Health

3 Simple Self-Care Tips for New Moms

Angela Manning Health
3 Simple Self-Care Tips for New Moms

Being a new mom is difficult. From caring for your little one to managing household responsibilities such as tidying or even preparing for a big move with Black Tie Moving, finding time to take for yourself can be difficult. If you are a new mom and are finding yourself feeling stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, it might be time to prioritize a bit of self-care. Keep reading to learn a few simple ways to take extra care of yourself, even amidst a busy schedule.

Get Moving

Working out and creating a strong fitness routine as a new mom is one of the best ways to tend to your physical, mental, and emotional health. If you don’t have time to hit the gym amidst all of your parental duties and responsibilities, don’t panic! In order to reap the benefits of exercising, you don’t necessarily need to head to the gym; you can go for a short walk around the neighborhood, bike with your family, or dance along to your favorite music. While finding the motivation to exercise after having a new baby might be difficult, working out is one of the best ways to incorporate self-care into your everyday routine. 

Have an At-Home Spa Day 

Don’t have the time or money to head to a spa for some much-needed relaxation? That’s ok! Simulate the experience of visiting a spa at home by drawing a hot bath, doing a cleansing mud mask, and applying nourishing serums and lotions to your body. Create extra ambiance by dimming the lights, lighting scented candles, and playing your favorite calming music. 

Call a Friend

One of the most difficult parts of being a new mom is battling feelings of isolation as you don’t to have much spare time to spend with friends following the birth of your baby. One of the best things you can do to care for yourself and alleviate stress is to take the time to call a friend each day. Whether you’re venting about challenges you might be facing or just chatting and catching up, taking the time to converse with friends each day is a great way to alleviate stress and add some fun to your daily schedule.

Taking time for yourself can be hard, especially when you’re a new parent. Follow these 3 tips to make self-care as simple as possible, even with a new baby at home. 

The Art of Trying: Talking Through It

Angela Manning Health
The Art of Trying: Talking Through It

As a couple who is trying to conceive, you might feel stuck on a rollercoaster ride that is filled with excitement as you navigate through the waiting period and then get devastated after seeing a single line on the pregnancy test kit yet again. However, it is essential to realize that you are not alone. One in every seven couples face issues while conceiving. But it is even more important to communicate with your partner who is on this journey along with you. Although it can be a little difficult for you to express your emotion during this challenging phase, talking about your feelings will help you overcome your fears, feel less anxious, and even provide some motivation to your partner. Here are a few ways in which you can effectively communicate with your partner while trying to conceive:

Talk About Your Needs and Feelings

As mentioned earlier, getting a negative result may dishearten you and your partner. So, it is important to communicate your needs with the person who is on this journey with you. Talking about failures is not easy for most people. So, if you feel that your partner is unable to express their emotions, you can initiate the conversation. Begin by expressing your emotions. This may help them open up to you and thus have effective communication that will help you both feel a lot more relieved.

Listen to Each Other

While expressing your emotions is important, it is equally important to ensure that your partner listens to you and understands your needs. This is what makes communication effective. Sit down with your partner, avoid all distractions, and ensure a healthy and meaningful conversation that makes you feel understood. To become a good listener, you need to be emphatic and not interrupt. However, you should definitely ask questions to show your participation.

Seek Help

Fertility issues can put a significant strain on even the most solid relationships. So, if you have been trying for a long time with no positive results, it is better to consult a specialist. For this, you and your partner need to be ready. This may feel like a big step, but it knowing the cause behind the issue will help you get proper treatment. This can protect your mental health and ensure a healthy relationship with your partner.

Draw a Line Between Fun and Function

Getting intimate with your partner may feel like a chore while you guys are trying. This can easily take away the spark from your romance and make it quite boring. This is probably the last thing you would want to experience with your future co-parent. To keep things exciting for you as well as your partner, you should consider making things a little spicy when you are not ovulating. You can plan a date night and make some extra efforts to make your night memorable. This will also help you overlook the medical perspective of things and enjoy some quality time with your partner.

Coping with difficulties while conceiving can be dreadful, but with these tips, #TheArtOfTrying can become a lot more enjoyable for you and your partner. 

