Treating A Sunburn

If your going to spend any length of time outside, enjoying a nice day, it's always important to put on that sunscreen to avoid getting a painful sunburn. It's also important to reapply it as directed to ensure that you stay protected the best you can. But let's face it, we're all human and we forget sometimes. Perhaps you forgot to throw it into your beach bag before you left, or it just completely slipped your mind. Or you may have remembered to wear it, but you forgot to reapply it after so may hours in the sun. Oops... But hey, it happens to the best of us once in a while, so don't fret, nobody's perfect, just don't purposely neglect to put on sunscreen. There are ways to treat that sunburn to help it heal a little faster, and feel a bit better. 

The first and most important thing when you have a sunburn is to avoid exposure to the sun as much as you can, you don't want to make the sunburn any worse. If you have to go outside, wear a stronger SPF sunscreen, or wear light, loose fitting clothing that covers the sunburnt area. If your face or neck is sunburnt, wear a cute sunhat when you go out to help protect your face and neck a bit. Try to stay in the shade if you can. However, it's best to stay indoors as much as you can until the sunburn heals, to best protect your skin from further burning.

If you like to take really hot showers like I do, you may want to consider taking a cool or cold shower. I've read somewhere before that cold showers are actually better for your skin than a hot shower, and I think I may actually try it without a sunburn sometime. There have been times that I've stepped out of the shower looking like I had an all over sunburn. Although it would clear up in less than an hour, and wasn't painful, it's still a sign that the water I shower with may be a bit to hot. Certainly water that hot would agitate skin that is already burnt. You'll notice that sunburn is warm to the touch, so it's best to try to cool it down, and I've noticed personally that cool water helps it out a lot. Oh... and don't forget to get a cold glass of water to drink. Water is always super important, especially in the summer, and when you have a sunburn.

It's always important to keep your skin moisturized, especially when you have a sunburn. The sun can really suck moisture out of your skin, and cause the sunburnt area to be extra dry. I like to apply extra lotion over my sunburnt areas to keep them as moisturized as possible, to help avoid peeling. I also like to apply sunburn cooling gel over my sunburn to help cool and ease the sunburn. Avoid any products that can dry out this skin, along with any rough cleansers or exfoliators. You don't want to do anything that can cause any further dryness or pealing. If you do start to peal, don't pick at it or rip it off, as tempting as it is. Trying using a light exfoliant if you wish to wash away some of the dead skin. Again keep it as moisturized as you can. Rough, peeling skin makes sunburn even more painful. If you are pealing or blistering excessively, or if your sunburn is extremely painful you may want to see a doctor. They can prescribe something that will help with the sunburn. 

If your face is sunburnt, it's best to avoid putting on any make-up at all. If anything use a tinted moisturizer with SPF, then maybe some mascara for the eyes. Sunburnt skin needs to be able to breathe, and heavy make-up can choke it. I wouldn't typically wear heavy make-up in the summer anyways, as it doesn't look so nice and can cause pores to clog (leading to breakouts) if you start sweating a lot. And obviously make-up is not usually ideal for swimming since it would just wash off anyways. 

We all know how painful a sunburn can be, and we certainly want to do anything in our power to avoid causing any more pain to it. Some sunburns may even only hurt when they are agitated in some way. One thing I like to do to avoid agitating my sunburn is to wear loose fitting clothing, as it allows for it to breathe and doesn't choke it up. It also doesn't rub up against it as much. Also be extra gentle when washing your skin, or applying lotion, and don't scrub or rub so hard. This is great practice for everyday skin care as well. While this may be harder to avoid for some, don't allow anyone to slap at your sunburn. Some people find it to be a funny joke to slap someones sunburn, but when it happens to you, it's certainly not funny! If you have a friend that does this as a joke, tell them calmly but firmly that you would really prefer that they didn't do that. Tell them that it hurts you, and ask them if they would want someone to do that to them. If you show that you are serious, they should back off.

