Care – Page 10 – Jellybeans in the City

Ways for working moms to keep calm and carry on

There’s much to stress about with today’s busy urban lifestyle.

For working moms like us, juggling our multiple roles and responsibilities at home, at work, and in the community can be harrowing. Meeting expectations from superiors and colleagues at work, seeing to the needs of family members, and serving the communities we are part of do sometimes take their toll.

A chronically stressful lifestyle will have serious effects on both physical and mental health. Manifestations of stressful living range from headaches, stomach upsets and chest pains to lack of motivation, difficulty sleeping and anger or irritability.

Given all the demands on our time and attention, working moms can’t afford to be sidelined by symptoms of stress.

Some well-meaning folk would just give the advice to “keep calm and carry on.” However, that is easier said than done.

Among the ways to effectively handle stress, as advised by a Psychology Today article, are to:

Accept that stress is a part of life.
Keep problems in perspective.
Take care of physical health.
Look for a silver lining.

I discovered one such silver lining when my sister-in-law gifted me with a bottle Prosource Calming Oil.

In this handy 10ml bottle is a mixture of natural ingredients that include virgin coconut oil, ginger, lavender, eucalyptus and menthol. The bottle’s roll-on mechanism also helps in quickly applying the oil to alleviate discomforts and various effects of stress, such as:

Headaches
Neck, back and joint pains
Muscle pains
Gas pains
Dizziness and motion sickness
Colds and coughs

This calming oil is a boon to me whenever I experience driving anxiety. When I feel the headache and nausea coming when I’m behind the wheel, I rub some calming oil on my temples. The cool, soothing sensation on my skin and the fresh scent help to manage my discomfort, allowing me to successfully reach my destination.

This was also helpful when my little boy got sick; massaging it onto his back and chest helped in quieting his bouts of coughing enough for him to get a good night’s sleep.

Stress may be a part of life, but it need not be life-limiting.

Prosource Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is available in most Watsons and Mercury Drug outlets nationwide. It retails at Php120/tube.

3 hacks to counter “mom brain”

As a working mom, I manage quite a number of demands on my time and attention. On any given day, I field multiple requirements, requests and reminders from my office, family and other pursuits.

Sometimes, though, with so many distractions and competing concerns, I find myself overwhelmed and out-of-depth, struggling to remember tiny details or concentrate on tasks.

From time to time, I have been known to:

Look for my car in the wrong parking lot
Start writing multiple emails which never get finished or sent because I got distracted
Have trouble recalling agreements with colleagues or discussions with my family members
Forget to attend meetings that I have already accepted and even put in my computer’s calendar
Walk into a room and forget what I went there for

I’m sure this phenomenon is not new to many moms out there. In fact, it has been given a name: the “mom brain.”

In the article The Science of “Mom Brain,” author Vanessa LoBue, Phd. cites that researchers speculate that oxytocin, the hormone present in mothers during pregnancy, labor and nursing, may be contributing to lapses in memory. This keeps women from developing bad memories from the experience of motherhood, an evolutionary benefit that helps ensure we try our hand at parenthood again and again.

It’s just too bad that these memory lapses may wreak havoc in our career, household and social lives.

Fortunately, there are ways to counter the effects of mom brain.

Practice mindfulness. This is the discipline of being present and in the moment, of being aware of where you are and the intentionality of what you are doing, and not being overly reactive to external stimuli. This allows you and your brain to seize control of your actions and reactions.

Considering the laundry list of things you must pay attention to, whether it be a family, social or work concern, take a brief time to pause, relax and simply think.

Train and retrain yourself. Be open to new experiences, particularly in learning new things. This will help build new neural pathways in your brain to acquire and store your new knowledge. In her article How the Brain Creates New Neural Pathways, Dr. Lisa Christiansen states that the more these pathways are used, the stronger they become, increasing the likelihood of new long-term connections and memories.

This would be a great excuse for you to treat yourself to a learning adventure, like visiting an interesting art exhibit or learning a new recipe. You can even teach yourself a new work skill by reading a good business book, signing up for an online course or browsing through online tutorials.

Nourish yourself. It has long been known that eating the right kind of food helps in improving memory and mental concentration. According to a BBC Good Food article, the digestive system not only provides the body and brain with key nutrients from food and drink, it also produces important hormones that enter the brain and impact memory and cognitive function.

Foods rich in antioxidants, good fats and selected vitamins and minerals, while providing us with the energy needed to perform our tasks, also help in protecting our brains.

To further boost the effects of good food to your memory, and overcome the effects of mom brain, you might want to consider supplementing your food with added nutrients.

Vida Nutriscience, Inc., the company behind a wide range of wellness products which include GlutaWhite, MyBeauty and Sleep EZ, has introduced a new dietary supplement: Spike Brain Booster.

Taken in capsule form, Spike Brain Booster helps improve general learning performance, increases memory functions and mental fitness, enhances concentration and mental alertness under pressure, and improves memory speed.

Among its key ingredients is neuravena, a green oat extract known for its positive effect on cognitive markers. It enhances blood circulation, stimulates the brain and supports dopamine levels, thereby helping to improve concentration, alertness, working memory and mental performance.

Another active ingredients is magnesium lactate. Magnesium contributes to energy production and regulates the levels of other important nutrients in the body.

Alphasize 50 WSP, on the other hand, is known to contribute in improving key brain functions including memory, concentration, learning, recall and focus, while Bioperine helps the body in the faster and more efficient absorption of nutrients.

Lastly, Vitamins B3 (Niacin), B6 (Pyridoxine), B9 (Folic Acid) and B12 (Cobalamine), often referred to as B-complex vitamins, are needed to maintain healthy liver, skin, hair and eyes.

