Great stuff from Amazon

 A toilet accessory you’ll wonder how you ever lived without

Why it’s good: The worst part about getting up to go to the bathroom at 2 a.m. is getting blinded by the bathroom light. That’s why our audience manager, Rachel Moskowitz, loves her toilet light. Not only does it give off a soft glow unlike the jarring overhead light but it has a motion sensor so you don’t even have to turn on a switch.

Get the LumiLux Advanced Motion Sensor LED Toilet Bowl Night Light 

 Our favorite oil diffuser—but for your car

Why it’s good: When our experts tested oil diffusers, InnoGear came out on top in terms of quality and price. So we’d expect the brand’s car essential oil diffuser—which fits in your cupholder and plugs into the USB port—to be equally as top-notch.

Get the InnoGear USB Car Essential Oil Air Refresher 

 This gadget so you can chop onions without crying

Why it’s good: There are tons of hacks for preventing watery eyes while you’re cutting onions, from chewing gum (v. skeptical that this actually works) to those incredibly geeky goggles. An easier—and inexpensive—option is the Chop Wizard, which people love because it dices and chops all types of fruits and veggies in just one motion.

Get the Original Vidalia Chop Wizard 

 This wine holder that will up your shower game

Get the SipCaddy Bath & Shower Portable Cupholder Caddy 

 The only towel you’ll ever want to use

Why it’s good: Our social media manager, Kate McCarthy, swears that this bath towel is the greatest exfoliator she’s ever used. The long length makes it super easy to scrub harder to reach places, like the middle of your back, and the textured material will leave your skin feeling softer than ever.

Get the Salux Nylon Japanese Beauty Skin Bath Wash Cloth 

This clever attachment that your laundry room needs

Why it’s good: Buying those massive jugs of laundry detergent that sit neatly on your shelf are convenient—but they can also be messy (hello, drips and spills!). If you’re tired of half the detergent ending up all over your washing machine, customers love using the Tidy-Cup around the bottles to catch any stray drops.

Get the Tidy-Cup 

 A divided bowl so you’ll never have to eat soggy cereal again

Why it’s good: Cereal should be crunchy, not mushy. That’s why I’m adding this bowl to my to-buy list ASAP. It has two separate sections (one for milk and one for cereal) that are connected by a slide for adding more Lucky Charms to the milk as you go. Reviewers say it changed the way they ate cereal forever.

Get the Obol Original Crispy Bowl 

 The thigh-chafing solution with a cult following

Why it’s good: Meet the answer to your thigh-chafing prayers. Unlike shorts (which can look bulky under sundresses) or those not-so-effective anti-chafing balms, Bandelettes are a discrete fix to a common problem that actually work. Our video producer and editor, Melissa Rorech, tested them herself and recommends the Unisex line.

Get the Bandelettes Elastic Anti-Chafing Thigh Bands

 The cooler version of your trusty lint roller

Why it’s good: Clothes covered in fuzz or dog hair probably isn’t the look you’re going for. That’s where the Conair Fabric Defuzzer comes in. It’s like a lint roller, but more high-tech—the battery-operated device essentially “shaves” your fabric, removing lint without damaging your clothes, and received a 4.6 rating for being easy to use.

Get the Conair Fabric Defuzzer

 A container that gives you perfect butter every time

Why it’s good: If you’ve ever tried to spread cold butter on bread, you probably know it doesn’t work so well. That’s why our senior tech/home theater staff writer, Michael Desjardin, loves this crock for room temperature, super spreadable butter 24/7. Even better: Its rustic-chic design will look cute instead of cluttered on your kitchen counter.

Get the Butter Bell Crock 

 This wildly popular scalp massager

Why it’s good: One of the best parts about going to the salon is that glorious massage they give you when they’re shampooing your hair. But with this one-of-a-kind gadget, which Rorech personally loves, you don’t have to wait until your next haircut to show your scalp some love. Rorech also praises the brush for working shampoo and conditioner through your hair and removing any product buildup.

