Mother’s Day is this Sunday.

What are you going to do for Mother’s Day this year?  We always have brunch and it is such a treat.  I found some great links to help you make or buy some great gifts for your mom (Aunt, Grandma, Friend, heck just about any female you have in your life).

75 Things to Make for your Mom - Tip Junkie – Love this site and this link, such great ideas

Favorite Finds for Mother’s -Some of my Favorite Finds –  very unique ideas

15 Gifts for Under $25 for your mom - Averie Cooks – great ideas if your mom loves to cook/ bake

Gifts For The Garden Mom - Mom Fuse

Fitness Gift Guide for the Sporty Mom- Huffington Post

Our Last Year’s Fitness Gift Guide for mom 

Marnie Evans* was on vacation with her husband and kids in Northern Ontario three years ago when her allergy medication ran out. Instead of risking a medical emergency, she headed to the local hospital to get a new prescription. But when the admitting nurse asked Marnie why she was there, it became clear she had bigger problems than an expired prescription. Marnie broke down in tears; suddenly allergies were the farthest thing from her mind. “I haven’t slept in months,” she blurted out. “And I just can’t cope anymore.”

The 44-year-old felt herself drowning in work and had recently watched several co-workers get laid off, which made her feel rattled by her own job instability. She recalls struggling with insomnia on and off throughout her adult life, but this was different. “I got very anxious about it, but that only made things worse,” she says.

Once the allergy meds were dealt with, the emergency doctor gave Marnie two prescriptions: one for a tranquilizer to help her find calm in the short term, and another that simply said, “Sleep.” “Take this to your family doctor,” he said. “You need to figure this out.”

Marnie is one of the more than three million Canadians, mostly women, who struggle with insomnia: It often takes them more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, they wake up regularly during the night, or their eyes pop open at least a half-hour before the alarm goes off . And the result? “During the day they feel awful,” says psychologist Colleen Carney, director of the Sleep and Mood Disorder Program at Ryerson University in Toronto. But there’s more to it than that: “Fatigue impacts the way you think, your ability to concentrate and how you make decisions,” says Carney. Plus, mounting research shows lack of sleep is linked to higher rates of obesity, premature aging and chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

If Marnie’s story sounds familiar, try these surprisingly effective ways to stop tossing and turning—and get your health back on track.

1. Customize your own “calm down” routine When Rachel Pulfer, the 36-year-old executive director of Journalists for Human Rights in Toronto, struggled with severe insomnia a few years back, she eventually found relief with a simple rule: Don’t check emails after 7 p.m. She found that if she worked too close to bedtime, she was guaranteed disrupted sleep. She also created a pre-sleep routine that included a lavender bath and drinking warm milk before bed.

Try this trick: Pick a time to turn off all electronics (ideally two hours after work or less) . Use your newfound time to relax with a warm mug of milk or enjoy a calming aromatherapy bath.

2. Do yoga at night

The one good thing about insomnia is that it often highlights bigger issues. “If you’re stressed out and just pushing through it, maybe you should think, ‘This anxiety is so bad that it’s impairing my ability to sleep. Maybe I need to take better care of myself,’” says Carney, whose book Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep is the guide Marnie credits for helping to improve her sleep. Some experts point to yoga as a powerful way to unwind a stressed-out, overactive mind. Holding poses and focusing the breath can reduce heart rate and blood pressure, leaving you more relaxed.

Try this trick: Look for an evening hatha or restorative yoga class that you can do after work.

3. Take mini breaks throughout the day
Jennifer Bunzenmeyer, a naturopathic doctor at the Acadia Wellness Centre in Calgary, says that stressful, hectic days force us to produce large amounts of hormones like adrenaline or cortisol over time, which can leave us too stimulated to fall asleep. Combat this problem by giving yourself a ‘recess.’

