If you find that your energy levels decrease and you start to feel depressed as the days grow shorter, then you might be suffering from what is referred to as ‘The Winter Blues’. It’s no myth. We all need exposure to natural light to function normally and be happy, but our modern lifestyles often deprive us of the regulatory benefits bestowed by the sun. Without natural light we can experience…
Getting back into a good fitness regime can seem daunting, especially if you’ve been out of one for a while. From taking small steps to thinking about ways to make fitness more fun, read on for some top motivation tips for heading back to the gym. Small Steps By setting yourself unachievable targets will almost certainly set you up for a fail. Getting your fitness levels back is never immediate….
“Definitely, no question about it. After all that end-of-year partying, I’m going on a new diet to eliminate excess and toxins, and get started on a new basis.” This particular New Year’s resolution seldom lasts very long. The reason is that it’s hard to go from one extreme to another, and your body finds it difficult to cope with a drastic change of diet. If you want your post-New Year…
Every kind of addiction and dependence – that’s been the guiding theme of this site throughout 2015. How to relate to them, how to treat them, and also how to prevent them for the sake of your health. It’s an important subject, because our free will and our freedom hang in the balance when addiction starts to dictate what we do. It’s not our style to give way to naive…
Do you madly crave cheese? Does the thought of a cheese platter make you salivate? Do you compulsively eat a whole slab of cheese at one sitting and then feel guilty afterwards? Well, you might call yourself a cheese lover, but some scientists claim you’re a cheese addict, hooked on what they refer to as ‘dairy crack’. “That’s ridiculous!” I hear you say. “How can cheese be addictive?” Well, according…
One of the most common forms of OCD is classed with the obsessive-phobic disorders. We’re talking about an obsession with cleanliness and hygiene, sometimes called mysophobia or germophobia. People suffering from this condition find that it affects their private and social lives. After all, how can you live a normal life when you’re constantly afraid of being contaminated by germs or infected by microbes? When you avoid public places, and…
Heard of bibliotherapy? Surprisingly few people have, yet it’s a remarkably effective healing tool, helping to alleviate anxiety and depression. Expressed simply, bibliotherapy is about reading your way to health. Reading is, to the mind, what exercising is to the body; a means of building and maintaining wellbeing. A good book is engrossing, stimulating and satisfying. Moreover, as all subjects have been covered in book form, bibliotherapy can be informative…
In this post we’re talking about addiction to soap operas. The French have a word for it – “sériephilie”, or “sériphile addict” to borrow a phrase from sociologist Clément Combes. The very idea of soap addiction makes some people smile. So who’s hidden behind the label? A person who loses control of their consumption of television series, to the point where their social life is affected. And we have to…
We all need to stay active to maintain our health. Sport is a great way to do so, but if you need to boost your energy levels to join in, here are four important tips. Focus on your diet. Many people take the word ‘diet’ to mean starving yourself to attain a desired weight, but crash diets can lead to nutritional deficiencies. A far healthier alternative, and one that is…
This example of addiction may cause a few smiles. Dedicated runners are among the first to laugh at themselves, describing their regular outings as a drug fix. Behind all this joking, though, maybe there’s a basis of truth? The paradox here is that running is supposed to improve our physical condition, making us well and healthy. Once again, it’s doing it repeatedly that can take us over the line. To…