| How to Learn to Love Yourself Posted: 30 Jan 2017 04:00 PM PST Sometimes life can get you down and you may be really hard on yourself. No matter what your are facing in your life, it is important to continue to love yourself. You can learn to love yourself by using strategies to become more compassionate towards yourself, let go of things that bother you about yourself, and develop a sincere love and appreciation for yourself. EditBuilding Self-Compassion - Imagine how you would react to a friend in your situation. To start practicing self-compassion, it may be helpful for you to start thinking about how you would respond to a friend who was in your situation. Try to imagine the words and behaviors that you would use to comfort a friend who was dealing with the same problem as you are and write about them. Some good questions to answer as part of this exercise include:[1]
- What would you say to a friend who came to you with the problem that you are having? How would you treat him or her?
- How do you tend to treat yourself? How is this different from how you would treat a friend?
- How might a friend react if you treated him or her the way that you treat yourself?
- How might you start to feel if you treated yourself the way you would treat a friend?
- Create a self-compassion script. In difficult moments, it may be helpful for you to recite a self-compassion script to keep yourself from being over-critical of yourself. A self-compassion script will help you to acknowledge your feelings and be kind to yourself in the moment.[2]
- For example, you might say something like, "I am having a really hard time right now, but suffering is part of being human. The way I feel right now is temporary."
- You can alter the script so that it is in your own words or recite it as is whenever you are tempted to criticize yourself.
- Write a kind letter to yourself. Another way to start seeing yourself with more compassion is to write yourself a kind letter. Write the letter from the perspective of a friend who has unconditional love for you. You can imagine someone real or imaginary[3]
- Try starting the letter with something like, "Dear (your name), I heard about (your situation) and I am so sorry. I want you to know that I care about you…." You can continue the letter from this point. Remember to maintain a kind, understanding tone throughout the entire letter.
- Give yourself some physical comfort. Physical comfort can help you to feel better when you are feeling low. That is why friends and family members may hug you or pat you on the back if you are struggling with something. Even if you are alone, you can give yourself the benefits of physical comfort by hugging, patting, or just laying hands on yourself.
- Try holding your hands over your heart or wrap your arms around yourself in a big hug.[4]
- Practice meditation. After a while, self-critical thinking may become automatic, which can be difficult to change. Meditation can help you to become more aware of your thoughts, so you will be able to tell when you are criticizing yourself and address the thoughts rather than letting them take over.[5]
EditLetting Go of Self-Hatred - Recognize opinions do not equal facts. How you feel about yourself may not be accurately be represented as fact. Do not believe everything you tell yourself.
- To change negative thought patterns, try the cognitive behavioral technique "the 3 C's": catch, check, change. Catch yourself thinking something negative about yourself, check if what you are thinking about is true, and then change your thoughts to more positive one.[6]
- Avoid negative people. People who make you feel bad about yourself will make it more difficult to find self-love. If you find yourself surrounded by people like this, it is time to consider distancing yourself.[7]
- It might be difficult to completely disappear or disengage from people. Start slow. If you want to distance yourself from friends, for example, try to communicate less. Gradually stop seeing or talking to them, and then block them on social media.
- Breaking up with someone who is a negative influence can be a bit trickier. However, if you can handle it, then your life can be much better.
- Stay away from negative situations. Negative situations can create negative behavior and may create self-hatred.[8] Avoiding these situations will remove the stimuli and will help you focus on making a better you.
- Do not to dwell on things you can not change. For example, you can't control the weather. Why let it upset you? When it comes to things about yourself, there are just some things you will not be able to control (such as past decisions). Focus on the things you can.
- Avoid thinking that you aren't good enough. Feeling inadequate is very common. You must recognize that you cannot excel at every aspect of your life. Imperfection is part of the human condition. Recognize this to begin loving yourself and what you do accomplish.
EditDeveloping Self-Love - Write a list. Start by writing down what you like about yourself.[9] This strategy will give a focus. Consider writing both physical and psychological lists. Start with small things to help motivate yourself. Perhaps write things:
- I like the color of my eyes.
