Listening to Your Body: Your Trusted Guide to Mind-Body Wellness

Your mind determines what you want and your body tells what you need. Therefore, keep the communication channel open between mind and body is essential for your wellness.

Your body is programmed for survival. Heeding early warnings for your health. Familiarize yourself with how your body communicate with you. It wants you to be well and reacts protectively. Increasing body awareness helps you sense the nuances of its messages. Listening to your body is a powerful step towards self-care that benefits mind-body wellness.

Listen intuitively to your body

Your body technically has functional intelligence of its own. Listen to it - appreciate what it’s doing for you and learn how to take better care of it. The art of listening entails sensing smaller symptoms before they become full blown. Mindfulness is key. Denial is the antithesis of intuition. You must do what you can to get past it.

Your bodies are smart to react, as you act in such way naturally. They do this in the form of illness, fatigue, stress and more. All of these things are like red flags signal you to pay attention to what's going on internally. If you’re willing to listen, your body will tell you everything you need to know. And nothing is more important to your health than giving your body what it needs.

Keep mind-body communication flow

Communication is not giving orders or directions or criticisms. Communication is like a conversation, where "listening" is just as important as "speaking." Your body communicates with you by sensations, emotions, memories (even of words) and habits. Sometimes it also uses intuition and dreams. You can consciously communicate with it by thoughts, words, imagery and conscious actions.

Your body's physiological signals (e.g., headache, rapid heartbeat, hot flush, agitation, stomach upset), or more serious conditions (e.g., pain, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure) are sending you meaningful messages. Whatever the signal, the message is alarming. Your body is talking to you. Learn to recognize your body’s warnings. Don’t override your body's signals with your ego. You may have unconsciously turned off the communication between your mind and body and not aware that is happened.

Mind-Body Wellness 

The point of all this is to let your body guide you to your best potential in mind-body wellness. The older you are, the better your relationship with your body, and the more empowered and confident you should feel in control. By keep communications flow, you will get results.

To learn more details in how to tune into your body, steps in communicating and receiving feedback from your body, and taking actions, go to https://www.qualitylifeforum.net/listening-to-your-body.html

If you are serious about mind-body wellness transformation, reach out to qualitylifeforum@outlook.com  today for a personalized health coaching, which will help you to identify where and why you are struggling, figure out what works for your body, discover your true potential and foster action through motivation for achieving  your wellness goals.

Breathing and Blessing

In Italy, a 93 year old gentleman was on the ventilator in ICU fighting for the Coronavirus and survived. When his Doctor told him that he is billed for 500 Euro for one day ventilator use, he cried. The Doctor tried to comfort him not to feel sad for the cost. But he said was:” I am not crying about  the money.  I am crying because I have been breathing  air for 93 years at God’s blessing but never paid a penny. Knowing I owe 500 Euro for breathing one day on a ventilator, how much I owe God? I never thanked him for his blessing until now”.

We took too many things as granted in life. As we are taking each breath today, appreciate the blessing of free fresh air and healthy lungs.  The older population is more vulnerable for Coronavirus infection and respiratory/pulmonary illnesses, as lung function decreases with aging. it's helpful to understand how  lungs change over time, what's natural, and what we can do to maintain optimal pulmonary health.

To learn more about age-associated changes in the respiratory and pulmonary system,  vaccines for the high risk group, and some simple ways to help protect your lungs and maintain optimal lung function throughout your life, go to https://www.qualitylifeforum.net/breathing-and-blessing.html

The COVID 19 pandemic caused US a death toll higher than any wartime casualties, over 100,000 in late  May, 2020. This is a shocking, but a reality.

Coronavirus infected people may show no symptoms, or flu-like symptoms, or develop shortness of breath with serious respiratory distress and multi-organ failure, within a short time. Although many US states starting to re-open,  this pandemic is not yet well-controlled. Due to the highly contagious nature of Coronavirus, limit social exposure remains as essential for public and personal safety. Imaging, if you see the street fighting in a war zone, your instinct is self-protection and trying to hide from the gun fire.  However, knowing the Coronavirus kills, many are still careless and appears unprotected in social exposures. Sadly, the war with Coronavirus is killing more lives than any war time.

Action call : Continue to limit non-essential outings. Be aware that the Coronavirus risk still remains high. We have become accustomed to the free style social life and modern conveniences, but we can survive just fine with the basics. Protect yourself, practice good hygiene and social distancing. Take actions today.

Hope Endures

The Coronavirus pandemic is marked as dark age in history, may be worse than the wartime in the past. Worldwide, millions of people were infected in more than 200 countries and the number is still on the rise.  Worldwide, more than 3,000,000 people are infected and of these, 1/3 are in the US. The death toll in the US is now over 60,000 total. In early April, the US death doubled from 10,000 to more than 20,000, in just five days. It is the first time a US president has ever declared a  major disaster in all 50 states at once.

The death of a loved one is a profound grief and pain, many are also experience grief as a result of job loss, emotional trauma, and depressing world event like the coronavirus pandemic.

Many are being alone for self- quarantine at home or due to lock down. The social distancing makes us feeling alienated. In these home-alone days,  time is quiet and slowing down,  news are scary with Coronavirus continued development, family and friends are distant, economy is depressing, future is uncertain.

To learn more on spending quality time alone and dealing with your true emotions, go to https://www.qualitylifeforum.net/hope-endures.html.

Join our hearts to get through this pandemic - 

• Support health care professionals and essential business workers; show your appreciation
• Learning virtual skills and keep connected
• Keep the hopes on and believe in yourself
• Maintain a sense of normalcy and routine, go outdoor for any amount of time when possible
• Focus on basics of self-care – quality sleep, healthy eating, stay active and maintain psycho-social well-being. Keep your hopes on and get life back on track.

