I come from a family that snores a lot. I don’t know if that’s a genetic thing or if we’ve all got the same health issues that cause this problem but I do know that most of us snore most of the time. It’s not a huge problem so I’ve never thought that much about it. Still it’s crossed my mind to wonder if there are things that we could easily do to stop snoring.

You see all of these anti-snoring devices and medications advertised on TV, don’t you? They’re always saying that you can stop snoring by putting a strip on your nose or using a special anti-snoring pillow or taking a pill that basically serves as a decongestant. There are even dental devices that you can put in your mouth to change your breathing so that you don’t snore.

I don’t want to do any of those things. They sound scary and unnecessary and I really don’t think that snoring is that big of a big deal. However, I do think that there are small things that can be done that are healthy and which may stop snoring. Changing your diet to reduce the amount of fat and dairy that you consume is one change that I think is smart to make. Manipulating your sleep position for better breathing isn’t a bad idea either. I don’t buy into all of the anti-snoring cures but I do think that it’s probably fairly easy to stop snoring if you want to try.

Tags: anti-snoring, breathing, health, how to stop snoring, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, snoring, stop snoring

One of the things that I think is most important to learn how to do as an adult is to learn to take time out for yourself on a regular basis. I think it’s important to learn to take a few moments each day to just breathe and to be still with yourself. I think it’s important to learn to take a half day out of your week to do something alone that you truly enjoy. And I think it’s important to learn to take vacations or pursue long-term goals that allow you to take time for yourself in a bigger way throughout the year.

When you take time for yourself, you recharge your batteries. You get in better touch with yourself. You understand your needs and wants and emotions better. Taking time for yourself therefore allows you to give more to the people around you because there is more of you available to give. It allows you to be more productive while simultaneously allowing you to be more creative anmd flexible in your productivity.

Sure, it’s possible to fail to take time for yourself and to give your all to something in a productive way for awhile. Some people can even do this for long stretches of time. But you can’t do it forever. At some point, something’s got to give and then you burn out because your body and mind demand the attention that they need. Instead of doing that, we should take time out every day to be with ourselves and to be kind to ourselves so that we can keep going day after day without sacrificing our positive experience of life.

Tags: business, health, self care, taking time for yourself, time management, wellness

I always find it funny when people say that they don’t have the time to relax. It’s funny to me because of the irony of the fact that those people who have the least time are the ones who most need to relax and yet they don’t feel like they can. What I’ve discovered is that learning to take time away from your obligations is the single biggest thing that can allow you to be most productive in the times during which you are busy.

Learning to take time for yourself doesn’t mean that you have to give up any of your daily obligations. Take a look at my tips for ten ways to destress yourself in ten minutes or less. Each of these tips can be used throughout the day to decrease destress and yet none of them takes so much time that any part of your day should be hindered as a result of taking that time to chill out.

In fact, you will most likely find that the rest of your day goes much better because of the fact that you have taken a little bit of time to yourself. When we spread ourselves too thin, we don’t offer our full selves to anything that we are doing and everything suffers as a result of that. When we manage to take the time to care for ourselves, we do better in all that we do even if it technically seems like we have less time to give to things.

Tags: destress, health, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, life, relaxation, stress, stress tips, wellness

Anyone who is interested in yoga, meditation and general wellness should make it a point to check out the many different articles that were recently submitted to the Roundup of Yoga, Meditation and Personal Development blog carnival. There was a lot of useful information provided there!

My own post was on the many benefits of yoga was included in this carnival. Of course it was in the yoga section along with posts on bikram yoga, face yoga, yoga for beginners and the internal strength built by yoga. Also in the yoga section were two chakra-based posts on the root chakra and the heart chakra.

Another topic covered very well in this blog carnival is the topic of meditation and spiritual growth. This includes posts on the zen of clearing your mind, the law of attraction, consciousness and mysticism.

Additional posts in this blog carnival ran the gamut of topics including happiness, hypnosis, making the most of life through gratitude, forgiveness and optimism, making good eating choices (like papaya), your subconscious mind, having children, addictive drugs, anorexia, creativity and life goals.

Which of these posts made you feel most at peace?

Tags: best blogs, blog carnival, blogs, health, kathryn vercillo, personal development, spirituality, wellness, yoga

Any SmartChick (or SmartGuy) knows that it’s really important to be concerned about your health. In line with this, it is important to be concerned about your diet because we are what we eat in a lot of ways. One of the best things that a smart person can do for themselves is to learn how to incorporate different foods into an overall balanced diet to get all of the right nutrition so that the body always feels good.

Fiber is one of those foods that you hear enough about to know that it’s something that you need to have in your diet. But is it something that you pay attention to? Most people don’t – at least not until they get old enough that a lack of fiber starts causing some serious issues in their bodies. It’s always better to prevent problems than to treat problems so adding fiber to your diet before it’s an issue just makes sense.

Luckily, there are tons of easy ways to add fiber to your diet. Basically you just want to eat lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. You want to get a lot of beans and peas in your diet. You want to avoid white (as in white bread and white rice) in favor of brown. You want to leave the skin and seeds on your foods as often as possible and eat raw fruits and veggies instead of cooked ones. Someone who is already eating a healthy diet is probably already doing most of these things. Way to be smart!

Tags: diet, dietary fiber, fiber, Food, health, how to eat fiber, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, nutrition

Last month I was so sick that I couldn’t get out of bed for almost a week and I couldn’t really do much else for about three weeks after that. It was awful. It wasn’t even serious really – just a cold that turned into a bit of a lung infection which exacerbated old problems with asthma. Once the cold was out of my system, I was able to get the rest under control.