- I like my laugh.
- I enjoy my job.
- I like my hard work ethic.
- Be thankful. Similarly, it helps to write a list for what you are thankful.[10] These can be vary from the previous list to focus more on what you appreciate about the world around you. Consider writing things:
- I am thankful for my loving family.
- I am thankful for my dog.
- I am thankful for my apartment/house.
- I am thankful for the wonderful weather today.
- Talk to those you love. If you are struggling with getting started with what you should write about, consider talking to people who love you. They might provide a different perspective. Think about asking:
- "Mom, what do you think are my best traits?"
- "Dad, what are you thankful for?" (This might give you ideas.)
- "[Sibling name] Do you think I'm good at [x]?"
- Practice daily affirmations.[11]Daily affirmations are scientifically proven to improve the way to think about yourself. They have been proven to improve mood and reduce stress. To practice daily affirmations, do the following:
- Every morning, when you first wake up, stand in front of a mirror.
- Look yourself in the eye and repeat a mantra. This affirmation is designed to help you reinforce positivity. Try saying things like: "I will say yes to more things today."
- Repeat this three to five times to help you reinforce the idea.
- You can change your affirmation daily, or focus on something specific you want to change.
- Exercise. Getting physical has many positive benefits, both psychological and physical. The "exercise effect" is the scientific phenomenon of feeling better about oneself after physical exercise.[12]
- Also, participating in exercises that you enjoy can promote happiness. For example, try taking a walk through a local park. It'll give you time to think, burn off some calories, and provide a beautiful view!
- Eat a healthy diet. Similar to exercising, eating healthy has psychological benefits.[13]
- Try eating more proteins (fish, meat, beans) and less simple carbohydrates (white bread, sugars, sweets, etc).
- Get plenty of sleep. Sleeping makes a body and mind feel good. Scientists suggest that amount of sleep varies on age.[14]
- School age — nine to 11 hours per night.
- Teenager — eight to 10 hours per night.
- Young adult — seven to nine hours per night.
- Adult — seven to nine hours per night.
- Older Adult — six to eight hours per night.
- If you are suffering from suicidal thoughts or are feeling sad the majority of the time, please consult your doctor. He can help you work through these feelings or refer to someone who can help.
EditRelated wikiHows EditSources and Citation - Wegscheider-Cruse, S. (1987). Learning to love yourself: Finding your self-worth. Pompano Beach, FL: Health Communications.
- Eastman, L. E. (2009). Learning to love yourself: Self-esteem for women. Prospect, KY: Professional Woman Pub.
- Mitchell, M. (2015). Learning to love yourself. S.l.: Mari Mitchell.
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| How to Get Rid of Centipedes Posted: 30 Jan 2017 08:00 AM PST There are more than 2,000 species of centipede in the world, most of which live almost exclusively outdoors. Sometimes, they venture inside, especially during the colder months. Although they are harmless to humans and help kill lots of spiders and insects around the house, their bite does contain venom, and they aren't the most elegant of household guests. If you want to know how to rid your home of centipedes once and for all, here's what to do. EditKilling the Centipedes - Kill them on sight! Their freakishly long legs make them very fast so you'll have to be quick. Centipedes don't usually invade homes in large numbers, so you may be able to get rid of your problem just by stomping on, or bug-spraying, every one you see. Note that if you are afraid to even approach or be near the centipede, even vacuum cleaners won't be useful.
- If you don't want to kill the centipede, you can try to catch it in a jar and release it outside, but this usually leads to a high-pitched scream, a broken jar, and a free centipede.
- Try setting up sticky traps. Just place them in corners and crevices where centipedes tend to hunt. You may also catch other insects that are sneakily crawling around your home. Know that larger centipedes that walk over sticky or glue traps may escape by simply leaving behind a couple legs. Sticky traps are most effective for smaller centipedes, not larger ones.
- Try an insecticide if none of these natural remedies work. Keep in mind that insecticides are only temporary solutions. Any garden supply store will carry these products. Just make sure to follow the package directions. Even though these products shouldn't kill pets or humans, it's best not to have prolonged contact with them.
