A Happy Mind for a Better Life
What’s a single practice that’s been credited with reducing anxiety, treating depression, decreasing implicit age and race bias and increasing body satisfaction? Mindfulness.
Mindfulness encourages people to pay attention to the present moment, acknowledging and accepting their thoughts and sensations, without making judgments. It can help to heighten awareness of our emotional, cognitive, and physical experiences.
Music therapy is defined as “the use of music to address the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs” of groups or individuals. It can include playing or listening to music, writing songs, or doing guided imagery. Music therapy degrees are available to grads and undergrads, and all music therapists have to pass a rigorous certification. Practitioners work to address emotional issues, such as depression or grief, to cognitive conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Have you ever lain awake in bed feeling like your thoughts were running through your head nonstop? Has looking at the clock and seeing how long you’ve been trying to fall asleep made you feel even more wound up?
Many of us experience anxiety-related insomnia, and our attachment to nighttime use of our phones and TVs only exacerbates the problem. Luckily, there are strategies you can try, especially before bedtime, to help reduce anxiety and improve your sleep.
Workplace fatigue is so common in our society that we seem to have accepted it as the norm. According to the National Safety Council, more than 43 percent of workers are sleep-deprived—that’s nearly half of all employees. Yet we as a culture don’t seem to be making any moves to change that. In fact, working… read more
Depression: A Common Concern Depression currently affects about 17 million adults each year in the US, and is the leading cause of disability nationwide. It even has financial repercussions: depressive disorders are responsible for more the loss of roughly $100 billion each year in work productivity. Another $1 billion is spent annually on treatment of… read more
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic 20th century novel, tells the story of Mary Lennox, a girl relocated to England following the deaths of her parents. As she copes with her grief, she also faces ill health, loneliness and a slew of additional concerns that we now would recognize as major stressors. As you… read more
Nature’s Health Benefits It is widely accepted that time spent outdoors has both physical and psychological benefits. Yet, the average person spends nearly 87% of their time indoors and 7% of their time in vehicles. Put another way, most of us spend less than 5 hours per week in natural environments. This is a shame;… read more
For several of us, the holidays summon feelings of stress, irritability, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. A 2014 poll conducted by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America suggests that the majority of people feel more anxious or depressed at the holidays.
Global warming, violent crimes, discrimination…the news we’re presented with daily can be disturbing. It’s no surprise, then, that more than half of all US citizens report that the news causes them stress, citing symptoms such as sleep loss, anxiety, and overall fatigue.
In fact, research indicates that watching the news not only affects our mood, making us sad or anxious, it can also exacerbate physical ailments by increasing the amount of stress hormones in our bodies.
Have you ever had a day when losing a sock can send you into an emotional tailspin? Or you forget to send an email, and it causes you to question your self-worth? Felt that you were overreacting to something, had no idea why and felt unable to stop?
