Due to the electronic age, most of us live and work in environments dominated by electronics. While actively using these devices, invisible electromagnetic frequency waves bombard your body.

There are many ways to counteract these impacts to your body – like making sure you get plenty of breaks when using electronic equipment – but another way is to freshen the air with beautiful, decorative Himalayan Salt Lamps.

The basic premise behind a salt lamp is that moisture in the air binds to bacteria and other environmental pollutants. The heated salt draws those water molecules to the lamp and the moisture evaporates, trapping the air pollutants in the surface of the salt lamp. Additionally, the salt creates negatively charged ions that counteract positively charged ions produced by electronic devices.

Keep in mind that not all salt lamps are created equal. Be sure to read about salt sourcing before buying one. Look for one that has been made from pure Himalayan salt in order to enjoy some of the air purifying benefits!

Sleep is an important function for many reasons. When you sleep, your brain signals your body to release hormones and compounds that help:

• decrease risk for adverse health conditions
• manage your hunger levels
• maintain your immune system
• retain memory

But you can’t catch up or make up loss of sleep. In fact, consistently sleeping more than seven to eight hours a night can negatively impact your health. If you struggle falling or staying asleep, look for these common sleep disruptors and curtail them:

• Caffeine
• Stimulants
• Blue light emitting devices 
• Alcohol 
• Eating or drinking too close to bed

Ergonomics is the science of designing the workplace, keeping in mind the capabilities and limitations of the worker. Poor worksite design leads to fatigued, frustrated and hurting workers. This rarely leads to the most productive worker. More likely, it leads to a painful and costly injury, lower productivity and poor product quality.

An ergonomically correct office work station will help you avoid fatigue and discomfort – who doesn’t want that? Whether you’re an professional in charge of providing a safe work environment for the employees at your company or simply a computer user who wants to avoid fatigue, following a few simple guidelines can help you significantly improve your office work station.

Look around for opportunities to up your ergonomics game today!

It is hard to say “no” but if it means that you are putting your personal health and wellness out of alignment, it is essential! We all have things that we do simply because we can’t say “no” – some committee we’ve been dragging ourselves to for months simply out of obligation with little to no passion. Wouldn’t you rather use that time and energy on something that you are truly passionate about? Just because someone asks, doesn’t mean that opportunity is the right fit for us. Save your best YOU for things you know will invigorate you as you give back. You don’t have to feel badly about wanting to seek out and pursue things that fit with your mission and vision for life. Remember, the opportunity you politely pass up may be a better fit for the next person who gets asked because you’ve declined!

So why do we continue to say yes? It could be that we believe that saying no is uncaring, even selfish, and we may have a fear of letting other people down. On top of this may be a fear of being disliked, criticized, or risking a friendship.

Interestingly, the ability to say no is closely linked to self-confidence. People with low self-confidence and self-esteem often feel nervous about antagonizing others and tend to rate others’ needs more highly than their own.

Perhaps overbearing parents or experiencing parenthood yourself has encouraged this tendency. Women in particular are prone to falling into the trap. You may have been raised to be a “sweetheart” who was always good and took care of the other children. These childhood influences are key to the formation of beliefs such as “I’m only lovable if I’m compliant and helpful.” If you feel you have become a “people-pleaser,” your self-worth may have come to depend on the things you do for other people. A vicious circle develops in which the people around you expect you to be there for them all the time and comply with their wishes. Don’t wait until your energy runs out before you take a much needed step back to assess the situation.

Here are a few more tips on how to say “NO” from PsychCentral.com:

• Keep your response simple. If you want to say no, be firm and direct. Use phrases such as “Thanks for coming to me but I’m afraid it’s not convenient right now” or “I’m sorry but I can’t help this evening.” Try to be strong in your body language and don’t over-apologize. Remember, you’re not asking permission to say no.
• Buy yourself some time. Interrupt the ‘yes’ cycle, using phrases like “I’ll get back to you,” then consider your options. Having thought it through at your leisure, you’ll be able to say no with greater confidence.
• Consider a compromise. Only do so if you want to agree with the request, but have limited time or ability to do so. Suggest ways forward to suit both of you. Avoid compromising if you really want or need to say no.
• Separate refusal from rejection. Remember you’re turning down a request, not a person. People usually will understand that it is your right to say no, just as it is their right to ask the favor.
• Don’t feel guilty for saying no to your children. It is important for them to hear no from time to time so that they develop a sense of self-control. It is hard to negotiate adult life without this important skill. Rather than cave in to their protests, let them know who is in charge by setting boundaries.
• Be true to yourself. Be clear and honest with yourself about what you truly want. Get to know yourself better and examine what you really want from life.

According to a professor at Columbia Business School, visiting a new place and immersing yourself in their local environment increases your cognitive flexibility. It also enhances “depth and integration of thought,” boosting your creativity. It’s important to note that traveling stimulates creativity only when you engage with the local culture of that place. Merely visiting a new city or a country isn’t going to cut it.

