Category Archives: Mental Health

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Everyday Health Problems And How You Can Beat Them

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Even the most healthy of us experience a wellness issue from time to time. That is just the nature of being in our bodies. But there are a lot of issues that people grit their teeth and bear, but they could actually do something about. Read on to find our what they are, and what you can do to beat them and regain your health.

Breathing Problems

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Firstly there are a lot of people who suffer from respiratory issues. If you have been struggling with your breathing the first thing on the lists is to pay a visit to your doctors. Its is important to get any breathing issues looked at by a medical professional in case there is a serious underlying cause.

Once you have a diagnosis, you can also make some changes in your own life that can help to alleviate the problem.

The biggest thing that you can do to help improve your breathing is to give up smoking. You can go cold turkey, use nicotine patches, or even switch to a vape pen instead of normal smoking tobacco.

Even though you will still receive a dose of nicotine by using a vape pen, it can be hard to get used to at the beginning. That is why it’s a good idea to get it all the supplies you will need including a charger, an extra battery, and a stash of e-liquids. Or, join a flexible subscription service that will post you supplies monthly. You can look at this website for more information.

Headaches

Headaches are a very common ailment, but these can cause a significant amount of suffering. Headaches can be caused by a number of things such as allergies, dehydration, stress and even the way that we sit.

Of course, sometimes they are symptomatic of other issues.  Such as needing a stronger prescription in our glasses or the onset of migraines. If you have explored the most basic solutions like your posture and water consumption. It is best to get it checked over by a medical professional.

Backaches

Backaches are also a common problem, especially as we get older. They are often caused by overstraining to lift things, or by long-standing injuries. Backaches can be tough to deal with because it’s hard to get comfy in any one position for a length of time.

If your problem is caused by an injury then seeing a chiropractor can help. As they will be able to realign your back and other joints so there won’t be as much pressure on them.

Depression

Depression is diagnosed as a feeling of sadness or hopelessness that has been present for over two weeks. Depression is not the same as having a bad day. In fact, it can be devastating to the person suffering from it and to those around them.

Depression can affect how that person sees themselves, what choices they make and how much enjoyment they can get out of their lives. If anyone you know is suffering in this way, it is best to work in small steps. Ask them to see a medical professional first to assess the problem. Then you can help them to incorporate more exercise and a better diet into their lives.

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Don’t Put Off Talking To Your Teen About Drugs And Alcohol

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Studies show that teens who have discussions with their parents about drugs and alcohol are less likely to develop an addiction. But unfortunately, many parents are still failing to talk to their kids about this important topic. Many feel that it’s something they won’t have to worry about until their teen is older. But statistics show that many a large percentage of teens have their first alcoholic drink at 15. Kids who are just starting high school can also be offered drugs by older teens in their school. So to help your kids make smart choices, start the conversation by using these top tips.

Ask your kids what they know

One of the best ways to start this conversation is by asking your kids how much they know about drugs and alcohol. They might be embarrassed at first, but encourage them to share their knowledge. You might be surprised by just how much they know or have learned from TV or social media. This gives them an opportunity to ask you questions while also giving you a chance to fill in any gaps in their knowledge. You should also ask them whether someone has offered drugs or alcohol to them and if they tried. Encourage them to open up and share their concerns with your. Once, they have told you of their experiences and their knowledge, you can then tailor your approach more effectively.

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Talk about your experiences

During your conversation, don’t be afraid to share your past experiences with drugs and alcohol too. After all, you were a teenager once too. Talk about how you felt and what they consequences were for your actions. You don’t have to go into a lot of detail. Just share basic details that will show your kids that you have been in the same situation as them. This can be incredibly insightful for your teen as they can learn from your mistakes and make better choices. It can also make them more aware of how these situations can arise. You can talk through what they should say if someone offers them a substance and how to distance themselves from negative influences.

