February 9, 2023 • 19 mins
There's not just one secret to happy relationships with others and ourselves, but prioritizing our self-care, not being sleep-deprived, and good self-esteem can help. Amy digs deeper into those 3 things in this OG 4 things episode, as for the 1st thing though, Amy shares a relationship trick called the 5-to-1 Ratio that relationship experts swear by!! Hope you enjoy this episode and it helps you take better care of yourself so that you can, in turn, have better relationships with others!!
Link to tickets for the ‘4 Things’ LIVE in Nashville at Franklin Theater: https://secure.franklintheatre.com/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=370547~cfe40b7d-1c56-4c4b-b937-600bdd7c5904
Best places to find more about Amy: RadioAmy.com + @RadioAmy
Send emails for the '5th Thing' to 4ThingsWithAmyBrown@gmail.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Okay, little food for you. So life, Oh it's pretty,
but it's pretty beautiful. Thank you. Laugh for a little moth.
(00:28):
You're kicking with four Happy Thursday Amy here. And there's
not just one secret to happy relationships with others and ourselves,
but prioritizing your self care, not being sleep deprived, and
good self esteem can help. So I'm going to dict
deeper into those three things in this o G. Four
(00:49):
Things episode that I have prepared for you. But for
this first thing, I'm sharing a relationship trick called the
five to one ratio. John Gottman Say is a relationship expert,
and he says that the five to one ratio is
the key to keeping everyone happy and satisfied in your
personal and even professional relationships. So basically, for every one
(01:11):
negative interaction, you need five positive ones. So it's the
five to one ratio. Again, that's for everyone negative interaction,
you need five positive ones. They don't even have to
be big interactions or gestures. Even something like a smile
or a joke is enough. You just need to make
sure that you have five good things happen for every
(01:32):
one bad thing. They say this works for marriages, friendships,
and then as I mentioned professional situations. So as long
as the positive to negative ratio it's five to one,
you'll be all good. So when it comes to our
relationship with ourself, that's super important. Taking care of ourself
(01:56):
is up there at the top of the list because
that's when we know we can show up better in
our other relationships. But what about the times that we're
upset and overwhelmed and stressed triggered. We've got big feelings
happening about something and we are responsible for them, there's
nobody else around. Well, that's where self soothing techniques come
into play. And at times, for example, I may reach
(02:20):
for a glass of wine to calm me down, but
that can lead to additional problems. So I'm working personally
on healthier ways to self soothe. And when we do
have someone around, that's called interactive soothing, and you know
someone might be there to speak into comfort, you talk
through things with you. But self soothing is when it's
(02:40):
all up to you. And I'll be the first to admit,
like I said with the wine, if I have a
strong emotional reaction to something and I need to calm down,
I yep, may grab the wine. May binge watching something
on TV for way too long. I may scroll social
media mindlessly and for you it might be something else,
(03:00):
and you know it's not really helping long term. Short term, yes,
long term probably not so anyway, I want to have
healthy self soothing things at the top of my mind often.
So that's why we're talking through this now, because I
feel like we likely all need the encouragement. So some
examples of a self soothing behaviors. One might be changing
(03:23):
the environment, which simply could be getting up and going
to another room, getting up and going outside, something you
can do to easily just remove yourself from exactly where
you are, even if just for a few minutes. You
can take a warm shower or bath, and maybe even
make sure you have a soft, clean towel waiting for
you when you get out of the bath. I just
(03:44):
got new towels, and it's amazing. Whenever I get out
of show, I'm like, oh, these towels, they're awesome. I
had to get rid of my other towels because my
washing machine. I didn't know that I had to clean
that filter thing at the bottom of it for years
and years and years, and towels and clothes we're starting
to smell and now I know that every couple of
(04:04):
months I need to clean out the filter. So this
is a little reminder for you to do that too.
