Stress Management

The Power of Magnets and Your Body

Hey all. I know it’s about a week late, but I hope everyone had great holidays and an awesome New Year. I decided to take a break during this time to do a bunch of things. It’s been a holiday vacation full of great people, food, relaxation, traveling around, and finally being able to get some things done. The only downer during all of these good times is the cold that I have been battling for the past week. I haven’t had one in over a year and a half, so it was a rude awakening to what I have been missing out on!

For Christmas, I was given something really interesting and unique. Since I come from a family full of golfing addicts, I am constantly surrounded with brand new gadgets and other items that help improve their game. This particular item I was given is called the Trion :Z ionic/magnetic bracelet. It is a simple looking elastic-style bracelet that sits snug around the wrist and acts to improve the balance of the body’s electricity by using magnets. I thought this was a really interesting concept, so I did a little research about it. Check out what I found out and why it might be something for you to look into…

Why to consider wearing an ionic/magnetic bracelet.

Believe it or not, our personalities and ways we live day in and day out are largely influenced by ions. There are positive and negative ions that surround us daily, both having very different effects on our bodies.
Negative ions are generally naturally occurring and are produced by plants, rivers, and the other elements of the great outdoors. These ions influence us to have a generally more relaxed and at ease feeling. No wonder so many of us love to escape to the mountains to camp in the wilderness just to escape the crazy modern life.

Positive ions are the complete opposite. These are ions that are largely produced by the various electronics that surround us each day. Elements ranging from computers, cell phones, factory machinery, televisions, and more add positive ions to our systems. Unfortunately, the positive ion name is deceiving . With the influence of these positive ions onto the system, we feel much more fatigued, stressed out, lose sleep, and have a generally much more difficult time functioning during the day. As we are surrounded by all of these modern elements, our bodies absorb the positive ions and begin to show more influence than the negative ones.

With these two very opposite electric pulls influencing our systems, these new ionic/magnetic bracelets help to balance the two and bring back a much better feeling to the body.

These things might really work!

Finding the balance of electricity in the body and aiding physical and mental functions with the use of magnets have been done since ancient times. Just as with treatments such as acupuncture, magnets help level the chi that the body uses to function to its full capacity. These magnets bring on a healthy and natural way to help alleviate problems that would otherwise be countered with the use of medicines. With these bracelets, the body is brought much closer to its ability to work with as much natural energy as possible.

There are various ionic/magnetic bracelets out there…

I have given my new Trion:Z bracelet a shot because: A. It has a unique design that fully and snugly wraps around with negative ions throughout to help balance the body’s electricity. B. It is much cheaper than the metal and gold ones you see many people wear. And C. It was given to me as a great gift. Check out Trion:Z’s site for more info on their product.

There are the original ionic bracelets, such as the Q-Ray, that offer very similar results. The magnets in these bracelets function a bit differently, but these ones look a little more stylish and supposedly offer a very comfortable fit.

Each of these products are great and natural methods to bring upon energy and balance within your body. For about $30 or less, pick up one of your own and experience it for yourself.

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Take A Vacation To Better Your Life

When was the last time you’ve been able to get away from work and have a really good vacation? I’m not talking about a simple weekend out of town, but more like a week or two where you can completely release all worries of work and normal day-to-day life. If this sounds like something you’re in desperate need of, please read on…

Our lives are all made of routines that we do everyday. Sure, sometimes these routines can be very simple, but a combination of them each day can begin to weigh on you very heavily. Without a simple break from the action, our minds become bogged down and slow our normal performance in everyday life. These are the times that we feel overwhelmed and lose the love and passion for what we have centered out lives around. These sorts of situations can occur in our work-life, spousal and friend relationships, and our inner-selves. None of these parts of our lives are lost causes, it just might mean that we need to step away from the action for a little bit and rekindle the thoughts and mindset that we previously had.

Vacations are key

As stress builds throughout the work-year, a lot of us look forward to taking time off during the holiday season. Unfortunately, there are many out there (including numerous people at my work) that insist that they work all the way through. The need for money is normally a cause for such a decision. Sure, this might seem like a very understanding statement, but how could money overvalue the feeling of your body? Without taking these key moments to go on a vacation and release our built up tension, our emotional and physical well-being turns very detrimental.

