Why you want your massage to be a “heady” experience

You probably schedule a massage for one of two reasons; either you’re in pain or you’re stressed out and want to relax. But what if you’re in pain AND stressed out? Would you get two massages or resign yourself to only getting one of your issues addressed? Have you ever considered getting one massage to address both issues? Contrary to popular belief, you can have pain relief and relaxation, simultaneously, in the same session.

The secret is to begin the massage with the scalp and face (sans oil, of course). Now, I’m not talking about the massage therapist rubbing your hair around, possibly tangling it into tight little knots. (I’ve had that experience and it is NOT relaxing.) I’m talking about the kind of scalp massage you get at a good salon where they actually get underneath your hair and massage the muscles on your head. I don’t know about you, but I practically fall asleep when my stylist does this.  It’s so relaxing, that I often semi-jokingly refer to it as a brain massage.

What if every massage you received began this way? In just a couple of minutes you’d begin to feel deeply relaxed. Your massage therapist wouldn’t have to work as hard, which means s/he will be around as a massage therapist for many more years, and you won’t have to look for a new one. (Many therapists end up quitting the profession because they over-worked their bodies.) AND… with you in a relaxed state, s/he will be able to work the knots out of your muscles a lot quicker and easier, which will leave you with less post-massage soreness the next day.  It’s a case where everybody wins!

So, the next time you go for a massage, make sure you ask your therapist to start with your scalp. You’ll be glad you did.

I love to hear from you. What has your experience been in combining relaxation with therapy in a massage?

And finally, because everyone could use a little help managing their stress, please share this in whichever way you share things with your friends and family. If you’re on the blog itself, there are buttons right below the post to make it easy. If you read this on social media, don’t forget to like, comment, share, retweet, etc.

Thanks!

The 7 Best Essential Oils for Stress Relief

Everyone is looking for that one perfect thing that will make all their stress melt away. Supposedly it doesn’t exist, but I keep looking for it anyway; so far to no avail.  What I HAVE found in its absence are 7 essential oils that either by themselves or in combination are really great at taking down the stress response at least a few notches.

1. Peppermint – is a stimulant, nervine (relaxes the nervous system), stomachic (improves digestion), vasoconstrictor (makes blood vessels contract) and cephalic (stimulates and clears the mind). It works really well to reduce or relieve paranoia, irritability, hysteria, despair, depression, apathy, nervous tension, nervous exhaustion, mental fatigue, mental exhaustion, and poor concentration.
2. Ylang ylang – is an antidepressant, hypotensive (reduces blood pressure), nervine  (relaxes the nervous system), sedative, and  tonic (strengthens and improves bodily performance). It helps to reduce or relieve poor concentration, mental fatigue, mental exhaustion, nervous tension, nervous exhaustion, anger, anxiety, apathy, depression, despair, fear, hostility, hysteria, insomnia, irritability, panic, and paranoia.
3. Roman chamomile – is an antidepressant, digestive (aids digestion), nervine (relaxes the nervous system), restorative (restores and revives health),  sedative, and mild vasoconstrictor (makes blood vessels contract a little). It is a wonderful oil to help reduce or relieve paranoia, irritability, insomnia, hysteria, hostility, grief, fear, depression, anxiety, anger, nervous tension, nervous exhaustion,
4. Frankincense – is an antidepressant, digestive, immune stimulant, sedative, and tonic (strengthens and improves bodily performance). It does a great job at reducing or relieving nervous tension, nervous exhaustion, anger, anxiety, apathy, depression, despair, fear, irritability, panic, and paranoia.
5. Lavender – is an antidepressant, cordial (stimulant and tonic for the heart), hypotensive (lowers blood pressure), nervine (relaxes the nervous system), restorative (restoring and reviving health), and sedative. It is known to reduce and relieve paranoia, panic, irritability, insomnia, hysteria, hostility, grief, despair, depression, anxiety, anger, and nervous tension.
6. Vetiver – is an antidepressant, anti-anxiety, nervine (relaxes the nervous system), nervous system sedative, and tonic (strengthens and improves bodily performance). It is great at relieving nervous tension and nervous exhaustion especially when you’re feeling ungrounded.
7. Basil – is an antidepressant, cephalic (stimulates and clears the mind), digestive, nervine (relaxes the nervous system), tonic (strengthens and improves bodily performance), and stimulant. It helps to reduce or relieve poor concentration, mental fatigue, mental exhaustion, anxiety, mild depression, hysteria, insomnia, and paranoia.

