same.

Resonant breathing, also called coherent breathing, can help you calm anxiety and get into a relaxed state. To try it yourself:

1. Lie down and close your eyes.

2. Gently breathe in through your nose, mouth closed, for a count of six seconds.

3. Don't fill your lungs too full of air.

4. Exhale for six seconds, allowing your breath to leave your body slowly and gently. Don't force it.

5. Continue for up to 10 minutes.

6. Take a few additional minutes to be still and focus on how your body feels.

Yoga is a wellness practice with ancient roots, and breathing is at the heart of each variation of yoga.

One form of yoga, pranayama, includes multiple breathing variations that may help with anxiety. Some of these include lengthened exhale and equal breathing (both featured above), as well as lion's breath and alternate nostril breathing (nadi shodhana).

Lion's breath involves exhaling forcefully. To try lion's breath:

1. Get into a kneeling position, crossing your ankles and resting your bottom on your feet. If this position isn't comfortable, sit cross-legged.

2. Bring your hands to your knees, stretching out your arms and your fingers.

3. Take a breath in through your nose.

4. Breathe out through your mouth, allowing yourself to vocalize "ha."

5. During exhale, open your mouth as wide as you can and stick your tongue out, stretching it down toward your chin as far as it will go.

6. Focus on the middle of your forehead (third eye) or the end of your nose while exhaling.

7. Relax your face as you inhale again.

8. Repeat the practice up to six times, changing the cross of your ankles when you reach the halfway point.

To try alternate nostril breathing, sit down in a comfortable place, lengthening your spine and opening your chest.

Rest your left hand in your lap and raise your right hand. Then, rest the pointer and middle fingers of your right hand on your forehead, in between the eyebrows. Close your eyes, inhaling and exhaling through your nose.

1. Use your right thumb to close the right-hand nostril and inhale slowly through the left.

2. Pinch your nose closed between your right thumb and ring finger, holding the breath in for a moment.

3. Use your right ring finger to close your left nostril and exhale through the right, waiting for a moment before you inhale again.

4. Inhale slowly through the right nostril.

5. Pinch your nose closed again, pausing for a moment.

6. Now, open the left side and exhale, waiting a moment before you inhale again.

7. Repeat this cycle of inhaling and exhaling through either nostril up to 10 times. Each cycle should take up to 40 seconds.

Some people use guided meditation to alleviate anxiety by interrupting patterns of thinking that perpetuate stress.

You can practice guided meditation by sitting or lying in a cool, dark, comfortable place and relaxing. Then, listen to calming recordings while relaxing your body and steadying your breathing.

Guided meditation recordings help take you through the steps of visualizing a calmer, less stressed reality. It can also help you gain control over intrusive thoughts that trigger anxiety.

If you're experiencing anxiety or panic attacks, try using one or more of these breathing techniques to see if they can alleviate your symptoms.

If your anxiety persists or gets worse, make an appointment with your doctor to discuss your symptoms and possible treatments. With the right approach, you can regain your quality of life and control over your anxiety.

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8 Breathing Exercises for Anxiety You Can Try Right Now

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Breathing exercises are a technique available to anyone trying to manage anxiety, and there are different ones to try. One of these might work for you.

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The most effective ways to lose your sh!t without losing your dignity.

My family has a semi-strict house rule about not sleeping with sharp objects.

Though my toddler had safely enjoyed playing with a screwdriver all afternoon, I slipped it out of her hand at bedtime.

What happened next was exactly what you'd expect from a 2 year old: she screamed like she was gutted for 5 minutes and then fell asleep for the next 12 hours.

I, on the other hand, had swallowed my disappointment over a botched Starbucks order 3 hours earlier and still felt its pressure in my throat.

I wondered, if I just lost my shit for 5 good minutes, would I feel less stressed overall? Would I slip into a peaceful sleep and wake up a new person?

As an anxious person, I am forever collecting techniques for calming my nerves, soothing, grasping at chill like it's dollar bills in a wind machine. All this effort to stay level and contained? Of course the pressure builds.

What if I could let the rage and frustration pour out instead?

I started to research catharsis - the purging of emotions - noting what activities could tap the valve on my emotional pressure cooker.

Aristotle used the term catharsis for the emotional release we feel watching theater; 20th century psychoanalysts thought recalling and expressing emotions from past trauma would have a cleansing or cathartic effect on patients.

Today, we vent, brain dump, walk it off, and cry it out to wring negative emotions out of our minds and bodies.

A cathartic act should be something BIG and impactful, not timid or contained. But there's the matter of not harming yourself or others - and not getting arrested.

In " Problem Solving Therapy in the Clinical Practice," Mehmet Eskin wrote, "In order for catharsis to take place during therapy, the therapist should create a secure environment for the client. The critical point is liberating oneself from the psychological inhibitions."

So, what are the best ways to shed our inhibitions and deliberately blow off steam, while staying relatively safe?

Take a walk, go for a run, do jumping jacks. Anything you might see a juiced-up 6 year old doing can be an outlet for negative emotions.

Try martial arts for a little cathartic boost of pretend aggression.

Bonus points for activities that induce a flood of adrenaline, like rock climbing, surfing, or riding rollercoasters. Add speed to fear and you have a recipe for an adrenaline rush.

If mobility is an issue, try progressive muscle relaxation. (I know it has "relaxation" in the name, but half of it involves tensing each muscle group in your body.)

Physical energy and mental energy are so enmeshed, using your body to burn energy has the bonus side effect of releasing emotional tension.

Screaming into your pillow is an obvious and accessible option. Head for an empty parking lot and scream in your car with the music blaring.

Writer Jerico Mandybur created Neo Tarot, a deck and book focused on self-care, and many of her suggested self-care activities have a cathartic element.

"Singing is a big one for me, because it's a container in which you can give yourself permission to be louder and breathe more deeply than you might normally allow," she said.

"Karaoke is especially cathartic in this way. I've booked a private karaoke room in the middle of the day and spent an hour singing or screaming the lyrics to angsty songs," she said. "Suffice to say, you feel different when you step out."

Telling your story - either by writing it down or speaking it aloud - is known to leave us feeling cleansed.

Consider the religious ritual of confession or the drive we feel from adolescence to put our secret thoughts down in diaries.

Mandybur also uses journaling and free writing to release emotions.

"I've been doing this kind of unfiltered diary writing my whole life, and not only has it helped me understand my TRUE feelings about things (never the first thing you write), but it's helped me feel much lighter - as if something's been lifted and released by expressing these emotions," she said.

"You can burn the pages after for an added bit of magic and drama," she adds. "It sends a great signal to your brain that those emotions or thoughts are now free."

Like Mandybur said, there can be added release in burning the written expression of your emotions. Or maybe you know someone doing home renovations who would let you in on the demolition.

While destruction can provide an outlet for emotions, you can get some of the same release though creation.

Imagine throwing or smearing paint on a canvas or digging into clay with all your strength. Even some furious pencil sketching could provide a cathartic outlet.

Breath of Fire is a yoga breathing technique for building up to rapid, forceful breaths in order to cleanse and calm.

I don't know if huffing like a winded dragon can heal the mind and body like some practitioners claim, but it feels good. It feels good like the moments just before - and just after - metaphorically kicking some ass.

Or you could try holotropic breathwork - breathing at a fast rate to alter "the balance between carbon dioxide and oxygen in the body." When facilitated by a professional, the technique involves music, controlled breathing, and creative expression.

Rebirthing breathwork is another technique meant to release repressed emotions.

Scholars believe Aristotle meant for catharsis to occur in the context of viewing drama acted out on stage.

Eskin wrote, "If cathartic reactions are evoked by observing emotional scenes and processes in the environment, this is called dramatic relief. The individual's experience of catharsis by observing the scenes in the external environment and feeling a great relief as a result is as old as the history of humanity and it is very common."

Watch a movie or binge a series with intense drama, tragedy, or nefarious behavior. You may find that your own grief, anger, or dark fantasies are released as you sympathize with the emotions of fictional characters.

