Smart Home Tech to Upgrade Your Wellness at Home

From smart refrigerators to mirrors that assist with workouts, there are plenty of health and wellness gadgets you can add to your home. Everything is becoming more and more connected, so why not connect the comfort of your home with the importance of your health? Find some of our favorite smart home tech below to transform your house into a true wellness sanctuary.

Home Health and Wellness Gadgets

Air Purifier

One thing you may not think about often, but plays a huge role in your health and wellness at home, is the quality of air in your house. Smart air purifiers have been upgraded to not only clean your air more thoroughly and efficiently, but they now connect easily to your WiFi as well. This connectivity allows you to use voice assistants for easy voice commands. It also allows you to monitor air quality stats from your phone, check filter status, and adjust timers, fan speeds, and more.

Bluetooth Scale

Weighing yourself at home has never been so engaging. A bluetooth scale is a great smart home tech addition for anyone looking for a more comprehensive look into their health, especially if you are tracking multiple measurements. Smart scales connect to your phone via Bluetooth to automatically track stats such as weight BMI, bone mass density, body water percentage, and body fat percentage in an app. Some apps also allow you to set and track goals.

Electric Toothbrush

A toothbrush might not be the most exciting of the health and wellness gadgets on this list, but it is definitely a good one to have. Regular toothbrushes aren’t as efficient as electric ones, and electric toothbrushes only get better when you add in smart tech. Along with a 2-minute timer, smart toothbrushes also include apps that guide you on where to brush and for how long based on the cleanliness of your mouth for a more efficient and effective cleaning.

Source: Mirror

Fitness Mirror

With so much fitness tech on the market, it’s always refreshing to see something a little out of the ordinary. A fitness mirror is a full-length mirror with a built-in display to watch your form while watching workouts on the mirror itself. The screen is controlled by an app on your phone to access classes from the class membership that comes at an extra cost. While the tech is on the pricey side, it’s a perfect smart home piece for those looking for enhanced workouts at home.

Float Tank

This item certainly tops the list in terms of price and extravagance, but if you have the budget and space, a personal float tank is the way to go. Float tanks have been one of the biggest health and wellness trends in the last couple of years. Having this technology in your home will allow you to feel the benefits of floating in a sensory deprivation tank – such as stress relief, increased healing, and improved mental state – whenever you please.

Food Analyzer

Whether you have a food allergy or are just looking to track how your body reacts to certain foods, smart food analyzers are becoming more prevalent on the market. These health and wellness gadgets are helpful both in and out of the house. By using gases in your breath after eating, food analyzers can detect if a recently-eaten food contains peanuts or gluten, if it affects your keto diet, and if it will be easily digested or not.

Source: Elephant Journal

Infrared Sauna

One of the best ways to practice wellness at home is with an infrared sauna. When a daily 20-minute session brings health benefits like reduced stress, detoxification, weight loss, and pain relief, infrared sauna use is an easy and effective way to improve your health. On top of the regular health benefits, you can boost your infrared experience with enhancements such as chromotherapy, halotherapy, and LEDlight therapy to make your house a true sanctuary.

Programmable Shower

Taking the perfect shower can be one of the most amazing feelings. Programmable showers allow you to perfect your shower experience. From setting the ideal temperature to getting a warning that you are getting close to a shower time limit, these showers are great for both the user and the environment. Some smart shower systems even allow you to control the shower vian an app to ensure the water is just right before you step in.

Sleep Sensor

Chances are, you aren’t getting enough sleep. Even if you’re getting the hours in, many people suffer from irregular or interrupted sleep patterns that lead to low-quality sleep. If you’re looking for a more restful sleep, a sensor might be what you need. Sleep sensors are placed on or under your bed to track the movement and sound that take place in your sleep. Data is then recorded in an app to track sleep quality and indicate factors that may be contributing to sleep issues.

Source: Samsung

Smart Refrigerator

Many people spend a good amount of time in the kitchen, from cooking to spending time together. With so much time spent in this room of your house, it only makes sense to have some of your smart home tech in the kitchen as well. New smart refrigerators hitting the market have been upgraded to become a hub for home life. You can now control voice assistants, check the doorbell, and even see what’s inside your fridge at any time to easily take inventory.

Touchscreen Treadmill

As mentioned above, smart fitness tech has been on the rise. Many people are starting to build up their home gym filled with smart home tech that allows them to have personalized classes in the comfort of their home. From stationary bikes to treadmills, there are plenty of options on the market. Smart treadmills take indoor running to the next level, changing the stationary run into a more exciting one with programmable training routes such as running the Boston Marathon.

Voice Assistant

Voice assistants are the classic smart home tech. So many different devices connect to voice assistants, from your air purifier to your programmable shower. Because of this, voice assistants are one of the most important gadgets for health and wellness. On top of creating a connected household, the automation from these devices gives us time back into our days, and even just a little time back means for less stress and increased happiness.

Start creating the house of your dreams that allows you to improve your wellness at home with smart home tech. Not only does it simplify your life, it also helps you create a happier and healthier lifestyle. Investing in your health means investing in your future, and these health and wellness gadgets are a great way to start.

How Infrared Saunas Help with Healthy New Year’s Resolutions

It’s no secret that infrared saunas have plenty of health benefits. It’s also no secret that New Year’s resolutions are easy to make but difficult to keep. This year, learn how to stick to your resolutions and kick off a healthier year! Read on to see how using an infrared sauna can help you achieve your healthy New Year’s resolutions, whether your goals are to “practice self care” or “lose weight.”

How to Keep New Year’s Resolutions with an Infrared Sauna

Lose Weight

The Benefit: Holiday dinners and sitting inside to avoid the cold are both contributors to feeling a little sluggish at the start of the new year. Having a goal to lose weight should be a long-term goal to ensure success and avoid disappointment from fad dieting. When you keep that mindset, you can begin to have healthy relationships with food and exercise to kick off your year of health and weight loss.

How an Infrared Sauna Helps: According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, regular use of a sauna imparts a similar boost on the cardiovascular system as running. As you relax in the gentle infrared heat, your body is hard at work producing sweat, pumping blood and burning calories. As your body increases sweat production to cool itself, your heart works harder to pump blood at a greater rate to boost circulation. This increase in your metabolism will burn calories.

Get in Shape

The Benefit: Getting in shape is one of the most popular healthy New Year’s resolutions, right after losing weight. This resolution is a great motivator, especially after a season of indulging. To keep up with this resolution, be sure to ease yourself into fitness and avoid burning out. Slowly increasing your activity will ensure you have a long-lasting resolution that you can actually stick to.