To use these oils to reduce your stress response, simply smell them. You can do that in several ways: open the bottle and take a whiff,  put a few drops on a cotton ball inside a small container – the less extra room in the container the better – then take it with you to smell as needed, or diffuse some through the room with an essential oil diffuser. There are lots of kinds of diffusers from electric to candle-based to rings you put on top of a light bulb, so choose the one that you like the best.

To help you sleep, simply put a few drops of ylang ylang, roman chamomile, or lavender on your pillow case or on a tissue inside your pillow case. *Caveat: high quality, pure essential oils of ylang ylang, roman chamomile, & lavender will not stain your pillow case. If staining occurs, you should invest in a higher quality oil.

As a bonus, if stress gives you a headache you can put a drop of either peppermint of lavender on your temples (make sure to avoid your eyes) or at the base of your skull to help reduce your headache pain.

P.S. If you do find the magic stress cure, would you please share it with me? In the meantime, enjoy your oils!

Because everyone could use a little help managing their stress, please share this in whichever way you share things with your friends and family. If you’re on the blog itself, there are buttons right below the post to make it easy.

A New Twist on Meditation for Stress Relief

Think meditation is boring? I used to, too. Then I realized that there’s a lot more to meditation than sitting completely still and trying to empty your mind of all thought. Besides, there is no way to empty your mind of all thought. I mean, you don’t sit around consciously deciding what to think do you? So, today I offer some “realistic” meditations for those who want an excuse to sit still for a while, and a few meditations for those who have a difficult time sitting still between commercial breaks of their favorite TV show. I’ve divided them into the categories “Sitting Still” and “Moving” so you can easily find find the type you’re most interested in.

Sitting Still Meditations

For all of the sitting meditations you’ll want to be sitting up either a) in a chair with your back straight but relaxed (if you were a tree you should be able to sway in the wind) and feet flat on the floor; or b) cross-legged on a cushion or pillow so that your knees are slightly lower than your hips with your back straight but relaxed (if you were a tree you should be able to sway in the wind). Begin each of these by taking a deep breath and relaxing your shoulders. Repeat with neck, jaw, back, and hips. If you want to meditate for a specific amount of time, set a timer so that you don’t have to watch the clock.

1. Breathing Meditation – Simply breathe. Do not alter your breathing in any way; just pay attention to your breath. Keep paying attention to your breath. If you have a thought – and you will have lots of thoughts – just notice it and let it go, don’t follow it into the past or future (you can do that after you’re done meditating if you’d like, but not during the meditation). Go back to paying attention to your breath. If your mind is relentlessly pelting you with thoughts and you’re having a hard time concentrating on your breathing begin counting each breath. You can count in one of two ways; either “breath 1, breath 2″, or “In 1 Out 1, In 2 Out 2.” When you have a thought, start over at 1. IF you get to 10 start over at 1. Yes, that says IF you get to 10; many expert meditators don’t make it to 10.  **confession: I’ve had sessions where I never got past 1**
2. Nature Meditation – Find a spot in nature that is soothing, relaxing, or calming to you. Get settled and relaxed as described above (pssst… you can skip the cushion if you’re outside). Experience what it’s like to just BE in nature. Feel the air around you; feel the air/breeze against your skin and moving through your hair. Feel your body, your bottom, your legs, &/or your feet against the earth. Feel the slow, steady, stable rhythm of the earth. Listen to the sounds of nature all around you. Smell nature all around you. Visually take in all of the colors and textures of nature all around you. Spend some time looking at the uniqueness of each tree, plant, and animal around you. Don’t label anything, simply experience what it’s like to just BE in nature. When you have thoughts, just notice them and let them go – don’t follow them into the past or future. Go back to experiencing nature.
3. Listening Meditation – Decide on a sound you want to focus on (birdsong, clock ticking, neighbor’s dog barking, kids playing, traffic, breeze rustling through the trees, etc.). Get settled and relaxed as described above. Focus on that sound. Really hear it. Hear the nuances of the sound that you may not have noticed before. Notice if there are several layers, voices, or pitches to the sound. Notice how the sound changes over time. Does it repeat, is it constantly changing, or do some parts change while others stay the same? Don’t label the sounds you hear, just listen to them. When you have thoughts, just notice them and let them go – don’t follow them into the past or future. Go back to listening to your sound.
4. Visual Meditation - Decide on an object you want to focus on (flower, vase, artwork, pencil, raisin, candle, lamp, table, etc.). Get settled and relaxed as described above. Focus on the object. Really see it. See nuances of the object that you may not have noticed before. Notice if there are several textures, layers, or patterns to the object. Notice how the object looks from different angles. Does it change in a uniform way, randomly, or is it the same no matter how you look at it. Don’t label the things you see, just see them. When you have thoughts, just notice them and let them go – don’t follow them into the past or future. Go back to looking at your object.

