Mental Health

5 Ways to Practice Self-Care This Fall Season Welcome to fall — cold and flu season is at large, the days are getting shorter, your work schedule is piling up, and all the holidays are looming just over your shoulder. It is time to participate in our fall self-care guide to make it to winter in one piece. “[Fall] is a season where we should pay a little more attention to self-care strategies and make sure we have healthy habits in place through the holiday crush and the post-holiday period of catching up,” says Elson Haas, M.D., founder and director of the Preventive Medical Center in San Rafael, California and author of Staying Healthy With the Seasons. Consider some of the following self-care options to make the most of the time ahead. If you focus now on being kind to yourself, it can pay off in the months to come with a stronger immune system, lower stress levels, and more resilience, Haas says. 1. Eat Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables “Our bodies are designed to function at best with seasonal foods, especially if they’re also local,” Haas says. That’s because, while the variety of available frozen fruit and vegetables makes produce accessible year round, fresh-picked seasonal options provide a more powerful nutritional punch. Boost your nutrient consumption with fall favorites like pumpkin, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, and squash. In addition to eating fresh fruits and veggies that are in season, choose local produce. Your fruits and veggies contain more nutrients with less travel time, and less travel time is also better for our environment. 2. Change Up Your Workout When you’re busy, it’s easy to get into a rut with exercise, but fall is a great time to make a shift and try a fresh approach to working out. A new workout program may give you an energy boost and reduce schedule-related stress. If you like to keep your routine fairly consistent, try starting small: Add a new cardio exercise to one of your workouts, try out a new form of active recovery, or swap one of your gym days with a home workout. A BODi subscription lets you work out from just about anywhere with access to hundreds of trainer-led workouts that range from strength training and HIIT to barre and Pilates. Check out these popular workout programs: Xtend Barre DIG DEEPER LIIFT4 LAVA 21 Day Fix 3. Take a Yoga Break Restorative and yin yoga poses help you de-stress, and you can tackle these poses anywhere, even in your office. If you are looking for a quick way to ground your mind and stretch your body, try child’s pose. Child’s pose is awesome because it stretches your hips and ankles, lengthens your spine, and gives you a few moments of peace to focus on finding your center. If you’d like to start a more regular practice, BODi’s Yoga52 program is perfect for both beginners and long-time practitioners. Each workout is led by one of our four world-class trainers with cues so precise that you don’t even need to look at the screen. 4. Sneak a Nap Try taking a 20-minute nap  — even if you don’t actually fall asleep — because it can have major benefits for resetting your system, according to W. Chris Winter, M.D., of the Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine, and author of The Sleep Solution. Winter says, “just once or twice a week, try napping at about the same time of day. Your brain and body will begin to anticipate this rest time, and kick off a cascade of de-stressing chemicals.” 5. Stay Hydrated It’s likely you already know about the many physical benefits of drinking enough water — from facilitating digestion to lubricating joints — but hydration is also important when it comes to affecting your mood. As the holiday crunch approaches, staying upbeat and healthy is super important, so stay hydrated! “Most of all, just understand that as seasons change, so do we,” says Haas. “Recognizing that shift and working with it will really help you to thrive through the months ahead.” The post 5 Ways to Practice Self-Care This Fall Season appeared first on BODi. Welcome to fall — cold and flu season is at large, the days are getting shorter, your work schedule is piling up, and all the holidays are looming just over your shoulder. It is time to participate in our fall self-care guide to make it to winter in one piece. “[Fall] is a season where […] The post 5 Ways to Practice Self-Care This Fall Season appeared first on BODi. Kayne Toyosato{authorlink}https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/blog/fall-self-care-guideBODi BODi is a Health Esteem platform to help you embrace the person you are today so you can take action to achieve all your health and fitness goals. https://bodiblog.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/plugins/bod-blog/assets/vendor/beachbodydigital/wordpress-core-plugins/beachbody.png