- Sticky traps could possibly alert you to heavy traffic areas, allowing you to spray these areas or place more sticky traps. If one of your sticky traps turns out to be really popular and none of your other ones do, chances are the popular one is where you should focus most of your attention.
- If you want to kill the centipedes, but you don't want to poison the earth, yourself, or your pets, you can use natural pesticides like boric acid or food grade diatomaceous earth for continual centipede control.
- Products containing plant-derived pyrethrin will exterminate centipedes on contact, and can be used as a fog or spray.
- Put down a barrier around your entire home. Whether it's chemical insecticide, natural insecticide, or other, think about creating a moat-like barrier around the outside of your house. Because centipedes originate outside and come inside. When they do, they'll travel into the insecticide barrier. If they happen to make it inside, they should be dead or near death by the time you find them. Try using the organic pesticide containing cyhalothrin, which is used mainly for ants but does double duty for centipedes.
- Look for professional help. If you've tried everything under the sun to help eradicate the creepy-crawly pests, it may be time to pony up and hire an exterminator. Exterminators may crawl your home for potential entrance points, locate and destroy any centipede eggs, and spray parts of your home with effective pesticides. We probably don't want to admit it, but exterminators do a better job of locating the problem and ensuring that it goes away. They're worth the money if you can afford it and are at your wit's end.
EditKeeping Centipedes Away for Good - Get rid of all other pests in the home. The centipedes will have nothing to eat, and will hopefully die or move in with the neighbors A centipede without food is as good as a dead or soon-to-be-vacating centipede.[1]
- Keep your home dry. Centipedes dry out and die if they don't stay in a moist environment. Clean up basements, closets, or any other damp areas, and use a dehumidifier.
- Place packets of silica in the dampest places of your home. Silica is an absorbent that wicks away moisture from the air and ground. Look for silica packets in new shoes, for example, or buy some cheaply. Keep them in the dampest places of your home.
- Remove organic material from the side of your house. Place firewood, mulch, tarpaulins, and compost bins away from the perimeter of the house and as far away as possible. Remove any compost, leaves, wood, and organic debris. Consider getting rid of damp items like compost bins if possible.[2]
- Close off all entrance points. This will keep the bugs from entering your home in the first place. Seal any cracks in concrete foundations, and caulk spaces around doors and windows.
- Apply weatherstripping to the outside of your house to discourage centipede intrusion.
- Caulk any holes between walls.
- Look at gutters and downspouts and clear away away leaves, branches, or other material that may be blocking the water's natural flow down the gutter. This could be a potential home for centipedes.
- Try cayenne pepper. For a natural way to discourage centipedes from vacationing in your home, try laying down a thin layer of cayenne pepper at entrance points, both outside and inside your home. Dogs and cats should stay away from it, although they won't be seriously hurt if they happen to get a little curious.
- The only creatures that have to worry about house centipedes are other bugs, since centipedes kill and eat a variety of things you'd probably like to get rid of, like bedbugs, termites, silverfish, spiders, and even cockroaches.
- Centipedes rarely bite people, and sometimes their jaws aren't even strong enough to pierce human skin in self-defense. If they manage it, a centipede bite will usually resemble a minor bee sting.
- 'Raid' type sprays will kill them fairly quickly if you don't want to get near them.
- Check and keep watch where centipedes could come out from. Block any holes or leaks in pipes or drains.
- Close any drains to sinks or tubs if possible.
- Be careful using any pesticides. Read the instructions carefully.