And my new towels will now not smell. They're not
gonna end up like my old towels. So there's something
really awesome about putting a fresh, clean, soft towel into
your face when you get out of a shower, or
on your body when you get out of a bath,
which eventually I want to treat myself to one of
(04:25):
those towel warming racks from Amazon, or you can probably
get them anywhere, but I've seen some on Amazon that
are good, and then you can treat yourself to a
warm towel when you get out of a shower or bath. Also,
stretching for maybe five minutes can help move any blocked energy.
That's another way to self soothe. So if you've gotten
some bad news or you're shocked by something, your body
(04:48):
responds by freezing. I mean, at least I know mine does.
I get locked up. I get really tight and then
energy is blocked. So some simple twists, neck rotations, bending
down the hip, touch your toes back up, all that
sort of stuff can shift the energy. Another thing might
be to look at soothing imagery. Now this one's new
(05:09):
to me, but looking at soothing things experts they can help,
like a burning candle, pictures of loved ones, pictures of
your favorite places, or pretty inspirational quotes like if you
have one that's framed or something, go look at it
and stare at it and say it over and over.
Or affirmations might help. If you have some of those
(05:31):
soothing music. I mean, that's pretty self explanatory, just listening
to songs that have a calming effect for you self.
Compassion is another way to soothe yourself. Speaking compassionately to yourself,
even out loud like a friend would, and give yourself
the grace to be off a little bit and give
yourself the space to be just as you are for
(05:55):
a while, sort of like Cat and I like to say.
On the fifth thing, have the day you need to have. Okay,
have the moments that you need to have, and don't
freak out on yourself if you're feeling a certain way,
acknowledge the feelings. Another thing you can do is focused breathing,
and the main thing when you do this is to
exhale more slowly than you inhale and that will help
(06:17):
soothe the anxiety or whatever it is that you're feeling.
We're all about numerous breathing techniques that are out there.
In my house, we're big fans of the four seven
eight method, though, which is where you breathe in for
account of four, hold your breath for account of seven,
and then breathe out for account of eight. You can
also try mindful walking. This is sort of like that
(06:38):
forest bathing that I talk about sometimes, because they definitely
recommend maybe you can't go walk outside. I guess force
bathing is if you can go be outside with nature.
But when they talk about taking a short fifteen minute walk,
I mean you gotta do it where you can do it.
But if you can do it in nature or at
a park or a garden, even that's going to be
most beneficial. And then lastly, you could try a butterfly hug.
(07:01):
Now that's a technique that combines tapping with focus, breathing,
and positive affirmations. We've talked about this before. You can
say to yourself, I'm safe and secure or I am loved,
and it's going to be grounding for you. And you
can really do it anywhere if you're at work and
you don't want to do it there, then go hop
in your car and give yourself that time. There are
(07:23):
a lot of videos on YouTube that can walk you
through how to do tapping and the butterfly hug. So
if you just go to YouTube and in the search thing,
type in those things and what they will pop up.
And as a mom, I often think of, you know,
my kids and teaching them self soothing techniques because I'm
(07:44):
not always going to be around our parents, are loved ones, teacher,
They're going to be alone sometimes and they might need
to self soothe. So I found this whole article about
how you can teach your kids to self soothe, and
Robin Raven is the author of a book called The
Little Book of Self Soothing, so that might be one
(08:04):
that you want to check out. But these are kid
friendly techniques, which quite honestly, I think adults could do
these two. So if any of these sounds like, oh, well,
that might help me, I wouldn't say these are just
for kids, but this is just some stuff to keep
in mind. If you do have kids, You can tell
your kid to be a sloth, teach your child that
(08:25):
when their heart and mind are racing. It helps to
slow down, way down if you act like a sloth.
