Archive for: Our Happiness Blog

We talked last week about how creativity improves mental health, and one way to exercise creativity is to cook! Choose a recipe, gather the ingredients, turn on some music, and get mixing! If you want to be extra creative, you can put your own twist on the dish, maybe swapping out a certain vegetable for a different one you like better, or adding an extra pinch of cinnamon or vanilla. Making your own food can raise your feelings of self-esteem and accomplishment. Once you get comfortable with it, you can serve your food to others, which is a great means for connection. Cooking as a one-time activity is great, but getting into the routine of it is even better, as it can improve your organization, mindfulness, and your relationship with food, and research shows that those who cook at home tend to be healthier than those who eat out. It can take time to get good at it, so don’t be your harshest food critic, just have some light-hearted fun with it! A lot of the benefit of cooking isn’t the final product, but the process of stepping outside your comfort zone and getting creative.

Many psychologists point to creativity as a secret pathway to positive mental health and well-being. Many of us do creative activities when we’re young, but we don’t think to fit them into our busier, more serious lives as adults. Creativity is important in adulthood because it allows us to continue to perceive and interact with the world in new ways. It is good for us to express ourselves, to problem solve, and to put ourselves in a “flow state,” in which we are highly focused on an activity to the point where we lose sense of time. Research shows that engaging in creative tasks can increase positive emotions, mood, and immune system functioning, and can decrease depression, anxiety, stress, and trauma symptoms. Creativity is often compared to meditation in terms of its calming effects on the brain and body. Creativity isn’t limited to traditional artistic activities such as painting, drawing, or pottery. By modern standards, it applies to much more diverse activities, such as coming up with new recipes, planning parties, gardening, and writing code. And, although making something you’re proud of can feel good, you really don’t need to worry too much about the final outcome of your project, because the magic happens in the process! 

Do you find yourself searching the internet or asking around to find the type of workout that gives you the fastest, best results? If you ask us, our advice is that the best type of exercise is the one you’ll actually do. As humans, we’re more likely to do things we actually enjoy. If you are miserable on every run, or have your eyes glued to the clock during every yoga class, you’re not creating a sustainable habit. It’s time to mix it up and find something that invigorates you. If you just can’t get motivated on your own, maybe try workout classes like Orangetheory or SoulCycle. If you dread any type of workout class, maybe try a sport like tennis or pickup basketball. Maybe you’d enjoy something adventurous, like hiking or rock climbing. Maybe you yearn for something creative, like dancing. And if you get bored of one form of exercise easily, no matter what it is, you can make a plan to cycle through different types of exercise each week. And if your budget doesn’t allow for fancy classes or gym memberships, there are all types of workout videos on YouTube that you can do at home for free. We suggest Pamela Reif or Chloe Ting’s videos, which target various muscle groups. They also have cardio workouts, and Pamela Reif provides dance workouts. We also suggest checking out Boho Beautiful’s yoga videos. An effective exercise regime requires commitment, and it’s so much easier to be committed to something that brings you joy. 

Many of us wake up stressed, thinking about everything we have to do that day, and feeling a sense of powerlessness over our moods and our schedules. Science shows that having a morning routine helps prepare you for the day by putting you in the right frame of mind. It helps you feel a sense of control and accomplishment. It also lowers your stress, helping you avoid anxiety and depression down the line. Science also shows it can boost your energy levels, increase your productivity, make you more tolerant to unexpected change, make you less forgetful, and raise your confidence. It can even improve your relationships. If you’re worried about having to wake up earlier, note that even a 10-minute routine has positive effects. So, what should you do for your morning routine? You may want to try journaling. You can do morning pages, a writing practice in which you write for three pages straight, pausing as little as possible. It is like a mind dump–you write anything and everything that comes to mind. You could also make a gratitude list, or write affirmations or intentions for the day. Reading inspiring content is also a great way to start your day–maybe there’s a book that motivates you, or an inspirational instagram account or blog you can sift through. Or maybe something more body-focused is what works best for you, such as a YouTube meditation or yoga video. It may take a couple tries to find what feels best, and a couple weeks of doing it for you to truly reap the benefits of your practice, but don’t give up! Eventually, you’ll thank yourself for that little bit of time you consistently put aside for yourself, and the peace and productivity it brings to your life. 

