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Tag: anxiety

  • 11 Possible Heart Symptoms You Shouldn’t Ignore

    11 Possible Heart Symptoms You Shouldn’t Ignore

    If something went wrong with your heart, would you know it?

    Not all heart problems come with clear warning signs. There is not always an alarming chest clutch followed by a fall to the floor like you see in movies. Some heart symptoms don’t even happen in your chest, and it’s not always easy to tell what’s going on.

    “If you’re not sure, get it checked out,” says Charles Chambers, MD, director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Penn State Hershey Heart and Vascular Institute.

    That’s especially true if you are 60 or older, are overweight, or have diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure, says Vincent Bufalino, MD, an American Heart Association spokesman. “The more risk factors you have,” he says, “the more you should be concerned about anything that might be heart-related.”

    Especially watch out for these problems:

    1. Chest Discomfort

    It’s the most common sign of heart danger. If you have a blocked artery or are having a heart attack, you may feel pain, tightness, or pressure in your chest.

    “Everyone has a different word for that feeling,” Chambers says. “Some people say it’s like an elephant is sitting on them. Other people say it’s like a pinching or burning.”

    The feeling usually lasts longer than a few minutes. It may happen when you’re at rest or when you’re doing something physical.

    If it’s just a very brief pain — or if it’s a spot that hurts more when you touch or push on it — it’s probably not your heart, Chambers says. You should still get it checked out by a doctor. If the symptoms are more severe and don’t go away after a few minutes, you should call 911.

    Also, keep in mind you can have heart problems — even a heart attack — without chest pain. That’s particularly common among women.

    2. Nausea, Indigestion, Heartburn, or Stomach Pain

    Some people have these symptoms during a heart attack. They may even vomit, Chambers says.

    Women are more likely to report this type of symptom than men are.

    Of course, you can have an upset stomach for many reasons that have nothing to do with your heart. It could just be something you ate, after all. But you need to be aware that it can also happen during a heart attack.

    So if you feel this way and you’re at risk for heart problems, let a doctor find out what’s going on, especially if you also have any of the other symptoms on this list.

    3. Pain that Spreads to the Arm

    Another classic heart attack symptom is pain that radiates down the left side of the body.

    “It almost always starts from the chest and moves outward,” Chambers says. “But I have had some patients who have mainly arm pain that turned out to be heart attacks.”

    4. You Feel Dizzy or Lightheaded

    A lot of things can make you lose your balance or feel faint for a moment. Maybe you didn’t have enough to eat or drink, or you stood up too fast.

    But if you suddenly feel unsteady and you also have chest discomfort or shortness of breath, get medical help right away.

    “It could mean your blood pressure has dropped because your heart isn’t able to pump the way it should,” Bufalino says.

    5. Throat or Jaw Pain

    By itself, throat or jaw pain probably isn’t heart related. More likely, it’s caused by a muscular issue, a cold, or a sinus problem.

    But if you have pain or pressure in the center of your chest that spreads up into your throat or jaw, it could be a sign of a heart attack. Call 911 and seek medical attention to make sure everything is all right.

    6. You Get Exhausted Easily

    If you suddenly feel fatigued or winded after doing something you had no problem doing in the past — like climbing the stairs or carrying groceries from the car — make an appointment with your doctor right away.

     

    “These types of significant changes are more important to us than every little ache and pain you might be feeling,” Bufalino says.

     

    Extreme exhaustion or unexplained weakness, sometimes for days at a time, can be a symptom of heart disease, especially for women.

    7. Snoring

    It’s normal to snore a little while you snooze. But unusually loud snoring that sounds like a gasping or choking can be a sign of sleep apnea. That’s when you stop breathing for brief moments several times at night while you are still sleeping. This puts extra stress on your heart.

    Your doctor can check whether you need a sleep study to see if you have this condition. If you do, you may need a CPAP machine to smooth out your breathing while you sleep.

    8. Sweating

    Breaking out in a cold sweat for no obvious reason could signal a heart attack. If this happens along with any of these other symptoms, call 911 to get to a hospital right away. Don’t try to drive yourself.

    9. A Cough That Won’t Quit

    In most cases, this isn’t a sign of heart trouble. But if you have heart disease or know you’re at risk, pay special attention to the possibility.

    If you have a long-lasting cough that produces a white or pink mucus, it could be a sign of heart failure. This happens when the heart can’t keep up with the body’s demands, causing blood to leak back into the lungs.

    Ask your doctor to check on what’s causing your cough.

     

    10. Your Legs, Feet, and Ankles Are Swollen

    This could be a sign that your heart doesn’t pump blood as effectively as it should.

    When the heart can’t pump fast enough, blood backs up in the veins and causes bloating.

    Heart failure can also make it harder for the kidneys to remove extra water and sodium from the body, which can lead to bloating.

    11. Irregular Heart Beat

    It can benormal for your heart to race when you are nervous or excited or to skip or add a beat once in a while.

    But if you have started feeling palpitations, check in with your doctor. Call 911 if you have palpitations or an irregular heartbeat that persists or if you also have any chest pain or pressure, dizziness, or shortness of breath.

    “In most cases, it’s caused by something that’s easy to fix, like too much caffeine or not enough sleep,” Bufalino says. But occasionally, it could signal a condition called atrial fibrillation that needs treatment. So ask your doctor to check it out.

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  • A Trauma-Coping Exercise To Heal Your Inner Child + Why It Works

    A Trauma-Coping Exercise To Heal Your Inner Child + Why It Works

    While healing your inner child does take intentional work, it’s well worth the time spent. According to Howes, this practice has helped him become more level-headed in situations that would have previously triggered him; now, he can approach those situations (and life in general) with more positive emotions.

    Plus, healing your inner child’s wounds will help you navigate relationships, be it with family, friends, or partners, with grace. While nobody can ever “complete” inner child healing per se, starting the journey is the most important step. 

    On the topic of childhood wounds, Howes notes, “They’re unfortunate, but if you don’t find new, powerful meanings from them, they will keep you a prisoner for the rest of your life, and they will keep hurting you.” In short: Sometimes you can’t move forward without looking back.

    Hannah Frye

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  • This Emotion Drives Inflammation — How Often Do You Feel It?

    This Emotion Drives Inflammation — How Often Do You Feel It?

    Shameflammation is present in every single one of us to some degree, and it can make us feel overwhelmed, anxious, hopeless, aimless, and totally disconnected from our intuition. It can be both the underlying cause and result of chronic health conditions—it’s often the one thing standing between us and optimal health. Shameflammation can make us feel like we’re constantly swimming upstream and at war with our bodies. Thoughts and emotions are like nutrients for your head, heart, and soul, and unfortunately, many of us have been feeding ourselves junk food for a long, long time.

    So, now let’s answer the question I know a lot of you are asking yourselves: Why shame? Out of all the negative emotions in this world, why do we use shame for the term that represents the negative impact of our emotional world on the physical? Over the years, I’ve learned that shame is perhaps the strongest, most damaging negative emotion of all. Brené Brown, a renowned shame and vulnerability researcher, says that “shame is lethal” and explains that shame affects all of us and profoundly shapes the way we interact in the world. 

    After years of consulting patients with all types of health struggles, I can say that nowhere is shame more at play than when it comes to our bodies and our health. It’s often a huge barrier to healing. Let me ask you this: When something goes awry with your body or health, big or small, how do you feel? The answer is probably a mixture of anger, fear, and maybe even some embarrassment, right? That sounds a whole lot like shame to me. The common thread between many emotions, especially those surrounding our body and our health, is often shame. 

    Research shows1 that, as humans, we feel a lot of health-related shame and that shame can have a significant impact on our ability to stay healthy, heal from illness, and make healthy choices. Why? Because any type of shame—whether it’s related to food, our body, or a health condition—makes us feel unworthy of the vibrant health we crave, cutting us off at our knees as we try to get there. According to shame experts, shame exists on a spectrum, ranging from self-consciousness or embarrassment to a deep sense of inadequacy and fear, but these feelings all tell us one thing at the end of the day—that we don’t deserve that healthy and happy life. 

    Unfortunately, despite knowing that shame affects our health in big and small ways, we don’t know all that much else due to a lack of research in this area.

    In one fascinating study, researchers posited that the impact of shame on our health “is unacknowledged, under-researched, and under-theorized in the context of health and medicine.” They go on to say that shame can have a significant impact on health, illness, and health-related behaviors and that shame’s influence can be described only as “insidious, pervasive, and pernicious2.” Pretty strong language, isn’t it? It is, but it’s also true.

    Your healing can’t shine when it’s soaked in shame.

    Excerpt courtesy of Gut Feelings: Healing the Shame-Fueled Relationship Between What You Eat and How You Feel. Copyright © 2023 by Will Cole. Published by goop Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

    William Cole, IFMCP, DNM, D.C.

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  • Is Skin Care TikTok Gen Z’s New Magnified Mirror?

    Is Skin Care TikTok Gen Z’s New Magnified Mirror?

    If you’re not familiar with TikTok, here’s a simple explanation of how the algorithm works: The more you engage with a video, the more similar content you’ll get. So if you like or comment on a skin care video, TikTok takes that as a sign that you enjoy those videos and, theoretically, would like to see more. 

