Winter is notorious when it comes to illnesses flying around and embarking upon a quest to avoid germs at all costs, but this winter, it’s even more important to try and prevent health problems. With the Covid-19 crisis still dominating the news headlines, it’s more crucial than ever to make your health a priority. In this guide, we’ll examine some simple steps you can take to protect yourself this winter.
Exercise and fitness
It may be dark, cold and miserable outside, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t embrace an active lifestyle and start reaping the rewards of regular exercise. It’s difficult to get motivated in winter, but if you can summon the energy and enthusiasm to go for a walk, go jogging or do a workout at home, you’ll feel so much better afterwards. Exercise is incredibly beneficial for your physical health, but perhaps more importantly at the moment, it’s also an effective natural stress-buster. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, known as happy hormones, and the levels of serotonin and dopamine in your brain increase. It’s important to note that you don’t have to become a fitness fanatic overnight or devote all your spare time to working out. Even if you only exercise for 10 minutes every day or you do 30 minutes five times a week, you’ll notice a positive difference. Regular exercise boosts immunity, it can help you maintain a healthy weight, it reduces the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease and it can also make a difference to your energy levels and your confidence. There are myriad options you can choose from when it comes to activities. From walking and cycling to doing yoga, Pilates and HIIT at home or working with a personal trainer virtually, you can vary sessions and select activities depending on your mood, your fitness goals and the amount of time you have available.
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Hand washing and personal hygiene
By now, we’re all familiar with adverts and press briefings that encourage frequent hand washing and good personal hygiene. It has always been important to maintain good hygiene habits, but it’s more critical than ever to follow expert advice. Use hand wash and do a thorough job, spending at least 20 seconds rubbing soap into your hands and covering every part of the palms and fingers. It’s also beneficial to shower or take a bath daily and to keep your home clean and tidy. Wipe down surfaces and disinfect anything you bring in from outside, for example, shopping bags. Hand washing has come to the fore as a result of Covid-19, but it’s an excellent habit to adopt in the long-term, as it protects against all kinds of illnesses that spread quickly and easily, especially in the winter months.
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Rest, recovery and finding a healthy work-life balance
It can be challenging to relax at the moment, with bad news permeating the air and levels of anxiety rising. This winter, make mental health a priority. Often, when we talk about health, we focus on taking steps to improve physical health, and we neglect psychological wellbeing. As the pandemic takes its toll on people’s mental state, it’s critical to try and protect yourself as best you can. Take opportunities to rest and recover and try to find a healthy work-life balance. If you’re working from home, schedule regular breaks, try and leave your desk and get outside at least once a day and get into a routine. Leave your work phone on your desk and give yourself time to unwind and switch off at the end of the day. Make time for activities that lift your mood and help you to feel calm. Whether you love a bubble bath, curling up with a good book or catching up with friends via a video call, it’s important to take time out and wind down before you go to bed. If you feel anxious or stressed when you climb under the covers, you may find it difficult to sleep. Don’t check emails after you log off, keep technology out of your bedroom and aim to go to bed and get up at a similar time each day.
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Improving your diet
Research suggests that most people have found it difficult to embrace healthy eating during lockdown. We often focus on the role of our diet as a means of losing weight, particularly during new year’s resolutions season, but this detracts from the importance of eating well. The primary purpose of your diet should be to fuel your body, providing it with all the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals it needs. Rather than devoting all your time and energy to thinking about your weight, aim to follow a plan that prioritises nutrition. Improving your diet will have a positive impact on your health, and it will probably help you to lose weight too if this is your goal. Aim to include at least five portions of fruit and vegetables in your daily menu, increase your intake of whole grains and fibre-rich foods and limit the amount of sugar, salt and saturated fat you consume. It’s a great idea to cook at home and try and make meals from scratch. If you’re not a culinary wizard, don’t worry. There are hundreds of easy, quick recipes you can follow online. When you cook, you have control over the ingredients you use and the methods you employ to rustle up a feast. It’s often much healthier to opt for homemade meals than takeaways and ready meals.
