Mental Fitness

6 Reasons Why Mindfulness and Meditation are Good for You

October 25, 2016 by Joi Leave a Comment

Written by Mike James, a Mindful content specialist working with Wickwoods Country Club Hotel & Spa.

If all the influential business thinkers and lifestyle gurus are doing it, then surely we should be taking more notice? Big business is taking it seriously so why shouldn’t we? It’s getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that mindfulness and meditation practices can have a positive impact on our health. Big business has grasped the fact that extended working hours are leaving employees frazzled. It makes financial sense for them to improve employee focus, reduce stress and increase productivity. Schools are also following suit with positive results being found in students’ focus and behaviour.

The public are now warming to the idea that meditation and mindfulness have tangible benefits. Get used to it folks, meditation and mindfulness have arrived in mainstream society and they’re here to stay – they are no longer confined to spiritual practices and hippy conventions. Even the NHS are steering their unwieldy ship crammed full of conventional approaches a little left field on this one.

So, if you’ve been pondering the idea of giving it a go, you shouldn’t ignore this calling. Here are six good reasons why.

Take care of your emotional well-being

We’re pretty good at noticing and dealing with physical complaints, but our capacity to identify changes in our emotional well-being isn’t so easy. Before we know it we’re having negative thoughts, worrying or buying into patterns of behaviour that sabotage our well-being. The good news is there is plenty of evidence to show that regular meditation and mindfulness practice can help. Engaging in a process of emotional awareness lets us know how we are feeling before we’ve taken the wrong path.

Sleep – getting the right amount of zzzzzzs makes all the difference

We all know that sleep disturbance in any form can leave you feeling lousy. There’s nothing worse than turning up to work feeling like you need to crawl under your desk for a nap. Well the good news is mindfulness meditation evokes a relaxation response and has a positive impact on sleep.

Feel more positive

It’s becoming increasingly acknowledged that those who practise mindfulness and meditation have a more positive outlook on life. In fact research shows that mindfulness alone can have a significant impact on depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. Thoughts become things. You may have heard of ‘The Secret’ and the law of attraction. The practice of meditation and mindfulness itself doesn’t mean thinking good thoughts, it’s all about connecting with the present moment and understanding the transience of our feelings. It’s this ability to connect with ourselves that brings us to a place of acceptance and a greater sense of intention and direction.

Improve your physical awareness

Practicing mindfulness and meditation improves our ability to identify emotions and become more aware of tension in the body. Take heed and you can avoid stress settling into those shoulders when you are hunched over the computer keyboard for hours on end. Take it as a cue to get up and walk around for five minutes.

The health benefits

Meditation is known to have a positive impact on stress and is most known for its benefits in helping depression and anxiety. Clinical research has also demonstrated that meditation practice reduces blood pressure. And there’s more – mindfulness training has been shown to have a positive impact on inflammation in the body, as well as correlating with faster physical recovery from stressful situations. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D has written extensively about the mindfulness solution to chronic pain. The health benefits keep on coming.

Improve your relationships

According to Melanie Greenberg Ph.D writing in Psychology Today, mindfulness training makes us “more compassionate and better able to stop destructive impulsive behaviour. It can help us resolve conflict”. The Buddhist practice of Meta Bhavana, a meditation cultivating loving kindness towards others, is a method of developing compassion. The good news is you don’t have to be a Buddhist to give it a try. If you fancy cultivating some compassion you might like to give one of these guided meditations a go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6E9Pu9kqJ8

https://youtu.be/S6E9Pu9kqJ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz7cpV7ERsM

https://youtu.be/sz7cpV7ERsM

‘Nomophobia’ or: How to tackle mobile phone addiction

October 19, 2016 by Joi Leave a Comment

Written by Lloyd Wells, as part of a project for Best VPN.

How often do you use your smartphone? Or should that be: how often do you not have your mobile phone to hand? If you’re finding it increasingly difficult to stay away from the handset, you may have inadvertently developed an unhealthy dependency on the little device.

