Practicing Healthy Living by Getting a Physical Exam

After reading my blog for 30 seconds, any genius could tell that I’m a huge fan of healthy living. I follow a healthy diet and exercise like a lunatic. I think this alone is pretty good, but I recently decided to take my healthy living one step further and get a physical exam from an actual primary care physician. (Don’t hide it, I know you’re impressed with my very adult-like responsibility).

I guess you could say I get a mini physical exam in the conference room at work each year, to save money on health insurance premiums (way less creepy than it sounds, but yes, I really will do anything to save money). In this annual screening, health stats such as cholesterol, blood pressure, height and weight are checked to make sure you’re generally in good shape. My love for this service is typically perceived as odd, but whatever, I’m not ashamed to admit it, I love a good free health checkup.

Anyways, until recently I haven’t had a primary care physician since high school. I’m fortunate enough not to get sick very often and when I do I either go to MedExpress or just ride the wave until it passes. My boyfriend recently did a little research to find a good primary care physician in our area and went in for a checkup. Hearing about his visit inspired me to find a primary care physician too, because although worksite wellness screenings are cool, they really don’t take the place of having an actual primary care physician check you out. And in order to retain my self-described designation of the queen of healthy living, I felt it was necessary to actually have a doctor.

The Physical Exam

Since I haven’t had a primary care physician for like 10 years, I was pretty nervous before my physical exam. You might say I’m a bit of a hypochondriac (during the winter I had itchy legs for a few days, consulted Dr. Google and afterwards was genuinely afraid for a good half a day that I had Hodgkin’s Disease or Lymphoma), so I came up with all sorts of crazy scenarios in my head of what would be involved in this process.

So as it turns out, a physical exam is not a big deal at all, especially compared with a trip to the lady doc. My new primary care physician, that’s right I have a doctor now, was super nice. We discussed my family medical history, he asked me a bunch of questions, felt me up in a few places and a little blood was drawn. It was that simple. This may not be normal, but I swear, I actually had a good time at my physical exam! And I was diagnosed as being in perfect health! Yay!

Moral of the Story

You should follow a healthy diet. You should exercise regularly. And you should go get a physical exam at least once every few years. This is a great preventative health measure to ensure that you’re really doing everything you can to promote your own wellbeing.

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Tips on How to Fall Asleep When the Sandman Skips Your House

Having trouble sleeping can really ruin your day (and that of those around you).

You expect to suffer from a lack of sleep when you’re out late doing fun, crazy things the next before. Or even if you just can’t pull yourself away from the Jersey Shore marathon on MTV until midnight. This lack of sleep is at least justified. However, there’s nothing more annoying than when your lack of sleep is simply because you can’t sleep. When you find yourself trying to figure out how to fall asleep, you know it’s going to be a long night.

I’m not an insomniac by any means, but sometimes I have trouble sleeping. And when I have trouble sleeping, it’s a problem for everyone in my path the next day, as a lack of sleep makes me somewhat of a tired, crazy monster. A crazy monster who eats like hogzilla. That’s right, one of the lovely side effects of a lack of sleep is an overactive appetite.

Anyone who’s ever had trouble sleeping knows that after a few consecutive nights where you can’t sleep, you’re feeling pretty sluggish. You have no energy, you behave like a raging rottweiler, and you walk around in a bleary-eyed daze. This is not a good feeling. After a few days of this you’ll do anything to figure out how to fall asleep.

I decided to try different ways to relax myself before bed and figure out how to fall asleep at a normal hour. I don’t think there’s a no fail way to cure a case of having trouble sleeping, but I’ve found a few ways that really help the situation out.

How to Fall Asleep When Sleep Won’t Come Naturally:

• Take a relaxing bubble bath before bed.
• Get a good book and read yourself to sleep.
• Stay away from afternoon and evening caffeine.
• Tire yourself out with a good workout a few hours before bed, but not right before as that might actually wake you up.
• Get off the computer an hour before you want to fall asleep.
• Put a relaxing “sounds of the ocean” cd on as background noise in your bedroom.
• Get a comfy pillow. Sounds obvious, but I was trying to sleep on a pillow as thin as my bedsheets, and shockingly it wasn’t working so well for me. I got a normal pillow and have had sweet dreams ever since.

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If You’re Having a Bad Day, Cheer Up Already!

No one likes having a bad day, but they happen to everyone from time-to-time. Yesterday (and well maybe Sunday too…) was one of those bad days in my world. My washing machine broke, I ripped my dress (twice) in a very noticeable way on the way to work, I fell off my diet bandwagon and felt like godzilla, and I could keep rambling with this stupidity, but I’ll stop there. I spent a good amount of time sulking, convinced that the universe hated me, until I finally just got sick of my own bad mood. I could either continue pouting like a flaming psycho or just surrender and let myself feel better. Thankfully I decided to behave like a sane individual and chose the latter.

You're not having a bad day, you're relaxing on a beach, (repeat).

Here’s some tips to help you cheer up when you’re just having a bad day:

Sulk a little. When you’re having a bad day, you need some time to pout it out. It’s okay to feel sorry for yourself for a while, just don’t do it for too long. There’s nothing more annoying than being upset and having someone tell you to get over it before you’ve had a chance to sort it out yourself. Don’t take too much time sorting though, no one likes a sad sack.

Read the news. I typically don’t spend much time reading the news, because I find it really depressing. If it’s not in the Page Six gossip column, I probably won’t find out about it. Well, a few minutes reading hard news yesterday was enough to snap me back into reality. My biggest “problem” of the day was having to wear a trench coat around the office to conceal the fact that half my dress had ripped open. Looking back, that’s actually pretty funny. Some people in the world have real problems, and taking a few minutes to read about those definitely put things into prospective for me.

Work it out. When I’m feeling super crazy, going to the gym always makes me feel better. A good hard workout is one of the best ways for me to cheer up and return to reality. And as an added bonus of sorts, the worse the day I’m having, the better the workout. Now, that’s something to smile about!

Phone a friend. Things always seem worse than they actually are when you keep your problems bottled up inside. Talking to a friend about whatever is it is that’s bothering you will definitely make you feel better. If you don’t want to discuss the details, you don’t have to, because simply being around a good friend will help to you to cheer up. For me, just spending a little time sitting on the couch watching tv with my boyfriend or having a lady date with my friends will always make me feel better if I’m having a bad day.

Don’t encourage bad behaviors. It’s weird how it works, but when something upsets us, we often keep going back for more. Don’t keep your bad day going by engaging in the very behavior that upset you in the first place. For example, if looking at pictures of your frenemy’s shiny new engagement ring on Facebook makes you depressed, stop doing it.

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