How an Infrared Sauna Helps: Using a sauna enhances the muscle recovery process after working out by increasing blood circulation and carrying oxygen-rich blood to oxygen-depleted muscle. Heat also allows muscles to relax better, thus relieving muscle tension. Saunas boost your cardiovascular, immune, and lymphatic systems to help detox the body for a better workout and speed up the process for getting in shape.

Meditate

The Benefit: Meditating is like your brain’s virus checker, detecting toxic stress and blocking its effects on your physical and emotional health. A 2013 study found that adults who were taught the basics of mindful meditation had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Meditation also allows you to connect more deeply with yourself emotionally.

How an Infrared Sauna Helps: The extreme heat that saunas promote relax your body. Making your sore muscles feel better. The sauna also gives you a moment in time where you can relax and do nothing. You just sit there and let your mind go off into whatever direction you want it to go. Since this naturally happens when you’re in a sauna, it makes it really easy to meditate.

Practice Self Care

The Benefit: When not making time for yourself, it is easier to become stressed and lose yourself. The importance of self care is focusing on bettering yourself from within by reducing stress, avoiding burnout, refocusing on tasks, boosting energy, decreasing physical ailments, recharging your mind, and balancing your emotions.

How an Infrared Sauna Helps: If you have an infrared sauna at home, have a 20-minute session to decompress. While going to a spa may be more expensive, the act of leaving the house feels like you are making time for yourself more than if you were to stay home. Spas offer services like massages and facials along with amenities such as saunas and steam rooms for the ultimate day of relaxation.

Couple Sitting in Infrared Sauna for Physical Health

Detoxify

The Benefit: If you feel like you may have indulged a little too much over the holidays, detoxification is a great, healthy New Year’s resolution to set for yourself. Whether you are detoxifying from a large meal, want to cut back on drinking, or are looking to quit smoking, detoxification can help your body be better suited for a lifetime of health.

How an Infrared Sauna Helps: Daily sauna sweating can help detoxify your body as it rids itself of accumulated highly toxic metals (lead, mercury, nickel, and cadmium) as well as alcohol, nicotine, sulfuric acid, and other organic and inorganic compounds.

Reduce Stress

The Benefit: A little pressure now and again won’t kill us; in fact, short bouts of stress give us an energy boost. But if stress is chronic, it can increase your risk of—or worsen— insomnia, depression, obesity, heart disease, and more. Reducing stress not only makes you happier in the short term, it also makes you healthier in the long term.

How an Infrared Sauna Helps: Just a few minutes in the gentle warmth of an infrared sauna will help you feel relaxed, rejuvenated, and renewed. Infrared Saunas have also been shown to affect the autonomic nervous system putting you in the parasympathetic (rest and digest) state allowing your body to heal and relax.

Get More Sleep

The Benefit: Getting an appropriate amount of sleep every night can help you in a variety of ways, such as reducing anxiety and depression, improving cognitive function, increasing motor functions, and preventing mood swings. It also aids in weight management.

How an Infrared Sauna Helps: The ability of your body to maintain and regulate its temperature is crucial to our daily life and the biological processes we depend on. From a sleep perspective, thermoregulation is affected when our melatonin production kicks in and plays a key role in regulating our sleep/wake cycles. By warming up in a sauna then exiting, the resulting cooling-off process tricks your brain into producing more melatonin and puts your body into sleep mode.

Keeping your healthy New Year’s resolutions won’t be difficult with these tips. All it takes for success is setting small and attainable goals that won’t burn you out – and adding in an infrared sauna to make the results just that much better! At the very least, resolutions or not, these tips will help keep you on your path toward a happier and healthier year.

Seasonal Affective Disorder Symptoms & Treatment

As winter settles in, many people unfortunately feel the winter blues settle in as well. If the cold weather and longer nights seem to be giving you the winter blues, you may be suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder, also known as SAD. Learn more about SAD symptoms and remedies below.

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes with the seasons, typically starting in the late fall and early winter and going away during the spring and summer. Depressive episodes linked to the summer can occur, but are much less common than winter episodes of SAD.

Some researchers point to the fact that we may be hard-wired to experience the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder due to early human’s need to conserve energy during the food-scarce winter months. A lack of food and substantially colder temperatures may have caused our ancient relatives to go into a sort of hibernation mode, where a low mood and lack of desire to complete tasks may have been a life-saving temperament.

Other researchers talk about the depression that comes from the amount of serotonin in our systems. Melatonin production is essentially regulated by our circadian clocks, but it can be affected by exposure to bright light. Seasonal Affective Disorder is, by most accounts, a direct correlation to the amount of light we’re exposed to, and at what specific duration.

Seasonal Affective Disorder Statistics

SAD is diagnosed four times more often in women than men.
SAD is more frequent in people who live far north or south of the equator. For example, one percent of those who live in Florida and 9 percent of those who live in New England or Alaska suffer from SAD.
People with a family history of other types of depression are more likely to develop SAD than people who do not have a family history of depression.
The symptoms of depression may worsen with the seasons if you have one of these depression or bipolar disorder (but SAD is diagnosed only if seasonal depressions are the most common).
Younger adults have a higher risk of SAD than older adults. SAD has been reported even in children and teens.

Seasonal Affective Disorder Symptoms

Do the winter months get you down more than you think they should? If so, you might have seasonal depression, also known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is not considered as a separate disorder, instead it is a type of depression displaying a recurring seasonal pattern. People with SAD have many of the normal warning signs of major depression.

Symptoms of Major Depression

Feeling depressed most of the day, nearly every day
Feeling hopeless or worthless
Having low energy
Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
Having problems with sleep
Experiencing changes in your appetite or weight
Feeling sluggish or agitated
Having difficulty concentrating
Having frequent thoughts of death or suicide.

Symptoms of Winter-Pattern SAD

Low energy
Hypersomnia
Overeating
Weight gain
Craving for carbohydrates
Social withdrawal (feel like “hibernating”)

Symptoms of Summer-Pattern SAD

Poor appetite with associated weight loss
Insomnia
Agitation
Restlessness
Anxiety
Episodes of violent behavior

Seasonal Affective Disorder Treatment

Infrared Sauna Use

Many of today’s better saunas come equipped with built-in lights that are designed to deliver a calming and therapeutic effect. This process of light therapy for SAD is called chromotherapy, and refers to the use of lights to create changes in mood in the person using the sauna. If you find that Seasonal Affective Disorder is a reality for you or a loved one, try to find time to get in an infrared sauna with LED color lights that can help in a variety of ways.