It’s not difficult to see how overuse can arise. After all, smartphones are increasingly sophisticated communication tools specifically designed to keep you in touch with, well, everyone, anywhere, any time and for any reason – and therein lies the problem. Use it as a phone or to access email, for social media updates or to surf the web. It’s a shopping trolley, an information portal, an entertainment centre, a diary management system… is there anything your smartphone can’t do? No wonder it’s become so indispensable in our daily lives.

If you find yourself checking your phone at any given opportunity, even while you’re driving, when you’re with friends, when you should be working, then it is clear that your smartphone is interfering with your life. Check if any of these symptoms apply to you:

You check your phone first thing in the morning and last thing at night
You catch up on emails or the news while you’re eating or watching TV
Your pick up your phone immediately when you hear it ping
You wait impatiently for the next Facebook update or Instagram moment
You feel uneasy when you’ve left your phone at home or when it’s run out of battery charge
You feel irritated if there is no phone reception or WiFi signal

So what’s wrong with any of the above, you may well ask?

Put simply, it’s to do with the brain and the nervous system. The problem with being ‘overly’ connected is that there’s no downtime. Our brain doesn’t get the chance to switch off. The adrenaline push that keeps us continuously alert and available may be great for productivity in the short term, but only if our ‘fight of flight’ responses have the opportunity to balance out with our ‘rest and digest’ mode in the longer term. Regular digital downtime is essential to give us time to slow down, to reconnect with the offline world – real people and real life in real time.

If you feel you’ve crossed the line and might be ‘addicted’ to your mobile phone, here’s what you can do to turn the tide.

Put aside 10-12 hours of phone free time every day

Turn your phone off at least an hour before you go to bed to give yourself a chance to unwind from the daily digital onslaught. Aim to be phone-free from 9pm to 9am or thereabouts. Nomophobia never sleeps – some people even wake up in the middle of the night and can’t resist the temptation to check their Facebook page! Create a physical separation between you and the phone by leaving it to charge overnight on the kitchen table instead.

To wake up in the morning, get yourself an old-fashioned alarm clock and spend the first hour or so on your morning routine, uninterrupted by emails and texts. Why not try to go full retro and read the paper at the breakfast table? You’ll be amazed by how calm you will feel.

Schedule your smartphone use throughout the day

Social media can be real ‘time sink’ – hands up who has wasted whole mornings on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, lacking the will to just switch it off? And is it really necessary to check your emails every 5 minutes?

Save your sanity and boost your productivity by scheduling certain times to view your feeds and updates. Maybe check your social networks just before you start your working day, then at lunchtime, then at teatime. Have a designated time to reply to emails – perhaps after dinner?

The important thing is to put the phone away outside of the scheduled times, so you can settle into your daily tasks without constant distraction.

Have ‘no phone’ zones in the house

It’s difficult to have real-life interactions with the other people in your home if everyone is always glued to their phones. Is it easier to get an answer out of your teenager by text message than in person? It may be time for the whole family to take action.

Start by making mealtimes a ‘no phone’ zone. After the inevitable period of initial grumbling, you’ll find that conversation starts to blossom and, before you know it, you’ll be talking about the events of the day and share what’s going on in your lives.

Neither should your smartphone have a place in the bedroom. This is your sanctuary – a space for undisturbed sleep and intimacy. Enough said.

Prioritise ‘real’ living

Connecting with friends over social media is all very well, but it shouldn’t be a substitute for spending time together. Instead of ‘liking’ someone’s post, give them a call and talk to them instead. Coffee catch-ups are better than group texts. Sharing conversations, going out for a meal, going for a run together – these are real-life experiences that no virtual connection can replicate.

It is a sad state of affairs that we may have hundreds of Facebook friends but no time to have ‘offline’ relationships with any of them. Engage with real life and get your friends back.

Why not reclaim a few hours every weekend to disconnect completely? Think of fun activities that don’t involve your smartphone – read a book, do some gardening, go for a walk, anything to give your brain the downtime it needs.

