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International Self Care Day is coming up July 24, but regardless of the date self-care should be part of your regular routine. Regular physical activity is a pillar of self-care, but it's not enough just to log the exercise time, you have to care for your body and mental state to make it worthwhile.

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Don't skip the stretch. Self-care steps to maximize your fitness routine
Taking care of yourself is a complex thing. Most people understand the importance of eating well, sleeping enough and getting regular exercise, but many of us don’t think to take stock of our emotional and mental well-being or even make sure we use sunscreen and wear seatbelts.

International Self-Care Day is July 24 -- a good time to evaluate your lifestyle and find ways to take better care of yourself. Abby Johnson, Team Training Specialist with GoodLife Fitness says when it comes to physical activity, many people skip vital components of self-care in order to fit in a few extra minutes of cardio or rush back to the office. Here are some ways to add more self-care to your exercise routine to reduce injuries, minimize stress, and maximize your performance and enjoyment of life.

Warm-up/cool down

A dynamic warm-up improves range of motion in your joints and fires up the muscles you’ll need for the workout. Start gradually with child’s pose and deep breathing, then add moves for different parts of your body (glute bridges, knee to chest, high kicks, a lunge with a twist). The cooldown should include stretching to reach the muscles you used in your workout and bring breathing and heart rate back down to normal in a gradual way.

Stretch regularly

Stretching increases blood flow to all parts of your body, which helps you feel more alert when you’re tired. It also helps with fine muscle coordination so you’re less likely to fall or injure yourself. Stretching can be done first thing in the morning, before and after physical activity and whenever muscles feel tight. We want to move well with improved mobility so that we can be pain-free.

Listen to your body

When you feel pain or fatigue, it’s important to listen and respond.  Get some rest, take regular breaks, drink lots of water and see a health professional if needed. Research shows that taking rest time is essential and will improve your performance when you return to physical activity. Overlooking pain or fatigue can trigger injuries or other issues that can set you back over the longer term.

Strive for variety

For your own mental and physical well-being, try to mix up both the variety and the intensity of your physical activities. Try new things all the time – whether it’s a brisk walk with your dog, a bike ride, boot camp or group fitness, swimming or in-line skating.

Post-exercise massage

After a tough workout, it’s a great idea to check in with a massage therapist to alleviate delayed onsite muscle soreness, improve muscle performance and lower blood pressure, heart rate and fatigue. Don’t have time? Try using a foam roller to slowly roll over various areas of your body before each workout, along with banded distractions. This will help break up adhesions and scar tissue and speed up the healing and recovery process after your workout.

Meditate regularly

Studies prove that practicing meditation or mindfulness on a regular basis can keep you focused, reduce stress and help you fight fatigue. Finding time to sit still and focus on your breathing while clearing your mind can help reduce blood pressure and improve how your body reacts to stress. It also contributes to better performance in your exercise routine and helps you sleep more soundly.

Eat and sleep well

Lack of sleep and poor diet can compromise your immune system, promote too much cortisol production and prompt the body to store fat. By focusing on healthy, nutrient-rich foods, drinking lots of water and getting enough sleep (7-8 hours), your body and mind will be refreshed and ready to perform.

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ARE YOU STRESSED OUT??

 WHY STRESS IS A BEAUTY BUSTER

www.comprehendthemind.com

Stress- We all have it but some of us deal with it better than others.  If you look at any recent United States President from their first day in office until their last, you will see that all aged appreciably in only four years. Why? Because carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders took its toll on their appearance.  Even if you’re just an everyday lady boss or Mom trying to make her way in the world, stress can cause you to age before your time. Here’s how and why according to New York Neuropsychologist Dr. Sanam Hafeez.

Dr. Hafeez says that, “Aside from the unattractive scowl that stress brings to the face, it creates direct physiological changes. Stress is defined as the reaction of the body to a stressor or stimulus that causes stress. Stress can be acute, which affects the body in the short term, or chronic, affecting the body in the long term. Synonyms for stress include anxiety, nervousness, apprehensiveness, impatience, fear and restlessness.”

