Health

How to confidently improve and maintain your health

man wearing a black mask with a middle finger salute on it

How To Overcome Distrust Of Authority

Individualist western cultures traditionally tend to champion our rights as individuals over our responsibility to others in the community. Things are kept in balance by the legal system which dispenses justice by limiting the freedom of those who choose to consistently break the law, and the capitalist economy which rewards us for providing value to other people who we might not even know or otherwise care about. These safeguards prevent most people from focusing too much on themselves to the exclusion of other people.

For the most part, this system works fairly well. When it doesn’t work, the person who suffers most is usually the one who is unwilling or unable to exercise their freedoms constructively within the confines of the legal and economic system. While there is certainly structural inequity in all cultures, this can often be overcome by playing the societal game effectively and reaping sufficient rewards. The key is to exercise personal responsibility at all times and avoid playing victim to our circumstances. Those who choose to do so, despite whatever hand they may have been dealt in life originally, get rewarded. Those who rebel mindlessly get punished either directly by the legal system, or indirectly by their failure to contribute to the economic system. (more…)

By Graham Stoney, ago

Healthy Habits that Lower Anxiety and Fuel Sobriety

This is a guest post from Jackie Cortez from The Prevention Coalition.

You don’t have to be fitness-obsessed or a health food nut to know that healthy habits play a big role in how you feel. What you do on a day-to-day basis impacts your energy level and general well-being, as well as your emotional state and confidence level. Healthy habits are important for keeping our lives in balance, and this is especially true for men who are in recovery for addiction. When you work on making these healthy habits part of your daily routine, you will feel better physically and be mentally prepared to handle whatever comes your way. (more…)

By Jackie Cortez, ago

Qi Gong Routines For Building Self-Confidence

For the past few months I’ve been practising Qi Gong (almost) every morning that I don’t have college, just before sunrise down near the beach. Qi Gong is a great way to start the day with some gentle exercise that gets your energy moving to start the day feeling more confident and grounded.

I find Qi Gong easier to practise than it’s brother Tai Chi, and you can easily follow along to a YouTube video. I bought a pair of Sony Wireless Bluetooth headphones so that I can put my iPhone on the ground a couple of metres in front of me and still hear the commentary. One of the reasons I like the videos below is because they have soothing, reassuring commentaries that sink into the subconscious after a few views.

I have often found strong emotions arising during or just after practising Qi Gong, so remember to take care of your inner child when doing this. Witness the emotions arise and let them go. If they’re particularly strong and/or persistent, find [intlink id=”1511″ type=”page”]someone to talk the feelings over with[/intlink].

There are heaps of Qi Gong tutorial videos on YouTube, and you can start with shorter ones and work your way up to longer routines if you’re not very fit yet. There’s plenty of variety so you don’t ever get bored with the same old routine every day. Get ready to meet your new YouTube friends Lee, Jeff and Marissa! (more…)

By Graham Stoney, ago

Creating A Healthier Life: Build Self-Discipline To Conquer Bad Habits And Addictions

This is a guest post from Jackie Cortez from The Prevention Coalition.

Breaking bad habits can pave the way to a much healthier life, but finding the self-discipline to make it happen can be a challenge. There are plenty of choices we make that we know are not good for our overall health, and sometimes those choices progress to the point of becoming an addiction. Making sacrifices and lasting changes can be incredibly challenging, but they are well worth the effort when it comes to improving your health.

Breaking bad habits and addictions often leads to better health.
Image courtesy Pixabay

Bad habits and addictions come in many shapes and forms when it comes to health and they all can take a toll on our mental health and physical fitness. Drug and alcohol addictions are quite common in today’s society. However, people can also develop addictions related to things like food, exercise, and nicotine. It is also common to replace one addiction with another; for example, replacing a drug addiction with a nicotine addiction. Recognizing and conquering these types of bad habits or addictions can lead to substantial improvements in your health.

Here are some tips on how to do it: (more…)

By Jackie Cortez, ago

How To Stay Healthy At Work

This is a guest post from my friend Stephane Tessier from TiredButWhy.com.

For my work (in France), I’ve had to go to numerous customers and I can testify that professional spaces are often too standard. Without even noticing, it can have a negative impact on each one’s wellness.

The desks are all the same. The people dress the same way. But specially, the behaviors are standardized. One compares to the others, and tries not to draw attention or to seem too different. Of course, that is not the case for all companies. Especially, small ones tend to be more relaxed.

In this article, I will encourage you to go against the conventions in order to preserve your physical and mental health. Don’t be afraid of the looks of other people.

Easy to say, but technically, what does that mean exactly? Let’s get into examples. (more…)

By Stéphane Tessier, ago

Learning To Swim

Eight weeks ago I finally got around to taking swimming lessons. It’s something that I had been planning to do ever since moving to live near the beach 18 months ago. There are a number of reasons for this: firstly, I don’t feel safe in the ocean when I’m out of my depth. Deep down I know that I’m not a confident swimmer and whenever I’m in deep water my body responds with a lot of anxiety. I figured that if I knew I could swim confidently I wouldn’t get so anxious about not being able to touch the bottom.I go body boarding a lot and I feel relatively safe with the board strapped to my arm. But I get caught in rips all the time and I know that if the strap was to break or I lost the board somehow, I’d be in real trouble.

Plus I think swimming is a great exercise for overcoming deep-seated anxiety. The full immersion in the water gives gentle stimulation to our nervous system, and it’s also a relatively low impact exercise. So long as you don’t drown, that is.

Swimming: How hard can it be?

Swimming: How hard can it be?

The arm movement involved in swimming could also be particularly beneficial. We generally use our arms to move things in our environment: to take action; and I believe that taking action is the antidote to the anxiety that we feel when we think was are powerless.

I also suspect that the migraine headaches I sometimes get are related to muscle tension in the back of my neck and shoulders. Getting some motion on my shoulders and neck should help release that tension and give me the feeling that I’m moving forward under my own power.

(more…)

By Graham Stoney, ago

Start An Exercise Routine

Hey, it’s Graham again from The Confident Man Project, and today you’re going to learn about how to start an exercise routine and why that is important to your self-confidence. Well, exercise is an awesome thing. There really are very few downsides unless you do too hard and you injure yourself.

But exercise is good for your physical health, it’s good for your mental health, it’s a massive cure for depression and anxiety, it boosts your self-confidence, it helps you build muscle tone, it generally makes you more sociable. So there’s really no downside. It takes a little bit of time, but if you don’t have time for exercise then, well, your priorities are a little bit screwed and you really need to get that into gear and get it fixed.

(more…)

By Graham Stoney, ago

How To Lose Weight Without Really Trying

If you’re carrying around a few extra pounds of flab, that’s not going to be great for your confidence. A bunch of friends of mine have recently forked out for an expensive coaching program to motivate them to lose weight fast; and although it seems to be working for them, I shake my head each time they talk about it.

Why? Because you can lose weight for free, without really trying. I know because I’ve been doing it myself for the last few months. In fact I’m kinda pissed off that the new board shorts that I bought at the beginning of this summer are too big for me now and I’ll have to fork out for a new pair soon.

So here’s how to lose weight without really trying:

Stop Looking For A Quick Fix

The biggest problem with the well-intentioned program my friends are on is that it promises a relatively quick fix. If you want your body to settle at its ideal weight, what you need is a lifestyle change. Looking for a quick fix to life’s problems is symptomatic of childish thinking, indicating that you haven’t really grown up yet. Adult obesity is a manifestation of childish thinking.… Continue reading…

By Graham Stoney, ago