For a lighter emotional purge, take a deep dive into stupid YouTube videos that make you laugh out loud. With this and all cathartic activities, the key is to leave your self-consciousness at the door and just let everything pour out.

"I see catharsis as an essential part of expressing, processing, and releasing emotional tension that's stored in the body," Mandybur said. "Emotional states like shame or guilt are often born or strengthened by our negative thought patterns, so I encourage people to take a cathartic approach toward processing their thoughts, too."

"Purging the body of an emotion we've been holding ourselves back from expressing is something that happens eventually," she adds, "whether we want it to or not."
Anna Lee Beyer writes about mental health, parenting, and books for Huffington Post, Romper, Lifehacker, Glamour, and others. Visit her on Facebook and Twitter.

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7 Ways to Achieve Emotional Catharsis Without Having a Meltdown

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The most effective ways to lose your sh!t without losing your dignity. My family has a semi-strict house rule about not sleeping with sharp objects. Though my toddler had safely enjoyed playing with a screwdriver all afternoon, I slipped it out of her hand at bedtime.

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We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here's our process.

Acne is one of the most common skin conditions in the world, affecting an estimated 85% of people at some point in their lives.

Conventional acne treatments can be expensive and often have undesirable side effects like dryness, redness and irritation.

This has prompted many people to look into how to cure acne naturally at home. The internet is filled with suggestions, but do natural treatments actually work?

This article explores 13 home remedies for acne that are backed by science.

Acne starts when the pores in your skin get clogged with oil and dead skin cells.

Each pore is connected to a sebaceous gland, which produces an oily substance called sebum. Extra sebum can plug up pores, causing the growth of a bacteria known as Propionibacterium acnes, or P. acnes.

Your white blood cells attack P. acnes, leading to skin inflammation and acne. Some cases of acne are more severe than others, but common symptoms include whiteheads, blackheads and pimples.

Many factors contribute to the development of acne, including genetics, diet, stress, hormone changes and infections.

Below are 13 home remedies for acne that you might want to try.

Apple cider vinegar is made by fermenting apple cider, or the unfiltered juice from pressed apples.

Like other vinegars, it is known for its ability to fight many types of bacteria and viruses ( 1, 2, ).

Apple cider vinegar contains several organic acids that have been shown to kill P. acnes (, ).

In particular, succinic acid has been shown to suppress inflammation caused by P. acnes, which may prevent scarring ().

How to Use It

1. Mix 1 part apple cider vinegar and 3 parts water (use more water for sensitive skin).

2. After cleansing, gently apply the mixture to the skin using a cotton ball.

3. Let sit for 5-20 seconds, rinse with water and pat dry.

4. Repeat this process 1-2 times per day, as needed.

It is important to note that applying apple cider vinegar to your skin can cause burns and irritation, so it should always be used in small amounts and diluted with water.

Summary: The organic acids in apple cider vinegar may help kill acne-causing bacteria and reduce the appearance of scars. Applying it to the skin may cause burns or irritation, so it should be used carefully.

Zinc is an essential nutrient that's important for cell growth, hormone production, metabolism and immune function.

It is also one of the most studied natural treatments for acne. Research shows that people with acne tend to have lower levels of zinc in their blood than those with clear skin ().

Several studies have shown that taking zinc orally helps reduce acne.

In one study, 48 acne patients were given oral zinc supplements three times per day. After eight weeks, 38 patients experienced an 80-100% reduction in acne ( 10).

The optimal dosage of zinc for acne has not been established, but several studies have shown a significant reduction of acne using 30-45 mg of elemental zinc per day (, , 13).

Elemental zinc refers to the amount of zinc that's present in the compound. Zinc is available in many forms, and each one contains a different amount of elemental zinc.

Zinc oxide contains the highest amount of elemental zinc at 80%.

The recommended safe upper limit of zinc is 40 mg per day, so it is probably best to not exceed that amount unless under the supervision of a medical doctor. Taking too much zinc may cause adverse effects, including stomach pain and gut irritation.

It is also important to note that applying zinc to the skin has not been shown to be effective. This may be because zinc is not effectively absorbed through the skin.

Summary: Individuals with acne tend to have lower zinc levels than people with clear skin. Several studies show that taking zinc orally can significantly reduce acne.

Studies have found applying antioxidants to the skin is more effective at reducing acne than benzoyl peroxide and retinoids ( 19, , 21, 22).

These are two common acne medications for the skin that have antibacterial properties.

The antioxidants studied were vitamin B3, linoleic (omega-6) fatty acid and sodium ascorbyl phosphate (SAP), which is a vitamin C derivative.

These specific antioxidants are not found in honey or cinnamon, but there is a possibility that other antioxidants may have a similar effect.

Honey and cinnamon also have the ability to fight bacteria and reduce inflammation, which are two factors that trigger acne (, , ).

While the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of honey and cinnamon may benefit acne-prone skin, no studies exist on their ability to treat acne.

How to Make a Honey and Cinnamon Mask

1. Mix 2 tablespoons honey and 1 teaspoon cinnamon together to form a paste.

2. After cleansing, apply the mask to your face and leave it on for 10-15 minutes.

3. Rinse the mask off completely and pat your face dry.

Summary: Honey and cinnamon have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Because of this, they may be beneficial for acne-prone skin.

Tea tree oil is an essential oil that is extracted from the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia, a small tree native to Australia.

It is well known for its ability to fight bacteria and reduce skin inflammation ( 26).

When compared to 5% benzoyl peroxide, 5% tea tree oil did not act as quickly, but it did significantly improve acne after three months of use ().

It also resulted in fewer adverse effects like dryness, irritation and burning, compared to benzoyl peroxide.

Tea tree oil is very potent, so always dilute it before applying it to your skin.

How to Use It

1. Mix 1 part tea tree oil with 9 parts water.

2. Dip a cotton swab into the mixture and apply it to affected areas.

3. Apply moisturizer if desired.

4. Repeat this process 1-2 times per day, as needed.

Summary: Tea tree oil has strong anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Applying it to the skin has been shown to reduce acne.

Green tea is very high in antioxidants, and drinking it can promote good health.

There aren't any studies exploring the benefits of drinking green tea when it comes to acne, but applying it directly to the skin has been shown to help.

This is likely because the flavonoids and tannins in green tea are known to help fight bacteria and reduce inflammation, which are two main causes of acne (, 31, 32).

The major antioxidant in green tea - epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) - has been shown to reduce sebum production, fight inflammation and inhibit the growth of P. acnes in individuals with acne-prone skin ().

Multiple studies have shown that applying a 2-3% green tea extract to the skin significantly reduces sebum production and pimples in those with acne (, , ).

You can buy creams and lotions that contain green tea, but it is just as easy to make your own mixture at home.

How to Use It

1. Steep green tea in boiling water for 3-4 minutes.

2. Allow tea to cool.

3. Using a cotton ball, apply tea to skin or pour into a spray bottle to spritz on.

4. Allow to dry, then rinse with water and pat dry.

You can also add the remaining tea leaves to honey and make a mask.

Even though there isn't any evidence that drinking green tea can fight acne, some research suggests it may still be beneficial.

For example, drinking green tea has been shown to lower blood sugar and insulin levels, which are factors that can contribute to the development of acne ().

Summary: Green tea is high in antioxidants that help fight bacteria and reduce inflammation. Applying green tea to the skin has been shown to significantly reduce acne.

Witch hazel is extracted from the bark and leaves of the North American witch hazel shrub, Hamamelis virginiana. It contains tannins, which have strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties (, ).

That's why it's used to treat a broad range of skin conditions, including dandruff, eczema, varicose veins, burns, bruises, insect bites and acne.

Unfortunately, there aren't any studies on the ability of witch hazel to treat acne specifically.

However, there are several studies that show applying witch hazel to the skin can fight bacteria, reduce inflammation and help with healing (, , , ).