    For some niche TikTok communities, this can be harmless (what’s wrong with more recipes to try out, right?). However, the situation looks quite different for anyone already searching for answers, be it about clearing acne, optimizing gut health, balancing hormones, etc., because the mass amount of content provides countless solutions—none of which are guaranteed to work for you. But still, all of these might convince you that you need to act in a certain way or buy a certain product. 

    Seeing more and similar content, in this case, is not better. Consider every time you log on to TikTok and all you see is the best products for clearing acne, the one trick that erases wrinkles for good, how to smooth your skin texture in two days‚ and so on. Regardless of the social media platform you use, this rabbit hole can become overwhelming and addicting. 

    What’s more, “Skin requires time and patience to heal, so it’s actually the worst type of thing to pair with the 24/7, instant gratification style of content we get on social media,” psychologist Chloe Carmichael, Ph.D., tells mbg.

    Hannah Frye

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  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome Takes Big Toll on Mental Health

    Irritable Bowel Syndrome Takes Big Toll on Mental Health

    By Cara Murez 

    HealthDay Reporter

    WEDNESDAY, March 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) — When Dr. Yezaz Ghouri sees patients with the cramping, abdominal pain and diarrhea that are hallmark symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), he’ll typically ask how life’s going. 
    More often than not, his patients say they are experiencing stress in their lives.

    Now, Ghouri’s team has established a link between IBS and anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation in patients who have been admitted to the hospital for their IBS. IBS is a chronic disorder of the gastrointestinal (GI) system that strikes up to 15 percent of the population.

    Ghouri, an assistant professor of clinical medicine and gastroenterology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, thinks that stress may be expressed through both the mind and body.

    “I think it expresses in the form of mood disorders like depression, anxiety,” Ghouri said. “I think it expresses in a form of IBS, which is basically a manifestation of your autonomic nervous system [which controls involuntary actions like your heartbeat].”

    The study used data from more than 1.2 million IBS patients in 4,000 U.S. hospitals over three years.
     

    More than 38% of these patients had anxiety. More than 27% had depression. These numbers were double the levels of anxiety and depression found in patients who did not have IBS.

    Lead researcher Dr. Zahid Ijaz Tarar, an assistant professor of clinical medicine, pointed to what’s called the brain-gut axis. Tarar suggested in a university news release that IBS symptoms influence anxiety and depression, while those psychiatric issues may also cause IBS symptoms.

    Ghouri said, “A lot of people with anxiety, they tend to have a higher heart rate. They can tend to be anxious. They tend to sweat a lot sometimes. These are all symptoms of autonomic nervous system. And I believe IBS is also a manifestation of that autonomic nervous system through the gut-brain axis.”

    Ghouri explained that patients experiencing these symptoms may first need to learn how to recognize their feelings of stress.
     

    “That recognition is the most important part,” he said. “Number two, what are you going to do about it?”

    Patients may need counseling, Ghouri noted.
     

    Meditation, relaxation, eating healthy and sleeping well are all factors that can contribute to having a healthy life, he said.

    In terms of improving gut health specifically, Ghouri suggests giving up or cutting back on processed or greasy foods, red meat, alcohol and smoking, in favor of fruits, vegetables and foods like yogurt. 
     

    “I think that helps you stabilize your gut microbiome, make it a little bit more healthy,” Ghouri said.

    The team’s findings were published recently in the Irish Journal of Medical Science.

    Dr. Brooks Cash, chief of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, said the study reiterates some key information about IBS.

    “I think it’s very important for us not to lose sight of the mental health component of GI health. And I think this study helps to highlight that,” said Cash, who was not involved with the study.

    Cash’s view is that mental health issues may augment gastrointestinal symptoms and GI symptoms may augment mental health issues, “but we don’t know if there’s a true causative or causal relationship between the two.”

    He noted what the study authors said about the importance of addressing both physical and mental health symptoms in patients.

    “It’s a very complementary and kind of holistic approach that we need to take with these patients. We need to treat the GI symptoms as best we can, but we also need to not lose sight of the mental health symptoms and address them,” Cash said.

    Cash said the majority of people with IBS symptoms don’t seek out medical care, instead treating the symptoms themselves.

    “There is nothing wrong with doing that as long as they’re not ignoring alarm features,” he said.

    A variety of over-the-counter treatments may help, including laxatives and anti-diarrheal medications. There are also a handful of U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved prescription medications for irritable bowel syndrome, Cash said. Diet therapies may also make a difference.

    Among popular therapies are the low-FODMAP diet, which restricts poorly digested carbohydrates, fibers and complex sugars. This is used in patients with bloating and diarrhea. There is also increasing evidence that prunes and kiwi can be effective for constipation. 
     

    “There’s a number of different dietary and lifestyle modifications that patients can make, and every patient’s different,” Cash said. “We have to take an individualized approach to every patient based on their symptoms.”

    More information

    The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more on irritable bowel syndrome.

     

    SOURCES: Yezaz Ghouri, MD, assistant professor, clinical medicine and gastroenterology, University of Missouri, School of Medicine, Columbia, Mo.; Brooks Cash, MD, chief, division of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston; Irish Journal of Medical Science, Jan. 3, 2023

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  • Vaping Tobacco or Weed Appears Tied to Higher Anxiety in Teens

    Vaping Tobacco or Weed Appears Tied to Higher Anxiety in Teens

    By Amy Norton 

    HealthDay Reporter

    WEDNESDAY, March 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) — For decades, people turned to cigarettes in times of stress. Now, a preliminary study hints that young people are using vaping in the same way.

    The study, of nearly 2,000 U.S. teenagers and young adults, found that those who vaped nicotine or marijuana were more likely to report anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts. In fact, a majority of vapers said they’d suffered anxiety or depression symptoms in the past week, while over half had contemplated suicide in the past year.

    The findings leave open the chicken-and-egg question.

    “One of the challenges is in teasing out the cause and effect,” said Loren Wold, a professor in the Colleges of Nursing and Medicine at Ohio State University.

    Many of the young people surveyed explicitly said they’d started vaping to deal with depression — including one-third of those who vaped marijuana.
     

    That’s worrying, Wold said, since no one would consider vaping a healthy coping strategy.

    Wold, who was not involved in the study, was lead author on a recent report from the American Heart Association (AHA) on the physical health consequences of vaping during adolescence.

    There’s still a lot to learn, as vaping is a relatively new phenomenon, Wold said. But it’s clear there are shorter-term effects, including inflammation in the airways, blood pressure spikes and increased stiffness in the arteries.

    So young people who vape could be “setting themselves up for heart and lung disease,” Wold said.

    What’s “intriguing” about the new findings, he said, is that they link vaping to mental health.

    The research is to be presented at an AHA meeting in Boston. Studies released at meetings are generally considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

    But the results are the latest in a line of work raising concerns about the “epidemic” of vaping among young Americans.

    In 2022, over 2.5 million U.S. kids reported vaping, according to the nonprofit Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. And many were not just experimenting: Almost half of high school students who vaped said they did it on most days.

    Vaping devices work by heating a liquid that produces a “vapor,” allowing users to inhale nicotine or THC (the active ingredient in marijuana). But while vaping does not involve smoke, it’s not benign.

    Kids are still getting hooked on nicotine, and being hit with the harms of that drug (or THC), which can include effects on brain development. Plus, Wold said, the liquids in vaping devices do not — contrary to popular belief — produce “harmless water vapor.”

    When heated, those liquids actually churn out over 1,000 chemicals, he said. Whether those exposures can directly affect kids’ mental health is not yet known.

    The new findings are based on an online survey of 1,921 teens and young adults, ages 13 to 24. A majority said they had vaped in the past month, including 830 who said they’d vaped both nicotine and THC.

    Overall, 70% of THC-only vapers said they’d had anxiety issues in the past week, as did over 60% of those who vaped nicotine or both drugs. That compared with around 40% of participants who’d never vaped.

    Meanwhile, over half of all vapers had struggled with depression symptoms in the past week, versus one-quarter of nonvapers. Some — 20% to one-third — said depression had driven them to try vaping.

    It’s not clear why they thought it might help, but Wold said he suspects industry marketing is partly to blame: Kids are regularly exposed to vaping images and messaging on social media, in ways that portray it as “cool” or a way to enjoy life.

    Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, deputy chief science and medical officer for the AHA, is the senior researcher on the study.

    She pointed to the “broad view” — the fact that kids today are distressed by many things, from violence to the divisiveness in civil discourse. And they need help in dealing with that, so they do not turn to substances, she said.

    When it comes to vaping itself, Robertson said the problem needs to be tackled from various angles. One is regulation.

    “We advocate for public policies that we have data to demonstrate will help prevent kids from taking up vaping — things like eliminating flavored tobacco products,” Robertson said. “Flavors are a big part of the reason that many kids begin to vape.”

    In cases where kids are already vaping, schools could potentially step in to offer help in kicking the habit. Unfortunately, Robertson said, many schools lack the resources.

    Instead, she noted, students caught vaping are often suspended from school — which may only worsen the situation.

    As for parents, Wold said it’s important that they talk to their kids about the dangers of vaping. And if their child is already vaping, he added, that’s an opportunity to ask why — and possibly find out they’re dealing with mental health issues.

    More information

    Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has more on vaping.