Dr. Hafeez explains that, “Stress that is not controlled most certainly affects the body’s physical characteristics or beauty. It affects skin, hair, fingernails, digestion and sleep patterns. Stress-induced conditions include hair loss, heart disease, obesity, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sexual dysfunction, tooth and gum disease and ulcers or indigestion.”

Some Common Symptoms of Stress Induced Beauty Busters

Under-Eye Bags: Tomorrow's to-do list can weigh on your mind, keeping you from getting enough beauty sleep. This can cause fluid to pool below your lower eyelid area, and what you end up with is a puffy mess in the a.m. Stomach sleepers, bad news: You can expect the puffiness of your under-eye bags to be even worse because of gravity.

Flushed Face: “When you're stressed, you breathe in short, shallow breaths and can even find yourself holding your breath for periods of time, which can lead to flushing and redness,” says Dr. Hafeez.

Hair loss: Stress can trigger alopecia areata, which causes patches of baldness anywhere on the body, including on your head. Stress can also trigger a tick where you pick at head hairs out of bad habit. This condition is called trichotillomania. Usually, this hair can grow back, but it doesn’t even have to fall out in the first place: Pay close attention to your own habitual responses to daily stress, to avoid similar sparseness.

Gray Hair: Hair can also age prematurely due to stress. If you are genetically predisposed to have premature gray hair, stress will further decrease your production of melanin, easily increasing the number of gray or white hairs. By increasing your consumption of biotin, protein, and vitamin E you can reduce these negative effects to keep your hair strong and youthful.

Pimples: Stress alters your hormones. It increases cortisol production, which in turn increases the oil production in your skin. All of this leads to greater odds of clogged pores. Stress can also multiply the number of acne-causing bacteria in the body, which might require a high-dose antibiotic prescription from your dermatologist.

Mini Menopause: Dr. Hafeez says this isn’t proven, but some believe increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol can cause a dip in estrogen that’s similar to the decrease during menopause. Less estrogen means less collagen production which can leave your skin dull and dry.

Wrinkles: Anxiety, crying, feeling down and a lack of sleep can cause deeper lines around the eyes, forehead, eye area and mouth.

Dark Circles:-Stress can break the fragile capillaries under your eyes, leaving you with under-eye rings and a tired appearance. 

Lines on the fingernails: The appearance of vertical lines on your fingernails is fairly common and is related to both the natural aging process and nutritional deficiencies. But when they extend from the cuticle to the tip of the nail, it’s a clear sign that your stress is having an effect on the body.

Stress and Weight Gain: Most of us become overeaters when we're feeling a lot of pressure. This happens thanks to your fight-or-flight response, a.k.a. survival mode -- once your body reaches a certain stress level, it does what it feels it needs to. In most cases, that means overeat. Why? “Because your body thinks you’ve used calories to deal with your stress, even though you haven’t, says Dr. Hafeez.  She adds, “As a result, it thinks you need to replenish those calories, even though you don’t.”  Levels of "the stress hormone," cortisol, rise during tension-filled times. This can turn your overeating into a habit. Because increased levels of the hormone also help cause higher insulin levels, your blood sugar drops and you crave sugary, fatty foods.

How Can We Mitigate Stress ?

Countless books and articles have been written about dealing with stress. Dr. Hafeez explains that, “The first step is recognition. To help deal with your stress, write down a list of what you are most worried about before any event, or what chronically causes worry in your life. Identifying your stressors is the first step in managing them. If you are chronically late or find that it hard to get organized, figure out what you do that makes you late or disorganized. Write it down and acknowledge it. Then you can come up with a plan to preemptively tackle what may drive you and your loved ones into a stressed-out situation.” Another trick in dealing with stress is plain old reasoning and the realization that you cannot control everything. Sometimes we trap ourselves into worrying about things that we have no control over, and recognition of that fact can reduce stress immeasurably.

