Wellbeing is something we all aspire to, but it’s also something that we need to work at.

Fortunately, by simply being mindful and becoming attuned to our five senses, we can learn to improve our wellbeing in all manner of ways.

The link between wellbeing and our five senses

Our brains are responsible for processing the information fed to them by our five senses, and interpreting what we see, feel, hear, taste and smell can have a direct impact on our wellbeing:

Wellbeing and sight

Sight can be linked directly to one of the four main pillars of health – eating well. It’s often said that we eat with our eyes, which is why a plate of different colored foods will be more appealing to most people than a plate containing just one colored food.¹ A study even found that by using brightly colored plates, older people were around 30% more likely to consume a little bit more food!²                     

Wellbeing and taste

Taste and smell are very much linked, with around 80% of what our brain interprets as a taste sensation actually coming from our sense of smell. We are capable of recognizing millions of different odors, but when it comes to taste, without the added clues given to us by sight, smell and texture, we are only capable of distinguishing whether something is salty, sweet, bitter, sour or savory. So how can taste by itself lead to better wellbeing? One way is that people who are sensitive to bitterness are likely to be more selective about what they eat and avoid things higher in sugars and fats, which often have a greater degree of bitterness. Another is that studies have shown that sweet tastes can distract against physical discomfort—think about giving a child something sweet to suck on before an injection, for example.³

Wellbeing and sound

Our ability to interpret sounds alerts us to danger—the beep of a car horn, the shrill of a fire alarm or the siren of an ambulance, for example. Sounds can also be used to assist in healing though, largely because music reduces stress and anxiety. Research has also shown that physical therapy patients recover better when certain sounds are played during various points of their therapy.⁴

Wellbeing and touch

Touch is one of the most powerful tools we have available to us in terms of our own wellbeing. Whether it’s the embrace of a loved one, or the stroke of a pet, the simple act of touch has been shown in studies to lead to a reduction in anxiety and to improve sleeping patterns.⁵

Wellbeing and smell

Smell is not just something that is associated with pleasure or displeasure but can be an early indication of the manifestation of certain health problems. For example, studies have shown that a decline in your ability to smell could be a predictor of Alzheimer’s.⁶ More recently, a loss of smell has been cited as an indication that you may have been infected with the Covid-19 virus.

The link between our senses, and the four pillars of health

We view health and wellbeing as something that can be broadly split into four pillars, with each of them needing to be balanced in order to keep us healthy—our senses are strongly influential in each of them:

Eating well

Sight, taste and smell are all important in ensuring we eat well. From being visually drawn towards colorful foods, to avoiding foods that have gone off and are smelling bad, our sense helps us to get the balanced diets our bodies need.

State of mind

Pleasure can be felt by experiencing human touch, but our state of mind is also influenced by our other senses. Smells can evoke happy memories; sounds can bring us joy and there is nothing better than the taste of a hot drink on a cold day to make us feel comforted.

Staying active

Staying active is important for all aspects of our wellbeing and relying on our senses can make it easier and more enjoyable. Rather than viewing a walk as a chore, you might instead stroll along a seafront or through a forest, allowing your eyes to take in the sights, your nose to take in the new smells and your ears to enjoy the sounds of the birds in the trees.

Nutritional supplementation

With good nutritional supplementation, you can make sure you are consuming everything you need for good health, taking an empowered approach to your nutritional needs.

By remembering the four pillars of good health and being mindful about how your senses can help us experience them to their fullest, you are putting yourself on the pathway to a balanced state of wellbeing.

1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/p7040 [↩]
2. https://elemental.medium.com/want-to-get-healthier-hack-your-five-senses-ddc9e749c41b [↩]
3. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=M1kNCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=taste+wellbeing&ots=QMOL9-QtnT&sig=ADjZWhgz6Pl0LfFC_g3CcCy2oQQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=taste%20wellbeing&f=false [↩]
4. https://journals.lww.com/hnpjournal/Abstract/2004/05000/Vibroacoustic_Sound_Therapy_Improves_Pain.2.aspx [↩]
5. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/INFORMIT.421000020411926 [↩]
6. https://search.proquest.com/openview/9bb25f8aec2ed382fcdff8a9db42a32d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=31252 [↩]

Tips for eating ‘heart healthy’

It’s important to know which are good and bad foods for the heart, so that you can make informed decisions when choosing food based around a heart-healthy diet. Poor quality diets ((https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4597475/)) should be avoided. They can be recognized broadly by fitting into one of the following descriptions:

• High in refined grains and added sugars, salt, unhealthy fats and animal-source foods
• Low in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, and nuts
• High in processed food products – typically packaged and often ready to consume
• Light on whole foods and freshly prepared dishes

A heart-healthy diet should be the opposite of this, such as the Mediterranean diet which is high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds and olive oil. Research has shown that following a Mediterranean Diet is associated with reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD), blood pressure and serum lipid risk factors for CVD ((https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4597475/))

Best foods for heart health

Variety in a healthy diet is key. The following foods and food groups are particularly good for the heart: ((https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4597475/))

Fruits and vegetables:

For a heart-healthy diet, it’s recommended that you eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Ensure your plate is as colorful as possible with healthy fruits and vegetables like broccoli, tomato, peppers and avocado.

Whole grains:

Whole grain foods are rich in lots of fiber and nutrients. Oats, whole wheat bread and brown rice are all great sources of whole grains. Oat beta-glucan has been shown to lower blood cholesterol (high cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease) while consumption of beta-glucans from oats or barley as part of a meal contributes to the reduction of the blood glucose rise after that meal. Beta-glucans are important as they contribute to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol levels.

Legumes:

Beans, peas and lentils are all healthy legumes that are beneficial when combined in a heart-healthy diet. Several studies have demonstrated that the consumption of lentils is immensely connected to the reduction in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases due to its bioactive compounds. ((https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5713359/))

Fish:

Fish is rich in the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) – fatty acids which contribute to the normal function of the heart.

Healthy fats:

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids are the best choices for a heart healthy diet. Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol, which is important as high cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease. Vegetable oils such as olive, canola, corn and sunflower oil are good sources of healthy fats.

Dark chocolate as a treat in a cardiac diet

While milk chocolate is not the healthiest of options, people who treat themselves to a piece of chocolate every now and then should learn that moderate dark chocolate consumption has been associated with a modest benefit in blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.((https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6713921/))

Foods to limit in a heart-healthy diet

Alongside knowing which foods aren’t good choices for a heart-healthy diet, it’s also important to be aware of the foods and food groups which are bad for the heart: ((https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4597475/))

Saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol:
The American Heart Association ((https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/aha-diet-and-lifestyle-recommendations)) suggests limiting your intake of saturated fat and trans fats. For people who need to lower their blood cholesterol, they recommend reducing saturated fat to no more than 5 to 6 % of your total calories.

Salt (sodium):
Reducing the consumption of sodium contributes to the maintenance of normal blood pressure.

Alcohol:
Alcohol has no benefits for the heart, and should be consumed only in moderation.

Added sugars:
It’s always best to avoid foods and drinks with added sugar in favor of heart health. The consumption of foods or drinks containing a sugar substitute results in a lower blood glucose rise after their consumption compared to sugar-containing foods and drinks.

Overview of foods that are good or bad for your heart

The following table shows foods to eat and those to avoid in maintaining a healthy heart diet.

Find your own way into a heart-healthy future

Along with the other two pillars of a healthy heart – staying active and mindfulness, following a heart-healthy diet plan is one of the best ways to keep your heart in top condition.

A heart-healthy diet is very doable and can be enjoyable, with lots of fresh, natural flavors to fill your plate. There are many heart-healthy recipes and meal plans to help you with making healthy diet choices and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers a shopping list for a heart- healthy diet on their website. You might also like to take a look at the recipes section on the website of the American Heart Association.

It’s incredibly important to keep a close eye on your heart health and always consult a doctor if you have any concerns, or if anything seems out of the ordinary, especially if you are at risk of a cardiac disease or are suffering from one.

While we’ll be joining him on his journey from today, we wanted to know all about how he got here…from where he started, the wins, the falls, and the motivation!

About James Ellington

• Sport: Men’s Athletics – British sprinter
• Event: 100 m and 200 m
• Club: Newham and Essex Beagles

The Wins:

• Two-time Olympian (2012, 2016)
• Two-time Gold medalist at the European Athletics Championships (2014, 2016)
• Silver medalist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
• Two-time champion at British Athletics Championships (2012, 2013)
• National titles winner from a young age – under 15, under 17 and under 20
• Finalist of 100 m at World Junior Championships in 2004
• Gold medalist in Junior European Championships

Turning the dream into reality…

James’ aspiration to become an athlete began at the very young age of three years. He describes himself as hard-headed and it’s this personality trait that meant he always knew what he wanted. At the age of 13, he watched athletics on the TV and knew then that he wanted to take his love of sport to a professional level. Despite everyone around him telling him that being a professional athlete wasn’t a safe career choice, he continued to dream by pushing for his goals and promising himself to never lose the child within.

This mentality has been proven through the heroic journey James has been through to get to where he is today. A journey always has its ups and downs but what James has experienced is unique and it makes his path to success an inspiration to many.

Read his interview below to discover all about the journey he’s been on to turn his dream into a reality.

Get to know James Ellington…

• What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome?

My biggest challenge has got to be the horrific motorcycle crash I experienced in 2017 which left me with a fractured tibia, fibula and pelvis, placing my career in athletics in complete jeopardy. It’s been a long journey of recovery but I’m proud to be back to where I wanted to be. I’ve had many setbacks in my career but now looking back, I felt I had to overcome those barriers to prepare me for the biggest setback of all, which was the crash. They’ve all contributed to developing my mental strength and resilience for any obstacles that come my way.

It’s been an incredibly tough journey but my mindset played a big part in getting me through. Throughout I kept believing in my childhood dream and persevered by keeping things simple and not overcomplicating things, putting too much pressure on myself and getting thrown off track. I took one step at a time and I’ve always said, if I can walk, I can run, and if I can run, I can sprint—and here I am today, back in training for my next big milestone.

• How has it shaped you?

Fundamentally I still have the same drive and motivation that I’ve always had. The only thing that has changed is that I try to enjoy more of the here and now. As an athlete, you can often get caught up going from one competition to another and forget to take everything in. I try to focus more on living in the moment and celebrating achievements. This doesn’t have to be anything big, simply taking some time to mentally pause in the present and praise myself can be enough.

• Who is your real-life hero?

This is a tough one. I’ve always admired people for their achievements and I like to see everyone as human. If someone else can achieve something, so can I. Anything can be possible. As a child, Linford Christie was the person I saw winning on TV so I always looked up to him. It’s crazy how things turn out as I ended up being coached by him. Tyson Fury is someone else I admire for everything he went through.

• What is your mantra?

Be yourself and have integrity in everything you do. I like to think that, with me, what you see is what you get. I’m exactly the same behind the camera as I am in front and I think it’s important to show who you are.

• What are you most proud of?

Sticking to my word throughout my career and achieving everything I said I was going to achieve— even when everyone thought I was crazy and my career was over. If I put my mind to something, it will happen. Manifestation is key.

• What are your goals for 2021?

Before, my main goals were to get back running and compete again—and I’ve now achieved that! Now my goals are to make the Olympics team for 2021, and if I perform to the best of my ability, I believe I can win too. It will be tough but I believe in myself.

• How has your training changed in preparation for selection?

My training has changed to focus more on quality rather than quantity. Instead of training more for the sake of it and risking injury, I’m training more efficiently and making sure every session has a purpose. Nutrition is also a big part of my training. Focusing on the right nutrition is something I always knew was important and continues to support me in both my recovery and training.

• What does your training schedule look like?

I’ve gone from training six days a week to four days a week. Mondays and Wednesdays are the intense days with a track session, followed by a gym session. Thursdays revolve around easy recovery circuits and stretching. Then Saturday is another track session. It’s more intense as it was less compact doing six days a week but now, I factor in more time for recovery time as it’s key to support my performance.

• What do you do when you’re not training or competing?

Music, exploring the outdoors (when not in lockdown) and cars are some of my favorite things. It may come as a surprise to you that I actually love music from Hans Zimmer. I always listen to music while I’m training. I tend to listen to more up-tempo music, like Deep Tech House and Old School Garage, to motivate me while I’m training. And if I’m gearing up for a competition, I start off with some of Hans Zimmer’s music and then build it up to some drum and bass. Music is powerful!

• How do you give back?

I’m always looking for opportunities to give back—whether it’s getting into schools to speak to kids or giving out any boxes of kit. In the past, I worked with Met-Track Athletics to coach troubled kids from my local area. Although the main aim was to coach them in athletics, I took the opportunity to also offer some mental support.

• What are your goals beyond Tokyo?

Next year will either be the European or World Championships. Whatever happens with the Olympics, as long as I’m physically able to, I won’t stop competing. I will go as far as my body will take me.

• What makes you, as a high performing athlete, tick?

I focus all my energy on things I’m passionate about and make sure I don’t get distracted too far from that. A way to distinguish a high-level performer is easier to be seen when things get tough. You do see a lot of people crumble at the first hurdle. For me, when things get hard, there’s something in my brain that switches and drives me to carry on. And that’s why my mental attitude has helped me overcome my biggest challenges over the years.

• What does high performance culture mean for you?

I’m tough on myself but I’m also realistic with my goals. A lot of people think I’m crazy when I say my goals out loud but they’re starting to believe me now. If I ever stop running, I know I will direct the same amount of energy into something else, whatever that may be.

• How do you keep the team spirit going in athletics?

At the moment I have four or five training partners and throughout our sessions, we support each other by pushing each other through. Team work even in a single sport is so important.

• And lastly, what is your advice for those starting out?

Forget things fast—it’s important to have a short-term memory when it comes to athletics. You can’t win all the time. I’ve taken many losses throughout my career and if I held on to them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Don’t let them define you!

Join us in following his journey!

We’ll be following James’ next steps as he prepares for his next big challenge of qualifying at the national level on his way to reach the Olympics 2021. If you want to find out how important nutritional supplements are in his regime and how he’s worked on his mental strength to get him where he wanted to be throughout his career, keep an eye out on our Wellness Center for new articles. You can also keep updated on our social media channels to see how he’s getting on and what else may come from this new partnership with Lifeplus. The opportunities are endless!

What is stress?

All of us experience stress throughout our lives. There are common stressors we all recognise, such as major life changes, uncertainty about the future, illness, conflict, and financial problems. Although these can cause real challenges to our mental health, stress isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, in certain circumstances, short-term positive stress can actually motivate us to succeed and overcome obstacles. However, throughout the Covid pandemic, stress levels have risen for nearly everyone, and especially for young people. 

A 2021 report by UK charity Student Minds highlighted that “Young adults have been especially badly hit during the pandemic with a triple whammy of curtailed education, diminished job prospects and reduced social contact with peers.” ¹  

So, are students particularly susceptible to stress?

Yes, we know that stress is really common in students. The NHS says, “University can be a stressful experience, as well as being fun and exciting.  You may feel stressed about starting university, exams, coursework deadlines, living with people you do not get on with, or thinking about the future.” ²

Even before the pandemic, numerous studies in Europe and America consistently reported a high percentage of students suffering from stress and anxiety caused by a multitude of factors. Many of these students were worried about disclosing their mental health concerns and felt they might be stigmatised for seeking support. ^{3 4 5}

Why do students experience such high levels of stress?

Going to university or college is a significant life transition that brings with it a variety of challenges. As well as adjusting to academic demands and deadline pressures, many young people will simultaneously be coping with their first experience of independent life. It’s a time of rapid adaptation from familiar childhood routines to the realities of adulthood: learning to get along with housemates in a new town, making friends, managing a limited budget, and perhaps having the responsibility of a part-time job along with studying. All of these changes can bring anxiety as well as excitement.

Some of the factors students most commonly cited as contributing to stress are:

• Study pressure and deadlines
• Exams
• Time management difficulties
• Unhealthy habits like drinking too much alcohol
• Feeling lonely or homesick
• Poor eating habits due to budget/circumstances
• Financial pressure and debt
• Poor quality accommodation
• Friendship or relationship difficulties
• Adjusting to a new environment
• Fear of failure
• Worries about future job prospects

What are some of the signs that I might be experiencing stress?