Tell them to do everything as slowly as possible to
redirect their focus and calm their mind and body. You
can also teach them to do a victory dance, so
this turns the focus from what's distressing them toward a win. Plus,
(08:45):
it calms the nervous system to move your body, and
a rhythmic way to music. You can create sounds for
each emotion. Knowing what you're feeling can be tough for
kids as well as adults, Let's be honest, but being
able to name your emotion and noticing that they come
and go is as helpful for little ones as it
is for us. So help them create a sound to
(09:06):
go with basic emotions like love, fear, anger, and sadness.
And when they're upset they can use the happier sounds
to bring on calmer feelings. Now, this next tip I'm
gonna mention is similar to the stretching thing I mentioned
a minute ago. Stretching for five minutes, she says, you
can teach your kids to touch their toes. Stretching not
only redirects attention, but the simple movement can help relax
(09:29):
the muscles, so be like, hey, if you're feeling this way,
try to touch your toes, hold your heart while humming.
Just have your kids put their hand over their chest
and hum as long as it feels comfortable. Research shows
that this reduces cortisol and stress as much as getting
a hug from someone, which is crazy. Hand on your
(09:49):
heart and hum. Again, these are good for us to
make funny faces. Challenge your kids to make wild faces
until they crack themselves up, as laughter naturally gets rid
of any weird, grumpy type feelings, where can help shift
their mood. So there you go. Self soothing techniques not
(10:09):
only for yourself but for your kids. Self care is
not a luxury, it's a must. And that's a direct
quote from Dr Helen Lavretsky, who is a psychiatry professor
(10:33):
at U c l A. I'll say it again, self
care is not a luxury, it's a must. And one
of the things that falls undertaking care of yourself is
getting enough sleep. Sleep is critical to being in your
best physical and mental health, but a lot of times
we end up sleep deprived. I mean, I'm right there
(10:53):
with you, and what do we do if we're sleep deprived.
What if we've got a newborn and we're up, or
we're tossing and turning because we're nervous about something, or
we just simply can't sleep and we're trying to do
the best that we can running low. And most of us,
not everybody, but most of us need seven to ten
hours of sleep at night to feel alert. So I
(11:16):
guess the average would be eight or nine. And a
recent study found that nearly half of Americans are sleep
deprived on a regular basis. And unfortunately, there's no quick
fix for sleep deprivation, but there are some tricks and
tips that can help make the next day more bearable.
So here's what sleep specialists do to cope after a
(11:37):
night of little to no sleep. First of all, don't
stress about it. Fiona Barwick is the director of the
Sleep and Circadian Health Program at Stanford Healthcare, and she
reminds herself not to worry when she's low on sleep.
She says that if we don't sleep well one night,
will sleep better the next night, and if we worry
(11:59):
about it, however, our sleep will be worse. We can
also expose ourselves to more light. Daylight sends a signal
to our brain that it's time to get up and
be active. So she also says it's important to expose
yourself to some bright light first thing in the morning,
which I've been talking about that I don't get to
do it on weekdays because of the Bobby Bones show
ball on Saturdays and Sundays. I try to get outside
as quickly as I can on my back porch, or
(12:22):
I'll go do my journaling outside, or I'll just do
a few laps in my backyard in my pajamas before
I go inside and start my my weekend. So that's
one way to try to get that in alright. Caffeine
is showing up on the list, which I love coffee,
and they're saying, here, have some caffeine, but not too much. Now.
Caffeine can block a chemical in the body that increases
(12:43):
the need for sleep. But then too much coffee can
lead to a crash. And then obviously if you drink
caffeine too late, it could interfere with sleep later on.
So drink coffee at your own risk. And next thing
is take a cat nap a daytime. Little sleep can
help improve alertness and memory. You gotta keep it short.
This comes from Dr with him chattilla, and too long
(13:04):
of a nap can actually negatively impact cognitive function and
make it harder to finish tasks. So a cat nap,
which I mean you might have to figure out what
the best time frame of a cat nap is for you.
For some people might be fifteen minutes, for some people
might be twenty. But again, you just can't make it
too long. Go for a walk. Lots of walks showing
(13:25):
up if you can move your body, if you are able,
experts say, head outside, even if it's just for ten minutes.
