Mental Health Topics, Self-Improvement Engaging in your favorite activities helps to relieve stress, enhances connections, and ultimately increases happiness by Tara Arhakos on Aug 16, 2018 It’s important you make time for your hobbies, as partaking in your favorite activities is vital to stress management, social connection, and your overall happiness. When you engage in an activity you enjoy, you release a neurotransmitter called dopamine, which makes you feel good! Additionally, your hobbies provide you with…
Mental Health Topics, Self-Improvement Start living a happier, more fulfilling life by making small changes and taking meaningful strides toward a better you by Taylor Bennett on Aug 16, 2018 You can work toward self-improvement by making small changes each day. A few actionable tips include practicing gratitude, logging out of social media, exercising, and saying some positive affirmations in the mirror. To further your self-improvement mission, set out to adopt a more positive sense of being—always look for the…
Mental Health Topics, Self-Improvement Why are mission and vision statements important? Formulating your purpose and your intentions creates a motivation that helps you to feel more satisfied with life by Taylor Bennett on Aug 15, 2018 A personal mission statement simply states your purpose in life—it considers and combines all of your values into just a couple of sentences. It’s important to have a personal mission statement as it motivates you to have a positive impact on the world and helps you feel more satisfied in…
Mental Health Topics, Self-Improvement What is a healthy personal value system? This is a clear classification of principles that guide your behavior and keep your life on the right track by Taylor Bennett on Aug 15, 2018 When life becomes overwhelming, it helps to consult your personal value system, which outlines your priorities and guides your actions. Your personal values also help to determine what kind of people you keep around, what purpose you seek, and how you treat others. To create a healthy personal value system,…
Mental Health Topics, Work & Careers Find financial and personal fulfillment in your job—here’s what you should consider in choosing a career to make for a happy, well-balanced life by Taylor Bennett on Aug 14, 2018 A lot of factors work together to breed the right job for you—these include passion, enjoyment, location, work/life balance, and workplace culture. When it comes to personal fulfillment, it’s important that you’re passionate about your job and truly enjoy what you’re doing: if you don’t find passion and enjoyment in…
Media Use, Mental Health Topics Here’s what you need to know about watching Netflix and changing your streaming habits to improve your wellbeing by Taylor Bennett on Aug 14, 2018 A recent survey found that the majority of Americans use streaming services like Netflix and Hulu in bed, and it’s disrupting their sleep. Users often don’t know when to log out of these services, which leads them to veer from their healthy nightly routines and disrupt their circadian rhythm. Instead…
Alcohol & Drugs, Mental Health Topics Drugs and alcohol can cause and feed troubling mental illnesses like anxiety by interacting with other chemicals in our body by Taylor Bennett on Aug 13, 2018 While many know that drugs and alcohol play a significant role in mental health, it isn’t as clear what that role is: can drug and alcohol use cause mental illness? Or does persistent drug/alcohol use merely signify a mental illness. As it turns out, the answer isn’t so black and…
Alcohol & Drugs, Coping Skills, Mental Health Topics Alcohol and drugs may seem like the easy solution, but they aren’t. Instead of using substances to cope, address your problem head-on and heal through feeling by Erin Parisi on Aug 13, 2018 It might already be universally understood that using alcohol and/or drugs to cope with mental illness is a bad idea, but the “whys” of it might be less clear. It’s a big topic and there’s a lot of information out there, especially with all the discussions around legalization. Coping or…
Addiction, Mental Health Topics What does addiction feel like? by Taylor Bennett on Aug 10, 2018 Many people who don’t experience addiction themselves struggle to understand why and how others become addicted to substances like drugs and alcohol. Some doubt or downplay the suffering that comes with this disease, and others, those who empathize with struggling addicts, just can’t fully grasp the painful, strenuous battle that…
Addiction, Medication, Mental Health Topics Many individuals are wary to treat their mental illnesses with medication, but the benefits typically outweigh the costs by Laura Manderino-Martins on Aug 10, 2018 While it’s understandable to feel uncertain about taking medication to treat your mental health condition, it’s important to consider doing so as a viable treatment option. Be open with your doctor about your symptoms, so they can help you weigh your treatment options and ultimately decide whether medication is the…
Alcohol & Drugs, Mental Health Topics What’s the relationship between alcohol consumption and sleep deprivation? by Taylor Bennett on Aug 9, 2018 If you drink alcohol from time to time—even a couple glasses of wine or a few beers every so often—you’ve probably experienced its effects on your sleep patterns. Whether you just couldn’t fall asleep, you found yourself tossing and turning throughout the night, or you had some pretty frightening dreams….
Addiction, Alcohol & Drugs, Mental Health Topics Am I enabling my spouse’s drug addiction? Here’s what you can do to stop facilitating your partner’s dependence on drugs and start putting yourself first by Guest on Aug 9, 2018 Addiction doesn’t just change the individual suffering with the disease, but their loved ones—especially their chosen life partner. If your spouse is struggling with addiction, you must choose your actions carefully: it’s easy to confuse helpful and unhelpful interventions. First, don’t try to “make things easier” on your spouse—this can…