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6 Instant Mood Boosters

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Women are very busy these days, as a matter of fact, they have always been. And as women, we know that, unfortunately, most of the time we don’t prioritize our health.

Listen to Podcast for extra tips and laughs

Let us think, for a second, what causes stress in our life? Well, if I say emotions and bad food choices, will you believe me? I am not sure, but it is true. As we remember, cortisol, the hormone your body produces when you are stressed, increases your appetite and promotes inflammation, reducing the body’s sensitivity to metabolic hormones. To reduce cortisol levels and normalize your metabolism, you must relax.

No time to de-stress? Think again! You can lower your stress level in a second with these on-the-spot mood boosters.

Start laughing.

Studies show that even forced laughter lowers cortisol and blood pressure instantly.

Start singing

Recent studies show that singing your favorite tunes is more beneficial than simply listening to them.

Call your friend or talk to your pet.

Study shows that making conversation with someone you care about causes the same kind of positive physiological changes that a massage does. To express your feelings and thoughts you can either call a friend or talk to your pet (pets are even better listeners).

Take a walk

Some fresh air and moderate exercise can help clear your mind and frustration or anger.

Squeeze a squishy ball

Start squeezing something, such as a squishy ball, to work away your tension.

Have some Dark Chocolate

Studies show that Dark Chocolate (70-75% of cocoa and higher) not only low blood pressure and clear the arteries, but also improves mood by boosting serotonin and endorphin levels in the brain. Take a piece of dark chocolate, close your eyes and relax.

If we don’t take care of ourselves, nobody will, but if something happens to us, who will take care of our children, our family? Studies show that more than 800.000 people a day take time off work because of a stress related illnesses.
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Let us be stress smart.

If you feel that it is the right time to have your “ME” TIME to take care of yourself with one of my Holistic Health and Nutrition Programs or my unique and affordable eCoaching Program for Women, contact me and let us talk….

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition and Relationship Expert

NaturalCounselor.com

So are you going to laugh right now? Try, you will be surprised.

What about your favorite mood booster?

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Tags: Alternative Medicine, Blood pressure, Dark Chocolate, Friendship, health, Holistic Health, Hormones, Laughter, Metabolism, mood, nutrition, Pets, stress, women's health

Do it yourself Massage Tips

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

More than 75% of health problems can be related to stress. We know that one of the best tress-relief tools and techniques is a body massage. I would like to share with you the article “Massage-You can Do It Yourself” by Michael Tasker where he explains how easily you can self-massage your body. These are very helpful tips for us to use, especially nowadays, with our economy situation:

“Qi Gong Tapping is a form of self-massage is commonly used by many Qi Gong and Tai Chi practitioners while warming up before their meditative practices. This can be adopted as a method to energize yourself first thing in the morning or perhaps before a physical workout. Start by forming your hands into a loose fist so that you can firmly tap your body from head to toe along the meridian pathways. The first step is to tap along your arms both inside and outside. Then tap your torso down the front of your chest, continuing down to the front of your thighs. Repeat the tapping on the inside, outside, and back of your legs to cover the entire lower body. Finally, tap along your neck and behind your back to cover the remaining areas. This practice can be repeated several times, until your feel your body warm up from the increased blood flow. Remember, one of the benefits of massage is to facilitate the increase in blood flow.

Abdominal self-massage is best used after meals to improve digestion or by women during their menstrual cycle. To perform abdominal massage, place one hand over the other as they lay above your naval. Breathe deeply as your move your hands together in a circular-motion around your belly in a clock-wise direction. The clock-wise direction is synchronous with the digestive pathway of your colon. Repeat this motion for several minutes focusing your mind on your hands and breathe to warm your abdomen and improve circulation.

Reflexology is a system of treatment where specific points on the hands and feet are used to improve the health and functioning of the entire body. You can benefit from this practice even without a through understanding of reflexology charts. Use some basic massage oil or hand lotion to gently rub all of your fingers and toes. Continue to rub your palms and the soles of your feet, including the back of your hand and tops of your feet. Pay attention to any tender spots you find so that you can focus more on these areas. You will soon discover which places feel the best and which ones need more attention. By adopting a massage session each day, the tension that is accumulated in these areas through the day can be relieved.

An overall ear massage can greatly benefit our health. With the use of your thumb and index finger you need to rub the outer edge of the ear, which is also called the helix. Follow the helix down the ear until you reach your earlobe. Pull gently on your earlobe several times. Move above your ear lobe and begin to massage each of the remaining areas of your ear. The tragus, which is located just above your earlobe, is very helpful to activate the mind and relieve headaches.”