Migraines

Let’s talk about migraines….

Now i’ve been someone that has suffered from migraines and finding the root cause of it has always been a struggle to deal with. There can be so many different reasons as to why the migraine might be occurring.

Having a chronic migraine Is different than having an acute migraine. A chronic migraine can cause detrimental issues against your health if not treated correctly. When should you start taking your migraines seriously?

{ Signs to look for are }

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Blurred Vision

• Dizziness

• Brain Fog

• Memory Issues

• Unbearable Pain

• Trouble sleeping or staying asleep

- Seeking help from your health care professional is important because this can affect your day to day and lead to more issues if not taken care of.

Lowering Cortisol Levels

Cortisol is our bodies main “stress hormone”.

- It helps to play a role in regulating our circadian rhythm, reducing inflammation, and controlling blood pressure

High cortisol causes a person to feel more “ on edge” affecting their concentration and causing brain fog. This stems from Chronic Stress which can lead to..

• Anxiety and Depression

• Irregular periods in females

• Weakened immune system

• Mood swings

• Type 2 diabetes

  “And the list can go on”

  So how do we lower it?

• Try relaxation techniques

• Breathing exercises

• Long walks

• Journaling

• Therapy

• Spending time with friends and family that bring you joy

• Taking Vitamins/supplements

• Avoiding caffeine

• More sleep

• Exercising

• Eating more whole foods and less inflammatory foods that will cause a leaky gut

“ Its all about consistency so staying consistent in lowering your cortisol levels will help you feel a difference”

Amygdala

Now you might be asking what the amygdala is and how it plays a role in our health?

The amygdala is the part of the brain that controls a lot of our emotions. It functions in regulating anxiety, aggression, fear conditioning, emotional memory, and our social cognition. The reason I wanted to take the time to talk about this very important part of our brain is because being aware can help you be able to manage your emotions better.

-The amygdala has many jobs, it helps us be aware of our emotions in ourselves and in others. If your amygdala is damaged you are probably experiencing strong emotions such as anxiety, irritability and depression that can start to feel out of control.

How can we help keep the amygdala healthy?

• Reduce your stress! some easy ways can be exercise and deep breathing

• Eating a healthier diet and eating more Whole Foods

• Going to therapy and working through any trauma that you’ve been through with a trained professional

• Monitoring your sleep schedule and getting enough sleep

Extreme Fatigue

Let’s talk about it…

Fatigue is tiredness that lingers. If your fatigue is persistent and slows you down throughout your day, it can be hard finding out the cause. You’ve probably woken up in the morning after 8 hours of sleep wondering why you can sleep for another 8 hours. Everyone gets tired but if you have lingering fatigue and just never feel refreshed after you’ve slept a full night, you start to wonder if a more serious problem is at hand and finding the culprit of your endless amount of fatigue starts to feel like a full time job. The most common cause of fatigue in most cases is lack of sleep and exercise but here is a list of other causes to keep in mind.

• Lifestyle

  - Drug Use

  - Eating poorly

  - Medicines you might be taking

  - Too little physical activity

  - Too much physical activity

  - Depression

  -Anxiety

  -Hyper and Hypothyroidsm

  - Anemia

  - Type 2 diabetes

  - Chronic fatigue syndrome

  - Sleep apnea

  -B12 deficiency or insufficiency

Autoimmune Diseases

What is an autoimmune disease?

There are over 100 autoimmune diseases but here are the most common ones you might have heard of

Rheumatoid Arthritis- Inflammatory disorder that usually affects small joints in the hands and feet.

Lupus- An illness when the immune system attacks healthy tissue and organs

Celiac Disease- An immune system reaction to eating gluten

Sjogren’s Syndrome- An immune system illness system illness that causes dry eyes and dry mouth

Multiple Sclerosis- When the immune system eats away at protective covering of nerves

Polymyalgia Rheumatica- Inflammatory disorder causing muscle pain and stiffness around the shoulders and hips

Ankylosing Spondylitis- An inflammatory arthritis affecting the spine and large joints

Type 1 diabetes- A lifelong condition where the pancreas makes little or no insulin, which leads to high blood sugar levels

Alopecia Areata- Sudden hair loss that starts with one or more circular bald patches that may overlap.

Vasculitis- Swelling of blood vessels

Temporal Arteritis- Inflammation in the blood vessels.

Finding out what the root cause of an autoimmune disease can feel like a long and scary journey, I wanted to list some drivers that can cause an autoimmune disease to develop. Western medicine tells us that once you have an autoimmune disease that’s it! you’ll have it for the rest of your life. From my research I have found that it isn’t the case with every autoimmune disease. It wasn't until I learned about ( Function Of medicine ) which is an approach that talks about the “ root” cause of inflammation and chronic illness.