About the Doctor:

Dr. Sanam Hafeez PsyD is a NYC based licensed clinical psychologist, teaching faculty member at the prestigious Columbia University Teacher’s College and the founder and Clinical Director of Comprehensive Consultation Psychological Services, P.C. a neuropsychological, developmental and educational center in Manhattan and Queens. 

Dr. Hafeez masterfully applies her years of experience connecting psychological implications to address some of today’s common issues such as body image, social media addiction, relationships, workplace stress, parenting and psychopathology (bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, etc…). In addition, Dr. Hafeez works with individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), learning disabilities, attention and memory problems, and abuse. Dr. Hafeez often shares her credible expertise to various news outlets in New York City and frequently appears on CNN and Dr.Oz.

Connect with her via twitter @comprehendMind or www.comprehendthemind.com

Two Organizations Find Synergies to Combat One Big Medical Problem: Fractures of the Spine or Vertebral Compression Fractures

Spine fractures among osteoporosis patients are often under-diagnosed and traditionally treatment options have been limited. This can cause poor outcomes, opioid reliance, and added costs to the healthcare system.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) and Medtronic are working together to educate the general public, osteoporosis patients, and the medical community on osteoporosis, vertebral compression fractures (VCF), and treatment options of vertebral compression fractures in an effort to increase positive outcomes for vertebral compression fracture patients and the healthcare system overall.

One of the treatment options for vertebral compression fractures is Medtronic’s balloon kyphoplasty, a minimally invasive procedure that reduces and stabilizes vertebral compression fractures related to osteoporosis, cancer or benign lesions. Over the years, studies comparing balloon kyphoplasty to non-surgical management have shown balloon kyphoplasty produced better pain relief and quality of life for patients with acute VCF compared to non-surgical management.

“We’ve built a really strong partnership with NOF and the National Bone Health Alliance, which has helped extend our message related to osteoporosis for patients that are being diagnosed and not treated through the continuum of care,” said Jeff Cambra, vice president and general manager of Medtronic’s interventional pain therapies – restorative therapies group. “We are trying to build awareness into what VCF is and what options are available to treat that fracture.”

The partnership aims to educate clinicians as well as patients about osteoporosis, VCF and available treatment options. One of the biggest opportunities for clinician education is among emergency room staff that see around half a million patients with either hip or vertebral fractures per year.

“We believe that creating a pilot program to provide education to family and ER physicians, starting in eight to 10 cities, could help us understand how to make change,” said Elizabeth Thompson, CEO of NOF. “We want to get the message out as people present to the ER with pain or fractures to get a complete osteoporosis workup and referral, and if they receive opioids we want to make sure that is really managed. If someone is going back for a refill after two weeks, they should likely have a bone density scan (DEXA) to rule out a vertebral fracture or osteoporosis as the underlying cause.”

Many times, the ER staff refers these patients to orthopedists instead of giving them an osteoporosis work-up and DEXA scan; other times, they prescribe opioids, opening the door for addiction.

“We hope to provide research showing fractures due to osteoporosis isn’t something that can be managed by opioids,” said Claire Gill, chief marketing officer of NOF. “It becomes chronic for patients quickly, and there needs to be further diagnosis of what that pain is for the elder population.”

Through their evidence-based partnership, NOF and Medtronic are developing educational materials, webinars and presentations for the medical professional and patient audience.

With summer upon us, most of us are eager to get outside and enjoy the sunshine at last. However, as we all know very well, sunburn poses a serious threat in the summer months. While the immediate effects of minor pain and redness are merely temporary, your risk of skin cancer increases drastically with each sunburn, as does your likelihood of getting wrinkles and an uneven complexion. To protect yourself from the sun, go for a natural fix.

