All By Yourself; Don’t Wanna Be All By Yourself (Through Injury)

October 25, 2018 Leave a Comment

When you receive an injury, you do so alone. You’re the one who has to live through the moment, deal with the pain, and attend the endless hospital appointments. Other people may want to support you, but they just don’t understand what you’re going through. This can be so frustrating that you may choose to isolate yourself. You’re in this alone anyway, right?

 

But, facing injury alone could be about the worst thing for your recovery. Your loved ones are only trying to help. It’s no one’s fault that you were alone when this terrible thing happened. But, if you remain isolated through your experience, you only have yourself to blame. If you still aren’t convinced to let people in, keep reading to find out how isolation can worsen your injury.

You won’t get the help you need

Refusing to let anyone in means you won’t get the help you need. On a fundamental level, this means that you won’t have a helping hand around the house. You’ll have to get your own meals and make your own way to the bathroom. None of which is easy. Shutting everyone out also means you won’t get the professional help you need. Refusing to speak to a doctor could see them unable to offer you the best treatment. Not contacting a personal injury lawyer soon enough could see you unable to gain compensation for what’s happened. All because you were too stubborn about coping alone.

You might not spot changes

Having people around during recovery is also essential for spotting changes. A change for the worse could mean you need immediate medical attention. A change for the better is a sign that you’re doing something right. But, like children we see every day, you may fail to spot differences in your injury. You’re looking at it all the time, after all. By comparison, a friend who comes round once a day will be able to see straight away how things are going either way. That alone could save your life.

Your mental health will suffer

Isolation is also terrible news for mental health. In case you didn’t know, mental struggles can have an enormous impact on recovery. Even a negative outlook can severely extend the time you spend out of action. Something such as depression can also impact your quality of sleep. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that sleepless nights will also hinder your body’s chance to heal. In short; isolation is terrible news from every mental angle you could consider.

 

The answer?

So, that’s why shouldn’t isolate yourself right now. The question is, how do you let other people in? The good news is, there’s a simple answer. All you need to do is talk to people. They can’t know exactly what you’re going through, but hearing about your experience can help. Ask a friend around sometimes. Pick someone to attend hospital visits with you. Before you know it, you’ll get your life back on track this way.

 

Filed Under: Health, Injury, Wellness

Injured? Here’s How to Make The Most Out of Your Free Time

May 16, 2018 Leave a Comment

When we get injured or suffer a road accident, it is easy to focus on the negatives and get depressed. What if you focused on the opportunity that this time off gives you to sort out your finances, learn new skills, improve your relationships, or do what you always wanted to. Below you’ll find a few tips on what to do with your free time and better yourself while recovering from an injury.

Image via Austin Chan

 

Reconnect with Friends and Family Members

Image via Jon Ly

 

A sudden break from your daily rush lifestyle might come as a shock. If you failed to give your parents a call or sit down with your kids after school due to work, now this is the time to improve your relationships. If you have been wondering about how your old classmates and friends are doing, it might be time to look them up on Facebook and reconnect with them. List everyone you want to get in touch with, and make the most out of your time.

Take on a Course

Whether you always wanted to learn meditation or have been dreaming of a career change for a long time, but had no time to study, this is your chance. There are plenty of accredited online courses that will help you secure a promotion or pay rise, even lead to a career change after you have fully recovered. Do your research and dig deep to find out what you really want to learn.

Start a Blog

In case you have always wanted to connect with like minded people, but had no time, you can start your own blog. This will give you a new routine and a purpose in life, so you become more positive about your abilities and talk to people who might be facing similar issues as you. If you are facing disability forever or just for a few months, you can use your blog to write about your emotions and release stress and frustration.

Explore Your Legal Options

You can also use the time on your hands to explore your legal options and get the compensation you deserve from the person or business that caused your injury. Whether it was a road accident caused by a careless driver or a work injury due to the negligence of your employer, you can start building your legal case while recovering. You can also get in touch with an attorney to help you with your personal injury so you don’t have to do everything alone.