 Moving Meditations

Begin each of these by taking a deep breath and relaxing your shoulders. Repeat with neck, jaw, back, and hips.  If you want to meditate for a specific amount of time, set a timer so that you don’t have to watch the clock.

1. Walking Meditation – Find somewhere that you can walk uninterrupted. Leave your ipod at home and if you have a walking partner agree to have NO conversation during the walking meditation. Walk. Notice what you notice, but resist naming or labeling anything. Notice some of the details of the things you approach or pass. See old things in a new way. See the extraordinary in the ordinary. When you have thoughts, just notice them and let them go – don’t follow them into the past or future. Go back to really noticing the things you pass on your walk.
2. Coloring Mandalas (very simply – mandalas are spiritual pictures and there are many books and kits with mandalas that are already drawn in outline form just waiting for you to color them) – You will need a mandala coloring book or kit and some colored pencils. Choose the mandala you want to color. Don’t think about it, just choose the one you are drawn to. Lay out your mandala and colored pencils (some kits supply colored pencils, which is a huge bonus) in front of you. Using a soft focus, look at your colored pencils and choose the one that you are immediately drawn to. Next, look at the mandala with a soft focus and choose the area that first captures your attention. Color the chosen area with the chosen pencil. Put your pencil down. Repeat the process of choosing a pencil and area. Color the newly chosen area with the newly chosen pencil. Repeat the process until the entire mandala is colored (or, if you’re using one, until your timer goes off). Don’t worry about using any one color too much or not enough, and don’t worry whether one color will clash with the color next to it. No matter if you have a preponderance of one color over all the others or you have purple and orange next to each other, I guarantee your mandala will look way better than you think it will; you may  have to give it a couple days, however. The one you think you will hate may end up being the one you love the most. **Speaking from personal experience here**
3. Active Mindfulness – This is a great one for the goal oriented among you. You can be productive AND meditate all at the same time. The caveat, and yes there’s always a caveat, is that you must choose one activity and only one activity to do during your meditation. No multi-tasking allowed. You must also allow plenty of time; no hurrying through this activity so you can get to the next. If it helps, you can think of it as being thorough, rather than slow. So… choose your activity (washing dishes, chopping veggies for dinner, dusting, mopping, mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, etc). Any activity is fine. Now pay attention to each detail of your activity. For instance: How do your hands feel in the soapy dishwater? Can you feel the individual bubbles? (you don’t have to be able to, just notice if you do) What is the texture of the dish in your hands? Does it have more than one texture? How heavy or light is the dish? Is food crusted onto it making you scrub or does it wipe right off? Can you hear or feel the bubbles popping? Notice each step of the process. Are there more steps than you realized? Continue noticing each detail until you are finished with the task. Many people discover that they don’t hate chores nearly as much when they do them in a mindful way such as this.

I’ve only scratched the surface of meditation possibilities here. There are many additional types of meditation out there, as well as numerous variations on each type. If you enjoyed one or more of these meditations, I encourage you to look into it/them further. Even if you didn’t like any of these, I encourage you to explore other types of meditation. Maybe you’ll enjoy a guided meditation.

Let me know if you find meditation useful for stress relief. If you do, please comment here or where ever you access my posts from. If you don’t find meditation useful, I’d like to hear that too. What don’t you like? Does it make your stress worse or does it just not help?

And of course, if you’re moved to… feel free to like, share, comment, retweet, etc.

Just say no to stress

If you’re like most people, you’ve got a fair amount of stress in your life. You know it takes a toll on your physical and mental health, but what can you do about it? Well, there are two ways to deal with the stress in your life: stress relief and stress reduction.

Stress relief is all about finding ways to counteract the stress you’re currently dealing with. This includes using various essential oils to counteract the anxiety, insomnia, depression, brain fog, lack of energy, and muscular tension caused by your stress. Other popular, and equally effective, options are listening to relaxing music, meditation, exercise, massage and bodywork, certain herbal teas, yoga, reiki, special breathing exercises, and laughter.