Light Therapy

Light therapy has been a mainstay of treatment for SAD since the 1980s. The idea behind light therapy is to replace the diminished sunshine of the fall and winter months using daily exposure to bright, artificial light. Symptoms of SAD may be relieved by sitting in front of a light box first thing in the morning, on a daily basis from the early fall until spring. Most typically, light boxes filter out the ultraviolet rays and require 20-60 minutes of exposure to 10,000 lux of cool-white fluorescent light, an amount that is about 20 times greater than ordinary indoor lighting.

Medication

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are used to treat SAD. The FDA has also approved the use of bupropion, another type of antidepressant, for treating SAD. As with other medications, there are side effects to SSRIs. Talk to your doctor about the possible risks of using this medication for your condition. You may need to try several different antidepressant medications before finding the one that improves your symptoms without causing problematic side effects. Speak to a doctor if you believe you need medication for SAD treatment to find the right prescription for you.

Psychotherapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that is effective for SAD. Traditional cognitive behavioral therapy has been adapted for use with SAD (CBT-SAD). CBT-SAD relies on basic techniques of CBT such as identifying negative thoughts and replacing them with more positive thoughts along with a technique called behavioral activation. Behavioral activation seeks to help the person identify activities that are engaging and pleasurable, whether indoors or outdoors, to improve coping with winter.

Vitamin D

At present, vitamin D supplementation by itself is not regarded as an effective SAD treatment. The reason behind its use is that low blood levels of vitamin D were found in people with SAD. The low levels are usually due to insufficient dietary intake or insufficient exposure to sunshine. However, the evidence for its use has been mixed. While some studies suggest vitamin D supplementation may be as effective as light therapy, others found vitamin D had no effect.

If you feel you are suffering from seasonal affective disorder, speak with a doctor. While you can try infrared sauna use, light therapy, and increasing vitamin D levels on your own, a proper diagnosis and potential further SAD treatment may be necessary. Don’t suffer through the seasons!

What is Red Light Therapy? Benefits, Uses & More

What is red light therapy, and how is it beneficial to your health? Learn more about why you should include the practices of red light therapy and infrared light therapy into your regimen. From benefits and risks to the best way to use it, we have all your red light therapy tips and information here!

Person Using Clearlight® Red Light Therapy Tower

What is Red Light Therapy?

Beginning in the early 1990s as a tool to help grow plants in space, red light therapy, or RLT, is a technique used to help promote healthy cell growth and regeneration. Today’s practice of red light therapy extends to humans and can be used in the treatment of a wide range of issues such as skin conditions and wound healing. There are many ways to utilize this therapy by simply placing red light technology near your body, from light towers and saunas to handheld devices and face masks. Red light therapy can also be used to activate photosensitizing medications for photodynamic therapy.

Red light therapy works by using red low-level wavelengths of light to produce a biochemical effect in cells by penetrating approximately 5 millimeters below the skin’s surface. This effect helps strengthen the mitochondria and increase cell energy to improve performance of cells. Stronger cells increases productivity and effectiveness for proper rejuvenation and damage repair. Overall, the body uses these boosted cells to increase healing time and improve the condition of ailments caused by degenerative cells.

Risks of Red Light Therapy

No severe side effects are associated with RLT, and it is considered a safe and pain-free treatment. In the case of minor red light therapy side effects, some have reported headaches, irritability, and eye strain. The main cause of these red light therapy risks is the intense color or brightness of the light, which can be avoided by protecting your eyes during your RLT session and avoiding staring directly into the light.

If you suffer from bipolar disorder, consult with your doctor before pursuing red light therapy, as there have been a few, rare cases of RLT causing mania in bipolar patients.

Red Light Therapy Benefits

Research on red light therapy benefits is still in the early phases, but current studies and anecdotal evidence show promise for the effectiveness of the treatment. Red light therapy can be used to help treat many conditions and improve overall health. Some of the main benefits of red light therapy include:

athletic performance	eyesight	mood
autoimmune diseases	hair growth	pain
brain disorders	healing	relaxation
cancer therapy side effects	heating	skin conditions
cellulite	hormone production	sleep
cognitive function	inflammation	tissue regeneration
detoxification	libido	weight loss

The use of red light therapy is especially popular amongst athletes seeking help for joint pain and inflammation, physical performance, and skin health. While many people begin RLT to target one symptom, they often find many other red light therapy benefits that make it worthwhile to add to their regular routine.

Combining the Powers of Red Light and Infrared Therapies

Full spectrum infrared therapy involves using infrared waves to penetrate into the body. These waves promote healthy function of the body’s cells and in turn improve healing, circulation, and detoxification. Infrared heat therapy penetrates nearly 5 centimeters into the skin, making it a perfect therapy to use in conjunction with red light therapy that penetrates 5 millimeters. By combining the therapies, you allow multiple levels of your body to heal and rejuvenate.

Red light therapy and infrared therapy can easily be done together by including a red light device into an infrared sauna session for a comprehensive light therapy treatment. Simply turn on your red light therapy device as you enjoy a 15-20 minute infrared sauna session.

How to Use Red Light Therapy

For cosmetic applications, you can likely find RLT treatments at local gyms, spas, and tanning salons. For more targeted and thorough applications of red light therapy, it is recommended to visit a dermatologist. To treat serious medical conditions such as cancer, arthritis, and psoriasis, make an appointment with your doctor to discuss your options.

You can also find FDA-approved devices for red light therapy at home, such as light wands, infrared saunas, masks, light therapy towers, and helmets. When doing red light therapy at home, make sure you follow your devices instructions carefully for optimal results and safe use. Whether you are trying RLT at home or with a professional, expect it to take a few sessions before seeing results.

Using red light therapy can be an incredible benefit in your life, and is an easy way to find relief for many ailments. With virtually no risk and high reward, using the powers of red light therapy and infrared therapy might be the right therapeutic path for you. If you have any concerns or more severe health issues, be sure to consult with your doctor for the right approach and treatment plan.

Benefits of Using an Infrared Sauna for Back Pain Treatment

Back pain is one of the most common ailments. Whether it’s genetic or environmental, almost everyone has suffered from a stiff back or tweaked muscle. Using a sauna may be your answer to treating and reducing back pain while reducing future risk. Read on for more information on what may be causing back pain, tips on reducing pain, and how an infrared sauna can help.

What Causes Back Pain?

Back pain comes in many varieties, but the most pervasive one is probably low back pain. The Low Back Pain Fact Sheet from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders states “About 80 percent of adults experience low back pain at some point in their lifetimes. It is the most common cause of job-related disability and a leading contributor to missed work days. In a large survey, more than a quarter of adults reported experiencing low back pain during the past 3 months.”