Understanding mental health for nurses

Angela Manning Health
Understanding mental health for nurses

The role of a nurse encompasses more than looking after a patient’s physical or mental health, it demands an understanding of people as a whole. The American Nursing Association describes the job as both an ‘art and a science’ and notes that through ‘long-term monitoring of patients’ behavior and knowledge-based expertise, nurses are best placed to take an all-encompassing view of a patient’s wellbeing’.

So, the mental health of the people a nurse is caring for is hugely important, not only if someone needs help specifically in this area, but also in order to understand how someone is being impacted by a diagnosis or a treatment program, for example. Gaining this understanding will help nurses deal with them effectively and professionally in order to make the experience a little easier. So, all nurses, whether specialists within mental health or not, will be involved in dealing with it.

Definition of mental health

When discussing mental health, we focus on our emotional, psychological and social well-being and how we think, feel and behave. All these impact how we relate to other people, handle stress and feed into the choices we make. It can be negatively impacted by all sorts of outside factors, including illness, trauma, bereavement, money worries and relationship issues. 

Mental health is an integral component of health and well-being and is experienced in different ways by every single person. It can be positive or negative and lead to very different outcomes depending on the individual and their own experiences and needs. For those who have mental health conditions that impact their lives in a negative way, simply attending a vaccination appointment, or understanding the consequences of a course of treatment for example, could be very stressful.

Many individual, structural and societal factors may combine throughout one’s life to either protect or undermine a person’s mental health, and individual issues such as biological factors including emotional skills, or outside triggers such as substance abuse are likely to make people more vulnerable. We can all be affected at different stages in our lives, and that, of course, includes people working within the health sector. 

Understanding yourself and your patients

Good communication, understanding and empathy are all crucial elements to the nurse toolkit and nurturing these soft skills will help make interactions with patients more meaningful and impactful. Empathy is seeing, understanding and sharing the viewpoints of others without judgements, and has cognitive, emotional and behavioral implications. 

As well as being aware of the affect mental health has on patients, its crucial for those working within healthcare to consider the impact their job could have on their own thoughts and feelings. Poor mental health may affect day-to-day functioning, physical health and the ability to enjoy life. Working in a stressful, demanding and fast-moving environment can take a negative toll. The health and wellbeing of nurses are inevitably affected by the demands of their workplace, and this affects their work and the people they look after. In addition to support from the organization within which they work to encourage general wellbeing, simple steps such as prioritizing a healthy diet, physical activity and getting enough sleep are very important. Developing mindfulness skills aimed at reducing stress are also helpful, as well as finding relaxing activities such as reading, yoga, swimming or painting, which can all calm the mind and contribute to your own good health and therefore your patients.

Choosing the right course

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 6 percent from 2021 to 2031, and there will be approximately 203,200 openings for registered nurses projected on average over the decade. So, with the demand for qualified nurses increasing steadily, choosing to enter the profession will provide candidates with a long and rewarding career.

The University of Indianapolis online accelerated BSN program enables students to become a nurse in 15 months, providing 100% online coursework with in-person clinical placements and two on-campus residencies. The faculty emphasizes that nursing is not simply about what nurses do, but about who nurses are. 

It is a fulfilling and demanding profession, so when embarking on a nursing course you will be taking the first steps to enter a highly specialized profession with a reputation for dedication and compassion which is indispensable in safeguarding public health. An awareness of the impact of mental health will enable you to be a highly effective nurse. 

How can probiotics help your baby’s health?

Angela Manning Health , , ,
How can probiotics help your baby’s health?

The human intestine contains a huge number of bacteria. Probiotics are a combination of beneficial bacteria that live naturally in your body.

Probiotics in foods and supplements are specific strains of live bacteria that manufacturers claim to provide health benefits when consumed in adequate quantities. The theory behind their effectiveness is based on the idea that certain kinds of germs perform specific biological functions in our intestines, and an imbalance of these germs leads to health problems. By absorbing billions of “beneficial” bacteria, we can help restore our microbiome and health.

Do all babies need probiotics?

Given the components that probiotics contain, they are considered to be absolutely safe cures even for babies in their first year of life. The microorganisms present in probiotics are representatives of the normal human flora, so they are usually well absorbed when consumed. It should be noted that the health benefits of probiotics depend on the strain, so you should consult your doctor before taking them.

