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Tag: helpful tips

  • How To Help Those With Eating Disorders During The Holidays

    How To Help Those With Eating Disorders During The Holidays

    Experts offer a variety of useful tips on how to help those living with eating disorders navigate the triggering holiday season.

    The holiday season isn’t fun for everyone. Spending time with family members, paired with indulgent meals, can be overwhelming in and of itself. For some—including people living with eating disorders—it can be a triggering time.

    An estimated 30 million Americans struggle with an eating disorder, defined as “serious and often fatal illnesses that cause severe disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). If your loved one is among them, you can support them this holiday season.

    Bustle asked a few experts on how best to approach this issue.

    “The holiday season usually means three things: Lots and lots of… food, lots of time with extended family, and lots of unstructured time. Those three things can be incredibly rewarding, but for someone who is struggling with an eating disorder, they can also be incredibly difficult,” says clinical psychologist Dr. Stephanie Zerwas.

    Help them prioritize their recovery

    Their recovery comes first. Let them know it’s okay to sacrifice some holiday traditions in the name of feeling well. “Your loved one likely has a difficult time putting themselves first. They may need you to do it,” says Alex Gonçalves, PhD, Assistant Vice President and Clinical Director of The Renfrew Center for Eating Disorders in Philadelphia.

    Go over what to expect

    Having a conversation with your loved one may help suss out their fears, and how you can help. “Ask what your loved one is anticipating the holiday will be like, both the joys and the challenges. Ask what might be helpful. The discussion can provide some relief from the intense feeling of isolation that often accompanies an eating disorder. And you just might gain an idea or two about how to help,” says Gonçalves.

    Come up with a plan

    It may help to have a relapse prevention plan ahead of time, so your loved one is not caught off guard in the middle of a gathering. This may involve checking in with his/her treatment provider before and after the holidays.

    Sticking to a routine, like an eating schedule, can provide structure and keep your loved one from getting off track.

    Know the symptoms

    Does your loved one seem anxious or emotional? Intense mood swings, depression, anxiety and feelings of isolation are all symptoms of eating disorders.

    “They may experience intense self-judgment for not feeling so happy when everyone else appears to be,” says Goncalves.

    At their worst, eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa can cause thinning of the bones, damage to vital organs, infertility and death. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental health disorder.

    It’s not your place to minimize your loved one’s eating disorder

    Even if you are being nice, it won’t help to downplay an eating disorder. “Eating disorders don’t respond to logic and argument. They do respond to love, empathy and compassion. Instead of trying to fix your family member by showing them the error of their eating disorder thoughts, let them know that you have empathy for how they are feeling, and ask them what kind of help they would like,” says Zerwas.

    For eating disorder help, call the National Eating Disorder Association helpline: 800-931-2237

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Worried About Your Smartphone Use? These Tips Can Help

    Worried About Your Smartphone Use? These Tips Can Help

    A few health experts offer some useful suggestions for limiting screen time and reconnecting with the world outside of your phone.

    Smartphones undoubtedly make our lives easier. After all, we can now do our banking, grocery shopping and trip planning all from the comfort of our homes with a few taps. 

    However, smartphones are increasingly in the news for their negative side effects, and smartphone addiction is becoming a more common issue. In some cases, smartphone use has been tied to serious health consequences. 

    Last year, researchers found that more teen girls were coming into the emergency room for self-inflicted injuries, and they speculated that smartphones might be to blame. 

    “It is unclear why the rate of self-injury among younger teens has climbed,” the Washington Post reports, “though some experts say it could be because of the girls’ access to smartphones and Internet bullying.”

    Smartphone use has also been linked to changes in teens’ brains and an increased risk in mental health problems and suicidal ideation for those who spend hours each day clicking away. 

    However, there are ways to curtail your smartphone use if you’re becoming concerned about how it’s affecting your health or relationships. 

    One simple step that can be surprisingly hard to initiate is charging your phone in another room, where it’s less convenient to access, said Julie Albright, a psychology lecturer at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and author of the book Left to Their Own Devices: How Digital Natives are Reshaping the American Dream.

    Taking a break from the screen can allow you to recharge as well, she told Medical Xpress. 

    “This is a way to reconnect with body, mind and self and not be in a constant state of overstimulation of the mind,” Albright said. “We all need that quiet time to be able to think again and refocus.”

    She also suggests putting all phones away during meal times. 

    “Keeping them out of sight during family dinners lets you focus on the people around you and be present,” she said.

    Steven Sussman, professor of preventive medicine, psychology and social work, suggests setting up a schedule for checking your phone. Begin with once every 15 minutes, and gradually increase the waiting periods, resisting the urge to justify an early check-in by claiming you “need” to do something. 

    “Now we can do so much online—a lot of our daily lives are on our phone,” he said. 

    Although we do a lot online, we also waste lots of time mindlessly swiping through our phones, says Allen Weiss, director of the Mindful USC initiative and a professor of marketing at the USC Marshall School of Business. He challenges students to think about why they’re compelled to check their phones: are they bored, feeling needy, etc?

    “Since mindfulness helps people process these emotions, I wanted [my students] to fully experience the sense of these emotions and see how they arise and pass away,” Weiss said.

    View the original article at thefix.com