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Dr. Christopher Calapai, D.O., a New York City Osteopathic Physician board-certified in family and anti-aging medicine, suggests the following natural solutions to relish the sunshine without sacrificing your wellbeing:

1. Pay attention to the timing of your sun exposure

Peak sunburn hours are around 11:00-2:00 (or more broadly, 10:00-4:00), so if you’re planning on spending a prolonged period of time outdoors, aim to do so earlier or later in the day than this time frame. Additionally, limiting your time in the sun is beneficial, as people of all skin complexions can absorb maximum vitamin D from the sun within an hour, and for fair-skinned people it can take as little as 10 minutes. Smaller segments of time in the sun will decrease risk of burn. Plus, as your skin gets darker over the summer through short increments, your skin will acquire an increased tolerance to the sun’s rays and you will be able to spend more time in the sun sans damage.

2. Defend your skin from the inside out

Many people do not know that what you eat has a massive impact on your skin’s reaction to sunshine. Build up reserves of powerful antioxidants in your body with a varied, healthy diet in the warm months. Green tea, tomatoes, red wine, fatty fish like salmon, almonds, citrus fruits, and greens all contain vitamins and antioxidant phytochemicals that can support the skin’s response to UV rays and greatly impede skin damage. As a general guideline, focus on colorful, whole foods and avoid refined oils and processed foods to maximize the skin’s response to the sun.

3. Keep your skin moisturized prior to sun exposure

Hydrated skin is healthy skin. Apply moisturizer before going outside in the sun to make sure your skin is in its most prime state to defend itself and not get dry, red, and damaged. Keep in mind, moisturizer is not enough in itself to prevent skin damage, but as an added measure, it can be very effective.

4. Check your medications

Many common medications, both prescription and OTC, can increase your skin’s susceptibility to irritation and damage from the sun. These include, painkillers like ibuprofen, antibiotics, antidepressants, and acne medications, among others. Check your medication’s labels to ensure that it is safe to be in the sun while on them.

5. Consider wearing light clothing

You do not need to have all of your skin exposed to enjoy the summer’s warmth and sunshine. Wearing loose clothing made with light fabrics like cotton or linen protects the skin from damage while allowing you to stay cool. Don’t forget your sunglasses, and you can enjoy the sun in comfort, style, and great health.

6. If you do want to use an over-the-counter sunscreen, go for a mineral-based one, rather than a chemical-based one.

Mineral-based sunscreens include those that are zinc oxide- or titanium dioxide-based. These reflect, rather than absorb, the sunlight and seem to be safer than their chemical-based counterparts. As a rule of thumb, 15-30 SPF is as much protection as you need. Furthermore, the more familiar the ingredients are in your sunscreen, the better it probably is for your skin. Look for ones enriched with vitamins, natural extracts, and other antioxidants. These can greatly improve your skin’s response to potential UV damage.

 About the doctor:

Dr. Christopher Calapai, D.O. is an Osteopathic Physician board certified in family medicine and anti-aging medicine. Proclaimed the "The Stem Cell Guru" by the New York Daily News, Dr. Calapai is a leader in the field of stem cell therapy in the U.S. His stem cell treatments have achieved remarkable results in clinical trials on patients with conditions as varied as Alzheimer's, arthritis, erectile dysfunction, frailty syndrome, heart, kidney and liver failure, lupus, MS and Parkinson's. He has worked with Mike Tyson, Mickey Rourke, Steven Seagal, and Gotham's Donal Logue; and as a medical consultant for the New York Rangers. Connect with him via twitter @drcalapai or at www.drcal.net

Swim spas making a splash with homeowners this summer

Swimmers can get a workout year-round or just relax in Arctic Spas’ Arctic Ocean model

TORONTO, ON – A growing number of homeowners are taking the plunge into swim spas that can be used year-round — even in Canada’s notoriously long-cold winters — over traditional backyard pools.

So, what exactly is a swim spa? Think of a hot tub — plenty of soothing, warm water and a lot of powerful jets – but then stretch the tub out lengthwise. Unlike their smaller, square-shaped hot tub cousins, swim spas are rectangular, giving bathers enough room to extend their arms and legs while swimming in place.

“We’ve seen a lot more interest in swim spas over the past few years from homeowners who want to enjoy the fun and fitness aspects of going for a swim, but don’t want the expense or headaches of a major construction project to install a full-size pool,” says Philip Edey, General Manager of Arctic Spas.