I know that there are several other ways that you can help to treat a sunburn, and I would to hear how you guys treat sunburn when you get it. Keep in mind that these are all at home remedies, and any tips suggested in this blog won't replace any medical advice. If your sunburn is really serious, or doesn't start to get better within 2 weeks, then you may want to see a doctor. And always remember, it's best to prevent yourself from getting a sunburn in the first place and wear sunscreen when you'll be spending time outside. Always keep some in your beach bag, and even in your purse in the summer. It's always better safe then sorry. But hey, things happen sometimes. 

Don't Forget Your Sunscreen

Nothing can spoil a nice sunny day quite like a nasty sunburn, and believe me, I've had some nasty sunburns in my life. Some that even lead to pealing, although there haven't been any nearly as the sunburn I got when I was 11-years-old back in summer 2005, yikes! My face, neck, and shoulders were all pealing off dry skin. The sunburn alone was painful enough, then adding in extremely dry skin. It didn't help that I had been swimming in a pool that had way to many chemicals (the water was  legit white) in it, so I had chemical burns in my benders as well. Luckily it all cleared up before I began 6th grade,  but it was certainly not a good experience. Had my 11-year-old self had thought to put on sunscreen before spending all that time outside, and chosen not to get in the pool, I would have been a lot more comfortable. I've had more sunburns after that, none nearly that bad, but they weren't fun. And just about every sunburn I had, I got because I neglected to put on sunscreen. 

Learn from my mistakes, don't forget to put on sunscreen! Sunburn is certainly not very attractive, especially if you start pealing, and it's also painful. Not only that but it can lead to even worse skin problems down the road, including skin cancer. Taking a couple extra minutes to apply sunscreen, and reapply as needed, before getting in the pool or doing whatever you're doing outside will certainly benefit you in the long, and short run. Also call me weird, but I love the smell of sunscreen! So theres another minor benefit right there, LOL. A couple minutes is certainly worth saving your skin from premature aging, skin cancer, and other potential problems, along with the discomfort of the sunburn in the short term.

If you are going to spend any length of time outside, especially in the summer, then you need to wear sunscreen. Whether you are swimming, at an amusement park, playing a sport, or even just chilling outside, you should always have sunscreen with you. Even if it's a little chilly you should still wear sunscreen. I recently found out the hard way that, yes, you can get a sunburn, even if it's cold if you forget the SPF. Temperature has very little effect on UV rays. You could be getting a sunburn, even if you are shivering. 

I would at least go for a sunscreen of SPF 15. If you want to get a tan, you can still get one, but you are still protecting your skin. However, if you burn really easily, I would recommend bumping up the SPF to 30 or higher to protect your skin. You'll also want to make sure your sunscreen is waterproof before you jump in the pool or do any activity where you'll get wet. It would be pointless to put on sunscreen that isn't water proof, just to jump in the pool and have it all come off. Also check how long you can wear your sunscreen before you have to reapply it to keep your skin protected, and when in doubt, reapply. 

If you do happen to forget your sunscreen, there are a few things you can do to help ease a sunburn. But prevention certainly is key. Even if you don't burn easily, you should always protect your skin anyways. While you are outside, you should also protect your eyes by wearing sunglasses that block out the UV rays. For added protection you can also consider wearing a cute sunhat to help protect your face, or try to find make-up with SPF in it. Every little bit helps when it comes to protecting your skin. You'll have to live in your skin your whole life, so protect it and take care of it the best you can. 

What is your favorite sunscreen? 

Spring Into A Healthier Lifestyle

As the weather starts to warm up (well, hopefully anyways, it's still cold here) and we move into spring, I feel it's time to start setting a few new goals for myself, and also revisit some of the ones I've made before but have never really worked much towards. Perhaps even revisit some of the New Year's Resolutions that I pushed to the wayside. Spring is a time for new beginnings and fresh starts, and a perfect time to start working towards your goals. One of my biggest goals this spring is to start living a healthier lifestyle and get fit for summer. Not only to look better, but to feel better and live a healthier life as well. I admittedly eat primarily junk food, and a lot of it, on top of not getting much exercise. I'll eat because I'm bored or upset, and for other reasons other then actual hunger. I go for the packaged snacks and sweet treats because they are the most convenient, just because I'm to lazy to actually cook something. This is certainly not at all a healthy way of eating, and it needs to change. But I know that I need to have a good plan and motivation if I plan on going about this and actually sticking to it.

