Home Hacks for Relaxation During Stressful Times

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During this unusual time, I don’t know anyone who isn’t dealing with challenges, uncertainty, and modest to more significant levels of anxiety. We can only sit patiently with faith that this pandemic will pass soon, while maintaining health, peace of mind, staying calm and getting restful sleep.

One positive thing we can extract from this period is that most of us actually have the time to do some work on ourselves. Life is always stressful, but usually there is the excuse of being too busy to not take the right actions of living better. Right now, try to see this as a reprieve from the outside world to focus on inner healing.

Here are some additional relaxation tips to use during stressful times such as these:

There are supplements I use as part of my own regimen that can be very useful in promoting calm, relaxation and sleep quality. If you can take them daily as part of your routine, beneficial effects may occur shortly after use.

1. Ashwaganda is an ancient Ayurvedic herb. It is an adaptogen, meaning that it can help your body adapt to stress and properly normalize. Ashwaganda helps to reduce the stress hormone cortisol, regulates the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, enhances GABA receptors and serotonin in the brain to help your mood and also improves quality of sleep.

2. Zen Sleep by Allergy Research Group is a combination of GABA, Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate (P5P), 5-HTP, (the precursor to serotonin and melatonin) and Theanine which is a calming amino acid extracted from green tea. This combination helps with falling asleep and achieving restful sleep.

3. Muse is an EEG device you wear on your head that looks like a pair of dark glasses. It interprets your brain waves to make you aware of your mental state and helps to calm your mental activity. When your mind is calm and settled, you’ll hear peaceful weather. As it drifts and becomes overactive, you’ll hear stormy weather and it signals you back to your breath.

4. Oura Ring is a wearable device that can help sense stress imbalances and sleep disturbances. It monitors your pulse, movement and temperature. When wearing this ring you can even see your body’s autonomic nervous system balance and reduce stress by monitoring your heart rate availability. It’s also not bulky and you can keep it on all day.

5. NuCalm was originally invented to treat PTSD and addiction. It comes with a headset of unique binaural beets that allows you to rest better and has a vagal nerve stimulator. While you are listening, it puts you into alpha and gamma relaxful states. Its technology also blocks out light and leaves you feeling as if you just came out of a deep sleep or meditation.

Schedule a Consultation

If you are interested in learning more, we are still available for appointments, so schedule today. Please schedule below or contact us by email: info@ozgarcia.com or phone: 917-924-5176.

What You Eat and Supplement with Matters. Especially now…

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For most of the population that is cooped up at home, people are becoming lazy about what they are eating. Convenience eating, Netflix binge eating and general overeating (especially the wrong foods) are becoming especially problematic. We all know that using vitamins and supplements build the immune system. I can’t stress enough the importance of the right nutrients and supplements during a time when the world is at risk of becoming sick, but what about food?

As it turns out, there is a very strong relationship between the food you eat and your ability to fend off colds, flu’s and viruses. You have to be very careful with the consumption of processed foods and foods high in sugar since they are known to cause inflammation (which can trigger an immune response). Opt for foods that are high in vegetable and fruit chemicals. At the moment, supermarkets are still open and you can have access to fruits and vegetables both fresh and frozen.

Proteins: Be choosy when it comes to proteins. Lean quality proteins should include wild seafood, organic poultry and high quality GMO free beef, and lamb. Since there’s a shortage in a lot of stores, do the best you can to get the healthiest selections you have access too.

Starches: Watch out for gluten and wheat since they take up room in your immune system. If you can’t resist pastas, look for ones that are rice or bean based. Alternatively, Zoodles made from zucchini make a good swap. The best rice choices are temple style, wild, Jasmine and basmati. Quinoa, yams, squash and steel cut oatmeal are also good to have on hand.

If you are curious about recipes, Google Mediterranean Diet, Asian Diet or Mediterrasian Diet which all contain the foods mentioned.

What about vitamins and supplements? Some of my top immune building supplements are not just the ones we all know about such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc and Echinacea. There are plenty of supplements that have healing properties that don’t get nearly enough recognition.

Beta Glucans are naturally occurring polysaccharides. We see it in foods like oatmeal and that’s part of the reason it reduces cholesterol. Beta Glucans increase host immune defense by enhancing macrophages and natural killer cell function.

Probiotics aid tremendously in immune function since we know that 70- 80% of our immune system lives in the gut. Currently there is new science coming out every day on the gut microbiome and its relationship to our overall health. Probiotics should not only be used as a foundational supplement, but really strengthen the ability to fend off illnesses. We can introduce a wide variety of probiotics through yogurts from dairy and also coconut or almond milk based. Probiotic nasal spray is also beneficial and can be used on daily basis.

Glutathione: is referred to as The Master Antioxidant. It plays a major role in detoxification and building immunity. Glutathione levels decline with age, when we are not well, and even after taking over the counter pain killers. We can improve our glutathione levels by supplementing with glutathione orally, although the best absorption is intravenously.

N- Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) helps to make the antioxidant glutathione. In addition to its ability to detoxify, it is powerful in protecting the lungs and clears out the blood and different pathogens.

Fat (the good kind) is crucial and can help power immunity. High quality fats like avocado, avocado oil , olive oil, high quality butter etc. can be useful to put you into ketosis. Exogenous ketones taken in supplement form can also help you get there. When the body goes into ketosis it enters a protective state  against viruses and improves lung function. Studies have shown that a ketogenic diet can work against flu related inflammation and improves the body’s immune response.

Schedule a Consultation

If you are interested in learning more, we are still available for appoints, so schedule today. Please schedule below or contact us by email: info@ozgarcia.com or phone: 917-924-5176.