Popular probiotic products, including baby formula, already contain probiotics. However, many parents wonder whether their child is getting enough probiotics with his or her food and whether probiotic supplements are necessary. Probiotics are some of the most commonly used food supplements in the world.

When are probiotics prescribed for babies?

The most important sign for prescribing probiotics is digestive issues. The doctor finds out under what conditions inconsistent stools form, whether there is enough breast milk, and the nursing woman’s diet. And in cases when it is necessary, prescribes the probiotic supplement for infants.

Probiotics work on the gut microbes, affecting immune mechanisms in the intestinal mucosa, contributing to the production of beneficial metabolic products, interacting with beneficial and harmful bacteria. All this leads to the suppression of pathogenic (harmful) microbiota, increased growth of beneficial bacteria, reduced inflammation in the intestinal wall, and strengthened the GI tract barrier. These mechanisms and effects help reduce the frequency and severity of diarrhea, which is the most common reason for prescribing probiotics in children.

Probiotics for babies are more often used in liquid form. Parents can instantly drip drops into the mouth – it is more difficult to dilute dry powders in sachets or capsules. At the same time, there is no difference between children’s and adults’ products, and it’s more a marketing ploy. With the right probiotic, the stool frequency and consistency improve.

What are the most common probiotics?

The most commonly used and studied probiotics are strains of two main species.

Bifidobacteria is a type of bacteria generally used in supplements and baby foods to:

  • Boost the baby’s immune system
  • Limit the growth of pathogenic bacteria in the gut
  • Help break down lactose into nutrients to enrich the body

Lactobacilli produces an enzyme that breaks down lactose or milk sugar. The other significant function of these bacteria species is also to produce lactic acid. Lactic acid helps regulate the population of harmful germs.

 

There is a huge variety of probiotics for babies available today, and you can find such supplements at any pharmacy. And although these products are considered safe, you should not prescribe them to your child by yourself. Before giving probiotics to your baby, it is essential to consult a doctor and have tests done to determine exactly which bacteria are lacking and which are in excess.

Quit Smoking with Hypnosis

Angela Manning Health , ,
Quit Smoking with Hypnosis

You’ve tried to quit smoking before, only to start up again when the cravings became too much to manage, or the stress of life was too much to deal with in your less-than-healthy state. Hypnosis could help you break free from nicotine addiction, and these tips will show you how.

The history of using hypnosis to quit smoking

As early as 1876, an American physician named W.A. Hill published a paper detailing his successful hypnotic attempts to help smokers kick their habit. In recent years, both hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) have been shown to be effective at helping people stop smoking.

How hypnotherapy can help you stop smoking

Did you know that more than six million smokers try to quit every year, but only 5% manage to do so? This is because quitting smoking isn’t just about willpower; it’s also about making sure your body doesn’t get too used to having nicotine in its system. With hypnotherapy, it can be easier for you to stop smoking and deal with any triggers or cravings in a healthy way.

How it works, step by step

Hypnosis is one of many tools you can use to quit smoking. It includes seven steps that lead you through hypnosis, exercise, and healthy eating (for example). Hypnosis methods will help condition your mind and body for health and weight loss in each case. To be successful, you need a systemized plan to replace your cigarettes with healthier habits—which is exactly what we’ll cover below.

Who can benefit from the therapy?

Any person who wants to quit smoking and need some additional support. Many people will try cold turkey or nicotine patches, gum, and e-cigarettes before even considering quitting smoking with hypnosis. They feel that if they are going to quit smoking, they want to do it the right way, meaning no help at all. However, there is no right way to stop smoking, just like there is no right way to give up any bad habit.

Is it safe?

Some people believe that hypnosis isn’t a safe way to quit smoking because you must concentrate so hard on not smoking that you may crave cigarettes even more. Others claim that it can actually be safer than some quit smoking medications out there. In any case, we don’t recommend quitting cold turkey and going for hypnotherapy instead.

A few tips for your first session

Find a quiet, relaxing space and time when you won’t be interrupted. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and say your hypnotherapist’s name three times as you exhale. Visualize yourself in a relaxing space where you feel safe and comfortable—the beach, perhaps—and imagine yourself feeling happier than ever.

