Why is sleep so important? Sleep is a critical aspect of our overall wellbeing both physically & mentally. There are two major phases of brain activity during sleep that we cycle through every night. These are called Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) & Rapid Eye Movement (REM). During NREM sleep, the brain slows down which results in decreased eye movement & muscle activity. This is when the brain is preparing the mind & body to enter into a state of deep sleep. About 1-2 hours after NREM, we enter into REM sleep. This is when activity in the brain increases at a rapid speed & usually results in vivid dreaming! Throughout the night we go in & out of these two phases of sleep.

One of the things that distress people struggling with mental health challenges like anxiety and depression is the inability to make a decision or sometimes feeling like they do not know what it is they want in a given situation. This can cause much distress and make undesirable situations even more difficult. There are many insight-building strategies that help people clarify what is important to them and what choices they want to make. In this blog, we will be going over one of those strategies in the form of a four-square pros and cons exercise. This is inspired by that from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy but includes a few differences. This exercise is designed to help you access your wisdom regarding a particular choice. Please keep in mind that when using this exercise, each time it is used it is used for the positive statement of a choice, and then the negative statement of the choice. For example, this tool would be done with statements such as “attending my friend’s birthday party” and “not attending my friend’s birthday party” instead of 2 different statements such as “Attending my friend’s birthday party” and “Going to the mall”. Now, let’s review more about how this exercise is used.

As therapists, an important part of what we provide to our clients is coaching and education on coping skills. This term is used a lot to describe a growing set of cognitive, behavioral, and/or emotional tools that allow for mood management and overall increasing quality of life by building new habits and responses to one’s environment. When people hear the term coping skills they may envision someone taking slow deep breaths or going for a walk outside. These are examples of fantastic skills to use and regularly help many people. However, some people, including some of those who seek therapeutic services, can perceive the idea of coping skills as a waste of time or “not real therapy”. These are sometimes folks who struggle with buying into their own influence over their daily lives or simply struggle profoundly with motivation. No matter what the reason, if one sees new and effective ways of coping with daily life stressors as valuable, then this can make treatment very difficult.

Diet culture can be harmful and put you at risk for developing an eating disorder or form disordered eating habits. Diet culture is a pervasive belief that appearance and body shape are more important than physical, psychological, and general well-being. It is more of an idea that if you can control your body, and more importantly your diet, this is normal. Diet’s emphasize limiting what and how much you eat, it can lead you to count calories or choose low fat and low carb options. You can develop more attention towards weighing yourself frequently and if you don’t reach your weight loss goals or gain weight, this can negatively impact your mood and motivation. Diet culture normalizes labeling food as good or bad and thinking it is more of a transaction. This means, you either earn it or don’t deserve it depending on how much you have exercised or how you have eaten that day or week so far. Beyond this, it can extend to labeling yourself as good or bad for eating some of these foods.

Body neutrality is a movement and approach to redefine our values and standards of ourselves, shed the pressures of societal beauty standards, and love ourselves in an entirely new way, not on appearance, but function. We can learn more about ourselves and focus on acceptance of ourselves, without an inherent focus on our bodies. Below are a few ways to move toward a body neutrality stance toward ourselves:

Negative, unhealthy, and intrusive thoughts are usually automatic, but they don’t have to take control of your daily life. With some tips, you can learn to tolerate that inner critic.

How do you learn something like riding a bike? Most likely someone gave you lessons and then you practiced. You can learn to study the same way. No one is born already knowing how to study. Learning, and then practicing those skills can build your studying capabilities.

As a society, there are often conversations that occur about the breakups and endings of romantic relationships; however, it seems that there are very little conversations about the ending or “breakup” of friendships. In a romantic relationship there is typically a conversation and formal ending, which provides some sort of closure and explanation. Whereas friendship “breakups” don’t always have the same sentiment, phone calls and texts become fewer and further between, and soon the only updates you really know about their lives are on social media. These friendship “breakups” cause unanswered questions along with some confusion as to how to grieve this ending. Society and pop culture display the grieving of a romantic relationship ending, but the friendship breakups seem to be less displayed or discussed. On the flip side, due to the lack of conversation about friendship breakups, it can cause individuals to feel an obligation to maintain friendships in life that no longer serve any positive purpose. The friendship can continue to go on, despite feelings of being hurt, because “breaking up” with a friend can be seem unorthodox.

Taking the time to check in with yourself is a very important routine to establish. Oftentimes, these check ins are completed for physical health; between routine doctor and dentist visits, recognizing when an illness or aches and pains begin. When a headache or fever begins, most will take medication to assist in feeling better. While it is important to pay attention to your physical health, it is also important to focus on your mental well-being. Sometimes you may be experiencing stress, sadness, or anger without either realizing it or taking the time to take care of yourself in those moments.

The holidays can be a stressful time for many people. There is much to coordinate from who is hosting, to navigating the many homes you may have to visit across family members. You may experience stress around the finances of buying gifts, worry around seeing people you may not like, or concern about that one family member that says a lot of controversial or offensive things. Stress may also arise when seeing your parents especially if you don’t have the best relationship with them. The holidays can be filled with a lot of anxiety, depression, and stress. For those struggling with eating disorders the holidays also bring up a lot of stress around food and eating. The holidays can also serve as a trigger if you struggle with an eating disorder or emotional eating. There may be a lot of fear foods for you, not a lot of support or escape and worry to stick to a meal plan or therapy goals. In a time of the year with a lot of gatherings, seeing people, and body conscious meals here are some strategies for planning ahead this holiday season: