Health – Imagemakeover

April 29, 2024

Xtreme Emotions: “Navigating Anger with Skill”

No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched – George Jean

Venting anger may provide temporary relief, but it often carries the risk of regrettable actions and give away moral integrity. Conversely, suppressing anger can be equally risky, as it may foster resentment and potentially contribute to depression or psychosomatic ailments over time. Managing anger is essential for maintaining healthy relationships and personal well-being. Instead of letting anger control your actions and potentially harm others, channeling it into conviction can lead to positive outcomes.

Acknowledge that anger, if left unchecked, can lead to negative consequences. Reacting impulsively in a fit of anger often results in saying or doing things that cause harm and damage relationships. Understanding the harmful effects of uncontrolled anger is the first step toward managing it effectively. While suppressing anger may seem like a temporary solution, it can have long-term detrimental effects on mental and emotional health. Bottling up anger can lead to increased stress, resentment, and even depression over time. Ignoring or burying feelings of anger does not address the underlying issues and can exacerbate negative emotions. Instead of letting anger consume you, harness its energy and transform it into conviction. Shift your focus from reacting impulsively to responding thoughtfully. Use the intensity of your anger to fuel your determination to address the underlying issues and make positive changes.

Base your actions on principles and values rather than succumbing to impulsive reactions driven by anger. Consider what is truly important to you and align your actions with your core beliefs. Acting on principle allows you to maintain integrity and uphold your values, even in challenging situations. Converting anger into conviction provides clarity of purpose and perspective. Rather than being clouded by intense emotions, you can see the situation more objectively and make informed decisions. This clarity empowers you to approach challenges with courage and determination, knowing that your actions are grounded in principle. Use your conviction as a catalyst for positive change. Channel your energy into constructive actions that address the root causes of your anger. Whether it involves setting boundaries, communicating assertively, or advocating for justice, taking purposeful action can lead to meaningful outcomes and resolution.

By converting anger into conviction and acting on the basis of principle, you can transform challenging situations into opportunities for growth and positive change. This approach allows you to maintain integrity, preserve relationships, and navigate conflicts with clarity, courage, and strength.

Let’s understand this better with an example:

Mohit was a passionate advocate for environmental conservation. He dedicated his time and energy to raising awareness about the importance of protecting the planet and preserving natural habitats. However, his efforts were often met with resistance and indifference from others.

One day, he received news that a proposed development project threatened to destroy a local forest ecosystem. Fueled by anger and frustration, he felt tempted to lash out impulsively, condemning those responsible for the destruction of the environment.

However, he remembered the advice of his mentor, who always emphasized the importance of channeling anger into constructive action. Instead of succumbing to rage, Mohit paused to reflect on his values and principles.

With a deep sense of conviction, he resolved to turn his anger into purposeful action. He channeled his energy into organizing a grassroots campaign to raise awareness about the environmental impact of the proposed development. He reached out to community leaders, rallied volunteers, and mobilized support from concerned citizens.

As the campaign gained momentum, Mohit encountered challenges and setbacks along the way. There were moments of frustration and disappointment, but he remained loyal in his commitment to his cause. Instead of allowing anger to cloud his judgment, he focused on the bigger picture and the positive impact he could make.

Through his unwavering conviction and principled actions, he inspired others to join his cause. Together, they advocated for the protection of the forest, presenting compelling arguments based on scientific evidence and ethical considerations.

Ultimately, their efforts paid off. The proposed development project was halted, and the forest was preserved for future generations to enjoy. Mohit’s ability to transform anger into conviction had not only saved a precious ecosystem but also strengthened his resolve to continue fighting for environmental conservation.

In the end, Mohit learned that anger, when channeled wisely, could be a powerful catalyst for positive change. By acting on the basis of principle and harnessing his conviction, he had turned a challenging situation into an opportunity to make a difference in the world.