Get the Maxsoft Scalp Care Brush 

 Reusable bags that make grocery shopping way easier

Why it’s good: There are regular reusable bags—and then there are reusable bags that fit right into your grocery cart so you can pack all your food up neatly while you shop. Customers love how durable the bags are and that because the rods they hang on are removable, they’re great for everyday shopping, too.

Get the Lotus Trolley Bags 

 A handy holder for anyone who’s always losing bobby pins

Why it’s good: There are two things I wonder about most in life: where do all the bruises on my legs come from and how can I never find a bobby pin when I need it. While the first is still up for debate (life’s greatest unanswered question), the second can be solved with this magnetic holder. According to reviews, it’s strong enough that you can throw a bobby pin at it and the HairpinPal will “catch” it.

Get the HairpinPal

 This cup that will chill any drink in under 60 seconds

Why it’s good: You know that feeling when all you want is iced coffee but you only have a regular coffee maker and zero time to wait in the Starbucks drive-thru? Same. Fortunately with the Hyper Chiller, customers claim you can have your iced coffee—and drink it, too—in less than a minute thanks to its insulated cooling chamber. And it works with more than just coffee (cough, wine).

Get the HyperChiller HC2 Patented Coffee/Beverage Cooler 

These pimple patches that will revolutionize your skincare routine

Why it’s good: You might think you’ve tried everything to get rid of those pesky pimples (expensive face wash, toothpaste, astringent)—but have you tried these invisible patches, which have over 1,000 positive reviews? Using hydrocolloid, which is a natural acne treatment, people who use them say that they dry up pimples quickly and help clear up skin.

Get the Le Gushe Acne Pimple Patch 

 These scissors to cut pizza without making a mess

Why it’s good: You just made a pizza loaded with pepperoni, peppers, and onions (and extra cheese, of course) and can’t wait to dig in—until you go to cut it and the toppings slide all over the place. Many reviews said that these scissors, which have a flat spatula bottom that slides easily underneath your crust, cut pizza better and cleaner than any pizza wheel or knife.

Get the Dreamfarm Scizza Scissors 

The most Instagram-worthy toy for your pup

Why it’s good: Dog parents, rejoice! Your pooch can now be as classy as you are with this squeaky plush toy that looks just like your favorite sparkling sip. Pup owners on Amazon say it keeps their dogs entertained for hours (just think of all the amazing photo ops!) and make for great gifts, too.

Get the Haute Diggity Dog Plush Toy

 The light-up phone case that all the influencers are using

Why it’s good: Don’t let dim lighting ruin your pictures. This LuMee phone case has soft LED lights—on both the front and the back—that are over 90 percent brighter than your phone’s camera flash and provide a natural glow. It was invented by a professional photographer and is highly rated for its long battery life.

Get the LuMee Duo Phone Case

 This ridiculously clever umbrella

Why it’s good: Most umbrellas keep you dry—until you put them down and the rain-soaked outside ends up getting all over you, your car, and any other innocent bystanders. Not the Sharpty Inverted Umbrella, though. It folds up into itself so you can avoid the whole “what do I do with this wet umbrella” thing. Just take it from Rorech who says it’s the best thing she owns.

Get the Sharpty Inverted Umbrella 

20. This game-changing kitchen product

Why it’s good: Traditional colanders are not only clunky, but they’re also a pain to use (trying to hold it in place in the sink while simultaneously pouring a hot pot of pasta into it is a serious struggle). Enter the Snap ‘N Strain, which is a streamlined colander that clips right onto your pots and pans and has received over 1,000 positive reviews on Amazon.

Get the Kitchen Gizmo Snap ‘N Strain Strainer 

 This must-have for anyone who loves peanut butter

Why it’s good: I might be almost 30, but PB&Js are still my favorite sandwich (and my go-to lunch most days). So I go through a ton of peanut butter—and a ton of jar-scraping. But now my sticky knuckles and fruitless efforts can be a thing of the past, with the PB-Jife, according to reviewers. The 12-inch knife is extra long so it can reach the bottom of even the biggest jars and has a broad blade that’s ideal for scooping and spreading.