The first step is to think of your motivation. Why do you want to start eating healthier and exercise more? If you are only doing it to lose weight, you are much more likely to slip back into your old habits. When all you want is to look better, it can be very discouraging when the weight doesn't come off the way you thought it would... Or if you gain a  few pounds. Trust me, I've been there before, and I went right back into my old habits because I didn't even think of doing it for anything other then weight loss. Certainly losing some weight can be a part of or your motivation, but it shouldn't be your only motivation. Improving and preserving your health, living longer, and feeling better should be the real motivation to changing your eating and exercise habits. It's a known fact that better nutrition can help to reduce your risk of developing serious health problems down the road, it can even help to improve some existing medical conditions.

Once you have the proper motivation in place, it's time to start thinking of the actual plan. This is another area that you need to be careful with, as it's very easy to set something really unrealistic and hard to stick to. It's always best to start small and take baby steps. Certainly there should be a little bit of a challenge to it, but it shouldn't be nearly impossible to stick to. Take baby steps to the lifestyle you want, and once you get there, don't forget to keep at it, no matter what, keep the healthy lifestyle going. But if you are anything like me, it would be highly unrealistic to say that you're going to get an hour of vigorous exercises a day and cut out all junk food right away. I know I wouldn't be able to stick to this and I would slip out of it rather quickly. I will share with you my own plan to start living healthier to give you a few ideas. But remember, everyone is different and has different habits, so you should adjust based on whats best for you. 

My Plan To Start A Healthier Lifestyle

-Watch when and why I'm eating. I tend to eat when I'm bored, when I'm in a bad mood, or because someone mentions food to me. Not always just because I'm hungry. I often find myself venturing into the kitchen late into the night to grab a snack simply because I'm just bored or maybe feel a little hungry... even if I should be going to bed soon. I need to pay more attention to whether I'm actually hungry or if I'm just bored before I go get something to eat.

-Drink more water rather then eating. Often times when we confuse hunger with thirst. So if I start to feel a bit hungry (or bored), I'm going to go for a glass of water rather then going for a snack. Not only will water often settle the hungry feeling, but there are also many health and beauty benefits to drinking water as well. Drinking water helps to flush toxins out of your body and keeps you from getting dehydrated. Drinking water can even help your skin! 

-Watch what I eat and how much I eat. Because there is generally nobody home to cook dinner after school, I'll eat anything, primarily sweets and snacks for dinner. I know I could never cut out these yummy treats completely, but I need to eat less of them. For now I plan to cut down my sweets intake to one or two things a day. I also plan on actually cooking something for dinner at least twice a week, and watching my portion sizes when I cook. I need to pay attention to serving sizes rather then eating until I'm full. 

-Go for healthier options at school. My school serves some pretty awesome tasting lunches sometimes. And while they aren't the worst thing for you, they aren't the best either. A school lunch can have over 1000 calories in it, that's half a day's calories in one meal. My school does however, have healthier options rather then the regular lunch. I tend to go for their salad tray when I don't like the lunch they are serving. Which is rarely... Even though some lunches aren't my favorite, I still kind of like them so I get them anyways. I now plan on getting the salad tray a lot more often, almost daily. I know there's some lunches I can't give up, and I will still buy the regular lunch on those days, and on days when salad trays aren't available. 