Those who take regular vacations more often:

Have less strain on the heart, which leads to a lessened chance of heart disease
Are much less stressed and have a clearer mind emotionally
Have much more energy
Spend much more time with spouses and are happier with their relationships
Have a much better relationship with their children
Are more interested and productive when they return to work

Try mini-vacations

A thought that my girlfriend and I have had is to take mini-vacations or getaways on the weekends. Our thought is to take a trip out of town once a month to wherever. This doesn’t need to be anything expensive or elaborate, just something that will get you out of town to free your mind from your typical everyday life. If it’s simply a one night’s stay camping in the mountains, or in a motel, or wherever else, as long you can getaway to release the week’s built-up worries. These trips can be easily saved up for just by putting in about $20 a week by both of you; that shouldn’t break the bank.

On the weekends that you aren’t traveling out of town, try to take a day adventure of your choice. A passion that we both have is to go hiking. Since there are various trails in San Diego, we have a large disposal of day hikes to spend our weekends on. Other good ideas are day drives to a different part of town and then eating lunch, or heading down to the beach to spend a lazy afternoon. The point here is to get you out of your element to experience something new and exciting. Each of these should prove to help any anxiety and hardships that you might experience at work or in your personal life.

Some scary statistics

In 2005, Americans threw away or sold back nearly 415 million vacation days. This equates to 1.6 million years of unused vacation time!
Strokes, heart disease, and early mortality have all been linked to overworking and stressing out while on the job.
Americans put in more hours than the rest of the world. This is a huge hint to start spending those vacation days. For example, the French work 35-hour workweeks, and actually stick to that number.
Germans work roughly 500 hours over the year. That’s nearly 12-and-a-half weeks less than us in America. They have the right idea!

Try and make vacations a part of your life. Many of us forget about our own time because we’re so used to dedicating the time we have to work for others. There’s a time and place for everything, so choose yours wisely, it will greatly affect your life.

Photo credit: januszbc

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Simple Methods To Sleep Easier

Do you often spend far beyond too much time trying to fall asleep? Or, are you never fully calm as you lay in your bed, waiting for those Zzz’s to come?

Many people experience this same sort of problem each and every night. Not being able to fully feel comfortable in bed can be a result of various things. More often than not, stress and anxieties in our lives is what stops us from feeling at peace in the one definite spot that we should. As we get into bed, many think about the problems they’ve experienced over the day, or the list of to-do’s that are needed to be done the next day. Check out what I had to say about keeping stress and work out of your bed from my guest post on DietHack. As our minds travel at a million miles per hour when we’re anxious and stressed, the rest of our body also feels the same tension, if not more. It’s not often realized, but during this time our muscles tense up beyond belief all night long when we feel like this. The end result of this is waking up in the morning feeling very tired and even more stressed throughout the day. Try some of these simple methods to help ease your body when it comes to getting some solid shut-eye…

It’s all in the breathing

When laying down into bed, focus on taking few, but deep and pleasant breaths. Breathe in through your nose, while holding it in for a bit, and then exhaling slowly out of your mouth. While doing this, focus on the slightly cool air passing through your nose, and then the warmer air smoothly rolling out of your mouth. Steve at Brip Blap has a great article that further explains this breathing process, with a slightly different spin. After fully focusing on these deep and slow breaths, you should feel much more eased and grounded. Just as you would take these types of breaths before a speech or any other type nervous situation, they will help settle your nerves and calm your body.

Never forget body control

As you are doing your slow and deep breaths, also take this time to focus on the various muscles all throughout your body. First, begin by thinking of the muscles that make up the face and head region. With a breath in, concentrate on tightening and then relaxing the muscles in your face, tongue, neck, and jaw. After focusing on each of these single muscle groups, exhale, letting go of the deep breath that was within. Continue with this technique throughout the rest of your body, starting from the top and all the way down. Work to tense the muscles and then slowly letting them go to a relaxed position. After extending this exercise to your fingertips and toes, continue the process by adding positive thoughts and surroundings to help put your mind and body at peace.

Remembering how to sleep

To help enhance what you have already done to ease your body, begin to think of the times you’ve had your best night’s sleep. These could be times from your childhood, with your partner you love, or from a vacation spot that was far beyond relaxing. As we spend our times trying to slip into slumber, we often feel even more anxious because of the time that it takes. Use these previous images and memories as anchors to ease the fear of insomnia. While putting the first two steps together, your body should feel much more at home with itself, with the least amount of worry. If you ever feel even the slightest twinge of worry or anxiety enter your mind, quickly erase it with these positive and soothing thoughts from the past.

