If you're anything like me your allergies are probably killing you. I've had allergies for my entire life and even got allergy shots twice a week up until high school. The spring season is always the worst for me. All of the pollen and fresh cut grass is really affecting me. However, it is my favorite season because everything is blooming and absolutely beautiful! Why spend spring struggling with allergies?! Here are some of my favorite tips I use during allergy season.

Allergy Medicine

You have to be careful with this one. You for sure should talk to your doctor about what types of medicines will work for you. The most common ones are Allegra or Zyrtec. The key to this is that you start taking the medicine before you start getting symptoms. This could be hard to determine when that is so practice makes perfect! I swear to you that it helps a lot of you use these medicines. Some doctors also will proscribe a nose spray to help reduce the swelling in your sinuses. These help as well! So talk to your doctor about what will work best for you!

Food

Everyone knows that citrus foods are great for when you're sick. This is because they contain Vitamin C. Not only are they good for when you're sick but they're great for allergies as well. Specifically they can temper your stuffy, runny nose and watery eyes. Foods with this are oranges, lemons, tomatoes, and bell peppers. Magnesium is also a mineral that helps allergies. This is because it can help open those airways that are stuffed up. Foods with this are kale, spinach, and sunflower seeds. Good thing kale is so popular now!

Essential Oils

Essential oils are getting very popular these days. Why it wasn't popular before will still confuse me. I live off of essential oils for every possible thing. They help a lot with allergies. Lavender is a great essential oil because it is an anti-inflammatory scent. Not only does it help with allergies but it also helps relaxation, which is great for when you're worried about not being able to breathe through your nose. Peppermint and Eucalyptus are other essential oils that helps allergies and your respiratory system. They helps open your airways to allow you to breathe easier.

There are a ton of home remedies for allergies as well as over the counter medicines. Everyone is different and everyone experiences allergies differently. Finding what works for you is key to conquering allergy season!

xo
Olivia

Healthy Thursday: How Aromatherapy Can Help You

Recently I've been really interested in aromatherapy. I've always known how different smells can trigger things in your mind to help with various health reasons. I've also used some oils in my daily life before. A lot of people don't realize how amazing aromatherapy actually works for your body and mind. There are a ton of different health problems (mind and body) that aromatherapy helps with. Here are a few that I know a lot of people have problems with!

Stress

I talked a lot about how to relieve stress and anxiety in my post here. As I found out from comments and learning experiences, a lot of us have a lot of stress and anxiety in our lives. One of the ways to relieve this is with aromatherapy. The best essential oils to smell is lavender, rose, and Roman chamomile. Lavender is used for different reasons but it helps balance our physical and mental bodies. Rose helps with depression. Roman chamomile helps with mental anxiety, hostility, and paranoia. These three oils help a lot!

Lack of Sleep

Insomnia is something a lot of people suffer from. It takes me about an hour and a half to fall asleep and it prevents me from getting my required amount of sleep each night. Aromatherapy helps a lot with this! Like I said above, lavender helps with a bunch of different problems and it also helps with sleep. Clary sage also helps with sleep because it is a natural sedative. The best way to smell these while sleeping is to spray the scent on your pillow of bedsheets.

Increase Energy

We all have those days where we just can't seem to stay awake. This is a common thing that happens to everyone pretty often. It's crazy to think that smelling something can increase your energy but it can! Cinnamon is one of the best essential oils to smell when you're fatigued. It is a strong scent that opens your eyes and boosts your brain to help you focus. I've heard of some people who keep a tea bag of cinnamon in their purses and often smell it when they need a little pick me up!

Headaches

I suffer from migraines all of the time and aromatherapy seriously helps. Some smells make it worse but I'll stay away from those when I feel a headache coming on. It is getting pretty common for people getting headaches and migraines so here are a few smells that can help relieve the pain! Peppermint essential oils are great for this. Because of the menthol in it, it helps relieve stress and tension headaches as well as muscle pain!

Colds and Flu

Since we're in the midst of flu season there are many different ways to help this. Next week I'm writing about different cold and flu remedies! One way that can help is with eucalyptus essential oil. This smell stimulates your nervous system and helps relieve nasal congestion!

I'm sure some of you are wondering what to do with the oils. There are many different ways to smell them! One way is to buy a diffuser to put the oils in to distribute them in the air. They also sell essential oils in a spray so you can spray them periodically on your bed or in the air around you. Some people also use this like you would for perfume by dabbing the oil on your wrists. You can also buy tea that has these oils that you can smell throughout your day!

Have a Healthy Thursday everyone!
xo
Olivia

Healthy Thursday: Best Ways To Reduce Anxiety

This is my first official post in my new blog series Healthy Thursdays! Every Thursday I'm going to be posting something that relates to health. It could by physical health, mental health, or anything that has to do with your body and mind! I hope you enjoy it!

Everyone has those days where anxiety takes over your life. You could be preparing for a presentation, realizing how much you have to do in a small amount of time, or just get anxious for anything. No matter what the situation is, anxiety can kick in. Being able to control your anxiety is key to having a successful day/life! There are a ton of different ways to be able to do this. Here are some of my favorite ways to reduce anxiety!