-Start doing some short, moderate workouts. I am not very active at all, and I know I can't jump right into doing daily long, vigorous workouts. While I do plan on eventually getting to the point where I'm doing longer and harder workouts, for now I'm going to start small. To start off I'm going to try to get in a 10 minute workout everyday, and just do some things to get moving such as dancing like a weirdo to my favorite songs, or going for a walk or maybe even a jog when then weather gets a little nicer. Even simply walking the dog a bit is a great work out. I want to make my workouts fun and enjoyable. Play music while you get active, it makes it a lot more fun! Play songs that make you happy, or pump you up and get you moving. When I feel that I'm ready for it, I'll increase my exercise time in 5 minute increments.

What are some of the ways you stay healthy and stay in shape?

*Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or a dietitian. This will not replace any professional or medical advice. This is only my plan to work towards a healthier lifestyle, and may not work for everyone. My ideas have come from prior knowledge as well as things I have learned in a class or have researched. 

*WARNING: If you have or suspect you may have any current medical conditions, see a doctor before starting any exercise or dieting regimen. If you start to feel sick or start feeling pain stop what you are doing. If it persists seek medical attention. 

Simple Ways To Stay Healthy

So many icky germs are going around right now! I myself have come down with a nasty cold, which is nothing compared to the flu that's going around. I feel really crummy and I don't want to do much, but I can still function well enough to go to school. This flu that's going around seems to be really persistent, and can take you out of school or work for quite a while, which isn't fun when you need to try to get caught up. Nobody wants to get sick, and while there's no sure-fire way to guarantee you won't get sick, there are a few things to help prevent it, and help you fight it off sooner. 

The first, and most important thing is to wash your hands, I can't stress this enough. Your hands touch so many germy surfaces; doorknobs, keyboards, desks, pencils, ect. Always wash your hands after going to the bathroom, before eating, and as often as you can with warm soupy water. If you can't get to a sink right away use hand-sanitizer, but don't rely completely on it. Don't touch your face with dirty hands. Touching your face with dirty hands can also cause acne, along with putting germs in your face. Avoid putting any filthy surfaces near your face. Don't sleep in class, not only because you aren't paying attention that way, but also because that desk is COVERED in germs. EWW! (That should be incentive enough to not sleep in class, LOL). Also it wouldn't be a bad idea to wipe down your phone with slightly damp disinfecting wipes once in a while. And don't forget simple common sense; never share lip products with anyone, especially someone who is sick (make-up products should only be used by one person anyways). And never eat or drink after someone is sick!

Using good hygiene is the least you can do, but shouldn't be the only thing. Just doing the right things for your everyday health can help your ability to fight infection. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and flush out nasty things from your body. Practice good eating habits and get the right nutrients, and stay active to keep your body strong. Don't forget to get plenty of sleep to help your body out. Not only do these things increase your body's ability to fight infection, but are a step in living a longer healthier life. 

If you do get sick, relax as much as you can. It's best to stay home so that you can relax better, and prevent spreading it to others. If you just have a cold, and you have to go to school or work, cough into your arm, and sneeze into a tissue. Keep those tissues handy, they are nice to have just to blow your stuffy nose, and you never know when a sneeze might be... gooey and yucky, and a sneeze can travel quite a long distance. Try to get some extra sleep at night to help you throughout the day, and take some cold medicine to help out with the symptoms. 

If you feel any ickier than a typical cold, then it's best to just stay home and rest. It's best that you stay in bed and sleep it off as much as you can, but if you're like me and you feel the need to be doing something, do something that doesn't involve much movement or stress. Lay down with a warm blanket, some warm soup, a warm drink like tea, and watch a movie, read a book, or even do a little bit of web browsing. Don't forget to drink plenty of water as you would any other time to stay hydrated and help flush what you have out of your system fast. And remember, when you're sick your body needs extra rest, sleeping all or watching TV all day won't make you lazy. 

If you rest up and take care of yourself, you should start to feel better within a couple days. Keep activity light until you feel completely better. Don't forget to change your toothbrush after you get better as well so that you aren't putting the germs back into your mouth. You may also want to wash your bedding, just to freshen it up after you've been sick. 

*Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and this does not replace medical advice. If symptoms worsen or don't get better within a week, seek medical attention. 

