Dr. Curtis McElroy

Category: Wellness

  • How To Take Care of Yourself In The New Year

    How To Take Care of Yourself In The New Year

    How To Take Care Of Yourself In The New Year

    What do you have planned for 2024.

    How do you plan to truly take care of yourself in the new year?

    You probably spend a lot of time looking after everyone else and barely feed your own spirit, mind, and body.

    How much time do you really devote to yourself?

    To your well-being?

    It’s something that we are all guilty of – putting everything into everyone else and not realizing the toll it’s taking until we are completely running on empty.

    Look at this new year as a fresh opportunity to do a bit of soul-searching. It’s time to look within yourself, and be honest about what you see, whether it’s in your personal life or on the career front. This isn’t about setting goals or making resolutions.

    This is about committing to taking care of yourself.

     

    New Year, New You

    You can get started with an online self-care test at:

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-the-questions/201504/your-ultimate-self-care-assessment-resources

    The first thing to cover here is that you need to answer totally and completely honestly. It’s between you and yourself – self-care and the test, so you won’t get far if you can’t be honest. As you take the assessment, you will likely start to see where you are letting yourself down.

    It’s also important to note that self-care doesn’t look the same for everyone. For you, it could be spending time with friends, it might be exercising more or making healthy dietary choices. In fact, for you, it could be a massage and for your partner, it could be sitting down to deal with the finances. We are all different and only you can really know what self-care avenue will serve you best.

    What do you do too much of? Likewise, what don’t you do enough of? That’s an excellent place to start your journey. Ultimately, self-care should be practicing things that make you feel better. So, if something that you do a lot of doesn’t do that for you, think about how you can limit that behavior or activity in your life.

    If you prefer to make traditional new year’s resolutions, you can still do that. This will likely put a bit more pressure on you, though, and if you know that you struggle with your resolutions, perhaps the best thing you can do for yourself is skip it. For example, if you always set yourself up with an attainable resolution, don’t do a resolution at all.

    If you aren’t sure where to get started with your self-care habits, we can help. We have some ideas that might help you, no matter what area of your life you want to focus on.

     

    Ways To Take Care of Yourself

     

    • Instead of focusing on your past failures, shift your focus to new opportunities.

    • Plan a challenging step, whether career or otherwise, and don’t worry about the time or cost.

    • Spend time meditating and less time in the noise.

    • Practice more hobbies and activities that you enjoy.

    • Spend less time on activities that you’re expected by others to do.

    • Make time to sit down with a good book.

    • Spend time in nature and less time inside.

    • Schedule time for your partner, family, and friends.

    • Devote extra time to talking to your children about who you are.

     

    No one can know what 2024 will hold, but what you can know is how to truly look after yourself. Truly, learning how to protect yourself is what will help you navigate any challenge that the new year throws at you. So, how will you take care of yourself in the new year?

    The first thing to cover here is that you need to answer totally and completely honestly. It’s between you and yourself – self-care and the test, so you won’t get far if you can’t be honest. As you take the assessment, you will likely start to see where you are letting yourself down.

    It’s also important to note that self-care doesn’t look the same for everyone.

    For you, it could be spending time with friends, it might be exercising more or making healthy dietary choices. In fact, for you, it could be a massage and for your partner, it could be sitting down to deal with the finances. We are all different and only you can really know what self-care avenue will serve you best.

    What do you do too much of? Likewise, what don’t you do enough of?

    That’s an excellent place to start your journey. Ultimately, self-care should be practicing things that make you feel better. So, if something that you do a lot of doesn’t do that for you, think about how you can limit that behavior or activity in your life.

    If you prefer to make traditional new year’s resolutions, you can still do that. This will likely put a bit more pressure on you, though, and if you know that you struggle with your resolutions, perhaps the best thing you can do for yourself is skip it. For example, if you always set yourself up with an attainable resolution, don’t do a resolution at all.

    If you aren’t sure where to get started with your self-care habits, we can help. We have some ideas that might help you, no matter what area of your life you want to focus on.

     

  • Does Sedentary Disease Lead To Life Threatening Diseases

    How Sedentary Disease Is One Of The Leading Causes Of Life-Threatening Diseases

    In this day and age, it’s highly likely you find yourself in the sitting position for most of the day. But did you know that living a sedentary lifestyle is a leading cause of a number of life-threatening diseases? No matter what your profession is, doctors all over the globe agree that it’s time to start moving, or face the dire consequences.

    How Does Sitting Effect Health?