EditSources and Citations
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| How to Have a Healthy Brain Posted: 30 Jan 2017 12:00 AM PST Staying fit is not just for your body. It is also important to keep a fit brain. Brain fitness is about keeping the mind sharp and preventing or battling cognitive disease. You have the ability to promote healthy brain development through brain fitness, exercise, social interaction, and protecting yourself. No matter when you start, whether it's early or late in life, following some simple practices can aid in mental health. EditChallenging Yourself Mentally - Learn a new skill. Research has shown that learning a new skill can improve brain functions. New skills not only improve memory, but they help the portion of the brain that ensures protection of the memories. Furthermore, new skills, particularly the more complex skills, engage the brain comprehensively instead of in small portions.[1][2]
- Juggle. Research has shown that juggling can improve connections and white matter in the brain.[3]
- Woodworking is a great way to keep the brain engaged. It requires precise measurements and concentration.
- Digital photography has been shown to have a very significant impact on mental health, perhaps because of how difficult and complex the task can be.[4]
- Play brain games. Brain games such as Sudoku and crossword puzzles positively have been shown to improve connections in the brain. They also affect short-term memory, and have been shown to stave off the growth of protein deposits (beta amyloid) that negatively impact brain health. Try to keep your mind as active as possible.[5]
- Starting brain games, and being mentally active in general, early in life has shown to be more beneficial than attempting to start later in life.
- Once the brain games stop being complex, it no longer has the same brain health impact it once did. If the game is easy, find a new game.[6]
- Practice memorization. Work with short goals first. Try memorizing increasingly more difficult lists.[7] Whether it's all the states in the U.S., or all the bones in the human body, attempting to memorize complex lists helps the brain significantly. Try memorizing one of the following:[8]
- Shoot for as many digits in the number pi as you can.
- Lock down the ingredients in a complicated recipe.
- Find a favorite speech and commit it to memory.
- Read often. Reading an array of material – books, periodicals, poetry – engages and exercises the brain. Learning new words is similar to learning a new language, which has been shown to improve brain function and expand brain activity in multiple sections.[9]
- Reading stimulates the brain and slows the onset of Alzheimer's and dementia.
- Most people have difficulty focusing on reading for just five straight minutes without distraction.
- Look for articles that pertain to what you currently find interesting in the world.
- If you have a favorite author, look up one of their books on a popular website and then check recommended authors. You may find a new favorite.
EditEngaging in Social Activities - Stay in touch with friends and family. Some research has shown that people who maintain close personal relationships and emotional support from friends have a better chance of fighting dementia. Even general social connectivity has been shown to help the brain.[10]
- Call a loved one once a day.
- Send a hand-written letter to a grandparent.
- Try a new social media interaction with a younger relative.
- Volunteer your time. Aside from lowering stress, research has shown that volunteering in a social setting can increase your mental ability. Volunteering involves attention, control, and in some cases, a bit of memory. All of these practices promote a healthier brain.[11] A few possible options follow:
- Cook at a food bank. Helping with the recipes could engage mathematical portions of your brain.
- Try tutoring to stimulate thinking skills.[12]
- Read to children at a library.
- Expand your social circle. Try to make new friends in locations you currently don't have any. Engaging in social activities has been shown to improve brain health, but doing so in many different ways could ramp up the benefits. Join more groups. Make new friends. However you can, engage more people for a greater amount of time. Simply put, higher levels of social interaction relate to lower risks of poor mental health.[13]
- Sit with coworkers at lunch. Choose people you don't speak to often.
- Try taking a new course or class. Look to local community colleges or a lifelong learning center.
- Chat up a random stranger. This can be done anywhere (e.g. grocery store, hardware store, restaurant, in line at the bank).
EditPreventing Brain Injuries - Get physical exercise most days. Studies have shown that walking 45 minutes a day created positive brain activity. This brain activity helps the neurons of the brain survive. Scientists believe it's related to the influx of additional oxygen during the exercise. Further studies have shown executive level skills like planning and scheduling were also improved by the walking program. Additionally, the actual size of the brain, particularly the frontal lobe where cognition occurs, increases with exercise.[14]
- Add some weight to your walks. Some research has shown that a small amount of weight has significant positive effect on brain health. Put on ankle weights before the next walk for a mental health boost.[15]
- Work in the garden.
- Leisurely swim a few laps.
- Clean the house from top to bottom.
- Rake some leaves.