Feeling Better When You're Depressed

I've been really down and depressed over the last week, which may have played a part with my lack of posting this week. We all have our bad days, but allowing it to persist for days, or even weeks is not healthy, and can eventually lead to serious depression. It's important to try to pull yourself out of a slump as soon as you can. This isn't to say that you shouldn't allow yourself to feel those emotions, denying them and just pushing them aside is just as bad as staying depressed for a longer period of time. You need to let your emotions out before you can start feeling better, otherwise you're only holding them inside and allowing them to build up to something bigger.

The first thing is to remove yourself from the troubling situation if you can. Go somewhere that you can be alone, or with someone that you really trust. If you are upset because of a fight, it's best to get away anyways before it escalates into something bigger. It also allows time for things to cool down a bit and gives everyone some time to think about what happened. If you can't get away right away, find some kind of distraction for until you can, but try to get away ASAP. For many, the best place to get away is their room. Lock yourself in there and let your emotions out (in a healthy way). Have a good cry, and if you are home alone, scream at the top of your lungs. Write down your feelings on a piece of paper that nobody will ever see. Get as mean and nasty as you want, say exactly whats on your mind. Just NEVER let anyone see it! Listen to a few songs that describe the way you feel, anything that lets you get out your emotions, as long as it doesn't involve hurting yourself or others. If you feel you need someone to talk to, talk to someone that knows how to cheer you up. Don't stick around the people that are upsetting you.

After you've given yourself a chance to let off your feelings a bit, start working towards making yourself feel better. There are a variety of ways to go about this, and whatever works depends on you. Take my challenge, think of all the good things about yourself. Do something you enjoy, or even try something new. Write a blog post, play your favorite game, get active! Getting active can actually help both your physical and mental health in the long run, is a great way to burn off steam. Shoot some hoops, jump rope, or even go on a jog or for a walk. Allow yourself a little bit of a tasty snack that makes you happy. Watch a (preferably not sad) movie, I like to go for more comedic movies that make me laugh. Listen to music, and try to start moving away from the sadder songs and add a couple of upbeat songs into your playlist. I alike to listen to some funnier, or sometimes more aggressive songs that make me smile, especially Blood On The Dance Floor's music. What you listen to is all based on your tastes. Sometimes going to bed early, or taking a nice nap and sleeping it off can help a lot too, or try going out and doing something fun with your friends. Have a good time, get your mind off of whats going on.

Don't let your sad feelings linger for to long. We all have days when we feel like nothing is going right, and that life just doesn't like us. But remember, there are also days when things will go your way, and you'll feel like nothing can stop you. Let the good times lift you up, but don't let the bad times keep you down.

"Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain <3"

What do you like to do to make yourself feel better when your down? I'd love to learn some different ways that you guys cheer yourselves up. :)

Get On A Better Sleep Schedule

We all know that how well you sleep at night can affect how you feel and perform the next day. It's a well known fact that we should be getting at least 7-8 hours or sleep at night, and have a regular bedtime. Some of you may be very good with this, and you have a very good sleep schedule in place. Others, myself included, do not have a very healthy sleep schedule in place. My sleep schedule is absolutely horrific, and I certainly feel it's effects during the day. Not only is my bedtime way into the latest hours of the night, or should I say, earliest hours of the morning, but it's also very inconsistent. I'll go to bed anywhere between 12:00 am- 1:30 am or later, on a school night. I find myself feeling really drowsy throughout the day, to the point where picking up a pencil seems physically demanding, and I'll often come home and take a long nap. My naps can sometimes even exceed the hours of sleep I get at night. 

I've heard somewhere that not getting enough sleep can take a toll on how well you do in school. I'm not sure if my terrible sleep schedule has affected my grades or not because I am still getting high test scores and I get all A's and B's on my report cards, although I sometimes find it hard to focus in class. But I have noticed it's toll on my mood and how I feel. I'll often feel really grumpy, and sometimes just not want to talk to anyone or do anything. Sometimes I'll even feel physically sick, with a headache or slight belly ache, mostly in the first hour or so after I wake up. I know that my terrible sleeping habits have a lot to do with why I'm not always feeling my best, and I really need to work on setting a better sleep schedule. 