There are 6 causes that you can start to look at to start figuring out why your body is out of balance and why your having chronic inflammation

1. Toxins

2. Microbes

3. Allergens

4. Poor Diet

5. Stress

6. Genetic Predisposition

The three that I feel are most important to focus on are

• Genetic Predisposition

• Environmental Triggers

• Toxin Exposure

Genetic Predisposition- Our genes can be the first step in potential for disease to develop. But how we activate those genes to turn on and off impacts actual disease development. Make sure you watch your environmental exposure, nutrient intake, and maintaining your gut health.

Gut health is very important. So many issues arise from poor gut health aka a ( leaky gut ). 70 % of your immune system is in your gut. A leaky gut involves controlling the passage of nutrients and unwanted invaders from the gut through the cells that line the gut. Leaky gut allows bacteria and toxins to enter the bloodstream leaving you feeling sick.

Environmental Triggers - Infections ( Usually viral ) inflammatory diet, chronic inflammation, lack of exercise.

Toxin Exposure- Chemical exposure through food, exposure to pollutants, stress and lack of sleep.

Getting to the root of this really help play a role in helping bettering your overall health.

Brain Dump

Taking care of your mind and body is so important, as you know we only have one body so why not treat it with care right? We’re human and we go through so many trials and tribulations over the years, and stress can sometimes take the front seat in our life. The affect that stress has on our bodies can cause harm mentally and physically. Mental health is a topic that still has a stigma around it, but its something as humans we have to deal with at some point in our lives whether its grief, depression, anxiety, ptsd and the list can go on. So how do we start to not only take care of ourselves physically but mentally as well?

Well it starts with slowing down.. when were stressed it tends to be because were trying to do everything all at once while trying to have everything figured out at the same time. But It doesn’t work like that, Ha! I wish it did. But in all reality it takes taking a step back from the things in our lives and reevaluating ourselves. When you take a second and really listen to your mind and body you start to notice what it is you need to do to start making those changes to be a happier you.

Make sure you are prioritizing time throughout your day to just check in with yourself. Sometimes our worst critiques are ourselves. As humans we tend to pick apart every little thing we do and dwell on it. If you shift your mindset and envision the best version of yourself eventually be it. I challenge you to try each day, whenever you have a negative thought change it into something positive immediately. And yes this is easier said than done but if you’re consistent with it you’ll start to slowly change your negative thinking. This helps with your stress management and allowing your brain to shift from a negative mindset into a positive one.

Holistic Health

I’ve always loved healthcare from a holistic point of view by eating whole foods, incorporating daily exercises, decreasing our sugar intake levels, managing our sleep schedule, and incorporating stress management can make such a difference in energy levels, brain fog and mental health as well. The negative effects of eating unhealthy can really show in how your body performs on the daily. It can be overwhelming and frustrating trying to figure out why you feel the way that you do. And it’s natural for us as humans to think the worse like, can it be something worse?

Even for myself when I noticed a lack of energy and moodiness, I wasn’t sure where to start. It was definitely a process and journey but was so worth it to get to the root cause of the problems I was facing. I incorporated 30-60 minutes of exercise each day and allowed myself grace as well as never pushing myself if I wasn't feeling up for the gym that day. Prioritizing my nutrition was definitely a lifestyle change but was and is so worth it if you want to see and feel a difference in your overall health.

Elimination Approach :

If it’s hard figuring out how to start i suggest an elimination approach. Start eliminating the “ BAD STUFF” and slowly start making changes to your daily habits. Maybe it’s using your phone before bed ( which decreases your melatonin levels) or maybe its skipping physical exercise and using that time to go on your phone instead. Whatever bad habit it is try slowly making swaps and changes and see how your body feels afterwards and jot down the changes your feeling whether its good or bad.

Primary Goal For My Guides

My goal is to help those who want a fresh start to their health journey. It’s hard not having a clue how or where to even start. As a college student I find it hard to wanting to be this person who has it all figured out waking up early each morning getting all the work I need to get done in that day and going to bed at a good time each night. But in reality that’s not the case. Stress is something as humans we all experience and it can’t really be avoided even if we wish it could be. But life also doesn’t have to be this crazy maze we have to map out in order to survive all the time. Your mind and body are the two things as humans that were in charge of and it’s important that we take care of it.