How Often Should You Meditate to Reap the Benefits? Let’s get one thing straight right away: You should meditate as often as you like and as often as it fits into your schedule. When trying to set up a meditation practice, “it’s important to be realistic with ourselves and our schedules. Otherwise we just end up not doing it at all,” explains yoga and meditation teacher Paige Allia, RYT 500. If you’re looking for a hard-and-fast goal, “most research on meditation is based on 20-minute sessions once a day for six to eight weeks,” explains meditation teacher Paul Harrison — but don’t beat yourself up if life gets in the way. These 20 minutes don’t have to be sitting meditation time, either. Allia sometimes starts beginner clients on walking or even coloring meditations, and combining meditation and exercise is just one tip for making daily meditation easier. Can You Meditate Too Much? A prolonged meditation practice hardly holds any risk to your physical health. Allia explains, however, that there have been cases of Tibetan monks meditating and fasting until they become living mummies and eventually die. So, if you find that your meditation practice is causing you to avoid your daily responsibilities, consider cutting back. Although research on meditation side effects is still thin, one study did find that unwanted effects were more likely in people who practiced for more than 20 minutes. Participants surveyed reported anxiety, depersonalization, stomachaches, headaches, and dizziness. How Long Should You Meditate Per Session? “To get most of the benefits of meditation, 20 minutes per day is ideal,” Harrison says. There’s little risk in more meditation, but there’s no benefit from staging a meditation marathon either. So, don’t force a more extended practice in the pursuit of benefits if a 20-minute daily routine would fit better in your schedule. If you have the time to conduct longer sessions, feel free. You don’t need a study to tell you if those extra 10 minutes help you feel better and benefit your mental health. If you’re busy enough that finding 20 minutes in your day sounds impossible, that doesn’t mean meditation isn’t for you. Like any other habit, meditation takes consistent practice, so it’s OK if you need to start with shorter sessions. “Even one moment, or one minute, can create a shift in your mood,” says Allia. She underscores that many of us have a vision of a person sitting cross-legged — but that’s not the only form of meditation. “Perhaps the moment is three deep breaths in and out while you are buckling your kiddo into the car seat,” she suggests. “Maybe it’s finding a little quiet while on a walk in the woods.” If you’re looking for a guided and more dedicated practice, BODi Sound Meditation videos use singing bowls and other instruments that emit soothing tones to help you relax and relieve stress. Each video is between five and 25 minutes, except the one for better sleep (and it’s more than OK if you fall asleep in the middle, since sleep is the goal). What If My Mind Wanders? If your mind wanders 10 minutes into your 20-minute guided meditation, that habit is not only normal but also expected. We’re all juggling dozens of concerns throughout the day. Trouble concentrating isn’t indicative of how long you should meditate. If they leak into your meditation practice, bring your focus back to the core of your meditation, whether it’s the sound of meditation singing bowls, the feeling and rhythm of your breath, or a mantra you’ve chosen. The post How Often Should You Meditate to Reap the Benefits? appeared first on BODi. Let’s get one thing straight right away: You should meditate as often as you like and as often as it fits into your schedule. When trying to set up a meditation practice, “it’s important to be realistic with ourselves and our schedules. Otherwise we just end up not doing it at all,” explains yoga and […] The post How Often Should You Meditate to Reap the Benefits? appeared first on BODi. Linnea Zielinski{authorlink}https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/blog/how-often-should-you-meditateBODi BODi is a Health Esteem platform to help you embrace the person you are today so you can take action to achieve all your health and fitness goals. https://bodiblog.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/plugins/bod-blog/assets/vendor/beachbodydigital/wordpress-core-plugins/beachbody.png

How Long Should You Meditate? Meditation can feel, well, a lot like doing nothing if you’re new to the practice. Newcomers can feel frustrated or like they’re “failing.” (By the way, it’s impossible to fail at using meditation to combat stress unless you don’t do it at all.) But the benefits of meditation are big for those who consistently show up. So, how much meditation is necessary in order to reap those rewards? It’s not as simple as a single number, says meditation and yoga teacher Paige Allia, RYT 500. But there are some general suggestions that can help you build a fulfilling meditation practice. How Long Should Beginners Meditate? There’s no wrong answer here. “Simple answer, five to 15 minutes is a common amount of time to set as a goal,” says Adam Weinberg, a meditation teacher and founder of Relax with Adam. “If your practice includes counting breaths or setting a timer, then 12 breaths is a nice two-minute check-in, 36 breaths takes around five minutes, and 108 breaths is a good 15-minute practice.” But it may take some time to find the right meditation length for you. What Happens When You Meditate Longer? When you meditate, it impacts your brain waves, shifting you from the beta waves of daily work and multitasking to alpha, theta, delta, and gamma waves that help you hone your focus. Physiologically, the goal is to get your body out of “multi-focus mode of beta,” Weinberg explains. You’re switching into the parasympathetic state, or “rest and digest” state, in which you feel more relaxed, your heart rate slows, and (an easy thing to watch out for) you produce more saliva. Each of these brain waves marks a deeper state of relaxation that takes longer to achieve — but spending time in any of them is an improvement over beta mode. Don’t Worry About Setting Goals Don’t get hung up on the clock. “Five minutes can feel so long, especially as we begin but also depending on the day and how we might be feeling in our own bodies and spaces,” explains Allia, who is certified in trauma-informed yoga. “So maybe we simply pause when we notice our minds spinning, we take softer and smoother breaths, and then when we feel ready, we meet the day again.” Overall, she urges you to “consider your reality” when setting goals. If you’re a parent juggling kids studying at home, paying the bills, and your own job, “maybe your meditation practice looks like a moment as you are buckling your seatbelt in your vehicle and you consciously breathe, say an affirmation, come home to yourself.” BODi Sound Meditation is perfect for our busy, stress-filled world. Some of the sessions are as short as 10 minutes. How Long Should Regulars Meditate? Maybe you’re no newcomer to meditation, but you’re still looking for answers here. In that case, both Allia and Weinberg agree that it’s about what you need as an individual. That might not mean meditating more than 15 minutes a day. There are other ways to further your practice. Weinberg offers himself as an example: Sometimes he’ll focus on getting a personal best, such as three months of consistency, meditating every day. Stay open to what works best for you. Allia underscores that meditation practice is more about quality than quantity, adding that “the time often grows as the quality does.” Leave room for your meditation to evolve depending on what you need and know there are plenty of resources available to fit your changing goals. The post How Long Should You Meditate? appeared first on BODi. Meditation can feel, well, a lot like doing nothing if you’re new to the practice. Newcomers can feel frustrated or like they’re “failing.” (By the way, it’s impossible to fail at using meditation to combat stress unless you don’t do it at all.) But the benefits of meditation are big for those who consistently show up. So, how much […] The post How Long Should You Meditate? appeared first on BODi. Linnea Zielinski{authorlink}https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/blog/how-long-should-you-meditateBODi BODi is a Health Esteem platform to help you embrace the person you are today so you can take action to achieve all your health and fitness goals. https://bodiblog.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/plugins/bod-blog/assets/vendor/beachbodydigital/wordpress-core-plugins/beachbody.png