How to Use It

1. Combine 1 tablespoon witch hazel bark and 1 cup water in a small saucepan.

2. Soak witch hazel for 30 minutes and then bring the mixture to a boil on the stove.

3. Reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.

4. Remove the mixture from the heat and let sit for an additional 10 minutes.

5. Strain and store the liquid in a sealed container.

6. Apply to clean skin using a cotton ball 1-2 times per day, or as desired.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that commercially prepared versions may not contain tannins, as they are often lost in the distillation process.

Summary: Applying witch hazel to the skin has been shown to fight bacteria, reduce inflammation and help heal the skin. It may be beneficial for individuals with acne, but more research is needed.

Aloe vera is a tropical plant whose leaves produce a clear gel.

The gel is often added to lotions, creams, ointments and soaps. It's commonly used to treat abrasions, rashes, burns and other skin conditions.

When applied to the skin, aloe vera gel can help heal wounds, treat burns and fight inflammation ().

Aloe vera also contains salicylic acid and sulfur, which are both used extensively in the treatment of acne ( 45).

While research shows great promise, the anti-acne benefits of aloe vera itself require further scientific evidence.

How to Use It

1. Scrape the gel from the aloe plant out with a spoon.

2. Apply gel directly to clean skin as a moisturizer.

3. Repeat 1-2 times per day, or as desired.

You can also buy aloe vera gel from the store, but make sure it is pure aloe without any added ingredients.

Summary: When applied to the skin, aloe vera gel can help heal wounds, treat burns and fight inflammation. It may be beneficial for individuals with acne-prone skin, but more research needs to be done.

Omega-3 fatty acids are incredibly healthy fats that offer a multitude of health benefits.

You must get these fats from your diet, but research shows that most people who eat a standard Western diet don't get enough of them ().

Fish oils contain two main types of omega-3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

High levels of EPA and DHA have been shown to decrease inflammatory factors, which may reduce the risk of acne ().

In one study, 45 individuals with acne were given omega-3 fatty acid supplements containing both EPA and DHA daily. After 10 weeks, acne decreased significantly ().

There is no specific recommended daily intake of omega-3 fatty acids, but most health organizations recommend healthy adults consume a minimum of 250-500 mg of combined EPA and DHA daily.

You can also get omega-3 fatty acids by eating salmon, sardines, anchovies, walnuts, chia seeds and ground flaxseeds.

To learn more about fish oil supplements, check out this article.

Summary: Fish oils contain EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids. Taking a fish oil supplement may help decrease acne.

Exfoliation is the process of removing the top layer of dead skin cells. It can be achieved mechanically by using a brush or scrub to physically remove the cells. Alternatively, it can be removed chemically by applying an acid that dissolves them.

Exfoliation is believed to improve acne by removing the skin cells that clog up pores.

It is also believed to make acne treatments for the skin more effective by allowing them to penetrate deeper, once the topmost layer of skin is removed.

Unfortunately, the research on exfoliation and its ability to treat acne is limited.

In one small study, 25 patients with acne received eight microdermabrasion treatments at weekly intervals. Based on before and after photos, this helped improve acne ().

96% of the participants were pleased with the results and would recommend the procedure to others. Yet while these results indicate that exfoliation may improve acne, more research is needed.

There are a wide variety of exfoliation products available in stores and online, but it's just as easy to make a scrub at home using sugar or salt.

How to Make a Scrub at Home

1. Mix equal parts sugar (or salt) and coconut oil.

2. Scrub skin with mixture and rinse well.

3. Exfoliate as often as desired up to once daily.

Summary: Exfoliation is the process of removing the top layer of dead skin cells. It may reduce the appearance of scars and discoloration, but more research needs to be done on its ability to treat acne.

The relationship between diet and acne has been debated for years.

Recent evidence suggests that dietary factors, such as insulin and glycemic index, may be associated with acne ().

A food's glycemic index (GI) is a measure of how quickly it raises blood sugar.

Eating high-GI foods causes a spike in insulin, which is thought to increase sebum production. Because of this, high-GI foods are believed to have a direct effect on the development and severity of acne.

Foods with a high glycemic index include white bread, sugary soft drinks, cakes, doughnuts, pastries, candies, sugary breakfast cereals and other processed foods.

Foods with a low glycemic index include fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole or minimally processed grains.

In one study, 43 people followed either a high- or low-glycemic diet. After 12 weeks, the individuals consuming a low-glycemic diet had a significant improvement in both acne and insulin sensitivity, compared to those eating carb-dense foods ().

Another study with 31 participants yielded similar results ().

These small studies suggest that a low-glycemic diet may be helpful for individuals with acne-prone skin, but further research is needed.

Summary: Eating high-glycemic foods may increase sebum production and contribute to acne. More research is needed to determine whether a low-glycemic diet can effectively treat or prevent acne.

The relationship between dairy and acne is highly controversial.

Drinking milk and consuming dairy products exposes you to hormones, which may cause hormonal changes and lead to acne ().

However, participants self-reported the data in both of these studies, so more research needs to be done in order to establish a true causal relationship.

Summary: Some studies found a positive association between drinking milk and acne. Limiting milk and dairy consumption may be a good idea for those with acne-prone skin, but more research needs to be done.

The hormones released during periods of stress may increase sebum production and skin inflammation, making acne worse ( 67, , 69).

What's more, stress can slow wound healing by up to 40%, which may slow the repair of acne lesions ().

Certain relaxation and stress-reduction treatments have been shown to improve acne, but more research needs to be done ().

Ways to Reduce Stress

Get more sleep

Engage in physical activity

Practice yoga

Meditate

Take deep breaths

Summary: Hormones that are released during times of stress can make acne worse. Reducing stress may help improve acne.

Exercise promotes healthy blood circulation. The increase in blood flow helps nourish the skin cells, which may help prevent and heal acne.

Several studies have shown that exercise can decrease stress and anxiety, both of which are factors that can contribute to the development of acne (, , ).

It's recommended that healthy adults exercise for 30 minutes 3-5 times per week. This can include walking, hiking, running and lifting weights.

Summary: Exercise promotes healthy blood circulation, regulates hormones and helps reduce stress.

Acne is a common problem with a number of underlying causes. However, conventional treatments can cause dryness, redness and irritation.

Fortunately, many natural remedies can also be effective. The home remedies listed in this article may not work for everyone, but they just might be worth a try.

Nevertheless, you may want to consult a dermatologist if you have severe acne.
Read this article in Spanish.

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We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here's our process. Acne is one of the most common skin conditions in the world, affecting an estimated 85% of people at some point in their lives.

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Marvel Cast Hilarious Bloopers and Gag Reel - Avengers Infinity War Special

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Ever feel amazing after a good, hard workout? You may have heard that your "high" is caused by tiny neurochemicals released by your body. These neurochemicals are called endorphins. While endorphins might make you feel good after a long jog, there's a lot more to know about the role they play in regulating your body.

The word endorphin comes from putting together the words "endogenous," meaning from within the body, and "morphine," which is an opiate pain reliever. In other words, endorphins got their name because they are natural pain relievers.

Endorphins consist of a large group of peptides. They are produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary gland. Since endorphins act on the opiate receptors in our brains, they reduce pain and boost pleasure, resulting in a feeling of well-being. Endorphins are released in response to pain or stress, but they're also released during other activities, like eating, exercise, or sex.

Not all of the roles endorphins play in the body are completely understood. We do know that endorphins are important to reduce pain and enhance pleasure.

Endorphins are involved in our natural reward circuits and are related to important activities like eating, drinking, physical fitness, and sexual intercourse. Endorphins also surge during pregnancy. They minimize discomfort and pain and maximize pleasure. This helps us to continue functioning despite injury or stress.

Since humans naturally seek to feel pleasure and avoid pain, we're more likely to do an activity if it makes us feel good. From an evolutionary standpoint, this helps ensure survival.

Humans are social creatures, and we thrive in communities. Endorphins have been shown to also help reinforce social attachments. While this may not be entirely true anymore, in early human history, people who stuck together in social groups were better able to survive and reproduce.