The UK charity MIND explains that some of the common signs of stress are frequently feeling:

• Irritable
• Anxious
• Overburdened
• Unable to enjoy yourself or look forward to life
• Unable to calm your mind, concentrate or switch off

Over time, these feelings can make student stress worse by leading to a vicious cycle of being unable to make decisions, avoiding situations instead of facing them, eating or drinking too much, and alienating friends and family. They can also lead to increasingly debilitating physical symptoms like panic attacks, insomnia, muscle pain, stomach aches and headaches. Stress can badly affect our emotional and physical health, so it’s important to recognise the signs and take action to address and manage them. ⁶

What can I do to address the causes of stress and help me cope?

If you’re a student who’s feeling stressed, your worries probably fall into one or more of these areas:

• Study stress
• Accommodation stress
• Social stress
• Financial stress

No matter what challenges you face, there are some key strategies and skills that anyone can learn to help them alleviate and manage their stress. 

Take control and stay positive 
Feeling that your problems are out of control is one of the main causes of stress. By taking active control and facing up to your fears you’ll feel empowered to find a solution. Having a positive outlook and looking for things to be grateful for is also a great way to counter stress – there is a broad range of mindfulness apps available that can help with this.

Manage your time 
It can feel really stressful when a deadline is looming and you’re running out of time. When you know time management is a problem for you, try using apps to help you get organised by breaking tasks down into manageable chunks that you can tackle without feeling daunted. Make sure you schedule breaks for rest and food, prioritise urgent and non-urgent tasks and create a written schedule so you feel more in control.

Learn to budget 
Create a simple spreadsheet to make sure you’re balancing your incoming and outgoing funds. Look out for student deals and discounts in-store and online, and be smart about how to make the most of your budget.

Look after yourself 
Try to get into a regular sleep pattern – going to bed and getting up at regular times helps combat stress hormones and keep you feeling positive. Exercise and healthy foods are important for your wellbeing, too. Try not to rely on alcohol, as this is just a short-term fix that could ultimately make you feel worse. Consider taking a break from social media when you’re feeling low – remember, other people’s lives aren’t usually as glossy as they appear online. Take time to do the activities you love, whether that’s reading, listening to music or baking cakes.

Express yourself and ask for help 
Talk to friends, talk to family, or ask for help from your college or university’s Student Wellbeing service. Sometimes just sharing your worries can be the first step to feeling more able to cope, getting a different perspective, or finding resources to help you.

Find your tribe 
Finding a like-minded community helps you feel connected, boosts your mood and gives you important social support. Look out for activities like clubs and societies, because whatever you’re into there’s sure to be a group to join, whether it’s sports, music, computing, gaming or amateur dramatics.

How will learning these stress management skills help me in future?

The good news is, if you can learn to manage study stress now, you can turn it into a positive for the future. When you see a stressful situation as an opportunity rather than a threat, you can harness the power of that stress to boost your energy, sharpen your focus, and give you the motivation to respond to adversity. Every time you react positively to a challenge, such as delivering an essay under time pressure or making a presentation to your peers, you’re proving and enhancing your own ability to achieve your goals.

Once we’ve learned to overcome and master stressful situations, our ability to deal with stress in the future increases. By managing stress well, we’re rewiring our brains to cope more effectively the next time and developing our resilience. We can even begin to actively welcome positive stress by pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone with new experiences, whether they’re physical, mental, or emotional. The more we succeed, the more confident and determined we become, and the more easily we’ll weather any setbacks or disappointments.

Health psychologist Kelly McGonigal, PhD, who gave one of the most popular TED talks of all time in 2013 about the upsides of stress says that when you learn to reframe the way you think about stress, you become less anxious and more capable. McGonigal says,

“If you think stress is to help you run away from a tiger, of course, that’s not a helpful way to respond to life. But if you understand that what you experience as stress is the biological mechanism by which you are going to learn and grow and develop your strength, now that’s a totally different way to understand.” ⁷

Students who learn stress management skills will be able to face problems and overcome obstacles without fear. This personal growth reinforces their self-belief and generates a positive cycle of progress and benefit. By learning to stay calm – even in demanding situations – they will be successful, fulfilled, and healthy. Perhaps most importantly, these crucial life skills will be an invaluable asset in job interviews, internships and ultimately when students enter the world of work.

Where can I begin to reduce my stress?

In 2020, the WHO (World Health Organisation) produced a free workbook full of practical information, tips and techniques for anyone, anywhere, who experiences stress.

Doing What Matters in Times of Stress recommends:

1. Grounding: learning to focus, engage and pay attention
2. Unhooking: managing difficult thoughts and feelings
3. Acting on your values: finding ways to act on what matters to you, and positively influence the people and situations around you
4. Being kind: to ourselves and to others
5. Making room: for challenging thoughts and situations rather than trying to avoid them⁸

Remember:

• Reach out for help
• Don’t skip classes or avoid deadlines
• Practice self-care
• Get involved in extra-curricular activities
• Exercise and eat well – stay healthy in mind and body
• Make sure you’re getting enough sleep
• Stay connected with friends and family
• Laugh, dance and have fun to create balance

1. University Mental Health: Life in a Pandemic Listening to higher education communities throughout 2020/2021 [↩]
2. Student stress [↩]
3. Mental health statistics: stress [↩]
4. University students’ strategies of coping with stress during the coronavirus pandemic: Data from Poland [↩]
5. Undergraduate Student Reference Group [↩]
6. How to manage stress [↩]
7. A Stanford psychologist has a simple mental exercise for tackling student stress [↩]
8. Doing What Matters in Times of Stress [↩]

The best approach to good health is one that’s proactive.

That’s why it’s important we support the immune system, a complex structure dedicated to protecting us from harmful outside invaders and fighting off what we come down with. This intricate bodily system plays a significant role in overall health by protecting, supporting, and balancing our bodies every minute of the day.

In today’s world, it’s common to reach for an over-the-counter medicine every time a symptom strikes. While that’s not always necessarily a bad thing, there are plenty of options for supporting the immune system that will prevent us from having to reach for medications in the first place.

Need some ideas?

Here are ten ways to strengthen and support your immune system:

1. Hydrate

Drinking half your body weight in ounces of (ideally filtered) water daily is a good place to start when it comes to keeping your body flushed of invaders and toxins.

2. Rest

Good sleep at night is essential for immune system recovery and should be complemented with rest and downtime throughout the day as well.

3. Exercise/Movement

Exercise supports the movement of blood throughout the body, allowing elements of the immune system the ability to patrol the blood and surrounding tissues. This movement of blood, fluid, and these elements supports the flushing of impurities and infections from the body.

4. Healthy diet

Eliminating sugar in food and drinks should be high priority on the list of a healthy diet. Paired with plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables, adequate protein, and healthy fats, the immune system can flourish with proper nutrients.

5. Reduce toxin exposure

Pesticides, lead, mold, and heavy metals can all be harmful to immunity. Eating organic produce and eliminating toxic hazards can help.

6. Support healthy bacteria

Our gut microbiome is essential to a healthy immune system. Including prebiotics and probiotics in your daily diet can make a big difference. Try fermented foods such as kimchi and sauerkraut, as well as yogurt and kefir.

7. Manage stress

Although we can’t eliminate stress in our lives, we can learn to manage it in healthy ways. Self-expression (such as dancing, singing, painting, keeping a diary, etc.), adaptogenic herbs, and forest bathing can all work wonders in bringing about peace and calm so our immune systems can rest and restore.

8. Breath work

Did you know that your diaphragm is actually a pump for the lymphatic system, which pushes out waste? Deep breathing and breath work helps support the movement of immune cells to clean up messes where they are needed throughout the body. Aim for daily meditation or breathing exercises whenever possible.

9. Mood balance

A bad mood isn’t just upsetting for your spouse and children, but for your immune system, too.  Having strong connections with others, enjoying hobbies, processing emotions, and even taking medications (whether herbal or prescribed) when needed can all support a balanced mood.

10. Supplements

To complement the above recommendations, some supplements can be helpful in keeping immunity strong such as:

• Zinc
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D
• Elderberry
• Lemon Balm
• Garlic
• Omega-3s
• Multi-strain probiotics
• Astragalus
• Grape Seed Extract
• Mushrooms (such as reishi, chaga, turkey tail, etc.)

Speak with your doctor about which ones may work best for you, taking into consideration any chronic issues you have or medications you may be taking.

As you can see, there’s more to keeping sickness away than just taking a prescription.  A lifestyle full of healthy choices can prepare your immune system for any invaders and support it when it needs to act.

What can you do today to support the job it’s doing for you right now?

REFERENCES

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/support-your-immune-function-with-good-nutrition

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-to-boost-your-immune-system

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/eat-these-foods-to-boost-your-immune-system/

It can be quite tricky to keep up good daily habits, can’t it? But, the benefits of choosing to prioritise your health and wellbeing are so positive that we should take the time to prioritise them.

Good daily habits can help prevent overwhelm, burn-out, stress and even illness. By building a more robust immune system through sleep, rest and healthier living, we can help our bodies to become stronger in fighting off disease. We can also increase our own awareness of the signs of fatigue and stress before they have a detrimental impact on our health and well-being.

Taking the time to care for ourselves through good daily habits, helps us recognise when something is off balance or out of synch quicker to make adjustments and prevent the problem from becoming chronic.¹

So, if the benefits are so great, why don’t we prioritise the practice of good daily habits to strengthen our health and well-being?

We’d all love to feel good, eat well and create a stress-free and happy life, so why don’t we?

Because it takes time: Being disciplined and creating a routine feel like they add to the list of chores, and with so much going on in our busy lives, we feel we simply don’t have the time to do everything, so we edit our day.

It’s also easier to cut out the things we want to do because if we are answerable to no one. For example, I can easily choose not to run because I’m not letting anyone down, only me.

Why do we choose these things to cut? Because we aren’t answerable to anyone else but ourselves, you aren’t letting anyone else down but you. However, if you choose not to run an errand for a friend, then you’re letting them down. We shift our priorities when we’re under pressure based on ease.

And yet, it’s entirely counter-productive. Because eventually, we become exhausted, resentful, unwell or simply unhappy.

Therefore, good daily habits must become our non-negotiables. Things that are set in stone, just for us, to protect and preserve our mental health and well-being.

What is a habit? Let’s start by understanding the nature of a habit.

The dictionary defines a habit as ‘a settled or regular tendency or practise, especially one that is hard to give up.’

The American Journal of Psychology suggests: A habit is a routine of behaviour that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. Defining a “habit, from the standpoint of psychology, [as] a more or less fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience.”

We are all familiar with some of our regular habits, for example, brushing our teeth, exercising, watching our favourite shows. Then you have the not so good habits such as drinking, smoking and overeating.

But why are some habits easier to break than others? For example, I love cake, but it’s hard for me to stop because it’s become such a ‘happy’ habit. Yet, I want to run every day, but this habit is hard to keep and easy to break. Why?

Charles Duhigg is the author of The Power of Habit; he has spent years researching this very subject. He suggests,

‘Apparently, 40% of the actions we perform on any day are not actual decisions but habits. From brushing your teeth or driving, to whether you go for a run when you get home or slouch in front of the couch. All are habits and it’s possible to create both good and bad ones. Essentially, the brain is always looking to save effort by creating new habits, so our energy can be saved for other tasks. When a habit emerges, the brain stops being involved in making decisions. So to change a habit, you have to fight it!’²

How can we find time for our good daily habits?

It often feels like we never have enough time, doesn’t it?

Rushing about, getting stuff done, but then what? At the end of the day, you may feel like you’ve achieved nothing and are exhausted and stressed from an unfulfilling day.

Time management can help; learning how to manage your time effectively can help you feel more relaxed, focused and in control.

“The aim of good time management is to achieve the lifestyle balance you want,” says Emma Donaldson-Feilder, a chartered occupational psychologist.

“Work out your priorities in life,” says Emma. “That is then the guiding principle for how you spend your time and how you manage it.”

Once you have worked out the big picture, you can work out some short-term and medium-term goals. “Knowing your goals will help you plan better and focus on the things that will help you achieve those goals,” says Emma.³

Prioritising your good daily habits

It can be difficult to work out your priorities but remember, they don’t have to be fixed, and they may change, but it’s important to make a start. Perhaps yours will be got to the gym 3 days per week. Read one book per month; there’s no right or wrong here. These are your priorities so ask yourself, what’s important to you?

We’ve chosen 5 Good Daily Habits to get you started

1. Create a Morning Routine.
   Starting your day with a good morning routine can really set you up for a positive and productive day. To begin with, keep it short and simple, then you can be sure you have the time to do it every day.
2. Sleep well.
   Sleep deprivation can be hugely detrimental to our brains and bodies, so you must achieve QUALITY and QUANTITY for your overall health and well-being. Our circadian rhythm, or circadian cycle, is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark so try to follow some simple practices like managing your eating time, daylight exposure, exercise and stress management.

‘Studies have shown that chronically sleep-deprived animals and humans have weaker immune systems, making it easier for even mild infections and viruses to gain entry to the body and cause more damage or even death. Therefore, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is a powerful strategy to maintain better immunity.’¹

3. An Attitude of Gratitude.
Research has shown that experiencing gratitude has physical, psychological and social benefits, according to a 2012 study published in Personality and Individual Differences reported in Forbes.

Begin with something as simple as thinking of 3 things you are grateful for. You can do this when you wake up or just before bed. It’s a very simple yet effective habit to start. For example, it can be as easy as writing down, ‘today I am thankful for: The roof over my head, the food on my table, and the family around me’.⁴

4. Meditate.
The holistic benefits of meditation are diverse: It can help reduce mental health issues such as anxiety and depression and naturally manage our stress and anger levels. Not to mention the physical effects of pain reduction, improving heart health and promoting significantly improved sleep patterns.

These benefits have knock-on effects such as increasing our immunity, improving mood, relationships, and overall well-being.⁵

5. Spend time outdoors.

How often have you been for a walk and thought to yourself, isn’t this wonderful-I can hear the birds, smells the air and just be at peace?

And yet, we spend so much time indoors that we forget how uplifting and beneficial to our overall mood it can be.

Research by the mental health charity MIND suggests,

‘Spending time in nature has been found to help with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. For example, research into ecotherapy (a type of formal treatment which involves doing activities outside in nature) has shown it can help with mild to moderate depression. This might be due to combining regular physical activity and social contact with being outside in nature.’⁶

Even giving yourself a proper lunch break, walking to work, or having your early morning cuppa in the garden can significantly impact your health and well-being. Remember, it needs to work for you, and this is one simple habit you can easily incorporate into your daily life.

Between our busy lives and unexpected things happening, one of the first things to push aside is the extra things we don’t always consider important, and our daily habits are no exception. BUT, they should be the exception!

The reality is that your good daily habits are the last things we should be edited out of our day.

1. A healthy circadian rhythm may keep you sane and increase resilience to fight COVID-19 [↩] [↩]
2. How Habits Work [↩]
3. Easy time-management tips [↩]
4. 7 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Gratitude That Will Motivate You To Give Thanks Year-Round [↩]
5. Mindfulness [↩]
6. Nature and mental health [↩]

In life, there is little within our control but for one thing: our breath. 

Enveloping the very definition of life, the breath sustains, nurtures, cleanses, and heals both the body and mind, making mindful awareness of it a valuable technique for optimal wellness.

But what’s the difference between everyday breathing and actual breathwork?

More than you may think.

There is a strong connection between the breath and the brain in which breathwork can actually reset the nervous system and promote wellbeing.

Intentional and controlled breathing may improve health in such ways as reducing and/or managing:

• stress
• anxiety
• depression
• insomnia
• high blood pressure
• increased heart rate
• pain
• poor concentration
• low immunity
• trauma
• grief
• strong emotions

Its popularity is fast growing thanks to both the health benefits it provides as well as the simplicity and accessibility of the practice (and the fact that it’s free!).

To lay the foundation of breathwork and promote homeostasis in daily life, discover what breathing methods work best for you.

Box breathing

This easy-to-remember technique consists of breathing in counts that form a box, such as:

• breathing in for the count of four
• holding for the count of four
• breathing out for the count of four
• holding for the count of four

Note that the count of four can be changed to whatever number you choose.

Belly breathing

To calm quick and shallow breathing, place one or both hands on your stomach and focus on the rise and fall of the belly through slow, deep breaths.