The success rate of quitting smoking with hypnosis

A lot of people have asked whether they can quit smoking with hypnosis. The answer is yes. The question of how successful hypnotherapy is in helping people quit smoking has been answered many times. One study suggests that more than 80% of smokers who seek help to quit using hypnotherapy can successfully stop smoking within a few sessions.

Choosing a hypnotherapist

A good hypnotherapist will make you feel comfortable and at ease while they guide you through a hypnotic trance. Not all hypnotherapists are equal in their skill or effectiveness, though. The best way to find a good one is to ask your friends and loved ones for recommendations—they’ll be able to tell you about their experiences, which can help you decide who will be best for your needs.

Do You Need to Hydrate?

Angela Manning Health , ,
Do You Need to Hydrate?

Dehydration can sneak up on you. Many people have to set reminders and alarms to ensure they drink enough water during a working day. The problem is only exacerbated when you’re engaged in hard physical labour or a draining work-out – as you work up more of a sweat you dehydrate yourself faster, and you also have to train yourself to ignore the discomfort of tired and aching muscles, making it more likely you’ll ignore your own need for rest, cooling off and a thirst quenching drink.

Today we’re taking a look at the signs of dehydration, so you know when to reach for the water, isotonic sports drinks or rehydration tablets.

Serious Dehydration

If you allow dehydration to escalate it can become a very serious problem. As your body loses both fluids and electrolytes you can experience headaches and dizziness, mental fog and confusion. It can even lead to unconsciousness, as well as causing vomiting thanks to the nausea and dizziness among the list of other symptoms.

By the time you experience these warning signs it could be too late, especially if you’re out in the countryside, walking or running far from civilisation and help. You need to know how dehydration first manifests so you can spot it early and prevent the more serious effects.

Early Warning Signs

If you know the initial warning signs of dehydration you can solve the problem before it becomes a serious risk to your wellbeing.

The first and most obvious symptom of dehydration is thirstiness! It’s a good reminder to listen to what your body is telling you. If you feel thirsty, it’s time for a drink!

Dehydration can also cause a feeling of tiredness, and a ‘dry mouth’ feeling, both of which are also strong indicators that you need to rehydrate. The final important clue to look for is changes to your urine. If it’s darker coloured and you’re going four or fewer times a day, you may have an entrenched dehydration problem you need to solve!

Solving the Problem

If you’re on the way to serious rehydration, then merely drinking water may not be enough. You’ve not just lost fluid, you’ve lost the minerals dissolved in them: important salts called electrolytes. These are used by your body for lots of different processes, from maintaining the fluid balance in your cells to helping your nerves transmit messages and your muscles put them into action!

When you’re rehydrating, choose a sports drink or rehydration sachet that replaces those lost electrolytes as well as just the water you’ve lost.

How CBD is Proving to be Vital in Revolutionizing Modern Medicine

Angela Manning Health , ,
How CBD is Proving to be Vital in Revolutionizing Modern Medicine

For a long time, many have viewed the cannabis plant as rather dangerous. This is primarily because of the controversial marijuana plant. As time passed, people’s views on the cannabis plant started changing. Many people started realizing the benefits of the plant. The recent legalization of cannabis consumption in many countries has led to more reliable research on the plant.

You might have come across the name CBD on different platforms. Among the many cannabis cannabinoids, CBD seems to be the one that people are most interested in. This is because it has proven to have many benefits for one’s body. Many people of all ages are now utilizing CBD-based products for these benefits. You can easily buy numerous CBD products online. This is the page for you to visit to get the best quality products.

The introduction of CBD has brought a change to many sectors. CBD is now viewed as a great solution to many health problems. Here is all you need to know about CBD and how it is gradually revolutionizing modern medicine.

Is CBD Extracted From the Marijuana Plant?

The marijuana plant has been very controversial for many years. Many people tend to dislike the plant because of its effects. What makes marijuana controversial is the presence of THC. THC in marijuana tends to have a psychoactive effect on the user. It is understandable for anyone to be concerned about whether CBD is extracted from the marijuana plant. Most of the CBD used today is not extracted from the marijuana plant because of the presence of THC.