A walk can significantly reduce stress, boost your mood, and
increase alertness. That's what the research is showing. And they
say that it can build up your sleep drive, which
then in turn should help you sleep the following night.
(13:47):
So there you go. Some experts waited on how they
cope if they're sleep deprived, so hopefully their tips will
help you. Another way to take care of ourselves is
taking care of our self esteem, and a recent study
(14:10):
show that looking at a single post of body inclusive
content every day can help boost body image. So if
you use social media, you're more likely to compare yourself
to others all the time. But what you spend your
time viewing can make all the difference. It turns out
that seeing diverse bodies online can actually help boost body image.
(14:31):
A team of researchers from the University of New South
Wales in Australia tested the impact of micro interventions online
to see how looking at body positive and appearance neutral
content affects women specifically, for two weeks, women were asked
to follow either a body positive Facebook group and appearance
(14:53):
neutral group, or continue using social media the way they
usually would. The groups who looked at body positive content
and neutral content both reported and improvement in their body image.
The women who viewed body positive images also cut back
on their appearance and comparisons. The effects were also maintained
for four weeks after the women viewed the posts, which
(15:14):
suggests that this kind of content could potentially have a
lasting effect on mental health and even better. Lead study
author Dr Jasmine for Dolly says that the positive results
could be possible after viewing just one post today. She explains,
we see this strategy as micro intervention, a small change
that we can make to improve people's experiences on social
(15:36):
media and how they feel about themselves in everyday life.
I love the term micro interventions, just little things we
can do our for ourselves to help our mental health.
And I'm kind of wondering if four Things Live event
counts as a micro intervention. I know it was for
me in which at all. And I'm excited about what
(15:58):
we're gonna do in Nashville comeing up March. But if
you want to come, we would love to see you there.
And you know, speaking of taking care of yourself and
being self soothing, sometimes it's just knowing that we're worthy
of doing this for ourselves. We're worthy of self care,
we're worthy of good things in our life, and that's
(16:18):
going to be a common theme of the night. But
it's also gonna be a fun girls night. I really
want you to look at it as like you've gone
out with your girl friends and you've been able to
share and connect and laugh and yeah, tell stories and
feel good and then when you get home you feel
encouraged and empowered and refreshed and you feel so good
(16:40):
after that night out. Well, that's what I want this
live event to be like. So I'll be there sharing things,
some of my friends experts, and there's gonna be music.
Music is talked about it here today is one of
the things. Music can be healing, therapeutic, soothing, And if
you haven't heard, the music is going to be coming
from the also talented Brittany Spencer. She's one of my
(17:03):
favorites and I cannot wait for you to hear her
voice live and the live podcast eventually will be loaded
up on the podcast. If you can't make it, you'll
still get this this conversation, you'll still get this experience.
But the music can't be loaded onto a podcast. So
if you are able to attend, that's something that you're
able to get as a treat because because of all
(17:24):
the laws around it, I can't just upload the songs,
even though I desperately wish that I could. So if
you're looking for an excuse to give yourself a micro intervention,
then come to Nashville, come to the live show Saturday March.
It's gonna be amazing. I cannot wait. I am smiling
ear to ear as I even say it out loud
(17:45):
because it's just gonna be such a special, special day
and time, and I can't wait to see your faces.
You can get up Franklin Theater dot com for tickets
and in the meantime, I want you to have the
day that you need to have, and I want to
encourage you to keep practicing your gratitude if you can
four things a day or maybe four things a week
(18:06):
or one thing a day, whatever you can fit in.
And if you're looking for a guide to that, you
can check out our four Things Gratitude journal that supports Haiti,
so four things dot com for that, and I will
see y'all on Saturday for Outweigh. I know we just
talked about self esteem and looking at body positive content
(18:29):
and if you're someone that is struggling with disordered eating
or negative body image, then give out way to try.
