When insomnia is ongoing, try altering your sleep habits. There is ample clinical evidence supporting the effectiveness of a concept called Sleep Hygiene – recommendations that help with the specific aim of improving sleep quality. Even a few slight adjustments can mean the difference between sound sleep and a restless night. Have a bedtime routine, let your body know it’s time to sleep. Don’t go to bed hungry or stuffed and avoid nicotine, caffeine and alcohol. Create a restful bedroom environment that is cool, dark and quiet. Schedule ‘worry’ time for the next day and go to bed worry-free!
Community News
How Opposites Attract
When a friend drops by unexpectedly, we invite them in and make them comfortable. Similarly, when a feeling of happiness overcomes us, we welcome it and hope it stays for a while. When a feeling of sadness overcomes us, we wish it gone, like it was a burn, or a bee sting. The salve that can possibly give us relief is a song that mimics the feeling. As the song echoes the sad feeling back to us, it’s like a friend telling us ‘I hear you’. It comforts and soothes us. In a little while, we want music that is quite the opposite. And so, opposites do attract, and balance is restored.
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT) is a practical, short-term form of psychotherapy. CBT focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful cognitive distortions and behaviors, improving emotional regulation, and the development of personal coping strategies that target current problems. CBT is “problem focused” (undertaken for specific problems) and “action-oriented” (therapist tries to assist the client in selecting specific strategies to help address those problems). This type of therapy has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders and severe mental illness.
What is 3-D-Healing?
3-D-Healing combines the knowledge and energy of two trained practitioners who work on you simultaneously, helping to resolve the emotional and energetic blockages that manifest in the physical body. During a light state of trance, where you are fully present, you can access your cellular system, DNA, and higher self to reach negative emotional storages and get them ready for release. Practitioners simply assist in releasing these inhibiting energies, without you needing to share any past events or information with them. They also channel energy simultaneously into your body to allow for an easier release of the stored energies.
Painful Feelings
Painful feelings command our attention – they can be so uncomfortable, and incredibly inconvenient. But what are they telling us? Is it that something is missing in your life? Are the feelings a signal for change, say in a job or a relationship? Are you healing from a loss? And what do you do about these painful feelings? Is there anyone you can share them with? Counselling is a safe, supportive, unbiased place to consider your full experience, and to develop a plan for yourself.
It’s Your Turn to Quit Smoking
Laser Therapy is an accu-pressure point therapy similar to acupuncture but without the dreaded needles. It is a modernized natural approach to help heal the body without the use of drugs. The entire procedure is external, and the laser treatment conducts low energy to accu-pressure points to your ears, face, hands, arm, legs, and feet. The first hurdle in quitting smoking is to get through the nicotine withdrawal phase, which people often dread. The laser treatments significantly reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms, so people generally sail through this phase with greater ease and break their nicotine addiction.
The Connection Between Your Eyes and Your Ears
As we age, we’re more susceptible to hearing loss and vision changes. Both conditions can creep up on us, making preventive measures essential to sustaining the quality of life we’re used to. According to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), you’re at greater risk of social isolation and reduced community participation if you have a vision loss. The same goes for hearing loss. Having both a vision and hearing problem can affect your ability to lip-read, which is detrimental to communicating with co-workers, family, and friends. A decreased ability to socialize is linked to a greater risk of dementia. However, Statistics Canada reports that 90 percent of people with hearing loss can improve communication with a properly fit hearing aid, counseling, or environmental changes.
What’s Keeping You Up?
Restorative sleep brings optimal health. Does your mind run all night? Does the need to urinate keep you up? In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there are three types of insomnia. The first relates to the heart where your mind can’t turn off at night, the second is due to liver yang rising and not properly shunting the blood. The third relates to the kidney in which one wakes several times in the night and feels unrested when morning comes. A customized treatment plan is created in TCM depending on your symptoms and situation.
Hearing Loss & Cognitive Decline
Researchers have found that even the earliest stage of hearing loss – when hearing is still considered normal (0-25dB) – is linked to cognitive decline. Most people with hearing loss believe they can go about their lives just fine without treatment, and maybe some can, but hearing loss is not benign. It has been linked to social isolation, depression, cognitive decline, diabetes, dementia, and other health problems. Hearing loss should be treated, and the earlier, the better. Studies show hearing aids can slow cognitive decline in older people with age-related hearing loss.
Let’s Talk & Take Action
Our harsh Alberta winters takes its toll on us. Frigid weather combined with reduced sunshine can create a depressing environment that limits our physical and mental potential. Physical and mental health are very interconnected, with each aspect suffering when the other is out of sync. Embrace Bell’s Let’s Talk principles in your life – language matters, educate yourself, be kind, listen and ask and simply talk about it. We believe in an integrated approach to health and wellness by providing resources and practitioners that can help your journey towards physical and mental wellness.
Importance of a Medication Review
Are you managing several prescriptions? Do you know how they interact with each other? Are they providing you with the maximum benefit? These are a few questions that can be answered through a personalized medication review with your Central Alberta Co-op pharmacist. They will review your medical and health history, explain the importance of each medication, and answer any questions you may have. They are your wellness resource and advocate, if you have ANY questions or concerns with your medications, connect with your Central Alberta Co-op pharmacy and schedule a medical review today.