Most CBD is from the hemp plant. Many people may not know the difference between the hemp plant and marijuana. This is because both marijuana and hemp look alike and also smell the same. What differentiates the two plants is the level of THC in them. For a cannabis plant to be classified as hemp, it needs to have a minimal amount of THC. Many farmers are now cultivating hemp plants with a higher amount of CBD because of growing demand and the growth of the CBD industry. Many are now earning a lot of money by joining the CBD industry. You can also be a part of this lucrative industry at this page, so join today and make some extra cash.

How is CBD Revolutionizing Modern Medicine?

Medicine is crucial in helping us stay healthy and live longer. The medical world is always changing with the introduction of new medicines. Since the legalization of hemp, many have come to rely on CBD to make them feel well. CBD has been at the forefront in solving health conditions in ways that modern medications have failed.

Many have come forward and stated how CBD has been vital in treating illnesses like depression and anxiety. The FDA has approved the use of a CBD-based drug known as Epidiolex. It has been crucial in helping children suffering from epilepsy. Unlike many modern medicines, CBD is not addictive because the body cannot build a tolerance. Besides that, it does not have the many adverse effects that many medications tend to have.

Conclusion

It is rather incredible that more is still being researched on the potential benefits of CBD. There are so many health benefits that CBD has to offer. It is, however, vital to inform your doctor if you are considering using CBD for health purposes.

How Stem Cells Could Improve Your Health

Angela Manning Health , ,
How Stem Cells Could Improve Your Health

Stem cells are the body’s building blocks. They create the other types of cells in the body, morphing from their original stem cell state into tissue-specific cells such as heart, skin, liver and brain cells. They exist in embryos, directing the initial stages of human development, but they also reside in adult tissues and can be “activated” to replicate into alternative cell types when needed.

Nobel Prize winner E. Donnall Thomas first used stem cells clinically to treat acute leukemia via bone marrow transplantation in the 1950s. Through his work and the research that followed, science has verified the value of stem cells, using their potency and ability to self replicate for advantages that span the breadth of modern healthcare. Here are some of the ways stem cells could potentially be used to improve your health or that of someone you love:

Regenerative Medicine

Stem cells are the backbone of regenerative medicine, with stem cell therapy playing the leading role in transplantation science. Indeed, the very nature of stem cells means they are able to “transform” into other types of cells. It’s a feature unlike any other, granting stem cells the unique ability to replace damaged, decaying and/or diseased cells in multiple tissues of the body when needed. In addition to continued clinical use of bone marrow transplants to treat blood cancers and other blood disorders, stem cell therapies have been researched and tested for other purposes, including the treatment of macular degeneration and many orthopedic conditions. For instance, stem cells have been shown to alleviate symptoms of age-related eye disease and also back pain, serving as a herniated disc surgery alternative and providing options for less invasive treatments for other degenerative soft tissue problems.

Tissue Engineering

Often considered a part of regenerative medicine, tissue engineering involves the fashioning of living tissue out of stem cells, synthetic or biological scaffolds and various growth factors. But whereas regenerative medicine seeks to harness the body’s own natural defenses to create new tissue, “tissue engineering focuses on developing tissue outside of the body.” Currently, engineered tissue is mostly used for research, providing realistic and easily acquired tissue samples for experimentation and drug testing. It is hoped, though, that one day it will be able to provide functional tissues for transplantation of whole organs.

Research and Testing

There’s little doubt that the clinical implications of stem cells are huge, but their contribution to research cannot be overlooked. Stem cells bolster our theoretical understanding of science by providing us with evidence of how single cells develop into multicelled tissues. This helps researchers better understand and treat disease. Tissue samples derived from stem cells are also being used to replace those usually obtained from animal and human donors, thereby speeding up many research processes and cutting costs. Likewise, stem cells help to fast track the human testing of drugs. Rather than test new chemical compounds on animals, a prerequisite to human trials that can be expensive and ultimately ineffective (since there’s no guarantee that a drug that is safe for an animal will also be safe for a human), scientists can expose them to embryonic stem cells to see the effects. This provides a better indication of how the drug will ultimately react in clinical trials and gives all of us access to better treatments in the future!

Trends in Wellness 2020

Angela Manning Health , ,
Trends in Wellness 2020

If you’re interested in wellness – whether that manifests as eagerly combing the internet and the shelves of your local organic and health food shops for new products, or simply maintaining a simple personal regime that works for you – you can’t help but notice some of the trends that dominate the market at different times. This can offer either brand new ways to improve your quality of life and health or, sometimes, ways to spend money without enjoying any effect whatsoever.