You may have a local historical society or community landmark within a 15 minute drive of you that you have never explored. We naturally assume we have to go far away to have access to new things, but the truth is that if we look, we will find things to learn about right in our own backyard.

Do some investigating and find something tourist-y that you’ve overlooked or under-appreciated in your area.

Upsetting situations take up residence in our minds, leading us into a thought spiral that can affect our mental health. Additionally, anger is known to exacerbate anxiety and stress.

A study published by the American Heart Association suggests that high levels of anger may increase the risk of coronary heart disease, particularly in older men. Repressing those feelings also may also cause an increase in your blood pressure according to a 2013 report from Men’s Health.

Another study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that subjects were five times more at risk for a heart attack and three times more at risk for a stroke in the two hours following an angry outburst.

According to data from the National Institutes of Health, anger could potentially lead to diabetes through risky health behaviors. While there’s no direct link between temperament and subsequent diabetes risk, in the study, individuals with the highest levels of anger had a 34 percent increased risk of developing the disease compared to those with lower temperaments. Researchers found that those with chronic anger were more likely to smoke and had a higher calorie intake, two factors that could lead to the development of type 2 diabetes.

The emotion itself isn’t the problem; it is how we handle it. Finding how to release anger appropriately is an important step in personal anger management. It stabilizes our moods quicker, prevents strains on relationships, and keeps us from doing something we may regret later. Here are 5 suggestions to get you started on releasing whatever anger you may be holding onto. Have some other suggestions? Share them in the comments!

Get Physical – Physical activity is a great way to release anger and put yourself in a better mood. The chemicals released in the brain while doing physical activity are natural mood stabilizers. Working out also lets you redirect the anger into a healthy activity. Though exercise may not solve the problems that got you angry, it will neutralize the difficult emotions so you could think more clearly about solutions.

Breathe Deep – Breathing exercises are an easy way to calm down from the body’s fight or heightened flight state of alertness. A few deep breaths can help activate a calming reflex in the body.

Write It Out – Sometimes writing thoughts and emotions on paper helps get them out of your head and puts them in perspective. Consider journaling, creating poetry, or writing a letter or email to someone who wronged you (that you may or may not send). Writing helps organize your thoughts and may provide insights into the situation.

Let Go Of The Person Or Situation – Sometimes it is best to simply walk away from your source of anger. It could be permanent or temporary, but, if possible, take a break from the triggers consistently causing you anger. If you need to end a relationship or find a different job, do it. Change is not always easy, but it is necessary if the situation is causing you significant anger.

Develop Your Support Network – If you struggle with anger, finding an appropriate support network could be the difference between lashing out at the world and constructively releasing anger. Turn to a family member, close friend, or partner that has an empathetic, rational approach to helping you vent your emotions.

One of the most basic human needs is the need for community, belonging, and the security and protection—both physical and emotional—offered by a group of others to which we’re connected.

Here are just a few of the benefits to having a spiritual community to rely on:

Support During Hard Times
A simple, obvious, yet incredibly powerful advantage to having others with which to share experiences is that, when things go awry in your life, you’ll have others to lean on. So much depression, addiction, and additional pain is born of going through trials alone. Sometimes, a person does need to be alone, but it’s important that it be a choice, not an inescapable reality.
Even just knowing that you have good, loving, trustworthy people to turn to in a time of crisis can be a tremendous help. The knowledge that you have someone to count on, and somewhere to turn to, can literally save lives.
When we feel our world is falling apart, the love of others can be what reminds us that there is good, and that we can heal. We can gain wisdom, guidance, a listening ear, or even just a friend to share a laugh with.

Company During Good Times
Just as we need others to lean on when we’re hurting, we long to share our joys and achievements with others, too. A big accomplishment or a fun experience are amplified by having people we care for by our side. Our fond memories are made sweeter by those we remember being with us, not necessarily the events themselves.
A spiritual community offers a group of people with shared beliefs and open hearts. Within this group, lifelong friends can be made, and plenty of fun memories, too!

Betterment of the Community
A spiritual community is a group seeking opportunities to enrich the world around them. This means plenty of giving, charity, and fun projects. The feeling of knowing you’ve contributed positively to the lives of others is unmatched, and has been proven to enrich your own life.

Developing Your Spirituality
Another wonderful benefit to being part of a spiritual community is your own spiritual growth and expansion. Beginners benefit from the wisdom of those more experienced, and those who’ve been involved for a time a helped by the act of leading others. New insights and resources are shared, life experiences become learning opportunities, and spiritual growth is enhanced by the synergy of many people working together toward a common goal.

Your spiritual well-being isn’t what you own, your job, or even your physical health. It’s about what inspires you, what gives you hope, and what you feel strongly about. Your spirit is the seat of your deepest values and character. Whether or not you practice a religion, you can recognize that a part of you exists beyond the analytical thinking of your intellect; it’s the part of you that feels, makes value judgments, and ponders your connection to others, to your moral values, and to the world. Spiritual wellness is a continuing journey of seeking out answers and connections and seeing things in new ways.