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This winter, it’s more important than ever to put your health first and to be proactive in trying to prevent illness. It’s not always possible to avoid health problems, but taking good care of yourself will make a difference. Try to increase activity levels, get plenty of rest, eat well, wash your hands and keep your home clean and devote time to doing things that help you to relax and make you feel calmer and happier. These changes will provide benefits long after the Covid-19 crisis is over.
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Being social has always been a crucial element of growing up. Children learn from one another when they spend time together, with the games they play shaping them as they grow and move forward into the future. Of course, though, their time at school can also be a delicate one. Being embarrassed can have a huge impact on a child, especially if it happens time and time again. To help you out with this and give you the chance to avoid embarrassment for your child, this article will be exploring some of the key areas that you will need to focus on, giving you tips to avoid leaving your child red-faced.
School Work
Schoolwork can be a huge source of embarrassment for a child, even when they are quite young. Struggling to keep up with peers, do their homework on time, or achieve well in exams can all leave your child feeling bad about themselves, but this is something that a parent can solve with just a little bit of time and support. Spending time with your children to work on their schoolwork is always a good way to improve their education. You can focus on the subjects they find hardest, giving them new confidence and helping them to overcome embarrassment.
Fads & Trends
As hives of socialisation, schools tend to be packed to the brim with fads and trends that often don’t make much sense to adults. You may remember things like Beyblades, Pokemon cards, and even Pogs from your childhood, and can probably recall the power that these products had. If a child is left out of every fad, it can be hard for them to fit in on the playground, and this can make life difficult for them at school. While you don’t need to buy into everything like this, it’s worth letting your child enjoy at least a few of the fads that hit their school as they grow up.
Medicine
Finally, as the last area to think about, it’s time to think about medicine and health. There are a lot of highly visible medical treatments on the market, from hearing aids to braces. When you look at different types of braces, you can easily see the difference that options like Invisalign can make. It’s always worth going for the most subtle medical treatments you can for a child, ensuring that they don’t have to deal with the flack that their classmates might give them. This may seem harsh, but kids don’t always understand the weight of their words, and it can be all too easy for a child to feel bad when their friends don’t mean to hurt them.
With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to to take on the challenge of saving your child from embarrassment when they are at school. This process can be harder than many parents expect, but the work that you put into it will always be worth the results.
*This is a collaborative post*
It's the beginning of the year, a time when resolutions are made along with aspirational schedules. Whatever you hope to achieve a CBD product can help. If you want to get fit it can improve your performance, if you want to get healthy it can help your mental wellbeing, and if you want to be free from pain it can help you live the life you want. Read on to find out more about this super supplement.
CBD for Fitness
Do you have a new fitness regime for the new year? Are you hoping to lose weight and build muscle for the spring when the better weather arrives and the pandemic ends? If so, why not consider a CBD product to assist you.
CBD has effective fitness enhancing properties that can help your train better and achieve your results faster. There's no need for extra protein or creatine, CBD is a more natural way to complement your fitness regime. It will allow you to train longer and recover faster.
CBD for Anxiety
Suffering from anxiety or depression is not something you can switch on and off, but if you do have these issues it would be helpful to have a supplement you could take to lower the symptoms and find relief. CBD can do that without the need for medicines with side effects.
CBD UK products come in a variety of forms, they come as oil, gummies, chocolate, and drinks. You never know when you might be affected by anxiety so it's good to have a product you can turn to when you need it most. CBD can help you overcome your fears this year.
CBD for Pain Relief
Do you struggle with chronic pain that affects your standard of living? Perhaps it prevents you from leaving the house on occasions or exercising like you want to. This can have serious knock on effects for your mental and emotional wellbeing.