Episodes upload every Saturday. Mostly I always have an expert
with me that is guiding us through, but sometimes I'm
just sharing my experience as a non expert, just someone
that has been there and had a needing disorder for
(18:49):
years and years and years and is now in recovery
and trying to stay there. So you can check out
Outweigh on Saturdays, and I guess if you listen all
talk to you on Saturday. If not, then we'll see
you on Tuesday for the fifth Thing with Cat
Okay, little food for you. So life, Oh it's pretty,
but it's pretty beautiful. Thank you. Laugh for a little moth.
(00:28):
You're kicking with four Happy Thursday Amy here. And there's
not just one secret to happy relationships with others and ourselves,
but prioritizing your self care, not being sleep deprived, and
good self esteem can help. So I'm going to dict
deeper into those three things in this o G. Four
(00:49):
Things episode that I have prepared for you. But for
this first thing, I'm sharing a relationship trick called the
five to one ratio. John Gottman Say is a relationship expert,
and he says that the five to one ratio is
the key to keeping everyone happy and satisfied in your
personal and even professional relationships. So basically, for every one
(01:11):
negative interaction, you need five positive ones. So it's the
five to one ratio. Again, that's for everyone negative interaction,
you need five positive ones. They don't even have to
be big interactions or gestures. Even something like a smile
or a joke is enough. You just need to make
sure that you have five good things happen for every
(01:32):
one bad thing. They say this works for marriages, friendships,
and then as I mentioned professional situations. So as long
as the positive to negative ratio it's five to one,
you'll be all good. So when it comes to our
relationship with ourself, that's super important. Taking care of ourself
(01:56):
is up there at the top of the list because
that's when we know we can show up better in
our other relationships. But what about the times that we're
upset and overwhelmed and stressed triggered. We've got big feelings
happening about something and we are responsible for them, there's
nobody else around. Well, that's where self soothing techniques come
into play. And at times, for example, I may reach
(02:20):
for a glass of wine to calm me down, but
that can lead to additional problems. So I'm working personally
on healthier ways to self soothe. And when we do
have someone around, that's called interactive soothing, and you know
someone might be there to speak into comfort, you talk
through things with you. But self soothing is when it's
(02:40):
all up to you. And I'll be the first to admit,
like I said with the wine, if I have a
strong emotional reaction to something and I need to calm down,
I yep, may grab the wine. May binge watching something
on TV for way too long. I may scroll social
media mindlessly and for you it might be something else,
(03:00):
and you know it's not really helping long term. Short term, yes,
long term probably not so anyway, I want to have
healthy self soothing things at the top of my mind often.
So that's why we're talking through this now, because I
feel like we likely all need the encouragement. So some
examples of a self soothing behaviors. One might be changing
(03:23):
the environment, which simply could be getting up and going
to another room, getting up and going outside, something you
can do to easily just remove yourself from exactly where
you are, even if just for a few minutes. You
can take a warm shower or bath, and maybe even
make sure you have a soft, clean towel waiting for
you when you get out of the bath. I just
(03:44):
got new towels, and it's amazing. Whenever I get out
of show, I'm like, oh, these towels, they're awesome. I
had to get rid of my other towels because my
washing machine. I didn't know that I had to clean
that filter thing at the bottom of it for years
and years and years, and towels and clothes we're starting
to smell and now I know that every couple of
(04:04):
months I need to clean out the filter. So this
is a little reminder for you to do that too.
And my new towels will now not smell. They're not
gonna end up like my old towels. So there's something
really awesome about putting a fresh, clean, soft towel into
your face when you get out of a shower, or
on your body when you get out of a bath,
which eventually I want to treat myself to one of
(04:25):
those towel warming racks from Amazon, or you can probably
get them anywhere, but I've seen some on Amazon that
are good, and then you can treat yourself to a
warm towel when you get out of a shower or bath. Also,
stretching for maybe five minutes can help move any blocked energy.