There are different ways to channelize or control your anger, listing down few for you all

Recognize Triggers: Pay attention to the situations, people, or events that trigger your anger. By identifying your triggers, you can anticipate and prepare for potential anger-inducing situations.
Practice Relaxation Techniques: Incorporate relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation into your daily routine. These techniques can help calm your mind and body, reducing the intensity of anger.
Take a Time-Out: When you feel anger rising, step away from the situation and take a break. Excuse yourself from the conversation or activity temporarily to give yourself time to cool down and regain perspective.
Express Yourself Assertively: Instead of resorting to aggressive or passive-aggressive communication, express your feelings assertively and respectfully. Use “I” statements to express how you feel without blaming or accusing others.
Practice Empathy: Try to understand the perspectives and feelings of others, even if you disagree with them. Cultivating empathy can help diffuse anger and promote understanding and compromise in challenging situations.
Use Humor: Inject humor into tense situations to lighten the mood and defuse anger. However, be mindful of using humor in a respectful and appropriate manner, avoiding sarcasm or belittling remarks.
Exercise Regularly: Engage in regular physical activity to release pent-up energy and stress. Exercise has been shown to reduce levels of anger and improve mood by releasing endorphins, the body’s natural mood-boosting chemicals.
Seek Support: Talk to a trusted friend, family member, or mental health professional about your feelings of anger. Sharing your thoughts and emotions with others can provide validation and support, as well as offer different perspectives on how to manage anger effectively.
Practice Mindfulness: Cultivate mindfulness by staying present in the moment and observing your thoughts and feelings without judgment. Mindfulness practices such as mindfulness meditation can help increase self-awareness and emotional regulation, reducing the likelihood of reacting impulsively out of anger.
Seek Professional Help if Necessary: If you find that anger is significantly impacting your relationships, work, or overall well-being, consider seeking professional help from a therapist or counselor. They can provide personalized strategies and support to help you better manage and control your anger.

Remember, that managing anger is a skill that takes practice and patience, but with time and effort, you can develop healthier ways of coping with anger and cultivating greater emotional resilience.

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April 3, 2024April 3, 2024

Confronting Medical Gaslighting: Sarah’s Journey to Healing

Sarah had been experiencing persistent abdominal pain for several months. At first, she assumed it was just a passing discomfort, perhaps due to stress or dietary changes. However, as the pain persisted and even worsened, she decided to seek help from her doctor.

During her first visit, Sarah described her symptoms in detail to her physician, hoping for some insight or guidance on how to alleviate the pain. However, to her surprise, the doctor seemed dismissive, attributing her discomfort to menstrual cramps or anxiety.

Feeling somewhat frustrated but willing to trust her doctor’s expertise, Sarah followed the advice given and tried various over-the-counter pain relievers and relaxation techniques. However, despite her efforts, the pain only intensified, leaving her feeling increasingly concerned and uncertain about her health.

Several more visits to different doctors yielded similar responses – her symptoms were either brushed off as insignificant or attributed to unrelated causes. Sarah began to doubt herself, wondering if perhaps she was exaggerating her pain or if it was all in her head, as the doctors implied.

As weeks turned into months, Sarah’s condition deteriorated, and she found herself grappling with not only physical agony but also emotional distress and frustration at the lack of validation and support from medical professionals.

However, one day, Sarah decided to advocate for herself more assertively. Armed with research about her symptoms and potential diagnoses, she sought out a specialist who took the time to listen to her concerns attentively. This doctor ordered a series of tests and evaluations, ultimately uncovering an underlying medical condition that had been causing Sarah’s pain all along.

How important is advocating for oneself in the face of medical gaslighting? and how Sarah’s managed to do that?

Well, She was determined and she did whatever it takes..

She did through research about symptoms and potential diagnoses. Having knowledge about her condition empowered her to have more informed discussions with her healthcare providers.

When she felt her concerns are not being taken seriously, she didn’t hesitate to seek a second or even third opinion from different healthcare professionals.

She clearly communicated her symptoms, concerns, and expectations to her doctor and was not afraid to ask questions or request further evaluation when she felt it necessary.