     

    SOURCES: Rose Marie Robertson, MD, deputy chief science and medical officer, American Heart Association, Dallas; Loren E. Wold, PhD, professor and assistant dean, biological health research, College of Nursing, and professor, physiology and cell biology, College of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus; presentation, Feb. 28, 2023, American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions, Boston

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  • 6 Ways To Make Financial Self Care A Part Of Your Routine

    6 Ways To Make Financial Self Care A Part Of Your Routine

    One way to ensure you’re keeping track of spending without checking every dollar is to have designated “Money dates,” as Tessler calls them. A money date is simply a designated time when you tune into your finances—run through bank statements, pay your bills, divvy up your paychecks, etc. 

    You can opt for a few minutes a day, twenty minutes every two days, twice a month, or another time that works for you. Whenever you decide to do so, Tessler recommends adding ambiance to your date to make it more enjoyable and ease financial jitters. 

    “On my money date, I’m also lighting my candles, I’m getting out the dark chocolate, and I’m setting intentions,” she notes. 

    Do your best to block out this time on your calendar so you’re not rushed to finish your money date in haste—because the only thing scarier than working with finances is doing so with a ticking clock in the back of your mind. 

    Hannah Frye

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  • Cutting Down on Social Media Brings Quick Boost to Teens’ Self-Image

    Cutting Down on Social Media Brings Quick Boost to Teens’ Self-Image

    By Cara Murez 

    HealthDay Reporter

    THURSDAY, Feb. 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) — All those images of beautiful-looking people on social media can deflate a young person’s self-image, but there may be an easy fix: limiting time spent on TikTok, Instagram and the like.

    A new Canadian study finds that teens and young adults who already had symptoms of anxiety or depression and who cut their social media usage by about 50% experienced a significant improvement in how they felt about their overall appearance in just a few weeks. They also felt better about their weight.
     

    “I don’t think it completely surprised me,” said study co-author Helen Thai, a PhD student in the psychology department at McGill University in Montreal.

    Past research on traditional media and the impact of unattainable beauty and body ideals has obtained similar results, Thai suggested.

    “Not only are there celebrities and influencers on there, but it’s also people within your social circle,” Thai said about social media, “which can make comparison a bit more easy.”

    The authors estimated that youth spend about six to eight hours each day on screens. A lot of that time is spent on social media sites, where they may see hundreds or thousands of images, internalizing them.
     

    In a news release about the study, lead author Gary Goldfield, a senior scientist with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, said that whether people who already have body and mental health issues simply spend more time on social media or whether social media leads to greater issues had not been known.

    For this study, the researchers worked with 220 undergraduate students ages 17 to 25. About 76% were women, 23% men and 1% other.

    Participants needed to regularly use social media for at least two hours each day on their smartphones.

    “I think before asking the why, we wanted to ask who would be most vulnerable to it, and so that’s specifically why we targeted youth who are at risk of body image concerns,” Thai said.

    These were students who had symptoms of anxiety and depression.

    Each was asked to respond to statements about their appearance, such as “I’m pretty happy about the way I look” or “I am satisfied with my weight” on a 5-point scale at the start and end of the experiment.

    “Especially if you’re feeling vulnerable and you don’t think that great about yourself, seeing all these people who look, in your eyes, more beautiful than you or more whatever is just going to make you feel worse and worse,” said study co-author Chris Davis, a professor in the psychology department at Carleton University in Ottawa.

    During the first week, all participants were asked to use social media as they typically would. A screen-time tracking program measured their usage.

    After that, half were asked to use social media for no more than 60 minutes a day.

    The participants who were asked to restrict their social media usage got it down to 78 minutes a day on average. The control group averaged 188 minutes daily.

    After three weeks, those who reduced their social media usage had a significant improvement in how they regarded their overall appearance and body weight after the intervention, compared with the control group, which saw no significant change, the researchers said.

    Nancy Mramor, a psychologist in Pittsburgh, said that when you compare yourself to others, you’ll have a 50-50 chance of feeling bad about yourself. Mramor was not involved in this study.

    In everything, she said, it’s important to compare yourself only to yourself. That’s true of social media, sports performance, academics or social standing, she said. For example, don’t compare your weight to that of someone you see online but instead to what it was like for you last week.

    “Focusing on your inner feeling about yourself, rather than outside images creates an opportunity to see yourself from the inside out, not just the outside. When images are not fed to you on your phone, you have a breather to notice what is important to you,” Mramor said.

    For minors, the best way to limit social media is with extreme parental supervision, Mramor said. Block the sites on their phones that you think will be harmful.

    For adults, Mramor said it’s possible to view media carefully, but to do so consciously.

    To do this, you have to take a step back from what you’re viewing and ask yourself if it’s making you feel anxious or upset. If you decide it’s not good for you, then decide what to do about it, she said.

    One solution is simple. It’s exactly what the students in the study did: Cut back on the amount of time you use social media.

    Davis suggested choosing what hour you’ll use social media and then putting your phone down and doing something else enjoyable, such as getting together with friends.

    “There’s nothing like face-to-face interactions, going out and doing something with your friends to really strengthen those bonds,” Davis said.

    The study findings were published Feb. 23 in the journal Psychology of Popular Media.

    More information

    Pew Research Center has more on teens and social media.

     

    SOURCES: Helen Thai, PhD student, Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal; Chris Davis, PhD, professor, Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada; Nancy Mramor, PhD, psychologist, Pittsburgh; Psychology of Popular Media, Feb. 23, 2023

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  • Student Mental Health Week Focuses on Rates of Stress, Anxiety

    Student Mental Health Week Focuses on Rates of Stress, Anxiety

    Feb. 8, 2023 — As mental health issues rise among teens and college students, this week’s first-ever global Student Mental Health Week couldn’t be better timed.

    The urgency is quite apparent. A recent study showed that nearly one-third of students worldwide said their mental health has worsened since returning to campus following the COVID-19 lockdowns. 

    With suicide rates on the rise, this campaign, established by five youth-focused nonprofits including Born This Way Foundation launched by Lady Gaga, the Inspiring Children Foundation co-chaired by singer-songwriter Jewel, the Jed Foundation, and Chegg, an education-technology, wants to draw attention to the issue.

    “Even before the pandemic, we’ve seen increased rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide deaths among students,” says Laura Erickson-Schroth, MD, chief medical officer at the Jed Foundation, which protects emotional health and works to prevent suicide among teens and young adults. “Young people are exposed constantly to wars around the world, the social and political unrest in our country and the climate crisis — things that adults never were when they were teenagers. I don’t think we recognize how much they’re dealing with.”

    All week, social media live events will aim to help educate policymakers, educational institutions, and communities on the mental health challenges students are facing. Another goal is to urge students around the world to develop call-to-action plans with their legislators, all with the goal of boosting mental health support.

    “The previous generation overlooked mental health issues, which created a culture where there was so much shame around not feeling comfortable in your own head,” says Matine Khalighi, a sophomore at Harvard University and executive director and founder of EEqual, a for-youth-by-youth nonprofit focused on overcoming student homelessness. “There’s now a new wave of being open about mental health challenges. Creating a space where we can talk about this makes us feel less alone.”

    Cherrial Odell, a Stanford University sophomore who survived suicide and an adverse childhood, serves on the boards of both the Born This Way Foundation and the Inspiring Children Foundation. For Odell, this week is critically important.

    “We all have mental health concerns,” says Odell, who this week, as president of the student-run Stanford Mental Health Outreach group, is hosting daily events on the Stanford campus. “The beauty of our generation is that we’re a lot more open about talking about these issues. That’s a beautiful thing. After all, opening up and sharing your story is a strength, not a weakness. It shows you have the courage to share what you’re going through.”

    Ultimately, Erickson-Schroth hopes that the week informs adults, too.

    “It’s so important for the adults in young peoples’ lives to recognize the signs that a young person is going through something that is causing stress and anxiety,” she says. “It’s also important for parents to feel like they have the resources to provide that help.”

    Neal Horen, PhD, director of the early childhood division at the Center for Child and Human Development and the director of the HOYA clinic in the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University, hopes this week helps focus more attention on the potential pitfalls students may face at this major developmental phase of their lives.

    “Going to college can be amazing or it can be an arduous trek if we’re not paying attention,” he says. “This is a major time of identify formation with kids asking themselves ‘who am I,’ ‘where do I fit in.’ That plus the immediate independence they may experience living away from home is a big demand to put on someone and can lead to mental health challenges we have to pay attention to.”

    For more information, visit the Student Mental Health Week page.

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  • What To Do When Your Kid Says They Hate School

    What To Do When Your Kid Says They Hate School

    Maybe your child is still snuggled up in their nice warm bed, or perhaps they spot their tablet or game console as they’re getting ready for the day. “I don’t wanna go to school!” they whine, or even, “I hate school!” Surely, you’ve heard it before.

    Some resistance is perfectly normal — do you want to get up and go in to work on Monday morning? — but if getting to school is becoming a real struggle for your child, it likely indicates another issue. They might refuse to get out of bed or start to develop a stomachache every morning before it’s time to get out the door.

    School refusal, as mental health specialists call this phenomenon, is estimated to affect between 5% to 28% of children at some point in their lives, and kids from varying socioeconomic backgrounds are equally impacted. The number of kids reluctant to go to school presumably increased with the pandemic, with some unmotivated to attend classes online and others anxious about returning to their school buildings after such a long absence.

    If your kid seems to have turned against the idea of school lately, here are some things to keep in mind as you try to get to the bottom of what’s going on and find a solution.