Unfortunately, back pain often hangs around longer than it should and can be described as a vicious cycle. When the body perceives pain, it responds with “guarding reactions,” including muscle tension, restricted movement, anxiety, and even fear of movement. The tension, restrictions, and fear lead to muscle spasm, adrenaline, and nerve sensitivity, all of which promote intensification of the pain, which increases the guarding reactions. Lather, rinse, repeat. Pretty soon, you’re calling in sick.

How to Reduce Back Pain

Sleep: Poor sleeping form and not enough sleep can exaggerate back pain. Be sure to get plenty of rest to let your body heal and set up your bed to have proper back support when sleeping.

Posture: Chances are, you naturally don’t sit or stand with perfect posture all day. Stay aware of how you are holding your body, as constant slouching can make back pain worse.

Physical Therapy: If your back pain is interfering with your everyday life, it might be time to seek professional help from a physical therapist to teach you stretches and exercises to help with better posture and core strength.

Medications: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acetaminophen help reduce the inflammation that aggravates back pain. Always speak to your doctor before introducing new medications.

Massage: A recent study found that one weekly massage over a 10-week period improved pain and functioning for people with chronic back pain. Massage helps increase blood flow and relax sore muscles.

Hot & Cold Therapies: Regular applications of ice to the painful areas on your back may help reduce pain and inflammation while heat helps relax your muscles and increase blood flow to the affected area.

Activity: While it might sound counterintuitive, getting active helps your back pain heal faster. Don’t do any rigorous activities, but be sure to move a little each day with low-impact activities like walking and yoga.

Using an Infrared Sauna for Back Pain Relief

“For acute back pain,” according to the Mayo Clinic, “over-the-counter pain relievers and the use of heat might be all you need. Bed rest isn’t recommended.” If pain relievers and heat don’t work, you may need to move on to muscle relaxers, topical pain relievers, narcotics, antidepressants, or cortisone injections. If those things sound off-putting, there may be another option for breaking your pain cycle: infrared sauna.

Individuals with acute and chronic back pain can relieve much of the pain associated with these types of conditions with the use of an infrared sauna. The radiant heat from the infrared sauna reaches down several inches below the surface of the skin to soothe the muscles. Infrared heat helps open the blood vessels, feeding nutrients to the muscles and ligaments while the warming action also makes muscles and ligaments more pliable and less stiff.

Infrared saunas have been clinically proven to reduce low back pain. It has also been shown to be very low risk. The heat of the sauna has an effect similar to that of muscle relaxers, which are step two in the pain relief process after over-the-counter medications. The relaxation of the muscles interrupts the back pain cycle. Sauna, then, gives you the benefit of muscle relaxation without drugs. Furthermore, it doesn’t just relax your muscles. It relaxes you.

Sauna for Back Pain Research

A University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey study led by a doctor specializing in sports medicine found that low-level heat therapies were more effective than over-the-counter oral medications1, such as acetaminophen, Tylenol®, and others. After your time in the infrared sauna, do some light stretches to work the muscles and ligaments in the affected areas. Researchers have found that stretching after an infrared sauna session actual increases flexibility for long-term results — something your back muscles and ligaments greatly need.

Several projects by Japanese researchers have clinically proved the effectiveness of Waon therapy in relieving pain. In Waon therapy, the patient spends 15 minutes in an infrared sauna and then spends 30 minutes resting in a room at slightly above room temperature wrapped in a blanket up to the neck. In the study, treatments were given 2-5 times per week, and the researchers found that patients lost about half their pain after the first treatment, and their pain continued to lessen until it stabilized at 10 treatments.

10 Healthy Holiday Tips for Physical and Mental Health

Though it’s the most wonderful time of the year, the holidays can bring about a lot of unhealthy things, from over-the-top meals to stress. Luckily, balancing holiday happenings and your health only requires setting some time aside to focus on yourself and wellbeing. Read below to learn how to find a healthy balance this holiday season with these tips to maintain your physical and mental health.

Health Holiday Tips for Physical Health

Detoxify

One of the most useful healthy holiday tips is detoxification. There are many benefits of detoxification, such as the elimination of toxins and chemicals, ease of muscle soreness, and general relaxation. Sweating is one of the main forms of detoxification. Either hit the gym or use an infrared sauna for a deep sweat session that will leave you feeling healthier this holiday season. An infrared sauna will take your detox to the next level with a slew of other health benefits.

Eat Well

Pumpkin pie, hot chocolate, turkey, mashed potatoes, mulled wine… the list can go on for all the delicious treats associated with the holidays. This holiday season, indulge with moderation. Try to keep the decadent treats to a minimum and save up for the big holiday meals. Between the big meals, eat healthy foods as the main part of your diet and make sure you have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to get your daily dose of vitamins.

Exercise

Keep yourself warm this holiday season by exercising. Apart from the warmth, exercise is one of the top ways to stay healthy regardless of the season. With large, indulgent meals and the desire to just sit in front of the fire, it’s easy to fall off the workout wagon. Get active for 30 minutes every day, whether that means taking a stroll outside or hitting the gym. This way, you can work off those extra holiday calories and get your blood pumping.

Get Rest

Rest is one of the most important healthy holiday tips. This season, take time to rest and relax to recharge your body. Whether it’s an hour to read your favorite book or ensuring you get the proper amount of hours of sleep every night, rest is important for brain function, mood, and even cardiovascular health. Between work, social engagements, and general life things, it is important to make time for yourself and take it easy to let your body heal and recuperate.

Prevent Sickness

The holiday season means colder temperatures, which often lead to sickness if proper precautions aren’t taken. Cold weather facilitates the spreading of germs and lowers your immune system. While you may still get a winter cold, there are measures you can take to reduce your chances of catching anything. Do the above and rest, eat well, take vitamins, stay active, and drink water to keep your body in top health. If you do get a cold, try natural cold remedies to help it pass.

Health Holiday Tips for Mental Health

Budget

The financial strain of the holidays can unfortunately be quite wearing on the holiday cheer you’re supposed to feel. From gift-buying and decorating to hosting large dinners and paying the heating bill, holiday spending easily adds up. Alleviate some of the financial stress by creating a budget for the holidays. Plan your expenses wisely so you can buy the things you need while still having some extra funds to relax and enjoy the holiday season without worry.