Explain what the risks are

When your kids are encouraged to try a substance by others, they are likely to be told how amazing and fun it is. If they don’t know what the risks are before this happens, this can entice them to try drugs or alcohol even more. So during your talk with them, outline what risks and consequences there are. They might get expelled, end up in hospital or rehab and even spend time in jail. While you can prevent them being offered drugs or alcohol, you can give them the knowledge they need to stay no.

While it can be easy to put off this often difficult conversation, you need to make it a priority. Talk to your teenager and answer any questions they may have with complete honesty and openness. If you suspect your teen might already have an addiction, get further advice from a young person’s rehab center.

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Are You Crying Out For A Fresh Start?

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Are you stuck in a rut? Are you bored with doing the same things with the same people all the time? Or are you anxious that time is flying and you’re not getting making headway with your list of life goals? Sometimes, we all have days when we wonder if we could be doing more. Life is for living, after all. If this sounds familiar, it may be time for a fresh start. Here are some ways you can boost your mood and get motivated in the months ahead.

Is work getting you down?

Most of us have days when we’d much rather stay in bed than trek to the office or serve customers all day. Work isn’t supposed to be fun all the time. But you should take a degree of enjoyment out of it. If you’re bored of work, or it’s making your stressed, consider a change of environment or a new career. What do you want to do? If somebody asked you what your dream is, what would you say? If you have goals, try to make them happen. It might take a long time, but you can start taking baby steps. Perhaps you want to get into presenting, for example. If so, fire off some cover letters and CVs and find out about work experience opportunities. Look into internships or go back to college and take relevant courses.

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Do you suffer from body confidence issues?

Body image is one of the most pressing concerns for young people today. If you suffer from body confidence issues, there may be ways you can increase your self-esteem. Firstly, think about why you lack confidence. Are you heavier than you’d like to be or do you struggle to put on weight? Changes to your diet and lifestyle can often have amazing benefits for your health and your self-confidence. If you want to lose weight, try to change what and how much you eat, and take up exercise. If you struggle with a sweet tooth, try using products like miracle berry. You can add tablets to your food to make it sweeter without increasing its calorie content. If you want to put on weight, ask your GP for advice. It may be as simple as eating more or including more calorific foods in your diet.

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Are you craving a change of scenery?

Are you constantly looking at pictures of amazing places on Instagram and Facebook? If so, why not stop looking, and start doing. The world is your oyster, and there are so many places out there to explore and discover. Travelling can broaden your horizons and open new doors. If you dream of jetting off on an adventure, start saving up, and plan your trip. Seeing the world can give you a new lease of life and help you decide what you want to do in the future.

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Sometimes, life can become stagnant. You reach a standstill, and it’s hard to get out of a rut. If you find yourself in this situation, it may be time to make changes. Think about getting a new job, or working on your self-confidence. Spread your wings and see the world. A fresh start may be just what you need.

 

 

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Is It Really Possible To Bottle Up Your Concerns?

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We talk an awful lot about stress, often without really looking into its causes or fully understanding its effects. We might say “I’m just dealing with a lot of stress at work”. We may snap at someone, apologize and assure them that we’re just under stress. But for a lot of us, “stress” is something of a catch-all, foggy term that more or less means “I’m dealing with a lot, and it’s hard”.


The thing is, dealing with a lot is liable to cause stress. It’s one of the most common causes of chronic stress, but far from the only one. What a lot of us don’t realize is that stress is a reaction to a situation. While it can be chronic – that is, built up over time – it can also be acute. In many cases, stress is caused by a single incident that we then don’t fully process.

Sudden Bereavement

If you’ve recently lost someone, it’s common to decide to go back to work early on. You don’t want to be seen as exploiting the grief, and feel that keeping busy will be your best way of returning to some normality.

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What all such situations have in common is that people would entirely understand if the bereaved took longer to return. While too much time to think can be a problem, some counselling is the best approach here. Before you can return to work, it’s important to process what you have lost.