Watch the food and drinks

Having the proper type and amount of food in you as you go to bed is equally important. It’s never a good thing to go to bed hungry, so that’s beyond the most important tip here. More often than not, the reason why we go to bed with a slight hunger is because we ate an early dinner and then skipped a midevening snack. Without eating this small night snack, our blood sugar level drops and sparks anxiety. Many times this can happen in the middle of the night when your body feels the most hungry, so you will find yourself awakening from sleep. As not every type of food is the best before sleep, try focusing on these simple types:

A serving of fresh fruit, such as an apple or orange.
A low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese.
Any high-carbohydrate, high-protein favorite.

These foods will help relax your mind and body before even entering bed. Your emotions will calm and your whole state of mind will become much more mellow. Although, along with these foods, we must keep in mind of the foods that we would better not have right before jumping into bed:

Any coffee, tea, or other caffeinated beverages within 4-5 hours before bedtime.
Any alcoholic drinks within 3-4 hours. We might think that alcohol helps slow the mind, but as it does this, it also throws off our normal brain-pattern of sleep. This can result in frequent awakenings in the middle of the night with difficulties in getting back to sleep.

On a side note…

I have been very fortunate to be included in three very well-informing help carnivals this week. Please visit each one and read what the many others have to say.

Photo credit: hamed

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How A Visit To The Sauna Could Benefit You

As I was working out at the gym last night, I decided to to check out something that I’ve always looked past and thought was crazy. Since I ate a rather large dinner right before working out, I wanted to see how the sauna room might help me digest and allow me to relax. It took some time for the hot rocks to get the temperature up to 150 degrees, but once it did, that room was baking…

A Release Of Tension

Before doing any research, I came to my own conclusion that about 20 minutes in the sauna would do wonders on my very tensed, and tight back. As the acupuncturist told me the other day as she massaged my back, I needed to keep my body and back very warm to promote blood circulation. One thing she did not mention for me to visit was a sauna, BINGO! Luckily my assumption was correct. When I did research later on, saunas greatly increase the heart rate, about double. This definitely increases blood flow throughout the body, including to those areas of the body that are in pain and feel tensed. From the warmth of the sauna, the increased blood flow helps relieve contracted muscles and aching joints. This is exactly what the doctor ordered! After I spent 20 minutes in the sauna, and now that I sit here 10 hours later writing this article, my back feels much more relaxed and my aching neck is almost nonexistent.

A Great Way To Relax

Saunas have proven to be beneficial to our physical health, but it also works wonders on our psychological side. As I am right in the middle of finals week at my university, I figured the sauna would also be a wonderful way to relieve some stress and just find a quiet place to relax for a bit. I know there are some out there that are not appealed to a hot, possibly steamy room, but I love ‘em! Through the drips and drops of sweat off of my body, I felt a complete release of tension and an overall peace. The heart pulse rises, but the mental functions slow. I laid down and closed my eyes for about 15 of the 20 minutes and felt completely relaxed. As research shows, saunas also prepare the body for a great night’s sleep. Those that have problems sleeping or have a condition such as insomnia, saunas would definitely aid in finally getting that much needed complete rest.

A Possible Exercise Replacement

Replacing any type of exercise was not my intention of the sauna, but it was definitely a plus. As the sauna reaches very high temperatures, such as 160 degrees, the heart rate nearly doubles. I took my pulse after being in for over 10 minutes and I definitely noticed that my pulse felt very similar to as when I’m running. It was difficult for my head to wrap around how my pulse could be so high by just laying down in a sauna, but I guess it works. While sitting down in a sauna, you are actually burning calories and losing weight, believe it or not. Just as your heart rate increases with exercise, along with your metabolism, saunas allow the body to do the same. 15-20 minutes in the sauna is about equivalent to 1-2 hours of brisk walking or 1 hour of exercise. Now you can burn all of the unwanted fat by never lifting a finger!

Detoxify In The Sauna

As we all know that when you’re in a sauna, you sweat buckets (or maybe that was just me last night). Along with the other benefits, saunas trigger the body to release unwanted toxins through the act of sweating. Since sweating is the way that our body rids nearly a third of its toxins, saunas provide a very important relief. When our body temperature rises, we detox as the sweat releases through our pores. This is also a great, purifying way for people with skin conditions to cleanse their pores. Saunas have shown that those with acne and other skin conditions benefit from the rise in temperature and the increase of oxygen and nutrients to the skin.