Get the for PB-Jife 

 These clips to solve your disappearing sock problem

Why it’s good: PSA: Washing machines and dryers eat socks. I’m not sure how, but every time I do laundry, I lose at least one (how does that even happen?). These sock locks aim to change that. They may not have many reviews but 86 percent of customers have given them five stars, saying it revolutionized their laundry routines.

Get the Loc A Sok Sock Locks

 A mini slow cooker that will upgrade your work lunch

Why it’s good: No more sad desk lunches. Customers like that this on-the-go version of one of our favorite slow cookers will safely transport your leftovers to work and then warm them up during your 11 a.m. meeting so you can enjoy a hot meal without ever taking a trip to the office microwave. Bonus: It’s dishwasher-safe.

Get the Crock-Pot Lunch Crock Food Warmer 

 This handle that lets you carry all your bags in one trip

Why it’s good: I am the person who will risk cutting off my circulation—or worse, dropping a case of kombucha—just to avoid having to make multiple trips to the car to carry in my bags. So the Mighty Handle is perfect for me. The comfortable one-trip grip can hold up to 50 pounds and can even be used to prevent bags from spilling in the car, shoppers claim.

Get the Mighty Green Solutions Mighty Handle (2-pack) 

 The best way to prevent your food from going bad

Why it’s good: If you’re like me, you probably go a little overboard when it comes to buying produce (apparently, grocery store me is a lot healthier than everyday me). And because I’m just one person, I need these food saver sheets which reviewers say keep fruits and veggies fresh for up to four times as long in the fridge.

Get The Freshglow Co. Freshpaper Food Saver Sheets 

Millions of people who take aspirin to prevent a heart attack may need to rethink the pill-popping, Harvard researchers reported Monday. A daily low-dose aspirin is recommended for people who have already had a heart attack or stroke and for those diagnosed with heart disease. But for the otherwise healthy, that advice has been overturned. Guidelines released this year ruled out routine aspirin use for many older adults who don’t already have heart disease — and said it’s only for certain younger people under doctor’s orders. How many people need to get that message? Some 29 million people 40 and older were taking an aspirin a day despite having no known heart disease in 2017, the latest data available, according to a new study from Harvard and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. About 6.6 million of them were doing so on their own — a doctor never recommended it. And nearly half of people over 70 who don’t have heart disease — estimated at about 10 million — were taking daily aspirin for prevention, the researchers reported in Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Many patients are confused about this,” said Dr. Colin O’Brien, a senior internal medicine resident at Beth Israel who led the study. After all, for years doctors urged people to leverage aspirin’s blood-thinning properties to lower the chances of a first heart attack or stroke. Then last year, three surprising new studies challenged that dogma. Those studies were some of the largest and longest to test aspirin in people at low and moderate risk of a heart attack, and found only marginal benefit if any, especially for older adults. Yet the aspirin users experienced markedly more digestive-tract bleeding, along with some other side effects. In March, those findings prompted a change in guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology:

—People over 70 who don’t have heart disease — or are younger but at increased risk of bleeding — should avoid daily aspirin for prevention.

—Only certain 40- to 70-year-olds who don’t already have heart disease are at high enough risk to warrant 75 to 100 milligrams of aspirin daily, and that’s for a doctor to decide.