    When does not liking school become a problem?

    “School refusal is actually pretty common,” Anjali Ferguson, a child psychologist in Virginia, told HuffPost.

    “If you notice this refusal happening for a consistent or a long period of time, then we classify that under school anxiety,” she continued.

    Physical symptoms are another indication of an issue deeper than not wanting to get out of bed.

    “If you’re noticing things like your kid is having headaches and stomachaches or feeling nauseous … that’s when we want to pay attention a little bit more about this concept of school anxiety,” said Ferguson.

    It’s important to note that these physical symptoms can be real to your child even when they have a psychological trigger. Don’t assume that they must be “faking it.”

    “We know in kids that our anxiety and our mood stuff often manifests as somatic complaints,” said Ferguson.

    “They still are developing a way to connect their thoughts and their physical sensations and their feelings,” she explained. “Developmentally, they’re not there yet. So you see it play out really physiologically for kids.”

    Dr. Larry Mitnaul, a board-certified psychiatrist for children, adolescents and adults, told HuffPost that in addition to these physical symptoms, you may notice other signs of your child’s anxiety, such as:

    • nightmares

    • worrying about their parents

    • worry about something bad happening to them

    • “shadowing,” or following parents around the house (to avoid being alone in a room)

    • trouble falling asleep

    • fear of being alone or of dark places

    • other exaggerated, unrealistic fears

    A common cause of school anxiety is separation anxiety, which is most often seen in younger children — although a number of kids experienced something similar when returning to school after isolating during the pandemic.

    “Other struggles that can contribute [to school anxiety] include bullying, learning difficulties, inattention, and depression,” said Mitnaul.

    In addition to the struggle of readjusting after COVID-19, any kind of trauma in a child’s life can show up as school anxiety: abuse, neglect, divorce or even lesser stressors like a move or a change in routine, Ferguson explained.

    Since solutions to these dilemmas differ, you’ll have to get your child to open up about what’s going on in order to figure out how to help.

    “As a parent myself, anytime I hear about any type of conflict, I’m like, ‘How do I fix it?’ That’s not actually teaching them conflict resolution skills [that] are so important for them to figure out.”

    – Anjali Ferguson, child psychologist

    How should you talk with your child about this?

    If you’re concerned that school refusal is coming from a place of anxiety, try asking open-ended questions to get your child to talk about what’s going on, both at school and in their mind. Mitnaul suggested starting with these:

    • “What are you thinking about when your stomach is in knots?”
    • “Are you worrying about Mom and Dad?”
    • “What has been hard about school lately?”

    You can also ask leading questions to help them connect their physical symptoms to their emotions, said Ferguson. She gave the following example: “I’m really hearing that your tummy hurts and I’m wondering if you’re feeling nervous about school. Sometimes I get really nervous too about things, and my stomach starts to hurt before something that makes me nervous. Do you think that’s what’s happening here?”

    Start by teaching them a few coping strategies.

    You want to validate the feeling that they are having while at the same time suggesting that they could exert some control over it. To tame feelings of anxiety, you could practice breathing exercises together. This could be as simple as taking a few deep breaths. You could teach them some guided imagery, like imagining a calm place, as well.

    We also want to teach them how to challenge their anxious thoughts. Ferguson suggested the following: “Is everything bad at school? What are some good things that happen in your school day? Who are the people you really like to see at school, and how can we make sure we see those people that we really like to see, or that really make us feel safe? Let’s figure that out together.”

    If they’re having a social problem with peers, Ferguson suggests using “collaborative problem-solving” to brainstorm ways to address the issue. After you’ve listened to your child and validated that what they’re dealing with is difficult, you might ask questions such as: “Where do you think we should start?” or “What do you think we should do?”

    See what ideas your child is able to come up with on their own before offering your own suggestions. You might eventually say, “What if we tried this?” or “Do you think you’d be able to go speak to this person or that person? How do you feel about that?”

    Ferguson understands that instinct tells us to jump in and solve our kids’ problems but explains that when it comes to peer conflict, it may be better for us to take a step back.

    “As a parent myself, anytime I hear about any type of conflict, I’m like, ‘How do I fix it?’ That’s not actually teaching them conflict resolution skills [that] are so important for them to figure out,” she said.

    It’s a delicate balance of both reaching out and letting go. “We don’t want them to feel like they’re on their own with this. We want them to know that we are there, but we want them to take ownership,” she explained.

    Think twice before allowing them to stay home.

    “As parents, we want to protect them and we want to validate their feelings,” said Ferguson. But if we allow them to stay home from school, instead of bolstering their mental health we may actually be contributing to the problem. We allow them to avoid the thing that’s making them anxious, which makes their anxiety even worse.

    “Because then they’re not facing the fear and not realizing that maybe the anxiety that they’re having in their mind is kind of unrealistic or manageable. They’re not given the opportunity to practice it if we avoid that,” said Ferguson.

    While you can’t send a highly distressed child off to school, hopefully, you can talk them down to a place where they’re willing to walk into the building.

    It’s possible that you’re doing other things that are also contributing to the issue. Mitnaul says an evaluation can help identify “parental behaviors that inadvertently reinforce school avoidance.”

    Enlist help.

    Ferguson suggests thinking of your own involvement in your child’s problems on a continuum. For peer conflicts, you can be a sounding board and offer advice, but if the behavior morphs into bullying, you’ll want to step in and inform a teacher. Emotional and educational struggles also warrant you acting as an advocate for your child.

    School personnel and mental health care providers can be of assistance. Both Ferguson and Mitnaul emphasize the importance of involving adults at your child’s school as soon as this sort of problem arises.

    “Parents should avoid the inclination to let it ‘sort itself out,’” said Mitnaul, who also suggested that parents speak with their child’s primary care provider and have the child professionally evaluated for emotional issues or learning difficulties if it seems appropriate to do so.

    “If children are struggling with persistent fear, it is important to consult with a qualified mental health professional,” he said. Kids can get a psychological evaluation for emotional issues, and schools should offer psychoeducational evaluation if learning difficulties are suspected.

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  • Reflections on Gratitude, Even for the Hard Stuff | LoveAndLifeToolBox

    Reflections on Gratitude, Even for the Hard Stuff | LoveAndLifeToolBox

    Linda Graham, MFT, explores the use of gratitude as a buffer and offers tools to help practice gratitude even in the most difficult of times.

    Gratitude works its magic – to buffer us from falling into swamps of grudge, trauma and suffering in the first place, or pulling ourselves out of those swamps once we’ve woken up to knowing that we’re not in our right mind or heart space anymore – by bringing us to the experiences of loving awareness and loving presence from which we can respond to confusion, despair, fear, hurt, threat, more wisely.

    Gratitude is one of the most direct ways to find our way to a loving awareness of this Being-ness because it immediately brings us into the arc of presence – openness – connectedness with all there is that helped us become all of who we are – acceptance of all that is-ness, that leads to an inner peace and well-being that is the wellspring of love and wise action.

    Gratitude practice taps us into the energy field of life itself, from which comes all joy, compassion, forgiveness, etc.

    From this energy field of life itself, we can move from being well to faring well in the world.

    1- Gratitude to soften grudge

    If you’re like me, or my clients, or my friends, holidays may be a mixture of anticipated delight and dread.  You may have to re-engage with a parent or sibling who could still be shamingly critical or derisive, or even just negative, with no awareness or accountability for the pain they are inflicting.  Some gratitude practices that might be helpful:

    • Read your own signals of when it’s safe to connect and when it’s not. I.e., knowing from within when it’s safe to be open and when it’s best to have a good boundary.  After years of practice, I can finally, finally catch the wave in my body that says “uh-oh, this doesn’t feel safe, I’m outta here,” that has me walking out the door and around the block before I’m even aware I’ve left the conversation.  Focus on your heart, your presence, your attitude, your behavior.
    • Find something to appreciate, right now, about the person you feel like clobbering with a frying pan.  That they held the door for you as you walked into the house even though they didn’t pay attention to anything you said.  Or they’re being attentive to their 4 year old even though they have no bandwidth for anyone else. Or remembering that a year ago they surprised the heck out of you by getting your daughter the poodle puppy she had so yearned for.
    • Find something to appreciate, right now, about the connection, the dynamic between you and this person, which may simply be “I get to practice patience right now” or “I get to practice compassion right now” or “I am moving 20 minutes closer to sainthood right now.”
    • Find something to forgive right now.  When you’re struggling to be tolerant rather than contentious with someone, imagine this person as a vulnerable one year old, or a greedy two year old, or a defiant three year old, or a full-of-life ten year old, or a confused sixteen year old, or a desperate to find a direction in life twenty year old.  (Which may be who’s actually driving this person’s behavior in the current moment.)  Allow your heart to open to the more vulnerable version of the person you are struggling with, seeing your grudge in this larger perspective, encompassing all of the person and letting the grudge soften.

    Savor the gratitude for your own practice of softening the grudge and easing your heart.