However, I did have to go to a doctor about my asthma because I hadn’t been to one in ages. The trip went exactly as I expected that it would. He told me that I need to use a steroid inhaler every day forever and ever and I told him that I didn’t want to do that and we were basically at a standstill. It ended with me agreeing to try this inhaler for one month and come back to the doctor.

I tried the inhaler for all of two or three days before I decided that the side effects weren’t worth the trial. I also just felt like I was going against all of my gut instincts by taking this steroid inhaler so I quit it and now I have to go back to the doctor and explain that. And I really just don’t want to bother. I’ve spent years trying to figure out what to do about my asthma and I haven’t found any great solution that works for me.

Sometimes I really hate the hassles of trying to figure out the right medication and medical choices. I don’t know if I should use a steroid inhaler or an albuterol inhaler or keep trying to find a holistic solution for asthma that works for me. I don’t know if I should get my wisdom teeth removed or just leave them be. Heck, sometimes I don’t even know if I should take aspirin or Tylenol for a headache.

And I feel like I don’t really get information from my doctors that is helpful. The pulmonologist just says that I need the steroid inhaler end of story. The dentist insists that I need to get my wisdom teeth removed even though they don’t bother me but she can’t really give me a good reason why. I feel like I have to be my own advocate and do research myself but there doesn’t seem to be enough accurate information out there for me to know what to do. It’s frustrating! And it makes me really really glad that I’m basically healthy.

Tags: asthma, doctors, health, hub pages, kathryn vercillo, medication, medicine, pain relief

My health and diet post about yoga being so much more than just a physical thing has been included in the stress subject section of the Total Mind and Body Fitness blog carnival. Other articles on stress that were included were about rush hour traffic stress, destressing at work and finding satisfaction in life.

This blog carnival isn’t just about stress relief, though. It’s about all aspects of fitness and wellness. Other posts included:

• Posts on the brain including those related to memory, positive thoughts and brain plasticity.
• Tips, warnings and hints for dating online as well as offline and dealing with issues like cheating
• Exercise posts on yoga, the body (especially abs) and using ellipticals
• Beauty posts on cosmetic fillers and hair oil
• Food and nutrition posts on alcohol, pizza, health shakes, cholesterol and tea
• Financial wellness information on online banking, business and volunteerism
• Some seemingly random posts on Montana, PhotoLab, gold investing and remarkability

Wellness is a really important topic to read about so hopefully you’ll find some helpful information from the other articles that were included in this blog carnival!

Tags: blog carnival, blogcarnival, exercise, fitness, health, kathryn vercillo, life, stress, yoga

Any SmartChick (or SmartGuy) knows that what we put into our bodies is the single biggest thing that affects our health. Sure there are major impacts on our health by genetics and environment. But what we take in every day is what courses through our bodies and really determines how we feel.

I had the chance to write an article earlier on 20 Foods that are Great for your Skin which really got me thinking about the foods that we eat and the way they can benefit us or cause us problems. It makes sense that if you drink a lot of water and eat foods that are rich in antiocidants, selenium, Vitamin A and Vitamin C then you’re going to have a healthy body and good skin.

So why is doing that so hard sometimes? I do tend to have a pretty good diet. I’m lucky because I like a lot of foods that are healthy for me. I also don’t particularly like to cook (although I’m learning new recipes that are changing my opinion on that) so I tend to choose methods of cooking (broiling, steaming and eating things raw) that are healthier for me than other options.

Nevertheless, I definitely indulge in junk food more often than I should. Mostly I think moderation is the key here but writing that article definitely has me thinking that if I really want to be smart, I needed to focus on being smarter about what I put into my body each day!

Tags: diet, Food, foods for skin, health, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, nutrition, skin

Yoga is a popular form of exercise, especially in California where I live. However, it’s more than just a form of exercise. Yoga is a means of connecting with yourself. It’s a tool that can be used to get away from the hectic pace of life and bring yourself back to the core things that matter for you. It’s a way to establish peace of mind, get to know what’s going on with your body and really heal yourself from the inside out.

I never thought that I would be a yoga person. I was always someone who couldn’t sit still for long. I was always someone who wanted to do hiking and indoor rock climbing and other activities that involved a lot of motion. And I was definitely never someone who enjoyed classes filled with people who were exercising together.

But then things happened in my life. My world crashed down around me. And the only thing that I felt capable of doing was breathing (although some days I didn’t even feel capable of that). That was when I found yoga. I signed up for a weekly workshop. I dragged myself there. I learned to do some basic poses. I learned to breathe more deeply. And I learned to settle my mind so I could just relax despite the chaos happening around me. The physical exercise is certainly an important part of yoga but yoga is about so much more than that.

Ever since I started that first workshop, I have felt that yoga must be an important part of my life for the rest of my life. I make time for yoga classes no matter what else is going on. When I was ill recently, the thing I missed most was being able to go to yoga. Although it’s not the right activity for everyone, it’s now the right activity for me.

Tags: ehow, exercise, health, how to do yoga, spirituality, wellness, yoga

Earlier this week I did a lengthy article providing my tips for staying healthy during cold season. I believe that it’s really important to take care of ourselves properly when we are well so that our immune systems stay strong and we can avoid colds. After all, it’s almost always better to prevent a problem than to have to treat it and that seems to be even truer of health problems than other problems in life.

This is an important enough issue to me that I spent some time over at Yahoo Answers this week providing additional information to people about how to keep your immune system strong. One of those answers was chosen as the best answer to the immune system question that someone had asked. There were several other answers there as well and they were good too so check it out!

Note that my original article came from Bukisa. You can join my network there and earn money for articles that you write on almost any topic.

Tags: colds, health, immune system, kathryn vercillo, smartchick, wellness, Yahoo Answers