The first step in getting on a better sleep schedule is to set a bedtime. It's best to pick a bedtime that would allow you to get the full 7-8 hours of sleep, but I know that I would never be able to stick to this myself. Try to at least set your bedtime before midnight, and don't set it much later than 11:00 p.m. Once you have figured out your bedtime, stick to it and go to bed at that time. Don't make excuses to stay up, even for just a couple more minutes. Save that YouTube video for tomorrow, tell the friends you're texting or instant messaging goodnight, put your book down, and turn off the light. It's best to shut off your cellphone so you're not tempted to start texting again or play games, but I know that many of you probably use your phone as your alarm. If this is the case, you might want to consider charging your phone on the other side of the room where to can't easily reach it at night. This also forces you to have to get out of bed in the morning to shut it off.

One of my biggest issues with my bedtime is waiting for my friends to go to bed before I go to bed. I have many friends that are 2 to 3 hours behind me in their time zone. When it's 12 in the morning for me it's only 9 or 10 for them. This is also why I couldn't commit myself to going to bed at 9 or 10, because I  won't get as much time to talk to them then. If you have friends in other time zones, you can surely stay up a little bit longer to chat with them. But when your bedtime gets near it's time to say goodnight and log off.

I also often run into not being really tired when I go to bed at night, or being unable to sleep for whatever reason. Most likely because I take a long nap after school, so I'm not as tired as I would be if I had skipped or shortened that nap. Not only am I unable to sleep at night because of my 3-5 hour nap, but I also don't get much done during the day. If you're really tired, try taking a 15-30 minute nap, but no longer. This will help to give you an extra push to go to bed earlier as well. If you have a hard time staying awake, try doing something to keep your mind going. Write a blog post, read a book, chat with a friend, or even watch some YouTube videos. Whatever keeps you awake. :)

You may be surprised at how much better you feel if you get on a better and more regular sleep schedule. I am  certainly going to make an effort to try getting on a better sleep schedule. Would you say you have a good sleep schedule, or is that something you need to work on?

Thinking Positively: What We Love About Ourselves

I often find it easy to give somebody else a compliment. Whether it be that they have a great personality, a great sense of style, their hair or make-up looks amazing, or they are a great artist or athlete. But while its great to give somebody else a compliment, how often do we compliment ourselves? In fact, I often find myself insulting myself, rather then complimenting myself. "My hair looks awful today, I stink at sports, my voice sounds so weird today, ect..." And it can be really easy to compare ourselves to others, and feel like we aren't good enough. This is a feeling I experience a lot, and I know that others have as well. We are our own worst critics, and our biggest bully, and some people are harder on themselves than others.

Remember, there is some kind of good in everyone, and everyone has something that they are good at. If you are able to find something you like about other people, you can certainly find something you like about yourself. Maybe you're really good at soccer, or you're a great artist. You might be really good with make-up, or have a great sense of style. You're nice to others, or you're really good at a certain subject. It can even be simple or silly things like, nice eyes or you like something about your body, or that you know how to make people laugh. 

My Challenge To You

I would like to challenge all of you to find at least 5 things you like about yourself and write them down somewhere. It can be anything, big or small, as long as it's something you like about yourself. Write it down somewhere that you'll look often, and when you're feeling down, read over it again. You can also put it into a video, or even create a blog post about it. (If you do, I would love it if you send me the link to your video or blog.) Just remember, it needs to be at least 5 things, and if you can come up with more, that would be great! :)

5 Things I Like About Myself

1. I am a great writer

2. I am confident when it comes to public speaking

3. I love my sense of style and the outfits I pick out are really cute

4. I am friendly to others, and I can find the good in people

5. I'm good with make-up, and I'm not afraid to go for bold looks

Let's stop being so hard on ourselves and start seeing ourselves the way that the people who care about us do <3