November 2015 – Wellness Focus

Making 2016 a Better Year

And here we are- on the cusp of another year. This year brought lots of good things, and some not-so-good things. As you think “forward” know that a few little things can make a big difference in the balance and harmony in your life. So make it a point to do things that will help make 2016 a better year.

Try these ten tips…

1. Learn something new. Teach yourself some new recipes. Learn to play poker. Try your hand at Portuguese. Why not? Stimulate your brain and you will be happier.

2. Talk to someone. Not texting. Not email. Not a note on the table. Brew up some tea or hang out at Starbucks and really TALK to someone about anything–not just serious stuff.

3. Eat cleaner. OK. You know this one. Better nutrition leads to feeling better and that leads to a higher quality of life.

4. Think positively. Catch yourself when you start to look on the dull side of life or when you become a “negative nelly.” Be positive. It works.

5. Go outside. We live in a world of walls, of office cubicles, or windows-up cars. Sometimes just being OUTSIDE makes a big difference. Plan some time every day to just get outside and breathe.

6. Be thoughtful and/or meditate every day. Our lives are so crazy that we rarely take even a minute just to stop and THINK. Some people focus on thinking through yoga or meditation. Are those people happier than you are? Probably.

7. Move. Yeah, yeah. Get some exercise. Go for a walk. Ride a bike, hit the gym. Make it a habit – even if it’s only a couple times a week. It can make a big difference in how you feel and how you look.

8. Know what makes you happy. Puppies? Chocolate? Your children? A hot bath? Know what brings you joy and pay more attention to that for a while.

9. Smile. If you don’t smile at least once a day, you’re missing out on a joy in life. Whether it’s a casual smile at a co-worker who says or does something funny, or smiling to yourself when you watch that crazy kitty-drive-a-car video again. Smiling is good for you. It’s contagious. And it definitely brings good things to life.

“We smile a lot. It keeps the energy positive and keeps us focused on the goodness of massage.” SVMTG Staff

10. Get a regular massage. We’re not just saying this because we’re professional massage therapists. Massage makes you physically and mentally feel better. Good endorphins are stimulated. Muscle aches disappear. Your mood improves. You relax and disconnect from your wireless devices for a precious hour or so. Your overall quality of life will improve. You’ll have a better year. Treat yourself to a massage every two weeks for a month. You will feel better. Seriously!

The Worst Sleeping Positions

The average human spends around 1/3 of his or her life sleeping. Sleep is the time when our body regenerates, and in the case of your muscles and bones, realign and rest in preparation for the new day.

That’s where things go wrong. Because of habit, environment, or other physical factors, many of us choose sleeping positions that actually contribute to stress and strain on our muscles, particularly in the upper body.

“Eighty percent of the population will have back problems at some point in [their] lives oftentimes caused or aggravated by the way they sleep,” Dr. Hooman Melamed, an orthopedic spine surgeon at the DISC Sports & Spine Center in Los Angeles, Calif.,

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Carpal Tunnel: Is this You?

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a common peripheral entrapment that causes neuralgia in the median nerve distribution of the hand. Wait, what? Translated from “medi-speak”. The carpal tunnel is an archway of bones in your wrists. When you palm is face-up, the bony arch is upside down. Across the open end of the arch, a thick band of connective tissue (flexor retinaculum) crosses to close off the arch and forms a “tunnel”. This tunnel is the way for tendons in your forearm to control muscles in your hand. There’s also a median nerve that supplies nerve function to some of the muscles at the base of your thumb and first two fingers. Sometimes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is referred to as Median Nerve Syndrome. Continue reading “Carpal Tunnel: Is this You?”

Five Reasons Why Massage is Better Today

Twenty years ago, it was almost impossible to find a place to get a massage. Small massage studios were pretty much non-existent and massage was billed only as a pampering treat and relegated to high end spas or found in very low-end and very sketchy red light hovels.

Fast forward to today and it’s a very different picture. Now massage is available in many more places. Literally everything about massage has changed, from the people giving the treatments to the readiness of the clients. Here’s a short list of five reasons why the massage you get today will likely be a LOT better than one you received 20 years ago.

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