I’m holding this little baby in my hands. It’s my first grandson. He’s growing despite his preemie start … and he’s a little congested at the moment. My daughter, a first-time mom, called me that night, late, to stay with her. Her husband had been working long hours at a new job, and like most moms, sleep was minimal and …
Relaxing Even When the Stress Remains
While the stress might not go away, we are able to influence our bodies to switch over from the stressed out sympathetic state to the relaxed parasympathetic nervous system state. These intricate communication networks help maintain and regulate your body function. When you’re under stress (like imagine you’re that lifeguard hustling to save a person), your flight-or-flight (sympathetic) response ups …
Learning to Adapt
School is starting again soon, which has always been exciting and stressful in “typical” years, but this year brings a whole new level of stressors. Some schools have been closed. Some schools have been open half time. There are a lot of unknowns this coming year. With everything going on, we want to make sure that our families have the …
Developing Resilience?
As you’re reading this blog, my home state is just crawling out of a snow and ice storm that took down power in several towns. (And that’s not even talking about the deep freeze that just happened the South.) The punches just seem to keep coming, don’t they? Well, after a year of pandemic unknowns, unemployment, school ups and downs, …
Messages from the heart
Is your heart beating to the rhythm of stress? We can become “comfortable” with this status—thinking that constant stress is “normal,” which in turn affects our bodies, our health. WebMd lists these effects for constant stress: depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and more. So, when there is a tool that helps us manage long-term stress (because who doesn’t need that …
What to Say? What to Plan?
Life is tough right now, isn’t it? I was mulling on the theme for this month’s blog, and asking myself, “What do people really want to read?” And let’s face it, who has time to read? Well, we’re all in challenging places right now; so I thought, let’s talk about it. Just this last week, I had a conversation with …
Maintaining Your Health When Stress Won’t Go Away
One word: 2020. I can’t remember a time when the stress level for every person across the country (if not the world) has been so high. I won’t spend time belaboring the many deeper reasons, but on a basic level, the social structure of our lives has changed. Our everyday habits have been altered. Our social norms have been upended. …
Sleep: The Magic Pill
As a culture, we’ve built a habit of sleep deprivation based on the belief that sleep isn’t essential. Maybe you can relate to that voice inside that says, “I’ll sleep when I die.” I know I can! I’ve also declined sleep in the “name of productivity” too many times. Culturally, we seem to find it easy to get into the …
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