It is advised to take one capsule of Spike Brain Booster daily after a meal. On days which require added mental alertness or concentration – such as a presentation to the office’s upper management, attending a seminar, or planning a marketing campaign – Spike may be taken twice.

I usually take a capsule after lunch to counter effects of the “ungodly hour” – the time after eating a heavy meal when I feel sleepy or groggy.

Spike Brain Booster is FDA-approved and is available at Mercury Drugstores nationwide at Php990 per box containing 30 capsules. For more details and product updates, follow Spike Brain Booster on Facebook and Instagram.

Mom brain may be a hassle, whether in the office or at home. But with some practical steps, and proper nutrition, the manifestations of mom brain can be overcome.

Disclosures: This post is sponsored by Vida Nutriscience who also provided product samples for me to try and review. Product details are provided by the company as well.

Product Review: Belo Baby Cologne

Among the first batch of samples I got from Sample Room is a small bottle Belo Baby Cool Drizzle Cologne. Despite the unwritten rule that grown women should gravitate towards perfumes, I retain my preference for baby colognes. I guess it’s a combination of two factors: One, baby colognes are much cheaper than perfumes, a high-end cologne would, more often than not, cost less than many of the low-end perfumes. Two, colognes tend to have light fresh scents which I find a lot more palatable than the heavier and more floral scents of perfumes.

It is packaged in a handy 50ml spritzer bottle which fits in most bags and kikay kits. I like its fresh scent that lasts for a good couple of hours. It does not feel so astringent-y when sprayed on, owing to the glycerin component that helps to moisturize and chamomile-derived Bisabolol (known to have anti-irritant, anti-inglammatory and anti-microbial properties) that helps to soothe skin. Formulated without parabens, phtalates, EDTA and coloring agents, Belo Baby Cool Drizzle Cologne is dermatologist-tested, hypoallergenic and safe for all skin types, so it should be safe for you and your little ones to use. It also doubles as a hand sanitizer; that means we have less stuff to carry in our bags.

To use, spray a small amount on your hands and apply thoroughly as often as you like.

Belo Baby Cool Drizzle Cologne comes in 50ml (priced at Php64.75) and 100ml (priced at Php79.75) spritzer bottles. It is available at all leading supermarkets, department stores, groceries, and drugstores nationwide, and online via Zalora, Lazada and Cudsly.

To quote a wise man, Mr. Jonathan Van Ness of the hit Netflix show, Queer Eye: “It’s not vanity, it’s self-care. There’s a difference.”

Just because we are busy working moms (and even more so because of it), we need to take better care of ourselves, to feel good about ourselves, to give our kids a good example and to make sure we are at our best when we need to be.

The free sample was provided by Sample Room, an online community where you can “try before you buy” beauty and personal care products to get the ones which best match you. I just needed to pay for the shipping of the items I requested.

Why we should donate blood

I joined the Red Cross Youth org in my university during my college years. While I handled several projects for the org, I never got around to donating blood. At the time, I was afraid of the needles used, the sight of blood or the medical team sometimes had trouble locating the blood vessel in my arm optimal for blood extraction.

I started donating blood a few years ago. The employees’ union at my office had a bloodletting activity and, as a show of support and with some friendly competition among my coworkers, I joined those donating blood. It was fairly painless plus the union officers even gave me a mug and a shirt as a souvenir.

Since then, health and schedule permitting, I have tried to regularly donate blood at a nearby hospital. I even brought my husband with me once and we made the experience into a bonding activity. On my next donation this December, I plan to bring my eldest daughter so I can instill the habit in her as well.

My reason for donating blood is that it’s one of the easiest ways I can contribute to someone’s life. One pint of blood can be broken down into three components – red blood cells, plasma and platelets – thereby possibly saving up to three lives.

And don’t worry about your donation going to waste. There’s actually a lot of demand for donated blood. Yours may even reach the farthest areas in the country, and may help save lives in far-flung provinces.

Given the demands on my time and resources, I can’t contribute much to charity or volunteer at my chosen causes. Giving blood, however, simply involves a trip to the hospital and a few minutes at the blood bank, or some time away from my desk during the office’s blood donation drive.

Blood donation also affords me several health benefits:

A free mini-physical that checks my pulse and blood pressure as well as a free blood analysis that checks for the presence of infectious diseases.
Prevents hemachromatosis, a health condition brought about by too much iron in the blood. By maintaining healthy iron levels in the blood, the risk of certain cancers, liver and heart ailments are also minimized.
It helps in weight loss. Every donation burns around 650 calories, which to me is the equivalent to three hours at the treadmill.
It also stimulates production of new blood cells further contributing to the maintenance of good health.

To be eligible to donate, I needed to be the following:

In good health. You should be feeling well at the time of donation.
Between 16 to 65 years of age. If below 18, you will need your parent’s consent to be able to donate.
Weighing at least 110 pounds.
Having a normal blood pressure, between 90 and 160 mmHg (systolic), 60 and 100 mmHg (diastolic)
Able to pass the physical and health history assessments that will be conducted immediately before the donation.

After the procedure, I was given refreshments (usually a snack and a juice box which I should consume before leaving the donor area), and these reminders:

Rest and remain in the area for 15 minutes.
Increase fluid intake for the next 24 hours.
No smoking within the next 3 hours and no alcoholic beverages for the next 24 hours.
No strong pressure or heavy lifting on the donating arm for the next 24 hours to avoid bruising.
No strenuous activity or hazardous work for the next few hours.

Blood donation is a way for me to give of myself. It is my gift of life to whoever has the urgent need for it.

If you want to donate blood, check out the Red Cross website for more information.