Repeat 3-10 times or more.

4-7-8 Breathing

Utilizing the practice of belly breathing, this technique adds counting for more control and consists of:

• inhaling for the count of 4
• holding for the count of 7
• exhaling for the count of 8

Alternate nostril breathing

While sitting, close your right nostril with your right thumb. Breathe in slowly through the left nostril and then close it with the right ring finger while removing your thumb from the right nostril to slowly release the breath. Repeat 5-10 times on each side.

Modified lion’s breath

As the name suggests, this practice is inspired by the lion. 

Simply fill your belly with as much breath as possible, then open your mouth wide and let out a “ha” sound for complete exhalation.  Repeat as desired.

Mindful word breathing

Attach semantics to the breath by:

• inhaling to I am
• exhaling to words such as at peace, relaxed, thankful

            or

• inhaling to I choose
• exhaling to calm, stillness, kindness, love

To hone your technique and discover even more options, seek out resources such as books, guided online exercises, and in-person classes.

Breathing may seem a simple concept and one that can easily be taken for granted, but mindful use of it can provide a plethora of health perks. And the fact that it can be done anywhere at any time? Well, that’s one health resource to breathe in.

The term ‘toxic emotions’ is regularly used, but what are they exactly?

They are feelings of anger, guilt, shame, anxiety, fear, self-loathing, regret, bitterness, and resentment – feelings that bring no positive benefit to our lives or our mental wellbeing. These are all toxic emotions that are harmful not just to us but to everyone around us, at home and at work. Toxic emotions, when left unchecked, can impact our mental and physical health. Fortunately there are many ways you can learn to deal with toxic emotions and align your thoughts with positive patterns.

Protecting yourself and your loved ones from the consequences of too much negativity starts with an understanding of how your emotions influence the world and how the world influences your emotions. It’s a two-way path—or better yet, a web of connections. No wonder it has been said that it’s easier to catch an emotion than it is to catch a cold.

Why is it so easy to find yourself feeling toxic emotions?

Research on a range of habits and feelings, both good and bad, reveals that they can be contagious. For example, a study of interpersonal chemistry through negativity found that sharing negative ideas about a third party is particularly effective in promoting closeness between people. In other words it’s bonding over a mutual dislike of someone else.¹ While this may create an initial bond, it is hardly a healthy basis for a friendship. This is likely a holdover from primitive times when there was survival benefit in small groups of humans bonding together and seeing other groups as “the enemy.”

Today such bonding patterns have become dysfunctional and may have an “anti-survival” effect. In other words, what used to help us survive is now a force that attracts negative people and bad influences into our lives. This is compounded by unrelated findings that show your chances of being unhappy are doubled after you come into contact with just one negative experience.²

How to deal with toxic emotions?

Luckily happiness and acts of kindness are contagious too. Just like learning how to deal with toxic emotions, you can also learn how to feel more positive ones. The effects of performing one good deed can spread outward through complex social connections affecting people you may never meet.³ Perhaps better still, for every “happy” friend you have, your chances of being happy yourself increases by almost 10 percent.⁴ We tend to attract into our lives the thoughts and emotions we focus on. On top of that, a primitive instinct to mimic our companions’ expressions, body language and speech makes us even more susceptible to “catching” emotions from the people we interact with the most.⁵

It’s clear that our emotions affect the people around us and that the people around us affect our emotions.⁶ Naturally, it follows that if you surround yourself with people who dwell on negative experiences and toxic emotions, you will begin to align yourself with the same thoughts and experiences.

Conversely if you spend your time with people who focus on joy, gratitude, happiness and other positive emotions, you will find your own thoughts and emotions to be aligned with positive things, people, experiences, ideas and concepts.

This is easiest to do at home, where we have the most control over our lives. You choose who to let walk in your door, what music is played on the stereo and what channel the television is on. It might seem trivial at first but these environmental factors can have a major impact on your emotional state.

After a stressful day, coming home to your personal sanctuary and spending time with positive-minded friends, listening to uplifting music, watching a light-hearted show, reading a motivational book or doing any other activity that helps you feel less stress will help you realign your thoughts with positive frequencies and will reduce the risk of toxic emotions taking hold.

How to deal with toxic emotions at work

At work it can take a little more practice to avoid catching toxic emotions. This is because often we can’t choose the people we have to spend time with. Whether it’s a boss who shouts at subordinates or a co-worker who gossips about people in the office, sometimes there is no avoiding negativity in the workplace.

When toxic emotions abound, the best way to avoid becoming infected is to bolster your positive thoughts by seeking out other people in the office who want to keep a positive outlook and find joy at the office. When you invest time and energy in these relationships, your own good deeds and positivity will ripple through the office and counteract negativity. The effect can snowball as more and more co-workers feel the difference made by not dwelling on toxic feelings which can lead to not just less stress and better feelings but also improved cooperation, decreased conflict and increased work performance.⁷

Whether you’re at work, at home, out with friends or meeting new people at a dinner party, always remember that you don’t need to react to every negative influence you come across.

Negatively focused people often seek out others to join them. When you consider what toxic emotions are, you will most likely be able to recall a conversation in which someone tried to get you to complain about another person or situation. The next time this happens to you, remember that you don’t have to react. You don’t have to agree and let negative emotions take hold. You also don’t have to confront the person which can spark an argument.

What if you can’t avoid a toxic person or environment?

If you have no choice but to be around people displaying toxic emotions, your most viable option is to simply not let the negative comments influence you. Take a moment to examine your own inner thoughts and make sure that you are staying true to your desire to focus on positive thoughts and experiences.

When possible, remove yourself from the situation quickly but politely. At work, this can be as easy as saying you have a deadline to meet. At a dinner party, you can excuse yourself to refresh a drink.

Much like germs, emotions are contagious. And if we don’t take some precautions, we can catch toxic emotions without realising it. The absolute best way to bolster your immunity to toxic emotions is to surround yourself with other people who intentionally align their thoughts with positive frequencies.

1. Bosson, Jennifer K., Amber B. Johnson, Kate Niederhoffer, and William B. Swann. “Interpersonal Chemistry through Negativity: Bonding by Sharing Negative Attitudes about Others.” Personal Relationships 13, no. 2 (2006): 135–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2006.00109.x [↩]
2. Hill, Alison L. et al. “Emotions as Infectious Diseases in a Large Social Network: The SISa Model.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277.1701 (2010): 3827–3835. PMC. Web. 3 May 2017 [↩]
3. James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis. “Cooperative behavior cascades in human social networks.” PNAS 2010 107 (12) 5334-5338; published ahead of print March 8, 2010, doi:10.1073/pnas.0913149107 [↩]
4. Christakis, Nicholas A, and James Fowler. “SOCIAL NETWORKS AND HAPPINESS.” SOCIAL NETWORKS AND HAPPINESS | Edge.org, n.d. https://www.edge.org/conversation/social-networks-and-happiness [↩]
5.  Colino, Stacey. “Are You Catching Other People’s Emotions?” U.S. News & World Report, n.d. https://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2016-01-20/are-you-catching-other-peoples-emotions [↩]
6. Larson, Reed W., and David M. Almeida. “Emotional Transmission in the Daily Lives of Families: A New Paradigm for Studying Family Process.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 61, no. 1 (1999): 5. https://doi.org/10.2307/353879 [↩]
7. Barsade, Sigal G. “The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and Its Influence on Group Behavior.” Administrative Science Quarterly 47, no. 4 (2002): 644. https://doi.org/10.2307/3094912 [↩]

What’s intuitive eating and how is it different to eating mindfully?

Intuitive eating is the antithesis of dieting, calorie counting, food obsession and body shaming. The idea was first written about on a mainstream level about twenty years ago by Evelyn Tribole and Elise Resch. They wrote a book that among other things highlighted some basic principles in intuitive eating.¹

The primary idea is to reject the merry-go-round of the dieting mentality, accept your body and tune in to its true needs.

Many of us have no idea what eating from hunger to satiation even feels like. And to further complicate things, what does eating what we crave look like, if what we crave isn’t healthy?

Intuitive eating listens to what your body really needs

Trendy diets and lifestyle changes that exclude foods or concepts of when to eat and when to remain hungry, change faster than the seasons. Intuitive dieting is the total opposite of this. The idea is that you listen to what your body is telling you about what it needs to be fed, as opposed to enforcing limits and guidelines on your consumption. Intuitive eating promotes the idea that our bodies know the way. We just have to be in tune with them, listen and follow that way.

Research has shown us that dieting doesn’t last long. On the occasion that a dieter does lose weight, the weight usually does not stay off.² But we all continue to fall into the trap of diets that limit calories, carbohydrates, fat and sugar and require times when you can, can’t or shouldn’t (guilt!) eat.

The complexity of our relationship with food

Our relationship with food is a complex one—part natural, biological and evolved; part nurtured, taught and socialized. Aggressive food-marketing campaigns tempt us to eat and eat and eat. Emotions and stress of modern life trigger us to eat even when we aren’t truly hungry. Our families of origin or our cultural experiences have ideas of what food means in terms of quality and quantity.

It’s about trust—trust in ourselves and the dynamic between our bellies and our minds. It’s about getting in tune with your body and learning to trust it again.

Yes, this means cake, wine and burgers can be consumed from time to time, but intuitive eating is as much about knowing when your stomach is satisfied as it is about feeding your hunger.

Learning from the ultimate intuitive feeders: babies

If you’ve ever seen a new-born or infant drink milk from the breast or a slow-flow bottle nipple, you will see an example of perhaps the truest form of intuitive eating. The baby will drink when she or he is hungry, initially eating with vigor but eventually slowing down and taking pauses. Babies focus on the eating and the experience of eating—the sensations of being in their caregiver’s arms and the smell of the milk. And they usually come off the breast or bottle nipple when they are satiated. With the breast or a bottle nipple that has a similar flow speed, most babies will not overeat.

Another concept in intuitive eating is to rid yourself of guilt related to food and eat what you want. Make peace with food. Food has the ability to do so much more than just fuel us. It can bring us to satisfying heights of pleasure and experience. Or it can plague our conscience for days as we dwell on the decisions we make about what we put in our mouths and bellies. This guilty dance of good and bad is not only unhealthy, but unhelpful.

Intuitive eating vs mindful eating

A guiding principle is to start eating according to what your body is telling you. This means you have to create mindfulness around hunger, cravings and satiation. We often eat mindlessly. We look at that cookie on the breakroom table at work and shame ourselves for eating it as we shove it into our mouths. Within seconds it’s gone! But what did it even taste like? What was the texture? Did we even appreciate it, much less experience it? Intuitive eating heralds the pleasure factor of food and invites us to lean into that. Mindful eating encourages us to take in every aspect of the food we are putting into our mouths and truly experience it.

Mindful eating also invites us to pay attention to how we feel after eating certain foods and to use that feedback to adjust our diet accordingly. When people have been eating a highly processed and/or fast-food diet, their senses of taste and smell are often dulled and they don’t notice any relationship between what they eat and how they feel, which often is “not very good.” So, the first step is to learn about and gradually switch to a diet of whole, preferably organically produced, foods. Most people, after a while, regain the ability to notice what smells and tastes of “real” food they are particularly attracted to, and subtle changes in how they feel after eating specific foods or groupings of foods. Once you gain this ability, you’re on your way with intuitive eating.

Keeping focused on intuitive eating

The challenge is that it takes a lot of emotional work to get into a good groove with both intuitive eating and mindful eating. Just as with any mindfulness practice, or even healthy lifestyle, we have to reset our mental compass, sometimes several times a day—or even several times a meal! But by simply asking ‘what’s intuitive eating?’ when we start to feel hungry, we change our relationship with food and start to experience the physical, as well as psychological, benefits. Once we do that, intuitive eating will become easier and more natural to get to grips with.

1. Tribole, Evelyn, and Elyse Resch. Intuitive Eating: A Recovery Book for the Chronic Dieter: Rediscover the Pleasures of Eating and Rebuild Your Body Image. St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 1996. [↩]
2. Lowe, Michael R., et al. “Dieting and Restrained Eating as Prospective Predictors of Weight Gain.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 4, June 2013, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00577. [↩]

Life throws us curveballs when we least expect them and there are many situations we may have to deal with that will test our feelings of being able to cope.

Whether it’s the breakdown of a relationship, a job that doesn’t give satisfaction or a health concern, it can seem hard to steer clear of drama and worry at times. Even if everything is going smoothly, we’ve all experienced how something like a global pandemic can turn our plans upside down.

The challenging days will pass though, and—while it might seem difficult—it’s important to focus on the fact that things will get better, and to rely upon your own mental strength and resilience to help you while you are waiting.  

Mental strength and resilience – what’s the difference?

Mental strength and resilience are closely related, but there is a difference. Resilience is the ability to cope with a situation as it arises, but this doesn’t necessarily make you mentally strong. You might be able to cope—but are you doing so in a positive way, rather than simply gritting your teeth and waiting for the moment to pass?

Mental strength is the capacity of an individual to deal effectively with stressors, pressures and challenges and perform to the best of their ability, irrespective of the circumstances in which they find themselves.¹

The difference is a subtle but important one. It’s the distinction between surviving and thriving.

Building mental strength is fundamental to living your best life. It helps us have meaningful social connections and gives us the confidence to try new things, as well as the coping mechanisms to handle whatever life sends our way. The best part is that wherever you are currently, you can always work to develop your mental strength further. Check out our top 3 tips for better mental strength:

• Learn to think positively

It might seem easier said than done, but even if it doesn’t come as naturally as you would like, you can learn to think more positively. You only have to look at Navy SEALS or Olympians to see what the power of the mind can help them achieve. The first step to positive thinking is to recognize when you’re being negative. Don’t beat yourself up over it but acknowledge it and then work to change it. Rather than thinking ‘I might fail’, try telling yourself that you might succeed—but that even if you don’t, as long as you try your best then it really doesn’t matter. Often, by simply deciding you are going to feel something, it becomes easier to actually then feel it. This is known as manifestation—decide to think positive thoughts and they will come. If you wake up in the morning feeling fine and people start telling you throughout the day that you look unwell, by the evening you will probably start to feel that way. Likewise, if you constantly tell yourself to be happy, you are more likely to manifest that emotion and actually be happy.

• Meditate and take time for yourself

In a busy world where we’ve all got responsibilities for others, it’s important to also allow yourself to slow down and focus inwards. Meditation is a great way to calm the mind and allow yourself to be present in the moment; to reset and face the day with a fresh and more positive viewpoint. Research has even shown that meditation and mindfulness can reverse the DNA that leads to depression on a molecular level,² which is pretty incredible! Ivana Buric, from the Brain, Belief and Behaviour Lab in Coventry University’s Centre for Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement explained that “millions of people around the world already enjoy the health benefits of mind-body interventions like yoga or meditation, but what they perhaps don’t realize is that these benefits begin at a molecular level and can change the way our genetic code goes about its business.” In her research, she explains that activities like meditation leave a molecular signature in our cells, which actually reverses the effect of stress or anxiety by changing how our genes are expressed. 

• Take time to move your body too

Your body is as important as your mind when it comes to mental strength. Physical and mental health go hand-in-hand and if one suffers, the other can too. Exercise has been shown in studies to increase levels of serotonin and dopamine in the brain—the ‘feel good’ chemicals,³ which can reduce depression and help give mental clarity to focus on things in a clear and calm way.

Embedding resilience in children

Children, in particular, are strongly influenced by the actions and behaviors of those around them. They’re like little sponges soaking up what they see and what they learn from us, which is why it’s so important to work on our own mental strength in order to help them develop theirs.

Children learn from others so it’s a good idea to expose them to people who will care for them, have their best interests at heart and be a positive influence on them—friends, family members, teachers and coaches might all fall into this category. Let them know that they are not alone in life and there are people who have their best interests at heart to turn to if ever they need support.

It’s also important to give children opportunities to learn and discover on their own, whether through creative play or strategic play—board games are a great way to teach impulse control and the need to be patient and take turns, as well as giving an opportunity for mental flexibility and changing ways of thinking for a better outcome if a situation suddenly changes.

