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...

Your brain is powerful. You can even use it to think about how the brain itself works. But this power doesn’t make your brain immune to factors that impact the rest of your body. Lifestyle and environment can affect your brain health. Luckily, there are nutrients for brain health shown to support cognitive function. You’ll read about a handful of the most important nutrients for your brain. And you’ll find brain foods that contain these key nutritional components of maintaining cognitive health. Healthy   Lipids For a long time, dietary fats (lipids) have been connected to brain health. Originally, lipids’ effect on the cardiovascular system was thought to facilitate that connection. But more recent research shows beneficial dietary fats have more direct actions on the brain. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids   (like DHA from fish oil) normally make up cell membranes throughout your body. And like other saturated fats, they’re fundamental building blocks for your brain cells...

  You’re probably pleasantly (or painfully) aware of your current   physical fitness. But can you gauge the sharpness of your mind? In a world where exercise is king it’s important to whip your brain into shape, too. That starts when you test your cognitive skills so you can judge your baseline brainpower. And it’s trickier than you might think. Instead of counting push-ups or running speed, you need different means to assess your memory and cognitive skills. Luckily, there are metrics you can measure to see where you’re at. And plenty of resources exist for gathering   data on your brain. Take the first step and familiarize yourself with the mental skills you can measure and tests you can take to establish your baseline brainpower. Assessing Your Short-Term Memory Your short-term memory is an easy cognitive skill to test. And quick, too. Short-term memory lasts for about 30 seconds—one minute at the most—and only stores about five to nine items of information. You use th...

Think back to the last time you experienced silence. Was it in the woods? Maybe it was on a flight with your noise-cancelling headphones on. Regardless of the setting, one fact is almost certain: it wasn’t truly silent. Whether it’s the hum of a refrigerator, the chirping of birds, or the faintest ruffling of leaves, there’s always some sound to break the silence. Noise is virtually impossible to escape. It’s just a fact of life. Sound is so constant that most people don’t think too much about it. Some noises are more pleasant than others, but beyond that it’s all just, well, noise. But sound isn’t just a question of pleasant and unpleasant—it’s also a question of healthy and unhealthy. Now before you run off to make your life as quiet as possible, let’s get one thing straight: not all noise is bad. Understanding the links between sound and health will help you keep the negative noise in your life to a minimum, while enjoying all   the benefits of music   and other positive so...