She not only kept track of her symptoms, including their frequency, severity, and patterns she noticed but also documented valuable information about healthcare provider as that will help validate her experiences.

One thing that helped her sail through was the support from her friends, family and even patient advocacy groups who offered empathy, understanding, and guidance throughout her healthcare journey.

Medical gaslighting is a situation where a patient’s symptoms are downplayed, dismissed, or not taken seriously by medical professionals. This can lead to patients feeling invalidated, frustrated, and even neglected in their healthcare journey.

By advocating for yourself and seeking out supportive healthcare providers, you can overcome medical gaslighting and receive the care and validation you deserve.

After reading this story you can understand the importance of self-advocacy in healthcare. Sarah’s experience illustrates how crucial it is for individuals to trust their instincts, educate themselves about their health, and assertively communicate their concerns to medical professionals. Despite facing dismissiveness and invalidation from some doctors, her persistence in seeking out further evaluations and advocating for herself ultimately led to the discovery of her underlying medical condition. This underscores the significance of trusting one’s own experiences and taking an active role in one’s healthcare journey. The story also highlights the need for healthcare providers to listen attentively to their patients, validate their concerns, and conduct thorough evaluations to ensure proper diagnosis and treatment.

When Sarah experienced neglect from medical professionals, she felt a range of emotions, including frustration, confusion, doubt, and even despair. Initially, she felt hopeful and relieved to seek help, only to be met with dismissal and invalidation. As her symptoms persisted and worsened, Sarah experienced increasing anxiety and uncertainty about her health and well-being. The lack of validation from doctors left her feeling alone and misunderstood, amplifying her distress and frustration.

In such a situation, Sarah’s expectations from her family amplified manifold be it emotional support, empathy, or validation. Here she proved to be lucky as her family members listened to her concerns attentively, offered reassurance, and believed in the legitimacy of her experiences. Sarah’s family stood by her side, offered unwavering support and solidarity as she navigates through the complexities of her healthcare journey.

If Sarah doesn’t receive support from her family during her struggles with medical neglect, she would likely feel deeply disappointed, abandoned, and even betrayed. The lack of validation and understanding from those closest to her could exacerbate her feelings of isolation and loneliness. Sarah may question her worth and significance within her family dynamics, leading to a sense of alienation and despair. Without the support of her family, Sarah may find it even more challenging to advocate for herself and navigate the complexities of the healthcare system.

But not everyone is as lucky as Sarah. Therefore, it is important that we trust our instincts and educate ourselves about our own health, and assertively communicate the concerns to medical professionals and not wait for any external assistance as that could lead to further delay and can also lead to significant psychological distress. Patients may begin to doubt their own experiences and may internalize the belief that their symptoms are not real or are exaggerated. Their will be a feeling of frustration, helplessness, anxiety, and depression. It can erode trust in the medical system and make individuals hesitant to seek help in the future.

Overcoming medical gaslighting requires proactive steps both on the part of the individual experiencing it and within the healthcare system as a whole.

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October 5, 2021October 5, 2021

How to teach the importance of health , hygiene and safety to Preschoolers? #AllAboutPreschoolers #MyFrinedAlexa

HEALTH AND HYGIENE

Health and hygiene go hand in hand. Proper hygiene for children begins at the moment of birth when their tiny bodies are scooped up in towel or wrap and the protective coating from the womb is gently cleaned away. As a child grow, he/she can begin to learn personal hygiene with a little assistance from their parents. Developing good hygiene skills in childhood can set the stage for cleanliness habits as an adult. Personal hygiene is the practice of maintaining cleanliness of the body, it is done through bathing, hair grooming, and hand washing, brushing teeth, trimming nails and cleaning ears among others. Through these personal behaviours, social acceptances are gained.

Education can play a critical role in supporting the efforts of primary health care providers by teaching children about healthy behaviour. All schools should be aware of the importance of school hygiene and sanitation for their students. Teaching students about health focuses mainly on the dissemination of hygiene information aimed at changing or modifying their behaviour.