By promoting an overall sense of well-being, endorphins have many benefits, including:

Alleviating depression

Nearly people will experience depression at some point during their lifetimes. Many have looked at exercise in reducing the symptoms of depression, and the majority of these studies have shown a positive benefit associated with exercise. More research is needed to further understand the role that endorphins have in treating depression.

Reducing stress and anxiety

Endorphins may play an important role in reducing stress and anxiety. A in mice showed a direct relationship between endorphin levels and anxious behavior in mice. More research studies in humans are needed.

Boosting your self-esteem

Positive feelings also make you feel confident and optimistic, thus giving your self-esteem a boost. In one small study, endorphins were associated with high self-esteem in a small group of men. Much larger studies are needed.

Reducing your weight

The role of endorphins and other hormones in regulating your appetite and food intake is complex. While eating good food is thought in increase endorphin levels, higher levels of endorphins have also been shown in animal studies to help regulate the appetite. More research in humans is needed to clarify these effects.

Helping you deal with pain during childbirth

Childbirth can be an incredibly rewarding, yet incredibly painful experience. Endorphins can make labor a bit easier. A small study in 45 healthy women giving birth found that low levels of beta-endorphin at the end of pregnancy were associated with a need for additional pain treatment medications during labor. Additional research is needed to determine the exact cause and effect.

Endorphin deficiency isn't well understood. In general, if your body isn't producing enough endorphins, you might experience:

depression

anxiety

moodiness

aches and pains

addiction

trouble sleeping

impulsive behavior

You don't have to run an entire marathon to experience the pleasurable effects of an endorphin release. Your body also produces endorphins naturally when you do the following:

We may not know everything there is to know about the role endorphins play in the body, but it's clear that these neuropeptides have many positive effects. It's no wonder we crave the after effects of an endorphin boost.

Luckily, there's no need to run an ultramarathon in order to increase endorphin levels in your brain. Simply enjoying a piece of dark chocolate, interacting with friends, playing music, meditating, or watching your favorite TV shows can help raise endorphin levels.

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Endorphins: Functions, Levels, and Natural Boosts

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Ever feel amazing after a good, hard workout? You may have heard that your "high" is caused by tiny neurochemicals released by your body. These neurochemicals are called endorphins. While endorphins might make you feel good after a long jog, there's a lot more to know about the role they play in regulating your body.

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Certain foods can increase your metabolism.

The higher your metabolism, the more calories you burn and the easier it is to maintain your weight or get rid of unwanted body fat.

Here are 12 foods that rev up your metabolism, which may help you lose weight.

Protein-rich foods, such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes, nuts and seeds, could help increase your metabolism for a few hours.

They do so by requiring your body to use more energy to digest them.

This is known as the thermic effect of food (TEF). The TEF refers to the number of calories needed by your body to digest, absorb and process the nutrients in your meals.

Research shows that protein-rich foods increase TEF the most. For example, they increase your metabolic rate by 15-30%, compared to 5-10% for carbs and 0-3% for fats ().

Protein-rich diets also reduce the drop in metabolism often seen during weight loss by helping your body hold on to its muscle mass (, , 4, , , ).

Bottom Line: Protein-rich foods can help boost your metabolism, maintain muscle mass and prevent you from overeating.

Iron, zinc and selenium each play different but equally important roles in the proper function of your body.

However, they do have one thing in common: all three are required for the proper function of your thyroid gland, which regulates your metabolism ().

Research shows that a diet too low in iron, zinc or selenium may reduce the ability of your thyroid gland to produce sufficient amounts of hormones. This can slow down your metabolism (, , ).

To help your thyroid function to the best of its ability, include zinc, selenium and iron-rich foods like meat, seafood, legumes, nuts and seeds in your daily menu.

Bottom Line: Foods rich in iron, zinc and selenium promote the proper function of your thyroid, which helps maintain a healthy metabolism.

Capsaicin, a chemical found in chili peppers, may boost your metabolism by increasing the number of calories and fat you burn.

In fact, a review of 20 research studies reports that capsaicin can help your body burn around 50 extra calories per day ().

This effect was initially observed after taking 135-150 mg of capsaicin per day, but some studies report similar benefits with doses as low as 9-10 mg per day (, , , ).

Moreover, capsaicin may have appetite-reducing properties.

According to a recent study, consuming 2 mg of capsaicin directly before each meal seems to reduce the number of calories consumed, especially from carbs ().

That said, not all studies agree on capsaicin's metabolism-boosting abilities (, ).

Bottom Line: Capsaicin, a compound found in chili peppers, may help slightly increase metabolism and fat oxidation.

Studies report that the caffeine found in coffee can help increase metabolic rate by up to 11% (, ).

In fact, six different studies found that people who consume at least 270 mg of caffeine daily, or the equivalent of about three cups of coffee, burn an extra 100 calories per day ().

Furthermore, caffeine may also help your body burn fat for energy and seems especially effective at boosting your workout performance (, , , ).

However, its effects seem to vary from person to person, based on individual characteristics such as body weight and age (, ).

Bottom Line: The caffeine found in coffee may help boost the amount of calories and fat your body burns. However, its effects may vary by individual.

According to research, the combination of caffeine and catechins that's found in tea may work to boost your metabolism.

In addition, oolong and green teas may help your body use stored fat for energy more effectively, increasing your fat-burning ability by up to 17% (, , , , ).

Nevertheless, as is the case with coffee, effects may vary from person to person.

Bottom Line: The combination of caffeine and catechins found in tea may help your body burn slightly more calories and fat each day.

Legumes and pulses, such as lentils, peas, chickpeas, beans and peanuts, are particularly high in protein compared to other plant foods.

Studies suggest that their high protein content requires your body to burn a greater number of calories to digest them, compared to lower-protein foods (, ).

Legumes also contain a good amount of dietary fiber, such as resistant starch and soluble fiber, which your body can use to feed the good bacteria living in your intestines ( 42, , 44).

In turn, these friendly bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids, which may help your body use stored fat as energy and maintain normal blood sugar levels ( 45, , ).

In one study, humans consuming a legume-rich diet for eight weeks experienced beneficial changes in metabolism and lost 1.5 times more weight than the control group ().

Legumes are also high in arginine, an amino acid that may increase the amount of carbs and fat your body can burn for energy ().

In addition, peas, faba beans and lentils also contain substantial amounts of the amino acid glutamine, which may help increase the number of calories burned during digestion ( 50, ).

Bottom Line: Legumes and pulses are high in protein, fiber and certain amino acids, which are thought to have metabolism-boosting properties.

Certain spices are thought to have particularly beneficial metabolism-boosting properties.

For instance, research shows that dissolving 2 grams of ginger powder in hot water and drinking it with a meal may help you burn up to 43 more calories than drinking hot water alone ().

This hot ginger drink also seems to decrease levels of hunger and enhance feelings of satiety ().

Grains of paradise, another spice in the ginger family, may have similar effects.

A recent study reported that participants given a 40-mg extract of grains of paradise burned 43 more calories in the following two hours than those given a placebo ().

That said, researchers also noted that part of the participants were non-responders, so the effects may vary from one person to another.

Similarly, adding cayenne pepper to your meal may increase the amount of fat your body burns for energy, especially following a high-fat meal (, ). However, this fat-burning effect may only apply to people unaccustomed to consuming spicy foods ().

Bottom Line: Ginger, grains of paradise and cayenne pepper may help your body burn more calories or fat. However, effects can vary from one individual to another.

Cacao and cocoa are tasty treats that may also benefit your metabolism.

For instance, studies in mice found that cocoa and cocoa extracts may promote the expression of genes that stimulate the use of fat for energy. This seems especially true in mice fed high-fat or high-calorie diets (, 58, ).

Interestingly, one study suggests that cocoa may prevent the action of enzymes necessary to break down fat and carbs during digestion ().

In doing so, cocoa could theoretically play a role in preventing weight gain by reducing the absorption of some calories ().

However, human studies examining the effects of cocoa, cacao or cacao products such as dark chocolate are rare. More studies are needed before strong conclusions can be made ().