Don't let your chronic pain hole you back this year, instead choose a CBD product from your local health food shop and put it to work. You will find that CBD products actively reduce chronic pain and help you live the life you want.
CBD for Cancer
Having cancer seriously affects your mental, emotional, and physical health. The treatment for it isn't much better, chemotherapy has several side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and related pain. Find a natural solution this year with CBD.
CBD won't cure cancer but it can effectively treat the symptoms, it can also reduce the symptoms or cancer treatment and boost your recovery. Support your system this year with the super supplement CBD.
CBD for Skin
It's winter and if you're like most people your skin will take some harsh punishment in the dry weather. You may notice fine lines and wrinkles that emerge there before, or breakouts and issues with acne and psoriasis.
Don't let the season or your lifestyle ruin the quality of your skin this year. Instead, buy a CBD cream and apply it daily. CBD for skin is effe time to protect your skin from damage and slow down the aging process by strengthening your cells against harmful free-radicals.
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It’s time to start working out this winter. There are plenty of ways to stay motivated, so don’t worry, we have you covered! It’s probably a good idea to keep a running diary that tracks your accomplishments first. This way you can gradually increase your pace and running distances and clearly see your improvement. Without you noticing hot days will come and you will find yourself with new running records, exciting no? There is no better way to practice than with a partner in difficulty. Find a friend to train with, someone you can trust who will take you out of the house even in the cold, in this way you will have someone to complain to at the beginning of the training and someone to thank at the end. A winning recipe for perseverance. Use your imagination. Imagine the summer and the shapely body you will have if you exercise now, you have enough time to get in shape gradually and get to summer in a sampled body (and even spring). Variety in training is important, and so in addition to our tips below, look to try adding new types of exercises or exercises to your training routine, things you are not used to doing like Zumba, Pilates, Thai boxing and more. Each change will add interest to the training, challenge the head and body and lead you to better physical achievements. It’s a great idea to get fit this season, and there certainly won’t be any holding you back once you start your habit!
Infographic designed by shop the his & hers collection
Keeping calm and organised during your pregnancy
Trying to remain as calm as possible during your pregnancy is as important as stocking up on the essentials that your baby will need from a selection of different baby stores. The more you can purchase in advance of the big day, when you go into labour, will ensure that your pregnancy is as stress free as it can be.
The last thing you will want to be worrying about is whether you have a baby cot or a Moses basket to put your baby in when you return from the hospital! So, write that list when you are sitting at home one day and really think about all the items of furniture, accessories, clothing, and food you will need for your little one, especially if this is your first pregnancy. At least with a second baby you have items that you can easily reuse again, so will not necessarily need a duplicate of everything.
It is ok to ask for help if you need it
It is so important to reach out and talk to people when you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed, and that is without the rollercoaster of emotions that come along with being pregnant and going through childbirth. There are always support groups out there for you to reach out to when you want to connect with another mum that has gone through the same experience as you.
Of course, if you are lucky enough to have a partner, try and talk to them, but sometimes it is refreshing to just talk to another human being that does not live within the same four walls as you, after spending the majority of 2020 cooped up indoors at home. This will be even more essential when you live alone. You will honestly feel so much better once you express all your emotional woes.
Ways to relax
Having a nice soothing bath to calm away all the aches and pains you are feeling is a good place to start, particularly in your intimate area! As soon as the baby is asleep, run yourself a bath with some natural essential oils to aid relaxation. If you prefer showers instead, use an exfoliator with a natural shower gel to benefit your sensitive skin. Also treat yourself to your favourite luxurious shampoo and conditioner.
Eating well will be essential, so aim to try and eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables.
You could play relaxing music in the background whether you are taking a short break away from the baby in another room, or whilst you are with them, whether it's breastfeeding or cuddle time. The calmer your environment is, the more likely your baby will also pick up on this calm atmosphere. If mummy is calm and happy then so too will be the baby, well, apart from when they are crying out for assistance of course!
*This is a collaborative post*