Don’t be scared to ask for help

Building mental strength takes time and practice, and if you’re struggling, it’s important to know you are not alone. Life can be tough and finding it hard to navigate is nothing to be ashamed of. If you’re feeling unsure as to whether you can cope, it’s always best to reach out and talk to someone about your feelings, whether it’s a friend or family member, or a professional. If you find yourself feeling sad or angry, irritable, stressed or easily frustrated, these are all signs that you might not be coping and should seek help.

1. https://www.mentaltoughness.partners/developing-mental-toughness-peter-clough-doug-strycharczyk/ [↩]
2. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170615213301.htm [↩]
3. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2009.01049.x [↩]

How can developing mindfulness support positive mental health?

Positive mental health is determined by a variety of factors and while it’s impossible to control everything that happens around us, developing mindfulness can be a strong step in the right direction when it comes to experiencing greater happiness and a positive state of mind. 

Why should you eat healthy, high-frequency energy foods?

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” – Nikola Tesla

We’re not just a physical body – scientifically speaking, we’re a source of energy that is bound together by an energy field. Everything with energy vibrates, and the higher the energy, the higher the frequency of this vibration.¹ High-frequency foods help us to increase our natural energy vibration and in doing so, we’re better-able to connect with ourselves and rid our minds of unhealthy thoughts.  Foods with a high vibrational energy include organic fruits, herbs, vegetables and nuts.² By contrast, low -frequency foods, such as meat, poultry and sugar, as well as foods that are highly processed, chemically or genetically altered or contain chemical additives, can result in ill health when eaten in high amounts.

Why is it important to keep hydrated?

Dehydration makes you feel physically unwell and can also affect your mental health.³ The human brain is composed of around 75% water and as soon as this level starts to drop, circulation slows and blood and oxygen move around the body more slowly.⁴ Even mild dehydration affects how you think and feel. If you can’t think clearly, it’s difficult to be fully mindful and to experience happiness.

Why is movement vital for mental health?

Evidence suggests that physical activity and exercise probably alleviate some of the symptoms associated with a negative state of mind. In addition, scientific studies have concluded that exercise might help with improving self-image, social skills and cognitive functioning, as well as reducing the symptoms of anxiety.⁴ Try taking a stroll in the fresh air or going for a gentle swim. You’ll soon see that it’s difficult not to feel in a more positive state of mind after this.

Why is sleep so important?

Anyone who has ever suffered a bad night’s sleep will tell you that their brain probably wasn’t firing on all cylinders the following day. Lack of sleep can leave you feeling mentally exhausted, emotional and unsettled in your surroundings. Try to get eight hours of quality sleep each night.⁵ Set a routine and go to bed at the same time each evening.

Try to wake up at the same time each morning (even on weekends!) and don’t stare at your phone or other electronic devices before you sleep as they can keep your brain alert and prevent you from relaxing fully.

Why is elevating your thoughts the key?

The law of attraction states that what we put out into the universe; we will receive.⁶ If you want to attract joy and happiness, you need to make an active effort to put those messages out there. Don’t focus on what you don’t want from life but concentrate on what you do want. Set meaningful goals and strive to make the very most of every single day.

Why is altruism beneficial to mental health?

Doing something kind for someone else doesn’t just benefit them – it can benefit you too. Connecting with people, and taking time to help them, can create positive vibes and help enhance your sense of purpose and wellbeing. Helping others has been scientifically shown to reduce stress and improve both your physical and mental health, leading to a sense of calm and ease and enabling you to increase your confidence, happiness and optimism.⁷ Ultimately, by helping others, you too could lead a happier, more fulfilled life.

Your state of mind isn’t something you can focus on in isolation. Different aspects of our lifestyle, including your physical health, can all contribute to achieving a positive state of mind.

1. Full on happiness: Vibrational Frequency 101 + Foods to increase it [↩]
2. Mindbodygreen: How to make sure you’re eating high-vibrational food [↩]
3. https://psychcentral.com/news/2012/02/20/dehydration-influences-mood-cognition/35037.html [↩]
4. AIFC: How important is water and hydration to mental health? [↩] [↩]
5. NCBI: The relation of physical activity and exercise to mental health [↩]
6. The Law of Attraction: What is the law of attraction? Open your eyes to a world of endless possibilities. [↩]
7. Mental Health Foundation: Doing good does you good [↩]

Tune in to what’s important by stepping outside…

It might not be a huge surprise to hear that being outside, getting fresh air and exercise is not only good for your physical health it can also be beneficial for your mental health. But did you know that so-called ecotherapy – a form of therapy based on interacting with nature – is growing in popularity as a practice for anyone experiencing stress, anxiety or hard times in general.

Ecotherapy, or nature therapy as it’s sometimes known, is an approach that focuses on the benefit of being within and interacting with the natural environment.¹ The idea is that taking part in outdoor activities and engaging with nature can be regenerative, for both your mind and body.

It offers the chance to enjoy fresh air, appreciate the beauty of nature, experience the changing seasons and notice the finer details that are often missed when we’re all so busy in our daily lives.

In fact, in some cases,² practitioners are prescribing ecotherapy as a way to help reduce conditions such as stress and depression and boost self-esteem and confidence.    

What does Ecotherapy involve?

Ecotherapy programs focus on bringing together groups of people in rural or urban areas and introducing activities where you can either experience nature first hand or get involved with nature.³

There’s an emphasis on getting involved, becoming active, learning and sharing skills. But it’s also about taking more notice of your surroundings and paying attention to the sights, sounds and smells you encounter. “Being present” in the moment.

Ecotherapy activities can involve:

• Environmental conservation – hands-on activities involved with caring for the environment, such as planting trees or clearing woods.
• Outdoor exercise – taking part in physical activities in green spaces, such as yoga or tai chi in a park, or walking as a group in the countryside.
• Horticulture – getting involved with gardening.
• Allotment gardening – planting, caring for and harvesting your own food.
• Animal therapy – learning to look after and care for animals.

How can it help?

The benefits of access to sunlight are recognized as being beneficial for easing symptoms of the mood condition seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and ecotherapy works in a similar way.

Research has found ecotherapy can be good to try for those experiencing mild to moderate depression (sometimes alongside other therapies, such as counselling, medication or cognitive behavioral therapy), as being outside and doing practical work can help improve wellbeing and self-esteem.

It’s also reported to be useful for easing stress, helping people feel calmer and more relaxed. It’s natural to not feel like exercising when you’re feeling depressed or are stressed out, and some people find it hard to motivate themselves to get up and out. But being outside, engaging in gentle activities and breathing in fresh air can gradually help you relax and become calmer.

It’s a good way too for you to connect with other people. Depression and related health issues can often lead to people becoming isolated and alone, but being part of a group where people understand can be rewarding and uplifting.

Do-it-yourself Ecotherapy

Of course, even though it’s begun to be used with some success in specific practice, ecotherapy is something that anyone can think about bringing into their life as a general and positive philosophy, not just a reaction to stress or other issues.

If you are keen to give it a go but don’t have access to an ecotherapy program, or even a group of people to try it with, don’t worry. There are plenty of ways in which you can incorporate the principles of ecotherapy into your life and create your own do-it-yourself approach to help clear your head, relax your body and support your state of mind.

You don’t have to live in the heart of the countryside either. Having access to an urban park or green space helps, but at its most basic level, benefits can be gained from simply being outside.

Here are some ideas for ways in which you could incorporate ecotherapy into your life.

• Start with the nature on your doorstep. Tend to the plants in your garden or cut your lawn. If you don’t have a garden, buy some pots or a window box and take pleasure in planting them with flowers or herbs.
• You may not have ridden a bicycle for years, but give it a go. Hire a bike, find a safe cycle track and go for a ride. Cycling is a good form of exercise and can help generate feel-good endorphins, which may uplift your mood.
• Become a conservation volunteer. Find a local conservation project and see if there’s a task you can help with. From cutting grass to trimming back undergrowth, there are lots of opportunities to help preserve natural beauty for future generations.
• Take a walk through the woods and observe the trees. Appreciate the colors of the leaves, the fruits of the trees and the wildlife nesting or living in the wood. Don’t just walk through, try to absorb that feeling on being at the center of a living, breathing network – which you are a part of.
• Take a trip to the beach. Explore rock pools, collect shells, listen to seagulls and watch the waves roll in. The sound of the waves and contemplating the infinite horizon is at once calming, and humbling – putting problems into perspective.
• Create your own natural art. Collect pine cones, seashells, sea glass, pebbles or leaves. Keep an open mind and see what you can create.

Planning your own program, and sticking to it will not only be fulfilling, but inspiring. Ecotherapy is something everyone could benefit from. Activities such as these can involve all the family, from the young to the old, and offer physical as well as emotional benefits.

Give it a try, no matter the time of year, and you’ll soon discover that adding a bit of structure to how you go out into nature can help lessen the impact of the challenges and stresses we can all find ourselves facing – and increase our appreciation for the larger world, and our place in it.

1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/out-the-darkness/201204/the-power-nature-ecotherapy-and-awakening [↩]
2. https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/nature-therapy-ecotherapy#1 [↩]
3. https://www.mind.org.uk/media/2699029/making-sense-of-ecotherapy-2015.pdf [↩]

What is floral therapy and how does it benefit our wellbeing?

There are many practices that have received a lot of attention in recent years for their soothing effect on our minds and how that plays into a more robust wellbeing: Mindfulness. Nature. Aromatherapy. Aesthetic pleasure. Manual and craft therapy. Utilitarian art. Creative expression. But to do each of these things individually would take a lot of time and effort! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a concept that combined them all? Well, there is! It’s known as floral therapy—or flower mindfulness. But just what is floral therapy exactly?

How does floral therapy work?

Floral therapy can be a passive experience, simply involving lingering a little longer at a floral shop or in the flower section of the grocery store, or literally stopping to smell the flowers that you may pass in your garden or when you are out for a walk. It can also be a more hands-on experience of arranging and tending to flower bouquets. It truly is that simple.

What are the benefits of floral therapy?

Floral therapy helps us disconnect from our screens and our to-do lists. It helps us stay in the moment as we focus on a task that involves our hands and occupies our minds ‘just enough.’

Mindfulness can sometimes feel difficult. We may ask how we are to stop our minds from processing so many thoughts or when can we really take a half-hour break to sit and meditate. Meditation can also feel strange and uncomfortable if you are new to it and you simply might not want to do it.

Using nature as therapy

We’ve all heard of physicians in Japan prescribing “nature” to patients as a form of preventive or even therapeutic medicine. Or take the Scandinavian expression “There is no bad weather; only bad clothing” as a reference to the need to be in nature in every season. Some hospitals are creating wellness gardens for patients to visit. “Forest bathing” (a walk in the woods) has become popular. This is because nature soothes and nurtures us. It is undoubtedly good for our health! ((Song, Chorong, et al. “Physiological Effects of Nature Therapy: A Review of the Research in Japan.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 13, no. 8, 2016, p. 781., doi:10.3390/ijerph13080781))

That said, nature doesn’t have to be this distant place. There is this concept that nature is far away from us, that we have to travel far to get there. Instead, reframing the idea of nature to include small snippets of plants and flowers can make “nature bathing” a more easily accessible everyday practice. That is why floral therapy is so appealing—it is easy to do.

It’s all about flower power!

Let’s not forget how wonderful flowers smell. Have you ever walked down the street in early summer and passed a lavender bush or a jasmine vine? Or revelled in the smell of your Christmas tree when you first bring it home? That is because the scents of nature, particularly plants and flowers, help to release the feel-good chemicals in our brain. Part of the reason essential oils have become so popular is that they are a way to bring natural scents into our home and workspaces which help calm us. ((Cho, Mi-Yeon, et al. “Effects of Aromatherapy on the Anxiety, Vital Signs, and Sleep Quality of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Patients in Intensive Care Units.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Feb. 2013, pp. 1–6., doi:10.1155/2013/381381))

When you are arranging flowers or are at a flower shop or spending time in a flower garden, you are reaping the benefits of aromatherapy, simply by being there!

Beyond the wonderful smell, quite obviously flowers are gorgeous. Human beings are drawn to aesthetic beauty. We like to be visually pleased. People go on holiday and pay extra for a room with a view! We might spend hours at an art museum just to experience the beauty. We want our homes to look comfortable and feel visually pleasing. And obviously we like to make ourselves physically attractive by dressing nicely and taking care of our bodies, hair and skin. Looking at flowers and seeing the vibrant, bright colours or soothing ivories and whites is a pleasant experience.

Creativity through floral therapy

When we participate in flower arranging, we are using our hands. Many of us work in an occupation in which we are seated, looking at a screen and using our minds and social skills. However, there is something to be said for using our hands to create something. Some people like to experiment with carpentry in their free time or perhaps see cooking as their manual therapy. Flower arranging is another way to not only make something with our hands, but to create something pleasurable and useful to our homes (or offices!).

We all need creativity in our lives. Perhaps you are a painter or maybe you like to play the piano. However, many of us haven’t participated in something artistically creative since we were children in school. Floral therapy allows us to express some aesthetic creativity. First, we pick the colours when we are buying or picking the flowers and foliage. Then we choose the right vase or glass for them. And finally, we find ways to arrange them to showcase their textures, colours and shapes. It may sound simple, but floral therapy really might be the ultimate form of wellbeing.

Studies show that experiencing joy in life can do everything from decrease the stress to boosting mental health.

And while it can be easy to associate joy with younger generations as they explore the world, try new things, and celebrate accomplishments, don’t underestimate the significance happiness has for those of any age.

It’s our own responsibility to generate our joy and happiness, so looking inside to determine what engages and fulfils you (while putting a smile on your face) is well worth it.

Finding joy looks different for everyone. Below are five ways to inspire and encourage you to find your own.

1. Expression of self

Reflecting on and revealing the true self through artistic expression is beautiful – both externally and internally. 

It helps to manage stress, deal with anxiety and/or depression, and aid with memory, all while connecting to the self and possibly others.

To explore artist expression, try:

• playing a musical instrument
• painting
• writing
• poetry
• drawing
• pottery
• singing
• sewing
• dancing

2. Exploration and travel

The ever-changing growth perspective you can get from seeing the world is priceless. Connecting with history, experiencing new cultures and foods, and touring the natural wonders of the world are all ways to seek joy.

Whether a month-long trip to a different country, a day trip to a local landmark, or a television show that tours you around a special city, enjoy what travel offers in broadening your perspective of yourself and the world around you.

3. Caring for others

Giving those in need a helping hand or bringing a smile to someone else’s face is often just as rewarding to you as it is to those receiving the care, and it may even reduce stress and reduce symptoms of depression.

Although time, energy, and resources to care and give look different for everyone, some options to consider are:

• volunteering
• rescuing a pet at an animal sanctuary
• inviting a neighbour over for tea
• making an extra pot of homemade soup for a stressed friend
• donating to an organisation or cause
• calling or writing to a distant relative

Include anything else that comes from your heart to help you truly care for other human beings.

4. Learning something new

It’s intimidating to try a new sport or learn an instrument, but the health benefits often outweigh anxieties about learning an unfamiliar activity.

Your brain may thank you with clearer thinking and better memory as you take on a new challenge, so consider such things as:

• Learning a new:
  • language
  • sport
  • cuisine to cook
  • musical instrument
• Studying:
  • history
  • science
  • geography
  • religion

You could also:

• put together a model or puzzle
• join a book club
• garden
• camp
• bird watch

5. Watching things grow

There is awe that comes from witnessing the growth and change of something – from a young child to a back garden – and from that awe comes joy.

Enjoy the observation of growth and/or natural movement by:

• watching the sunrise or sunset
• planting a garden
• eating seasonal foods
• being present with children
• viewing a waterfall
• stargazing

Because the experience of joy is different for all of us, make sure to take internal snapshots of the moments you enjoy. Conjuring up these mental images later on can bring just as much joy as the moment itself.

It’s okay to give yourself permission to experience joy – it may be essential, even, for your health. Identify what brings you happiness and adapt your life to how you can make it possible.  It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just joyful.

Questions about our place and our purpose in life often arise alongside physical symptoms of menopause (such as hot flushes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, fatigue, mood imbalance, and sexual disfunction) and can indicate required changes for a healthy journey ahead.

This time in a woman’s life can be a catalyst for growth – inspiring her to rediscover who she is, who she wants to be, and what she wants to do in life going forward.

Menopause is an opportunity to transition into the life you truly desire – once you give yourself the attention you deserve.

