In 1988 folic acid was added to bread, pasta, cereal, cookies and crackers as required by federal law. Folic acid is a form of vitamin B, to be specific vitamin B9.
Folic acid can be easily found in natural foods such as – leafy vegetables, okra, beans, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, broccoli, tomato juice, orange juice, eggs, animal liver and kidney.
Folic acid deficiencies include – extreme tiredness, lack of energy, mouth ulcers, muscle weakness, heart problems, psychological problems such as depression, confusion and neural tube defects.
CDC implores women to consume 400 mcg of folic acid for those considering reproduction in order to prevent birth defects such as anencephaly and spina bifida.
A research study finds that folic acid reduces incidents of neural tube defects in infants.
Most of are most likely to visit our doctors during winters for anything such as regular check-ups for ourselves and our family members to see if we are actually winter ready.
But how many of us really go for a mental health check-up to keep our ourselves from the mental health struggles?
According to National Institute of Mental Health, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year.
In most cases, seasonal affective disorder symptoms appear during late fall or early winter and go away during the sunnier days of spring and summer. Less commonly, people with the opposite pattern have symptoms that begin in spring or summer.
It is suggestible to visit your doctor and speak about this than of suffering in silence. Your doctor will be helping you to make a plan about what are the things you need to get in place.
For some people Vitamin D supplements may also be suggested to help you balance your mood, based on your blood test.
Some physicians may also suggest you to take Light Therapy that is a use of bright light which mimics as light from the sun. You would require to follow certain instructions, based on your needs for specific time intervals.
Increasing activity level so that you are moving around in general. Exercising into your regimen will help you to boost your hormones and improve your mood naturally. Additionally, improves blood flow. Strive for ten minute walk, jumping, stretching or integrating all of these.
Try to stay social as hibernating almost all the time will make you feel gloomy. Try to maintain healthy interaction, add it as a part of your daily routine with your friends, family, co-workers, or strangers around a common interest topic.
Eating well is another most important way to ward off the winter blues. Comfort food can help you to feel better and fill you with warmth and love. Try to make homemade comfort foods, indulge in it. Such as stews, soups. Choosing healthy foods is always a good option.
Indulging in indoor hobbies while you are at home can be a great way to begin with. Get all your books that you bought this year off your shelf and give them a read. Or watch your favourite series or play the instrument that you have put on rest for a while.
A thing that you must be looking for each day is – How should I calm down?
Some of you would look out of the window while sipping your morning coffee, listening to your favourite song, or smoking a cigarette, depending upon your comforts.
Some of the ways could healthy such as taking a walk and others harmful, such as smoking a cigarette and I will not go on talking about them.
Here are some sources to draw from, which you may use.
External support, such as your social networks, friends, family, animals.
Physiological support, such as breathing, movements, stretching.
Coping strategies makes a huge difference. People’s respond to stress in two ways, i.e. positive response and negative response. And perhaps, there is nothing better than to transform the adversity into an enjoyable challenge. For those who can, are self assured which is different from being self centred. Training yourself to become one is a great step for anyone.
Becoming aware about about the environment helps to look at new possibilities and responses.
You can either begin by either trying to remove the obstacles or by focusing on the entire situation and asking yourself the applicability of the alternatives.
Developing an autotelic self which involves, setting goals- monitoring feedback, by becoming immersed in it, paying attention to surroundings/ practising here and now, and enjoying the experiences of the moment.
“ Today I refuse to stress myself out about things I cannot control or change.”
Staying is flow is not easy all the time, especially when there is too much information in your head, focusing on the external sources, or self conscious. Each by itself is insufficient.
You must have heard some people constantly complaining about constantly unable or incapable to experience flow.
But, what they fail to understand is less they require external stimuli to represent to their consciousness, could be events or anything, would make them more autonomous from the environment.
It on the contrary creates independence as compared to those who heavily rely on too many external stimulus. It allows you to have flexible attention.
Doesn’t it make you wonder how does one achieve it?
Learning can help you compensate and fall in place. And the only pre-requisite to it to become less self conscious as it acts as a motivation to not get disturbed by external events.
Here are some ways to stay in flow
Body You must be aware that each one of us have hidden potential within. That is how one excel in their bodily art and some become great athletes or dancers. It is a delight, and anyone can develop sufficient skills to find it.
Mind A place that allows us to have the most exhilarating experiences, is generated inside the mind. The most natural state of mind is chaos. Without training it adequately, no one can focus longer than just a few minutes. And, as often as we leave it to do nothing, it forms patterns, such as grudges, frustrations or things which aren’t so relevant. The reason why meditation acts as a way to gain control over mental processes.
Memory The oldest skill. It gives us the luxury to relive the experiences we once lived, or to brings things in order in our conscious. The better you are able to use it skillfully, more easy it gets to find meaning in the content of mind.
Communication One of the way to enhance your life is through improving the quality of experience. It gives your mind a disciplined means of expression. Writing could be one of the ways and self communication brings things in order.
Job Your job provides you an opportunity to stay in flow. Looking at it as a way to have challenges, learning and growth. Of course there are certain days when the marketplace makes it sound like a burden from external source. But one can have momentary experience of joy.
“If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it. Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them.” ― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Before beginning to work on punctuality, it is essential that you understand what is making you late. Watch yourself and your routine carefully to identify what really is making you late. DeLonzor author of Never Be Late Again says – many late people — including herself — are likely to have an aversion to leaving the house. To combat this she uses a mantra of sorts: “When I catch myself doing this, I’ll snap or clap and say ‘This can wait.”
This article is not here to make you feel bad about your lateness or to say lateness makes you the worst of all. It is just to help you to work it out, if this is one.
Firstly, If you want to begin with identifying, have a look at DeLonzor who identifies fourtypes of persistently late people
The Crisis Maker
The Defier
The Dreamer
The Perfectionist
I am refraining to crowd this article with too much information so you can go ahead find your type.
Secondly, your motivation is with you. Find. Find Find. because it helps when you have a reason to be on time, it can be anything. I can give you an example here – Reach to work early and head home early to spend time with yourself, your family, or your pet.
Thirdly, begin with declutter. The thing is we unnecessarily clutter our lives with all things, thoughts and what not. Take an example of your cupboard, how easy it gets when you keep things in place, you find them early.
And, lastly, take responsibility. Know what makes you late, it can even be spending too much time in front of the cupboard every morning just to finalise what you’d want to wear today. Take notice of where you are investing too much time where it is not even required. Decide it the night before or wake up early.
End note – You are too amazing to put a blame on yourself for being late. Cultivate an attitude of punctuality, even if it is 10 minutes in prior.
OnPathToGrowth 