Witnessing A Traumatic Event

Although levels of violent crime are falling by any credible measure, humanity as a whole is more on alert for such crime. Part of this is down to the importance placed on knowing what you should do if it happens to you. But a lot is also down to the way things are reported in the news. A more high-adrenaline way of reporting news means that we’re more aware of violence.

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Someone witnessing a violent incident can be placed very much on edge by what happens. It could be something as minor as a fight between two strangers, or as major as a terrorist attack. Until this is processed fully, they keep reliving the incident. This is where critical incident stress management, or CISM solutions, come in. By talking about how the incident affected them and why, a person can put it to rest.

Arguing With A Loved One

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A situation that can affect us all too easily is if we go to work having just argued with someone we love. Although you want nothing more than to apologize and fix it, you’re at work and they’re somewhere else. You spend the whole day wishing you weren’t there, it affects every decision you make and the situation festers. A common reaction these days is to text the person to tell them you’re sorry.

Although this seems like the logical and right step, it is not necessarily so. An argument may have arisen for a number of reasons. These will need deeper discussion than your situation allows. Although an apology may be in order, it should be accompanied by a promise that you’ll talk properly later.

Simply texting “I’m sorry, you were right” just puts your loved one in an awkward situation. Either they have to accept an apology they’re not ready for, or reject it and seem like the baddie. Neither of these situations is fair on them, so take responsibility.

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Home Business Got You Seeing Red? Try Going Green

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We all know that running a home business can be stressful from time to time. For starters, it’s hard to separate work from pleasure when you’re constantly wedded to your place of work. But could going green help, if only in a small way? Check out these green ideas for your home office.

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Use Biodegradable Cleaners

 

Did you know that the majority of cleaners you use around your home contain toxic chemicals? These chemicals aren’t just bad for your health, they’re bad for your mood too. Some cleaners contain chemicals, like phthalates. These chemicals then wind up in your body, disrupting your hormones, and generally messing with your mood. What’s more, they’re bad for the environment, as many of them contain other chemicals that don’t break down in landfill.

 

Here’s a green idea that’ll help: use biodegradable cleaners. These cleaners skip a lot of the harmful chemicals ordinarily found in regular cleaning products. And they are okay for the environment to boot. Next time you run out of detergent or surface spray, opt for the environmentally friendly alternative.

 

Get Rid Of Paper

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There’s nothing more annoying in the home office than out of control piles of paper littering all your surfaces. Is there anything you can do about it?

 

Well, if you’re a paper-based business, you might think that there isn’t. Sure, there’s lots of software out there that will do the job just as well as a pen and paper. But that software can’t replace your paper-based archive, can it?

 

Well, the software that you’re using right now probably can’t. But today, there are document conversion services that are very clever. Here, you simply scan all your archived documents. Then the software will automatically categorise them for you using learning algorithms. This means that you can transfer your archives out of your office and into the cloud. That means less paper, less mess, and arguably, less rage when you come to find old documents. After all, they’ll be just as searchable as everything else online.

 

Replace Your Lightbulbs

 

Nobody who runs a home business likes getting whacked with a big electricity bill at the end of the month. According to the department of energy, about 20 percent of the energy we use at home is wasted. But something as simple as changing your light bulbs can change all that. Get rid of your old light bulbs and switch to LEDs. These use significantly less power, and they last up to ten times as long. Remember, you don’t have to opt for LED with harsh blue lights. Most LED bulbs come with shrouds that modify the light to make it appear more natural.

 

Go Green For Web Hosting

Green Web Hosting.

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Web hosting is a small, but annoying cost for most small businesses. But you could save a bit of money by switching to a hosting service with green credentials. Thanks to the plummeting cost of solar, many green web hosting services are cheaper than their fossil fuel competitors. This means that you can save a bit of money, and look after the environment by switching. Why not give it a go?