Today we’re taking a look at some of the trends dominating wellness in 2020 so you can make better decisions about what to add to your wellness routine.

CBD

The CBD market is still growing, as more products are added to the shelves and they continue to reach more and more customers as through specialist retailers like Dayzed, CBD is being delivered to the masses!

You can choose from CBD oils, edibles, teas and even vape juice, along with topical creams which promise to relieve aching joints.

Is CBD Effective?

Evidence suggests that CBD may be effective for some conditions, though it can’t live up to all promises made for it and the medical establishment has yet to come to firm conclusions about it’s use outside a small number of clinically complex cases.

It does show some signs of being useful as a painkiller, especially for chronic conditions like arthritis as it appears to have anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also much vaunted as a support for people dealing with certain mental health conditions, as it appears to act on the brain in a similar way to anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs.

Turmeric

Until recently this was merely a useful spice in Asian cooking. It’s now been adopted as one of the most important supplements for wellness you could buy, with Turmeric tea promising anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatories, improved brain function, and lower risks of heart disease and cancer!

Is Turmeric Effective?

Many of these claims are far from proven but medical science is finding evidence to back up the imported folk wisdom that turmeric is good for you! The key is finding out what part of turmeric has these effects: it’s a compound called curcumin, one of several in Turmeric known as curcuminoids. It’s curcumin that acts on the body to produce these effects, but the amount of curcumin in a given dose of Turmeric is low. Look for products built on an extract of pure curcumin for the best results!

Learn How to Manage Your Stress Like a Pro

Angela Manning Health , ,
Learn How to Manage Your Stress Like a Pro

Bills, family, work; all of these things add to the stress in your life. However, you’ve probably noticed that some people can handle stress better than others. What exactly is their secret?

Although there’s no black and white answer to this question, there are several things that you can do when you feel stressed out.

If you want to decrease your overall stress levels and feel more productive throughout the day, be sure to continue reading.

1 – Practice Some Breathing Exercises

Breathing is an essential part of life — without the appropriate amount of air, your body wouldn’t be able to function properly. Additionally, your breathing habits can significantly influence your stress levels.

Numerous breathing exercises can help you manage your stress levels. You can perform these exercises at work, at home or on the go.

Some examples of common breathing exercises include:

  • Belly Breathing
  • Roll Breathing
  • Morning Breathing

Try them all out and see which exercises work best for you.

2 – Drink Cannabis Infused Tea

After spending a long way at work, few things are more relaxing than a cup of premier, cannabis-infused tea. These delicious teas taste very similar to some of the herbal mixes that are currently sitting in your pantry — the only difference is that these products have pleasant, cannabis undertones.

Not to mention, many of these amazing beverages contain CBD (cannabidiol), which is the non-psychoactive component of cannabis.

CBD has several stress-relieving properties, making it the perfect way to unwind after a long day. If you want to experience the calming effects of indica infused tea, be sure to purchase products from sophisticated brands that you can trust.

3 – Take a Nap

Many people avoid taking naps throughout the day because they feel it will affect their overall productivity. However, if you’re feeling stressed out, you should close the blinds, get under the sheets and take a quick nap.

When you nap, several things happen to your body. Some examples include:

  • Decreased stress levels
  • Your brain’s “batteries” get recharged
  • Lower chance of suffering from a heart attack

If you want to start integrating regular naps into your daily routine, try to limit them to 30 minutes or less. This will ensure that you don’t oversleep and get the most out of your day.

4 – Write in Your Stress Diary

Many people like to keep a diary for several reasons. When you write in a diary, you have the opportunity to go over the events that took place during the day. It also gives you a chance to work on your writing skills.

Aside from this, dairies are extremely beneficial for people who suffer from both minor and severe stress. When you’re feeling stressed, make sure that you make note of the time, date, place and the people you were with. You should also make note of how stressed you were feeling and what helped you calm down. This will help you deal with future stress-related issues.

Whether it’s because of a bad day at work or a fight with your spouse, everyone gets stressed out at some point. Thankfully, the next time this happens, you’ll be able to deal with your stress like a pro.