Meditate

This one isn't for everyone. It is hard for some people to be able to sit or lay down and just release your thoughts. It takes time for people to be able to actually have a clear mind while meditating. I know for me it is very hard and I don't always have a clear mind. The key (and most important) part about meditating is breathing. If you concentrate on your breathing it can actually reduce your stress! Slowing down your breathing will help slow down your mind and heart rate (incase it's beating fast from the stress). Just breathe and everything will be okay!

Sleep

Sleeping is important for our everyday life. Without sleep, we can get cranky, nauseous, anxious, and a ton of other emotions. It is important to have your necessary amount of sleep each night. Lack of sleep actually can increase your amount of anxiety. Being able to fall asleep with a good night of sleep will help you wake up with a clear mind!

Eating Healthy

It is crazy how much food impacts our lives! It's even crazier that some foods can decrease your anxiety! Here are some foods that you should eat when you're stressed or know you're about to be! Asparagus has a ton of folic acid in it which is a mood boosting nutrient. Vitamin B deficiency is also linked to stress. Eating foods with Vitamin B like avocados, fish, and all bran cereals! Spinach is also great to eat because it is filled with magnesium. In other words, it regulates your cortisol levels and increases your feeling of wellbeing!

Listen to Music

There are a ton of different genres of music out there. If you're anxious, listening to music really does help make you happy and stress free! However, if you're listening to a fast paced song it might not calm you down. The best type of music to listen to is relaxing and calming music. My personal favorite to listen to is either the spa treatment playlist on spotify or anything from Dave Matthews Band!

Calming Oils

Aromatherapy is super important in our lives. It is crazy how a smell can trigger something in your brain and help you feel relaxed. Next week I'm actually going to make a post specifically on aromatherapy but here is a little blurb from it! The best calming oil to reduce stress is lavender. Lavender is such a light smell that it helps you relax. If you can't fall asleep, lavender is great for that as well! You can put a little on your wrists or even get a diffuser!

Remove Yourself

There are a ton of different situations that make you nervous. Being able to remove yourself from the situation on hand is key. Taking a walk outside to help your breathing with fresh air helps a lot! This is great before a test, meeting, or presentation! Take a deep breath and go back into the room with a clear, relaxed mind!

Keeping your mind happy is key to being stress free! These simple tips can help make a difference in your life! What are some ways that you guys stay stress free??

xo
Olivia

Why You Should Make The Switch To Tea

I know there are a ton of coffee lovers out there. And don't get me wrong, coffee is great but in terms of health benefits, tea will beat coffee every time. There are soo many different types of tea out there. I'm here to help you pick out which tea is best for you and provide as many health benefits as I could! Who wouldn't want to do something as simple as drink a few cups of tea to make themselves healthy?!

Coffee

Coffee tastes soo good especially when you add milk and sugar. However, there are many different things that coffee does to your body that might not want you to drink it as much. For one, it can discolor your teeth. I don't know about you, but I want nice white, shiny teeth (Cue in Chip Skylark from The Fairly Odd Parents)! Coffee also has a bigger depressing effect. This means that it reduces your energy levels very quickly as well as increases your stress hormones. Who would want to be stressed??

Tea

On an overall tea level, it has a ton of antioxidants. This is good for your blood, reducing your cholesterol levels, and improving your blood flow. Tea actually helps reduce bad breath! It also hydrates your body considering it is basically flavored water! However, to achieve the best results from tea, you can't add a lot of sugar or milk to it. Different types of tea has different health benefits too!

Green Tea

This is perfect for your overall health. It is a great effective cancer fighter and helps lower your risk for ovarian and breast cancer ladies! It also can help prevent the onset or slow down the progression of dementia. If you have a cold or the flu, green tea is what you should grab!

Black Tea

This tea is great for your breath. It's known stopping plaque buildup on your teeth and may help prevent diabetes. It also is great to help lower your risk for ovarian cancer.

Passionflower Tea

If you're battling anxiety, this tea is for you. It is known to help those who experience a lot of circular thinking or obsessive thoughts. It is best if you drink before bedtime to help calm your mind since a lot of people have a lot of thoughts in their heads preventing them for falling asleep.

White Tea

White tea is perfect for aging. This helps fight signs of aging like wrinkles! Forget Botox and try drinking white tea! It also helps prevent new fat sells from forming when trying to lose weight.

Ginger Tea

If you're like me, I get a lot of headaches and migraines. This tea helps with headaches because it is an anti-inflammatory agent. This helps block prostaglandins which causes a slight swelling in the brain, hence headaches. It actually reduces inflammation in the same amount of time as an aspirin would work. For those of you who don't like taking medicine and stick to things all natural, drink ginger tea!

Valerian Root Tea

This tea goes along with the passionflower tea. The passionflower tea helps calm your mind before going to bed. If that doesn't work, valerian root tea is a natural sedative that can help reduce the amount of time it takes for you to fall asleep. I know some people freak when they see the word "sedative". This tea is all natural and is a safer alternative to habit-forming sleep aids.

Tea helps soo much with different areas of your body. There are soo many different types of tea and this is just a few of them. Each helps different things and each have different flavors. Some people also like to mix some together so try different things out to see what you like!

xo
Olivia