Plan Your Life

When you can take a step back from your regular busy life, take the opportunity to plan your life. Whether you would like to sort out your finances and get a better mortgage rate or deal with your home improvements, make a decision whether to move or not, you will now have the time and focus to get these pressing issues out of the way.

Suffering an injury is never great. You can, however, focus on the positives and make the most out of the free time to better your life.

Filed Under: Children, Family, Health, Lifestyle, Wellness

Stop Trying To Lose Weight Alone

April 11, 2018 Leave a Comment

Image Source

 

Weight loss may be a personal goal, but that doesn’t mean you should do it alone. Like any challenge, having motivation from other people can help to spur you on. Here are just a few ways to lose weight with the help of other people.

 

Find a weight loss partner

 

Got a friend or family member that also wants to shed the pounds? Trying to lose weight together could be beneficial to you both. You can both motivate one another – when one person doesn’t want to go to the gym or thinks about giving in to an unhealthy food, the other person can help to steer them the right way. Having a weight loss partner may even offer some healthy competition – if they lose more pounds than you in a month, it could spur you to try and do better the next month to try and beat their weight loss.

 

Join weight loss groups

 

There are a large number of weight loss groups that can also provide encouragement. This could be a dieting group such as Weight Watchers in which everyone provides encouragement for each other. Alternatively, it could be an exercise group such as a spin class or a regimental fitness class – not everyone may be there to lose weight, but you’ll still have people encouraging you to work hard and attend the next class.

 

Get guidance from a professional

 

Another option could to hire the help of a professional. This could be a culinary nutrition expert who can help you to come up with a personalised diet or a personal trainer who can create a personalised exercise regime. Not only can these professionals advise you on the best ways to lose weight for your individual needs, they can also provide expert motivation. The incentive of paying for their advice also could encourage you to keep up the hard work.

 

Use weight loss apps

 

Apps may not be human beings, but they can still provide the outside encouragement needed to help you lose weight. There are apps that can count your steps, tell you how many calories are in certain foods, give you meal plan ideas or simply help you record your progress. There are lots of these weight loss apps out there – it could be worth testing multiple ones out until you find one that motivates you.

 

Encourage your friends and family to motivate you

 

Your friends and family can provide a vital influence on how well you follow your weight loss plan. You want to make sure that they’re supporting you – they shouldn’t be talking you out of exercise or eating unhealthy snacks in front of you, but instead helping to make healthy meals for you and driving you to the gym. Have a word with your friends and family if you think they’re being a negative influence. Your friends and family shouldn’t have to change their lifestyle to suit yours, however they should have the respect to let you follow your goals.

Filed Under: fit, Fitness, Health Reviews, Healthy, Uncategorized, Wellness

4 Surprising Ways That Lack Of Sleep Is Harming Your Health

March 9, 2018 Leave a Comment

Everybody knows you should get at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night but most of us don’t manage it. When you’re working late and getting up early, it’s difficult to fit it in. The problem is, a lot of people don’t realize how dangerous it is. They think that the only negative effect of not getting a good night’s sleep is that you’ll be tired the next day, but it’s a lot worse than that.

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There are a lot of reasons that you aren’t sleeping properly and the first thing you should be doing is addressing them. One of the biggest problems these days is computer and phone screens; if you’re looking at a screen before you go to bed, the light tricks your brain into thinking that it’s still daytime and it won’t shut down. Other things like not having a regular routine for sleep or even having a messy bedroom can stop you from getting good sleep as well. In a lot of cases, people can’t get a good night’s sleep because their mattresses are old and they don’t offer enough support. Even if they can sleep, they won’t get good, restful sleep. Those are the reasons why you might not be getting enough sleep, these are some of the ways that it’s damaging your health.

 

Weight Gain

 

If you’re trying to watch what you’re eating and you’re exercising regularly but you still can’t shake that excess weight, it might be because you aren’t getting enough shut eye. When you’re sleep deprived, the chemicals in your brain that tell you when you’re full up are a bit off balance and so you think you’re hungry when you aren’t. That means you’re far more likely to eat more than you need to and put on weight. It’s also harder to find the motivation to cook healthy meals or exercise if you’re tired all of the time.