Stress relief is great and everyone could benefit from more of it; but have you ever considered stress reduction? With stress reduction there is no reactionary protocol, there are simply proactive measures. Proactive’s good, right? The path of stress reduction isn’t for the faint of heart, however. It can involve a lot of discomfort (especially at first), some disagreements, a fair number of misunderstandings, tantrums, and some major life changes.

The purpose of this blog post isn’t to lay out a step-by-step plan for how to reduce the stress in your life (you’re the only one who can do that), but merely to get you thinking about some of the ways you might be willing to go about it. I have a few suggestions – somewhat oversimplified in the name of saving space – to get you started:

• Don’t overcommit. Just say no if a request for time, baked goods, your presence on yet another committee, etc. makes you shudder, cringe, or reach for the wine. Many people will appreciate your honesty if you decline their offer by saying you’re already overextended (provided you really are – no lying now, because that creates it’s own stress); they don’t want you doing a half-*ssed job for them, anyway. As for the one’s who don’t care that you’re already overextended and beg you to help out anyway… ask yourself: do you really want to do a favor for someone who doesn’t care about you or your health?
• Declutter your house. This doesn’t mean making it as spartan as a monk’s cell, it simply means getting rid of the “Stuff.” You know, the stuff you thought you needed or wanted but haven’t used for years. If you haven’t used an item or worn a piece of clothing in 3 years or more, it’s time for the old heave-ho. Besides generating some space in your house, it will give your more energy because constant acquisition, maintenance, and storage of items that we don’t want, need, or use saps our precious energy.
• Simplify your life/Prioritize. This means different things to different people, but basically it boils down to assessing what’s important in your life and cutting out the extraneous activities and things in order to make enough room to focus on the important ones and put them first.
• Change your job or career. Being uber stressed all day at work takes it’s toll on your mood which decreases the quality of the time you spend with your family. Remember, people of all ages have changed jobs and careers; some have even started their own businesses in their 50′s or 60′s. It’s never to late to do what you love, or at least to not hate what you do.
• Change friendships. There’s no rule that says once you’re friends with someone that you have to stay friends with them forever. It’s great if you’re still best friends with the person who was your best friend in high school or college; but it’s also great if you’ve grown apart (hey… it happens), recognized that, and let the friendship go. Both are healthy and neither are guilt-worthy.
•  Change romantic relationships. There’s a cliche phrase that cycles through email and social media from time to time that says: people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. The reason this saying continues to make the rounds is because it speaks a truth. Changing a relationship doesn’t always mean ending it, but it might. It can also mean changing some of the rules or dynamics of the relationship, your partner willing of course. My point is, if your romantic relationship stresses you out, something about it needs to change. What change that turns out to be is up to you.
• Change your expectations. There’s very little that’s as frustrating as when your expectations aren’t met. You’ll know your expectations haven’t been met if you say things like “he should…”, “she shouldn’t…”, “how could she…”, “I can’t believe that he did/didn’t…” Do any of those sound familiar? If so, it helps to reframe your expectations. Ask yourself, “what’s the reality of the situation?” Then adjust your expectations to meet that reality. For instance, if someone has the unfortunate habit of lying a lot, it would be foolish to expect them to tell the truth. Ever.
• Get enough sleep. Sleep is when the body repairs and heals itself. Without enough sleep, the body slowly loses the heal and repair game and becomes more susceptible to infections and chronic illness. If you chronically deprive yourself of sleep, for whatever reason, the easiest way to get more sleep is to slowly increase your sleep time. Start by going to bed 15 minutes earlier than you have been (or setting  your alarm 15 later, if that’s your preferred method of sleep deprivation), after about 3 weeks that should be a habit (provided you did it every day). Once it’s a habit, bump up your bedtime (or bump back your alarm time) by another 15 minutes. Repeat until you’re getting the amount of sleep you need.

Remember: you are responsible for your own happiness and no one else’s. Just as you can’t change someone else, no one can come along and magically balance your life and commitments for you.

I would love to hear from you. What have you done to reduce the stress in your life? How did it work? Please share so that others can benefit from your experience.

And of course: Like, Share, Comment, ReTweet, etc.

It’s Time to Think Outside the Back

Many muscular causes of back pain do NOT originate in the back. Don’t believe me? When was the last time you got a massage because you had pain between your shoulder blades? Did your therapist spend most or even all of the session working on your back? If so, I bet it felt good while s/he was working, but perhaps you didn’t really feel better afterward or even the next day. If you’re like most people; the cause of your pain does not originate at the location of the pain.