For many women, life leading up to menopause is busy. It’s often filled with having children, raising a family, having a career, caring for aging parents, supporting the community and/or organizations, and your regular daily responsibilities. Each of these responsibilities alone is enough to make most women long for calm and relaxation.

However, menopause is a time in which you can choose to pause and take stock of where you’re at in life, who you love, and what you really want, encouraging a rediscovery of your authentic self and implementing change to live accordingly.

What could rediscovery look like?

Each woman experiences this change differently but starting with self-awareness may be key.

Consider these important questions that can lead to personal insight:

• Who am I right now?
• Who do I want to become?
• What’s important to me?
• Who do I love and want to spend more time with?
• What do I love doing and would like to do more of?
• How am I making a difference?
• What brings me joy?
• Are there signals my body is giving me of areas that need attention?
• What do I need to change?
• How can I best take care of myself?

One answer to many of these questions is by practicing self-care during menopause. This attention on the self can include:

• following a healthier diet
• spending more time with family
• decreasing non-essential obligations
• seeking support for past trauma and/or stress
• creating a relaxing sleep routine
• practicing a new sport
• reading, writing, or expressing oneself artistically
• learning a new language
• traveling
• growing a garden

This transition into the next stage of life may also include tough decisions such as a career change and/or retirement, relationship changes, and geographical moves. 

And you know what? That’s okay.

Making decisions for overall wellbeing and happiness isn’t always easy, but it can result in healthy growth, exploration, and transition into the person you desire to be.

Menopause is a season of life during which women can blossom into their authentic selves. Beyond strictly physical changes, it inspires mental and spiritual growth. And self-discovery, self-awareness, and self-care are key to making it happen.

Stress is a normal part of life.

Although we tend to think of it as a negative and use the word mostly to describe bad experiences, it really just refers to our body and mind’s response to any challenging demand. In reality, not all stress is bad for you. If you’re running a marathon, delivering a project under time pressure or making a public speech, stress hormones over a short-term period can boost your mood, energize you, improve your performance and actually help you push through to success.

When we see a stressful situation as an opportunity rather than a threat, this positive stress – also known as ‘eustress’, the opposite to ‘distress’ – can actually enhance our ability to achieve goals and conquer fears. As we harness this power over potential stressors without feeling overwhelmed, we can achieve change and personal growth. Far from harming us, stress can strengthen our mental health by reinforcing our sense of determination and agency over our own life.

According to UK mental health charity MIND, stress can help us to “take action, feel more energized and get results” ((How to manage stress))

What is stress?

Stress can be positive or negative.  Of course, some common stressors are universally detrimental, like injury and illness, death of a family member, work or home conflicts, and financial or legal problems. Everyone has different levels of resilience and coping skills, but ultimately these experiences can, sadly, have a damaging impact on our wellbeing.

Despite this, mental health professionals increasingly recognize that there are also benefits to experiencing stress. Research published in the World Journal of Medical Sciences found that:

“Stress is a protective reaction that helps an organism survive in difficult conditions and environments. From a perception of stress as a reaction to strong negative environmental impacts […] researchers now […] see eustress as a favorable factor affecting health and longevity” ((The Eustress Concept: Problems and Outlooks))

So, what do we mean by “positive stress”?

Positive stress can give us feelings of excitement and anticipation about the possibility of achievement. There are all kinds of stressors, both in our personal and business lives, which are likely to have a beneficial effect on our wellbeing and mental health.  For example:

• Starting a new job, getting a promotion, or retiring from work
• Getting married or starting a family
• Moving house
• Going on holiday
• Taking up new hobbies or learning new skills

We can appreciate positive stress when we challenge ourselves, push ourselves outside of our comfort zones, or have new experiences. These can be physical, mental, or emotional. 

The terms ‘eustress’, meaning positive stress, was coined by the pioneering Hungarian scientist Dr Hans Selye, a Nobel Prize nominee, in 1974. In his work, Selye noted the difference between the stress that can lead us to a ‘healthy, positive, constructive result’, by enhancing our capability and motivation, and conversely the kind of stress which causes anxiety and disables our functioning.¹

Further studies by psychologists Lazarus and Folkman suggest it’s our responses that determine whether we experience positive or negative stress. They described how internal and external factors like our personality, how healthy we are, and how much energy and support we have, can impact whether we perceive a situation as one of overwhelm or instead as an exciting challenge.²

How does our body react to stress?

Most of us are familiar with the term ‘fight or flight’ which describes our brain and body’s reaction to threats. Our hearts race, breath quickens and blood pressure rises as we’re flooded with the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. Meanwhile, glucose rushes to our muscles telling them to limber up, and oxytocin encourages us to seek connection with other humans who can help. 

In small doses, we can experience these physiological changes as exhilarating rather than exhausting. They boost our energy, sharpen our focus, and give us the motivation to successfully respond to adversity.

What are the factors that help us respond positively to stress?

According to the UK’s Stress Management Society: “Being in control of your thoughts increases your ability to find solutions to challenging situations and to deal more effectively with stress. Master your mind and you will never wonder how to deal with stress again”. ((Assess your mindset))

Research into positive stress has shown a variety of common traits among individuals who cope well with stress, including:

• Belief in themself and confidence in their abilities
• A mindset of hope and positivity
• A perception that they have power and control in a situation
• High expectations of themself and others

What are the benefits of experiencing positive stress?

After a person experiences positive stress, their adaptive capacity increases. This means that these experiences literally re-wire individuals’ brains to succeed in the future. This has benefits for our self-esteem, our motivation and our strength in body and mind. Our resilience increases, and we have the confidence to push ourselves again when a new stressor arises.

Health psychologist Kelly McGonigal, PhD, gave one of the most popular TED talks of all time in 2013, on the subject of positive stress. Her research highlighted that when people learn to reframe the way they think about stress, they become less anxious and more capable. McGonigal says:

“Can changing how you think about stress make you healthier?  Science says yes. As a health psychologist, I no longer want to get rid of your stress, I want to make you better at stress. One of the simplest beliefs or thoughts that allows people to have this kind of positive challenge-response is simply: ‘I can handle this. I might not be able to control it, but I can handle this.”³

What about positive stress at work?

A study in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology about workplace stress found that employees react differently to the stressors in their job depending on their mindset. Employees with a positive stress mindset took constructive actions to improve their performance when they anticipated a large workload. Their planning and scheduling, along with seeing the challenge as a learning opportunity, led to more successful task outcomes and higher energy levels at the end of the working day.⁴

Meanwhile, it’s clear from Lepaya’s 2021 research that stress can cause major problems in business. The study highlighted the fact that more than two-thirds of European workers feel they need more input from their employer to develop their skills at dealing with work stress. Of course, feeling supported by colleagues and supervisors has a positive effect on employee mental health outcomes and wellbeing, which in turn improves companies’ productivity and profitability.⁵

How can I harness the power of positive stress and turn negative stress into an opportunity for growth?

If you’re wondering how to put this all into action, you can start by deciding to challenge yourself in your personal life. You could join a gym, or try out a new sport that pushes your boundaries. You could take on a volunteering or charity project, or join a club to learn new hobbies and skills. 

When you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, one of the most effective techniques to calm your mind and help you regain control is to use positive affirmations like I am calm, I am relaxed, challenges help me grow, I can handle whatever comes my way, I am strong, I can accomplish anything. 

The Mental Health Foundation suggests these ten steps to alleviate the harmful impacts of stressful situations:

1. Recognize when stress is causing a problem and don’t ignore warning signs
2. Think about where you can make changes, prioritize and delegate
3. Build supportive relationships at work and home
4. Eat healthily
5. Reduce alcohol consumption as this affects feelings of anxiety
6. Exercise regularly to boost your mood
7. Take time to relax and practice self-care
8. Practice meditation or mindfulness
9. Get restful sleep
10. Be kind to yourself⁶

Dr Hans Selye’s top five quotes about stress

1. “Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one”
2. “Stress is not necessarily something bad, it all depends on how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial”
3. “If you want to live a long life, focus on making contributions”
4. “Nothing erases unpleasant thoughts more effectively than conscious concentration on pleasant ones”
5. “Man should not try to avoid stress any more than he would shun food, love or exercise”

In summary, stress is an unavoidable part of life for all of us, and it can be caused by both positive and negative situations. Sometimes even adverse events, if we’re able to manage them, can have a positive outcome. We can help ourselves by recognizing the early signs of stress and taking action to minimize the demands or maximize our coping capacity. Positive stress or eustress can improve our performance, increase our determination and optimism, and train our brains to deal more effectively with challenges in the future. 

1. Hans Selye (1907–1982): Founder of the stress theory [↩]
2. Stress and Coping Theories [↩]
3. Kelly McGonigal: Can We Reframe The Way We Think About Stress? [↩]
4. Mindset matters: the role of employees’ stress mindset for day-specific reactions to workload anticipation [↩]
5. Two-thirds Of European Employees Experience Excessive Work-stress [↩]
6. Stress [↩]

We all know that our brains and bodies are linked.

But how do our cognitive abilities and our psychological health affect our physical abilities? How, for example, does training our brains help to improve response times, visual accuracy, memory and more? Sports performance requires a wealth of cognitive functions, such as attention, decision-making and working memory, to be functional at optimal levels in stressful and demanding environments – such as a sporting environment.¹

Brain training, also known as cognitive training, involves a series of targeted mental exercises to help improve your brain function. Cognitive performance exercises are often practiced by professional athletes as part of their training plan – by first focusing on their brain function, they are then in a stronger position to focus on their physical abilities.  

Why is brain training relevant for sports professionals?

Studies have shown that brain exercises can help boost our psychological health and enhance certain cognitive skills such as memory attention and problem solving.²

Sports require more than physical skill and ability. To be a good sports person, you also need to tap into a number of cognitive functions. By increasing your cognitive abilities of perception and decision making for example, sports professionals will be in a better position to predict their opponents’ movements, which will help them determine their own accuracy and speed when competing against them.

Cognitive skills fall into a number of main areas. Each of these are important if you want to excel at the sport you are competing in:

Attention

• Sustained: It’s important to be able to sustain long-term attention and focus
• Selective: You need to be able to mentally block out any external distractions
• Flexible: Being able to transfer your focus from one thing to another

Memory

• Long-term: Retaining knowledge for future performances
• Working: Tapping into what you know to work in your favor

Visual Processing

• Visualization: Creating mental images and scenarios in your mind
• Visual span: Taking in peripheral information at a glance
• Discrimination: Distinguishing between small differences that will affect your performance

Sensory integration and thinking

• Timing/rhythm: Split-second timing and moving to the best rhythm
• Planning: Short-term and long-term planning
• Decision speed: Being able to make decisions quickly

How exactly do you train your brain?

It is of course difficult to replicate certain sporting scenarios without physically being in them, but there are still ways to train your brain for when you do meet these scenarios. Here are some ideas to help get your brain in the best mental condition:

• Visualize the win. If you tell yourself that you are here to do a job and to win or complete the challenge or workout, you will find that the win comes easier.
• Practice mindfulness. By practicing mindfulness in your daily life, you will find that when you are in your sporting situation, you will find it easier to see what is meaningful and what is abstraction.
• Plan your success. Think about how exactly you are going to win. Visualize it. Before taking part in your sport, play through the scenario in your mind.
• Focus on positivity. There will always be positive and negative influences around us. If there is a lot of negativity around you, focus on the positivity inside you. Focus on what makes you happy and what motivates you.

In order to be the best you can be, you need to focus on more than your physical sporting abilities. When it comes to training, training your brain is just as important as training your body. It’s often said that the mind gives up before the body does, so by making your mind as strong as it can be, you are giving yourself the best possible chance of success.

1. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01121/full [↩]
2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1385/JMN:20:3:213 [↩]

Taking care of your mind and body during any time of the year is important.

And during the holidays, it’s essential. The hustle and bustle of this time of year is often filled with scrumptious goodies and late-night parties – not to mention self-induced stress. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Make this year one in which you are present, healthy, and joyous with these 10 self-care tips for a successful holiday season.

1. Set realistic expectations.

Whether it’s for yourself or others, understand that the holidays probably won’t be perfect and that there is beauty in this realization. 

2. Get proper sleep.

Crucial for immunity, good sleep should be high on your priority list. Practice healthy sleep habits and make sure to stick to your routine whenever possible.

3. Ask for help.

Preparing a big family meal or decorating the house doesn’t have to happen alone. Reach out to others for help – many people enjoy lending a helping hand.

4. Be mindful of eating habits.

Despite common belief, holiday eating isn’t an all or nothing affair. Make conscious choices about what you consume and allow for flexibility when you want to indulge.

5. Breathe.

Breathing techniques such as counting inhales and exhales to four, belly breathing, and pranayama breathing are all valuable tools when it comes to slowing down and managing stress. Practice them when sitting in traffic, after dropping the kids off at school, or even during a frantic holiday shopping spree.

6. Make taking supportive nutrients easy.

Remember to continue taking medications and supplements even when things get busy. Place supplements on your nightstand, next to your bathroom sink, and even at your work desk (as an extra supply) so you don’t forget.

7. Look for ways to be active with loved ones.

Instead of sitting all day, enjoy a walk after dinner, play active games as a family, go ice skating one afternoon, or try an online tai-chi class together. Make sure to balance food and sitting with movement.

8. Drink tea.

A glass of warm tea can be comforting and calming. Try for a daily cup (ones with adaptogen herbs such as holy basil and rhodiola give extra stress support).

9. Don’t forget to laugh.

It’s important to find humor in ourselves and in situations, particularly during the holidays. A good laugh is even supportive to the immune system. So, the next time the pumpkin pie crust gets burned and the filling is soupy, just have a good laugh about it and let it go.

10. Find time for yourself.

Make sure to allot time and space to rest and regroup. It’s okay to say no to some things and yes to reading, napping, exercising, talking on the phone, cooking, taking a bath, and just enjoying some peace and quiet.

The holidays are an exciting time, but without proper self-care, you can find yourself overwhelmed and exhausted. Take care of your health – mentally and physically – by prioritizing what’s important to you.

REFERENCES:

https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/managing-expectations
https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/holiday-season

As of September 2022, the World Population Review declared Japan as having the second-highest life expectancy worldwide. Beaten only marginally by Hong Kong who hold the top spot, the Japanese are living to an average of 84.67 years. But why is this? Is it down to diet? Social practices? Exercise? Genetics? Or a combination of all these factors?

The mystery of Okinawa

Located in the rural north of Okinawa’s main island is the 3,000-person village of Ogimi. Here, even given Japan’s impressive longevity statistics, something fascinating seems to be happening. At the latest count there were 15 villagers who were centenarians and 171 in their 90s. New York Times bestselling author and National Geographic explorer Dan Buettner calls this a ‘blue zone’; one of only five places in the world where people live the longest, happiest lives. What can Okinawa, and indeed Japan as a whole, teach us about the key to a long and healthy survival? After all, those living there have been through the same hardships as people across the rest of the world – wars, family difficulties, grief, loss, money worries. The same stresses we face, they face. So, what can we learn from them?

10 reasons why the Japanese live a long healthy life

1. Genetics

For almost five-decades, Craig Willcox, professor of public health and gerontology at Okinawa International University, has been investigating Okinawan longevity. Also, a co-principal investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian Study, he has spoken to over 1,000 centenarians and hundreds of younger elders in their seventies, eighties, and nineties to try and understand the health phenomenon seen in Okinawa. The study searches for commonalities in diets, exercise habits, genetics, psychological and spiritual practices, and social and behavioral patterns. Professor Wilcox has concluded that “about two-thirds of longevity is related to diet and way of life, the rest is genetics.”

2. Nutritionally rich foods

The importance of diet as a means of staying healthy can’t be underestimated. We need vitamins and minerals to fight disease and infection and a calorie-controlled diet to prevent obesity and inflammation. The Okinawan diet gives more than the recommended five daily servings of fruit and vegetables and has a greater focus on heart-healthy fish than on meat. Rather than rice, sweet potatoes are staples, which are nutritionally dense but low in calories. Carotenoid-rich marine foods such as seaweeds and iron-rich, green leafy vegetables help to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress.

