Relationships are not easy, and maintaining one takes work from each person involved. There are ways to enhance the bond between a couple and it takes commitment, mutual respect and effort. Every relationship is different, and no relationship is perfect. However, you can use some strategies to keep your relationship healthy and positive. When communicating...
Although summer tends to be seen as a season of joy and happiness, it can surprisingly contribute to increased anxiety. Warm weather can contribute to health issues including lack of sleep and dehydration. These can contiribute to the body feeling more stressed and thus more anxious. Your mental well-being can be negatively impacted during the...
Research has shown that nature can impact our mental health and well-being. Our environment can increase or decrease our stress levels, which then impacts our physical and mental health. Environmental stressors can make us feel anxious, depressed, helpless and more. These can manifest physically into higher blood pressure, increased heart rate, weaker immune system and...
There are many reasons that can make us anxious, and usually the root cause of it is something we cannot change. Coping with anxiety means changing what you can and accepting the rest. Normal anxiety comes from our ancestors being put in situations where a fight or flight response would arise, such as staying safe...
Spending time on hobbies you enjoy can improve your well-being and mental health. They are a great way to relax and unwind from your daily routines. Hobbies can be reading, art, music, learning a new skill or simply doing something outdoors. The great thing about hobbies is there are no rules on what one can...
Meditation influences both the mind and the body. Training in meditation can make you calmer, more relaxed and less stressed. Even as little as 20 minutes per day can lead to physical changes in the body – such as lower blood pressure, lower heart rate, and deeper breathing. Meditation has also been shown to reduce...
January is the month many of us are working on new year’s resolutions. We could be working on the same ones from the previous year or trying to make new goals. If you did not meet your aspirations for 2018, you are not the only one! According to studies over 80% of people fail or...
Exercise has been found to improve mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, addictions, grief, dementia, bipolar disorder and others. It has also been proven to relieve stress and even boost your mood. When we exercise the brain releases endorphins, hormones which trigger a positive feeling in our bodies. Exercising gives us the opportunity to...
Being true to oneself means being real in love, life, work and to yourself. It means knowing your boundaries and knowing when to say “no.” Many times, we want to please too many people in our lives. We want to be valued at work, we want to fit in at school, or we want to...
Every day we are faced with various challenges that life throws at us and we must learn how to cope. There are times we do this without even being aware of it and other times we must choose to actively engage in a coping tool to work through these challenges. Coping skills can range from...
Mental health counseling sometimes requires a re-thinking of how to provide healthcare, specifically so patients feel more comfortable seeking help. This can include developing new ways to deliver care to people; telehealth is one of those ways. Through the use of current technology, we can now improve access to care for people who live in...
One of the most important foundations for a healthy relationship is communication. It can also be one of the hardest parts about being in one! You might think there are only a few ways to communicate as a couple; however, there are a wide variety of mistakes a couple can make. Couples with communication issues...
Stress is a part of life. We can experience long term stress through something like our careers or school, or something short term such as a project or a temporary family responsibility. As you might imagine, this can seriously affect our health, but there is a way to manage stress using the proper tools and...
Goal setting is an essential part of our lives. In order to help guide us towards our hopes and dreams, we all need goals. Setting goals helps us create a more solid path to what we want to reach in life. Writing out those goals makes them real; it helps us visualize what we want...
Depression effects millions of people in the United States; statistics show that nearly 15 million people suffer from this disease and over 3 million of those people experience continuous, persistent episodes of depression. Continuous, persistent episodes of depression is defined as depression lasting over two years that does not go away by itself or...
By Vanessa Imus, MS, RD Founding Dietitian of Integrated Nutrition Food can have an impact on mood in numerous ways. Both the way we eat and what we eat play a role in how we feel throughout the day. Many people have had the experience of being “hangry” (hungry and angry), which is a common...
Nutrition: Food and Mood EDUCATIONAL CLASS THURSDAY 6:00PM-7:30PM March 29th cost: $25 Come learn ABOUT NUTRITION AND HOW IT CAN IMPROVE YOUR MOOD IN A SMALL GROUP SETTING. The food you eat greatly effects your brain chemistry and in turn your mood. Learn to identify foods that may be having a negative impact on your...
THURSDAYS 6-7PM April 12 – May 10 cost: $25/WEEK (Must sign up for the full 5-week series) Come learn skills in a small group setting that you can implement into your life right now! Anxiety can show up in response to a number of different factors, some of which may include; trauma, relationships, work, illness...
In our previous blogs we have discussed what constitutes PTSD and different approaches to treatment, now let’s discuss what happens if one does not seek treatment. There is evidence to suggest that once somebody meets criteria for PTSD it is unlikely for this diagnosis to go away without outside intervention. This is not to say...
In our previous blog series we discussed trauma as it pertains to post-traumatic stress disorder and then outlined the set of symptoms that folks experience after trauma that might indicate they have PTSD. Now let’s talk about treatment. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a treatable mental health condition. There are a variety of treatment options...