If you'd like to give cacao a try, opt for raw versions, as processing tends to reduce the amounts of beneficial compounds ().

Bottom Line: Cacao may have certain metabolism-boosting properties, especially for those consuming high-calorie, high-fat diets.

Apple cider vinegar may increase your metabolism.

Several animal studies have shown vinegar to be particularly helpful in increasing the amount of fat burned for energy.

In one study, mice given vinegar experienced an increase in the AMPK enzyme, which prompts the body to decrease fat storage and increase fat burning ().

In another study, obese rats treated with vinegar experienced an increase in the expression of certain genes, leading to reduced liver fat and belly fat storage (, ).

Apple cider vinegar is often claimed to boost metabolism in humans, but few studies have investigated the matter directly.

Nevertheless, apple cider vinegar may still help you lose weight in other ways, such as slowing stomach emptying and enhancing feelings of fullness (, , , ).

One study in humans even showed that participants given four teaspoons (20 ml) of apple cider vinegar ate up to 275 fewer calories over the rest of the day ().

If you'd like to give apple cider vinegar a try, be careful to limit your daily consumption to two tablespoons (30 ml).

Also, make sure to read this article to reduce the risk of negative side effects.

Bottom Line: More studies are needed to confirm apple cider vinegar's metabolism-boosting properties in humans. That being said, it may aid weight loss in other ways.

Coconut oil is experiencing a surge in popularity.

That may be partly because coconut oil is high in medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). This is contrary to most other types of fats, which usually contain higher amounts of long-chain fatty acids.

Unlike long-chain fats, once MCTs are absorbed, they go directly to the liver to be turned into energy. This makes them less likely to be stored as fat.

In addition, researchers report that a daily intake of 30 ml of coconut oil may successfully reduce waist size in obese individuals (, ).

Bottom Line: Replacing other fats with a small amount of coconut oil may boost your metabolism and help your body get rid of belly fat.

Drinking enough water is a great way to stay hydrated.

Additionally, it seems that drinking water may also temporarily boost metabolism by 24-30% (, , , ).

Researchers note that about 40% of that increase is explained by the additional calories needed to heat the water to body temperature ().

Yet, the effects only seem to last for 60-90 minutes after drinking it and may vary from one person to another ().

Bottom Line: Drinking water may temporarily increase your metabolism. However, effects are temporary and may vary between individuals.

Seaweed is a great source of iodine, a mineral required for the production of thyroid hormones and proper function of your thyroid gland ().

Thyroid hormones have various functions, one of which is to regulate your metabolic rate ().

Regularly consuming seaweed can help you meet your iodine needs and keep your metabolism running at a high rate.

The reference daily intake of iodine for adults is 150 mcg per day. This can be met by consuming several servings of seaweed per week.

Although, some types of seaweed such as kelp are extremely high in iodine and should not be consumed in large amounts.

Fucoxanthin is another compound found in some varieties of seaweed that may help with metabolism.

It's primarily found in brown seaweed varieties and may have anti-obesity effects by increasing the amount of calories you burn ( 85).

Bottom Line: Certain compounds in seaweed may help prevent your metabolism from slowing down.

Certain foods may help slightly increase your metabolism. Therefore, consuming them regularly may help you lose weight and keep it off in the long term.

However, foods are not the only way to boost your metabolism. Check out this article here for additional ways to help your body burn more calories each day.

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The 12 Best Foods to Boost Your Metabolism

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Certain foods can increase your metabolism. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you burn and the easier it is to maintain your weight or get rid of unwanted body fat. Here are 12 foods that rev up your metabolism, which may help you lose weight.

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You Will Never Throw Away Orange Peels After Watching This

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Your smartphone doesn't have to be a source of endless anxiety.

I won't sugarcoat things: It's a challenging time to take care of our mental health right now.

With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, many of us are confined to our homes, fearful for our health and that of our loved ones. We're trying to adapt to disrupted routines and being bombarded with sensational news stories.

It's a lot.

A pandemic has introduced all sorts of new obstacles in taking care of ourselves - and it's understandable that we might find ourselves struggling to cope with daily living.

Luckily for us, there are helpful tools available right on our smartphones. And as something of a self-care nerd, I've tried just about every single app you can imagine.

With all of the fear and uncertainty, I'm grateful to have a digital toolkit available to me. I've created a short list of my favorite apps that are keeping me steady, with the hopes of giving you a boost when you need it most.

While it would be ideal to have a loved one or mental health professional available to us at all times, this isn't always an option for many of us.

Enter Wysa, a mental health chatbot that uses therapy-based practices and activities - including cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness, mood tracking, and more - to help users better manage their mental health.

Whether you're up late at night trying to fend off a panic attack, or just need some coping tools around anxiety or depression, Wysa is a friendly AI coach who can help you navigate those difficult moments whenever they come up... even if it's 3 a.m.

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, Wysa's developers have made the AI chat feature, as well as its tool packs around anxiety and isolation, completely free.

It's definitely worth exploring if you find yourself struggling to reach out for help, or just need some additional coping skills.

BoosterBuddy might seem cutesy, but I truly believe it's one of the best mental health apps out there. Not to mention, it's totally free.

The app is designed to help users get through their day, particularly if they live with a mental health condition. (Bonus: The app was created with input from young adults living with mental illness, so it's tried and true!)

Each day, users check in with their "buddy" and complete three small tasks to help them build some momentum for the day.

When they complete these quests, they earn coins that can then be exchanged for rewards, allowing you to dress up your animal friend in a fanny pack, sunglasses, a tasteful scarf, and more.

From there, you can access an extensive glossary of different coping skills organized by condition, a journal, a medication alarm, a task manager, and more, all in one central app.

If you just can't seem to pull yourself out of bed and need a little more (gentle) structure to your day, you definitely need BoosterBuddy.

While Shine requires a subscription, it's well worth the price, in my opinion.

Shine is best described as a self-care community. It includes daily meditations, pep talks, articles, community discussions, and more, all pulled together to help you weave a solid self-care practice into your everyday life.

With a focus on self-compassion and personal growth, Shine is like having a life coach with you everywhere you go.

Unlike a lot of meditation apps on the market, Shine isn't pretentious. The guided meditations themselves are equal parts powerful and accessible. Shine uses everyday language and an uplifting tone to reach users who might otherwise be put off by other apps that take themselves a little too seriously.

Bonus: It was created by two women of color, which means you won't get the hokey, appropriative woo stuff you might find in other apps.

There's a strong focus on inclusivity and accessibility, making it an amazing tool to have and a great business to support.

When you feel your anxiety starting to escalate, #SelfCare is the app you should reach for.

This beautifully designed app allows you to pretend that you're spending the day in bed, using soothing music, visuals, and activities to help ease you into a more restful state.

Now more than ever, small moments of respite can keep our heads above water. With #SelfCare, you can decorate your space, draw a tarot card for inspiration, cuddle a cat, tend to an altar and plants, and more.

It offers encouraging words and relaxing tasks for a moment of mindfulness and calm - and who couldn't use one of those right about now?

While all of these apps have something to offer, it's important to remember that some of us will still need professional support.

I've tried a number of therapy apps, but Talkspace remains my favorite by far. I discuss my own experience and advice at length in this article if you're curious.

Online therapy is hugely important now that so many of us are self-isolating in light of COVID-19. If you find that your life has become unmanageable for whatever reason, there's no shame in reaching out for help.

While an app isn't going to end a pandemic, it can help us fortify our mental health and build resilience during a critical time - and well into the future.

Sam Dylan Finch is an editor, writer, and digital media strategist in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's the lead editor of mental health and chronic conditions at Healthline. Find him on Twitter and Instagram, and learn more at SamDylanFinch.com.

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5 Mental Health Apps to Help Manage Coronavirus Anxiety

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Your smartphone doesn't have to be a source of endless anxiety. I won't sugarcoat things: It's a challenging time to take care of our mental health right now. With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, many of us are confined to our homes, fearful for our health and that of our loved ones.

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You really don't need to check the CDC's website again. You probably do need a break, though.