Guide to Home Saunas & Sauna Kits – Everything you ever wanted to know about home saunas and building your own. Finnish, steam, infrared and portable saunas, sauna kits and heater options.

Photo credit: ansik

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Why Acupuncture Could Be For You

Many of us have a fear of needles, and why not, they look scary and cause pain. Others of us don’t like the idea of trusting someone else to perform treatments on our bodies. As we all have our own fears about things in life, many times we muscle up and get over them. Recently I faced these fears and experienced acupuncture for the first time. I did not go out of spite to validate that I was strong enough to undergo these activities, I did it to make my body much more healthy, naturally. Since I choose to lead a mainly natural lifestyle, I felt that acupuncture could be a great treatment for some aches and pains in my body. When I first began this blog I wrote about pains in my neck and how I chose to see a chiropractor for the first time. Just as in that situation, I was equally, if not more anxious to see how this new experience would be like. As those pains in my neck and life’s stress continue to play a part on my body, I chose acupuncture as a possible remedy.

Some Common Misconceptions

As many people in this world get uncomfortable around needles (myself included), it’s a very good reason why many people choose to never try getting acupuncture. The truth of the matter is that these needles seem less than the thickness of body hair. Acupuncture needles are ridiculously tiny, only 32-gauge, compared to a typical injection needle, which is 14-gauge. Many people also believe that acupuncturists violently try to push these needles into your body, but that is also false. When the needle is inserted (which is barely into your skin), the acupuncturist lightly flicks the top. The best thing is, as the needle enters, you barely feel a thing! The most pain you’ll feel from these is a possible light tickling sensation.

Acupuncture Is Proven To Treat…

Stress
Indigestion
Depression
The common cold
Headaches
Any sort of body aches and pains
Fatigue
Sleep problems
Reproductive problems
Migraines
Asthma
Arthritis
Smoking and other addictions
PMS
Anxiety
And many other conditions that I could list out all day long…

Acupuncture is said to be such a great treatment for almost any conditions because at one time it was used as an anesthesia. If you figure that acupuncture could help remedy pain during a medical procedure such as surgery, I’m pretty dang sure that it could help with any of our other problems.

What Are Some Common Acupuncture Procedures?

The great thing about acupuncture is that there are such a wide range of treatments that are involved. Coming in for my treatment, I thought that it was just going to be pins and needles in my back, and nothing more. Luckily, I was wrong…

The acupuncture itself: Tiny, disposable, sterile needles placed very gently into specific acupuncture points.
Acupressure/Tuina: Depending on the injury or condition, a great massage done with a cooling and warming cream. This is to stimulate the natural flow of your Qi and release other tension in your body.
Tai Chi: Movement exercises that help develop a bodily balance, overall great feeling, and maximum health.
Cupping: The use of a glass or bamboo cup to create a suction from the body to increase warmth and circulation.
Moxibustion: A dried leaf called mugwart is burned and placed on the ends of the needles. This helps release tension and aid more circulation from the warmth.
Herbs and Vitamins: Depending on your condition, a good acupuncturist will view your tongue and be able to tell you what foods, herbs, or vitamins you are insufficient of.
Qi Gong: Specific breathing methods and movements used to improve health and vitality.

How Does It All Work?

Through the use of these various acupuncture treatment methods, it helps promote the energetic system within us all that maintains health and balance, which is called Qi (pronounced “Chee”). Qi is supposed to provide us with the power to accomplish everyday activities. Qi is vital through our growth, development, maintenance of balance, protection against illnesses, and an overall regulation of our bodies. Acupuncture focuses on certain points on our bodies that correspond with the areas we have pain. These points are called meridians, which is where the Qi flows to the various organs and areas of the body. With the help of acupuncture, Qi is better able to flow through the parts of the body where the Qi is lacking, which are the areas we have pain. With a blockage of Qi, we experience pain and overall discomfort.

I highly recommend seeing an acupuncturist if you experience any of the above conditions, or if you just want to relieve any kind of tension and experience a new thing. You can find acupuncturists all over the place, but I would also suggest to go to a health store and see who they recommend. Much can be remedied without the use of drugs and other artificial treatments, so try acupuncture and see what it could do for you.

Photo credit: lindseyspirit

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