Meditate

Quieting your mind may seem like a difficult task when the holidays are a whirlwind of holiday parties, gift planning, and family travel, but taking 10 minutes of your day to meditate can help significantly reduce your stress. Work meditation into your daily routine, whether it’s when you wake up or before bed. Take this time to center yourself and collect your thoughts. Meditation can be done anywhere, but we recommend in a sauna or in bed for ultimate relaxation.

Plan

A little planning goes a long way during the holidays. Plan by creating a list of things that need to be done, then sort each item by priority. Not only does making a list help you organize your thoughts, it also helps you visualize the number of things that need to get done. By seeing everything, you have a better understanding of what needs to get done and by when. Running around in a last-minute tizzy to figure things out will only leave the holidays feeling rushed and stressful.

Set Boundaries

With holiday travels, parties, and other events, your planner may be booking up pretty quickly. An important tip for mentally staying healthy during holidays is learning how to set boundaries. Set these boundaries with yourself and be comfortable with saying no to plans that don’t work with your schedule. Overloading yourself with responsibilities will lead to stress and dread, when holiday events should be something you look forward to and enjoy.

Step Outside

Depending on where you are, the weather outside may be frightful, but the benefits of going outside are so delightful. Spending some time outside is linked to many benefits that may affect your mental health during the holidays, such as boosting creativity and concentration, fighting Seasonal Affective Disorder, improving your mood, reducing stress, and preventing cabin fever. Don’t get the winter blues stuck inside, bundle up and go outside for your mental health

This holiday season, take care of your mind and body with these healthy holiday tips. Investing in your own health is the best gift you can give and receive. All it takes is setting time aside every day to focus in on your thoughts and taking healthy precautions to make the holidays stress-free and healthy.

9 Emotional Health Tips for Emotional Wellness Month

October is Emotional Wellness Month, and learning about your own emotional wellness is an important factor in your overall wellness. Just like mental health, emotional wellness impacts many aspects of your life, from physical health to social life. When your emotional intelligence is in a healthy space, you will be able to properly navigate life in a level-headed and self-confident manner. Learn how to boost your emotional awareness and improve your mental health.

What is Emotional Wellness?

How you feel can affect your ability to carry out everyday activities, your relationships, and your overall mental health. How you react to your experiences and feelings can change over time. Emotional wellness is the ability to successfully handle life’s stresses and adapt to change and difficult times.

Emotional vs Mental Health

Mental health involves cognitive thinking and harnessing one’s attention to stay focused, which includes processing information, storing it in memory, and understanding this new information. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Mental health also includes appropriately exercising reason and processing any learned information.

Emotional health is the state of positive psychological functioning and involves expressing one’s emotions appropriately for one’s age. Emotional health includes our thoughts, feelings, and behavior internally and externally. It requires managing emotional actions and gauging the appropriate reactions to situations, preventing unnecessary and unhealthy stress, which if severe enough can lead to depression. Maintaining positive emotional health is an active process.

Benefits of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional wellness inspires self-care, relaxation, stress reduction, and the development of inner strength. It is important to be attentive to both positive and negative feelings and be able to understand how to handle these emotions. Emotional wellness also includes the ability to learn and grow from experiences.

Once you accept your feelings, you can begin to understand why you are feeling that way, and decide how you would like to act in response to those feelings. Being emotionally well grants you the power to express feelings without any constraints. Emotional well-being encourages autonomy and proper decision making skills. It is an important part of overall wellness.

How to Improve Emotional Health

In order to begin the route to emotional wellness you must always remember to be optimistic. Optimism allows you to greet all emotions—both positive and negative—with a confident attitude that allows you to learn from your mistakes. Once you have mastered emotional wellness, you will experience life a little differently. Your life will be more balanced and you will develop a deep sense of awareness. Below are some strategies for you to practice in order to boost your emotional wellness.

Use an Infrared Sauna

Using an infrared sauna will help you feel relaxed, rejuvenated, and renewed, which in turn benefits your mental state. Sauna use is a great way to get away and release any built-up tension and stress, and have been shown to affect the autonomic nervous system putting you in the parasympathetic (rest and digest) state allowing your body to heal.

Not only does infrared sauna heat help with physical ailments, which in turn improves mental health, it also helps your mind learn how to better cope with stress and emotions. Studies show that short periods of hyperthermia, like those experienced in a sauna, potentially ease depression because short “hits” of stress can stimulate and benefit brain tissue by teaching the brain how to be better-equipped to handle other forms of stress.

Strengthen Social Connections

Social connections might help protect health and lengthen life. Scientists are finding that our links to others can have powerful effects on our health—both emotionally and physically. Whether with romantic partners, family, friends, neighbors, or others, social connections can influence our biology and well-being.

Seek Support

If you are feeling overwhelmed by emotions, know you are not alone and that there are plenty of available resources to help discuss solutions. Whether your support comes from family, friends, or professionals, reach out to those why can help. As mentioned above, our social connections play a large role in our overall health, especially emotional wellness

Reduce Stress

Everyone feels stressed from time to time. Stress can give you a rush of energy when it’s needed most. But if stress lasts a long time—a condition known as chronic stress—those “high-alert” changes become harmful rather than helpful. Learning healthy ways to cope with stress can also boost your resilience.

Practice Mindfulness

The concept of mindfulness is simple. This ancient practice is about being completely aware of what’s happening in the present—of all that’s going on inside and all that’s happening around you. It means not living your life on “autopilot.” Becoming a more mindful person requires commitment and practice.

Woman Meditating for Mental Health in Winter

Learn Coping Skills

When your world changes, even if just a little bit, it is easy to feel out of touch with your emotions. Although change can feel overwhelming, most people can make it through the coping process with the support of family and friends. Learn healthy ways to help you through difficult times, such as focusing on activities that bring you joy and reduce stress.

Invest Time in Yourself

When not making time for yourself, it is easier to become stressed and lose yourself. Stress can lead to depression, lack of motivation, insomnia, headaches, and tension. The importance of self care is avoiding those symptoms of stress and focusing on bettering yourself from within. Treat your mind to things that make you happy, from classes to spa days.

Get Ample Sleep

To fit in everything we want to do in our day, we often sacrifice sleep. But sleep affects both mental and physical health. It’s vital to your well-being. When you’re tired, you can’t function at your best. Sleep helps you think more clearly, have quicker reflexes and focus better. Take steps to make sure you regularly get a good night’s sleep.

Brighten Your Outlook

People who are emotionally well, experts say, have fewer negative emotions and are able to bounce back from difficulties faster. This quality is called resilience. Another sign of emotional wellness is being able to hold onto positive emotions longer and appreciate the good times.

