Jenn Livingston

Heart disease is a leading cause of death across the world. One of the most thoroughly studied and highly-regarded supplements to boost heart health are Omega 3 Fatty Acids. There are some excellent food sources of Omega 3s, including some nuts and fatty fish. However, concerns about high levels of mercury accumulation in fish lead many people to opt for dietary supplements.

2. Probiotics

Gut health is crucial to your overall wellness. In fact, a huge portion of your body’s immune function is carried out in your gut. Help boost the diversity and vitality of the microbiome by adding probiotics to your diet. Dr. Steven Gundry recommends adding in not only probiotics, but also targeted proteins that can help heal a leaky gut and soothe its irritated or inflamed lining. Be sure to include plenty of healthy prebiotic fiber into your regular diet to help give those bacteria a boost.

3. Coenzyme Q10

An important antioxidant for heart health, Coenzyme Q10 has shown in some studies to be an effective support for people who have had heart attacks in the past. It is linked to thyroid function and may help reduce the incidence of Graves disease and certain types of cancers. Coenzyme Q10 is easily depleted by several types of common medications, making supplementation an ideal way to ensure you have sufficient levels in your system.

4. Vitamin D

Vitamin D can be produced by your body when you are exposed to sunlight. However, indoor lifestyles and concern about exposure to harmful UV rays keep many people from getting enough sunlight to make sufficient quantities of this vitamin. Why does it matter? Vitamin D helps your body absorb and process calcium. That is needed for, among other things, healthy bones. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to other complications as well. Since it is difficult for your body to obtain it from food sources, supplements can be helpful to make sure you get your daily recommended dose.

5. Zinc

Research indicates that zinc acts as a gentle brake to your immune response, keeping it from running out of control. This limits chronic inflammation that has been linked to several serious health complications. There is also strong evidence that zinc, when taken soon after the onset of symptoms, can shorten the severity and duration of a cold.

6. Magnesium

If you deal with symptoms of anxiety or chronic stress, taking magnesium supplements may help relieve them. It works by tamping production of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. Many people also report that magnesium can help ease the frequency and severity of headaches, including migraines. In fact, many headache sufferers have low magnesium levels. The American Migraine Foundation recommends taking between 400 and 500 mg a day to help prevent migraines.

7. Iron

There has been a big push toward plant-based eating, which has shown tremendous health benefits. But, for people who are used to getting their iron from red meat sources, it can also be a nutritional balancing act. Iron is used by your body in the formation of red blood cells. Without it, hemoglobin, which carries oxygen throughout the body, cannot form. Deficiency is characterized by a lack of energy, dizziness, and cold hands and feet. If you aren’t getting enough from dietary sources, consider adding a supplement.

8. B Vitamins

Adding a B-complex vitamin to your routine can help promote healthy neurological function and restore energy levels. B vitamins help your body process food more effectively. For example, B12 is linked to better memory, no matter your age, while Biotin (B7) supplements may help restore brittle nails over time. A complex may also help you utilize iron and reduce your chances of developing anemia.

The best way to get vitamins is through a well-balanced and healthy diet. If you suspect your diet is lacking, talk to your health care provider about how supplements can help fill any gaps and give your health a boost.

Preparedness is key when you’re trying to maximize your fitness routine. Preparedness when it comes to exercise can take many forms. There is a basic level of preparation: you must stretch before and after any strenuous exercise, and you should always be prepared to hydrate and stay hydrated throughout your routine. Additionally, there are dietary choices you can make that will make your exercise more effective. For example, you may want to eat more protein if you’re trying to build muscle or look into oregano oil uses and other supplements that might help cleanse your system and boost your energy levels.

Get a Trainer

A professional’s eye is always useful, especially when it comes to matters of health. Exercise is a matter of health: having a trainer can help prevent injury and make sure that you are doing your exercises properly. A trainer can also tailor your routine to your needs and desires. This is key: a generic recommendation for what exercises to do won’t take into account your unique physiology, body type and lifestyle. A trainer can work with you to adjust your plans in response to your changing goals as well as the general effectiveness of different techniques. On top of that, a trainer can get on your case to provide gentle encouragement or more insistent reminders as needed.

