We’ve been at this for over a year now, and many of us have begun to feel defeated. We miss our loved ones and we miss the human connection of being around friends and family. But the vaccine is here and many of us are wondering if this means we can soon get back to hugging the vulnerable elderly in our lives. There have been a lot of questions surrounding the changes we can expect with vaccine rollouts,...
Remember the days of playing dodgeball or jumping rope on the school playground? That was probably many years ago. But what if we told you that play should still be an essential part of your life? Let's look at why it's important and also how to bring it back. Play Boosts Brain Function - Playing a game or roleplaying forces your brain to think differently than it's used to. As an adult, we slip into...
Video games have been -studied- extensively for their potential role in violent and negative behaviors, and this singular view has largely given them a bad rap. More recent research has highlighted the positive effects of video gameplay, which appears to be just as noteworthy. Time spent playing and genre choices could be important factors in the impact they have on us so it's not as easy as early...
When it comes to health and wellbeing, most of us strive to be in a stable place. But this effort can fall into the trap of denial or spiritual bypassing as we try to avoid discomfort, reality and troubling truths. What does that -mean-, exactly? Spiritual bypassing is the tendency to use spirituality to avoid facing psychological issues. Here's how to identify the signs and resolve the issue. Signs...
Alone time has benefits but seniors who spend too much time alone are likely to experience loneliness and declining health as a result. The latest trend to combat this is home-sharing and though it has some interesting logistical challenges, the results are hard to deny. What is Senior Home-Sharing? - Home-sharing is, essentially, having a roommate. It may sound like a back-to-college movement, but...
Some see gratitude as a way to focus on the positive. Others see gratitude as a path to showing appreciation for what we have in our lives and therefore a way to expand those things. But regardless of how we view the end result in terms of our outlook, many fail to realize that gratitude can improve not just our mental health, but also our physical, and spiritual health. In fact, gratitude is one of...
This pandemic has thrown the entire world for a loop with its broad base of symptoms and unpredictable illness course. The more experts learn about it, the more incentive we all have to avoid catching it. But now we have people who have been struggling with COVID for many months, the so-called "long haulers" and as we work to help these people, we're learning a lot. Recent studies have uncovered a...
How much of an influence over us do our friends really have? In some cases, they might influence our weight (through food choices and even through shared activities), or they might influence our ambition. Maybe you had a friend go do something extraordinary and you think hey, maybe I should go back to school and try to reach a little higher, too. So we already know that our friends have an influence...
Here’s a secret to extending your life: Don’t argue or fight with your spouse, children, or friends. A number of research studies establish that your relationships are as important as your diet and your exercise for extending your life. Every time you argue with your kids, you are traumatizing them and shortening your own life. Researchers found that stresses related to excess demands, conflicts, and...
Ask just about anyone which decade was the absolute best to be a kid, and they’ll likely name their own era. The best music? That usually depends on which songs the person heard the most in their middle-school and teen years. Given a choice between Howdy Doody, Super Friends and Pokémon, which reigns supreme? You guessed it: The answer likely depends on which era was yours. And this says something...