Wellness

15Aug

3 Tips to Handle an Anxiety Attack

August 15, 2016 by

1. Awareness

Many therapists have agreed that when a patient feels a panic attack coming on, it is essential to craft a short checklist to keep in mind while the situation occurs. Although each individual experiences anxiety in a different way, following the below steps is important to maintain some calmness.

Accept the anxiety and try to assess what is going on from an objective standpoint. Try your best to act normal and not let the anxiety overtake your mental state. As difficult as it may seem, do your best to gain control of what is happening.

2. Consult a doctor

Consulting a doctor may be necessary after you notice your panic attacks either increasing or becoming more frequent in your day to day life. It is in your best interests to meet with a doctor on a semi-regular basis. With this in mind, your doctor may prescribe you medication or refer you to a mental health physician for further evaluation.

3. Deep Breathing

Taking deep, consistent breaths is one way to most effectively deal with a panic attack when it comes. While it is common for people to breathe very quickly due to stress, keep in mind that this actually augments the level of anxiety. It is important to practice taking deep slow breaths, even when you are not experiencing a panic attack. In other words, focusing on deep breathing will allow you to relax a bit.

It is important to note that everyone’s panic attacks differ. Consulting a medical professional is highly encouraged as you experience any discomfort. Remember that you are not alone and thousands of other Americans across the country are going through the same issues and experiences as you are. Reading up on how other people cope with anxiety in their day to day lives will also help you try out other ways to improve your emotional or mental health.

01May

Applying Creativity to Help with Life Transitions

May 1, 2016 by

Awareness
When undergoing intense, often times unpleasant or emotionally difficult life changes, it is natural to attempt to ignore the current predicament that you are experiencing. Although this defense mechanism is common, it takes a great deal of mental strength to actually come to terms with this difficult life stage. Becoming emotionally aware of what’s going on around you is absolutely essential to better grow and stay in touch with your feelings about the transition.

Making big decisions such as resigning from a job or switching schools are serious life stages that require substantial thought and emotional preparation. Taking the time to thoroughly process the decision before you make it, or talk it through with family members or other loved ones is a great way to gain relief and support from this hardship.

Facing your fears
Another great way to deal with a new life transition is to normalize any fear that comes with the difficult issue that you are currently dealing with. In other words, an essential way to normalize your fears is to envision these barriers as a form of motivation to move forward in this life stage. Fear that debilitates has the unfortunate power to hinder any emotional progress as you delve deeper into your life transition. By shaping the fear into a motivational source, you can actually mold a more positive mentality in a healthy way.

Lesson learning
A key takeaway when confronting difficult situations is to challenge your perception when dealing with the transition. Take this negative situation and spin it in a way that is more focused on making the environment as positive as possible. Even though the pain or sadness may be unbearable in that moment, be mindful that this extreme emotion you may be feeling is simply temporary.

After an intense or high emotion situation passes, there is a strong chance that this fact will improve over time. Another incredibly valuable lesson to take away from any difficult situation is to master the art of being mentally and emotionally present. In other words, appreciate who and what is currently surrounding you. Even if you are undergoing an emotionally draining situation, taking the time to take your mother out to lunch or spending more time with a friend who is in even a more difficult predicament is allows you to attain a new level of emotional strength.

Experience sharing
After you have gone through this experience, there is no question that you’d be in a position where you can mentor or help guide others who have gone through a similar situation. The lessons you have learned from this experience will allow you to be better equipped with skills and emotional strength to help others in need of guidance from a confident individual who has gone through a similar predicament.

31Jan

Dealing with Depression

January 31, 2016 by

Depression is bound to lower your emotional and physical energy levels. While it can definitely feel like overcoming depression is close to impossible, it’s not. Even though you may not feel it now, you still have some control. Here are a some self-help tips you can use to overcome depression.

Cultivate Supportive Relationships

Support will go a long way when it comes to dealing with depression. Being alone can actually worsen depression. You need to surround yourself with people who will provide positivity, hope, and light in your life. Naturally, these relationships need to be emotionally stable; keeping close contact with toxic dynamics will also worsen depression.

Keep in mind that reaching out for support and asking for help is not a sign of weakness. The moment that thought comes into your head, remind yourself that that is just the depression talking. Depression is a natural thing to experience. Many of us go through it at some point in our lifetime.

So turn to your loved ones and give the opportunity to build a solid support system. Some of the people you may consider contacting are friends, family members, and depression support groups. You can also consider getting involved in miscellaneous social activities. While you won’t necessarily dive into personal conversations during these events, you can still run into people who can lighten your mood.

Get Moving

Depression can make it really hard for someone to get out of bed, but making the effort to do it will totally be worth it. Many studies show that physical activity can act as an antidepressant as increases mood-enhancing neurotransmitters and endorphins. It also reduces stress and relieves muscle tension. In other words, physical activity will increase your energy levels and decrease your feelings of fatigue. Some activities you may consider are: going for a walk (if you have a pet this can be even easier to accomplish), going for a jog, going to the gym, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and even better, finding an exercising partner who can keep you motivated.

