Author: Richard C. Trotter
Whether you’re mid-workout or constantly running around a big city in 90-degree heat (like I often am), chafing can put quite the damper on your active routine. It’s nothing short of painful and uncomfortable, and to avoid it at all costs, anti-chafing sticks have become a non-negotiable in my summer beauty routine. As it turns out, I’m not alone—especially when it comes to those who are, albeit, more active than I am. Olympic Rugby Player Ilona Maher felt this and more when developing her new line, Medalist Skin, featuring an anti-chafe stick aptly named the No Fric Stick Anti-Chafe Balm…
In today’s world of social media and a 24/7 news cycle, it’s easy to get swept up in intense, popular fitness trends and regimens. And while fitness activities such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be beneficial to your health, so can slowing down and embracing the idea of gentle movement. Ready to give gentle movement a try? Read on to learn more about what it is, why it’s beneficial, and how to add it into your existing routine. What is gentle movement, anyway? Gentle movement is the idea that slowing down and participating in activities while fully present and…
There are two essentials that every successful road trip needs: a great playlist, and some really good snacks. The latter is perhaps most important, because while you can stream the new Sabrina Carpenter single from nearly anywhere you are, there aren’t always the best food options on the interstate. (Or sometimes, many rest stops at all.) While you may not typically think of road trip snacks as “healthy,” we’ve rounded up several high-protein travel snacks to help balance your blood sugar and keep you satisfied through long hours on the road. Having a few options to satisfy your taste buds can…
Imagine this: You’re sitting at your desk (or in the car, at a restaurant…wherever, really) and all of a sudden, your mind’s filled with racing thoughts. Your body starts to tense up, each inhale and exhale gets shallow and quick, and it feels like you can’t get in enough air. This, dear friends, is often how an anxiety attack or panic attack begins. While there are many physical symptoms of anxiety, feeling short of breath is one of the major ones. But how can you tell if shortness of breath is from anxiety or something more? Anxiety—or a general sense…
July’s powerful astrology brings both the fireworks and the waterworks. It’s Cancer season, so the emotion is LOUD, but with communication connoisseur Mercury and sweet Venus moving into Leo (summer’s super-hot middle child) we start to feel the sizzle early in the month. (Psst: You can get a chance to win a free astrology reading with Well+Good’s resident monthly astrologer, Stefanie Iris Weiss, by pre-ordering her new book, Sex and Your Stars: A Sexologist’s Guide to the Erotic Energy of the Zodiac.) Conversations could be quite heated leading up to July 4 thanks to an opposition between Mercury and Pluto the…
I’m just going to throw this out there: I don’t really wash my face. After spending my teens and early 20s dealing with bouts of hormonal acne, I emerged into a delicate equilibrium of (mostly) clear skin I was hesitant to disrupt. So for well over a decade, I’ve gone back to basics: splashing with water in the morning and using soap (yes, I’ll say it, bar soap) to remove mascara—and dabbling in a rotation of various moisturizers and oils. Welcome to my skin-care routine. But now that I’m in my 30s, a few things have happened. First, I had…
Wherever I go, my reusable water bottle closely follows. But I’ll admit, a whole week might pass before I get around to giving it a good ol’ scrub. Am I proud of this? Certainly not. But am I the only one who neglects to wash their water bottles regularly? I highly doubt it. So, this made me think: How gross is it really not to wash your reusable water bottles after each use? To get to the bottom of it, I caught up with Trevor Craig, a food safety expert and corporate director of technical training and consulting at Microbac…
Sleep is your body’s ultimate opportunity to rest and restore both your physical and mental energy. But for many people with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), getting a quality night’s sleep can be challenging. PCOS creates an overproduction of androgens—or sex hormones like testosterone—and an underproduction of hormones created by the ovaries, like progesterone. This hormonal imbalance causes several small cysts to grow on your ovaries, along with other symptoms like irregular periods, infertility, obesity, acne, and heavy hair growth on your chest, face, and arms, per the Mayo Clinic. But many people don’t realize that PCOS and sleep are also…
Your weekly horoscope for June 30-July 6, 2024 starts off on a confusing note. Neptune, the planet of fantasy and dreams, goes retrograde in Pisces on July 2. Neptune spends nearly five months retrograde every year, so this isn’t something to be worried about. But the day that Neptune begins to “move backward” is when we will feel the cosmic shift the most intensely. You may become more lax in your boundaries or reconsider some of your dreams for the future. This isn’t the best day to make important decisions, but pay attention to your gut instincts. On the same…
Like tuning an instrument to get the perfect pitch, this chest and back dumbbell workout tunes your upper body, tightening your core and strengthening your back and chest to perform powerfully. And it’s not just your athletic performance that benefits. “This workout targets the biggest muscles in your upper body to help with posture and to counteract the many hours a day we spend sitting, driving, or hunched over our phones,” says Izzi Lynn, instructor at Barry’s Bootcamp and host of our Movement of the Month Club focusing on dumbbells. The six dumbbell exercises below build the kind of strength…