#HealthyHabits

It is just as important to be mentally and emotionally healthy as it is to ensure you are physically healthy!  

It can often be uncomfortable or difficult to talk about mental health, but it’s time we breakdown the stigmas and start having open conversations about our mental well-being.

These simple Tips for Keeping a Strong Mind from Special Olympics are a great start to improving/maintaining your mental and emotional health:

1. Connect with others- reach out to someone who makes you happy.
2. Get 8 hours of sleep- or however much makes you feel well rested.
3. Stay active- 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week is a great schedule to aim for!
4. Eat healthy foods- what you put into your body powers your mind!
5. Use Strong Minds strategies- check out the Resources tab for more information!
6. Ask for help- reach out to friends, family, and your healthcare provider for guidance and support!

Let’s talk about where your food comes from! It is so important that you buy local fruits and vegetables or grow your own! Even organic and frozen is a great alternative.

Why?

When we purchase fruits and vegetables that have been shipped from other countries, they lose large amounts of nutrients. Because they have to travel such a long distance, they are picked before they are fully ripe to ensure they arrive to us appearing fresh. This means that the food is not fully developed and therefore has not reached its maximum nutrient capacity. We need these nutrients to be healthy!   

Another way to think about this is comparing it to humans! A child, like fruit that is not yet ripe, still has a lot of growing to do before they are big and strong! Just like adults are stronger than kids, fully grown fruit has more nutrients than immature fruit since it has had time to develop!  

By shopping local, we are not only supporting local farmers, but we are actually fueling our bodies with more nutritious food. Or, create your own garden of food and harvest it yourself! Either way, we will be getting even more vitamins, nutrients, enzymes, antioxidants and more, as we eat fresh, full grown fruits and veggies!   

I know that going to a farmers market or creating a garden may be inaccessible or challenging for many, so there is another alternative: frozen fruits and veggies! They are frozen right after being harvested so these are picked when fully grown and therefore are high in vitamins and nutrients!

Get the most out of your fruits and veggies starting today! 

Music is powerful! Take today to include extra music in your life to improve your mental and emotional health. Sometimes during stressful or chaotic times, all we need is to take a step back, sit down, and listen to some good music.

Check out these 10 Ways to Add More Music to Your Life from Note-Able Music Therapy Services:

1. Make a playlist of songs that make you feel relaxed and listen to it when you need to chill.

2. Watch a video of one of your favorite dance tunes and follow along with the dance moves.

3. Go to https://radiooooo.com and discover global music from different decades.

4. Ask a friend what their favorite song is and listen to it (either together or on your own)

5. Look up the lyrics to your favorite song and read through them as you listen.

6. Play one movement of a classical piece and imagine the story it is telling.

7. Get out your high school yearbook and see how many songs you remember from those days.

8. Create a playlist for a friend or loved one with songs that remind you of special times together.

9. Create a playlist of songs that make you feel happy and listen when you need a pick-me-up.

10. Listen and sing along to a favorite album from your childhood. 

Music is something ALL of us can enjoy and grow from, so take advantage of that today!

This is your reminder to slow down, and breathe! It is often easy to get caught up in the chaos of a busy life and the stress of work, school, or other responsibilities. However, it’s important to remember that relaxation and reducing stress are important for our physical and mental health!

Too much stress can contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease, digestive problems, sleep issues, and more! Long term stress can cause many health issues all over your body, and in the moment can cause headaches, fatigue, an increased heart rate, and more. 

Stress is a natural reaction that activates our sympathetic nervous system, also known as our fight or flight reaction. Think of a time you were scared. You could have been watching a scary movie or someone jumped out at you from behind a corner. That scared feeling also comes from our sympathetic nervous system, or fight or flight response. We experience stress, anxiety, and fear as a natural way to protect ourselves from danger. However, when this system is constantly activated by long term stress, heart rate is continuously higher, digestion slows down, and other health issues follow. That is why it is so important for our health to take a breath, reduce stress, and relax. 

So, how can we develop #HealthyHabits and reduce stress?

There are many techniques for relaxation and self care, so find one that works for you! These can include yoga, meditation, heading to the beach, taking a walk, watching your favorite TV show or movie, listening to a relaxing song, journaling, or simply doing something that makes you happy! Always remember to take a second to take a big, deep breath while you’re doing it. If you have a difficult time remembering to relax, schedule out blocks of time to do an activity that makes you feel calm just like you would schedule out work or a doctor's appointment. It is important each of us takes time for ourselves to relax and improve our physical and mental health!