21 Natural Anti-Aging Tips & Infrared Sauna Skin Benefits

Your skin is one of the most important parts of your body, so keeping it healthy should be a priority in your health care routine. The skin is the most exposed of our organs, making it susceptible to the effects of external forces like weather, injury, and products we put on it. All of these factors play a role in how quickly our skin shows signs of age, but there are many natural anti-aging practices you can incorporate into your regular skin care routine to reduce the signs of wear.

To keep your skin looking young and radiant, read below to learn how an infrared sauna and other natural anti-aging techniques can help.

Sauna for Skin Care: Infrared Sauna Skin Benefits

There are many well-known infrared sauna health benefits such as detoxification, reduced inflammation, and muscle recovery. But is the sauna good for your skin, too? Absolutely! In fact, the detoxification, inflammation reduction, and recovery are all things that impact the health of your skin.

Infrared sauna skin benefits include rejuvenation and detoxification. The infrared heat penetrates deeply into the skin to accelerate cellular activity and increase circulation to bring more nutrients to the skin and aid in rejuvenation. Through this process, the infrared heat causes sweating, which detoxifies the pores. Sweat is one of the top natural anti-aging remedies as it helps purge dirt, debris, and toxins from your skin. Unclogged pores means less breakouts and a smoother, younger-looking complexion.

When using a sauna for skin care, it is important to remember aftercare as well. The heat from the sauna helps open pores, which is great for detoxification, but can cause pores to clog again if sweat is not washed away immediately. Rinse off with cold water to wash away toxins and close the pores again. Then apply a moisturizer to your skin and be sure to drink plenty of water to rehydrate after sweating.

Natural Anti-Aging Tips

Essential Anti-Aging Products

Eye Cream: The skin around your eyes is delicate and requires extra care. Natural eye cream has anti-aging properties such as the reduction of dark circles and fine lines. Apply eye cream every night before bed.

Exfoliant: Using a natural exfoliant on a semi-regular basis helps skin look younger by removing dead skin cells and revealing a brighter complexion. Read your product’s recommendations for frequency, and don’t over-exfoliate.

Gentle Cleanser: Whether you wash your face once or twice a day, using the right cleanser is crucial. A gentle cleanser will reduce irritation and will ensure you aren’t washing away any healthy oils on your face.

Moisturizer: The biggest of the anti-aging tips and the key to younger skin is moisturizing. From your legs to your face, invest in high-quality moisturizers for different areas of your body to maintain elasticity and reduce wrinkles.

Retinol: Some prescription retinoid products have a bad reputation for being too strong, but retinol for gentle and natural anti-aging exists. Retinol is a form of Vitamin A and helps fight acne, reduce wrinkles, and stimulate collagen.

Sunscreen: Sun damage is one of the most aging and harmful effects on the skin. It can cause burns and wrinkles, and in more extreme cases, skin cancer. Daily sunscreen of at least SPF 15 will help protect from regular sun exposure.

Vitamin C: Ascorbic acid, or Vitamin C, is an extremely antioxidant-rich product with anti-aging properties. This vitamin can be applied as a serum to help even skin tone, protect from UV damage, and brighten complexion.

Top Anti-Aging Tools

Cleansing Brush: Using your hands to apply cleanser can suffice, but cleansing brushes clean more thoroughly. With vibrations and bristles, cleanser can penetrate more deeply to remove dirt, oil, and debris from your skin.

Dermaplaning Tool: Dermaplaning is sometimes referred to “shaving” your skin. Really, it’s a deeper form of exfoliation, and it works by lightly removing the top layer of dead skin cells to reveal skin that is radiant and younger-looking.

Gua Massage Tool: Gua sha is an ancient Chinese healing technique that uses a tool to massage the skin with mild pressure. When scraping your skin with this tool, circulation is improved to reduce inflammation and reveal healthier skin.

Facial Roller: Similar to the gua massage tool, facial rollers help reduce inflammation. This approach uses gentle strokes to increase circulation, improve lymphatic flow, and distribute products over skin for even coverage.

Infrared Sauna: As mentioned above, using an infrared sauna for skin care is one of the top natural anti-aging tools. Infrared waves penetrate deeper into the skin to increase circulation, detoxify, improve complexion, and reduce wrinkles.

Light Therapy Tool: Practicing anti-aging skin care at home can be as easy as wearing a mask or holding a wand. LED therapy uses light waves to impact skin on a cellular level. Light therapy can help with wrinkles, inflammation, acne, and more.

Microneedling Roller: At-home microneedling tools are designed for gentler use than professional applications. They use small needles to lightly puncture the skin to allow for better product absorption, skin exfoliation, and blood circulation.

Best Anti-Aging Skin Care Routines

Drink Water to Hydrate: While you might not see a visual change (use moisturizer for that), staying hydrated allows the body to purge toxins and keeps it functioning properly. A healthy body results in healthy skin.

Get Plenty of Sleep: Sleep allows your body to rest and reset, which is an important step in any skin care routine. It is recommended to put products on before bed to allow skin to fully absorb them without interruptions.

Layer Products Properly: When applying products to your skin, layer from thinnest to thickest so products can absorb into the skin more easily and effectively. Wait 1-2 minutes between products for ultimate absorption.

Protect Your Skin from Trauma: Whether it’s by applying sunscreen to protect from burns or avoiding picking at blemishes, preventing trauma to your skin can help avoid scarring and preserve it for years to come.

Remove Makeup Before Bed: If you wear makeup, removing it before bed is crucial to keep your skin looking healthy and young. Sleeping with makeup means more opportunities for clogged pores and breakouts.

Stick to a Regular Skin Care Schedule: Switching on and off from a skin care routine can’t guarantee any lasting results, which is why it’s important to find a routine that works for you and stick to it. Experts say to be consistent for 4-6 months to see results.

Visit a Dermatologist: Anti-aging skin care routines at home are nice, but having a professional exam with a dermatologist helps identify changes in your skin and ensures you are on the right track for healthy skin.

Taking care of your skin should be one of your top priorities when it comes to your health. Once you have found the products, tools, and routines that fit your skin type and lifestyle, you will be on your way to healthy, glowing skin. Practicing natural anti-aging techniques like applying natural products and using an infrared sauna for skin care will ensure a bright and young complexion for years to come!

TIPS FOR ATHLETE RECOVERY & INTERVIEW WITH SKIER MO LEBEL

Being an athlete requires skill and a strong focus on keeping your body in top shape. Unfortunately, even the most cautious can face injury. Amateur and professional athletes alike are prone to injury, and having the right process for recovery is important for staying in top shape and getting back into action. Read below for an interview with skier Mo Lebel on her inspirational recovery journey. Additionally, find athlete recovery tips on what tools to use and which exercises to try for injury prevention and reduction to stay safe and healthy!