3. Matcha tea and its benefits

The Japanese drink a huge volume of tea and in particular, matcha tea. Matcha is becoming more popular in the west as we begin to understand more about its nutritional properties and antioxidant effects, but it seems the Japanese have known this for centuries. The secret to this ancient drink lies in the way it is produced, with the young leaves of the tea plant being deprived of sunlight as it grows to retain its chlorophyll and antioxidant content. Traditional Japanese tea ceremonies have been practiced for more than 1,000 years, with the Japanese drinking tea several times daily.

4. Avoidance of sugar

Japanese cuisine leans further towards the savory than sweet side of the scale. There are of course desserts in Japan, but they are simply not favored as much as desserts are in the western world. As a nation, there is a much lower consumption of sugar, and of foods like white potatoes, which are higher in natural starches. As well as matcha tea, the Japanese consume a lot of green tea, without the sugar and milk that is frequently used to flavor black tea. Less sugar in their diets equates to lower obesity levels and less of the negative effects sugar is known to cause, such as inflammation, higher blood pressure and diabetes – all of which have been linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

5. Hara hachi bu – eating in moderation

While much of the world views quantity as a sign of quality, eating culture is somewhat more controlled when it comes to portion sizes. Hara hachi bu is the practice of eating in moderation and stopping when you are about 80 percent full. Mealtimes are not solely about food, but about socializing and sharing the overall eating experience with others. It’s a time for communication and reflection, rather than gluttony. Cultural habits can be difficult to change, but those in the western world can make small changes to work towards Hara hachi bu by eating slower, being more mindful of each mouthful and reducing the size of their plates so that smaller portions appear more satiating. As it takes around 20 minutes for your brain to recognize you’re full, this practice is a good reminder to stop eating before you feel you need to.

6. Healthcare

The Japanese government had a large healthcare push around 50 years ago, investing in childhood vaccination programs to ward off future illness and introducing universal health insurance in 1961. Equal and universal access for all is paid for through the government, employers and individuals and regular health check-ups are the norm, as are mass screenings in school and workplaces, conducted by local government authorities. The private sector has also shown an interest in health and in Matsumoto, the second largest city in the Nagano Prefecture, a bank even started offering higher interest rates and incentivized benefits, such as weekend breaks to Disneyland in Tokyo, for those who undertook a medical check-up for three consecutive years.

7. The importance of Ikigai – life’s purpose

Ikiagi is the concept of finding and retaining life’s purpose. This ancient philosophy is like ‘joie de vivre’ in France or ‘hygge’ in Denmark and roughly translates as ‘your reason to live.’ In an aging population, such as in Okinawa, the older population are given tasks such as weaving locally crafted basho-fu textiles, keeping them social active and mentally engaged while also generating an income and contributing to the economy of the village. The Japanese believe that having a purpose is essential for life fulfilment and that in can be found in many different aspects of your life – from eating well to helping others and surrounding yourself with friends and family.

8. Moai – joint support systems

This Japanese support system brings together people with like-minded interests to encourage the development of deep emotional connections and a common bond. A group, or moai, could be formed from old friends, former colleagues or simply those with an interest in the same hobby or game. It is common practice to belong to a number of different moai and, while they have a clear benefit for those who are older, they can be joined at any age. The Japanese are culturally very loyal to their moai, with some having belonged to them since their school days. By discussing and enjoying those things that you find interesting with others who feel the same, you can relieve stress and combat the loneliness that can accompany life’s later years.

9. Exercise

Japan is a very active country, with citizens remaining physical even into their older years. Walking routes around cities and parks are commonplace, and all over the country there are community groups and neighborhood associations that organize group walks. Culturally, more people on average will commute by public transport than by car, so there is naturally a greater degree of physical movement.

10. Mindfulness and stress-release

The Japanese are no stranger to the concept of mindfulness and the benefits of being at one with nature. Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-yoku, which is becoming more popular across the world, actually originated in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise to help relax and ground you to the earth. Forest bathing is simple to practice and involves keeping calm and quiet amongst the trees while observing nature and breathing deeply to reduce stress level and boost health and wellbeing naturally. With around 3,000 miles of natural woodland, the Japanese government actively encourage citizens to make use of trees for therapy.   

We all want to know the secret to eternal youth. However, when looking at Japan, it might not be such a secret after all. While genetics may well play a factor, there are clear signs that looking after your body, engaging your mind, and interacting with others may be the best things we can do to live a long and healthy life.

We sat down with Lisa, qualified Forest Bathing Guide, and self-confessed nature lover, to learn about the practice of Shinrin-yoku. So, what is Forest Bathing (and do you need a swimsuit?) Can you join in without a forest on your doorstep? And what benefits might you experience from this Japanese practice?

So, Lisa, how did you first find out about Forest Bathing?

I’ve always loved nature, ever since I was a kid. I was always growing things outdoors and digging about in the earth! But Forest Bathing isn’t the literal act of bathing – it means being immersed in the forest. About a year ago, I read about Forest Bathing in a magazine. Soon after, I saw a book for sale on Shinrin-yoku (the Japanese term), and I was hooked from there.

Nature can help your mental health, and interestingly, your physical health too. I loved it so much, I wondered ‘can I get a qualification in this?’… I did some research, and there was a course about to start – it was like the universe aligned. I passed the course and read so many books. I just became completely fascinated by the whole subject.

What does a Forest Bathing session entail?

You can go Forest Bathing in a group, or on your own. I usually spend a couple of hours in the forest when I lead a group. I love photographing nature, but for the best Forest Bathing experience, you’re not supposed to take a camera or phone. It’s really just a conscious slowing down, and focusing on all of your senses to see, hear, smell and touch the forest.

I have found so many different species and so many fascinating things out in the woods that you normally wouldn’t notice. Sometimes you’re too busy walking, chatting with your friend, or listening to music while you walk around the forest. You’re missing out on all those lovely, natural sounds.

It’s very little walking around – you might only travel one or two kilometers in the sessions. Because it’s so little walking, you only need to find a nearby green space with trees. Forest Bathing is about appreciating the small things mindfully, so it doesn’t have to be a great big space.

Which activities do you do?

There are lots of different activities to open up your senses. One of my favorite activities is lying on the forest floor and watching the light filter through the trees. The Japanese call it ‘Komorebi’. That works really well if it’s a sunny day, because you see all the shadows.

Another good one is conscious listening. You spend about 15 to 20 minutes just sitting quietly, closing your eyes, and listening. When you focus, you can hear layers of bird song – some that are close by, and some are far away. You get the jostling of leaves in the trees and the creaking of the branches. The droning of insects, the rustling of animals’ things in the undergrowth; it makes you realize how alive the world is!

To engage your vision, you can also sit and focus on one tiny area of the forest floor. Again, it’s alive – not just a patch of ground. You’ll see insects walking, the wind moving plants and petals. You’ll see patterns and shadows. You’ll start to notice small things: the way a leaf has been nibbled by a type of insect, or the different types of seeds that are on the trees. You could also go on a ‘texture hunt’ and look at mosses, ferns, the gills of fungi – the list goes on!

How does Forest Bathing help you relax?

When we’re at work, or doing a task like driving a car, or watching television, we’re using what’s called directed attention. It’s one part of our brain, focusing on one thing. After a while, our concentration starts to go, and you get mentally fatigued. When you go Forest Bathing, it rests the part of your brain used for directed attention – scientists call it ‘soft fascination’. It mentally refreshes you. For me, it generates a lot of creative thinking.

When’s the best time of year to go Forest Bathing?

In the words of Alfred Wainwright, ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing’. You can go Forest Bathing at any time of the year if you’re dressed appropriately. In the winter, I just wrap up warm and take something to sit on. It’s quite interesting if it’s raining too, as long as it’s not absolutely pouring it down! It’s relaxing to listen to the rainfall, and watch the droplets bead off the leaves.

Autumn is a beautiful time to go forest bathing. At that time, the forest is so colorful with all the leaves, different types of fungi, and vibrant green mosses. Each season is special for its own reasons.

How does Forest Bathing benefit people?

There are studies around how just even looking at nature can be good for your physical and mental health. One study was conducted in a hospital over about nine years. Half the patients were in a room that looked out onto trees, and the other half were in a room that looked out onto a brick wall. They’d all had the same surgery, but the ones that looked at the trees felt better quicker and required less pain medication than the ones that looked at a brick wall. They’ve done studies in prisons too, and inmates that can see greenery are calmer, less prone to violence, and less prone to depression.

Another side of it is an appreciation for nature. This is essential for us as a species, because if we don’t love nature, we won’t protect it. Generations are growing up spending more time indoors than ever before. More time with computers, more time on devices, and less time in nature. Many children won’t be able to name a lot of plants, birds, insects and trees. So, when they have children, they won’t be passing on that knowledge and appreciation. Forest Bathing is a great way to reconnect with the natural world and take some time for yourself.

What are feel-good hormones? How do they lead to better physiological health and how can we boost them naturally to maintain a healthy mental state?

Adopting an optimistic outlook is key to maintaining a healthy mind. Understanding how you think and feel inside is an essential part of your wellbeing. But sometimes, especially in challenging times, it can be tough to remain positive.

To help you, we’ve pulled together top tips in Your Wellbeing guide on how to cope with stress and manage change. It offers credible information on how food, exercise and sleep can help you. A holistic approach can positively contribute to your mental wellbeing. It also gives advice on how to spark your natural energy which is something that may well be lacking at the moment. Take a look at our guide and feel free to share.

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Many practitioners of Pilates find it to be more than a workout.

In lots of cases, Pilates is a lifestyle. The benefits that come with practicing its exercises are incomparable, especially as a regimen you can teach and train yourself to master.

What does Pilates do?

Pilates is about training your muscle groups to work together, creating smoother movements. This will also help with improving posture, supporting proper breathing, supporting healthy spinal and pelvic alignment, and help you become more in tune with the nuances of your own body.

It also helps to improve flexibility and range of motion as well as reducing stress. Another thing to keep in mind about Pilates is quality over quantity: it should be stressed that the quality of the movements practiced is vastly more crucial than the quantity of repetitions.

When practiced regularly (about three times a week), Pilates can help you develop a stronger core, a stronger back, and gain more lean muscles. It helps with flexibility and also helps to create an evenly conditioned body.

Pilates can do wonders for the body, and not just physically. When adding proper breathing to Pilates, you are better able to execute movements with maximum power and efficiency. Pilates teaches things like quality of breathing and proper body alignment. By engaging your mind while exercising the body, you’re reaping the biggest benefits from practicing Pilates. Pilates is beneficial for overall physical health and also supports mental wellness.

But what is it that makes Pilates different from other forms of exercise? In this article, we discuss the things that differentiate Pilates from other fitness regimens and why these distinctions are so important.

Fitness regimens that bear some commonalities with Pilates include yoga, tai chi, barre, and even swimming.

Pilates and yoga

Pilates and yoga have a lot in common, but they’re certainly not interchangeable. Yoga is almost more akin to a form of active meditation, in which the practitioner (in this case, yogi) performs asanas to help create a physical, mental, and emotional experience within and throughout the body.

On the other hand, Pilates helps the practitioner learn to train several muscle groups at once using smooth controlled movements. That’s not to say that there is not or cannot be a spiritual or emotional aspect to performing Pilates; any type of movement can be meditative when performed with mindfulness. It’s more to say that Pilates helps to retrain the body to move in more efficient – and ultimately safer – patterns of motion.

For example, Pilates emphasizes focusing on proper breathing, helping to maintain healthy spinal and pelvic alignment. Ultimately, this allows the body and mind to spend their combined focus on smooth movement, helping to facilitate an acute awareness of the body. In turn, this can help with things ranging from stress to back pain to gaining a stronger physical core.

Pilates and tai chi

Tai chi is an internal Chinese martial art, internal meaning that it focuses more on interior development than physiological development. It blends concepts of movement, meditation, and (sometimes) Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM. Tai chi does not require the same amount of physical movement that Pilates does, but both focus on building muscle strength and autonomic memory.

Pilates and barre

Barre is a hybrid exercise regimen that borrows elements from ballet, yoga, and Pilates. Its name comes from the use of a ballet barre throughout practice. When compared with yoga, Pilates, and tai chi, barre is significantly more physical and less mental, and is generally practiced without a spiritual component.

Pilates and swimming

Because of their shared focus on gentle and repetitive moments, Pilates and swimming have quite a bit in common when it comes to the type of muscle memory the two forms of exercise facilitate. Many find their swimming exercise to be meditative and look forward to their daily dip as a form of spiritual and emotional cleansing. Likewise, learning proper breath control is a major component of both Pilates and swimming.

Pilates shares similarities with other types of exercise, but there’s nothing out there that’s completely interchangeable. Try out different exercise regimens to see which one suits you best and provides you with the best physical, mental, and spiritual benefits.

Some people seem to be able to retain information and reel off facts and figures easily, while others might frequently struggle to remember even the simplest of things.

It’s important not to panic if you find yourself become more forgetful, as studies have shown that memory will naturally decline as we age, so it’s not always a sign of something more serious.¹ Becoming forgetful can be annoying though – from the embarrassment of forgetting someone’s name to the frustration of not knowing where you left your house or car keys.

Be kind to your mind

Thankfully, there are steps we can take to improve our physiological health. While memory loss is a natural part of the aging process and can also be influenced by our genetic makeup, the good news is that there are things we can all do to ensure a healthy mental state and to improve our memories:

1. Consume less sugar

We all know too much sugar isn’t good for us, but aside from the impact it can have on our bodies, did you realize that it could impact your memory too? Sugar has been shown in studies to lead to poor memory and reduced brain volume, especially when it comes to short-term memory. So, for better health, and better memory, try your best to cut back on the sugar.²

2. Eat oily fish or take a fish oil supplement

There are many studies to suggest that fish oil, which is naturally rich in omega-3 fatty acids, can slow mental decline.³
If you like fish like salmon and mackerel then great! Fill your plate and enjoy them knowing that they offer memory-boosting benefits. If you don’t like, or don’t eat fish, you can still take a high-quality omega-3 supplement to reap the same benefits.

3. Take time to meditate

As well as lowering blood pressure and reducing stress, meditation has also been shown to have potential memory-boosting benefits.⁴
Meditation isn’t just good for your body, but it’s good for your mind too!

4. Watch your weight

One of the best things you can do for your body is keep your weight at a healthy level. This can help to avoid weight-related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as to reduce the pressure on your joints. Keeping a healthy weight is also good for your mind. That’s because, as well as being associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, obesity can change the genes associated with memory.⁵

5. Ensure you get enough sleep

We all know how awful it feels to be tired and how much harder it seems to function. So, it’s no surprise that lack of proper sleep has been linked to poor memory, with research showing that not getting enough sleep does actually affect your cognitive ability to remember things.⁶

6. Cut back on alcohol

Alcohol doesn’t just affect you in the moment, but afterwards too. Studies have shown that binge drinking can alter the brain and cause memory deficits, and repeated episodes of binge drinking can actually damage the hippocampus – the part of your brain that is responsible for your memory.⁷

7. Give your brain a workout!

If you want to be good at sports, you would have to train. Having a good memory is no different – your brain can be trained just as your body can! Brain games such as crosswords and sudoku are fun ways to pass time and come with the added benefit of giving your brain a challenging workout.

8. Exercise your body too

Exercise is important for mental health as well as physical health and research has indicated that it can help memory retention in people of all ages. Regular exercise during mid-life in particular, is associated with a reduction in the risk of developing dementia.⁸

9. Treat yourself to some (dark) chocolate

The great news for chocoholics is that cocoa is packed full of antioxidants known as flavonoids, which are particularly beneficial for your brain. Studies show that people who consumed dark chocolate had better memory retention than those who consumed white chocolate, which does not contain any flavonoids.⁹

Losing your memory is something that concerns many people and of course, there are many who will still suffer from this. Whatever stage of life you are at, there’s always time to do what you can to give your physiological health a boost and put yourself in the best position for retaining a strong memory.

1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joim.12533 [↩]
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26970578/ [↩]
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3262608/ [↩]
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895748/ [↩]
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728728/ [↩]
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3413705/ [↩]
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3548359/ [↩]
8. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18570697/ [↩]
9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21324330/ [↩]

Are you ready to welcome a fresh start with purpose? Do you want to set goals that sync with your values and strengths? Do you wonder if reaching these goals will bring fulfillment and joy?