 

Memory Problems

 

When you go to sleep, your body is still working. It takes this time to form connections in the brain that help you to retain memories from the day. If you aren’t sleeping the recommended amount, your brain won’t do this effectively. That means you’ll experience problems with both your long and short term memory. If you keep forgetting things all the time, you need to get to bed a little bit earlier.

 

Weak Immune System

 

A strong immune system is the key to avoiding most illnesses and if you don’t have one, you’re going to get sick all the time. Lack of sleep weakens your immune system a lot so your body won’t be as efficient at fighting off bacteria and germs that you’re exposed to in everyday life. That means you’re far more likely to catch a cold or get the flu.

 

Diabetes

 

Not getting enough sleep affects your body’s release of insulin, the hormone that lowers blood sugar. This increases your risk of developing diabetes so if you’re also eating quite a lot of sugary foods you’re putting yourself in real danger.

 

Lack of sleep is far more dangerous than people realize so make sure you’re getting enough every night.

Filed Under: Better Sleep, Health, Uncategorized, Wellness

Taking Care of Ageing Parents

December 21, 2017 Leave a Comment

In time, we all face the role reversal that comes from being parented by our parents to having to care for our parents like a parent.  Indeed taking care of elderly parents can be hard work; as not only do you need to tend to their medical and physiological needs but also their social and emotional needs.  In reality, this can be a tiring uphill struggle, particularly when dealing with illnesses such as alzheimer’s and dementia, so here are few tips that will help lighten the load and take some of the weight off your shoulders.

HIRE A CLEANER

Often, cleaning and undertaking daily or weekly chores can be a core component of the time you spend with your parents looking after their needs; which, whilst essential in many respects this time could be better invested in engaging and interacting with them on a social level.  If you can afford to outsource the cleaning to an external cleaner, this will free up your time to connect and engage.  One of the most common issues amongst old people is a lack of social engagement – so pass the torch (or in this case, the brush) to someone else to take care of the cleaning and you start caring for the emotional state of the person you are working so hard to look after.

OUTSOURCE THE CARE

It might not always feel like the nicest of options, but there is a time and a place for outsourcing some of your parent’s care.  The cost of this can be pretty expensive, and whilst you’re paying a premium price you’re not always getting the premium service one would expect.  In fact, carers are some of the lowest paid members of the health community which can lead to a particularly young workforce who are inexperienced to deal with the challenges clients face in a tactful and caring way.

However, there are a number of services such as Seniors for Seniors elder care services that provide more mature and experienced carers who work from a place of passion, care and consideration – most likely having experienced something themselves with their own parents, this level of empathy and tactful interaction with their clients is a highly valued  commodity you are unlikely to find with younger carers.

HIRE A GARDENER

In a similar vein to hiring a cleaner, hiring a gardener to maintain aspects such as keeping the lawn trimmed and tending to leaves in the driveway (particularly useful if your parent could be at risk of slipping and falling) – these are jobs that are tempting to take on yourself, but outsourcing these jobs to a gardener, or even a family member, such as a child – will free your time up to care for more pressing emotional needs.

The golden thread throughout these ideas is that of outsourcing aspects of practical care so that you can focus more on engaging with the emotional aspects of your parent; in reality, they would most likely appreciate a day out by the seaside or a companion to watch their favourite TV show than have you rattling around in the kitchen; checking up on them to see if they have taken their medication.  Therefore, try to outsource as much as you can and focus on being their trusted friend rather than their ‘home help’.

Filed Under: Ageing, Family, Wellness

Protecting Your Senses This Christmas

December 15, 2017 Leave a Comment

As we approach Christmas and New Year, the festivities are running high and the world becomes infused with gingerbread, cloves, flickering lights, fireworks and everything that you can imagine can be linked to Christmas. It’s wonderful and magical but can also have a detrimental effect on your health. And we’re not talking about the extra pounds everyone puts on over the holidays. But these issues can be easily prevented without them putting a damper on the holiday fun.