Take a breath and give yourself a pat on the back. You've successfully managed to look away from breaking news long enough to find some resources that might actually help with your stress.

That's no easy thing right now.

Experts are recommending social distancing and self-quarantine to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), sending most of us into isolation.

It makes sense if you haven't been doing much at all except ruminating on updates about the virus and the availability of toilet paper.

So what can you do about your coronavirus anxiety?

I'm glad you asked, because I've collected a whole list of tools to help your mental health during the COVID-19 scare.

This list could also apply to any moment when breaking news headlines are all-consuming and hard to look away from.

Think of it this way: Reducing your stress is actually one of the best ways you can deal with this crisis. Too much stress can hurt your immunity and your mental health.

Plus, you just plain deserve to finally feel some relief after spiraling through your anxieties for this long.

First things first: There's nothing wrong with you for feeling anxious right now.

Ignoring the stress or judging yourself for feeling it is tempting, but it probably won't help in the end.

Acknowledging your feelings - even if they're scary - can help you cope in a healthy way.

And I've got news for you: You're not the only one who's freaking out. The news is legitimately frightening, and fear is a normal, natural response.

You're not alone.

If you're already living with a chronic illness, then COVID-19 might be especially frightening. And if you're living with a mental illness such as an anxiety disorder, then the constant barrage of headlines might have you on the edge of feeling like you're losing control.

There are plenty of out there about how to directly deal with coronavirus anxiety, and it's important to have those strategies in your toolbox when you need them.

But for this list, we're going to take a break from all of that.

Because science shows that taking a breather can help interrupt your anxiety, reduce your levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and even retrain your brain to change unhelpful thinking patterns.

Which is all the more reason to be proud of yourself for ending up here, where all you have to do is sit back, click through some helpful tools, and finally take a break from that haunting sense of impending doom.

These tools alone aren't going to fix everything, and it's a good idea to reach out for professional help if you're really struggling to keep your anxiety under control.

But I hope these apps and websites can give you a moment to break the cycle of headline stress, if even for a moment.

Visiting a public space like a museum probably isn't very high on your list of priorities right now.

But you can experience some fascinating museum tours right from the comfort and safety of your own home.

More than 500 museums and galleries around the world have partnered with Google Arts & Culture to display their collections online as virtual tours.

Explore all of the options on the Google Arts & Culture website, or start with this curated list of top choices.

"A journey to places most people never go."

Doesn't that sound perfect at a time like this? It's from the tagline for The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks, an interactive documentary and exhibit from Google Arts & Culture.

The exhibit lets you take 360-degree tours of U.S. National Parks, including secluded areas that most people will never see in their lifetime.

You can learn fun facts from park ranger tour guides, fly over an active volcano in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, dive through a shipwreck at Dry Tortugas National Park, and more.

Speaking of nature, have you ever wondered what wildlife is up to while we humans are stressing out about the latest breaking news?

Most animals are simply continuing to live their lives, and you can witness them doing so in real time with the live cams at Explore.org.

There's something reassuring about seeing that the dolphins are still swimming, the eagles are still nesting, and the puppies of the world are still really stinkin' cute - even as you feel like everything is falling apart.

Personally, I'm partial to Bear Cam, which lets you watch brown bears catching salmon in Alaska. Watch long enough and you might even catch some adorable young cubs learning to hunt!

Doing nothing may seem like a wild idea right now - there's so much to worry about!

But what if you challenged yourself to really do nothing for only 2 minutes?

The website Do Nothing for 2 Minutes is designed for exactly that.

The concept is simple: All you have to do is listen to the sound of waves without touching your mouse or keyboard for 2 minutes straight.

It's harder than it looks, especially if you've been stuck in constant cycles of checking the news.

If you touch your computer before the 2 minutes are up, then the site lets you know how long you lasted and resets the clock.

This website was created by the makers of the Calm app, so if your 2 minutes of nothing helps quiet your brain, check out the app for more moments of calm.

What a dilemma: You could really use a relaxing massage to help you de-stress, but social distancing is keeping you more than a massages' distance from other human beings.

The upside? This is an excellent opportunity to learn to massage yourself. Practice regularly to build your skills and you might be able to relieve your tension just as well as a massage from another person.

You can start with this tutorial by licensed massage therapist Chandler Rose, or look up instructions for the specific parts of your body that could use some love, including:

When you're alone, stressed, and in need of a distraction, OverDrive's app Libby might just be your new BFF.

Libby lets you borrow free e-books and audiobooks from local libraries. You can enjoy them right from your phone, tablet, or Kindle.

Check out some audiobook hacks from Book Riot to optimize your experience even more.

Not sure where to start choosing from the thousands of available books? OverDrive has lists of recommended reads to help.

There are many types of meditation, and depending on how much your anxiety is in overdrive at the moment, some might be more difficult than others to relax into.

So why not try a guided meditation that's not taking itself too seriously?

If you don't mind swear words, then spend 2 1/2 minutes with F*ck That: An Honest Meditation, which is sure to remind you that you're not the only one who's coping by cursing the general awfulness of reality.

Or you can try not to laugh at this meditation, and when you inevitably fail, give yourself permission to laugh all you want.

Who has time to get to the bottom of why your anxiety's spinning out of control when you're busy with... well, with your anxiety spinning out of control?

Thankfully, there are people who have already done the work of exploring your needs, so all you have to do is follow their premade roadmaps to feeling better.

Everything is Awful and I'm Not Okay includes questions to ask before giving up. It's a simple one-page checklist to remind you of some practical feel-better strategies that you can use right now.

You feel like sh*t is a self-care game designed to remove the weight of decision-making and guide you through figuring out exactly what you need.

A period of global panic can feel like just the moment your anxiety was waiting for to spin out of control.

But perhaps the resources on this list are just the thing to get your mental health back on track.

You can bookmark these links for future use, commit to visiting one every hour, and share them with your friends so that you have something to talk about besides the apocalypse. How you use them is up to you.

Remember that it's okay to feel what you're feeling, but there are healthy ways to process your anxiety, and you can always reach out for support if you need it.

I hope you enjoy your digital hikes, virtual tours, and deep breathing. You deserve these moments of gentleness and care.
Maisha Z. Johnson is a writer and advocate for survivors of violence, people of color, and LGBTQ+ communities. She lives with chronic illness and believes in honoring each person's unique path to healing. Find Maisha on her website, , and Twitter.

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9 Resources for Coping with Coronavirus Anxiety

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You really don't need to check the CDC's website again. You probably do need a break, though. Take a breath and give yourself a pat on the back. You've successfully managed to look away from breaking news long enough to find some resources that might actually help with your stress.

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No matter how well you get along, spending every day together can eventually take its toll.

Amid the slew of challenges I'm faced with as I grapple with COVID-19, one is front and center.

How do I get along with my family while I'm cooped up at home?

For the most part, I've loved spending more time at home with my husband, and enjoy the flexibility of our schedules.

Living in a one-bedroom home, however, means we've had to get more creative with the way we coordinate daily life.

From use of common space, to scheduling meal prep, to delegating "office" space usage (i.e., who gets to work in the kitchen vs. the patio table), it has required an ongoing balancing act of his needs weighed against my own.

No matter how well you get along with someone, spending day in and day out with them can eventually take its toll.

I'm not alone. Many of my friends are struggling to adjust to the increased amount of time spent in close quarters with the people they live with.

High-stress situations can compromise our ability to think, act, and communicate clearly and rationally.

For most of us, being confined to our homes and having so many aspects of our lives upended has caused a lot of extra stress.

Whether you're spending more time with family members, a spouse, friends, and roommates - and even if you live alone - you may be experiencing challenges in your ability to communicate well with others right now.

Once I noticed this coming up for me, I reached into my toolkit to shift the conversation. I remembered there are some simple but very effective ways I can improve how I'm relating to the people around me.

I've incorporated these tools when communicating with my husband and family and found they make all the difference.

The four tools below are derived from basic nonviolent communication (NVC) principles developed by clinical psychologist Marshall Rosenberg, PhD.