Using your ikigai can guide your determinations for success and enjoyment. Ikigai is the Japanese concept for living a life of purpose and worth – simply put, a reason for living. It involves four components comprised of:

            – your passions

            – your skills

            – your vocation or career

            – your mission in life

Overlapping are elements that play a role in these components:

            – what you love to do

            – what you are good at

            – what the world needs

            – what you can do and be compensated for

When the four components are fulfilled by the elements that support it, ikigai can flow smoothly leading to experiences that cultivate enduring happiness. It not only benefits you, but also others in the world.

And bringing it into a new beginning can be just the thing needed to set meaningful goals.

Reflect

Before setting goals, take time to reflect on the past as well as your current values and goals.

Ask yourself such questions as:

            – What did I accomplish recently? / What do I want to accomplish going forward?

            – How did it make me feel? / What do I want to feel?

            – Who did I help? / Who do I want to help?

            – What’s important to me?

            – How can I assist others and make a difference in the world?

            – What skills do I have?

            – What brings me joy?

Contemplating what purpose you’ve been serving and adjusting it to meet your future goals can support determinations that fit you.

Prioritize

Setting the same goals as you always have may not be useful because aging, experiences, and environment can all affect ikigai (it morphs throughout life). In addition, setting goals just because someone else is doesn’t benefit you at all.

This is why it’s important to tailor your goals to what works for you.

Prioritizing actions that bring meaning to your life as an individual can help you succeed. For some, this may be cleaning up their diet. For others, it may mean connecting to their community through volunteerism. 

Customize your goals in this period of starting fresh to fulfill your personal sense of ikigai.

Activate

Ikigai is only a philosophical concept until action creates experiences that demonstrates it.

Activate your ikigai by:

            – being proactive rather than reactive in changes you want to make

            – tracking your progress (what is working, what isn’t)

            – setting small goals that, over time, can make a big difference

            – modifying goals when needed

            – staying accountable to yourself and to others

Following through with what you set out to accomplish may be more achievable when thoughtful goals align with your passion, skills, values, and the needs of humanity.

Although any time of year is good for developing your ikigai, a new beginning can provide a scheduled pause for making space to think about it.

Is it spending our days with those we love? Is it living out our passions? Is it safety and security? How about having good health? Living where you want? Or loving what you do?

What is it that makes a good life?

The answer to this ubiquitous question may hold the secret to happiness, and the Japanese concept of ikigai is one possible explanation.

Ikigai means a reason for living and is a Japanese formula for happiness. It is a blending of passions and talents with compensated actions that help the world.

According to Japanese tradition, you must have ikigai to live a good life.

Ikigai consists of four major components:

            1. What you love

            2. What you’re good at

            3. What the world needs

            4. What you can be paid for

What you love

Think about your passions and interests. Why do you love them so much?

While there is often a multitude of answers, one primary reason should be because they allow you to be in the present moment, encouraging you to stop thinking and just enjoy living.

Such passions may be:

            – singing

            – dancing

            – reading

            – writing

            – painting

            – movement

            – outdoor activity

What you’re good at

Whether it’s something that comes naturally or a skill that has taken years to master, ikigai motivates you to overcome obstacles and improve your competency.

In some companies, this is called strength management, in which employees are placed in certain roles and groomed based on their inherent prowess.

Consider what talents you have that can be helpful in the world:

Is it communicating with others? How about attention to details? Do you know a lot about history? Are you an expert with numbers? Is writing something you enjoy? Or does public speaking energize you?

Discover what you are good at to develop your ikigai.

What the world needs

What is your purpose in the world?

It’s easy to wonder what the point of certain things is. Particularly when it comes to a job, going about day-to-day actions with no reason or direction makes life depressing.

Finding work that helps others and contributes to the greater good is part of having a purposeful life. Resolve to help the world through your strengths and skills – whether that be in your everyday job or through another opportunity – to bring meaning and fulfillment to your life.

What you can be paid for

There may be many things you would love to do every day, but it’s hard to be happy with past-due bills piling up on the counter.

An important part of ikigai is to be fairly compensated for your work. It’s important to not only feel worthy, but to also be monetarily valued. 

While this may take some time, creativity, and determination, it’s essential to evaluate what you love, what you are good at, and what the world needs with the opportunity for earnings.

What does it mean to be resilient?

No matter what life stage you’re at, it’s inevitable that we all come across the ups and downs of life. Resilience is the ability to deal and bounce back from those difficult events. It doesn’t mean that emotional upheaval or varying stress levels aren’t experienced, it’s the way you work through the emotional pain and suffering that makes all the difference.

Someone who regularly works on his resilience is Olympic athlete, James Ellington. After experiencing a terrible motorbike accident which saw him in a wheelchair, he experienced a knockback that not only threatened his career but his life too. Despite it all, he’s shown his resilience and determination by pushing himself back to elite level athletic competition.

With resilience, the most important thing to know is that it takes time to build up, it’s not something that you can do overnight and forget about it. It’s like completing a big sporting challenge – it takes time, mental focus and strength and a good support circle. While there may be some setbacks along the way, you’ll eventually look back at how far you’ve come and there’s no better feeling.

So, with this in mind, we’re sharing a number of tips to improve your resilience and we’re encouraging you to build your personal resilience action along with James Ellington.

Refuel and look after yourself

Taking care of yourself helps to keep your mind and body primed to deal with situations that require resilience. It’s all about listening to your body and directing your attention to your own needs and feelings. Focus on engaging in activities that you enjoy and find relaxing. This could be anything from exercising, taking part in mindful activities, reading, taking some me time. This is different for everyone.

James’ chosen action:

Priorities constantly change and it can be easy to forget to spend some time for yourself. I try doing something that makes me feel good every day, like exercising, exploring and catching up with family and friends. I also like to let my mind wander on topics I’m interested in to help keep me relaxed and stress-free.

What’s your action? _________________________________________________________________________

Train your brain to see both the positives and negatives

The brain is quite complex and sometimes it’s a bit harder to spot the positives over the negatives. But why? Our brain saves the happy chemicals (dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin) for opportunities to meet a survival need, and only releases them in short spurts which are quickly metabolized. This highlights the importance for us to take steps that stimulate our happy chemicals.

When you’re navigating your way to good feelings, your brain automatically alerts you to an obstacle on the path to meeting your needs. And once that obstacle has been overcome, it moves on to the next. In order to think more positively there’s a simple way to rewire this natural negativity. Create a positivity circuit by spending one minute looking for positives, three times a day for 45 days. This creates a positive habit in your brain. And while doing this, look out for external influences that may affect your positivity circuit, i.e., your support circle, having a work/life balance, etc.

James’ chosen action:

I aim to distance myself from negative energy or even any negative thoughts of my own and remind myself that I create my own outlook on things. With that being said, negativity in some form (criticism) is necessary to prevent complacency and recognizing the significance of this helps to deal with it.

What’s your action? _________________________________________________________________________

Stretch your mental muscle by continuously learning

We all understand that dedicating lots of exercise practices, with time, diet and patience will build muscle on our bodies, and without doing so, our muscles will weaken. It’s the same concept when we’re talking about our mental strength. Changing your thoughts is one aspect, but you also have to perform exercises to help manage your emotions in a positive way.

These exercises can be as simple or as complex as you want. Start off with one simple exercise and begin practicing it regularly – whether that’s trying something new like learning to play an instrument or completing a brain teaser or puzzle. Once you’ve done that, you can then begin adding new mental muscle building strategies into your daily routine to help you build your mental strength.

James’ chosen action:

I like to interact in thought-provoking conversations and with people that I’m not familiar with. This way, I’m out of my comfort zone of communication with family and friends, and get to hear different opinions on subjects and engage in insightful debates.

What’s your action? _________________________________________________________________________

Staying social

Having a strong social network around you is important – whether that’s friends, family, or colleagues. Your social network acts as a protective factor during times of crisis. Simply talking about a situation with someone won’t necessarily get rid of any worries but it allows you to open up about your feelings, get support, receive positive feedback and come up with possible solutions to your problems.

This doesn’t always have to be in person either, technology today makes it so much easier to connect with people at any time from all around the world. While life can get busy and it’s easy to get caught up, dealing with situations alone, it’s key to schedule some time with others. It will do your mind the world of good.

James’ chosen action:

I always like to check in with my family and close friends, as I’m aware of the positive impact it has in dealing with any down times. Likewise, connecting with other athletes is important in helping to deal with tough situations, as they may have experienced similar feelings, they can really empathize and provide added motivation.

What’s your action? _________________________________________________________________________

Establish goals

The most important thing to consider when establishing goals is to be realistic, and this applies even when a problem occurs. When you find yourself becoming overwhelmed by a situation, take a step back to simply assess what is before you. Brainstorm possible solutions, and then break them down into manageable steps.

Whilst it’s important to look at the bigger picture, creating smaller milestones can help you identify your progress, and it’s always important to recognize your achievements.

James’ chosen action:

I always have a main goal in mind but in order to achieve it, I certainly like to break it down into multiple milestones. This allows me to work realistically towards achieving my main aim without feeling unnecessary pressure, but feeling a sense of accomplishment every time, I achieve success with a smaller milestone.

What’s your action? _________________________________________________________________________

Reflect, Reset and Rebuild

We never know what challenges are ahead but using our resilience to actively progress forward in life is important – whether that’s physically, personally, professionally, emotionally and socially. As we think about our goals, it’s important we consider our learnings and let them shape our opportunities time and time again. Regardless of what stage in your life you’re at, there are three important steps which we recommend regularly doing in line with the tips above to support your resilience: Reflect Reset and Rebuild.

We hope you’ve enjoyed creating your personal resilience action plan. Follow us on social media to see James complete his actions and don’t forget to tag us in your activities!

It might sound like a long, complicated word, but chromotherapy is essentially ‘color therapy’ – the ability of certain colors to impact our physiological health. You only have to look at the way we all wish to decorate our houses in a certain way or choose to wear particular colors to see that color really can have an impact on how we think and feel. This extends culturally too, with traditions such as a bride wearing white or ivory on her wedding day to symbolize purity, and funeral-goers dressing in black to demonstrate mourning.

By getting colors ‘right’ you are putting yourself on the best pathway to achieving a healthy mental state. Importantly, there isn’t a right or wrong when it comes to color and much of it will be down to how certain colors make you feel. Have you ever given a wall a fresh coat of a new paint and instantly felt better, for example?

How can chromotherapy help your wellbeing?

Chromotherapy is about more than just choosing colors that suit your lifestyle though. It takes it further by using color and colored lights to treat physical or mental health conditions, causing subtle changes in our mood and biology.

White light therapy

One of the most obvious examples of how light and color can affect our mood is simply to look at the weather. How do you feel when the sky is grey, compared to when it’s bright blue? Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is an NHS recognized condition that sees people move towards a state of depression as the season moves from summer into winter. It’s a period when daylight hours shorten and there is less natural sunlight. One of their suggestions in dealing with SAD is light therapy, whereby you would sit by a special light that simulates natural sunlight that is missing during the winter months. It’s believed that this light encourages your brain to increase the ‘happiness hormone’ serotonin, while simultaneously reducing the production of sleep-inducing melatonin, thereby resulting in a healthier mental state.¹

Blue light therapy

Blue light therapy can be used to treat jaundice, a condition that can affect adults but more commonly affects babies. It causes high levels of bilirubin in the blood, which results in a tell-tale yellow tinge in the eyes and on the skin. This is commonly treated with blue light phototherapy, where a baby is placed under a blue halogen or fluorescent lamp during sleep so that their blood and skin can absorb the light waves, which help to eliminate bilirubin from their systems.

Blue light is not always a good thing though! It’s the type of light that is emitted from digital devices such as mobile phones and can be responsible for suppressing melatonin – the hormone that regulates sleep. This is why staying up at night and scrolling through your phone can lead to a disturbed night’s sleep.

Green light therapy

There is some research underway on the effect of green light therapy for pain relief, such as migraines² with results suggesting that exposure to a narrow band of green light may reduce light sensitivity and headache severity. Studies have shown that green light is significantly less likely to exacerbate a migraine attack than white, blue, amber or red. Twenty percent of those in the trial actually reported an improvement in their symptoms when treated with green light.³

Chromotherapy at home

While certain light and colors are medically recognized to improve aspects of your physiological health, there are also ways you can use color at home and in your own life to encourage a healthier mental state. When selecting anything with color – be it clothes, or paint for a feature wall – pick what speaks to you and makes you happy. Particularly at home, consider what your space is used for. In a bedroom or bathroom for example, you will probably want to pick a color that makes you feel calm and relaxed, whereas in a kitchen or dining room you might pick something more vibrant and energetic. You can also experiment with the light therapies mentioned above at home by buying yourself a SAD light, a pair of blue-light filtering glasses or even a green light treatment if you suffer from regular headaches or migraines. While more research is needed into the effects of color therapy, using color can be an easy and satisfying way to potentially improve your physiological health. Importantly, don’t rely on it exclusively to treat any medical concerns and always seek the advice of your doctor. Why not give it a try?

1. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad/treatment/ [↩]
2. https://hms.harvard.edu/news/green-light-migraine-relief [↩]
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4939697/ [↩]

Sports injuries are common for most people who regularly take part in any form of movement workout.

Hopefully, any injuries you sustain will be minor, but the more you do something, the more likely it is that will experience a more serious injury at some point. From sprains, strains and breaks to sports-specific injuries such as runners knee and tennis elbow, there could be a time when you are forced to take a break to recover.

What happens when your body is healed though? You might be okay to physically return, but how is your mental or physiological health? After time-out you might struggle to get your mind ‘back in the game.’ A loss of physical fitness will no doubt impact your confidence to return to what you once enjoyed doing – particularly if you are doing it at a competitive level where your abilities will be judged. Studies have shown that injured athletes experience simultaneous mood disturbance and low self-esteem,¹ which can make returning your sport or movement workout of choice more difficult.

From battling with self-doubt to fear, anxiety and low self-confidence, what can you do to heal the mental scars that can linger long after the physical ones have faded?

Establish clear, sensible goals

Not being perfect is not the same thing as failing. You might have to accept that your performance has been knocked back a bit, so now is the time to reevaluate your goals and make sure you are clear with them. Be specific, make sure you can measure your progress and be sure that, with time, they will be attainable. Setting yourself up to succeed will no doubt lead to a healthier mental state.

Practice mindfulness and visualization

Studies have shown that when we visualize ourselves doing something, it stimulates the same region of our brains that would be activated if we were actually doing it.² Don’t worry about what you can’t currently do or are not sure if you can return to yet, but focus – quite literally – on what you want to achieve. Picture yourself enjoying your movement workout again and allow your inner voice to translate the image to your mind.

Acknowledge your frustrations

While it’s important not to dwell on negative feelings, it’s also important to recognize that you have a right to be sad or frustrated. Grief is not just something experienced by those who lose a loved one – the commonly accepted stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance are applicable to anyone who has ever lost something they held close. If you are missing your sport, your team or the feelings of achievement you used to have, that’s absolutely fine. Own them but allow yourself to move on and through them so that you can come out the other side.

Seek help if you need to

There’s nothing wrong with admitting you are struggling. No professional athlete gets where they do without the help and support of a good coach at the very least, so there’s no reason to feel like you need to struggle on your own either. Whether it’s a coach, a therapist or even a friend, having someone to talk to can help you voice your concerns with someone and gain perspective and clarity on them too.

Injuries will happen, but knowing how to deal with your recovery can make things easier from a mental standpoint as well as a physical one, ensuring you are able to get back to doing what you love as soon as possible.

1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-199009060-00004 [↩]
2. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0068910 [↩]

What on earth are ‘feel good’ hormones, you might wonder?

Well, as the name implies, they are the hormones that make you feel good and help us maintain a healthy mental state. But what exactly are they and how do they have this power to influence our physiological health?

Our hormones are essentially chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream and deliver signals to the brain that affect different bodily processes, including mood. There are four hormones in particular that help to promote feelings of happiness and joy:

• Dopamine is a neurotransmitter responsible for giving us pleasurable sensations. It also helps us strive and find things interesting.

• Serotonin is another neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood and also helps us sleep, learn and remember things.

• Oxytocin is sometimes referred to as the love hormone and promotes bonding, trust and empathy.

• Endorphins are a natural pain reliever produced in response to stress or discomfort. Levels also increase when taking part in reward-producing activities, such as eating or exercising.

How can you support the production of feel-good hormones?