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Make Your Life Work For You: Keeping A Balance Between Work Life And Home Life

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Work Life Balance

 

Are you running a business? When it comes to running an organization, it’s a full-time job, especially businesses that are new. Trying to get your dream project off the ground from nothing into a fully functional organization is stressful. There could be working weeks of 60 hours or more. In addition to this, the sleepless nights and the worries they are linked with it could consume a lot more time than you think it might. And did you stop to think about how it is affecting your home life? You might have missed school recitals, birthdays or important anniversaries. So what is the best way to take back the work-life balance that you so desperately need?

 

Understand When You Work Best!

By this I mean what time of day are you most functional. If you’re running a business you need to make sure that you are doing all the tasks the best you can. A lot of people find that they function better in the morning, so if that is the case then take on the more difficult tasks at a time of day. Understanding your energy levels will help you prepare better for your work day. So the inevitable mid-afternoon energy slump can be factored into your day so you can do the most mundane tasks at that point as they don’t require as much attention as applying for a business loan. Companies such as Frosch Learning can assist when it comes to helping you understand your working practices better.

 

Leaving The Work Phone In Work!

This might be the most difficult one for many business owners. As we are so reliant on checking our phones then leaving the phone and the laptop in the office will do you good! Set up an answer phone message or an out of office email. Then you can enjoy time away from the office. It will go a long way to help maintain the boundaries between work and home life.

 

Go Far Away!

In running a business, if you can’t be sure the company will survive without you being there then you need to delegate duties to other members of staff. Sometimes the only way to test if the business will survive is for you to go far away. It may cause you a bout of separation anxiety. But getting away for a period of time will help you gain a new perspective on the organization while also reducing your duties.

 

Stress and sleep.

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Relax!

Those that run businesses have difficulty in switching off and it’s not surprising when we all have difficulty in switching off at night. Smartphones and tablets are contributing to increased stress due to the blue light being emitted from the devices,  which causes problems with our circadian rhythm and so contribute to a lack of quality sleep, which leaves this feeling stressed or anxious or makes us take up habits that are not good for our health. We all have different triggers when it comes to stress so understanding what those triggers are for you will be a good way for you to overcome them. Finding a pursuit that relaxes you, such as meditation or yoga or spending time relaxing with your family will go some way to reverse damage from stress.

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Take That Vacation!

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You may have noticed no posts in May until now. Reason? I was preparing for and taking my vacation. I had a great time and I’m glad I took the time off.

And I advise you to do the same. So many of us put it off and in fact, most people don’t take all of their vacation days each year. That’s time that can never be gotten back. Time that could have been used to recharge, get in touch with family or friends that you haven’t seen in a while, to see something or somewhere new, or to rediscover your own world you live in every day but don’t really see.

Why is this? Many people think they don’t have time or there’s too much work to do, others couldn’t get along without them, etc.

But, in reality, there is always too much work to do, and there will be after you leave, others can get along without you for a short time, and, if you really want to, you can make time.

Really. Put aside your biases and worries and think about it and you’ll see this is doable.

I’ve written other posts regarding some aspects of this, including the example of the man who kept putting off visiting a relative he really liked, because of his job and the idea that there was too much work to do. That favorite relative died and the man regrets not making the time.

And no one on their deathbed has ever said that they regretted not putting in more time at the office.

Also, vacations, even small ones, have a recharging effect, which can make you more effective as a worker and as a person as it helps avoid burnout.

So, go ahead and take that vacation!

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Want Immortality? Cloning Yourself is Not the Answer!

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The issue of cloning has largely fallen off the radar, but for a while in the 1990’s, with the news of Dolly the cloned sheep, it was.

Then, there were stories which either had cloning as an issue or where something akin to it was being employed, either physically or mentally, such as the book and movie, “The Boys From Brazil”, and of course, the “Jurassic Park” series. And, there is the idea of cloning oneself to gain immortality or to make someone who thinks and acts the same.

