Feel Your Best This Spring With These Easy, Expert-Approved Wellness Tips You’ll Love
These expert-backed tips help you enjoy spring with more energy, less stress and better focus.
The sunny days and gentle breezes we’ve been craving all winter are here. And experts say these tricks will help you enjoy every minute feeling your best.
Stay upbeat and energized
The key to keeping your mood and energy up and cravings down? Balancing your glucose levels. And a saturated fatty acid called C15:0 can help. A study in Nutrients found that C15:0 works like the diabetes drug metformin, improving cells’ ability to take in glucose and process it. Researchers advise supplementing with C15:0 daily. You can also find it in foods like whole milk and butter.
Stop allergy flares with vitamin C or take a break
We think of it as a winter cold remedy, but vitamin C can cut fun-sapping spring allergy symptoms (including sinus irritation, itching, runny nose and postnasal drip) by up to 70% if you take 500 mg twice daily, suggests a study in Inflammopharmacology. Vitamin C’s secret? It’s a powerful natural antihistamine, plus it blocks the release of the hormones called prostaglandins that worsen sinus troubles by increasing congestion and irritating pain nerves.
R&R could cut your risk of miserable allergy symptoms by 45% or more, suggests research in BMC Public Health. The study authors say that your body quickly tamps down the production of inflammation-triggering proteins known as cytokines whenever you’re relaxed.
Heighten your happiness with an indoor garden or smell rain
If you plant a few tomato, pepper and cucumber seeds indoors right now, you’ll have cute little seedlings to kick-start your veggie garden in eight weeks. And doing so could boost your cheer in 1 minute, plus prevent the blues as effectively as daily workouts can, a Princeton University study found. Daily exposure to growing plants (whether you’re caring for them or just admiring them as you walk by) increases your brain’s release of mood-steadying alpha waves.
Opening a window and breathing in the distinctive scent of a rainy day can help you shake off a glum mood in 5 minutes, British research reveals. Rainstorms prompt the formation of molecules called negative air ions that act as natural antidepressants when they’re inhaled.
Reduce stress with colorful blooms or reach up
Daffodils, tulips and other cheery spring blooms are finally making their appearance. And stopping to enjoy the sight of them can make tension and anxiety disappear in just 3 minutes, Egyptian scientists say. The sight of colorful flowers prompts the release of soothing, stress-taming electrical brain waves. Tip: For all-day zen, bring a bouquet of your favorite blooms indoors.
Enjoying just 20 minutes of relaxing, yoga-like stretches daily quashes stress naturally, suggests a report in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. That’s because stretching calms the nervous system, lowering your heart rate and blood pressure and relaxing tense muscles.
Banish brain fog with a ‘happiness list’ or tweak the volume
Road trips, barbecues, backyard bonfires…there are a lot of fun times coming up! And making a list of all the great things you’d love to do will sharpen your focus in minutes, say researchers in Psychological Reports. Planning for and looking forward to happy times energizes a key brain region (the prefrontal cortex) that keeps you alert and sharp. Hint: Post your list in a room you frequent so you can glance at it whenever you need a speedy brain boost.
You know listening to an upbeat song can help you feel more clearheaded. Now, researchers reporting in the Journal of Science and Medicine say opting for a volume that’s easy to hear (but not loud) produces the best results, doubling your focus and reaction time.
Erase aches with rhubarb or eat al fresco
Working this seasonal treat into your diet can quickly dial down stiffness and pain, helping you enjoy these sunnier (and busier!) days ache-free, Chinese research suggests. A rhubarb compound called gallic acid shuts down a gene that makes pain and inflammation flare.
When skin is exposed to UV light, it releases a painkilling hormone called beta-endorphin. No wonder Polish investigators say getting a few minutes of sun midday when UV rays are at their strongest can cut stiffness and pain by up to 60%.
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