All Articles Tagged "wellness"
What Every Black Woman Should Do for Her Health in 2011
For many women, the start of a new year is a time for focusing on physical health. As a result, many of our New Year’s Resolutions revolve around losing weight, eating healthy, and exercising. While these are all positive resolutions, achieving optimal health involves a balance. Black women face many stresses in our lives that can adversely affect our physical and mental health. Thus, the beginning of a new year should also be a time to reflect and focus on our emotional and spiritual health. Are you having trouble dealing with stress? Are you the person you want to be? Are your relationships what you’d like them to be? This year, focus on keeping resolutions that will help you achieve optimal health in 2011. While it’s great that you’ve decided to lose those extra 10 pounds, or eat more vegetables, make sure you don’t neglect your mental and spiritual health. Here are a few things that every black woman should do for her health in 2011.
Don’t Let Facebook Ruin Your Relationship!
You’ve recently started dating someone (or you’ve been dating someone) and you’re both basking in the glow of your relationship. You take long walks on the beach, have wonderful conversations about what your children will look like, finish each other’s sentences, and stare into each other’s eyes for hours on end. You think, “This guy/girl is great!” Then one day, you’re chilling over your significant other’s home and you notice that they happen to log out of Facebook. You let them know you also have a profile on the fabulous social networking site. Then someone nonchalantly says, “Why don’t you add me as a friend?”
Now this scenario can go one of several ways. And in an age where people willingly put all their business out there for public consumption, criticism, and critique, I‘d advise first setting up ground rules before adding your love interest as a Facebook friend. It could be the difference between relationship bliss or continual headaches.
At the end of the day, whether it’s Facebook or real life, romantic relationships should be solidly built on open and honest communication. So here are some suggestions on how to fully enjoy the experience of Facebook, without jeopardizing your relationship.
Five Steps for Healthier, More Beautiful Hair
Whether it’s long, short, curly, or straight, all women derive a great sense of esteem and confidence from their hair. I wear my hair naturally, and I love my hair- with all its kinks and curls. African American women have one of the most delicate grades of hair, and a woman’s hair is often regarded as her crown and glory. The most healthy hair is hair worn in its natural state. But whether you wear your hair naturally or processed, here are some simple, yet crucial steps for black women to achieve healthier, more beautiful hair.
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alopecia, Beauty, black hair, black hair care, braids, conditioner, hair, health, Miss Jessie, moisturizer, perm, relaxer, shampoo, weaves, wellness, wigsBest & Worst Places to Meet a Good Man
“Where do I find a good man?” While I don’t believe there is an exact formula to meeting a good man, I do believe the keys to finding a good man involve living your best life, while frequenting places where single men are most likely to be.
And before I get to the best places (and worst places) where you’re most likely to meet a good man, I’d like to share some advice. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to live your best life- regardless of whether you have a man in it. Living your best life means being in the best possible place in your life- that means spiritually, emotionally, financially, e.t.c. Living your best life is important because it means you’ll bring more to a relationship than just a pretty face. After all, what good is finding a good man, if you have nothing to offer and your life’s a mess? I’ve always believed that love will come when you’re ready. So if you’re ready to receive love, here are some of the best and worst places to find it.
Fabulous Ways For Singles to Enjoy the Holidays
Are you single and hate the holidays because it’s a reminder of your relationship status? Well snap out of it! Sure, it’s amazing to be in a great relationship, but you shouldn’t miss out on the joy of this holiday season because you’re stressing over not having a significant other.
Have you heard the expression “Single people want to be married, and married people want to be single?” That’s because being single can be just as much as fun as being in a relationship, sometimes even more fun. And being single around the holidays gives you the great opportunity to totally indulge in yourself, friends, and family.
So, if you’re single, stop sulking and start planning to make this one of your best and most memorable holidays. Here are a few fabulous ways for you to enjoy the holidays!
“Is It OK to Snoop on My Significant Other?”
You’ve been burned by past lovers, and have trust issues. Or maybe everything seems ok, but you just want to check him/her out before you get too involved.
No matter the scenario, men and women do struggle with the idea of whether it’s ok to snoop on their significant other. Is snooping healthy behavior for a relationship?
Are You Suffering from Angry Black Woman Syndrome?
Months ago, I was having dinner and conversation with a few male and female friends and acquaintances. We were discussing relationships and issues among black men and black women. And while the conversation was initially relatively low key, one of my guy friends decided that it would be a great idea to put on what he described as “ a really good movie.” The movie was “Diary of a Tired Black man.” And within the span of a few minutes and few scenes of the movie, he turned our discussion on relationships into an outright battle of the sexes.
Before You Get Your Freak On…
These days there’s no shortage of sexually charged entertainment, sexual commentary or new sex scandals. Just turn on ‘Jersey Shore.’ But even with all this overt sexuality, there’s a surprising lack of knowledge about how to keep ourselves sexually healthy.
I once had a patient nonchalantly inform me that she was sleeping with two different guys- and not consistently using condoms. When I asked if the guys were currently sleeping with other people or if they regularly got STD testing, she admitted to not knowing. She added, “I don’t think it’s any of my business whom else they’re sleeping with. I mean, neither one of them is my boyfriend.”
This may seem shocking, but I can assure you that it is not an uncommon mindset about sex. Sexual irresponsibility is very dangerous. These days, having sex poses many health risks. But following these 4 important steps before you get your freak on will definitely help reduce those risks and protect your sexual health.
1. Have standards. Actions have consequences. Sex has physical and/or emotional consequences. So whether it’s discussing your partner’s sexual history, requiring STD testing before sex, or requesting a monogamous relationship, it’s important to assess the sexual risk, get some standards, stick to them, and ditch anyone that tries to get you to act contrary to your standards.
2. Use protection. Use protection during sex (vaginal, oral, and anal). Do not rely solely on what someone tells you about their sexual past or present. The reality is people lie, for various reasons. And if you don’t want to use protection, there’s nothing wrong with asking your partner to be tested for STDs before having sex with them, and regularly throughout the relationship. Just be aware that some STD infections may not show up immediately on tests.
3. Get regular STD testing. Even if you’re using protection, sexually active men and women should make it a personal priority to regularly visiting their doctors for annual STD testing and wellness exams (i.e. pap smear).
5. Be prepared for a sex emergency. And I don’t mean, being prepared for when you want a quickie. A sexual emergency means things like unplanned pregnancy or STD infection. It takes two to tango. So you and your partner should have a plan in place in case of failed contraception, failed protection, and/or infection.
10 Common Health Mistakes Women Make
You may think that you’re on your health game, but are you really doing everything you could to be your healthiest? It’s often the “little” things that make the greatest health impact. Here are 10 common health mistakes women make.
Does Everyone in Your Social Circle (Have to) Look Alike?
One thing that ‘girlfriend-centric’ shows like “Living Single,” “Sex and the City” and “Girlfriends” all have in common (besides the four ladies formula) is that each woman in the group fits a particular type. In general, you have the loose one, the uptight one, the career-driven one and the wild card (airhead/golddigger/etc). Part of the fun with those shows was knowing just how each different character would react to particular situations. How fun to figure out which one you are most like and which of your girlfriends seem most like the others!