Using our above example, think about the muscles  that attach to your shoulder blades. Some attach to the edge closest to your spine and some attach to the edge farthest from your spine. Simply put, these muscles have opposite actions; one set pulls your shoulder blade toward your spine while the other set pulls your shoulder blade toward your side, away from your spine. If one set is stronger or has gotten a lot more use, it pulls harder than the other set which pulls  your shoulder blade “off center”. It’s as if they’re playing a game of tug of war.

Now, think of the last tug of war game you either watched or participated in. Which team was yelling and grunting the loudest? The one that was losing and being pulled toward the mud puddle in the middle, right? Well, your muscles are no different. The “losing” muscles are usually the ones screaming for attention but rarely are they the ones responsible for the pain. Over time, other muscles may get involved as well, either in an attempt to help the weak muscles stabilize the area or to take advantage of the situation and pull things farther off center.

With that in mind, here are few of the culprits that might be causing your upper back pain:

• chest muscles
• shoulder muscles
• upper arm muscles
• neck muscles
• side muscles
• underarm muscles
• muscles underneath your shoulder blade
• muscles that connect your vertebrae to one another
• hip or low back muscles (yes, for real!)

With all this in mind, try taking some time to check in with your body to see if your shoulders are migrating up toward your ears, if your shoulders are rounded forward, if your upper arms are really tight, or if your side or your armpit muscles are tender when you press on them. If so, the likely culprit of your upper back pain is one of those and NOT the back muscles themselves.

What did you find when you checked in with your body? Do you have a tug of war going on that you were unaware of before now? Any new insights into your painful areas? I’d love to hear what you discover about yourself, if you’re willing to share, that is.

And of course remember to Like, Share, Comment, Retweet, etc. Thanks!

Why sitting hurts your back (& how you can ease the pain)

Of all the activities you might do, including bending over to pick something up (tsk, tsk, tsk), sitting is the worst for your low back.  The worst! Can you believe it??!?

Which of the following do you think might be the reason why?

1. Slouching
2. Sitting up “straight”
3. Using the chair’s back rest
4. Not using the chair’s back rest
5. Leaning forward in your chair
6. Not using an ergonomic chair
7. Using an ergonomic chair
8. Compression of spine (especially the lower spine) for extended periods of time
9. Chair height too high (so feet only touch on tiptoe)
10. Chair height too low (so knees are at chest level)
11. All of the above

If you guessed #11, you’re right!! But wait, I hear cries of “Hey! some of those are opposites. How can they both be true?” That’s a good question. Let me explain the answers.

1/2. Slouching curves our back into a forward C shape, but it naturally should have an S shape when viewed from the side. While in theory there’s nothing wrong with sitting up straight, most of us have a tendency to sit ram rod straight as if we’re in the armed services and sitting at attention. This tenses up all of the muscles that run the length of the back which may cause the “stay that way” result your mother used to warn you about. It can also cause our backs to become arched in the opposite way they should.

3/4/5. Chairs and chair backs can be extremely different from one another. Some have straight backs, some have a curved back that looks like a C, some have a chair back that is more S-shaped (these are usually called ergonomic and I’ll discuss them separately). Because our spines have a somewhat S-shaped curve when viewed from the side, if we use a straight back chair or a curved (C-shape) chair back, our natural curve is not supported. If we don’t use the chair back at all, we are usually either slouching or leaning forward, both of which puts our spine into a C shape.

6/7. Ergonomic chairs are not one size fits all; they can’t be because people come in all shapes and sizes. Some people have a short torso while others have a long torso and some of us are quite short overall and others very tall. For instance my husband (6ft 4 in) and I (5ft 2in) cannot use the same ergonomic chair. If the curves fit him, the low back curve goes partway into my mid back and the midback curve goes into my neck. It’s worse than no support because it pushes and pulls my mid and upper back curves in the wrong direction.

8. I hope this is self-explanatory

9/10. Either of these situations will cause your poorly postured legs to either push or pull your low back out of it’s proper curvature, which leads to nothing but pain.

