Wellness Mama Queen

  Your body may be about 60 percent water, but you’re 100-percent cells. They make up your whole body, but still act—and react—individually. That’s very apparent when it comes to stress. Individual cellular stress responses are very different than   the way your whole body responds to a stressor. You’re likely all too familiar with those bodily responses to psychological stress. Many people have an intimate knowledge of the tension, increased heart rate, and possible gastric gymnastics. But you might not be full acquainted with how your cells respond to stress—or even how cellular stress differs from everyday stress. It’s time to better understand what your cells go through and how they react. And also come to grips with the role your decisions have and how you can use selective cellular stress to help support your overall health. What Stresses Cells Out One way to look at stress of any kind, is as something that upsets a delicate balance. In daily life, that means frustrating...

As those in the Northern Hemisphere are emerging from the dark, icy thaw and are turning their faces toward the warmth and light of Spring, those in the Southern Hemisphere are preparing for winter. Whether you love it or hate it, there’s something about hunkering down for winter that teaches the importance of self-care. You stay home more, gravitate toward more substantial meals, and bundle up against the elements. But these lessons can be enjoyed during all seasons. They provide a refuge from the convenient, fast-paced culture so many face on a regular basis. If only you could discover lifestyle habits that can help you   manage your stress   and relish the present. The answer, in a word, is the Danish concept that has recently spread beyond Scandinavia: hygge. What is Hygge? Pronounced “HOO-guh,” the word doesn’t have an exact English translation. Hygge is a mindset—a series of lifestyle choices, practicing deliberate moments of cozy comfort to improve your overall contentm...

The bad news: Your relationship with time is more than likely toxic. You’re overscheduled, stretched too thin, and find it difficult to focus on the present moment. You probably respond with, “busy,” when people ask how you’re doing. The worst part? You don’t feel like you have the power to take control of your time. Whether you joined voluntarily or not, you’re a card-carrying member of the cult of busyness—the ever-growing group of people whose anxiety is rising because they don’t feel like they have enough time to get everything done. You’re among the hordes of multitaskers who scramble to squeeze the most out of every minute, rolling through life as a ball of stress, only to collapse into an exhausted heap at the end of every day. How Busyness Took Over and Why it Keeps Getting Worse It’s not your fault. You weren’t born to be a slave to your schedule. You just got swept up in an unhealthy cultural trend. But how did so many people become obsessed with time and productivity? When t...

Things seem to pile up, don’t they? And they seem to do so way too often. You’re plugged in, always ready to hear the ding of an email or the vibration of a text message signaling the next task to tackle. This is the new normal. You’ve found ways to be productive. Mostly because there’s no alternative. But productivity doesn’t always equal happiness. Churning through task after task can allow  stress  to build up without release. And constantly being “on” can become overwhelming. If that sounds familiar, you aren’t alone. The World Health Organization has called stress the “epidemic of the 21st century.” Research has shown that mismanaged or ignored stress can lead to serious issues. But that doesn’t have to be your life. Learning ways to decompress and finding stress-free moments in everyday life is important for long-term health. So how do you maneuver what’s next on the to-do list and discover ways to sneak a few necessary deep breaths? There are plenty of avenues that...