Review: Mayo Clinic The Menopause Solution

August 22, 2016 by Joi Leave a Comment

The following review of The Menopause Solution is a fairly lengthy one, but I hope you’ll stick with me. A copy of this great book was sent to me in exchange for telling you about the book. Mayo Clinic: The Menopause Solution has the potential to bring A LOT of women improved health, greater confidence, and deeper joy – and if that’s not reason enough to get excited about a book, nothing is!

I remember, while growing up, seeing much-loved women in my family go through something they’d sternly refer to as “the change.” The sternness always seemed to imply, “Don’t ever come here… save yourself!”

As I got older, I noticed other women going through this change – a change that, by then, I knew by its given name, Menopause. I also noticed it wasn’t something you could, officially, save yourself from. Not if you lived long enough – which is, of course, the goal.

Menopause. That one word carries a lot of weight, doesn’t it. It’s almost as if it comes with its own soundtrack… similar to the shark’s approach in Jaws. Kind of makes you wonder why ‘pause is part of the word. Pause? Pause from what?! It’s more like a stop, if you ask me. Menostop would’ve made a lot more sense.

Full disclosure – I experienced perimenopause and menopause at a very early age. I actually slid into menopause in my late 40’s. Before I get to my review of a must-have manual for menopause, Mayo Clinic: The Menopause Solution, I want to simply give my own quick experience(s) with perimenopause and menopause. Why? To give hope to those of you headed in my direction – it’s not the end of the world, ladies.

In fact, about a year ago, I caught a doctor very much off guard. He asked, “You haven’t entered menopause yet, have you?” I replied, “Actually I have and I have nothing bad to say about it. We’re getting along just fine!” He laughed and looked pretty shocked – right before giving me a high-five.

My personal experience:

The year of “perimenopause” was more of a deal than actual menopause. I’d get uncommonly emotional over little things. Commercials would make me cry for a good 10 minutes.
No hot flashes. Thank God! I’d seen my mom struggle with these and I honestly prayed, off and on over the years, that I’d never succumb to their evil ways.
No difficulty sleeping.
No mood swings.
Weight gain? Oh, yes. I found myself eating less than ever – yet I suddenly had the superhero ability to gain weight overnight. In places weight never dared to show up prior to menopause. While I was relieved not to experience the mood swings, interrupted sleep, or hot flashes – the fact that weight became harder than ever to lose or manage was a very unwelcome guest.

Did you know that, these days, we are spending 1/3 of our lives in menopause?! 1/3! It only makes sense that we should be on the lookout for what to expect and, even more importantly, what we can do about them when they show up on our doorstep.

One of the things I love most about Mayo Clinic: The Menopause Solution is the fact it acknowledges, respects, and adheres to a fundamental truth – one size does not fit all. I loathe books that come from a standpoint of, “This works for me… this will work for you.” No, no, and no. We are all different and we each require our own techniques, tweaks, diets, and “approaches” to menopause.

The author of The Menopause Solution, Stephanie S. Faubion, M.D., gets that as well as I’ve ever seen anyone get it and she delivers on the promise of the book’s title – a solution.

Confront menopause symptoms such as weight gain, mood swings, and low sex drive with clear advice from a trusted source.

Mayo Clinic The Menopause Solution is the definitive guide to making your life change a positive one. Drawing on the latest information, leading women’s health expert Dr. Stephanie Faubion covers common questions, lifestyle strategies, and treatment options.

Unlike other books, Mayo Clinic The Menopause Solution is comprehensive, easy to navigate, and authoritative.

Features include:

A complete look at what happens to your body before, during, and after menopause.

Up-to-date information on over-the-counter medications, nutritional supplements, and hormone therapy

Sidebars, lists, and summaries to make finding information a cinch

Dr. Faubion knows that what works for one woman doesn’t necessarily work for another. In approachable terms, she presents a balanced, unbiased overview of what to expect in midlife and beyond. You’ll find accurate information on perimenopause, premature menopause, menopause symptoms, long-term effects of estrogen loss, and a wide variety of therapies to enhance health.

Professional, accessible, and essential for any woman entering menopause, Mayo Clinic The Menopause Solution offers everything you need to take charge of your own health and get the best care from your doctor.