The goal of NVC is to help people strengthen their ability to connect compassionately with self and others so that differences can be resolved peacefully.

The basic roots of interpersonal conflict are more universal than you might think, so the tools for resolving conflict this way can be applied to many different situations.

1. Make clear requests instead of demands

We're used to thinking in terms of what we want people to stop doing ("Don't yell at me!"), and how we want them to be ("I want you to treat me with respect"), rather than what we want them to do ("Would you be willing to lower your voice or talk later?").

Instead of demanding what you don't want the other person to do or say, try making a request for the behavior or action that you do want.

Remember that it's a request - which means the other person has the choice to deny or accept it. Giving the other person choice lets them know that their needs matter as much as your own.

As an example, let's say your housemate is talking to a friend on FaceTime with the volume on full blast for the tenth time this week. Instead of losing your cool, try asking if they're open to taking their calls in private, with headphones, or at a given time each day.

The key difference between making requests versus demands is that often a denied request leads to further dialogue, whereas a denied demand tends to lead to more conflict and no resolution.

2. Be observant

Bringing observation into our communication with others means we separate our judgments from what really happened. This helps us realize that our experience can be very different from the other persons.

For example, my husband might be offended if I tell him he's inconsiderate. But if I say, "You left your dishes from dinner on the kitchen table for 24 hours," then I'm giving a description of what happened.

This stops me from drawing a conclusion about why he did it or his feelings toward me.

When we separate the description of the event from our judgment of it, we can communicate what we're upset about without automatically prescribing meaning to it.

3. Voice your needs instead of acting out

Often, when I lash out or overreact, it's because I want to communicate a need.

For example, maybe you're arguing with a family member over when to turn off the TV at night. If you dig a little deeper for the need behind the demand, you may find that your need is for a full night's sleep.

If you can communicate that need, rather than jump to the demand, you're more likely to get buy-in from your loved one.

In the context of NVC, needs refer to your core values and deep longings. Understanding, naming, and connecting with your needs helps you improve your relationship with yourself and others.

Once you know what your needs and the needs of the other person are, you're more likely to take actions that meet those needs. This helps build stronger bonds with people, which helps you get along.

4. Create connection, not conflict

The ability to truly listen in a way that creates connection rather than conflict requires empathy.

Relating with empathy is the process of connecting with another by guessing their feelings and needs.

Bringing this quality into everyday conversations and conflicts can have a truly transformative effect. It shows that you're present and willing to give your full attention to the situation.

Empathy also helps you access new reserves of kindness and generosity. In seemingly impossible situations (like being confined to our homes for months on end), it can open you to creative solutions that were unimaginable when clouded by disconnection.

A simple way to practice empathy is to mirror back what you hear your loved one saying to you.

For instance, maybe your partner seems tense or on-edge. You could respond with, "I'm sensing that you're feeling stressed. Is there something I can do to help?"

These little check-ins can go a long way toward opening up dialogue and showing that you're paying attention.

The strain on relationships right now is very real. Collectively, we're being forced to grow and adapt quickly. Interpersonal communication is one of the areas where growth is needed most.

When we put these skills to the test, we give ourselves and our loved ones the opportunity to grow and connect more deeply.

My suggestion is to put the skills above into practice one day at a time. Use the first day to request instead of demand, the second to observe, and so on.

Notice how quickly your interactions change.

As I've shifted to see this experience as an opportunity to gain new life skills, I feel more confident that I'll come out of this challenging time even stronger.

I have a chance to learn more about my loved ones and, most importantly, about myself.
Chantal Peterson is a writer and content marketing specialist with over a decade of experience. She helps teams grow their businesses through content campaigns, targeted marketing copy, and bespoke content experiences. She's also a certified women's self-care practitioner and leads workshops and retreats throughout California.

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4 Tips for Healthy Communication When You're Stuck at Home

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No matter how well you get along, spending every day together can eventually take its toll. Amid the slew of challenges I'm faced with as I grapple with COVID-19, one is front and center. How do I get along with my family while I'm cooped up at home?

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Cleaning products, soaps, antiseptics, and disinfectants are in high demand now as people all over the world do their best to prevent coming into contact with the virus that causes COVID-19.

During this time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends you regularly disinfect your phone and other high-touch surfaces like doorknobs, tables, and faucets, regardless of whether someone in your home is sick. You might also want to clean your groceries.

But what should you do if the stores are all sold out of disinfectant wipes, or if you're worried about going out and risking your health by looking for them?

Turns out, you can make your own effective disinfectant wipes at home with some common household items.

These wipes are fast to make and portable, so they're handy if you have to go out for some reason. The key ingredient is bleach. According to experts, diluted bleach is capable of killing the coronavirus on surfaces.

However, bleach can also be dangerous if used incorrectly. So be sure to read these instructions carefully before getting started.

It's very easy to make disinfectant wipes with just a few common household items.

There are several types of bleach on the market. One well-known brand is Clorox. This may be the brand of bleach you have at home.

Clorox's various bleach products have different strengths, which means you need to check the label to know how much bleach you should use. You'll have to look at your bleach's UPC (or barcode) to determine the kind.

Don't use Clorox Splash-Less Bleach, because it doesn't disinfect like Clorox's other products.
For these Clorox products, use 1/3 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water: For the following Clorox products, use 1/2 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water:
Before you get started, check that your bleach hasn't passed its expiration date, as this may make it ineffective.

Bleach is an excellent disinfectant that can kill viruses, including the new coronavirus. However, you need to be careful when using bleach. It's a powerful product that could hurt you if it's used incorrectly. Bleach can irritate your skin, eyes, and nose. It can also discolor your clothing.

To protect yourself when making your own disinfectant wipes, be sure to wear disposable or reusable rubber gloves and avoid splashing the bleach on yourself or others.

Don't touch your face or eyes after handling bleach unless you've washed your hands first with soap and water, even if you've been wearing gloves.

Wear clothes that you wouldn't mind ruining if you accidentally splashed bleach on them. Be sure to keep bleach away from children and pets. In case of accidental bleach ingestion, call Poison Control at 800-222-1222.

Don't mix bleach with any other cleaning solutions, especially not ammonia. This can cause a dangerous chemical reaction, which may cause serious injury.

Once you've gathered the materials you need to make your own disinfectant wipes, here's what you should do:

After using these wipes on a surface, don't touch the surface for 5 minutes. That's how long it takes for the solution to kill any possible viruses.

If you've used the wipes to clean an item that will come into close contact with a person, such as a food utensil or child's toy, wait 5 minutes and then rinse the object in warm water and allow it to air dry.

If you've made reusable, washable wipes, be sure to wash them after each use.

Your homemade disinfectant wipes will remain effective at killing the coronavirus (and other viruses) for 24 hours. You can store them in an airtight container or plastic zip-top bag if you want to take them with you on the go.

Bleach is just one of several chemicals effective at killing the new coronavirus. Alcohol is another disinfectant that experts recommend to prevent exposure to the virus.

You can make alcohol-based disinfectant wipes with 70% rubbing alcohol or 140+ proof vodka. The alcohol percentage must be that high in order to kill the novel coronavirus.

To make alcohol-based wipes:

Soak paper towels or cloth wipes in 70% rubbing alcohol or 140+ proof vodka in an airtight container (the same you'd use to make bleach-based wipes).

Allowed covered paper towels or cloth wipes to sit for 5 minutes.

Similarly, you can use and store these wipes for 24 hours in an airtight container or zip-top bag before you need to make a new batch.

Alcohol easily evaporates so it's especially important to keep your wipes covered so they stay moist.

Experts recommend we frequently clean high-touch surfaces and objects to prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. To do that, many of us reach for disinfectant wipes. If you can't find them in stores, you can make your own with bleach or alcohol.

Homemade disinfectant wipes are not only easy to make with common household products, but they're also effective at killing the new coronavirus and other viruses.

If you want to use these wipes daily, it might make sense to make a new batch every morning so you can have them available all day.