How often do you think about breathing? If you’re like most people, the answer is not very often. Our bodies breathe automatically, so we don’t have to interfere with that, right? While it is true that you do not usually have to think about breathing in order to survive, understanding how breathing affects your nervous system, and using that knowledge to have some control over your nervous system, can make a big difference in how calm you feel day-to-day. Your autonomic nervous system has two parts—the sympathetic nervous system, which controls your fight-or-flight response, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls your rest-and-digest response. Activating one deactivates the other. Shallow, quick breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system, preparing your body for fight-or-flight. If your sympathetic nervous system is overactivated, it can leave you in a stressful and anxious place. By contrast, slow, deep, and controlled breathing indicates to your body that you are safe, activating the parasympathetic nervous system. This helps you feel calm and relaxed. So, doing a quick breathing exercise can hijack your system into calming down. We recommend the square breathing technique, in which you breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, hold your breath again for four seconds, and repeat. We also recommend the 4-7-8 breathing technique, in which you breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for seven seconds, breathe out for eight seconds, and repeat. You can set your alarm for three to five minutes and do these techniques yourself, or look them up on YouTube, where there are many videos that will guide you through them. 

Coffee has many health benefits and can give you the boost you need to make the most of your day, but the caffeine in it gives some people the jitters. If this is you, you may want to try out matcha, the powdered form of green tea, which many people drink in latte form. Matcha also contains caffeine (more than regular green tea but less than coffee), but it also has L-theanine in it, a substance that slows the release of caffeine. Instead of being hit with the caffeine all at once, you experience a more even and steady boost, and you don’t get the crash when it wears off. L-theanine also stimulates the brain’s alpha waves, which contribute to feeling focused and alert. Matcha gives many people a wonderful feeling of calm energy. And, it is becoming more and more popular. It can be found at Starbucks and many local coffee shops. You can also buy matcha powder from the grocery store and make your own matcha lattes at home! So, if you want a drink to boost your energy in the morning, but coffee is leaving you feeling anxious or jittery, we recommend giving matcha a try. 

Research shows that spending time with your pet lowers your blood pressure,  relieves stress, and increases oxytocin levels in your brain. Oxytocin, which is also called “the love hormone,” increases relaxation, trust, and overall psychological stability. If you don’t have a pet yourself, don’t worry! Dog and cat cafés are becoming more and more popular. You can get some coffee or tea, do some work on your laptop or get some reading done, all the while surrounded by fuzzy friends. Or maybe offer to pet sit for a friend, it’s a win-win situation! Or, even easier, watch some animal videos on YouTube, because even just watching cute animals has positive effects on your well-being.

Acts of kindness aren’t entirely altruistic… you also reap many benefits from being nice to others. It boosts feelings of gratitude, happiness, compassion, and optimism. It raises your confidence and your sense of control. It makes you feel like you belong to a community. Whether it be as small an act as helping a stranger with directions, to as large an act as supporting someone through a difficult period in their life, it contributes to both of your well-being. But it doesn’t even stop there—kindness is shown to have a chain effect. When you help someone, it inspires them to help someone else, and so on. Kindness is a powerful thing, and we all have the ability to spread a little bit, to serve ourselves and others, and our community at large.

Going out in the sun helps you soak up Vitamin D, which is good for your bones and helps you ward off certain diseases such as osteoporosis. While too much sun can lead to skin cancers, a moderate amount can actually fight off certain cancers such as colon, prostate, and ovarian cancers. Getting sunlight during the day aids in the release of serotonin, which may boost your mood and help you feel calm and focused. It also assists in the production of melatonin, a hormone that is critical for getting good sleep. The research on sunlight continues, as researchers are gathering preliminary evidence on sunlight as a treatment for conditions such as arthritis and lupus. So make sure to enjoy some time outside this summer! But put on sunscreen if you go out for more than 15-20 minutes to lessen the damaging effects of the sun—many of the sun’s positive effects can still happen with some sunscreen on.