Health & Fitness | Change Your Life

Archive | Health & Fitness RSS feed for this section

The Free Resource that Can Help You Cope With Anything

When I had my comic memoir published by an award-winning independent press in 2008, I thought it would be the pinnacle of my professional writing career. But after my publisher went bankrupt one year later, taking with him most of my dreams, that celebratory moment turned into one of despair.

Standing in our basement, looking at the five big crates of unsold books we were left with after the experience, my husband wondered aloud what we were going to do with them. I said to him: “We can always make a bonfire and toast marshmallows.” Suddenly, the tension seemed to lift.

Read full story · Comments { 5 }

What is Your Body Telling You?

Last week I started getting the sniffles. I felt a cold coming and knew I had to take it easy for the next few days if I didn’t want to get sick. But I carried on writing, thinking that I was only sitting at home and not doing much.

The next morning, however, I came down with a full-blown cold and fever and was bed bound for the next few days. As I laid in bed nursing my head and going through boxes of tissues, I tried to decipher how I had caught a cold.

Read full story · Comments { 40 }

Changing Your Body Image

For most of my life, my happiness depended on the reflection I saw in the mirror.

I was convinced that the way I looked and the number I saw on the scale determined my worthiness as a daughter, sister, girlfriend and later a wife.

This completely ridiculous notion led to more than 2 decades of misery. During those years I felt trapped inside my body, without any hope to ever be able to find relief or a way to free myself. I lived in a state of oppression and despised everything about myself and my appearance.

Read full story · Comments { 27 }

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Mind and Body

Disruption to sleep can be caused by a number of different factors, but whatever the reason, the effects of sleep deprivation are always negative. Relationships, work and overall wellbeing all take a downturn when sleep is in short supply. Logical decisions become difficult and tempers become short and a person, different to who you actually are, soon emerges.

A number of reasons behind disrupted sleep are within your control to change, which may involve adjustments to lifestyle and at the extreme medical procedures may be required.

However, all of the changes listed below are within your power to achieve and the end result will mean a good night’s sleep and a return to normalcy.

Read full story · Comments { 13 }

4 Ways to Stretch Instead of Stress

“A boat is always safe in the harbor, but that’s not what boats were built for.” ~ shared by Katie Couric, the Women’s Conference 2009

If you are in your stress zone all the time, you have to ask yourself what role you have in creating this atmosphere for yourself. Perhaps you are a busy CEO, an entrepreneur, or a parent with three children and no help. All are valid reasons to be stressed, but there are plenty of CEOs and parents who are not stressed all the time.

You can experience stress both from positive and negative events. Some people may get stressed as a result of receiving a promotion at work and having new responsibilities. Others may experience stress when preparing for a dinner party when they have limited free time and their house is a mess. Stress levels can also be affected by external negative events, such as losing your job or health insurance, having a fight with your spouse, or gaining weight. Stress levels become unhealthy when your body and mind are constantly under pressure. Learn to be aware of your stress levels and how much you can handle without detracting from your performance.

Read full story · Comments { 15 }

Getting Fit: 10 Things to Consider When Starting Out

When I started working out I was lucky enough to put in place several things that have held me in good stead up until now (as well as a number that didn’t, but I’ll just quietly ignore those). Here are 10 things that helped enormously :

1. Set goals

Think about your reasons for exercising, and set goals that seem reasonable to you (you can always adjust these later as necessary). These goals will help enormously when it comes to keeping you on track; regardless of your motivation. Whether you want to be freakishly strong, shed a few excess pounds or simply have beach-worthy abs; goal-setting will help you on your way.

Read full story · Comments { 7 }

7 Foods That Make You Happier

Our mood can affect everything in our daily life. When we’re in a bad mood or depressed, we don’t feel like ourselves and we have a hard time concentrating or just making it through the day. When we’re happy, we feel on top of the world and ready to take on anything. The food we eat can have a great impact on our mood, and if you want to look and feel good then you need to be sure to include some of the foods that will naturally lift your spirits. Here we look at several foods that are sure to raise our spirits and make us feel happier overall.

1. Milk: those foods that are rich in calcium will naturally help to boost our spirits. Those that suffer from depression are told to take a calcium and Vitamin D supplement, and the good news is that 1-2 glasses of milk a day can be a natural mood booster that can help a person to feel happier and more productive.

Read full story · Comments { 11 }

A Forgotten Key to Personal Growth

If you want tips on how to become more productive, how to increase your motivation or even just how to become more confident, there are more than enough resources out there. Many of us feel that all of these little steps ‘improve’ who we are and take us to the next level and in some ways I guess that’s true. On the other hand, I don’t like to think of this advice as changing us as people, but more like exposing who we really are.

Some people get obsessed with self growth and get hooked on looking for the next ‘secret’ and ‘tactic’ they can use to take their life, or just their personality, to the next level. Today I want to cover a personal growth key you may be totally neglecting, and one that probably has more effect on you than any other. What is that key, you ask? That’s easy: your health. As with productivity, motivation, confidence or any other aspects of life you feel are necessary to work on, there’s tons of information out there about your health. So much so in fact, that I’m sure you were already thinking that before my last statement. However, most of the health advice you read is about:

Read full story · Comments { 17 }