Try this trick: Find a quiet corner to do her favourite breathing exercise (which you can also do at night): Close your eyes and breathe in deeply through your nose for four counts, then breathe out through your mouth for another four counts. Repeat until you feel relaxed. Meditation can also help. “It teaches you to calm down your mind,” says Bunzenmeyer, who suggests the Mindfulness for Beginners CD series by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

4. Get out of bed

If 20 minutes has passed and you’re still sleepless or worrying, bust out the fuzzy slippers. Carney points out that the worrying is likely happening because you’re in and out of stage 1 sleep, that not-quite-asleep time when thoughts can be intense and irrational. “When you go into another room, you’re not in stage 1 anymore, so you’re more lucid and all those worries are more likely to just go away.” Once you’re relaxed and feeling sleepy, go back to bed.

Try this trick: Prep your den or living room with a night light and a good book.

5. Avoid napping
If you’re struggling with insomnia, it might seem natural to take a nap. But all you’re doing then is teaching your body it needs less sleep. To get deep, restorative sleep, you have to wear yourself out. And that’s better achieved by socializing and staying active.

Try this trick: Instead of nodding off after dinner, meet a friend for a walk outdoors. Fresh air is nature’s sleep aid.

6. Keep a sleep journal

Each of us has an internal sleep clock, which sets the window of time the body is most primed to sleep. It’s individual and fairly fixed (which is why there are early birds and night owls). Carney and her team help people determine this window through sleep diaries as part of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Here’s how it works: Say your sleep diary shows that you usually fall asleep around 11 p.m. and wake up at 6 a.m.; that’s your approximate window. Force yourself to be in bed only during those hours, and don’t go to bed if you’re not sleepy. “You might not get to sleep until two, but when it’s six o’clock, it’s feet-on-the-floor time. Yes, that sucks for the day after, but you’ll be rewarded that night with deep sleep.” Usually within a week or so, says Carney, the body will fill up the window with sleep since it’s naturally inclined to rest during that time, and you’ve reinforced that this is your only opportunity for sleep.

Try this trick:Keep a journal on your bedside table to pinpoint your window – then stick to it.

7. Redecorate your bedroom
If you struggle to get to sleep at home but don’t have trouble in other places (like on vacation or when visiting someone), it’s possible your bed has become a signal for wakefulness, says Carney. “If you associate the bed with sleeplessness, you just have to look at it, and you’ll instantly feel awake and anxious.”

Try this trick: Move the furniture, change the wall colour or get new sheets. Even lowering the temperature could do the trick.

8. Use natural supplements

Although it can be very tempting to open the medicine cabinet or dip into your liquor stash, neither one holds an effective remedy, says Charles Morin, professor of psychology and director of the sleep research center at Université Laval in Quebec City. Over-the-counter meds, such as Nytol, contain antihistamines, which make you drowsy but can also leave you feeling groggy and nauseous. You’re also more likely to wake up with a headache the next day. And what about a quick nightcap? “Even if a drink helps you relax in the moment, you’ll likely have a more fitful sleep and wake up in the night, so skip it,” says Morin. And of course there’s the risk of getting hooked: Carney says that one study of people with chronic insomnia showed they were more likely to develop problems with alcohol than those without sleep troubles.

Try this trick: Ask your doctor about natural alternatives like melatonin, or consider acupuncture. Bunzenmeyer also suggests balancing hormones with omega-3 supplements.

9. Eat for stable blood sugar
Bunzenmeyer has noticed that many of her patients suffering from insomnia have improved their sleep by balancing their blood sugar levels through their diet. “People often wake up in the night because their blood sugar has dropped.”

Try this trick: To stabilize bloodsugar, she recommends starting the day with a balanced breakfast and eating protein at each meal and snack. Caffeine (coffee, black tea, pop and chocolate) is a no-no. Use camomile and passion-flower teas, which have natural sleep-enhancing properties, says Bunzenmeyer.

10. Don’t panic

You’re lying in bed watching the minutes change on the clock, thinking about how tired you’re going to be tomorrow. But the more you stress, the more you can’t sleep, and the more you can’t sleep, the more you stress. “If people are more relaxed about the sleep loss, the insomnia gets better and they can recover,” says Carney. It’s a lesson Marnie has learned well. “I used to be so worried about my sleep. Now I tell myself that if I don’t sleep, I will be able to cope. And I do.”