Installation of Arctic Spas’ line of custom-built swim spas does not require any digging, construction or special equipment. It simply gets put in place with a crane and is ready to be filled with water and run. The pools are also extremely energy efficient, costing about $2 a day to operate and are exceptionally low maintenance because of their advanced control technology.

The most popular of the company’s six swim spa models is the Arctic Ocean Family Fun and Fitness Spa, measuring just under five metres in length. In addition to all of the features of a hot tub, it also has counter swim jets, resistance tether options for advanced swimming and fastener points to attach additional exercise equipment.

When the swimming and exercise is over, the six-seat Arctic Ocean has room for several bathers to relax and unwind at the same time. It comes in three different configurations with 30, 45 or 61 therapeutic jets.

The core design is virtually identical to Arctic Spas’ hot tubs, including a durable fiberglass shell with a lifetime warranty.

For more information on Arctic Spas, please visit www.arcticspas.ca.

About Arctic Spas

Founded in 1994, Arctic Spas® is Blue Falls Manufacturing's flagship brand of portable hot tubs and outdoor spa products purpose-built for extreme weather climates. Arctic Spas® is Canada's largest spa company, manufacturing and retailing spas, all weather pools (swim spas) and other leisure products. Arctic Spas are shipped to and sold in 23 countries around the world, with large markets in the United States, the UK, Scandinavia and Russia. Arctic Spas are produced in Alberta, Canada and in Washington State, USA.

Toronto Fashion Week®, in collaboration with RE\SET™, reveals Spring/Summer 2019 Designer Line-Up 

TORONTO, ON — Toronto Fashion Week®, in collaboration with RE\SET™, today announced the much anticipated designer line-up for the Spring/Summer 2019 season. The three-day event, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Yorkville Village (136 Yorkville Ave.) will host more than 20 shows and events, which will proudly centre around the innovative and inspired creations of Canada’s top fashion talent.

This season's roster includes:

• Christopher Bates
• HAYLEY ELSAESSER
• HENDRIXROE
• NARCES
• ZOFF

Additionally, the RE\SET™ designers showcasing at Toronto Fashion Week include:

• Alex S. Yu
• Christopher Paunil
• Hilary MacMillan
• Mani Jassal
• MIKHAEL KALE
• Namesake
• Tara Rivas
• Victoria Hayes

Media accreditation is now open. Please click this link to access the Industry and Media Accreditation application form.

For more information on designers or to stay tuned to updates from Toronto Fashion Week and RE\SET™, visit Toronto Fashion Week online at TFW.TO and follow on social.

ABOUT TORONTO FASHION WEEK®
Toronto Fashion Week®, an event showcasing fashion, art, music and culture takes place in Toronto’s revitalized and most prestigious luxury retail neighborhood, Yorkville Village. The bi-annual event hosts national and international designers, entertainers and the fashion community to create a touchpoint where fashion is embraced and celebrated. As the leading fashion event in Canada, Toronto Fashion Week creates a catalyst for media engagement, retail activity and global connectivity.

The founding partners are Yorkville Village, The Hazelton Hotel, Freed Developments and Hill & Gertner – an ownership group comprised of several of the country's top companies in real estate, development and luxury hospitality.

Website:         TFW.to
Instagram:      @tfw
Twitter:           @tofashionwk
Facebook:      @tofashionwk
Hashtag:         #tofw

ABOUT RE\SET™
In February 2017, THE COLLECTIONS™ launched RE\SET™ a platform offering designers an opportunity to present their collections direct to consumer and the industry. RE\SET™ currently takes place bi-annually in September and February (prior to New York Fashion Week) and is in partnership with the official Toronto Fashion Week located in Yorkville. RE\SET™ provides designers with a variety of presentation formats including:
traditional runway, static presentations, a designer showroom model and has cumulatively featured over 100 participating designers.

Website:          reset.fashion
Instagram:      @resetfsn
Hashtag:         #resetfsn

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