Life Archives - Page 2 of 83

Being The Emotional Support Your Teen Needs

June 18, 2022 by Wendy S

In case you’ve forgotten, going through your teenage years can be tough. There are all of the physical changes of puberty, the plethora of effects hormones can have, as well as social and lifestyle changes to accommodate. Stress, anxiety, and even depression can become a lot more common during these years. So, what can you do to be the emotional support that they need?

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Talk about it

It might sound simple enough, but there are so many topics that can go unaddressed or under-addressed in the average family home, and mental health is one of them. Learn how to talk to your teen about mental health. Check in with them on a regular basis, and make sure that they know that you are a safe place to confide in. Most importantly, listen to them and take the time to verbally acknowledge their emotions. You shouldn’t always try to “fix” what is wrong, even if you feel like they are thinking or doing things you don’t like.

Establish healthier patterns of living

There are many lifestyle factors that can help improve mental and emotional health. It’s not as simple as finding the right band-aid for the job. However, helping them find a workable schedule and routine for school life, encouraging them to join you in getting active more often, and setting a bedtime to make sure that they get enough sleep. Of course, don’t mistake these healthier patterns of living as a working treatment if they are in real emotional distress.

Know when to get some help

There’s a lot that you can do to create a home that is a lot more emotionally healthy for your teens. However, you can’t always be the only help that they’re going to need. Whether they are dealing with things that are a little more than you’re able to handle or you simply acknowledge that they could use help with their emotional health, you should always consider youth psychotherapy to be a valid option. A confident, practiced hand can do a lot of good in helping your teen address their issues in a healthy way that they might not learn otherwise.

Mind yourself too

You want to be a pillar of support for your teen, but it can be difficult if you’re not firing on all cylinders. If stress, anxiety, or other worries are getting to you, then you need to ensure that you’re taking care of yourself. Putting a strong front to help your kids is only going to get you so far. Make sure that you’re aware of when you need help, or when you need to pause, re-evaluate and take some action to get things back on an even keel.

Awareness of mental and emotional health, and taking steps to work through them, is an important part of raising a family and it’s not one that a lot of us talk about enough. Hopefully, the tips above can help you be a little more mindful and helpful where your teens are concerned.

Keeping kids safe in a car or on a bike — Parachute Safe Kids Week

June 1, 2022 by Wendy S

Parachute Safe Kids Week is from May 30 to June 5, 2022, and this year they are focusing on safe and active transportation.

They have put together an amazing list of Active Transportation Safety Tips to help keep kids safe and active on their travels.

Driver safety tips: Help keep pedestrians and cyclists safe

• Reduce your speed. Lower speeds give you more time to react and brake if needed. Lowering your speed also greatly reduces the chances a pedestrian will be killed if there is a crash. Be especially cautious in areas such as school zones, where children may be travelling to or from school.

• Drive at 30 km/h. A pedestrian struck by a car travelling at 50 km/h is almost six times more likely to be killed than a pedestrian struck at 30 km/h. At a speed of 30 km/h, vehicles and pedestrians are both relatively safe; drivers have sufficient time to stop for pedestrians and pedestrians can make better crossing decisions.

• Keep your distance. Ensure you give cyclists space on the road. When parking on the street, always check for cyclists before opening your door.

• Put down the distractions. In the few seconds you turn and reach for something in the vehicle, your eyes are off the road. Leave whatever it is until you stop. Don’t use handheld devices of any kind; these create high levels of distraction risk among drivers.

• Be alert. Traffic congestion and unsafe driver behaviour are common in school zones during drop-off and pick-up times. As a driver, be patient and expect kids to be kids. Be alert for child pedestrians and cyclists darting between cars or moving suddenly onto the road.

• Drive sober. If you are planning to drink alcohol or use drugs, don’t drive.
Visit our road safety page for more helpful tips: parachute.ca/en/injury-topic/road-safety/
Pedestrian safety tips

• Travel with your younger children. Younger children still need to develop the cognitive and physical skills to make safe judgments about road crossing and traffic. While your children are developing these skills, travel with them and talk to them about pedestrian safety.

• Use sidewalks or paths. Spaces that allow pedestrians to move around separate from motor vehicles are safer. Sidewalks can reduce the incidents of drivers hitting pedestrians along a roadway by up to 88 percent. No sidewalks? Travel facing traffic and as far away from vehicles as possible.

• Cross at designated crossings. Use traffic signals and crosswalks when possible. Talk about what you do before you cross a road. Teach your child to use their senses. Think, look and listen, even if there is a crossing guard or traffic signals to assist them. Teach kids at an early age to look left, right and left again when crossing the road. When the way is clear, or all the cars at the crosswalk or intersection have come to a full stop, teach your child to cross the road and not to double back or run.

