Our twenties, thirties, and forties are filled with activity, creativity, and change. Our ever-shifting hormones and, often, lifestyle choices can create health imbalances; the ones addressed here are especially common. Seek out the recommended dried herbs, tinctures (liquid extracts), and capsules in natural-foods stores or online at jeansgreens.com or mountainroseherbs.com.
Plus: 24 Fresh Herb Recipes
Curb PMS
Vitex, a traditional herb for PMS, has been shown in studies to ease the condition. Other helpful herbs include licorice root, dong quai, and black cohosh, which balance hormones, along with mineral-rich nettle leaf. Skip the licorice if you have high blood pressure or kidney disease, or if you take heart medicine. Try for at least three cycles for best results.
Fight Cramps
Given all the worrisome news about over-the-counter painkillers, we advise women to search for natural solutions. Luckily, ginger root's warming, antispasmodic properties can melt
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What You'll Need:
- Organic lavender essential oil
- Cotton washcloth (use organic cotton when possible)
- Organic almond butter
- Skin toner
- Choose one: half of a mashed organic avocado to moisturize dry skin, organic strawberry yogurt to brighten dull complexions, or honey to rid pores of impurities
Plus: Best Healthy-Skin Buys
How-To:
1. Pre-cleanse
After thoroughly removing any makeup and rinsing your face, fill a sink with warm water. Add two to three drops lavender oil and stir with your hand. Soak the washcloth in the lavender water, then wring it out and gently press it against your face and neck for 30 seconds.
2. Cleanse
Put one teaspoon almond butter and a few drops lavender water in your palm; rub your hands
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1. Be Proactive
To keep allergies under control, supplement with 600 milligrams of quercetin twice daily between meals, suggests Randy Horwitz, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. An antioxidant, quercetin, helps stop cells from releasing histamine, a chemical that sets off symptoms in response to allergic triggers. It can take four to six weeks for quercetin to work, so ideally you should start supplementing about six weeks before allergy season. That said, it can still help if taken later. If you do suffer an attack, Horwitz recommends 50 mg of the herbal antihistamine butterbur two to four times a day to soothe symptoms. Also try nettle leaf; take 500 mg two to three times daily, suggests naturopathic physician Josh Berry.
2. Use a Rinse
Cleansing your nasal passages regularly helps keep them clear and washes away potentially
There's much more to your belly than meets the eye. Most people target the six-pack surface muscles but neglect the deep abdominal ones, namely the transversus abdominis, iliopsoas, and diaphragm. These six moves target your deep abdominal muscles -- to keep your whole system looking and feeling beautifully balanced. Do the six moves as a routine two to three times per week, with a day off in between. Try it for a week and you could start to see a toned tummy that functions as well on the inside as it looks on the outside.
Plus: Beginner Weight-Training Routine
What It Does: Helps you use your abs in concert (unlike crunches, which isolate one muscle group)
How to Do It: Lie on your back with your arms in the shape of a T and legs lifted so they're perpendicular to the floor. Shift hips a few inches to the left, then exhale and drop both legs slowly to the right, stopping before they touch the floor. Hold for a deep breath, exhale, and return to the starting
By asserting yourself in a considerate, confident way, says negotiator William Ury, Ph.D., author of "The Power of a Positive No," you can be selective about what you take on without jeopardizing friendships -- a people-pleaser's biggest fear. Try our five-step plan so that you can start saying no -- and stop feeling guilty.
Plus: 4 Ways to Relieve Tension
Find Your Yes
Before you can even think about getting good at saying no, get clear on what to say yes to in life. If your yes is more time with your family, that will mean turning down obligations that keep you away from home. If it's yes to better health, you'll need to say no to late nights at work that keep you from the gym. The firmer your foundation and
Plus: 50 Ways to Be Healthy Right Now
1. Strength Train
You can barely find time to do cardio, let alone pump iron. Besides, the machines are intimidating and you don't want to end up looking like a man. But strength training maintains and increases your muscle mass and decreases your percentage of body fat, says New York City cardiologist Dr. Nieca Goldberg. And because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, strength training turns your body into a more effective calorie burner. Recent studies show that it also helps prevent osteoporosis.
2. Relax and Learn to Manage Stress
Your life is more zoo than Zen -- you rarely get the chance to relax -- and just thinking about making time to meditate is stressful. But studies show that 90 percent of all illnesses, both mental and physical, are related to
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1. We're Wired for It
We may think of willpower as strictly a mental faculty, but it has a physiological basis, says Kelly McGonigal, a psychologist at Stanford University and author of the new book "The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It." It's rooted in an instinct, just like its better-known cousin, the "fight-or-flight" response. We're all aware of that one: Faced with an external stressor, whether it's a serious threat (a mugger on a darkened street) or an irksome frustration (waiting in an endless line), our heart rate and blood pressure increase and our breathing quickens.
Plus: 7 Simple Tricks to Eat Less
2. It Fluctuates
Everybody has moments of strength and moments of weakness. "No one's self-control is perfect all the time," explains Roy
Plus: Stop Being Perfect!
Here are steps you can take to make sure you're setting healthy boundaries at work.
1. Start with getting outside for your entire lunch break. "When you change your geography and get some fresh air, you change your thinking," says Carol Ross, a career coach based in the Denver area. Ross recommends taking a midday walk or run -- even if that means eating at your desk later. Not only will exposure to natural sunlight boost your mood, it will get you out of your head by engaging all your senses and possibly triggering
the job? Our readers share their tricks.
Plus: 6 Solutions to Common Career Ruts
1. Tea Break
I recently bought my mom a glass teapot with an infuser, and
she now shares that gift with her coworkers as a way to take
a little pause in their workday. At 2:00 every afternoon, my
mom brews a new variety of tea and shares some downtime
with the other women on her floor. It's a great healthy break
from a stressful day, and it lets them really connect with one
another. It makes me wish I worked there so I could join in.
-- Mary Stowell, Milwaukee
2. Riverside Walk
To defuse stress, I take a daily walk, usually with a friend (we keep each other accountable). I work by the river, and there's a nice two-mile loop down a wooded path. Give me 40 to 45 minutes out there and I come back to my desk feeling refreshed, grounded, and full of energy. I attribute this not only to the fresh air, but also to getting out into nature,
