The Whole Life Challenge is almost done! Soon you’ll have a break from entering your score every day, keeping track of how many glasses of water you drink, and completing the weekly Well-Being Practice.
When the official Challenge ends, another one begins: can you maintain these healthy habits without the structure of the Whole Life Challenge?
This is the Holy Grail of health — creating healthy habits that last.…
The evils of social media are well documented. It can be addictive, damaging, and toxic. Watching the highlights of other people’s lives and chasing the validation of likes and comments can destroy your self-esteem and steal hours of your day. After experiencing these negative effects, many people opt to abandon their social media accounts entirely.
However, social media can be a way to connect, especially for older people, those in rural areas, people with disabilities, or people who can’t find others with similar interests nearby.…
On the first day of our family vacation in Vancouver, Canada, the city was experiencing a heat wave, with highs in the mid-80s. We’d arrived late the night before and none of us had slept well. After getting breakfast, we decided to walk downtown, instead of figuring out a bus or worrying about parking. The owner of our rental house told us it was a manageable walk for our kids, ages ten and twelve.…
When you walk in the door after a long day at work, what’s the first thing you see?
If your eyes fall on clothes piled on the couch, papers on the dining room table, and dishes in the sink, the mess in your home could be a hidden source of stress, fatigue, or depression.
A 2010 study found that women who described their homes as “cluttered” were more likely to be depressed or fatigued than woman who felt their homes were “restful.” The women with the cluttered homes also had higher levels of the cortisol, the stress hormone.…
I know how to stay strong during a tough workout, how to work long hours to meet a deadline, and how to eat well when I’m surrounded by junk food — but when I’m sick or injured, my mental resolve crumbles.
Maybe it’s because I rarely get sick, but when illness or injury descends, I lose all my stoicism. This is especially true if I perceive that the illness is something out of the norm, difficult to explain, or lasts longer than a few days.…
Get ready — it’s coming.
The days are getting longer and the temperature is rising. This means you’ll soon see articles about how to get ready for summer. Usually with titles like 5 Ways to Get Summer-Body Ready or Get Bikini Ready Now.
The premise of these articles is that there’s something “wrong” with your body and you’d better change quickly if you’re going to walk around in something other than long pants and a jacket.…
Making friends as a kid is easy. When you’re young, you see your friends every day at school or at after-school activities. No full-time job or adult responsibilities means kids can spend endless hours of playing, laughing, and talking with friends.
Then adulthood hits, and with it work and family responsibilities.
At some point you realize friendship takes work, and overwhelmed with just getting through the day, you wonder: is it all worthwhile?…
When I was growing up, my family’s New Year’s Eve tradition was to sit around the fire and write New Year’s resolutions. Our resolutions changed from year to year, depending on what lay ahead of us. My sister resolved to get a lead in the school play, I said I’d study harder in math and stop biting my nails, my dad wrote about medical textbooks he hoped to finish writing, and my mom put down her volunteering goals.…
Before online shopping was a thing — and before we had kids — my husband and I took care of our Christmas shopping in one day. We’d pick a Saturday in December and drive to a local design district, a beautiful street lined with quirky stores selling everything from outdoor apparel to home decor.
Taking our time, we’d stroll in and out of the shops, holding up our finds:
“A fleece jacket for your dad?” I’d ask.…
In high school, I had a friend whose mom lived a glamorous life of parties, concerts, and late-night socializing. She’d sweep into the room on her way out for the third night in a row, and tell us in her husky voice, “Girls, you can sleep when you’re dead.”
My friend would repeat this phrase to me any time I said I was too tired to go out, and it usually convinced me to reconsider and head out the door.…
Quick, name three good things that happened to you recently.
Next, name three things that aren’t going well.
Which was easier?
If you’re like most people, coming up with negative examples was much easier. It probably wasn’t difficult to think of more than three things that are causing you stress or worry.
The reason for this is something called “negativity bias.”
This is a phenomenon that causes our minds to react more strongly and persistently to bad things.…
Accountability is what keeps us all on track, but most of us struggle when we’re answering only to ourselves — especially when it comes to health and wellness.
Add in work stress, family obligations, and the constant presence of unhealthy food, and staying accountable becomes extremely difficult.
But if you want to have a long, healthy life, then sooner or later, you’ve got to figure out how to hold yourself accountable, even when (or, perhaps, especially when) life gets complicated.…