Find Buddies

A trainer at the gym acts like a support system to hold you accountable to your health and exercise goals. You should also look for partners that will encourage you to go to the gym and hold you accountable when you do not. Your trainer can’t be with you every minute of every day, but your friends and family can. You can even use social media to find accountability buddies that will help you reach your fitness goals. The whole point is to help create a sustainable system of support that can help you take responsibility and carry you through the challenges ahead.

Make Habits

The point of having proper preparation, seeking professional help when needed and making a support system is to ensure your success. But when it comes to success, the biggest indicator of long term success is creating sustainable habits. If you make exercise a part of your everyday routine, then fitness won’t be far behind. This step cycles right back around to preparation because habit-building is perhaps the most important preparation you can make. Find an exercise plan that integrates seamlessly with your lifestyle. What exactly that looks like will be up to you: maybe it’s the choice to run or bike to work, or a regular gym date with your friends, or a promise with your spouse to use the gym you set up in the basement.The ideal goal is to have a lifestyle where you don’t have to make the choice to exercise; instead you are making the choice to not exercise. Making a choice takes effort and creates a mental block, so wherever possible you should eliminate the choice barriers that stand between you and your fitness goals.

Whatever your goals are, these four steps have universal applicability. Even if you already make preparations, have a trainer, fitness friends and a routine, it helps to take the occasional step back and make sure that everything is working as well and as hard as it can. Part of a successful fitness regimen is making changes as needed.

If you’re tired and worn out, you may find it hard to put any time at all into your appearance. When you haven’t put time into your appearance, it’s hard to feel confident, and in turn confidence is sexy. Even if you only have fifteen minutes to spend on your appearance, that’s better than nothing. Starting small is better than never starting at all, and building confidence is perhaps one of the most lasting ways to help yourself look and feel better.

Highlight Your Best Features

A quick way to put time into your appearance and boost your confidence is by strategically highlighting your best features. If you have beautiful eyes, an eyelash perm kit can help you emphasize and draw attention to that. Certain makeup styles will highlight good bone structure. Certain colors will bring out the tone of your skin or the color of your eyes or hair. If you have a narrow waist, you can choose outfits that accentuate that.

Dress the Body You Have

On that subject, dress for the body you have right now. If you’re trying to lose weight, that’s great! When you succeed, you can buy new clothes for your new look, but there’s no sense in wearing clothes that don’t fit or putting off buying clothes you need based on the fact that you’re planning to lose weight or get in shape some day. Buy clothes when you need them, and buy clothes that fit. Any body can look fabulous, if only it’s dressed appropriately.

Take Time For Yourself

Dressing appropriately, highlighting your best features, and building your confidence is all about taking time for yourself, and that is what really matters. When you don’t take time for yourself, you subconsciously tell yourself that you’re not important. It’s hard to look good and feel good if you don’t think you matter.

Practice Self-Care

Taking time for yourself is a form of self-care, but it isn’t the only form of self-care. There are lots of ways to take care of yourself and lots of ways to practice self-care. Setting boundaries with work and making time for friends is just as important as indulging in a spa day or practicing mindfulness. Only you will know what kind of self-care works best for you.

Develop Personal Style

Knowing yourself also means expressing yourself. Looking good by someone else’s standards isn’t as important as looking good by your own standards. Think about the impression you want to create, but also about how you want to stand out from the crowd. A sense of personal flair is what will elevate your style from the everyday to the extraordinary. Style isn’t just about clothes; it’s also about how you carry yourself, how you do your hair and makeup, even how you talk. Style is, to a certain degree, performative, but it’s more important to be self-expressive.

Have Fun

This may seem like a long to-do list of things you already don’t have time or energy to do, but it’s more of a list of helpful suggestions to help you brainstorm your own list. If this becomes yet another task, another set of chores to do, it won’t really make you feel better about yourself, and you’ll have a tough time maintaining it. So make sure, while you’re taking time for yourself, that you’re also enjoying yourself. A self-care routine that you enjoy is a self-care routine that’s easy to maintain.

