You may be wondering what water has to do with stress. Well, it turns out that multiple studies have shown that dehydration leads to increased cortisol levels. Cortisol is your “fight-or-flight” hormone and plays an important role in your metabolism, your body’s immune response, and your body’s response to stress.

Additionally, mild dehydration can cause negative side effects, such as decreased physical and mental performance. Symptoms include fatigue, and reduced attention, focus, reaction speed and short-term memory. This is because dehydration literally stresses out your body, and then when you add extra stress from work and life responsibilities, it dehydrates your body even more. It’s a vicious cycle to get stuck in!

You’ve jogged along the same path for months but still haven’t noticed much difference when you look in the mirror. You’ve done so many sit-ups your brain is starting to go numb. Is it time to invest in a personal trainer to achieve your fitness goals?

Is there a ‘Negative Nelly in your life? Everyone has an off-day now and again, but some people just seem glued to an unhappy path. They seem dead set on self-destruction, and have plenty of bad habits to help them along. 

To avoid going along this path, here are a few things to watch out for: 

Teaching your children healthy snack habits can pay dividends that last them a lifetime. They’ll have increased energy, better learning and lower their risk of developing health problems.   

Here are some things you can do to promote good snack habits:

If you’re like most people you have holiday traditions going back as far as you can remember. Maybe it was the yearly visit from Grandma around Thanksgiving, or everyone going out to the movies on Christmas night. You may have the usual string of holiday get-togethers where you talk to family and friends you haven’t seen much during the year, or a church service you always attend. Our traditions are part of what makes us who we are. They form the memories we keep all our lives. It should come as no surprise that the holidays might be a little different this year. Like it or not, Covid-19 is here to stay for a while. 

Laughing just feels good. When you laugh really hard, tears may fill your eyes and your stomach may hurt, but it stills feels good. Laughter is fun. Probably some of your best memories are of you and your friends or family laughing together. You always remember a funny movie or a really good joke that made you laugh out loud. Laughter brings joy to your life.

It seems only yesterday that you couldn’t wait until the next time you saw them. Couple time seemed to last forever and you built a treasure trove of shared memories. Then came the kids. You wouldn’t trade them for the world, but these days you grab couple time in between trips to soccer practice, washing clothes, checking homework and refereeing squabbles over who gets to use the tablet next. 

Back before the coronavirus hit, when you wanted a night alone, whether for a romantic evening or just for some delightful peace and quiet, it was reasonably easy. You waited until the kids were at summer camp or at grandma’s or perhaps you followed a time-honored tradition of calling a babysitter. Unfortunately, it’s not quite so simple anymore. So how do you get that precious night off from parenting? 

Six feet. It used to be that there wasn’t anything particularly remarkable about it. Sure, it was pretty common. It’s the height of the average refrigerator and the average Christmas tree. It’s also the length of a twin or full-sized mattress. If you like exercise, it’s the length of a yoga mat, and if you’re into animals, six feet is the typical height of the African white rhino. 

Lately though, six feet has taken on additional significance, since it’s the distance we’re supposed to keep between us at all times. It’s safer, of course, but it sure can make it challenging to interact with people. In the next part of our series, we’ll look at ways to be sociable without risking life and limb, not to mention your health. 

Owning a business is stressful during normal times, but couple that with the holiday season—and oh yeah, a pandemic—and the pressure and uncertainty can feel like more than you can handle.

Study after study has shown that uncontrolled stress can lead to a long list of negative repercussions, such as poor memory, low energy, aches and pains, upset stomach, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, weakened immune system, insomnia, a higher risk for cancer, and more.

And if you have all that working against you, you can’t run a successful business, right? But with one secret weapon in your back pocket, you can reduce your stress. That secret weapon is called mindful breathing.

We’ve all been told that getting a good night’s sleep is beneficial in many ways, yet it always seems to be one of the first things we sacrifice when life gets a little crazy. It often feels like there’s too much to do and not enough time to get it done. Going to bed later and getting up earlier sounds like the smart thing to do under these circumstances, however, science has proven time and time again that reducing your sleep is actually counterproductive. 

A positive mindset can be the difference between success and failure; and, during times like these, when the future is uncertain and stress levels are high, a positive mindset is especially important. In fact, your outlook on life may even affect your mental and physical health. Studies show that the health benefits of a positive mindset include:

Starting an exercise program can be pretty daunting, especially if it’s been a while since you’ve visited the inside of a gym. The good news is that an exercise program doesn’t have to make you miserable.

Easy does it

Often when we start, we’re full of enthusiasm and overdo it. Why do 20 sit-ups when you can probably manage 50? When we wake up the next morning, we know why. 

Depending on where you live you may look outside and notice the leaves just starting to turn. After a long blast of oppressive heat, some cool, crisp air is finally starting to seep in. You might have even felt a nip in the air late at night. That means the holidays are right around the corner, which naturally means holiday shopping. Of course, the holidays are going to be a little different this year. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

The beginning of a new school year used to be a pretty predictable ritual. Some parents would be sad to see their kids go, while for other parents, it was the most wonderful time of the year. There would be the usual back-to-school sales. Even places that didn’t sell school supplies or clothing would join in the fun. As a parent you would check out your kid(s) school, get to know their new teachers and work to get the kiddos back into the school routine. It was pretty much the same every year.

Until now.

The summer sun is baking everything in sight. You can watch the heat ripple and you wonder how everything doesn’t melt like one of those clocks in a Salvador Dali painting. Sounds like a great time for a swim. But while you’re imagining that cool water washing over you, it’s also a time to remember some basic swimming safety.