    The human body wasn’t built to sit all day. And if you engage in more than 8 hours of sitting, this starts to cause serious damage to your circulatory system. According to Dr. Erin Michos at Hopkins Medicine, once you hit 10 hours or more of sitting per day, your risk of cardiovascular disease increases dramatically. As does your risk of dying from a stroke, this is because your heart isn’t working that hard to pump the blood in your body when you sit.

    And it’s not just your heart which suffers. When you sit all day, your muscles relax, and when this happens, they absorb very little glucose from your blood, and the scientists at Harvard Health have found this to be a leading cause of diabetes.

    And sitting for long periods of time can also lead to a high risk of obesity, which comes with a whole host of additional chronic diseases that could ultimately lead to death.

    But I Work Out Half An Hour A Day?

    Unfortunately, Dr. Erin Michos says exercising for thirty minutes each day, then sitting the other 23 and a half hours isn’t going to save you from sedentary related disease. Although high level exercise has been shown in some studies to lower the risks of sedentary disease, this was only true in studies where the test subjects completed 60 to 75 minutes of high intensity activity per day. And this is a lot of exercise to squeeze into a busy work and social life.

    Dr. Michos advises wearing a fitness tracker. Even if you work out each morning, you may be surprised to find that you spend the rest of the day sedentary, and don’t make the recommended 10,000 steps a day even with your workout. So, instead of trying to make your workout longer and harder, Dr. Michos says it’s simply easier to try and become less sedentary.

    What Can I Do?

    Well first of all, in order to lower your risk of sedentary related diseases, it’s important to get up and get moving whenever you can. Of course, this can be difficult depending on your profession. This is why the doctors at Mayo Clinic recommend trying out a standing desk if this is something your boss will allow. And if it isn’t allowed in your work place, even just standing while you talk on the phone or watch TV can help lower the number of hours you are sitting per day.

    You can also take a timed break for every hour that you sit. The doctors at Harvard Health recommend setting a timer for this so you don’t forget. Also try to schedule walking meetings, walk to visit coworkers instead of calling, and plan active meetups with friends.

    Overall, no matter how you look at it, living a life where you spend your entire day sedentary is bad for your health. And although you may work out for half an hour a day, this often times isn’t enough to cancel out 8 or 10 hours of sitting.

    This is why it is critically important that you make every effort in your life to spend more time standing or walking to lower your chances of developing a chronic health condition.

     

  • How To Quit Smoking Using Visualization

    Using Visualization to Help You Quit Smoking

    Visualization is important as a way for people to change their behavior, thoughts, and feelings for the better. Visualization involves seeing yourself in positive situations and being the person you want to be.

    It is said that the subconscious mind cannot distinguish between a real event that it observed and an imagined one. The key is to treat the imagined scenario as something you are observing.

    Interestingly, children seem to have this kind of realistic visualization well in place – many times, children cannot distinguish between what they imagine and what is real. Their play seems real to them when they are engaged in it.

    Visualization is tapping into this child-like ability to make your imagination come alive and play out in real life. The theory is that positive thoughts give positive results.

    Visualization could be described as daydreaming with a purpose.

    How Is Visualization Done

    You can do visualization yourself. You can also do it while being guided by a therapist. Some people use tapes or audio resources to help them guide their visualization efforts.

    When you use visualization, you infuse clarity and life into your daydreams. You focus your goals and desires into a very narrow target, and when you visualize, you imagine great detail. When you visualize, you include smells, sounds, tastes, and touch in your thoughts. Your visualizations are lucid, vivid, and specific.

    So what does this have to do with quitting smoking

    The simple answer is, you can use visualization to help you quit smoking by imagining yourself as a non-smoking individual.

    The following are some ideas on using visualization to help you toward your goal to quit smoking:

    Make it a daily activity-Set aside a few minutes of quiet focus that is just you and your thoughts.

    Be specific in your visualization-Imagine tasting delicious food and smelling lovely smells (taste and smell are often dulled by smoking).

    Picture yourself during those times when you like to smoke – after a meal, for example. Imagine yourself enjoying a very relaxing, very flavorful cup of tea, or just being free from smoking. You could visualize your digestive system being free and healthy to do its job without the poison of nicotine.

    Remember your specific goals- Picture yourself having reached that goal, whether it’s to stop smoking by this time next year or by your next birthday.

    Again, be specific with sights, sounds, tastes, and other sensations that make it seem real.

    Maybe one of your goals is to have more spending money.

    Imagine yourself holding the actual amount you will save in your hand, and picture yourself putting it into the bank or spending it on something you want or need.

Copyright @ 2017 DrCurtisMcElroy