    2-Gratitude to heal trauma

    I’m part of a clinical study group developing an integrative model for treating trauma; this past week my colleague Joanna spoke of “embracing the defensive structures,” meaning:

    We all use our innate survival responses of fight-flight-freeze-collapse when our resources for coping through connection are overwhelmed or we perceive connections themselves to be unsafe.  These survival responses are hard-wired into our body-brains in utero. They operate much faster than our adult conscious appraisals of yes-no, green light – red light could possibly operate.  When one or all of those survival responses gets repeatedly encoded in our developing neural circuitry (my early-learned pattern of regulating the anxiety coming up in  a conversation by walking out the door for fresh air still coming up, unknowingly, when I am perfectly safe in a conversation now) or when traumatizing events like betrayal or violence lock those survival response patterns into our body memory, our normal openness and expansiveness of resilience and well-being can be blocked by these contracted survival defenses.

    Gratitude plays a key role in unpacking and re-wiring these trauma responses by de-pathologizing them.  No shame-blame-weakness in normal responses to abnormal,

    terrifying, or toxic circumstances.  In fact, we can be grateful that these innate survival responses did allow us to survive, even if they constrict us or cause their own suffering later down the road.  By becoming conscious…and compassionate…and accepting…and embracing of those mechanisms that kept us afloat, even though they sometimes threaten to sink us now, we soften our grudge toward ourselves, or toward the traumatizing events, and deepen into the place in our hearts and minds that can resolve and let go of the trauma and the defenses against the trauma.  Embracing our defenses as they are, even while choosing to use other more adaptive coping strategies now, does re-wire the brain, does change our conscious relationship to those habitual patterns now, does create conscious, alternative choices.  (See Exercises to Practice below for examples of how to do this.)

    The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change. 

    – Carl Rogers

    3-Gratitude to move through suffering with grace

    Suffering is an inevitable part of the human condition and human conditioning.  Gratitude helps us move through our suffering with more grace and peace of mind and heart:

    • Allowing us a respite from the suffering, even for a few moments.    Gratitude drops us into a space where our survival patterns of responding to hurt, danger, life threat aren’t operating, at least for a few moments.

    When my brother was in the hospital with life-threatening and painful blood clots, those moments he and I spent on the phone every day in gratitude practice gave him a much needed respite from the pain and fear, not because the gratitude was a distraction but because it moved him into a state of mind and heart where the pain and fear weren’t operating.

    • “Waking up” to the larger perspective and learning the lessons hidden within the suffering.

    One of my favorite teaching stories of all time is the story of the Chinese Farmer and the Horse, from the Zen tradition.

    A Chinese farmer has a horse; his neighbor comes over to visit and exclaims, Oh, how fortunate that you have a horse!”  The Chinese farmer non-committally says, “We’ll see.”  The next day the horse runs away.  The neighbor comes over to offer his sympathy.  “Oh, how unfortunate that you’ve lost your horse.”  The Chinese farmer again says non-committally, “We’ll see.”  The next day the horse returns to the farmer, bringing a new mare with him.  The neighbor rushes over to congratulate the farmer. “Oh, how fortunate!  Now you have two horses!”  The Chinese farmer replies as before, “We’ll see.”  The next day the farmer’s son is out riding the mare to break it in; the mare throws him and he breaks his leg.  The neighbor comes over as before, “Oh, how unfortunate.  Your son has broken his leg!”  The Chinese farmer replies, “We’ll see.”

    A month later the army comes through the area recruiting soldiers.  They can’t accept the farmer’s son because of his broken leg.  The neighbor again comes over to sympathize, “Oh, how fortunate!  Your son doesn’t have to go into the army!”  The Chinese farmer again replies, “We’ll see.”

    The story continues on.  We learn to keep an open mind about any particular event; we don’t always know how fortunate or

    unfortunate any particular circumstance is.  But the equanimity that comes from being grateful, at least accepting of every experience, every moment, no matter our initial view of it, brings us to the larger perspective that we often don’t know in the moment the opportunities hidden in what appears to be monolithic tragedy or trauma.  We often say, as my friend Paula did after suddenly losing her job of seven years in an unforeseen downsizing of her company,  ” I wouldn’t wish the pain and suffering of those days on anyone, and there’s no way I could have known at the time how things would turn out, and things don’t always turn out for the better, but losing that job was the best thing that ever happened to me. I never would have found my deeper dream of having my own photography studio if I had stayed there another 10 years out of being scared to leave.”

    • Maturing ourselves through the suffering itself.  From three of my favorite wisdom teachers:

    Gratitude in our darkest times is more than a matter of remembering our blessings so we can hold the hard stuff in a bigger perspective.  With understanding, we see that often it is the suffering itself that deepens us, maturing our perspective on life, making us more compassionate and wise than we would have been without it.  How many times have we been inspired by those who embody a wisdom that could only come from dealing with adversity?  And how many valuable lessons have we ourselves learned because life has given us unwanted challenges?  With a grateful heart, we’re not only willing to face our difficulties, we can realize while we’re going through them that they are a part of our ripening into wisdom and nobility.   – James Baraz

    The Buddhist teachings are fabulous at simply working with what’s happening as your path of awakening, rather than treating your life experiences as some kind of deviation from what is supposed to be happening.  The more difficulties you have, in fact, the greater opportunity there is to let them transform you.  The difficult things provoke all your irritations and bring your habitual patterns to the surface.  And that becomes the moment of truth.  You have the choice to launch into the lousy habitual patterns you already have, or to stay with the rawness and discomfort of the situation and let it transform you, on the spot.  – Pema Chodron

    Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.  It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.   – Melodie Beattie

    Gratitude is simply one of the most effective tools we have over the long haul to reliably soften grudge, resolve trauma and move through suffering with grace.

    Linda Graham, MFT

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  • 3 Ways to Lead Effectively While Dealing with Anxiety

    3 Ways to Lead Effectively While Dealing with Anxiety

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    “I don’t feel well. Call 911.”

    That was supposedly what I said to my husband, who was sitting next to me at a midtown Manhattan restaurant, but I’m not quite sure. I do recall telling him a bit earlier about a new business angle my maternity brand, Emilia George, could potentially pivot to, as well as taking out my cellphone to snap a selfie while jokingly observing: “This is gonna be the moment when the next great business idea was born!”

    Suddenly, all was a blur, and quiet — far too quiet for a New York eatery — followed by people around us panicking and wishing me well. Then there was an ambulance, a stretcher and siren, then doctors, nurses, EKG and blood work, and a few hours later my husband took me home. I’m a mom, so went immediately to check on my baby and toddler, but didn’t know what to say or think in the wake of the diagnosis.

    It wasn’t long thereafter when I began asking, “Can someone continue to be an entrepreneur, a thriving and successful leader if he or she has panic attacks?”

    Take it from me: In response to such a question, a great many in your circle will beg you to stop your entrepreneurial journey. This is because they assume, such attacks indicate that the stress of being an executive is simply too much.

    And let’s be clear: Panic attacks are not to be taken lightly, and those who actively (or even vaguely) expect them to appear anywhere and anytime could impede their own self-confidence as well as the confidence of those on the other side of the table. But over some years, I’ve learned ways of handling anxiety while continuing to be an effective leader — methods that could help fellow entrepreneurs going through a similar challenge.

    Related: These Strategies Help Entrepreneurs Combat Anxiety and Depression

    1. Prioritize your bottom line: physical, not fiscal

    We all want to build successful businesses, but our lives do not end there. When a leader in a company prioritizes his or her wellbeing, everyone else follows, and a resilient team is built as a result. One example was my decision to close Emilia George boutique for a day when a staff member was not feeling well. Even though he proposed to keep the store open for “just a few hours more,” I refused, because the few sales we could’ve made during those hours were never going to equal a team member’s health.

    All founders are on this entrepreneurial journey for the long haul. They may get a fiscal boost during sales seasons or fundraising, but physical health is the one asset that a leader needs to take 100% control of.

    2. Lean on your team

    Leaders need to be able to trust their teams with healthy boundaries. And this is not a weakness, it’s trust. When there is no second-guessing or suspicion when a CEO needs, say, to be hospitalized or otherwise requires care from professionals, effective working relationships thrive.

    When a solo entrepreneur starts to build a founding team, its evolution is much harder than one might think. Founding members are the ones that build the company culture, so it’s critical to pick those you can trust for the long haul. This is hard, and it takes time, but once you have such a core group, trust its members with your healthy boundaries so they know how to support you.

    Related: The Biggest Obstacle Facing Leaders Is Distrust. Here’s How to Build Confidence in Your Team.

    3. Don’t worry about what others might think

    A paramedic told me once about a CEO who asked to have his head covered while being loaded into an ambulance — worried that company stocks would drop if the public knew he was ill. Of course, it’ll be New York Times “Stop the presses!” news if Elon Musk is taken into the hospital, but most of us are not on that rarefied wealth/influence list (yet).

    It’s important to recognize that everyone deals with something challenging, whether health-related or not. Do not judge yourself because you are dealing with anxiety — even though I fully grasp the imaginary image any leader wants to maintain. Be at peace with the fact that you have an anxiety disorder, and may have panic attacks out of nowhere. The more accepting you are and less concerned you become about others’ perceptions, the more confident you’ll be in front of a team and the more reassured they’ll feel in turn.

    Related: You Don’t Need High Self-Esteem. You Need High Self-Compassion.

    Anxiety disorder among entrepreneurs is becoming more prominent and ramped up, particularly since the onset of Covid-19. Knowing you have it and not letting it deter your resolve and commitment to a business takes strength, as well as a support system. Once we embrace mindful actions to manage it, the closer we are to telling new and compelling leadership stories.