It’s important to remember that even if you’re working from home or a stay-at-home parent, looking your best can help you feel better, and feeling better helps you look your best. It’s about doing whatever you can to create and maintain a positive cycle that will improve your life.

Nutrition plays a surprisingly important role in getting a good night’s sleep. If you’re hungry, you might find yourself waking up in the night for a snack, but similarly if you’re stuffed full you might find yourself sleeping badly or unable to sleep at all. Certain nutritional deficiencies can also damage your sleep cycle so take supplements if you need them and look at Le-Vel Thrive reviews to see what else might work for you. Make sure to eat dinner early enough that you’re not still digesting when you fall asleep, as that can and will keep you awake.

Timing

Timing is key for a lot of health-related items. Not only do you want to make sure you’re eating early enough to avoid food-induced insomnia, but you want to make sure that you have enough time for at least one full sleep cycle. It’s worth noting that this might not be the widely recommended eight hours. Sleep cycles are not exactly one or two hours long and can vary from person to person and even from season to season. understanding your own sleeping patterns is a matter of monitoring, trial and error, but if you find yourself sleeping through your alarms, it’s probably because your alarm went off in the middle of a sleep cycle.

Mattress

Obviously, your mattress is a key component of a good night’s sleep. Different people have different mattress needs, based on their overall health, their personal preferences, and their sleep style. Are you a side sleeper or do you sleep on your back? Do you move around in your sleep and do you have a partner? What are their needs and how do your sleep habits affect them? All of this will contribute to your mattress choices and will affect the quality of your sleep.

Bedroom

Even the bedroom itself has an effect. Whole articles have been written just on color theory and how it affects sleep but there are even more considerations. Where does the sunlight hit at the time you’re waking up, and what about sounds from the street?You may think that you’re an insomniac, but it might just be that the room isn’t dark enough or quiet enough. Additionally, clutter in your room can keep you awake, or if you’re trying to sleep in a space where you also do a lot of working or socializing. This can create a subconscious association that makes it difficult to sleep.

Routine

At the core of a decent sleep cycle is that it has to be a cycle, a routine. It’s about going through the same motions over and over again, training your brain to know that it’s time to sleep now, time to wake up now, time to go back to sleep now. Build little habits based on what works for you, not on what experts say should work for everyone. For example, reducing screen time is supposed to help, but if you can only fall asleep while reading books on your phone, then by all means go for it!

You probably won’t ever be the kind of person who wakes up chipper as a daisy at the crack of dawn, but you can at least cobble together something that works better for you. With some thought and preparation, you can make sure that you’re getting all the sleep you need. With a little more care and attention you can make waking up just that little bit less difficult.

While not psychoactive like its fellow cannabinoid, THC, CBD has myriad health benefits. Feeling stressed? CBD has been known to relieve anxiety by influencing the way receptors in your brain respond to current serotonin levels, naturally alleviating symptoms of stress. Indeed, taking cbd oil also reduces inflammation, making this treatment especially favorable for those suffering from arthritis and autoimmune deficiencies. Careful to determine the appropriate dose for you, ingesting CBD will increase your relaxation level without impairing judgement or state of mind.

5. Watch Some Stand-Up Comedy

Everyone loves a jokester, which is great with all the streaming sites filled with hilarious performances for your viewing pleasure. A night dedicated to self-care is the perfect opportunity in which to enjoy 1 or 12. Remember, laughter is a powerful medicine, so don’t miss out by settling on something dramatic. Tonight is supposed to be fun, not theatrical.

6. Wind Down With a Good Book

A night in can be the perfect excuse to lose yourself in a good story. Treat this reading time as the favorable experience it’s meant to be by settling in somewhere comfortable. Also, make sure you have everything you need nearby to avoid unnecessary interruptions. Pour yourself a glass of wine or brew a cup of tea before you start. Get your blankets out early, and make sure to silence your phone. You’re setting this time aside for quiet, so don’t make it easy to be pulled away!

In short, your special evening should be all about good times, and nothing says good times like a night of self-care. Whether it’s a nice soak, a hilarious performance, or a great read enjoyed in cozy PJs, get the most out of your night by doing what leaves you most relaxed.