- Add mental demands to the exercise. Studies have shown that exercise that requires some mental steps has greater boosts in mental health. Something that requires coordination like an aerobics class engages both the muscles and the mind. A team-building obstacle course provides an outlet for not just the physical activity, but also strategy. The key is that simple physical exercise has less of an impact on mental health than exercise including mental demands.[16]
- Try counting your steps during a run.
- Add up the total weight lifted when doing strength exercises (e.g. 3 reps of 20lbs would be 60lbs).
- Sign up for an instructor led class that will challenge you to memorize a routine.
- Practice balance exercises. Improving coordination and balance is a sure-fire way to avoid potential head injuries related to poor mental health and degraded mental cognition. By practicing something like Tai Chi, the muscles used to balance are strengthened and stabilized, and there is less chance of falling or head injury.[17]
- Doing some squats will strengthen various balance muscles in your legs.
- Try balancing on one leg. You'll wobble at first, but with enough practice, you'll begin to stabilize.
- Wear protective headwear. Head trauma has been connected to an increased chance of Alzheimer's, and recent research in athletics has linked it to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a degenerative disease caused by multiple head injuries, including concussions.[18] Whenever engaging in physical activities that provide safety measures, always use them properly.
- Wear a helmet whenever riding a bike or skateboard.
- Always buckle your seatbelt when available.
- Avoid contact whenever possible in contact sports.
- Get regular checkups. Dementia-related illnesses are diagnosed via an assortment of tests like brain imaging and blood-work.[19] Some drugs, or particular doses, may have a negative affect that exacerbates poor mental health. Research has shown early diagnosis of symptoms related to mental impairment can help reverse potential cognitive impairment.[20]
- One study has shown that 80% of people with Alzheimer's also have cardiovascular issues. Take preventative measures by improving your cardiovascular system, lowering blood pressure, and lowering cholesterol, and you'll improve your chances against Alzheimer's.[21]
- If you are forgetting more often, having trouble with instructions, words are getting jumbled, or you're losing things often, you may need to see your doctor to see if these issues are related to Alzheimer's.[22]
EditAdopting Healthy Habits - Choose healthy foods. Choosing more healthy options can help your brain as well as your body. Attempt to minimize the foods that have higher concentrations of saturated fats, trans fats, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Try, instead, to eat foods like grains and leafy vegetables, both good sources of vitamin B, that have been shown to lessen the risk of mental disease.
- Reducing the number of calories you eat has actually been shown to minimize mental issues during old age. [23]
- Including recommended amounts of fruit in your diet also helps lessen the potential of cognitive issues in old age.[24]
- Limit harmful substances. Drinking, smoking, and drug abuse have been shown to negatively impact mental health. Drinking, smoking, and drug abuse have been linked to dementia, brain deterioration, and a variety of disorders, respectively. Multiple studies have displayed that stopping smoking or drug abuse, and minimizing alcoholic intake, increases the odds of living a healthy mental life as you age.
- Minimal alcoholic intake - two or less per day is the recommendation - has also been linked to improved blood pressure, a supplementary benefit that helps mental health in old age.[25]
- Combining lower alcohol intake with other good behaviors like exercise and not smoking increases the likelihood of positive cognitive ability when older.[26]
- Smoking negatively affects the cortex, which influences memory and language skills.[27]
- Drug abuse has been linked to everything from dementia and amnesia to psychosis and anxiety. Non-prescription drugs should be avoided at all costs.[28]
- Get enough sleep. Studies have shown that restless or interrupted sleep is tied to the increase in brain proteins that are associated with Alzheimer's. Other studies have shown that healthy, sound sleep helps fight off Alzheimer's related genes.[29] Currently, it's not known if poor sleep causes Alzheimer's symptoms, or if Alzheimer's leads to poor sleep, but the connection between the two is significant.[30]
- Sleep well by taking a hot shower before you go to bed. This will help regulate body temperature and make it better for sleeping.
- Try multiple positions when you fall asleep. Some may help you get to sleep faster.
EditRelated wikiHows EditSources and Citations
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