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How to Make Disinfectant Wipes at Home Safely

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Cleaning products, soaps, antiseptics, and disinfectants are in high demand now as people all over the world do their best to prevent coming into contact with the virus that causes COVID-19. During this time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends you regularly disinfect your phone and other high-touch surfaces like doorknobs, tables, and faucets, regardless of whether someone in your home is sick.

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Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

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Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

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NATIONAL PREVENTION WEEK
May 10 through 16, 2020

National Prevention Week (NPW), hosted by SAMHSA, is an annual national health observance focused on increasing the prevention of substance use and the promotion of mental health.

Learn how you can get involved.

National Prevention Week is May 10-16, 2020
Nationa l Prevention Week (NPW), hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is an annual national health observance focused on increasing the prevention of substance use and the promotion of mental health.

Prevention Social Media Challenge

Want to show your friends where you're living drug free? Participate in the social media challenge! Announce where prevention happens for you in three easy steps:

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NATIONAL PREVENTION WEEK May 10 through 16, 2020 National Prevention Week (NPW), hosted by SAMHSA, is an annual national health observance focused on increasing the prevention of substance use and the promotion of mental health. Learn how you can get involved.

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John Krasinski's Some Good News, Honest Thoughts

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1 Minute, 2 Ingredient INSTANT DONUTS ! Easy Donuts Recipe !

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Bee Gees Stayin Inside Coronavirus Sing Along Lyrics

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Experts say connecting with others, especially those in similar situations, can ease loneliness if you're quarantined or isolated during the coronavirus disease outbreak. Getty Images

A new app called Quarantine Chat may help some people who are experiencing loneliness while in isolation during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Mental health experts say it's important for people to stay connected during a quarantine, as well as talk to others who are in similar situations.

Experts say there are a number of ways to ease loneliness during isolation. They include using video conference calls instead of emails, maintaining a regular schedule, reading, listening to music, and watching a movie.

All data and statistics are based on publicly available data at the time of publication. Some information may be out of date. Visit our coronavirus hub and follow our live updates page for the most recent information on the COVID-19 outbreak.
Loneliness during the COVID-19 outbreak has become a major concern as more and more people are hunkering down in their homes in isolation.

Apps such as Quarantine Chat may be able to help.

Danielle Baskin and Max Hawkins, two artists and long-distance friends, created the free digital voice service in 2019 to help connect people across the world.

By downloading Dial Up, an app for hosting Quarantine Chat, people are subscribing to periodic calls that randomly pair them with a chat partner who is also staying at home, whether by choice or government mandate.

"While people can still talk to their friends and family virtually, the experience of spontaneously talking to a stranger is now missing from many of our lives," Baskin and Hawkins say on the Quarantine Chat website.

"Connectedness is important to all humans, so I think we are all at risk [of loneliness during quarantine]," said Deborah Roth Ledley, PhD, a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania who has written the book " Becoming a Calm Mom."

"When we are bored, we tend to focus on negative things in our lives," added Nancy Molitor, PhD, a clinical psychologist and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois.

"If we were feeling socially isolated pre-coronavirus, we might become more focused on this under quarantine," Molitor told Healthline.

Perceived social isolation, according to the American Psychological Association, is linked to adverse health consequences, including depression, poor sleep quality, impaired executive function, accelerated cognitive decline, poor cardiovascular function, and impaired immunity at every stage of life.

The longer the loneliness continues, the worse its impact on overall well-being, say experts.

"Research shows that there is a link between chronic loneliness and depression," Ledley told Healthline. "Our current situation will hopefully be short-lived."

"I think [the Quarantine Chat app] is indeed a very interesting and potentially very effective way of helping folks who are isolated, live alone, and who are away from home, cope with loneliness and the anxiety of being quarantined," Molitor said.

"Even under quarantine, people who live with other family members at least have each other, but people who live alone might feel particularly lonely," added Ledley.

Living alone and being lonely are not the same, but experts say the former can be a risk factor for the latter.

"I worry most about people who live alone and people who might be cognitively impaired," Ledley said. "For example, the elderly with dementia who are living in nursing homes. They might be confused and upset by the lack of family visitors."

"I also worry a lot about college students whose semester has been abruptly cut off. Although they are returning to their families, I am sure they will feel very lonely for the social structure they had at school," she added.

"Commiserating is important," said Rachel Hunt, a digital content strategist teaching English in Spain who is currently under enforced quarantine.

"Connections to communities are going to be essential, I think, so I'm trying to build them up now," she told Healthline.

Hunt participates in daily group chats via social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram, online communities for auxiliaries, and the local balcony culture.

"It's relaxing and pretty nice for now, if a bit boring and isolating," she said. "Ask me again in 2 weeks."

So far, she hasn't found a need to download Quarantine Chat.

"I think what I've learned from this is that if you seek out genuine human connection, it's available," she said. "But it's hard to build those bonds and it'll become harder as quarantine continues."

Recent air travel, underlying respiratory conditions, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome put Canadian Nikki Saltz in a vulnerable risk category.

She is still awaiting her COVID-19 test results.

"And now, as things progress, due to my higher risk factors, I've decided to continue my self-isolation until we have more information, or until we turn the corner," Saltz told Healthline. "I anticipate that might be months."

After a week in quarantine, she said, "I feel like if this happened pre-internet, things might feel more isolated, but as it is, I could see myself being totally fine with this whole scenario for a while yet."

"I'm not experiencing any boredom or isolation at home, but that's probably because I'm used to working with minimal contact with other people," said Saltz.

"Having a dog really helps, too," she said. "He's a great source of entertainment and laughter, and a surprisingly good conversation partner."

Annie Biskar, former early childhood education administrator and wife to a geriatric medical internist in California's Coachella Valley, has been under self-imposed quarantine for 3 weeks.

"I can't believe how these times have pulled me not away from people, but toward them, even if it is not face-to-face," she told Healthline. "Friends I haven't spoken with in some time called to check up on me, Annie, the perpetual worrier."

That is not to say Quarantine Chat is irrelevant technology.

"Meeting with other people that are quarantined would be so beneficial," Biskar said. "These are such strange times, and it's difficult to process the uncertainty."

"At a time when we need human contact and connection the most, we are forced to be behind closed doors with not even a casual conversation with the grocery clerk to remind us where we are and what we are doing," she said. "It could be comforting to reach out to someone and say, 'This is crazy, right? How are you feeling?'"

Indeed, faces, voices, and emotional connections can all help when you're isolated.

"During this time, the more we can replicate real life interactions, the better," said Ledley. "We must be mindful of ways to stay socially connected even when we aren't seeing people face-to-face."

There are a number of ways to combat social isolation and loneliness during quarantine.

Ledley suggests:

FaceTiming or otherwise video chatting with friends

having a virtual lunch or coffee date

making sure that some work interactions include FaceTime and phone calls rather than just email

staying connected on social media

"It is also sensible to maintain your usual schedule," said Ledley. "Get up and go to sleep as you usually would, have a shower, and get dressed before starting your workday, and eat meals at the times you usually would."

"Keeping to a schedule and being mindful of self-care are very important all the time, but particularly in times of stress," she added. "In making your daily schedule, I would ensure that there is some social connection."

Ledley also says "behavioral activation" is an effective treatment for depression and suggests its principles may work for those in quarantine.

"[Behavioral activation] involves scheduling out your day with activities that provide a sense of mastery. [This includes] getting stuff done like your work/school tasks, the laundry, crossing some house projects off your to-do list, and getting things organized for your taxes," she said.

And don't forget your daily dose of pleasure.

Ledley notes the equal importance of experiencing fun activities, like watching a movie or show, reading, baking, doing a craft, and listening to music.

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mental health loneliness during covid19 coronavirus outbreak

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Chat App Can Help Relieve Loneliness During COVID-19 Outbreak

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A new app called Quarantine Chat may help some people who are experiencing loneliness while in isolation during the COVID-19 outbreak. Mental health experts say it's important for people to stay connected during a quarantine, as well as talk to others who are in similar situations.