Challenge Negative Thinking

Depression will make you look at everything from a negative point of view. This includes the way you see yourself, the way you perceive others around you, and the way you see your future. Forcing yourself to “think positive” or “think happy thoughts” won’t do the trick. Breaking free from negative thinking is no easy task, perhaps one of the hardest when battling depression.

Instead shifting from one end of the spectrum to the other, consider replacing those negative thoughts with more balanced thoughts. For example, allow yourself to be less than perfect. Instead of damning yourself for not fulfilling your own expectations, cut yourself some slack. Allow yourself to realize that you are not perfect, and that’s okay. Another thing you can try is when you catch yourself obsessing over something you weren’t able to, try to think outside yourself.

Ask yourself what would you say to someone who is going through what you’re going through. Would you be that tough on them? Would everything be so gloomy when you look at it from outside? Lastly, keep a “negative thoughts log.” Sometimes, when you are able to externalize your looming internal thoughts, you are able to put things into perspective. When you’re in a good mood, re-evaluate those recorded thoughts on the log, and see if there was a better, more healthier way of coping with the issue.

When dealing with depression, you will have your good days and you will have your bad days – and that’s totally okay. Just keep in mind that coping with depression takes time, but you can and you will make it.

20Aug

Nantucket Vets Receive Medical Services

August 20, 2014 by

Veterans of Nantucket will no longer have to travel off of the island for primary care, speciality visits, or emergency treatment.

In a recent article by The Boston Globe, it is said that Veterans will now be able to receive services on the island of Nantucket. It has been ten years but now veterans will be able to receive medical services on the island rather than making a journey to places like Virginia in order to receive care. The US Department of Veterans Affairs has worked alongside the Nantucket Cottage Hospital in order to put together a range of services that include primary care, speciality visits, and emergency treatment, according to officials. This arrangement would also benefit veterans by removing an expensive and time consuming issue that they have been dealing with for many years. Many people have neglected receiving any type of medical treatments because the travel is such a hassle. Officials hope to change this.

In a recent statistic only 2% of Nantucket’s veterans are frequent visitors of the Vetran Affairs medical system. This number is very low compared to anywhere else in the United States for veterans. The problem officials want to solve is that many veterans are struggling to receive care and there needs to be a better system in place where all veterans receive care – not only the ones on the island of Nantucket.

While receiving care through this veteran health system is mostly beneficial, it can sometimes present many obstacles as well. According to the VA officials, only 24% percent of the veterans are eligible for health care compared to the 72% veterans across New England, as stated by outreach specialist for the VA New England Healthcare System, Mike McNamara. Moving forward, there are also prospects of there being more regulations and obstacles in the way for Nantucket Veterans to receive health care.

21Apr

No Exact Definition or Science for Clean Eating

April 21, 2014 by

Eat clean food and you are bound to live a healthier lifestyle!

The phenomenon of clean eating has overtaken social media, in hashtags and pictures posted to Facebook and Instagram. But none of these limited platforms definitively declare what the term means—is it a diet or a lifestyle? Therefore, Lauren Torrisi recently felt compelled to complete a post on the concept for ABC News.

Torrisi discovered that there are some variations amongst what the term should officially mean; specific experts have specifications they chose to follow. However, one directive seems definitive—hone your diet in on whole foods and avoid packaged meals and items. According to David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, clean eating truly focuses on the consumption of “real foods,” otherwise known as items that are not cluttered with things that compromise the healthy values, such as artificial flavorings, colorings and sugar substitutes. A general rule of thumb, by Katz’s standards, is to live by the ingredients list; shorter lists equate to “real food.”

Katz does specify that this isn’t necessarily a diet; it doesn’t eliminate any one specific ingredient or food, such as bread or sugars. In fact, he insists that sugar does not equate to an unclean food. Therefore, by Katz’s mindset, adding sugar to a healthy and “real” food, such as fruit, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, by the concept of clean eating.

Chef Ric Orlando, creator of clean eating and author of We Want Clean Food, has a slightly more organic and local approach to the concept of clean eating than Katz. He emphasizes that local shopping is crucial, as local grown produce has suffered less expense via the environment. However, he does specify that clean eating does not eliminate protein or fried foods. Orlando believes natural chicken and milk from grass-fed cows can be just as clean as fruits and vegetables.

Where the term originated is a bit of a debate. The general concept emerged as a result of the inclination towards overeating in the United States. Research shows that heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes can all be tied to the consumer’s lifestyle choices. Therefore, the concept of clean eating was created as a means of cutting back on the nation’s curb towards eating beyond necessity; the idea encourages consumers to eat only until full and never beyond that mark. As a result, the program can result in weight loss and other various positive side effects. Ivy Larson, co-author of Clean Cuisine, finds that’s her multiple sclerosis symptoms are lessened when she follows the clean eating program closely.