Here are a few things to be mindful of if you want to start taking your health a little more seriously

Stress management

Being mindful of your nutrition

Exercising and having a workout plan

Making time for fun! ( hanging out with friends, spending time in nature, self care)

Talking with a trusted person about the stress you might be feeling

Finding You’re Balance

Starting is always the hardest part when you have a passion or goal that you’ve set for yourself. And sometimes we think that somehow someway one day we’ll just wake up and everything will be perfect. And the sad truth of it all is that’s almost never the case. Sometimes you have to work hard at something each day even when set backs occur, and I get it when you feel like something that your passionate about just isn’t working out in your favor its easy to get discouraged and start to give up. And you might have doubts in your head like… what if I never find a job? what if I never get that position I’ve been working so hard for? what if I never find the right career for me? what if I never find that joy that i’ve been searching for? what if this is all life has to offer? And then those ( what if’s ) start to become a part of your daily routine.

Here your reminder to slow down and…

1. Focus On What You Can Control

   • When you separate what you CAN control from what you THINK you can control, it makea difference when sorting out your brain. Overthinking starts to become a full time job when you start focusing so much on the things in your life that is out of your control.

   • Write down a list of what you need to get down the next day.

     • Sometimes when you write out your to do list the night before your sorting out your day before hand so you're a little bit more organized and prepared for the next day.

   2.

   • Check In With Yourself Throughout The Day

     • Whether you're at work all day or school taking a few minutes to check in with yourself with how you're feeling, is helpful in being mindful of yourself.

     • It’s easy to switch over into autopilot when we’re going throughout our day, it can become easy to suppress our emotions and ignore signals that our bodies are telling it us. Take a break. Go outside, eat a snack , breathe , drink your water. Do what it is you need to do to give your body the attention it deserves.

     3.

   • Do something for yourself each day that brings a smile to your face

     • Maybe its waking up and remembering you get to make coffee

     • Maybe its talking with your loved one of the phone that makes your day

     • Maybe its seeing your favorite co-worker at work

     • Maybe its sunny and you can’t wait to go on a walk after work

       * Find that thing that will bring joy to your day

Happy Hormones :)

listed Are Our Bodies Happy Hormones That We Need

[ Endorphins ] * The pain killer *

. Exercise

. Laugh

. Be Creative

. Eat Dark Chocolate

. Eat Spicy Food

. Vent to someone about stressful situations

. Dark Red Wine

[ Serotonin ] * The Mood Stabilizer *

. Spend Time Outdoors

. Go For A Hike

. Do Yoga

. Take Vitamin D

. Listen to your favorite music

. Spend time in the Sun

[ Dopamine ] * Reward Chemical *

. Learning Something New

. Finishing Something New

. Self Care

. Exercise

. Eat Protein Rich Diet

. Get Good Sleep

. Eat Chocolate:)

[ Oxytocin ] * The Love Hormone*

. Spending Time With People You Care About

. Spend Time With A Pet

. Hug Someone

. Do A Good Deed

. Consume Caffeine

. Take Vitamins C + D

Getting Back On Track….

How do you get back on tract after getting yourself in a rut?

You know that feeling you get when you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you just feel off. Nobody likes feeling out of control from their own mind and body so let’s get it back!

It’s no easy task getting out of a rut and it takes being patient and gentle with yourself through the days you just don’t feel like you.

If you’ve ever been stuck in a rut and just don’t know how or where to start I want you to try out my 7 day reset! now I know… before you start feeling like this is just another thing to add to your to do list, this is a a study I had friends and myself try it. And its to see if you can feel better and reset within 7 days! I’ve noticed if I don’t incorporate these into my day to day I start feeling more tired and not myself!

7 Day Reset

I have curated a routine that is beneficial for when you're just not feeling like yourself and want a quick refresh. Research has shown that for each of these methods it can help reduce your anxiety and depression symptoms, so you can feel like your best self.

I advise if you are feeling unhappy for most days, to seek help from a medical professional

Hope my 7 day guide and routine helps you reset!:)

[Monday]

I want you to set aside at least 30 minutes in your day to exercise or just a walk outside:)

Exercise releases those feel good chemicals in our bodies to reduce the anxiety and depression

[Tuesday]

Chose 1 task that you’ve been avoiding to do and take at least 2 hours out of your day to sit down and do it

• Procrastination causes more harm than good. Sometimes the thought of doing something makes the task seem more stressful than it really is.

[Wednesday]

• Take this day to be more self aware of the words you're saying to yourself. Our worst critiques can be ourselves which is so damaging to our mind and mental health. But take this day to be self aware of how you speak to yourself moving forward.

[Thursday]

• Take this day to spend time with someone you love and trust. It is scientifically proven that spending time with people that make you laugh helps you live longer!

[Friday]

• Take this day to reevaluate. Is there anything that want to add or change from this weeks 7 day reset?

  Focus on your needs and what works best for you

  - Sara Dublin

The purpose of the 7 day reset is to help reduce those feelings of sadness and anxiety that start to creep in when we feel like your starting to get into a rut. Starting from a holistic approach to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression can really help you in the long run. Following along each day and incorporating healthy habits