• Be a role model. Children learn from their parents and caregivers. Over time, your frequent demonstrations will become ingrained in your child’s approach to crossing roads. Expect them to do the same thing when they are crossing the street independently.

Visit our pedestrian safety page for more helpful tips.

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

Cycling safety tips

• Check your ride. Ensure your child’s bike is adjusted correctly for their height and have them do a bike check before riding to ensure tires are inflated and brakes are working properly.

• Be prepared. Bike safety training and knowing the rules of the road are important for riders’ safety. Protect young riders by using designated riding areas when possible. Bike safety training courses are available at https://canbikecanada.ca/

• Assess your child’s navigational skills before riding on the road. Children develop better physical and cognitive skills around age 10 – but their ability to ride on the road may depend on their experience, environment and development. Not sure if your child is ready to ride solo? Consider traffic volume, the number of intersections and your child’s level of experience before making a decision.

• Stay on the right side of the road. When using the road, ride on the right side in the same direction as traffic to make you more visible to drivers. Adults should lead kids by cycling single file and having them repeat hand signals.

• Protect your head, wear a helmet. A properly fitted and correctly worn bike helmet can make a dramatic difference, cutting the risk of serious head injury by 60 per cent. Use the 2V1 rule for helmet fitting (two fingers above eyebrows, straps form a “V” under ears, no more than one finger space between strap and chin) to ensure the right fit.

• Be seen and heard. Make sure drivers can always see you and your child. Wearing bright, reflective clothing and equipping your bike with flashing lights and reflectors help increase 360-degree visibility. A working bell will also alert other riders and pedestrians when you are close or passing.

Visit our cycling safety page for more helpful tips –> parachute.ca/en/injury-topic/cyling/

Image by Albrecht Fietz from Pixabay

Safety tips for other wheeled activities (such as skateboarding, rollerblading, scootering)

• Choose a safe place to wheel, away from traffic. Use pathways, sidewalks and skate parks.

• Wear the right helmet for the activity. Bike helmets can be used for in-line skating and non-motorized scootering, but skateboarding helmets should be used for skateboarding and longboarding; they cover the back of the head better and can protect against more than one crash. Visit Parachute’s helmets page for more information. parachute.ca/en/injury-topic/helmets/

• Always wear the gear. Along with a helmet, wear wrist guards to help prevent broken bones and sprains. Wear elbow and knee pads for in-line skating. Also wear brightly coloured clothing and reflective gear to help increase 360-degree visibility.

For more information, visit parachute.ca/safekidsweek

Feeling Stressed: When Should You Listen To Your Body?

May 26, 2022 by Wendy S

Stress is a normal human reaction to experiencing something difficult, confusing, and sometimes even a little traumatic. It helps us to keep our heads on straight during those moments when we don’t know what to do, and in the days when we were hunter-gatherers, it would have kept us vigilant and awake during those dangerous moments!

But in the modern world, the stress response isn’t all that useful. Rarely are we in need of adrenaline spikes just to commute in the mornings, and the resulting toil can be very hard on our bodies! Of course, stress can still be helpful in small ways, like ensuring we perform to the best of our abilities, but it’s so easy for that feeling to tip over into nerve-wracking territory.

But when does this tip occur? When should you listen to your body when you’re feeling stressed? Here are a few signs that shouldn’t go ignored.

Photo by Anna Shvets

When a Full 8 Hours Does Nothing for You

Getting plenty of sleep is one thing, but is the quality of your sleep good enough? Are you waking up multiple times a night? Are you tossing and turning? Do you even struggle to fall asleep in the first place, and take hours to get there? These are all signs that you’re stressed and the level is reaching its peak.

Cortisol, a hormone released when stressed, can prevent you from getting good sleep every night. This chemical keeps you from feeling relaxed and like you could fall asleep any moment – it’s there to wake you up and keep you awake, like you would need to be when stressed. So when stress builds up over time, more and more cortisol is released, and you lose sleep because of it, and on and on the cycle goes! Simply put, if you can’t sleep, it’s time to do something about what’s getting you feeling so high strung.

When You’ve Got a Headache You Can’t Shift

Stress can cause us to overload, and nowhere is that more true than in our muscles. We can be tense for hours on end when we’re stressed, without even realizing it, and that can leave us with muscle pains, headaches, and even a bad migraine. And when you’re actually experiencing physical sensations because of stress, it’s time to sit back and relax and try to shake some of that weight!