Sight

With the millions of lights suddenly adorning every street, store, house front, and tree it’s an assault on the eyes. You might think that eating dinner by the light of your Christmas tree is romantic and full of Christmas spirit, but you’re actually straining your eyes to focus on what’s in front of you. The same when you light candles and try to see by that light alone. Use lamps and the big light in a room to alleviate the pressure on your eyes to see in the dark.

Hearing

Apart from having to listen to the same bunch of Christmas songs since the first of November, the main thing to worry about is the fireworks. From Christmas Eve and onwards people love to keep the celebrations going by letting off fireworks every evening. And where

they aren’t much of an issue now and again, the constant barrage is enough to damage healthy ears, let alone those who already have damaged ears – which occurs more in the elderly. Hearing protection is simple enough in this instance; earplugs. You will still be able to hear the fireworks but dimmed enough to protect the delicate works of your inner ear.

Feel

Feeling can only be lost through nerve damage, which, usually, can only be damaged by extreme circumstances, but it can be temporarily damaged easily in the cold weather. Where it takes an extremely low temperature to cause instant frostbite, and people think that it only happens at the north pole, it can be developed within more habitable places like the UK, Russia and Northern parts of the US. The more you are exposed to the cold, the more the danger of frostbite grows. Which can cause irreversible nerve damage and cause you to lose feeling. Prevent this by wearing the right clothes out in the cold – don’t choose fashion over function. And by limiting the time you expose yourself to the cold weather.

The protection of your senses can be as simple as thinking things through. Like wearing a coat designed to withstand the cold, rather than layering a jacket with a jumper and hoping for the best. By giving your ears a break from the relentless booming of the celebratory fireworks. And by turning the lights up when necessary instead of straining your eyes in the attempt to be more festive.

Filed Under: Health, Health Reviews, Healthy, Wellness

Shopping for Nature Made probiotics at Kroger

August 16, 2017 Leave a Comment

“This post was sponsored by Nature Made® as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.”

I love being able to get everything I need at Kroger instead of having to shop at multiple stores. I’m a full-time blogger, a full-time student, and a real estate agent. I’m a busy Mimi. One of the products I shop for at Kroger on an ongoing basis is my Nature Made Advanced Probiotics. Several years ago I started having issues and after a visit to my physician’s office, he recommended that I start taking Probiotics daily. I’m so glad I listened to him about this because quite frankly, I don’t have time for digestive issues.

Shopping for Nature Made probiotics at Kroger #NatureMadeProbioticsatKroger, #IC, #ad

There are several reasons I decided to take Nature Made probiotics over the rest. Word of mouth was one reason. There are many in my family and circle of friends that use this brand and highly recommended them. Because I’ve also had a good experience from using Nature Made products in the past, it didn’t take long for me to realize that this was the best brand out there for what I needed. They have clinically studied strains and are gentle enough for everyday use. Several years ago I was diagnosed with a condition that would require I use a gluten free diet. I had never heard of this before and to be honest, I wasn’t even sure what a gluten free diet would include.  What I did know is that even with supplements, I have to be so careful about what I ingest. Thankfully, Nature Made Probiotics are 100% vegetarian, gluten & dairy free. There are 15 Billion live cultures per serving*.  Advanced Dual Action Probiotics works in your small intestine and large intestine. † It helps support digestive balance and a healthy gut flora.

Shopping for Nature Made probiotics at Kroger #NatureMadeProbioticsatKroger, #IC, #ad

I love being active and living a healthy lifestyle.  Nature Made Advanced Dual Action Probiotics are helping me live my dreams and accomplish my goals by helping me to remain the active, healthy person that I strive to be.  Please leave me a comment telling me what you do to help you live a healthy lifestyle. 

* Formulated to provide at least 5 billion live cells per capsule (Bifidobacterium lactis SD-5674) and 10 billion live cells per capsule (Lactobacillus plantarum 299v) if continuously stored in a cool, dry place at or below 77°F (25°C) and consumed prior to expiration date. Storage and handling conditions can vary, and may affect the total amount of cells delivered at time of consumption.
† These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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Filed Under: Digestive, Health, Kroger, NatureMade, Shopping, Wellness Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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