As one of the nation’s leading experts on menopause who regularly treats women with menopause-related conditions, Dr. Faubion combines years of research into a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate reference tool for women seeking answers about the stages before, during, and after menopause.

Drawing on the latest research, Dr. Faubion debunks common myths and misconceptions, provides answers to everyday questions and offers practical lifestyle strategies and treatment options.

Did You Know?

An estimated 6,000 US women reach menopause every day.
By 2020, the number of women who will be older than 55 is estimated to total 46 million.
With increasing life expectancy, many women will spend up to 40% of their lives in the postmenopausal stage.
Half of women who reach age 50 will live to be at least age 80.
Menopause symptoms can last a decade or more. Although this seems discouraging, Mayo Clinic: The Menopause Solution offers priceless tips on how to either completely eliminate or “temper” the symptoms.
Many symptoms of menopause (including the infamous hot flashes) are brought on by personal “triggers.” Dr. Faubion helps you identify these triggers and shows you the escape route around them!
Weight gain is one of the most common symptoms or side-effects of menopause. Dr. Faubion explains WHY this is and clearly lays out what can be done about it.

Menopause and Your Heart

Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women. One of my favorite chapters in The Menopause Solution is the one dealing with heart disease. Dr. Faubion cleared up a lot of questions I had in my own mind about menopause and its relationship with the heart.

From Mayo Clinic: The Menopause Solution:

Before menopause, women are less likely to have heart disease than are men of the same age. But once you enter menopause, your risk of heart disease increases significantly. Menopause itself doesn’t cause heart disease, but declining levels of estrogen may play a role. Estrogen is thought to have a protective effect on a woman’s blood vessels….

Going through menopause early has an even greater effect on your chances of developing heart disease. If you’ve experienced menopause between the ages of 40 and 45, your risk of heart disease doubles compared with that of women your age who haven’t yet gone through menopause.

All of this news might be unsettling, but you can do a great deal to reduce your risk of heart disease. Many of the most significant risk factors for heart disease are ones you can control.

The author goes on to clearly give you a course of action to prevent heart disease. It’s always encouraging to realize that we have a great deal of control over many things that could potentially harm us.

{Review Continued Below….}

Knowledge is power and this book is filled with it.

Your Brain and Menopause

Another favorite chapter was the one dealing with the brain. Many times, over the past few years, when I lose a train of thought, I picture the man in the commercial with a fried egg – “This is your brain on drugs..” (hopefully you know the commercial, otherwise you’ll think I’m nuts right now). Instead of the man with the fried egg, I imagine myself standing in the middle of a field (definitely holding one of my cats) saying, “This is your brain on menopause…”

I’m nothing if not dramatic.

I was greatly relieved to read that this is very normal and that, in fact, almost every other woman experiences the same thing.

What IS the word I’m looking for?!?! (my personal solution is to simply make one up)
What was the name of the actress who was “Vera” in the sitcom Alice? (I lost two hours of sleep one night – I refused to nod off until my brain found the missing file)
What was I about to say???
WHERE IS MY CELLPHONE?!?! (the lost cellphone is the new lost keys)

From The Menopause Solution:

It’s been shown that estrogen does indeed have an influence on key aspects of brain processing and metabolism. Multiple studies have been launched in an attempt to tease out the link between the hormonal fluctuations of menopause and the cognitive symptoms that commonly occur during this period…

The chapter goes on to detail what happens in the brain during aging and menopause, how hormones affect the brain and, most importantly, how to keep the brain healthy. You even learn how to cross-train your brain!

A Few Other Chapters in The Menopause Solution:

Taking Care of Your Body (hair problems/solutions, eyes, smile, skin – anti-wrinkle products are outlined and put into plain English – it’s easier to shop for something when you actually know what you should be looking for)
When Menopause Comes too Early
Embracing the Image in the Mirror
Finding Balance and Happiness
Keeping Your Bones Strong
Caring For Your Breasts
Hormones and Other Prescription Therapies
When You Can’t Sleep
Moods And You
Hot Flashes and Night Sweats
Body Changes from Head to Toe
And more…

I can’t say enough about this book. One of the biggest benefits I’ve gotten from this book is the realization that many things I experience are not rare and isolated. There’s a great, great, great comfort in recognizing your own story in other stories.