That's another way to self soothe. So if you've gotten
some bad news or you're shocked by something, your body
(04:48):
responds by freezing. I mean, at least I know mine does.
I get locked up. I get really tight and then
energy is blocked. So some simple twists, neck rotations, bending
down the hip, touch your toes back up, all that
sort of stuff can shift the energy. Another thing might
be to look at soothing imagery. Now this one's new
(05:09):
to me, but looking at soothing things experts they can help,
like a burning candle, pictures of loved ones, pictures of
your favorite places, or pretty inspirational quotes like if you
have one that's framed or something, go look at it
and stare at it and say it over and over.
Or affirmations might help. If you have some of those
(05:31):
soothing music. I mean, that's pretty self explanatory, just listening
to songs that have a calming effect for you self.
Compassion is another way to soothe yourself. Speaking compassionately to yourself,
even out loud like a friend would, and give yourself
the grace to be off a little bit and give
yourself the space to be just as you are for
(05:55):
a while, sort of like Cat and I like to say.
On the fifth thing, have the day you need to have. Okay,
have the moments that you need to have, and don't
freak out on yourself if you're feeling a certain way,
acknowledge the feelings. Another thing you can do is focused breathing,
and the main thing when you do this is to
exhale more slowly than you inhale and that will help
(06:17):
soothe the anxiety or whatever it is that you're feeling.
We're all about numerous breathing techniques that are out there.
In my house, we're big fans of the four seven
eight method, though, which is where you breathe in for
account of four, hold your breath for account of seven,
and then breathe out for account of eight. You can
also try mindful walking. This is sort of like that
(06:38):
forest bathing that I talk about sometimes, because they definitely
recommend maybe you can't go walk outside. I guess force
bathing is if you can go be outside with nature.
But when they talk about taking a short fifteen minute walk,
I mean you gotta do it where you can do it.
But if you can do it in nature or at
a park or a garden, even that's going to be
most beneficial. And then lastly, you could try a butterfly hug.
(07:01):
Now that's a technique that combines tapping with focus, breathing,
and positive affirmations. We've talked about this before. You can
say to yourself, I'm safe and secure or I am loved,
and it's going to be grounding for you. And you
can really do it anywhere if you're at work and
you don't want to do it there, then go hop
in your car and give yourself that time. There are
(07:23):
a lot of videos on YouTube that can walk you
through how to do tapping and the butterfly hug. So
if you just go to YouTube and in the search thing,
type in those things and what they will pop up.
And as a mom, I often think of, you know,
my kids and teaching them self soothing techniques because I'm
(07:44):
not always going to be around our parents, are loved ones, teacher,
They're going to be alone sometimes and they might need
to self soothe. So I found this whole article about
how you can teach your kids to self soothe, and
Robin Raven is the author of a book called The
Little Book of Self Soothing, so that might be one
(08:04):
that you want to check out. But these are kid
friendly techniques, which quite honestly, I think adults could do
these two. So if any of these sounds like, oh, well,
that might help me, I wouldn't say these are just
for kids, but this is just some stuff to keep
in mind. If you do have kids, You can tell
your kid to be a sloth, teach your child that
(08:25):
when their heart and mind are racing. It helps to
slow down, way down if you act like a sloth.
Tell them to do everything as slowly as possible to
redirect their focus and calm their mind and body. You
can also teach them to do a victory dance, so
this turns the focus from what's distressing them toward a win. Plus,
(08:45):
it calms the nervous system to move your body, and
a rhythmic way to music. You can create sounds for
each emotion. Knowing what you're feeling can be tough for
kids as well as adults, Let's be honest, but being
able to name your emotion and noticing that they come
and go is as helpful for little ones as it
is for us. So help them create a sound to
(09:06):
go with basic emotions like love, fear, anger, and sadness.