Maintaining good classroom hygiene is an important aspect of improving the educational efficiency of a classroom. Reducing the environmental factors that can cause illness will ensure that students and teachers will not miss out on valuable class time. Healthier and happier children will perform better in classroom, and teaching children about classroom hygiene could help them grow into environmentally proactive adults.

Role of Teachers in maintaining Health and Hygiene

Teaching the basics of proper personal hygiene is important for keeping kids healthy and clean by teachers. It is especially important for preschoolers to practice good hygiene, particularly hand washing because they spend so much of their time in close contact with each other in the classroom, sharing everything from desks and chairs to germs.

Teach proper hand washing

“Good health begins with clean hands”. The most important health and hygiene habit to teach children is to wash hands, especially after coming back home from school or playing outside and before eating. Hand washing is, without a doubt, one of the best ways to prevent the spread of germs and illness. Teachers should remind them from time to time to wash their hands with soap and lathers for at least 20 seconds before rinsing.

Teach them to cover sneezes and coughs during concept time

Germs can travel far and wide on a sneeze and cough. Get your child into habit of covering their mouth and nose with a tissue or their arm if they cannot reach a tissue fast enough when they sneeze or cough.

Remind them not to touch the eyes or mouth or to pick the nose

Germs can easily enter the body through the mucous membranes of the eyes and through the nose and mouth.

Encourage good dental health and hygiene in the classroom

Children have the motor skills necessary to do a fairly good job of brushing teeth on their own, though you may still want to take a quick turn until they are 6 or 7.

SAFETY

Young children deserve to live and play in safe environment, and it is the responsibility of every adult to help keep children safe. Preschool children should not be expected to actively protect themselves; however, it is important to offer children the opportunity to learn about safety as early as possible. Learning safe habits during early years may have lifelong benefits. Integrating safety education into the daily curriculum can help children learn and practice safety.

10 most important environmental concerns in keeping children safe:

To protect against falls, stairways, windows and elevated surfaces
Children should be protected from electrical outlets by using specifically designed outlets or safety caps
Electrical cords should not be within the reach for children.
Emergency phone numbers should be posted near each telephone (Poison control, fire department, emergency contact number of parents and others and the child’s doctor)
To prevent poisoning , make sure all cleaning supplies and medications are in locked cupboards.
Toys need to be safe by being age and developmentally appropriate for the group.
Buckets and tubs containing water needs to be closely supervised and emptied when not in use since small amount of water can be a drowning hazard for young children.
A daily safety check and maintenance is critical to keep equipment and the child’s environment safe.
Children should be safe from other children who are aggressive.
Children should be taught about good and bad touch.

Even if the environment meets safety guidelines, supervision is critical in ensuring child’s safety. The majority of injuries (60%) that occurs in early childhood settings are due to child’s behavior rather than environmental causes, for example, a child tripping and falling, colliding with objects, or one child pushing another as they go down a set of stairs.

Most of the states have established child-staff ratio assist in providing adequate supervision. It is critical that program maintain these ratios. In addition, it is important that adults actively monitor children. Many program require staff to maintain visual contact with children as they play. Low classroom strength can help children to feel a sense of privacy, while still allowing adults to adequately supervise children.

Although severe injuries are rare in early childhood setting, it is important to be alert and to immediately correct safety dangers. It is also important to assure children remain safe through adequate supervision.

The sense of safety and security, afforded by teachers provides children with responsibility. Keeping everyone safe and healthy should be a class effort, and everyone in the classroom, be it children , teacher or other staff should feel accountable for the overall health of the class.

While taking care of health, hygiene and safety of children , teachers needs to develop effective rules with the class. Remembering the rules are important and the best way to do that is actively teach the children.

Class discussion : Talk about why we have rules. Talk about situations when the rules help us. Ask children to give examples.
Act it out : Let children role play the rules.
Play games and show the importance of having and following rules.
Refer to the rules when children use challenging behavior. This will help teachers to stay positive with the children and redirect them to an appropriate behavior.
Read scripted stories about the rules and class room safety and hygiene.