    Elle Wang, Ph.D.

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  • Study Finds Pessimists May Be More Likely To Deal With Anxiety

    Study Finds Pessimists May Be More Likely To Deal With Anxiety

    To study the relationship between anxiety, and pessimism versus optimism, researchers looked at the attitudes of over 600 college students before their exams. They had the students predict the grades they expected on their tests, finding that some students clearly displayed an optimism bias, while others displayed the opposite.

    As the study authors write, “Individuals with elevated negative emotionality, a personality trait linked to the development of anxiety disorders, displayed a global pessimism and learning differences that impeded accurate expectations and predicted future anxiety symptoms.”

    In other words, even when pessimists did better than they expected on their tests, they didn’t move forward with an updated perspective that their good grades could be replicated. Meanwhile, optimists did raise expectations of their grades based on their performance.

    Then, when surveyed three years later, it was the pessimists who showed greater signs of anxiety. The study authors note this pessimism could be a coping mechanism to avoid disappointment, which is also a symptom of anxiety. “We hypothesize that a conditioned aversion to negative and unpredictable events would lead a person to develop a pessimistic and inaccurate model of the world, which may predict risk for anxiety,” the study authors add.

    Sarah Regan

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  • What Is Generational Trauma? Plus, How To Deal

    What Is Generational Trauma? Plus, How To Deal

    First thing’s first: It’s important to stop the cycle of generational trauma. Of course, it’s not easy to “heal” someone else’s trauma that you didn’t experience first-hand—but it is possible. 

    If you’re in contact with any of your older family members, talking with them about what traumatic experiences they’ve gone through might be a good first step. If they’re either not alive or in your life anymore, you can do some digging on your own: Take note every time you feel yourself becoming emotionally triggered. Then analyze the event that happened and why it made you feel upset—did you feel abandoned? Let down? Scared? Betrayed? Violated?

    Once you know the root emotion you’re feeling, you’ve answered the “why.” Next, move on to the “what,” which entails asking yourself what you can actually do to feel better. It could be calling a friend to talk through the emotions, going on a walk to clear your mind, journaling, etc.—however you choose to move through those emotions, do so with one baby step at a time. 

    While unraveling generational trauma may feel like a burden, it’s an act of love that will only positively impact you, your children, and those to come after. That said, releasing deeply rooted emotions isn’t easy, so here are a few more tips from a trauma specialist to help you out.

    It’s important to note that if you have access to therapy, it can also be a helpful tool for unraveling trauma and coming up with personalized ways to cope that make sense in your life. If not, you can talk to a trusted friend or family member. After all, you might not be able to see your trauma clearly until someone starts asking you the right questions. 

    Hannah Frye

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  • Why Am I So Insecure? What Causes Insecurity + 7 Ways To Overcome It

    Why Am I So Insecure? What Causes Insecurity + 7 Ways To Overcome It

    What causes insecurity?

    Stephanie Barnes

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  • Taming the Emotions That Come With Hepatitis C

    Taming the Emotions That Come With Hepatitis C

    You have hepatitis C, a disease caused by a virus that’s contagious and attacks the liver. Maybe you know how you got it. Maybe you don’t.

    Whatever the case, the virus could be just part of the problem. Now that the doctor has told you that you have hep C, get ready to battle a range of head-spinning emotions that often can be as difficult to deal with as the virus itself.

    There are ways to calm your nerves and ease your mind.

    What You’re Facing

    Fear and anxiety: Most people with hepatitis C don’t have any symptoms. Even if you’ve had it for years, you may not have the fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and other things that some folks with the virus have.

    Still, doctors will tell you that hepatitis C is a serious disease that can cause lasting damage to the liver, including cancer and a scarring of the liver (cirrhosis). Hepatitis C is, in a word, scary.

    “I think fear is probably the first thing: ‘What does it mean?’ ” says Lucinda K. Porter, RN, author of two books about her experience with hep C.

    “If you don’t know anything about hepatitis C, and you go on the Internet — which a lot of people seem to go to before they go to their physicians — you might see a full variety of outcomes, including death. Or see that this is an infectious disease and get the fear you might infect someone else. That’s a huge fear.”

    The fears keep coming:

    • Is it going to be debilitating?
    • Can you infect someone else?
    • Will you be able to work?
    • How are you going to pay for your treatment?
    • How are you going to take care of your family?
    • How are you going to pay the mortgage?

    “Once you learn more, you find out that hep C doesn’t work like that,” says Porter, who works as a hepatitis C advocate, writing for hepmag.com and hcvadvocate.org. “If you find out about it in an early stage and get some good, solid information, you find out that those fears don’t usually get realized.”

    Remember: In many cases, the medicines that your doctor prescribes can pretty much wipe the virus out of your body.

    “There is nothing to be afraid of. No matter how you got the infection, now we have a group of different, good therapies that can get rid of this infection,” says Victor Machicao, MD, a gastroenterologist with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth-Houston.

    “I usually tell [people] there’s a good chance that, you start taking the treatments, you’re going to start feeling better, and by the time that we complete the therapy, you’re going to feel almost like a new person.”

    Embarrassment and shame: Hepatitis C gets spread through exposure to an infected person’s blood. That’s the only way. Often, that’s how intravenous drug users, sharing needles, spread the virus. Sometimes, it gets passed down through high-risk sex. Before 1992, when blood wasn’t screened for hepatitis C in the U.S., it often was passed along through transfusions and organ transplants, too.

    Some of those activities — drug use and high-risk sex, especially — are what many people associate with hepatitis C. That thinking creates a stigma that makes people who have the disease not want to tell others about it.

    “So many of [the people I treat] are those baby boomers who did have a brief period of experimentation with drug use. Or maybe they did use drugs for a year or two of their adolescence. But now, that’s like 30 years ago,” says Andrew Muir, MD, a hepatologist who is chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, NC.

    “Often, they’re not married to somebody that they knew back then … it’s embarrassing, then you’re worried about what that person is going to think of you, and then when you realize that there may be a chance that you’ve passed on the virus through sex. … All these things are spiraling around in their heads.”

    Guilt: “There’s a lot of guilt, especially in someone who has a remote history of IV drug use, or got a tattoo at an unregulated parlor, or had a high-risk sexual encounter,” says Nancy Reau, MD, section chief of hepatology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

    People feel guilty about the possibility that they’ve infected others unknowingly. They feel guilty about putting loved ones in a situation that is often financially and emotionally costly. Sometimes, it can be too much for a person to handle.

    Regret: People with the disease often beat themselves up for not making better choices when they contracted the virus.

    “At that point, I tell every single one of my [folks] that there’s not a single one of us that wouldn’t go back and change a decision that we’ve made,” Reau says. “To some extent, looking back isn’t going to help us. We have to look forward.”

    Anger: “Anger is not an uncommon one. Anger is one of those emotions that make us feel like we’re empowered,” says Porter, who got hepatitis C in 1988 through a blood transfusion.

    For some, it comes from the fact that they had nothing to do with what gave them the virus.

    “I didn’t react with anger because in my case, that blood transfusion saved my life. But other people … can feel quite angry, and they feel quite victimized by that. I find [this] one is probably the hardest to address. Sometimes I just acknowledge that they feel angry.”

    Depression: The virus, the symptoms that may accompany it, all the emotions — it can be difficult to handle.

    Muir says a common scenario, in his experience, is a drug user who addresses the problem of addiction, goes in for treatment, and just as things start looking better, finds out they have hepatitis C.

    “I find a lot of them are really down on themselves: ‘I’m a bad person, I did this, I’m being punished for it.’ We really need to try to change the way they feel about that,” Muir says.

    “I was a mess. I felt dirty. I was hard on myself,” says Stella Armstrong, a Las Vegas office manager who got the virus through drug use. Armstrong is now virus-free and is a hepatitis C advocate and member of the National Patient Advisory Committee for the American Liver Foundation. “I had to seek counseling. I had to see a psychiatrist. I was taking depression and anxiety medicine.”

    How to Get Help

    Talk to your medical team. Meet with your doctor and anyone else you might need (a hepatologist or pharmacist, for example). Get a plan. Follow treatment.

    “You start there. Always,” Porter says.

    Don’t underestimate the power of feeling physically better. It’s good for your mind, too.

    Once again, the virus can disappear in many of those who have hepatitis C.

    “People are surprised. They ask you, ‘Doctor, did you mean ‘cure’?” Machicao says. “They come to the office and say, ‘Doctor, that means I don’t have the infection anymore?’ I tell them, ‘For practical purposes, you’re cured.’ They are in total disbelief. It is amazing.”

    “The success of being cured of hepatitis C is really powerful,” says Muir.

    If you feel depression or anxiety, the National Institute of Mental Health suggests that you talk to your primary doctor or go to a psychologist or psychiatrist. Depression is a real illness and, even in the most severe cases, it’s treatable with medication or other means.

    Get educated. Find trusted sites online. Ask your doctor questions. Know what the virus is all about. Separate fact from fiction.

    “Education is how we start breaking down the stereotypes. How we find out we don’t need to be afraid anymore,” Porter says. “It can release the chains of anger.”

    Find some support. It can help to talk with other people who have been through what you have. Your doctor can point you toward online groups filled with people who are going through the same process. In some places, you can meet with people in person. Social services through government agencies or hospitals can help, too.