And when they're upset they can use the happier sounds
to bring on calmer feelings. Now, this next tip I'm
gonna mention is similar to the stretching thing I mentioned
a minute ago. Stretching for five minutes, she says, you
can teach your kids to touch their toes. Stretching not
only redirects attention, but the simple movement can help relax
(09:29):
the muscles, so be like, hey, if you're feeling this way,
try to touch your toes, hold your heart while humming.
Just have your kids put their hand over their chest
and hum as long as it feels comfortable. Research shows
that this reduces cortisol and stress as much as getting
a hug from someone, which is crazy. Hand on your
(09:49):
heart and hum. Again, these are good for us to
make funny faces. Challenge your kids to make wild faces
until they crack themselves up, as laughter naturally gets rid
of any weird, grumpy type feelings, where can help shift
their mood. So there you go. Self soothing techniques not
(10:09):
only for yourself but for your kids. Self care is
not a luxury, it's a must. And that's a direct
quote from Dr Helen Lavretsky, who is a psychiatry professor
(10:33):
at U c l A. I'll say it again, self
care is not a luxury, it's a must. And one
of the things that falls undertaking care of yourself is
getting enough sleep. Sleep is critical to being in your
best physical and mental health, but a lot of times
we end up sleep deprived. I mean, I'm right there
(10:53):
with you, and what do we do if we're sleep deprived.
What if we've got a newborn and we're up, or
we're tossing and turning because we're nervous about something, or
we just simply can't sleep and we're trying to do
the best that we can running low. And most of us,
not everybody, but most of us need seven to ten
hours of sleep at night to feel alert. So I
(11:16):
guess the average would be eight or nine. And a
recent study found that nearly half of Americans are sleep
deprived on a regular basis. And unfortunately, there's no quick
fix for sleep deprivation, but there are some tricks and
tips that can help make the next day more bearable.
So here's what sleep specialists do to cope after a
(11:37):
night of little to no sleep. First of all, don't
stress about it. Fiona Barwick is the director of the
Sleep and Circadian Health Program at Stanford Healthcare, and she
reminds herself not to worry when she's low on sleep.
She says that if we don't sleep well one night,
will sleep better the next night, and if we worry
(11:59):
about it, however, our sleep will be worse. We can
also expose ourselves to more light. Daylight sends a signal
to our brain that it's time to get up and
be active. So she also says it's important to expose
yourself to some bright light first thing in the morning,
which I've been talking about that I don't get to
do it on weekdays because of the Bobby Bones show
ball on Saturdays and Sundays. I try to get outside
as quickly as I can on my back porch, or
(12:22):
I'll go do my journaling outside, or I'll just do
a few laps in my backyard in my pajamas before
I go inside and start my my weekend. So that's
one way to try to get that in alright. Caffeine
is showing up on the list, which I love coffee,
and they're saying, here, have some caffeine, but not too much. Now.
Caffeine can block a chemical in the body that increases
(12:43):
the need for sleep. But then too much coffee can
lead to a crash. And then obviously if you drink
caffeine too late, it could interfere with sleep later on.
So drink coffee at your own risk. And next thing
is take a cat nap a daytime. Little sleep can
help improve alertness and memory. You gotta keep it short.
This comes from Dr with him chattilla, and too long
(13:04):
of a nap can actually negatively impact cognitive function and
make it harder to finish tasks. So a cat nap,
which I mean you might have to figure out what
the best time frame of a cat nap is for you.
For some people might be fifteen minutes, for some people
might be twenty. But again, you just can't make it
too long. Go for a walk. Lots of walks showing
(13:25):
up if you can move your body, if you are able,
experts say, head outside, even if it's just for ten minutes.
A walk can significantly reduce stress, boost your mood, and
increase alertness. That's what the research is showing. And they
say that it can build up your sleep drive, which
then in turn should help you sleep the following night.
