Do you toss and turn at night? Do you churn things in your mind, robbing you of much-needed sleep? If so, you aren't alone. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adults need seven or more hours of sleep per night to reduce the risk of adverse health outcomes. Many fall short of this guideline. So, what can you do to improve your sleep?
Making Mindfulness a Habit
From the beginning, the Levelhead approach to developing a mindfulness practice was based on the assumption that people have busy lives and need to be able to practice whenever, wherever it fits their lifestyle. We realize that people are time-starved and have a limited desire for practices that require more than 5 minutes. Take a look at what recent research says about what is needed to develop a mindfulness practice…
Are You Working More?
Many of us are now working at home, saving hours of commuting time. Think about it, how much time are you saving each day? To find out just how much time we’re saving and what we’re doing with this time, researchers surveyed 10,000 Americans earlier this year. What they found out was quite interesting.
Doing Good Boosts Our Health
Dealing with today's enormous challenges may have led us to act out in ways that are not characteristic of our behavior, especially toward others. We may find that we are a little more impatient, irritable, and intolerant of others. However, allowing ourselves to go down this path is not good for our mental or physical health. It is certainly not good for our relationships. A powerful antidote for these feelings is injecting kindness into our thoughts and deeds.
Being in Nature
Recently, I integrated a 45-50 minute walk into my daily schedule. And if it’s a particularly stressful day, I sometimes walk two or more times. My primary motivation for starting this activity was to get some exercise and a change of scenery from being at my desk. But quickly, I began to experience benefits well beyond what I have ever experienced during my daily gym visits. Let’s learn why…
Our New Normal
Everyone seems to be talking about the need to establish “our new normal”. You may have noticed that people have a lot of ideas on what activities we should include in this new normal. There are two concerns with this broad-based approach. Let’s learn what they are and how to successfully establish our own personal “new normal”.
Our Furry Friends
This morning as I was drinking my coffee and preparing for the day, I noticed my sweet little dogs all curled up in their beds totally oblivious to anything beyond this moment. I have to say, I envied them. For them, there is no crisis … no worries. All they know is that in this moment everything is fine. This prompted me to take a look at the latest research on pets and well-being.
Four Areas for Managing Stress & Anxiety
This is unquestionably a period where all of us are experiencing an enormous amount of stress. And what makes it even more challenging is that the source of stress is multi-faceted. With all of this going on, it’s understandable that we would be experiencing higher levels of stress, anxiety, and even depression. However, there are steps that we can take to break out of this cycle and be able to maintain as much of our normal lives as possible.
Emotional Hunger
Are you one of those people whose feelings have a lot to do with what and how much you eat? You’re not alone. Emotional hunger refers to a cycle of eating triggered by an emotion. Many of us eat when we’re happy, stressed, anxious, and even when we’re bored. Let’s take a look at how we can curb this tendency.