Month: May 2018

4 ways to make your weekends more relaxing

Posted on by Aster Haile


The reality of modern life is that we spend most of our weeks in a frantic race for schedules, to-do-lists, deadlines and chores. The exhausting Monday to Friday vortex takes its toll on our energy as we try to maximize our efficiency and productivity. More than ever, rebooting our batteries over the weekend is a must: those 48 hours should be a time to tune out from all the stress and tune into things we love. Here are 4 ways to make your weekends more relaxing.

Disconnect from work and reconnect with those you love.

A good work-life balance is essential to physical and mental health, as well as overall well-being. On weekends, make a point to disconnect from work. Instead, reconnect with yourself and the people who matter in your life.

Invest time in your favorite hobbies.

Whether it’s meditating, reading or exercising, investing time in your favorite hobbies over the weekend allows you to disengage from work, ultimately helping you recover from your week.

Minimize household tasks.

Reconsider your weekly routine to avoid getting stuck with house cleaning and shopping on weekends. Consider online grocery shopping, clean up a little every day (one room per day is a good way), share the workload with family members and learn to accept some disorder from time to time. Author Erin Rooney Doland also recommends spreading homework time during the week and setting duration limits to accomplish chores.

Sleep in only if you really need to.

Sleeping in for few extra hours on the weekend isn’t the best way to catch up on sleep missed during the week. A study from Harvard Medical School demonstrated that it’s impossible to catch up on sleep to improve body performance.  So this weekend, instead of dreaming about eliminating your sleep debt, start planning a regular sleeping routine for a more restful weekend and a better week ahead.

 

Keep cool and laugh

Posted on by Aster Haile

Let’s go back in time for a minute. Picture yourself a dozen years ago when you were a kid. You may not remember it but as a kid, you used to laugh hundreds of times a day: laughing for anything, laughing at someone, laughing to tears… Unfortunately as adults, life becomes more serious and laughter is less likely to be present. Now, if you ever want to find a natural and innate way to relax your mind, body and soul, laughing is simply the best.

Keep cool and laugh to relax your body

Laughter is a strong medicine that relaxes the whole body and leaves your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after you laugh. It helps releasing endorphins the “neurotransmitters that pass along signals from one neuron to the next”. Laughing reduces the production of stress hormones and introduces at the same time, more of these natural feel-good chemicals that give overall well-being to your body.

Keep cool and laugh until your body aches

The harder you laugh, the more your muscles are used (especially your abs). A dozen of muscles on your legs, neck, arms are only used when you laugh! Is a virtuous circle: belly laughs help your belly muscles to relax and once muscles are well rested, you feel awaken and energetic. A deep laugh increases the amount of oxygen to the muscles to help them relax which minimizes muscles tension.

Keep cool and laugh yourself slim

A study published in the International Journal of Obesity proved that laughter increases heart rate and helps burn more calories by up to 20 per cent. They concluded that 15 minutes of laughter per day could help burn up to 40 calories depending on each person’s weight and intensity of the laughter: the longer you laugh and the greater are the effects on your calorie loss.

Learn to laugh in order to be healthy

No matter how the laughter is initiated, you keep the same benefits. Your body doesn’t care if the laughter is fake or real which is a good news if you thinks about trying a laughter session. What is it? A 30 minutes in-group intentional laugh challenge leaded by laughter facilitators. The structured laughter quickly leads to genuine and contagious laughter, which leave people relaxed and energized. There are more than 10,000 laughter clubs in 72 countries – you should definitely try it once in your life!

Never forget that if you really need to relieve emotional stress and get rid of anxiety, laughter is one of the quickest (fun and free) ways!