(13:47):
So there you go. Some experts waited on how they
cope if they're sleep deprived, so hopefully their tips will
help you. Another way to take care of ourselves is
taking care of our self esteem, and a recent study
(14:10):
show that looking at a single post of body inclusive
content every day can help boost body image. So if
you use social media, you're more likely to compare yourself
to others all the time. But what you spend your
time viewing can make all the difference. It turns out
that seeing diverse bodies online can actually help boost body image.
(14:31):
A team of researchers from the University of New South
Wales in Australia tested the impact of micro interventions online
to see how looking at body positive and appearance neutral
content affects women specifically, for two weeks, women were asked
to follow either a body positive Facebook group and appearance
(14:53):
neutral group, or continue using social media the way they
usually would. The groups who looked at body positive content
and neutral content both reported and improvement in their body image.
The women who viewed body positive images also cut back
on their appearance and comparisons. The effects were also maintained
for four weeks after the women viewed the posts, which
(15:14):
suggests that this kind of content could potentially have a
lasting effect on mental health and even better. Lead study
author Dr Jasmine for Dolly says that the positive results
could be possible after viewing just one post today. She explains,
we see this strategy as micro intervention, a small change
that we can make to improve people's experiences on social
(15:36):
media and how they feel about themselves in everyday life.
I love the term micro interventions, just little things we
can do our for ourselves to help our mental health.
And I'm kind of wondering if four Things Live event
counts as a micro intervention. I know it was for
me in which at all. And I'm excited about what
(15:58):
we're gonna do in Nashville comeing up March. But if
you want to come, we would love to see you there.
And you know, speaking of taking care of yourself and
being self soothing, sometimes it's just knowing that we're worthy
of doing this for ourselves. We're worthy of self care,
we're worthy of good things in our life, and that's
(16:18):
going to be a common theme of the night. But
it's also gonna be a fun girls night. I really
want you to look at it as like you've gone
out with your girl friends and you've been able to
share and connect and laugh and yeah, tell stories and
feel good and then when you get home you feel
encouraged and empowered and refreshed and you feel so good
(16:40):
after that night out. Well, that's what I want this
live event to be like. So I'll be there sharing things,
some of my friends experts, and there's gonna be music.
Music is talked about it here today is one of
the things. Music can be healing, therapeutic, soothing, And if
you haven't heard, the music is going to be coming
from the also talented Brittany Spencer. She's one of my
(17:03):
favorites and I cannot wait for you to hear her
voice live and the live podcast eventually will be loaded
up on the podcast. If you can't make it, you'll
still get this this conversation, you'll still get this experience.
But the music can't be loaded onto a podcast. So
if you are able to attend, that's something that you're
able to get as a treat because because of all
(17:24):
the laws around it, I can't just upload the songs,
even though I desperately wish that I could. So if
you're looking for an excuse to give yourself a micro intervention,
then come to Nashville, come to the live show Saturday March.
It's gonna be amazing. I cannot wait. I am smiling
ear to ear as I even say it out loud
(17:45):
because it's just gonna be such a special, special day
and time, and I can't wait to see your faces.
You can get up Franklin Theater dot com for tickets
and in the meantime, I want you to have the
day that you need to have, and I want to
encourage you to keep practicing your gratitude if you can
four things a day or maybe four things a week
(18:06):
or one thing a day, whatever you can fit in.
And if you're looking for a guide to that, you
can check out our four Things Gratitude journal that supports Haiti,
so four things dot com for that, and I will
see y'all on Saturday for Outweigh. I know we just
talked about self esteem and looking at body positive content
(18:29):
and if you're someone that is struggling with disordered eating
or negative body image, then give out way to try.
Episodes upload every Saturday. Mostly I always have an expert
with me that is guiding us through, but sometimes I'm
just sharing my experience as a non expert, just someone
that has been there and had a needing disorder for
(18:49):
years and years and years and is now in recovery
and trying to stay there. So you can check out
Outweigh on Saturdays, and I guess if you listen all
talk to you on Saturday. If not, then we'll see
you on Tuesday for the fifth Thing with Cat
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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