Interview with Mo Lebel & Her Athlete Recovery Experience

We have had the pleasure of speaking with 2018 U.S. National Downhill Champion Mo Lebel on her experience with the athlete recovery process. 21-year old Maureen Lebel, also known as Mo, has had an impressive ski career. Essentially raised on the slopes, Mo has proved to have skiing in her blood. Today, she is now a member of the U.S. National Training Group (NTG) and was crowned the 2018 U.S. National Champion in downhill. Suffering an injury in early 2018 obviously hasn’t held her back from achieving big dreams.

Read below for Mo’s take on athlete injury and how she found success in recovery:

How long have you been skiing? Were you involved in athletics before then?

My whole life! I started skiing before I was two years old and have never looked back!

What are your biggest successes and motivators in your sport?

My biggest successes would be representing the United States at the Junior World Championships and becoming the 2018 U.S National Downhill Champion.

My motivation is my love for the sport. Whether it’s ski racing or just skiing, I love being out there on the snow. In a lot of ways, ski racing is addicting and everyday that makes me want to be better and better. I meet people who will be in my life forever, go places I could only dream of going, and have learned life lessons that carry me through my day to day life. It’s pretty cool how ski racing has shaped me!

In all of your time in athletics, is injury a common occurrence?

Generally, yes. Ski racing is a high risk sport and injury is not uncommon among a lot of ski racers. Almost every ski race I compete in, an athlete will injure themselves. Luckily, I’ve only had two season-ending injuries (both within the same year). Us ski racers work tremendously hard in the gym to become as strong as possible to prevent these injuries.

What are the biggest setbacks that come with being an injured athlete?

The inability to continue to fulfill your passion!

The setback is not only personal, your support crew feels it too. This can be added stress, but also added motivation. So much hard work goes into any sport and when all of a sudden it’s ripped away from an athlete, it can feel as if your whole life is put on hold. In reality it’s just a bump in a very long road. Negativity, sadness, and anger are pretty common. What really matters is how fast an athlete can put those thoughts behind them and move forward in a positive way. The biggest setback for any athlete is the limitations of their own mindset. It’s all a learning proces,s and developing resilience is the lesson we learn.

How do you work through your injuries, and why is recovery process important to you?

I have found that staying as positive as I possibly can has helped me heal the fastest and get through my injuries. When I get down on myself I lose sight of what I’m working towards and what I have already accomplished in my career. Personally, sticking to a routine is mandatory. I work through my injuries by establishing a recovery process that includes eating right, exercising as much as possible without pushing it too hard (which is very difficult as a ski racer), spending as much time in my infrared sauna as possible, getting LOTS of sleep and remembering to never take myself too seriously!

How has using infrared technology helped in your recovery process?

I am so impressed with my infrared sauna! It has helped my muscles recover exceptionally fast. Currently, I have a lot of muscle strength to gain back on one leg and spending time in my sauna allows me to strengthen my leg everyday versus every other day. Rarely do I need a “recovery day”. My blood circulation has improved tremendously and I haven’t had swelling in my broken leg for about two months. I broke it three and a half months ago.

I can tell my healing process has been expedited. My infrared sauna has also been great in lowering my stress and mental fatigue during my recovery process. I believe that the infrared sauna heals on all levels, from incision sights and scars, to deep tissue and bone and the benefit of mental stress reduction. It is a fascinating recovery tool. I can foresee this technology becoming a standard for recovery and maintenance for all.

Do you have any advice for athletes currently going through recovery?

To any recovering athlete, consider finding access to an infrared sauna or investing in one. My recovery is moving in such a positive way, so fast. I can’t imagine this process without infrared technology. I am feeling so great physically and psychologically and I know how crucial that is for athletes. The healing progression is noticeably superior with the incorporation of infrared technology.

Never forget the reasons why you’re recovering! No matter where you are in life, always bring your best!

Athlete Recovery Equipment

Infrared Sauna

After working out, you’re sure to feel sore in the muscles you’ve worked. During exercise, your muscles are worked harder than they are accustomed to, which causes them to form microscopic tears. These tears cause inflammation and can result in muscle soreness, tightness, cramps, and sensitivity. Your body then heals these tears to make your muscles stronger. Using a sauna enhances the muscle recovery process by increasing blood circulation and carrying oxygen-rich blood to oxygen-depleted muscle. Heat also allows muscles to relax better, thus relieving muscle tension.

Inversion Table

Inversion therapy is a pretty simple concept. It uses gravity to relieve pressure, increase blood flow, and reset important bodily functions – all of which are vital to the recovery process. Triathletes and other athletes with punishing workout schedules have seen incredible improvements in their overall health as a result of inversion therapy. Inversion therapy helps improve joint health, increase core strength, ease stress, and boost circulation.

Recovery Boots

By using recovery boots in your daily workout, you can speed up the recovery process that your body’s lymphatic and vascular systems perform naturally over a longer period of time. Pneumatic compression increases blood circulation and helps your body get rid of accumulated waste in your muscles faster and more efficiently than your body normally can. The result is that your muscles heal and recover faster.

Athlete Recovery Tips

One of the most frustrating parts of being an injured athlete is the feeling of being inactive. While you may be tempted to jump right back in to your regular routine once you start to feel better, getting back into fitness after an injury must be done slowly and carefully to prevent delayed healing and avoid any further injury. Before getting started with any intensive actions, do these few things:

Explore different physical therapies to find relief such as compression, inversion, and infrared therapies
Prepare yourself mentally, understand that you won’t be performing at your optimal levels
If you suffered a serious injury, consult with your doctor before starting any strenuous activities
Listen to your body and stop or slow down if needed, do not push yourself to unbearable discomfort
Diversify your workouts with cross-training, focusing on non-injured parts of your body to keep moving

Once you are ready to get active, try low-impact athlete recovery exercises to ease you moving in a safe and healthy manner so you can be back to full-form in no time.

Athlete Recovery Exercises

Back Injury Recovery

Properly recovering from a back injury is critical to your spinal health. It ensures you maintain your mobility, posture and muscle strength so you can protect your spine. The key to recovering from a back injury is your core. If you’re returning to exercise after an injury to your back, try these core strengthening pelvic tilts and bird dogs.

Shoulder Injury Recovery

Shoulder injuries such as bursitis or tendonitis can be chronic and take a long time to heal. They can cause severe pain and impact your quality of life, making it difficult to perform movements such as reaching, pulling or pushing. Once you’ve been cleared to begin using it again, shoulder injury rehab is the next step. You can rehabilitate and strengthen your shoulder muscles with the pendulum and crossover arm stretches.