Professional help

If nothing else helps, it might be time to try medication or therapy. Here’s what you need to know:

For stress insomnia: Sleeping pills prescribed by your doctor (like Ambien) can help relieve short-term insomnia caused by stress, such as the death or serious illness of a loved one, divorce or job loss. But they’re not recommended for chronic insomnia due to side effects and loss of efficacy in the longer term.

For chronic insomnia: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a smart treatment for chronic insomnia. With it, you can learn how to adjust the way you think about sleep and learn to reframe your sleep habits.

Bottom line:Marnie Evans tried both: CBT helped treat her insomnia, and she has a prescription sleep aid that she calls her “security blanket.” She has used it occasionally, like when she started a new job.

Tips from Chatelaine

Guest Post – Andrea

Whether you are struggling with bingeing or are simply wondering how best to manage cravings for junk food, you have choices.

1. Eat the junk food now (it’s better to address a food craving head on and finish all the junk food you have in the house right away).

2. Don’t eat the junk food (avoid eating junk food at all cost, since once you start it is hard to stop).

3. Don’t eat the junk food now, but you can have it later (you don’t believe in denial, but should wait and see if this is a true craving or an impulsive or emotional decision).

If you answered number three, you might be correct. Recent preliminary findings by assistant professor Nicole Mead from CatolicaLisbon School of Business and Economics in Portugal found that postponing a craving for chocolate candies to a later time decreased the desire for them. What’s more, it helped decrease how much was eaten over the course of a week.

The researchers repeated this study with high school students and potato chips.

They found that students in the first group, who were told to eat the chips whenever they wanted, had them four times that week. Those in the second group, who were told not to eat the chips, ate them 4.5 times that week. Those in the third group, who were told to postpone chip eating until later, ate the least amount of chips at 2.4 times that week.

Why does delaying junk food shrink how much we eat? Researchers suspect that giving yourself time provides a cooling-off period that lets you sort out the debate of all-or-nothing eating. They also suspect that making a vague postponement claim rather than setting a specific time to eat the junk food later is probably better.

If you struggle with overeating sweet or savoury foods, the next time you feel a craving coming on, instead of saying “I will have this later at 7 p.m.,” choose instead to say, “I will have this later if I want it.”

When it comes to eating soulful foods chosen for fun and taste rather than health, you may have thought there were only two choices: all or none. Remember there is a third choice that is likely best: later if I want. 

Three nutrition keys to help manage food cravings:

1. Start the day off right

Breakfast sets the stage for how the rest of your day will go. If you are overeating later in the day, one of the first questions to ask yourself is “Is my breakfast as big as my supper?” If not, perhaps you need to shift the timing of when you are eating for when you need it.

2. KISS (Keep Ingesting Something, Silly)

You need to eat something every three to five hours to keep your energy up and to avoid getting too hungry and overeating.

3. Find satisfaction

Somewhere between feeling starved and stuffed after a meal indicates you have eaten enough food to feel full and satisfied. If you stop eating because you think you should rather than because you’ve truly had enough, you can bet you will be looking for food again soon. 

Dietitian Andrea Holwegner, the chocoholic nutritionist, owns Health Stand Nutrition Consulting Inc.

Guest Post

Night owls, insomniacs, shift workers and other denizens of the dark are finding less need to fit their workout time into the nine-to-five world.  More gyms are remaining open round the clock, experts say, spurred by advances in surveillance and security technology, clients’ ever more fluid work habits and a generation of multi-tasking consumers.   

“A lot of people work untraditional times and they take advantage of clubs open at all hours,” said Carl Liebert, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness, an international chain of health clubs, most of them open around the clock.  Liebert said his 30-year-old chain has seen an increase in after-hours traffic, with five to 15 per cent of clients, depending on location, working out between midnight and 5:00 a.m.

“I think people have changed,” he said. “They’re online; they’re connected day and night. When I grew up I went to bed at night and got up in the morning. Between those times I wasn’t multitasking.” Liebert said common night visitors include people who work out to relieve stress, insomniacs, and hard-core fitness fanatics who wouldn’t miss a workout and prefer a gym less crowded. 

