14 Daily Habits That Are Secretly Stressing You Out

Stress ‘Tis the season for completely losing it. The holidays are a worry-filled time for a lot of people, but it turns out that you might be partially to blame for your own pre-eggnog anxiety. But we know (or we hope) you’re not purposely trying to sabotage yourself, so here’s a quick rundown of things you might be doing without realizing they’re actually making you feel worse.

Take a deep breath and try to relax. You might be stressed because…

1. You haven’t laughed today.

If you can’t remember the last time you laughed so hard you were blinded by tears, you should reconsider your life choices. And watch this video clip. Laughter has been shown to relieve stress, stimulate blood flow, relax muscles, promote a healthy immune system and relieve pain.

2. You’re not using your gym membership.

In a study on mice, those that had exercised responded to a stressful cold-water bath with a short spurt of anxiety followed by calm, suggesting brains are more equipped to deal with stress when the body has been physically active. Regular exercise, not whenever-I’m-bored-and-it’s-convenient exercise, can help you de-stress. Also, you’ll look better.

3. You’re listening to the wrong playlist.

Multiple studies have shown the relaxing benefits of listening to music. But everyone has their own musical preferences. Your piano teacher might chill out to Debussy, but maybe The Cranberries take you back to a relaxing, mid-90s kind of place. Know yourselves, guys.

4. You left that sink of dirty dishes for “tomorrow.”

Consider your cleaning habits. Were you “that” roommate in college? Would it be not uncommon to find a partially decomposed banana lying under a pile of fliers and junk mail on top of your refrigerator? Is the bottom of your bag a sad collection of broken pens? Keeping your spaces tidy may not be an anxiety cure-all, but there’s evidence to suggest it can help relieve stress.

5. You’re not having enough sex.

If you’re freaking out about something, you may not have given this topic much thought, but you should! It’s the most fun stress-reliever on this list. Yep, sex not only counts as decent exercise, but it may very well help you chill out. Princeton researchers found lower stress hormones in rats allowed to copulate daily in one study, and Bonobo monkeys have long been observed to use sex as a stress management tool.

6. You’re letting your breathing get the best of you.

Quick breathing is a natural response to stressors, but unless you’re losing it over something like a saber-toothed tiger, hyperventilating over anxiety kind of defeats the purpose. Find a breathing exercise that works for you, and remember it the next time you start to worry.

7. You’re trying to face your stressors.

Valiant effort, but the truth is, within reason, you can try to avoid things that stress you out. Don’t like crowds? Then stop grocery shopping on Saturday afternoons. The Mayo Clinic says you can totally avoid specific people, too — which you’re probably already doing if you don’t like them, but now you don’t have to feel guilty about dodging whatever mouth-breathing co-worker you can’t stand.

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Thanksgiving For Special Diets: How To Make A Meal Everyone Can Eat

Thanksgiving What happens when a vegan, a person on the Paleo diet and a gluten-free eater sit down together to a Thanksgiving dinner?

It sounds like the intro to a joke, but it’s a real conundrum for the many people who have guests and loved ones with multiple dietary restrictions. Though it can be tough to plan a meal in which every guest can eat everything, there are several strategies that can make Turkey Day dining healthy and nutritious for everyone, experts say.

“The biggest thing is just keeping it simple,” said Cassie from DietitianCassie.com(whose last name is Bjork), a registered, licensed dietitian and health coach. “The shorter the ingredient list, the better.”

Creating a meal with lots of side dishes that emphasize fruits and veggies can also make the Thanksgiving menu a crowd-pleaser, Cassie said.

Simple meals

Those who follow the Paleo diet typically shun grains, sugars, dairy and processed foods, and instead try to eat foods that ancient hunter-gatherers would have eaten before the agricultural revolution. Those foods usually include fish, wild game and poultry, as well as fruits, vegetables and eggs. (Some on the diet also eat nuts.)

For those folks, simple staples such as green-bean casserole or mashed cauliflower work well. The green beans can be made with a healthy serving of coconut oil and homemade mushroom soup. Turkey is an easy staple that Paleo dieters can enjoy while getting adequate protein and fat, Cassie told LiveScience.

Other dishes can be modified to make them Paleo-friendly. For instance, sweet-potato casserole can be made without the marshmallows and cream.

Carb-conscious

Many people (including people on the Paleo diet) now follow a gluten-free diet, avoiding any foods that contain the protein gluten.

Still others are struggling with type 2 diabetes and must stick to a low-carb diet as a result.

For all these groups, it’s best to steer clear of white flour as a thickener, but either coconut or almond flour can be used as a substitute.

For dessert, make a coconut-milk, pumpkin custard instead of a pie, she said.

And for those who eat nuts, one option is to make the crust out of nuts, Franziska Spritzler, a registered dietitian and diabetes educator who runs lowcarbdietitian.com, wrote in an email. Having some unsweetened whipped cream on the side can provide a satisfying, low-carb treat, she said.

Even without the sweet treats, there are plenty of other options on the traditional Thanksgiving table for the carb-conscious.

“Turkey is virtually carb-free and an excellent source of protein,” Spritzler wrote. “Green beans, salad and other low-carb vegetables are important to consume because they provide fiber and phytonutrients (plant nutrients) that have beneficial health effects.”

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Exercise Could Help Kids Do Better In School

Books Want your teen to do well in school? Encouraging him or her to hit the gym (or track, court or pavement) could help, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Dundee, University of Bristol and University of Georgia found that the more time teens spend exercising, the better they tend to do on tests for English, math and science.

The study included data from 4,755 youths in the U.K., part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, who were followed as they took national exams in English, math and science at ages 11, 13 and 15/16. Researchers took note of their amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity, which was monitored with accelerometers over a three-to-seven day period when they were age 11.

They found that the more active the child was at age 11, the greater their academic performance was during the tests in the following years. This held true even after taking into account other factors such as socioeconomic status, weight and the child’s puberty status.

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