How you can ease or prevent the pain

• Make sure your seat height allows your feet to be flat on the floor. Use a phone book or stool if your desk height necessitates having a too-high seat height – or if you just have really short legs. Stretch your legs out in front of you if possible if your desk is too low or if you have really long legs.
• Get up every so often to stretch your back.  Take a trip to the restroom or water cooler, walk around your desk or chair a couple times, or walk to a boss’s or colleague’s desk to ask a question instead of picking up the phone. If your workplace frowns on the worker bees straying too far from the honeycomb, try some desk stretches for the back: A) lean forward slowly until you feel a slight stretch, hold a few seconds and slowly sit back up. B) Lean back slowly and arch your back, hold a few seconds, and slowly come back to center. C) Slowly lean to the right until you just start to feel a stretch, hold a few seconds, then slowly sit upright again. D) Repeat to the left. Do these several time a day!
• Pull your chair all the way into your desk to prevent you from leaning in. Psst… this will also help your neck and shoulders.
• Sit with a straight but relaxed posture. If you were a tree you should be able to sway in the breeze.
• If you need extra support for your low back, try placing a small cushion or a folded and taped (so it doesn’t unfold itself every time you move) hand towel in the small of your back.
• If your chair back is C shaped you will probably need another cushion/folded towel above the first to prevent the chair from forcing you into a slouch posture.

I would love to hear from you. Did you try one of the remedies/preventions? How did it work for you? Do you have a remedy or prevention that I didn’t mention? Please share that too. I love learning new things!!

As always: Share, Like, Comment, Retweet, etc. You know the drill

Beauty is Bad for Your Back

“It’s better to look good than to feel good.” ~ Billy Crystal as Fernando  on Saturday Night Live – yes, it was years ago but I’m old

Our society favors beauty, often at the expense of physical comfort. There are lots of ways that beauty compromises our health and hurts our back but I’m only going to focus of 3 of them today.

1. Modeling our posture on that of models/mannequins - Have you noticed the mannequins in the window displays at the mall, or the teenage girls walking through the mall? Have you noticed that they both have their backs arched? Many of them look as if they’re in the beginning stage of a backbend, with their head at one end of a giant C and their hips at the other. While their back may not hurt now, it will pay the price later. How can it not? Only the neck and low back are supposed to curve in that direction; the upper back should curve the opposite way for balance. I have a hard time not running through the mall handing my card to all those teenage girls while saying “You may feel ok now, but your back is gonna start hurting soon. When it does, call me for a massage. You’re gonna NEED it!”

2. High heels - I’m sure you hate to hear it, yet again, but those heels are killing your back.  Our bodies are perfectly balanced when our feet are flat on the ground – well, they’re designed to be, anyway. When you raise your heels, it throws the body out of balance and the knees, hips, spine, shoulders, neck, and head have to compensate. The higher your heels are off the ground, the more your body has to compensate, which means, the higher the heel the more damage and pain it will cause. I’m not saying never to wear heels, or even to completely avoid those 6 inch heels that make your legs look as if they go on forever. I’m simply advocating moderation and not just owning, but also wearing flats (or going barefoot) part of every day to bring the body back into balance. Caveat: if your feet hurt in flats or when you’re barefoot, damage has already been done. Your body should not hurt when it’s in it’s normal state.

3. Sucking in your stomach - I know it makes you look skinnier, but holding in your stomach or using slimming or reshaping garments is bad news for not only your back but also your ribcage, shoulders, and your hips. First rule of breathing: both your chest and abdomen should expand and contract while breathing. The diaphragm is one of the primary muscles involved in breathing; it’s responsible for expanding and contracting your chest and abdomen. When you restrict expansion of your abdomen the diaphragm can’t do it’s job fully and the neck, back, and hip muscles have to get involved to help out, and they’re NOT designed to help out for long stretches of time – like, say… All Day. This puts those helper muscles under a great deal of stress and when muscles get stressed they usually hurt. I’m not saying you shouldn’t wear your slimming garments, just that you should wear them for as short a time as possible. Remember, the shorter the duration of gut holding, the smaller the price you’ll pay later. (Hey, I don’t make the rules… I just report them)

I always feel like such a killjoy when I tell people that their pain is because of something they do to look good; but, truth is truth. Now, I would never tell you NOT to do something that makes you feel good about your appearance, but I will tell you what effect it’s having on your body so you can make an informed decision. I think that’s fair.

I hope you found this informative (even if you found it somewhat depressing). Let me know your experience with sacrificing comfort for beauty. Are you willing to suffer for the sake of beauty? Or are you more of a comfort before fashion kinda person?

Don’t forget to Like, Share, Comment, Retweet, etc. Thanks!!