Managing Your Health

Take a moment to think about how you treat yourself when you make a mistake or fail to reach a goal. If you tend to beat yourself up when things go wrong, you, like most people, can use a little more self-compassion in your life. Forgiving and nurturing yourself seem to have benefits in their own right. Strong self-compassion can even set the stage for better health, relationships, and general well-being. So far, research has revealed a number of benefits of self-compassion. Lower levels of anxiety and depression have been observed in people with higher self-compassion. Self-compassion people recognize when they are suffering and are kind to themselves at these times, thereby lowering their own levels of related anxiety and depression. Learn to have self-compassion Some people come by self-compassion naturally, but not everyone does. Luckily, it is a learnable skill. Several methods have been proposed, and training programs are being developed. to help people discover and cultiv...

Many health conditions are worsened by excess weight, and the stress of extra weight on joints can lead to painful conditions, particularly of the knees and feet. It makes sense, then, that losing weight often helps to relieve some kinds of pain. Finding an eating plan that is healthful and enjoyable will help you stick with your weight loss goals for the long term and maintain any weight loss you manage to achieve. To manage your weight, follow these simple rules to cut back on calories: Keep track of how much you eat. Keeping a food diary keeps you accountable and gives you valuable feedback on your eating trouble spots. Make small changes. Change your diet slowly to ensure you will be able to stick with it. Abruptly reducing the amount and type of foods you eat will likely backfire, causing you to go back to overeating. Use mindfulness techniques. Be mindful of when, where, and how much you're eating and when you begin to feel full. One tip is to take 20 minutes to f...

Sit-ups once ruled as the way to tighter abs and a slimmer waistline, while "planks" were merely flooring. Now plank exercises, in which you assume a position and hold it, are the gold standard for working your core, while classic sit-ups and crunches have fallen out of favor. Why the shift? One reason is that sit-ups are hard on your back - they push your curved spine against the floor and work your hip flexors, the muscles that run from the thighs to the lumbar vertebrae in the lower back. When the hip flexors are too strong or too tight, they tug on the lower spine, which can create lower back discomfort. Second, plank exercises recruit a better balance of muscles on the front, sides, and back of the body during exercise than do sit-ups, which target just a few muscles. Finally, activities of daily living, as well as sports and recreational activities, call on your muscles to work together, not in isolation. Sit-ups or crunches strengthen just a few muscle groups T...