The number of health clubs open 24 hours has soared from just couple hundred five years ago to more than 2,000 today, according to IHRSA, the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, a trade association of fitness facilities.  Spokesperson Meredith Poppler said while most club goers still work out during regular hours, technology has enabled small, often rural, clubs to operate overnight, and sometimes unstaffed.

“Cameras on the doors, cameras in the clubs, safety buttons each member carries set them apart,” said Poppler. “Many of the operators are in the clubs at certain times of days, but other times the clubs are truly unstaffed.”  Access is granted via a swipe card or key fob.   Poppler said the largest franchising company of 24-hour key clubs is Anytime Fitness, based in Hastings, Minnesota.

Earlier this year the chain reported that late-night workouts from midnight to 3:00 a.m. totaled 1.2 million in 2011, up from 900,000 the previous year.  Anytime Fitness finds that 24/7 access caters to everyone from your typical night owls, to doctors and nurses, and other public service officials who work odd hours,” said spokesperson Tara Dosh.

Liz Neporent, spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, belongs to a 24-hour gym in New York City.   She said physiologically it doesn’t matter when you choose to work out, although some studies suggest that morning exercisers may be more likely to stick with their program. More important is finding a time that’s convenient.  

Neporent, who has experience operating health clubs, said while she prefers to see staff on duty at night, sometimes it’s not economically feasible.  ”A lot of residential gyms in apartment buildings are lightly manned or unmanned,” she said, adding that for turnkey gyms, cameras are a must.   Neporent said when she does hit the gym at 3:00 a.m., the crowd’s different.  

“At 6:00 a.m. you get the professionals going to work. Late morning you see a lot of stay-at-home moms. Overnight I tend to see more creative types,” she said. “More piercings, more tattoos. I have met interesting people at three or four in the morning.”

Source

Cancer is always such a difficult but so important topic to talk about – Guest Post

Besides the devastating physical effects of cancer, the disease also wreaks havoc with a person’s mood. Not only can depression be a common side effect of cancer, but grief and sadness are common as well. A regular fitness routine can help alleviate these symptoms and bring positive physical effects as well.

Physical Effects

According to the Mayo Clinic, exercise produces a number of beneficial effects in the body. It causes the release of feel good chemicals like endorphins in the brain, which are not only natural pain killers, but also mood enhancers. Additionally, exercise increases body temperature, which calms the body. Exercise is also able to reduce the immune system chemicals in the body, which are responsible for the worsening of depressive symptoms. People with different types of cancers will look for different types of exercises. Lung cancer and mesothelioma causes patients to focus on cardio exercises to increase lung capacity while breast cancer patients might try yoga to increase flexibility.

Psychological Benefits

Illness can make a person feel isolated, and often cancer survivors can find groups like prostate cancer survivor running clubs, which provide the members with much needed social support. The increased connection that people feel exercising with others who have survived the illness can increase both mood and optimism levels.

Additionally, fitness routines like a spin class or a yoga group can change the focus of a person fighting a serious illness like cancer, providing temporary relief from the worry and stress that comes with the diagnosis and treatment. 

Personal Mastery

A cancer diagnosis can cause a person to feel helpless, and one of chief benefits of fitness is a sense of personal mastery, according to the University of California, San Fransisco. This alleviates the feeling of being out of control that cancer brings with it. Participating in a fitness routine helps to restore the sense of control, thereby elevating the mood and creating a more positive and empowered outlook. 

In cases like breast cancer, the small physical tests that daily exercise provides encourages the patient to take bigger risks. Being able to do more and more physically provides markers of progress. For example, the breast cancer survivor who can’t even lift a cup of coffee immediately following cancer surgery will develop a sense hope as her strength increases. The importance of this cannot be underestimated. According to the BBC, women who felt helpless after cancer had a greater likelihood of contracting the disease again. Exercise helps to combat feelings of helplessness, giving cancer survivors a leg up on the road to recovery.  

Liz Davies is a recent college graduate and aspiring writer especially interested in health and wellness. She wants to make a difference in people’s lives because she sees how cancer has devastated so many people in this world. Liz also likes running, playing lacrosse, reading and playing with her dog, April.