Hamstring Injury Recovery

Hamstring strains can be incredibly painful and debilitating. Like shoulder injuries, if a hamstring injury isn’t properly rehabilitated, it can become a chronic or recurring problem. To properly rehabilitate your hamstring, it’s important to find ways to continue to use it without straining it even more. To start your rehabilitation, try single-leg bridges and hamstring curls.

Groin Injury Recovery

Groin injuries can be caused by pulled or strained groin muscles (adductors). These injuries typically affect athletes and can recur if not properly treated. After resting and icing a groin injury, you may decide to return to physical activity with some groin injury rehab exercises such as the adductor squeeze and the side-lying leg lifts with crossover.

Knee Injury Recovery

Knee injuries are very common as it’s one of the most used joints in the body—and the most susceptible to wear and tear. Initially following a knee injury, you’ll want to work on getting your range of motion back, and it’s advisable to work with a physiotherapist for this. To help rehabilitate, try straight leg raises and step-ups.

Suffering from an injury as an athlete may feel restrictive, but with patience and good recovery practices, you are sure to set yourself up for a successful healing period and prevent further injury. As Mo Lebel proves, even major injuries are merely road bumps, and they don’t have to require a full-stop. Follow these athlete recovery tips to get back on track and reach your goals!

HOW TO FALL ASLEEP NATURALLY & 13 NATURAL SLEEP REMEDIES

There’s nothing better than waking up after a great night of sleep, feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day. There are so many benefits of a good night’s sleep in addition to feeling rejuvenated the next morning: it can keep your heart healthy, help reduce stress and ward off depression. With that being said, having difficulty falling asleep can be an especially frustrating experience..

Whether you suffer from insomnia or have simple restlessness, read these tips to learn how to fall asleep naturally and find natural remedies that will help you get a great night’s rest.

Alt Text: Couple Putting on Clean Sheets for Restful Sleep

Tips to Fall Asleep Naturally

Wash Your Sheets

Having clean sheets may not help you fall asleep immediately, but it will definitely ensure you many nights of healthy, restful sleep. Washing your sheets and pillowcases twice a month helps keep your bed rid of dust, sweat, and any other accumulated debris that can cause discomfort. And just imagine that cozy feeling of snuggling up in fresh, clean sheets!

Use a Sound Machine

Using a sound machine is a great way to help you fall asleep naturally. The most recommended sound is white noise, as it is a constant, soothing sound, but there are plenty of other sounds that may work better for you. Thunderstorms, ocean waves, even city sounds are all available to help you drift off to sleep.

Relax in a Sauna

One of the many infrared sauna health benefits is feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, and renewed – leading to a more restful sleep. Infrared sauna use helps with thermoregulation before bed and puts the body in a parasympathetic state where the body rests and digests. A study also showed that sauna therapy helped reduce the effects of chronic fatigue.

Practice Meditation

If a racing mind is keeping you up at night, meditation might be just the sleep aid that you need. Sleep meditations help create the inner conditions needed for a truly restful night. Because when we settle the mind, we rest the body—and that restfulness is what makes it easier to wind down and drift off..

Establish a Bedtime Ritual

Our bodies do well when a schedule is involved. For great sleep naturally, creating a bedtime ritual will not only give you something to look forward to and wind down with, but it will also provide your body with a sense of consistency. Sleep rituals help you easily transition from the hustle and bustle of the day into a quiet state for restful sleep.

Block Out All Light

Whether it’s a flashing light from your toothbrush in your bathroom or a bright street light outside your window, having a light on can stimulate your mind and make it difficult to sleep. Try to block out all unnecessary light when you sleep to avoid distractions. Additionally, avoid using screens for an hour before bed to avoid overstimulation.

Natural Sleep Remedies

5-HTP: 5-HTP, or 5-Hydroxytryptophan, is a by-product of L-tryptophan and can be taken in pill form. This amino acid helps with serotonin neurotransmitter production, which helps regulate sleep-wake cycles and mood.
CBD: CBD is the non-psychoactive cannabidiol compound found in cannabis. Unlike THC, CBD does not produce a high. Instead, CBD is great for its calming properties and is a great natural remedy for sleep if taken before bed.
Chamomile: Chamomile has been used for centuries to treat a number of ailments, including insomnia. Drinking chamomile tea before bed is both a calming bedtime ritual and a natural sleep remedy to help you wind down.
Glycine: Glycine is an amino acid that plays an important role in the nervous system. Recent studies show that taking it before bedtime may improve sleep by lowering body temperature, signaling it’s time to sleep..
Jujube: Studies show jujube can lengthen sleep time and increase time spent in deep, restorative slow-wave sleep and REM sleep. Compounds in jujube also relax the body, boosting levels of calming neurotransmitters..
Kava Root: Kava has been linked to sleep-promoting effects in some studies. It is traditionally prepared as a tea or as a supplement. It’s best to buy only kava that has been certified by a reputable third-party organization..

L-theanine: L-theanine elevates levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), as well as serotonin and dopamine. Consuming a daily supplement containing 200–400 mg of this amino acid may improve sleep and relaxation..
Lavender: Lavender aromatherapy may help improve sleep by reducing stress. Some studies show that females and young individuals feel relief from mild insomnia while quality and duration of sleep improve..
Magnesium: Magnesium is a mineral important for brain function and heart health. It is able to regulate the production of melatonin and increase the production of calming GABA, making falling asleep naturally easier..
Magnolia Bark: Bioactive compounds in magnolia bark appear to help increase time in both slow wave sleep and REM sleep. Other compounds in magnolia bark lower levels of stimulating hormones adrenaline and cortisol..
Melatonin: Melatonin is a hormone that regulates the body’s circadian rhythms and is produced in the pineal gland in the center. Studies show it decreases the time it takes to fall asleep and increases feelings of sleepiness..
Passion Flower: Passion flower tea may help slightly improve sleep quality in some individuals. However, the evidence is weak and some studies have found no effects. Thus, more studies are needed..
Valerian Root: Valerian is an herb native to Asia and Europe. Its root is commonly used as a natural treatment for symptoms of insomnia, anxiety, and depression, and can improve sleep if taken before bedtime..

Consult with your doctor before starting a new supplement regimen and if conditions don’t improve. If you are having trouble sleeping, try these natural sleep remedies and tips to get a restful night of sleep. The keys to falling asleep naturally are slowing down at the end of the day and listening to your body. Sweet dreams!