Author: Richard C. Trotter
There are few things more frustrating than waking up feeling groggy after what you hoped would be a refreshing and revitalizing night’s sleep. Maybe your mind was racing all night, or you were suffering from night sweats, or maybe you just didn’t get enough rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. We cycle through several sleep stages each night multiple times. These sleep stages can be broadly categorized into non-REM (NREM) sleep—in which we spend about 75 percent of our sleeping time1, and includes deep sleep—and REM sleep. REM sleep is the last phase of the sleep cycle. In this phase, our…
Our hips do a lot for us: They help us walk, stand, and sit comfortably; they can hold our trauma; they provide a stable base for our spine. So it’s no wonder that they can get tight and tense—and lizard pose in yoga might just be the feel-good hip opener they need. Lizard pose is so-named because “it resembles a lizard with its front leg crawling forward, and the back leg resembles a tail,” explains Desi Bartlett, CPT, E-RYT, registered yoga teacher and creator of desibodymind.com. “The arms and hands can also take on the shape of a lizard in…
There’s no one way for poop to smell, other than, well, bad. So what if yours suddenly doesn’t? Or just smells totally different than normal? Spoiler alert: It’s completely possible to get sweet-smelling poop. “Poop is never going to smell amazing, but yours should smell familiar to you,” says Supriya Rao, MD, a gastroenterologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. If you notice your bowel movements have a weirdly sweet odor to them, or you’re sensing some kind of other unusual smell, that’s usually a sign something is going on with your gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Here are some potential…
With the Well+Good SHOP, our editors put their years of know-how to work in order to pick products (from skin care to self care and beyond) they’re betting you’ll love. While our editors independently select these products, making a purchase through our links may earn Well+Good a commission. Happy shopping! Explore the SHOP Whether you keep up with the fashion market or not, you probably know designer handbag costs are soaring (think Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Hermès). These luxury brands seem to be playing hard to get, and we often can’t justify spending much of our paychecks on them. The…
With the Well+Good SHOP, our editors put their years of know-how to work in order to pick products (from skin care to self care and beyond) they’re betting you’ll love. While our editors independently select these products, making a purchase through our links may earn Well+Good a commission. Happy shopping! Explore the SHOP Want to give your bedroom a complete overhaul in mere moments? Swap your duvet cover. After all, that fluffy duvet insert certainly needs to be placed inside *something* before you sink into bed each night! And now that warm summer temps are upon us, it’s the perfect…
Most of us hold our stress and tension in our shoulders, neck, and upper back (the trio of tightness, if you will). Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a stretch that simultaneously targeted all three trouble areas? Enter: thread the needle, an upper-body yoga pose that begins on your knees and involves “threading” one arm under your chest. Thread the needle (also known as urdhva mkha pasasana in Sanskrit) delivers a deep stretch to your neck, shoulders, and back (the ultimate three-fer), alleviates pain and stiffness, increases spinal mobility, and so much more. Read on to learn why you…
With the Well+Good SHOP, our editors put their years of know-how to work in order to pick products (from skin care to self care and beyond) they’re betting you’ll love. While our editors independently select these products, making a purchase through our links may earn Well+Good a commission. Happy shopping! Explore the SHOP With summer in full swing and the great outdoors calling your name, having a pair of water sandals can make all the difference in your adventures. Whether you’re gearing up for a heart-pounding rafting trip, a scenic hike, or a refreshing swim in a hidden stream, the…
You may have read about how narcissistic abuse can consist of a narcissist undermining, love-bombing, and gaslighting their target. In short, they want to have all the power in the relationship. So what happens when their target breaks up with them? Or gets some control back? Unfortunately, the narcissistic person may respond with what’s called a “narcissistic smear campaign.” It typically happens when they’re completely done with the person. “A narcissist smear campaign is a manipulation tactic used by a narcissist to harm another person’s reputation and to isolate them from their support system,” explains Kate Danley, LCSW, a licensed…
Okra doesn’t have the best reputation. The green fruit (yep, it’s a fruit) is a little fuzzy, can be sort of slimy, and is sometimes referred to as lady’s fingers—how appetizing! But okra is a nutrition powerhouse that can be quite delicious when prepared properly (read: air fryer okra). And if you’ve been on social media lately, you might’ve noticed that a beverage made with okra—that is, okra water—is having a moment. Okra water is, simply, a drink made from soaking okra pods or slices of this fruit in water. You may have seen TikTok videos about the benefits of…
Time to work some midsection magic: Our 4-week abs challenge is your blueprint to a core that performs as good as it looks (not to mention helping with better posture and less back pain!). Each day, we’ll do a different ab exercise designed to target every angle of your core, from the deep transverse abdominis to the obliques. You’ll push through planks, twist through Russian twists, and crunch your way to a stronger, more sculpted core. “Your abdominal and core muscles are involved in many different movements and actions where they work in isolation [alone] or synergistically [together] at varied…