Remember having effective rules with regards to health, hygiene and safety, well designed environment, appropriate learning activities, and nurturing relationships reflect what we know about how young children learn.

You can read my previous posts here

How to choose right preschool for your child?

7 Main Domains of Early Childhood Education

Importance of Early Childhood Education

What is Early Childhood Education?

How To Develop Child’s Creativity?

I am taking my blog to another level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

Pics courtesy : Pexel / Canva

September 7, 2021December 16, 2021

Are nutrition and exercise inter-connected to strengthen your muscles?

“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.” – Hippocrates

Balanced nutrients and healthy routine exercise go hand in hand just like peas and carrots. One without the other just doesn’t work. As an Image Consultant I always talk about “Image inside out”. Now what does this means? It means managing image is all about developing your inner strength and at the same time reflect them on the outside through your appearance. Similarly, if you are looking for prolonged health benefits and want your body to retain muscle strength even when you age, it is imperative to focus on both diet and exercise at the same time. Nothing exists in isolation. Everything is inter-related.

Contrary to popular belief, exercise alone will not help you with weight loss or stimulate your metabolism. Healthy eating accounts for roughly 70-80% of the work with exercise being the rest. Too many people think that they can eat crap as long as they exercise. But it is just going to do more harm than good.

If you are looking for perfection, I am sorry to disappoint you, but no one is perfect nor should they expect to be. In life and nutrition, it’s about finding a good or right balance. Proper nutrition and right exercise will help you obtain the body you desire, improve your self- confidence and boost your fitness performance.

There is a 80/20 rule. Aim for healthy nutrition at least 80 percent of the time and exercise accounts for approximately 20 percent of the work. Try to set realistic goals, look for progress and not perfection. As far as exercise is concerned, do not force what your body can’t bare. One thing you need to remember, your metabolism decreases as you get older. So, eat mindful, build a life style which can be maintained and gives you longer, happier and healthier life.

As you age your nutritional need also alter. This is because aging leads to varity of changes in your body like, nutrients deficiencies, decreased quality of life and poor health outcome. But luckily there are things you can do to prevent all of these by taking nutrient rich food and taking the appropriate supplements for example Ensure supplements. #EnsureStrongerInsideOut.

6 Ways To Stay Strong And Healthy As You Age

Do you know that people over the age of 40 may lose up to 10 % of their muscle mass per decade? And the rate of decline may double after the age of 70. But can we do something about it? The answer is Yes! Now let’s understand How?

Add Movement

Engage in regular exercise, including resistance training, to maintain muscle and strength. Exercise not just keeps you fit physically but also mentally.

Add protein rich diet

Eat good amount of protein from lean meats, eggs and beans. Aim for 25-30 grams of protein at every meal. As we know protein is a muscle building nutrient and while aging bodies process protein less efficiently and need more of it to maintain muscle mass and strength, bone health, and other essential physiological functions.

Add balanced nutrients in your diet

Choose a balanced diet full of veggies, fruits, whole grains, proteins and healthy fats. It also lowers your risk of developing chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.

Add considerate supplements to you diet

Consider adding a nutrition drink to your diet to ensure you’re getting all the nutrients you need as you age. But one needs to remember, they can also have unwanted side effects. Therefore it’s important to understand the supplements you are taking and why you are taking them. Talk with your doctor if you are considering taking a supplement.

Add regular health check up in your lifestyle

Consult your healthcare provider about nutrition, especially if you’re ill, hospitalized or recovering from surgery, to manage illness-related muscle loss. And go for regular health check-ups.

Add more positive people in your life

Surround yourself with positive people. When you surround yourself with positive influences, you will feel better about yourself. You’ll feel energized and motivated and in turn have longer and healthier life.

Build a lifestyle, not just a diet and treat your body as a holistic system for long term results. When these two lifestyle factors Diet and Exercise are combined, they provide holistic health.

This Post is part of Blogchatter’s Campaign #EnsureStrongerInsideOut