    “When you start to see other people who have a history of drug use, that regret and shame starts to diminish. ‘OK. I’m not a bad person. I can deal with this,’ ” Porter says.

    “I’ve always been open and have discussed my addiction with drugs. I think it’s the best thing. We only stay as sick as our secrets,” Armstrong says. “It was better for me to share my story. It’s still the same thing. It’s still hepatitis C, and we have to get through it.”

    Lean on family, friends, clergy, whomever it takes. Whether it’s someone else who has been through hepatitis C, or a spouse, a parent, a sibling, or your best friend — even if it’s a complete stranger — sometimes you just need a shoulder or a sympathetic ear. Search them out. Use them.

    “No matter how much positive you can hear about it, you still have to go home, you still have to be at a point by yourself, thinking these bad thoughts and you’re worried and you’re scared and you’re scared of the unknown,” Armstrong says. “Those are the times you have to call somebody and talk to them.”

    Take care of yourself. Once you get your medical plan in place, once you have your support in line, once you’re educated and know what you’re facing, taking a little “me” time is in order.

    “Having a chronic illness is hard,” Reau says. “Start by looking at the things you can change easily.”

    Eat well. Exercise. Get your sleep. Some people like to meditate. Nap if you need to nap. Make sure you’re around people you like. Enjoy a good book or a movie. All these can help you deal with the stress and emotions of hepatitis C.

    “Even at my lowest point and when I was feeling really sick, you just gotta keep moving. You have no other choice,” Armstrong says. “You have to keep moving forward and treating yourself well.”

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  • These Foods, Drinks & Nutrients Help Fight Depression and Anxiety

    These Foods, Drinks & Nutrients Help Fight Depression and Anxiety

    Whether you’ve personally dealt with these neuropsychiatric disorders or have witnessed a family member, friend, or peer fight their own mental health battles, everyone is affected by depression and anxiety in some shape or form.

    Whole foods and nutrients like fish, coffee, tea, berries, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants (e.g., lycopene, resveratrol, selenium), and even dietary fiber have been found to play a critical role in the prevention and management of depression and anxiety.

    These nutrients and foods help promote mental well-being by:

    Morgan Chamberlain

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  • 3 Practices For Emotional Release That You Haven’t Tried Before

    3 Practices For Emotional Release That You Haven’t Tried Before

    Release writing is a powerful tool that can give you much-needed relief and help you relax and rest. Release writing is a fast-paced “stream of consciousness” process used to dump your thoughts and feelings while writing by hand.

    Most people tend to avoid their feelings because they fear them or because it’s what they’ve been taught to do. However, avoiding and suppressing your feelings is extremely draining on your energy, and the long-term impact of this is far greater than the short-term pain you would experience by processing them.

    When you suppress your negative feelings, you are storing negative energy in your body. Unexpressed sadness typically causes lethargy and depression, and unexpressed anger often manifests as anxiety and irritability.

    Release writing is a simple activity that you can try in order to release these negative emotions. You simply write as fast as you can while keeping up with your thoughts as best you can. Do not analyze, judge, interpret, or go back and reread what you wrote. Just write and release! 

    To give it a try, begin by writing, “I feel sad because” or “I feel angry because” and then keep writing! Really allow yourself to feel the feelings as you write, and don’t stop until you experience a sense of emptiness and relief. Upon completion, safely destroy the paper to release the energy entirely.

    Stephanie Thomas

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  • Low-Nicotine Cigarettes Won’t Leave Smokers Agitated, Study Finds

    Low-Nicotine Cigarettes Won’t Leave Smokers Agitated, Study Finds

    By Steven Reinberg 

    HealthDay Reporter

    FRIDAY, Nov. 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive levels, but there’s been concern that the drop in nicotine could exacerbate anxieties in smokers who might already battle mood issues.

    However, a new study shows that while cigarettes with nicotine at 5% of the normal dose can help anxious or depressed smokers quit, they do so without adding to mood or anxiety problems that led them to smoke in the first place.

    “There do not appear to be any concerning, unintended consequences of having to switch to very low nicotine cigarettes,” said lead researcher Jonathan Foulds, a professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Penn State University School of Medicine.

    “On the contrary, it appears that the result is that smokers feel less addicted to their cigarettes and more able to quit smoking when offered relatively brief assistance with follow-up appointments plus nicotine replacement therapy,” he said.

    Smokers with mood and anxiety disorders showed no signs of “over-smoking” the very low-nicotine cigarettes, nor was there any sign that switching to them made their mental health worse, Foulds said.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive levels. Doing so could not only lessen addiction, but also reduce exposure to toxic substances and increase the odds of quitting, Foulds said.

    In 2019, the FDA authorized two lower-nicotine cigarettes made by 22nd Century Group, Inc. — Moonlight and Moonlight Menthol. These brands are in market testing and not generally available, Foulds said.

    “It would be appropriate for the protection of public health to move forward with implementing such a regulation as soon as possible,” he said. “It is now over 50 years since it became clear that cigarettes are lethal and addictive when used as intended. It is time to take action to minimize the addictive part of cigarettes.”

    Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and a volunteer medical spokesman for the American Lung Association, echoed that view.

    “Lowering the amount of nicotine in cigarettes has been a public health tactic that we have strived for over the last two decades,” said Galiatsatos, who was part of the study. “Nicotine is the reason why people keep going back to cigarettes, knowing toxins are in there, knowing these carcinogens are in there, not because they want to create dire health situations for themselves.”

    For the study, Foulds and his colleagues studied 188 smokers who had mood or anxiety disorders and didn’t want to quit. They were randomly assigned to smoke cigarettes with the usual amount of nicotine or those that had nicotine content reduced in stages over 18 weeks.

    Over that time, researchers found no significant differences in mental health between the two groups. And those who were given reduced nicotine cigarettes were more likely to quit smoking than those whose smokes contained normal amounts of nicotine — 18% vs. 4%.

    “It’s important to study people with mental health conditions, as they comprise about 25% of the population but smoke 40% of the cigarettes in the U.S.,” said Dr. Pamela Ling, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, who reviewed the findings.

    She noted that people with mental health conditions die earlier than the general population, often of smoking-related disease.

    Ling said it’s time to make low-nicotine cigarettes the only smokes available.

    “This study should allay concerns that reduced nicotine cigarettes might worsen symptoms in people with mental health disorders,” Ling said. “It’s time for the FDA to take action to reduce nicotine in cigarettes to minimal levels. This study suggests that such action would help smokers quit, including those with mental health conditions.”

    Ultimately, Galiatsatos said, politics, not health concerns, will decide if low-nicotine cigarettes will replace today’s cigarettes.

    “If this was a battle simply over broccoli, we would have won,” he said. “It’s not. It makes a lot of money for a lot of individuals. But from a clinician standpoint, we need to take these opportunities to implement appropriate clinical guidelines to make these patients nonsmokers.”

    The study was published online Nov. 2 in the journal PLOS ONE.

    More information

    For more on quitting smoking, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

     

    SOURCES: Jonathan Foulds, PhD, professor, public health sciences and psychiatry, Penn State University, Hershey; Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, volunteer medical spokesman, American Lung Association, and assistant professor, medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Pamela Ling, MD, MPH, director, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco; PLOS ONE, Nov. 2, 2022, online

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  • What’s Seasonal Affective Disorder? (Defeating SAD!) | Nerd Fitness

    What’s Seasonal Affective Disorder? (Defeating SAD!) | Nerd Fitness

    Winter is approaching and with it comes SAD.

    No, I don’t mean the emotion (although that’s part of it).

    I’m talking about Seasonal Affective Disorder.

    Luckily, we have some tips and tricks for treating SAD that our Online Coaching Clients use. Today, we’ll share them with you too.



    Here’s what we’ll cover:

    Disclaimer: We’re going to be discussing some issues that may be difficult for some going through a tough time. If you (or someone you know) aren’t coping so well, PLEASE see the links at the bottom of this article with some resources from all around the world. Obviously, we recommend discussing this information with your health professional – none of this is a diagnosis, but rather a starting point for discussion.

    BUT, armed with the right weapons, we can ward off the winter monster, or even keep it in full hibernation.

    From here, mental health wizard and resident NF Family Rebel Correspondent, Dan Schmidt, will take it away:

    What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

    As Coach Jim mentions in the video above, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder that, spoiler alert, has a seasonal pattern. 

    (Plus, it’s a really clever acronym.)

    It’s also known as:

    • Winter depression
    • Winter blues
    • Seasonal depression.

    In a nutshell, SAD makes people with ‘normal’ mental health experience depressive symptoms at a specific time each year – most often winter.

    Charlie Brown saying "I always end up feeling depressed."

    SAD can be a cruel, powerful, and damaging arctic foe.

    But armed with the right weapons, we can ward off the winter monster, or even keep it in full hibernation.

    How Do I Know if I have SAD?

    This picture shows Mario acting a little SAD

    Most of us feel a little glum in winter…it’s natural to feel a little down.

    Cold mornings, less time outside, and often it’s not as easy to get out and do our favorite things:

    A gif of an RV outside

    So for a lot of us, winter just sucks a little. 

    We’ve known something was up since the 6th century, but SAD remained a mythical creature until the 1980s in the West when it became officially recognized as a mood disorder. While we’re still not 100% sure of how it works; it’s pretty clear to see that SAD especially thrives in cooler, darker climates.