Do you eat your lunch at your desk every day? Do you feel that you can’t spare even 30 minutes, much less an hour, away from your computer? Are you afraid that you might miss an e-mail or not make a deadline because you took your lunch away from your desk? You’d better think twice… Not taking a break may be causing negative impacts on your health & wellness in one or more of the following ways:
1. Increased long-term health risks Eating lunch at your desk means you’ll stay seated longer, and sitting for long periods of time can make you sick in more ways than one. Sitting for hours on end can cause increased risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. It can also shift your pancreas into overdrive – causing diabetes and other diseases since sedentary muscles don’t react well to insulin.
2. Sore joints Beyond longer-term health problems, you could be seeing more short-term pain if you decide to eat lunch at your desk. Staying seated longer while staring at your computer screen can lead to tension in your muscles and sore joints. Sitting for long periods of time also weakens your hip and core muscles, which can cause problems elsewhere in your body. If you absolutely must stay at your desk, don’t forget to do a few stretches and exercises to help counteract the effects of sitting all day.
3. Stress It’s no secret that work can be stressful, but eating lunch at your desk can make it even more so. If you don’t take the time to shut off, you never take the time to recover, leading to higher levels of burnout and fatigue. Conversely, taking the time to relax can be a big help in terms of productivity, so pick up your sandwich and head outside for a short break.
4. Brain fog When you’ve got a lot to do, it can certainly seem like a good idea to grab a quick sandwich and eat at your desk. However, that might just be your foggy brain talking – you need to move around in order to pump fresh blood and oxygen up top. Beyond that, there’s only so much you can do in a day, and avoiding break time doesn’t change that fact.
5. Lack of balance Staying in work mode all the time (and not taking breaks) is a sure-fire shortcut to burnout. To avoid burnout, choose milestones at certain points in your day that will allow you to take a break. Once you’ve reached one of your milestones (such as cleaning out your inbox or sending out two offer letters), go outside for a short walk or to grab a coffee. Doing so can help you refresh and refocus when you get back to work.

Here are a few more tips to avoid the dangers of eating lunch at your desk:
• Make plans with friends – Eating lunch at your desk isn’t great, but substituting that for a business lunch isn’t much better. Try to schedule lunches with friends or alone instead so that you can recharge properly and be more productive back at work.
• Stretch! – Even if you do leave the office for lunch, you’ll still be sitting most of the day if you’re at an office job. In addition to leaving your desk and moving around in the middle of the day, remember to do a few stretches and exercises to help prevent injury.
• Get fresh air – One reason to leave your desk at lunchtime is to get outside and get some fresh air. You need to clear your head, and you need fresh air for better health.

We all know it…screen time is on the rise and it’s almost the exception to the rule to find a person who isn’t “on the grid” in some capacity, be it cell phone, tablet or television. We feel “social” and connected to others through the popular platforms, but are we? Is social media becoming a safety net or substitute to real relationships? Granted, we can use social media to connect with people we know in person – family and friends who live far away – but are we truly connecting when we scroll through our news feed and “LIKE” someone’s picture? Is that enough to maintain true relationships? Is all this social media helping or hurting our ability to socialize in real life when we have to? It’s nice to be able to shut off or silence our device – taking a break during virtual interaction – but we can’t do that when we are in the room with real people. Do we lose those skills from inactivity? Well, we certainly aren’t slowing down on our virtual interaction.

Some cell phones have built in tracking to help you find out how much screen time you use if you really aren’t sure. Today, keep a log to really identify how much screen time you get across all of your devices so that you can get a better idea of your usage and where you should be cutting back.

Food gives us energy, sustains us, keeps us alive. It’s a basic need like clean water and air. The food we eat shouldn’t contain chemicals that can make us sick.

Unfortunately, like water and air, our food has not escaped toxic chemicals. Toxic chemicals are allowed in our food without our knowledge, contributing to the chemical load our bodies carry every day.

From hormone-disrupting phthalates in dairy products, to cancer-causing toxic flame retardants in meat, to cancer-causing perfluorinated chemicals in microwave popcorn, the foods we eat can contain hidden harmful chemicals.

Some of these chemicals enter the food through processing or leach into food from food packaging. Some may enter the food supply because of soil, air, or water contamination. We are already exposed to many of these same toxic chemicals due to their use in consumer products.

Very few laws restrict toxic chemicals in food, food processing equipment, or food packaging. Since rinsing conventional produce does not wash away all pesticide residue, eating organically grown foods is one way to reduce your exposure to pesticides. In addition, avoiding conventional insect and weed killers in and around your home will reduce your exposure.

If you are concerned about your grocery budget and not being able too afford organic varieties of every food you consume, start with the dirty dozen list. Those 12 items have the highest pesticide content. View the full list here: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php