How are you going to relax and reduce stress today? 

Let's discuss hydration and the role that water plays in our health!

Water is extremely important. In fact, our bodies are made up of about 60% water! Water is necessary for our brains to function, digestion to occur, temperature regulation, and all of the other important processes in our body that keep us alive and healthy. Despite its importance, many people don't drink enough water each day. The Special Olympics Fit 5 Guide (https://resources.specialolympics.org/health/fitness/fit-5 ) recommends drinking 5 bottles of water every day. It is important to also keep in mind that you lose water through sweat when you are exercising, so if you are working out you will likely need more water! 

To make sure I get enough water each day, I bring a reusable water bottle with me everywhere I go! That way, I always have it when I am thirsty and it also acts as a self reminder to stay hydrated.

Drinking more water is an excellent start to improving your overall health and has benefits all over the body! 

One of my favorite ways to exercise is doing yoga! If you are stressed, working through anxiety, want to become more flexible, or are just hoping to improve your overall health, yoga is for you! Whether you are naturally flexible or stiff, a beginner or expert, there are options to implement yoga into your daily routine. 

Yoga has numerous health benefits and can improve your physical and mental well-being. Yoga improves flexibility, strength, balance, and breathing, eases stress, aids in sleep, and much more. It is an excellent way to both start and end your day. I recommend doing a quick yoga flow each morning and night to get your body prepared to move throughout the day and relaxed before you go to sleep. 

There are many online yoga classes, and even YouTube videos with easy to follow instructions that can be found with a quick Google search. You can even do chair yoga, which is a great adapted workout! An example to get you started with seated yoga can be found here: https://www.verywellfit.com/chair-yoga-poses-3567189

Yoga isn't just for adults, it is a great type of exercise for all ages! For an adaptive yoga class for kids, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq1XBAkIZEM

Yoga is an extremely powerful form of exercise to improve your mental and physical health. Even 10 minutes a day can change your mood and help you live a healthier lifestyle!

We all know that music can be an amazing way to boost our mood and improve our day. Music is a powerful tool in improving mental health and even getting us through difficult times. But why is music so powerful on our minds and bodies?

-Music stimulates your brain like no other external factor. It affects areas all over your brain!

-Music is second only to smell in its ability to evoke memories.

-Music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and stress as well as improve memory, sleep, mood, mental clarity, and so much more!

When you add dancing to the music you are listening to, you not only use even more parts of your brain but you are increasing your physical fitness as well! Dancing actually improves both the health of your brain and the health of the rest of your body. It can improve your memory, reduce depression, decrease the risk of dementia, increase flexibility and muscle mass, and gets you up and moving! 

This is why Music Therapy is a necessary part of healthcare, and why music should be a part of our daily lives! Take a few minutes today to play your favorite song and get up and dance!

Let’s talk about something simple: standing! In a time when many of us have been doing work or school from home, I think it is especially important to discuss why we all need to stop sitting and stand more every day! 

Sitting for too long every day increases your risk for serious health issues such as diabetes and heart disease. Living a sedentary lifestyle can lead to obesity, depression, anxiety, muscle weakness, back pain and more. While working out and exercising are very important for being healthy, there is a much simpler way to improve your health substantially: swap out sitting for standing! 

Take one day to make a reflective journal. Record how much time you spend sitting, standing, walking, and working out! Then, try and switch just an hour a day to standing instead of sitting. Even better, find some extra time to walk throughout your day! Far too often, we look towards intense exercise to equate our health. Instead, look at your non-exercise hours and see how you can burn more calories, reduce your risk for disease and joint pain, develop strong muscles, and even improve your mental health! 

Another advantage of this method is that you don’t have to find more time in your day to be healthy, you can simply change how you are doing things already. 

In reality, this may look like standing while you answer emails (stand up desks are a great idea!) or walking around while you are talking on the phone. It could even be standing or walking during TV commercials. It’s that easy! 

Improving your health doesn’t have to be time consuming or complicated. Simple lifestyle changes like standing more frequently can make us #HealthyTogether each day!