    For example, studies show[1] SAD’s prevalence in the U.S. ranges from around 1% in Florida to 9% in Alaska. Looking around the world, in Oslo, Norway, around 14% of the population will be impacted by SAD,[2] while us lucky buggers Down Under are barely impacted at all, with estimates that only around 1 in 300 Aussies (0.33%)[3] will experience SAD during the “winter.”

    A picture of a sand "Snowman" that says "meanwhile in Australia"

    Yes, SAD can occur for some people during summer and other seasons, but this is particularly rare compared to winter prevalence.

    Common SAD symptoms include:

    • low mood for most of the day.
    • loss of interest in your usual activities.
    • drowsiness and low energy (lethargy).
    • fatigue, irritability, and severe mood swings.
    • Irregular sleep patterns (too much and/or too little)
    • eating more than usual, especially craving sugar and carbohydrates, leading to weight gain.
    • loss of interest in things you normally enjoy doing.
    • intrusive or disturbing thoughts.

    Depression is not just a fancy word for feeling “bummed out”, and SAD is just as serious as any other depression and needs to be dealt with promptly and effectively. (See the end of the article for a list of mental health services links.)

    “But how do I know the difference between general winter glumness, or if I’m being mauled by the SAD beast like Leo in the Revenant?”

    This gif shows a man being attacked by a Bear, cartoon style.

    Ask yourself these questions:

    • “Do you feel like you can’t get yourself out of this rut?”
    • “Have you lost an interest in things that you usually enjoy?”
    • “Have you felt this way for more than two weeks?”

    If so, then it could be time to have a chat with a professional and perhaps seek treatment. Once again, SAD is just as real and can be just as devastating as Major Depressive Disorder; the only difference is the yearly regular onset.

    This bitter beast can take over someone’s entire well-being, and if left untreated, the consequences can be devastating.

    So let’s learn how we can slay the SAD, or even better, keep it in hibernation this year, so we nerds can continue to conquer all year round.

    What is the best treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder? (Slaying the SAD Beast)

    A picture of a Games of Thrones bobblehead, who is about to slay the SAD monster.

    As with any injury or illness boss battle, you need to use the right medicine weapon to save the day. And there are many weapons you can equip yourself with to slay SAD.

    Here is how to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder: 

    #1) GET SOME LIGHT

    Light helps the body produce serotonin (hormone that affects mood) and reduces the production of melatonin (hormone that makes you sleepy).[4]

    Starting with natural light is best, even though it’s not always easy. If the sun happens to be peeking out from the clouds, try and get outside for a nice walk. Even on cold or cloudy days, outdoor light can help, particularly in the morning. Just make sure you bundle up properly. The Norwegians have a saying “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing!”

    Also, making your work and home environments as light and airy as possible and sitting near windows can help too. 

    A gif of someone opening a window to help with SAD

    If you feel you’re just simply not able to get enough natural light, ‘Light Therapy’ is generally one of the first weapons picked up to slay SAD.[5] It can start alleviating symptoms in just a few days. It’s incredibly simple, and sitting under bright fluorescent globes or in front of a therapy lamp (again, particularly in the morning) has shown to be effective against SAD[6] (Anecdotal, but I once met a young woman who started to feel better just by increasing the wattage of her bedroom light globes).

    Be forewarned that Light Therapy is not appropriate for everyone, including people with bipolar disorder – talk to a professional if this is a route you want to take.

    #2) EXERCISE AND DIET

    Surprise, surprise, our old friends come to the rescue once again. It’s clear[7] that exercise is key in keeping the blues at bay, so rug up and take a long walk, and be sure to work out when possible.

    Gonzo knows he has to eat protein to match his strength training goals, but he doesn't eat chicken, for obvious reasons.

    Exercise and other types of physical activity help relieve stress and anxiety, both of which can increase SAD symptoms.

    If you’re really keen to take on winter, try the Winter Is Coming Workout, and start building that summer body early. For those who don’t like the freezing weather, that’s cool (get it?), you can always do Steve’s 20-minute hotel room workout (pro tip: you don’t actually need to be staying in a hotel room to do the workout… that was $250 I’ll never get back).

    As for nutrition – while there is no well-established link between healthy nutritional practices and a reduction in SAD symptoms. BUT, studies HAVE shown links between healthy eating – like the Mediterranean diet – and a decrease in general depression.[8]

    So anything we can do to eat healthy this time of year may certainly help.

    Plus, Steve has already highlighted that if you’re going to eat unhealthy foods during winter, let’s at least be smart about it and negate the impact the holidays have on our waistlines. Try your best to provide a counterbalance to those comfort foods, and keep your diet as close as you can to what it is the rest of the year.

    #3) GET SOME VITAMIN D

    When exposure to sunlight is low, your body makes less Vitamin D.[9] According to this study,[10] Vitamin D deficiency affects nearly HALF of the world population. It is important for overall health. Our friends over at Examine say that if your diet is decent and there’s only one supplement you’re taking, it should probably be Vitamin D during these upcoming months.

    The research is a little mixed when it comes to Vitamin D’s effectiveness in battling SAD,[11] but some studies[12] do show an improvement to everyone’s depression scale scores (those with or without SAD). Overall, if you aren’t getting enough sunlight in the winter, consider picking up some Vitamin D!

    Recommendations differ for the amount of Vitamin D needed – or if you even need it – so further blood work and a talk with your doctor is a good choice here.

    #4) MEDITATE

    Meditation has been shown to help alleviate symptoms of depression.[13] Now, you don’t have to shed all your worldly possessions and go live in the mountains:

    Aang from the Last Airbender meditating

    But if you’re suffering from the winter blues, a simple mindfulness practice may help. Even just a few minutes a day can go a long way.

    If you want, Nerd Fitness Journey has a meditation adventure to help you build up the habit.

    It’s free to try, right here:

    #5) EMBRACE THE SEASON

    Going back to foreign sayings – there’s a Danish concept of “hygge.”

    While there’s no direct English translation, it essentially means coziness and comfort

    Things like:

    • Wrapping yourself up in a blanket.
    • Enjoying a good book.
    • Or sitting by a warm fire.

    Garfield sitting by fire

    So instead of lamenting the change of seasons – EMBRACE these other experiences that we get to enjoy.

    #6) THERAPY

    Talk Therapy (Psychotherapy) and cognitive behavioral therapy sound scary but really aren’t.

    Psychotherapy focuses on helping you to build skills to deal with the stresses in your life, along with identifying and changing negative thinking patterns.

    Therapies such as these assist with relearning some of the patterns and thoughts in your life that aren’t doing you any good.

    (You can read the Nerd Fitness Guide to Mental Health for more info.)

    It can feel daunting and really weird ‘opening up’ to a stranger at first.

    But having a coach to talk through your negative thoughts and feelings, someone who can teach you to manage those better, is generally quite effective.

    Most people will notice an improvement in as little as two weeks. Really, the “weird” stigma is usually the biggest barrier to even doing the thing in the first place!

    #7) MEDICATION

    Finally, some people with SAD benefit from antidepressant treatment, especially if symptoms are severe. We’re not here to offer any medical advice, so please see your doctor if you think medication may assist you.

    Moving forward with SAD (This too shall pass)

    A picture of Link in the sun, who overcame SAD

    It’s normal to have some days when you feel down, and the holiday season can be especially hard for some.

    When short days and miserable weather are piled on top of this, it’s easy to see why ‘winter blues’ is so common. But if you feel down for days at a time and you can’t get motivated to do activities you normally enjoy, please speak to someone and see your doctor. This is especially important if your sleep patterns and appetite have changed, you feel a sense of hopelessness, you have intrusive thoughts, or you turn to alcohol/substances for comfort or relaxation.

    Above all, take care of yourself this winter: 

    • Be sure to get enough rest, and take the time to relax.
    • Participate in an exercise program or engage in another form of regular physical activity.
    • Get outside when you can.
    • Make healthy choices for meals and snacks when possible.
    • Reach out to a trusted friend, family member, or health professional if you feel you’re having a tough time.

    And if someone reaches out to you, remember: We are Rebels, we fight conventional wisdom and smash stigmas. Never leave a fellow nerd behind.

    The Rock saying "we have to do this together"

    If you feel the bitter, arctic beast starting to rise from its summer slumber, remember that you are not alone, and there are ways to slay the frosty fiend. You are strong enough to beat this, and the entire Rebellion has your back.

    Want a little more from us?

    If you want to continue your journey with Nerd Fitness, we have three great ways for you to do so:

    #1) Our Online Coaching Program: a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.

    You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you. Just click on the button below for more details:




    #2) If you want an exact roadmap for getting fit, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).

    Plus, we have Missions specifically designed to help you stay active, no matter what the weather is like outside.

    Try your free trial right here:

    #3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.

    Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our Rebel Starter Kit, which includes all of our “work out at home” guides, the Nerd Fitness Diet Cheat Sheet, and much more!

    Alright, that does it for me. Rebels, take care of yourself and each other.

    Do you have your own secret weapon to slay the SAD? We’d love to hear from all you Rebels about how you keep your mind healthy during winter; the more ideas we all have, the better! Let us know in the comments!

    – Dan

    PS – If you, or someone you know, would like further support, here are some excellent links and services that will get you started in the right direction:

    ###

    Photo source: lilu330 © 123RF.com

    Dan Schmidt

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