Cuddle a dog! Oxytocin levels have been shown to increase as a result of cuddling a dog¹ – as if you needed an excuse! It doesn’t have to be your dog either, so if you don’t have a dog, cuddle a friend’s.

Yoga and mindfulness. Studies have suggested that certain practices which naturally reduce stress and anxiety – such as yoga – are great for our physiological health as they help to release endorphins and support the production of oxytocin.²

Enjoying music. Other studies have shown that listening to music you find pleasurable can help increase the production of the feel-good hormones serotonin and oxytocin. One such study measured the oxytocin levels of a group of singers after they had a singing lesson and found that, in addition to reports of feeling more content, their oxytocin levels had all increased.³

Exercise. Increasing your heart rate by taking part in any form of exercise will promote a positive feeling, which is because exercise has been shown to release endorphins.⁴

Get some sun. We don’t mean stay outside long enough to burn, but studies have shown that just 10-15 minutes of daily exposure to natural sunlight can raise your levels of both serotonin and endorphins.⁵

Consider supplements. While further studies are needed, there are certain supplements that have been linked to the production of certain happiness hormones. Green tea and probiotics, for example, are thought to promote the release of dopamine and serotonin.

Focus on sleep. While sleep might not directly increase feel good hormones, a lack of it can decrease the balance of dopamine, which can result in a more negative mood. To ensure a healthy mental state throughout the day, try to maintain a regular bedtime schedule.

Being happy is a wonderful feeling and one that we all strive for. Life can sometimes deal us a bad hand, but by concentrating on these ways of increasing our happiness hormones naturally, we’re giving ourselves the best chance of dealing with life’s challenges. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to go and give a dog a cuddle!

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4290532/ [↩]
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768223/ [↩]
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12814197/ [↩]
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6091217/ [↩]
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2290997/ [↩]

Positive ways to greet life’s biggest challenges

Stress affects each and every one of us in all manner of ways, but one thing we generally all have in common is that we certainly don’t try to seek it out. It most often comes when we don’t expect it. As much as many of us try to be adaptable, it’s simply the case that change of any sort is the most common cause of stress, as circumstances we’re used to managing are suddenly turned on their head.
Situations that are widely recognized as being particularly stressful are those that are associated with “big changes” – life events that will have a huge impact on us, yet we feel we have either a reduced or complete lack of control over what is happening¹.

Difficult events that lead to highly stressful periods in our lives include some of the obvious; divorce, unemployment, money worries…challenges that many of us will face up to at one time or another.

Even positive life changes such as moving house, getting married and having a baby are also big stress causers. Even though they are positive and exciting times, they make unusual demands on us that are outside our comfort zones – which leads to feelings of anxiety.

A positive approach

The key then, is not to try and remove stress from your life entirely. This is unrealistic and frankly impractical. It’s more to do with accepting that it will come, and adopting an approach to your thinking and your life that gives you the best outlook to deal with it.

By focusing on positive behaviors and taking time out to pause and relax, you can reduce the impact stress has on your life.

Here, we’ve looked at just a few of those ‘Big Events’ in life – positive and negative – with some ways that anyone can learn to address them proactively.

Moving home

For some, their mind is a whirlwind of doubt and emotion about leaving their old home behind and moving into a new phase of their life. If this is something that happens to you, try to shift focus. It can help to think about what your new home will be like. Visualize how it will look and imagine how you will feel when you’re settled and content in your new abode.

Mindfulness is a powerful stress reducing tool that is really easy to learn, and of particular use in this scenario ². It helps you to pay attention to the present moment using meditation and breathing techniques. Finding moments of calm in the chaos of settling into a new house can create a certain stillness, and help you feel like you are ‘tuning in’ to the new space.

Mindfulness helps to increase your awareness of what is happening around you, while shifting the focus from your source of stress – it has also been shown to affect how the brain works.

Getting married

Lots of nervous energy about the big day? This may sound silly, but you can put it to good use and get active at the same time.

That’s right, exercise is an excellent stress reliever that helps to put you in the right state of mind to take five and calm your racing mind. It also helps you to feel robust and mentally strong. Solo exercise is actually best, because often, the people you would want to exercise with are the people who you’ll be expecting at your wedding – and guess what they’ll want to talk about…?

Running, cycling, walking…it’s all about momentum, one foot in front of the other, no table plans, no worrying about family dynamics or venues. Just you, the outdoors and your own heart beating…bliss!

If the idea of a workout makes you wince, even a short brisk walk can help you to feel refreshed and ready to tackle anything your big day throws at you³. When you exercise, it reduces some of the emotional intensity that you’re feeling, clears your thoughts and enables you to deal with problems more calmly.

Losing your job

Here it’s natural to feel angry, upset or in some way feel inadequate. Now more than ever, it’s important to try and work to understand and accept that there are with the best will in the world, some things you cannot change, and it’s not always a reflection on you.

Employment concerns are one of the biggest causes of stress and can be exhausting, anxious times. Learning to accept that it isn’t always possible to change difficult situations at work can help you to recognize what you do have control over.

This is the key. Many people have gone on in later years to say that being made redundant was one of the most positive things that had ever happened to them. By letting go of the frustration and resentment about losing their job, they were better able to focus on the new possibilities this offered them.

Losing your job is an end, yes – but only of one chapter in your life. View it as an opportunity to start another, with an eye on things you perhaps always wanted to do…

Bereavement

In times of raw emotion and often confusion following the death of a loved one, it can be difficult to face up to the day to day. You may feel like the last thing you want to do is talk, and indeed, giving yourself time to grieve and process your emotions is important.

Yet it’s also essential, even if it feels like an effort, to reach out to your support network of friends and family. Remembering the power of connection can really help in these darkest of times. Whether you need someone to listen, a helping hand to assist with making arrangements or just a friendly face to grab some food shopping necessities for you – connecting with others can be a wonderful comfort and support. Sometime, someone just being there, not even necessarily talking, is something to draw a lot of comfort from. Recognize that leaning on others doesn’t make you vulnerable – it shows an awareness and presence of mind that help from those you trust is an essential support.

Divorce

The end of any relationship, and especially a marriage, can be devastating and unsurprisingly results in emotional distress, often leading to feelings of self-doubt or over analysis of what you could have done better or differently.

Positive visualization and reinforcement are useful tools here⁴. It can be really beneficial to focus on the positives in your life and the things you’re most grateful for. To start with, it may be difficult to reflect on – or even remember – the positive aspects of life before the breakdown of a relationship, let alone how you might go on after it.

This can come in time – it’s a question of training your mind to try and keep the ‘positive’ muscles working. A simple way to start is to try writing down three things at the end of every day that went well or that made you smile. It may sound a little wishful, but in fact this exercise has shown that people can start to realign the way they see the world, actively seeking the positive, where they may not have done so before.

By making a conscious effort to be more positive, you can train yourself to change your perspective and look towards the future with a renewed sense of hope – and this will include accounting for, and accepting the life changes that led to the separation. By taking charge of how you address the situation, you invite greater possibilities for new beginnings, and new opportunities. It can’t be done overnight, but you can bounce back.

Difficult moments in our lives are something we will all experience at some point. Stress caused by these kinds of changes is unavoidable, yet we can manage its effects by first understanding it, and then addressing it in a positive and practical way.

It’s never easy, and you should never feel it’s a fight to be fought alone. With a little effort, and the support of friends and loved ones, you can visualize – and then manifest – a brighter future.

1. https://www.inc.com/larry-alton/the-7-most-stressful-life-changes-and-how-to-cope-with-them.html [↩]
2. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindfulness-meditation-may-ease-anxiety-mental-stress-201401086967 [↩]
3. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201704/need-midday-energy-boost-skip-the-caffeine-take-walk [↩]
4. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/living-forward/201806/3-effective-visualization-techniques-change-your-life [↩]

Sometimes life throws things at us that we just weren’t expecting. Out of the blue a massive curve-ball comes around the corner. It doesn’t even have to be something major – just something we didn’t anticipate and had no control over. What do we do?

You’re probably thinking “Where are we going with this?”. The point we’re trying to make is that, even though you had no control over the “curve-ball”, you now have a choice on how you respond. You can take back control.

One of your options may be to run, to stick your head under the pillow, to do anything but to face it. Another option might be to try to ignore it hoping that it will go away of its own accord and everything will go back to “normal”. You could focus on it and let it become all consuming. Or you could apply positivity, turn those negative thoughts on their head and break the problem down into manageable chunks. That way it’s much easier not to be overwhelmed and you’ll likely find yourself in a much stronger position to cope. As our founder, Bob Lemon, always says: “Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want”.

So how do you do this? Luckily there are many tools to help and we already cover a lot of them in our Lifeplus formula. The ones we’d particularly like to introduce you to or to remind you about are:

• mindfulness and mediation,
• positive affirmations,
• eco-therapy,
• floral therapy, and
• exercise and sleep

Let’s start with positivity. Where does it come from?

This may sound like a silly question as we know it comes from within. And it also comes from the way we think and the way we behave. As William James, the brother of the novelist Henry James, asserted in The Principles of Psychology back in 1890, the relationship between emotion and behavior is a two-way street.

We all know if we’re sad we tend to act sad and by contrast, if we’re feeling happy our behavior tends to portray this emotion. But James ventured that if we turned this around and behaved as if we were happy, we would feel happy¹. The same goes for positivity. James believes the theory of positive thought can be applied to behavior and, therefore, we should be able to change our feelings of negativity by acting in a positive way. Positive affirmations are a great starting point. And, by saying them out loud, we are more likely to portray positive behavior in turn leading to a positive mindset. Try thinking about everything you’re grateful for. Maybe write a list of positive things that have happened at the end of every day. Remember, it’s what you want, not what you don’t want.

Positivity also comes from those around us. Try surrounding yourself with positive people – you’ll soon see it rubs off. The opposite is also true as emotions are highly contagious.

But, sometimes feeling positive about a situation can be difficult. It may seem far too large to deal with and that’s because it probably is! Or at least the problem, as you perceive it, is. So, break it down. Where can you find positivity?

Here you may find focusing on the present will help. Mindfulness, meditation, ecotherapy and floral therapy are great ways to start.

Exercise for positivity

When we exercise, our bodies release endorphins – the body’s happy chemicals – and it’s much easier to feel positive when we feel happy. Start your day with a brisk walk if possible. If the weather is good, why not use the opportunity to fit in an ecotherapy session. “Be present” and take notice of your surroundings, the sights, smells, sounds. Or add in a short floral therapy session if you’re lucky enough to live in the country or have access to a park.  Gardening is a great way to exercise while being at one with nature. Using yoga to focus your thoughts or a work-out will help you put things in perspective.  The mental health benefits of exercise can’t be overestimated.

Sleep and mental health

“Have a good night’s sleep and everything will feel better in the morning!” We’ve all heard that many times, but it’s actually true. Sleep is important.  While you’re sleeping your body is not only taking the time to grow, heal and repair itself, your brain is preparing for the next day by processing, consolidating and filing information.

It might be harder to get a good night’s sleep when we are anxious or worrying about things. It’s easy for this to become a vicious circle. Feelings of worry or stress may lead to lack of sleep, which can lead to tiredness, which can impact our ability to cope with daily life, which can lead to low self-esteem, which can lead to feelings of worry or stress and so it goes on.² The Royal College of Psychiatrists has some excellent tips on how to sleep better including exercise, relaxation and writing down what’s troubling you before you go to bed – that way your mind knows it can switch off and deal with it in the morning (when it will be easier to do as you’ve had a good night’s sleep!).³

Waking up to a new day

It may sound obvious, but waking up to an upbeat song is far more likely to help you start the day on a positive note than listening to the news, for example. And, according to music psychologist David M Greenberg, the song you choose to wake up to should have three elements:⁴

• it should build, nudging you out of bed gently and gradually build your energy levels up;
• it should be positive, and
• it should have a strong beat (with a beat per minute of approximately 100 to 130).

Depending on your musical taste, there are a number of examples given starting with Viva La Vida by Coldplay; Bill Withers’ Lovely Day; and Katrina & The Waves’ Walking on Sunshine. You probably already have your own happy song – just play it first thing and you’ll notice the difference!

We hope you can now see how, by taking back control, you can build positivity into your life. And by doing this you are in a far stronger position to follow Bob Lemon’s advice and “focus on what you want, not what you don’t want.”

1. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jun/30/self-help-positive-thinking [↩]
2. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/sleep-problems/sleep-problems/ [↩]
3. https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/problems-disorders/sleeping-well [↩]
4. https://www.insider.com/songs-to-help-you-wake-up-2017-4 [↩]

You could try chocolate – a tried and tested go-to for most of us. And we know, scientifically, it can help.  Chocolate contains a small amount of tryptophan, an amino acid used by our brains to make serotonin (the neurotransmitter linked to feelings of happiness).¹ But we also know it’s likely to have an effect on our weight and this may not make us feel quite so good.

Luckily there are many other ways we can look to stimulate our brains and improve our moods without any potential negative effects.

Ways to boost your mood

This is going to sound incredibly obvious but, seriously, do something you enjoy! This could be anything from watching the sunrise or the sunset, cooking, exercising, walking in the countryside or the city, to spending time with your family and friends. If you can’t do it immediately, make a date and keep to it. Have something to look forward to.

Can exercise boost your mood?

The simple answer is yes. Exercise is probably the best and most immediate way for us to get out of that slump. An early morning walk or jog is a great way to lift our spirits. It’s a natural antidepressant as, not only will it increase your endorphins (our feel-good hormones), it will help our vitamin D intake through the sunlight and, as with chocolate, increase our serotonin levels.

Should the weather not be so accommodating, working out indoors or at a gym will be equally as mood boosting. We have lots of information on how and why exercise is beneficial in Lifeplus formula so please do take a look around.

And don’t forget mindfulness is a great way to focus on the present and take time out to reflect. A quick 15-minute session will help – you can even weave it in during a regular daily activity such as brushing your teeth, eating your breakfast, or ironing your clothes. Meditation is another good way to boost your mood. Not only is it a calming way to reduce stress and anxiety, it may also help your memory and your ability to process information.²

Things to boost your mood

Another way is to stimulate your mind. Do something to boost your mental energy. There are many studies which scientifically evidence the impact lifestyle habits can have on our brains and the importance of keeping our minds stimulated – if looking to reduce age-related cognitive decline.  Despite headlines we may have read, there is controversy around the longer-term impact on our likelihood to develop dementia-causing diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. However, the good news is that doctors think it may help build up a “cognitive reserve” which could mean we retain our abilities for longer even if we do get such a disease.³ But what about the here and now? What can we do to stimulate our minds today? Here are some ideas:

Jigsaw puzzles: according to Dr Patrick Fissler et al, “jigsaw puzzling taps multiple cognitive abilities and is a potential protective factor for cognitive aging.”⁴

Card games: researchers from the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, in Madison found card games can lead to greater brain activity and could improve memory and thinking skills.⁵

Use your senses: In the report, “A multisensory perspective of working memory,” researchers found using all our senses can actually help strengthen our brains.⁶ So, try focusing on your senses more when you’re out and about, or even cooking your evening meal. It can help stimulate your mind.

Another example is the Chinese martial art of Tai Chi, renowned for its health benefits and now linked positively with our brain functions; dancing and learning a new skill (which could be Tai Chi!).⁷ 

Foods to boost your moods

Curcumin, found in turmeric, has already been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It can now be linked to improved memory and our moods according to Dr. Gary Small, Director of Geriatric Psychiatry at the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. Small et al’s research found that those taking curcumin “experienced significant improvements in their memory and attention abilities,” while the subjects who received placebo did not. Small found that those taking curcumin also had “mild improvements” in their mood.⁸ So, it seems, perhaps, a curry might be a good a replacement for chocolate?

So, there you have it. There are many ways to kick that slump. All you have to do is be bothered to do one – and as we know sometimes that’s the hardest thing of all!

1. https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/why-does-chocolate-make-us-happy/ [↩]
2. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-in-depth [↩]
3. https://www.nhs.uk/news/neurology/can-doing-daily-crossword-or-sudoku-puzzle-keep-your-brain-young/ [↩]
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6174231/ [↩]
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4417099/ [↩]
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4404829/ [↩]
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621760/ [↩]
8. https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/curcumin-improves-memory-and-mood-new-ucla-study-says [↩]