Indeed, a lot of people will turn to self-medicating in an instance like this; it’s easy to just pour yourself a glass of wine to help dull the ache when you get home from work in the evening. However, always indulging to beat back pain can cause a habit to form, and in the worst-case scenario, it can lead to an addiction.

In turn, your stress levels might lead you to need substance use treatment, which just complicates the matter even further. Above all else, if stress is leading you to feel physical pain on a regular basis, it’s best to see a doctor as soon as possible.

When You’ve Completely Lost Your Appetite

Not feeling like you’re up to cooking dinner happens from time to time; it’s been a long day, and you’d rather just veg out with some snacks in front of the TV. No one can fault you for that! But if you’re regularly skipping meals because you’re just not hungry for them, and this is a recent development, it might be worth it to look into your diet.

Are you not eating just because you need to try something new? Or could it be another sign of stress? Losing your appetite is quite a common sign your stress levels are high, and it’s hard to stop what you’re doing and drag your attention towards making some healthy and filling food. But even if you just order in a few times this week, you’ll at least be eating! And that’s always healthier than not eating at all. You might even notice your appetite coming back in short order.

Your body is very good at telling you what it needs. For example, if you’re under a lot of stress, you may find that certain foods make you feel worse. You may also crave foods that you usually avoid. Pay attention to these cues from your body and try to make changes accordingly. For example, try to satisfy your sweet tooth with fresh fruit if you’re craving sugary snacks. And if you’re constantly tired, make sure to get enough sleep and eat foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals. Listening to your body can help you recover from stress more quickly and effectively.

When Your Heart Regularly Races

Your heart can race for multiple reasons; you’re watching something adrenaline-inducing, you’re getting involved in exercise, or you’re in a scary situation that you’re not sure how to handle. And all of these reasons don’t tend to be something you need to worry about in the long term – once it’s over and done with, your heartbeat will return to normal.

But if you’re feeling stressed over a long period of time, you might find your heart racing seemingly randomly. You get sweaty and out of breath just being at work, or running an errand around the supermarket, and it can feel like your body is beating in rhythm in various places. And while you can usually pull yourself away to calm down, this can become a serious problem if the stress isn’t dealt with.

When You Find it Hard to Focus

Finding it hard to focus happens from time to time. Maybe you’re bored, maybe your mind is on other things, maybe you’ve been chatting to someone and forgotten what you were supposed to be doing – these are all human things. However, if you walk into work, or you sit down to crunch some numbers and just can’t get on with anything, it’s another way stress can mess with you.

This is usually an obvious problem, and can cause some real panic. Maybe your eyes cross and your mind gets a bit fuzzy? Or you’re taking ages to get something done that usually only takes you 20 minutes? You can even struggle to actually just look at something right in front of you, in the worst-case scenario!

You may need to try a couple of things to help you focus, such as Delta 8 Seltzers, if your stress levels are constantly high and you find that you can’t focus on anything. Meditation, if your mind is constantly racing and you can’t seem to focus on anything. Take a break from work or whatever it is that you’re doing if you find that you’re staring at a screen and not getting anything done. Sometimes, it’s better to return to something later when you’re feeling more relaxed and can focus better.

Stress can be bad for your body in the long term, but when should things really change? It’s always up to you of course, but make sure signs and symptoms like those above don’t go unchallenged for too long. And it’s important to always talk to your doctor about the stress you’re feeling and follow their advice!

Travel Essentials to Take to Hot Climate

May 23, 2022 by Wendy S

Photo by Craig Adderley from Pexels

When travelling to a hot climate, you often need to take extra precautions to ensure that you stay safe and comfortable throughout your trip. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few essentials you should definitely pack for your next trip to a hotter climate than you’re used to.

Merino wool

This might sound strange to some people, but Merino wool is great for just about any climate It keeps you cool in hot climates and warm in cool climates, so you should always pack some wherever you go.

Moisture-wicking underwear

Moisture-wicking underwear will keep your most delicate parts dry and comfortable no matter how hot it gets. So, you can explore your vacation destination without having to worry about freshness or getting any itchy heat rashes which can be oh so annoying.

Eye drops

If you are prone to getting dry eye, then it is a really good idea to take moistening eye drops to hot climates with you. Hot weather is a particular trigger for dry eye, and as you know, it can get pretty irritating and uncomfortable, so you really don’t want it to ruin your vacation. That’s why you really should not forget to pack eye drops.

Sunglasses

Sunglasses will also help to protect your eyes, this time from the damaging effects of the sun’s rays.

Water bottles

Taking your own water bottle with you will encourage you to keep dehydrated. Just bear in mind that, in some countries, tap water is not safe to drink, and if that is the case, buying bottled water throughout the day is likely to be safer.