Especially when they’re accompanied by solutions and tips you can use to make YOUR story a better place in which to live.

If you are approaching menopause or already live with it on a first-name basis, I strongly urge you to grab a copy of Mayo Clinic: The Menopause Solution – it is a life-changer and sanity-preserver.

Creativity is Intelligence Having Fun: Well Said, Albert Einstein

August 18, 2016 by Joi Leave a Comment

"Creativity is Intelligence Having Fun." - Albert Einstein

A while back, I was sent a new book to review on my blogs (How to Draw Cool Stuff) and while enjoying the heck out of it, I started thinking about the benefits of creativity on your mental and emotional health. Basically, getting in touch with your creative side (cooking, drawing, gardening, writing, crafting special coffee drinks, painting…) awakens an area in your brain that may have been dormant since art class in the tenth grade.

It’s never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never a good thing when any part of your brain is dormant.

CNN reports that taking part in creative endeavors protects neuron growth by promoting the production of new neurons – which delays dementia. Put another way, it’s a wake up call to your brain cells – one it needs greatly. Wake up calls such as this, of course, not only keep you sharp – they also help protect you against the various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease.

Other Ways Being More Creative is Good For You

Getting in touch with your creative side boosts self-confidence and even self-esteem.
Being creative reduces stress.
Drawing, cooking, gardening, painting, etc.. are excellent ways to alleviate anxiety.
Individuals who eat out of boredom or as a result of inactivity often find that they shave a great number of calories and even lose weight when they take up a creative new hobby.
If your creative new hobby involves learning new things (such as the wonderful art lesson the book pictured below provides), the mental benefits are doubled. Learning new things is the best way to strengthen your brain and ward off mental decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s.

If it’s been a while since you got in touch with your creative side, I hope you’ll let this serve as a motivating shot in the arm to pick up those pencils, gardening tools, coffee brewing gadgets, or paint brushes.

Your brain will thank you for it.

~ Joi (“Joy”)

Read my How to Draw Cool Stuff Review on my mental fitness blog! It’s a great book for kids and adults – and, trust me, it’s as cool as advertised.

How Your Sleep Position Can Help Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s

August 8, 2016 by Joi Leave a Comment

The Healthiest Position for Sleep is On Your Side

We all know how important it is to get a good night’s rest – not only for our physical and emotional well-being, but for our mental health as well. When you haven’t gotten enough sleep, you just feel like the walking dead, don’t you?

It turns out that our sleeping position can actually make the benefits of sleep even better. HOW we sleep can greatly affect our health. For example, if you have a problem with GERD, acid reflux, or nighttime heartburn, sleeping on your right side is the worst possible thing for you. Sleeping on your left side is far better.

As an asthmatic, I’ve always found that I breathe best when I’m lying on a side. It opens the airways much better. For me, personally, sleeping on my right side seems to make it much easier to breath when I’m having trouble.

A new study takes the benefits of sleep one step further by showing that our sleep position can actually help reduce our risk of Alzheimer’s AND Parkinson’s Disease.

Not only is sleeping on your side better for your breathing and digestive system, it’s beneficial to your brain as well. Good news to have, right?!

This exciting new study (from Stony Brook University) shows that “lateral sleeping” (sleeping on your side) aids your body in removing the brain’s waste products, which naturally build up over the course of the day. Sleeping on your side allows your body to perform this task more efficiently and completely.

It’s when this waste builds up that we run into higher risks of neurological illnesses such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Our mission at Out of Bounds is to find and report any and all steps we can take that’ll help put the odds in our favor when it comes to preventing mental decline, memory loss, dementia, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s Disease. When the steps are as simple to implement as this one, we cant’ help but get a little excited.

If you’re accustomed to sleeping on your back or stomach, switching to your side may take a little getting used to. But I think it’s safe to say, the rewards are more than worth it.

~ Joi (“Joy”)

6 Reasons Why Mindfulness and Meditation are Good for You

‘Nomophobia’ or: How to tackle mobile phone addiction