Transform Pandemic Fear to Self-Care

You heard and read a lot about Coronavirus recently. Schools and many businesses are run on-line. Restaurants, theaters, libraries, museums, shops, and non-essential businesses are closed. Social events are canceled. You are told to practice social distancing and stay at home.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a pandemic with global outbreaks spread quickly. No effective medical treatments are available for this new viral disease, although immunization and new drugs are under development. No supplement will cure or prevent Coronavirus. Older adults among age 60 to 80, especially with chronic medical conditions, are particularly vulnerable to severe or fatal infection. The fight against the coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the lives of millions of people in most countries worldwide. The WHO had raised the healthy emergency to its highest level in March. 

During this difficult time, everyone stay home is our contributions to our community in slowing down the disease spread. The best thing to do is to keep a positive spirit and take good care of yourself. Make sure to put your own well-being on the top priority, Eat healthy and rest well to optimize body’s immune function. Keep optimal Vitamin D levels, as it enhance overall immune response. Getting vaccinated against the flu and other diseases. Note: for those over 65, keep both flu (vaccine for over 65) and pneumonia shots up to date will provide better protection for you. Vaccination stimulates the immune system to protect against illness. 

To learn more about protective measures in self-care and at-home activities to keep productively busy, go to  https://www.qualitylifeforum.net/transform-pandemic-fear-to-self-carenew-page.html

Self-care begin with self-compassion. Self-care is valuable investment on our well-being. We must help ourselves to stay healthy. The most effective way to fighting virus is strengthen body’s immune functions by taking good care of self. Stay home and stay well with winning confidence will make a big difference.

Dealing with Difficult Emotions in the Holiday Season

The holiday season is family time of joy and love by tradition. The holidays are emotional times, a time in which we focus on family bounds and friends connections which means a lot to us. Holiday cheer can be overwhelming. The holidays can also trigger grief, family tensions, loneliness, and facing our own imperfections.

If you are dealing with challenging emotions and the holidays are difficult for you, understand that you're not alone. The holidays may not in a position to create “the wonderful time of the year” for you but likely to make you feeling sad. For too many people in late life, remembering lost loved ones and memories from past can be painful.

Resistance to pain directly affects suffering. The fact is, trying to repress your true feelings and appear cheery and grateful when you're actually suffering doesn't really work. Respect your own feeling and be able to say “no” is the first line of self-protection. Feel free to turn off the Christmas carols, decline holiday parties, or social events. Don’t feel guilty about skipping events if you’re experiencing holiday overload.

To read the full post, learn about healthy outlets for dealing with difficult feelings, and get help, go to https://www.qualitylifeforum.net/dealing-with-difficult-emo….

Osteoporosis in Women

Osteoporosis are far more common in women than men. Menopause is the most common cause of osteoporosis in women. Preventing bone loss is an important concern in the menopause and during post-menopausal stages. Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens bones to the point where they break easily—most often, bones in the hip, backbone (spine), and wrist. Osteoporosis is called a “silent disease” because there typically are no symptoms in the early stages of bone loss, until developing fractures or collapsed vertebra results in back pain. Medications are available for effective treatment.  Maintain adequate calcium and vitamin D levels are essential. Healthy and active life style benefits bone health for life time.

To read the full post for symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in more detail, go to

 https://www.qualitylifeforum.net/osteoporosis-in-women.html

Action is what counts: Bridging the gap between health knowledge and behavior transformation

As health science develops globally and information technology become more efficient than ever today, new health information from all channels and connections (television and digital news, social media, emails and blogs, phone and texts, etc) come to us quickly. It can be a bit of overwhelming, but provided us great resources for health news update and opportunities for learning.

In general, the process from information receiving, knowledge building and transformation into practice for health benefits is in a three-step flow:

• Information validation and cognitive processing (scan commercials/scams and knowing it’s health value).
• Transform the learned knowledge into useful skills and apply them in real life.
• Practice, including be able to adjust new skills in variable conditions, for results and sustainable health benefits

Knowledge is power and enable us to make educated choices for healthy living. The behavior transformation is from knowledge. Behavior is the end result that is the only way knowledge can be beneficial. However, it doesn’t happen magically but requires significant time and effort. Bridging the gap between "knowing" and "doing" is a common struggle.

It is true, deep down in our heart, we know what is good things to eat or to do for a healthier and happier life. But despite knowing all of that, we may not ACT on it.  In reality, it’s very common in many people.

There is no simple answer. Humans have emotions, feelings and free wills. We try to reason or make excuses for anything we want or don’t want to do. We are knowledgeable but sometimes tend to overthink, which complicates life.  Furthermore, fundamentally driven towards pleasure and away from pain is human nature. We prefer short term gratification rather than delaying pleasure for long term gain. This explains why many people favor the ice cream rather than eating carrot sticks or do nothing rather than go to gym.  We know well that healthy food choice and fitness are important for well-being, but knowing and doing are in different domains.

To read the full text, go to https://www.qualitylifeforum.net/action-is-what-counts.html 

The key take away messages:

• You know it well. Do it now. Don’t wait. Action is what it counts.
• Take breaks while on vacations and set an allowance for comfort food pleasure are acceptable. Too strict diet may be hard to follow and self-discipline is essential to prevent cheating. The best eating pattern is what works for you and you can stick with. Combine healthy eating with exercise routine is most effective for wellness maintenance.
• The weight has up and down days, don’t see it as a failure. Don’t give up. Be confident that results will sustain with continued efforts. The great feeling after workout is your reward for short term effort and quality of life improvement is your reward in the long run.

Action call: 

Take action today; don’t put it off. You are not alone; we may have different situations but also share something basic in common. Contact QualityLifeForum@outlook.com for a free call. An individualized coaching program can help you achieving your personal health goals.