But can this really be done? The making of a viable clone? Yes, it’s possible though the science today is still in its infancy. And no, you can’t make yourself immortal, nor can you produce a “personality twin” of yourself, either, through cloning.

All cloning does, if successful, is produce a biological twin of the person or animal, or organ or body part, being cloned, that is much younger than the original.

So, if you cloned yourself, you would not gain immortality, as the clone would not be you. It would only be a genetic copy of you and younger by as many years as you are old. You would not be seeing or feeling through the clone any more than you do through any other person. The clone is a separate being.

So, would a clone think and act as you? Again, no. Mentally, the clone could be anyone. And it would not likely matter even if the clone were raised in a duplicate way and environment as you. This is why the story, “The Boys From Brazil” could not possibly be made true. There are just too many variables within the human mind itself so that even a duplicated environment and parenting style, and even putting the same kind of people in the right places and times, if that could even be done, would not guarantee a clone being the same kind of person as the original!

So, to those who want to ban cloning because of fears of someone creating another Hitler, or of wealthy people using their money to buy immortality and having yet another advantage over the poor and middle class, your fears are completely unjustified.

What cloning can do, is bring about the possibility of making duplicate organs and body parts for people whose organs are failing. This would mean no more need for transplants, no waiting for new organs, and no fear of new organs and body parts being rejected! In addition, the stem cell controversy could also be ended, as stem cells could simply be cloned to fill the need.

This is why the banning of all forms of cloning is a bad idea!

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Are all Lies Bad?

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Don’t you just hate being lied to? I sure do. But, and this is a big “but“, I haven’t been offended by all lies told to me. Why? Because some lies were told to keep pleasant surprises as surprises, for one.

Most lies are bad, but some are good. I was told that the club I belonged to was changing its meeting place. I went to the new place and was treated to a surprise party for my birthday one year. It was great! It happens all the time.

Also, we tell “white” lies. These are lies to avoid offending people or to prevent people, often older parents or grandparents from worrying. Can you imagine if we always spoke our thoughts. Saying to Aunt Marge, “Your hat looks dumb and too big for your head!”, when she asks you what you think, or saying, “Cousin Tom and his girlfriend lived together before they were married.” to your old-fashioned grandfather, or saying how dangerous your job in law enforcement can be to your worrying grandmother, will only cause trouble.

Of course, the truth may still come out and, in the above examples, the idea shouldn’t be to deny the truth as much as to lessen the full impact of the truth.

In that last example of your law enforcement career, God forbid if you are killed, everyone knows that your grandmother won’t accept the idea that you just decided to take a very long trip without any communication with her or anyone else when you’ve always been a stickler for keeping contact with all family members. What needs to be done is to gradually let her know what your career is and assure her that you are taking extra care to protect yourself.

But what these white lies can do is to prevent the truth from being too blunt. Instead, in all 3 examples, the truth can be brought out in stages so the recipients won’t suffer as much mental shock with the resulting tumult in the family.

And of course, your child home alone telling an inquiring stranger on the phone that you are home in the shower is also a very good lie.

So, there are times when the lie can be more helpful than the truth. Just something to think about.

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Freedom to Grieve

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There was a death in my family recently. Oftentimes, when there’s such a tragedy, people, especially those closest to the one who passed on, are bombarded with often well-meaning advice on how to grieve. They may hear things such as, “You have to cry”, or, “You must pray”, or “You must do this,… wear that…have this type of ceremony”, etc.

Luckily, for me, there was very little of this, for which I am grateful. You see, everyone grieves in their own way, and just because one grieves in any particular way that is different, doesn’t mean they love the deceased person any less. Not everyone has a funeral. Not everyone wears black. Not everyone grieves for the same amount of time or to the same degree all of the time.

So, to keep this short, my advice is, to let people grieve in their own way. Please. They’ll appreciate this as greater respect, and they are more likely to respect you in turn.

Thanks for reading.

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