Cotton clothing

Not only does cotton clothing enable your skin to breathe, so that you are less likely to overheat, but it dries very quickly. So, if you get hot and sweaty, you can wash and dry your clothing in no time at all.

Lightweight shoes

Your feet can get really hot in a warm climate, so it is a good idea to pack sandals, along with a good pair of lightweight sneakers or trail shoes, depending on what kind of activities you are likely to be getting up to.

Lots of sunscreen

Of course, one of the most important things you should pack when travelling to a hot climate is sunscreen. Lots of it. You should never be out in the daylight hours without having lots of sunscreen on. The risk of being burned is so very high that you absolutely cannot afford to skip even one application.

It might be a good idea to also pack some alive vera gel because, if you do get burnt, it will help to soothe your pain significantly.

A sun hat

A sun hat will help to stop you from overheating, prevent your head from burning, and provide you with some much-needed shade when you’re on the beach, so be sure to bring one along.

With these essentials in your suitcase, you can be sure that you’ll have a safe, comfortable, and most important of all, fun time, on your next hot climate vacation.

The 6 Things To Keep You Focused on Your Fitness Journey

May 23, 2022 by Wendy S

Photo by Annushka Ahuja from Pexels

You have planned your cardio workouts and invested in the clothing or equipment, but you are still struggling with your fitness regime. Sound familiar? If you’re finding it hard to stick to it, you are not alone. The fact is there can be many reasons why we don’t stick to our fitness journey. We can fall off the wagon because it’s too difficult or we hit a bad run in our lives, but there are many things you can do to keep yourself focused, including the following:

Consistency With Your Diet

We all have a focus on getting fit, which means that we think we’ve got to exercise and everything else doesn’t matter. The reality is that nutrition is more important. Have you heard the expression “abs are made in the kitchen?” If you hit a bad patch in your life, ensuring that you stay consistent with your diet, your hydration, and your supplements can help you to feel energized, while also reminding you that you are on this journey which doesn’t happen overnight. When it comes to supplements, there are plenty out there, since 2007, Steel Supplements have been providing supplements for plenty of people looking to achieve their fitness goals, and there are also plenty of supplement websites that provide invaluable exercise support. Even if you’re not able to exercise for whatever reason, keeping your nutrition dialled in means you should still see the benefit!

Work Out With Someone Else

Motivation can be a major factor, so if you go and exercise with someone, you’re more likely to stick to it, so it can become a habit. The benefits of having a buddy can go beyond motivation. For example, you can spot each other so you are both working out with the proper form. And when it gets to the point where it becomes a habit, you can start to mix it up and incorporate that friendly competition! This is another key motivator so many athletes have at the forefront of their minds. Even if your workout buddy can only do 21 push-ups, you aiming for 22 can be a little thing that really ignites your mindset.

Mix Up Your Training

If you hit a plateau, which everybody does at some point, mixing it up can really achieve better results. You don’t have to stick to the same things but you can try any of the following:

Boxing workouts.
Medicine balls.
Using your body weight.
Resistance bands.

And the list goes on! Because when we get into the same old routine, we’re not shocking the body, which means that we’re not stimulating growth or adaptation.

Setting Yourself Clear Goals

Many people decide that a goal is “to get healthy” or “lose X pounds,” but these are very muddy goals. When you set out clear goals, this gives you a better idea of how you need to meet these goals. For example, for anybody that is looking to train to get into the fire service, the criteria are laid out; they have to lift a certain amount of weight over their shoulders, which means that anybody that is looking to go down this career path will focus more on their shoulders, as well as their cardio training. When you start to set yourself clear goals, this will dictate the program, but it also keeps you building towards it.

Remember Your Mindset

There are going to be times when you won’t want to exercise because you’re too tired or you’ve had a long day, but the fact is you just need to shut up and train! Feeling confident about your progress is usually motivation enough on those difficult evenings when you don’t want to hit the gym, but it’s also important to note if you’re feeling demotivated because you are plateauing, because there is such a thing as overtraining! If you are doing too much, think about having a rest for 48 hours and see how you feel after that.

Get a Personal Trainer

If you are keeping an eye on your finances right now, this is not necessarily a worthwhile option, but there’s a lot to be said for having a personal trainer in your life as they will help you stay focused, but they have the qualifications and experience to ensure that you are hitting your goals.

Keeping the focus on your fitness journey is not always easy. One of the biggest things you need to do is to start slow. Exercise is not about doing everything all at once, but giving it time, so while you might be chomping at the bit to lose weight or lift your body weight, the reality is that the route to complete fitness is a gradual one.