Nothing has changed for heart attack survivors: Aspirin still is recommended for them. But there’s no way to know how many otherwise healthy people got the word about the changed recommendations.“We hope that more primary care doctors will talk to their patients about aspirin use, and more patients will raise this with their doctors,” O’Brien said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Speaking with Dilbert creator Scott Adams, Dr. Drew explained how he predicted the current typhus outbreak infecting Los Angeles residents and said bubonic plague is similarly endemic to the area. Both typhus and bubonic plague can be spread to humans from rodents and the combination of the city’s massive rat infestation and increasing numbers of homeless people sets the stage for a major outbreak. In fact, the last outbreak of bubonic plague in America took place in Los Angeles from 1924-25 and was stopped by doctors who, according to Drew, gave a “heroic effort.” With today’s technology allowing the millions of people in the Los Angeles area to travel far and fast, it would be nearly impossible to prevent a new outbreak from spreading. California’s surge of illegal aliens, thanks to sanctuary state policies, must also be taken into consideration as Alex Jones has reported on in the past.

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The European Collaborative on Creativity Conference brought together a group of international scholars to put together a puzzle of creativity, building from neuroscience to cultural influences. The scholars challenged the common tendency to equate creativity with thinking of new ideas. Creativity is much broader than coming up with ideas; most importantly, creativity is action.

What does it mean that creativity is action? It means that creativity goes beyond thinking, as commonly thought by lay people and implicit in the choices of creativity researchers. Creative thinking tasks are the most common measures in experimental studies (studying many questions, from the role of mood to effects of multicultural experiences on creativity) and applied research (such as testing the success of creativity training programs). However, creators don’t stop there. Ludwig van Beethoven didn’t only come up with tunes, but he wrote nine symphonies. Agatha Christie didn’t just have an idea for stories about an eccentric Belgian detective, but she painstakingly worked on each of 33 Poirot novels.

Scientists tend to think that there isn’t anything more practical than a good theory. So let me take you on a tour of the theoretical definition of what creativity is and how we should study it through the example of the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in creativity.

Creativity affects how people relate to themselves, others, and the world

Creativity changes the individual and contributes to their well-being. For instance, creativity in how people deal with challenging emotional situations can make them more successful in addressing these challenges¹. An adolescent who responds to a school dance being cancelled by organizing a protest or organizing a dance in a park is more likely to manage their frustration and disappointment successfully than someone who responds by letting off steam by punching a bag. Similarly, everyday creative activities predict personal growth², a component of psychological well-being.

Creative activity also changes the world. We can easily think of examples of how the world was changed by great works of art (introduction of perspective in renaissance art!) or science (penicillin!). Perhaps less obviously, creativity also changes the world through social movements that change society itself. This creativity can pull in previously excluded people (from the emancipation proclamation including former slaves, to contemporary social movements aiming to create greater equity in education and the workplace).

We cannot talk about creativity as a general unified “thing”

Creativity is not unitary. Rather, we can learn about specific aspects of creativity. As we developed a model describing the role of emotions in creativity³, we describe what can be learned from different aspects of creativity.

What creative work people choose is predicted by their emotional traits – such as interests and passions. Quick generation of creative ideas is related to people’s current mood. Positive and energized moods are beneficial for performance in quick brainstorming sessions (that take 3-4 minutes), but these moods cease to be relevant for creative thinking that takes more than a few minutes⁴. Ability to successfully manage emotions becomes an important predictor of student creativity rated by their peers⁵. All of those aspects – decision of what kind of work to pursue, generating ideas, being recognized as creative by others – contribute to understanding creativity, but depend on different traits and abilities.

We need to learn from both qualitative and quantitative studies

A recent study at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence shows different lessons from quantitative vs. qualitative methods. We surveyed artists – painters, sculptors, photographers, creative writers, musicians, choreographers – and asked them about their emotions in the creative process. As in many previous studies, artists rated positive emotions of interest, curiosity, love, and happiness as most common in their work.

However, when we asked them to describe emotions relevant for their work in their own words, a more complex picture emerged. A photographer, for instance, mentioned grief, sorrow, fear, sadness, horror, anger, hope, and remembrance, and a choreographer mentioned anger, frustration, hope, and strength as driving their work. Such qualitative descriptions provide vivid pictures of lived creativity and can enrich our ideas for future quantitative research.

Creativity is relational

Creativity does not happen in a social vacuum. We found that emotional intelligence is not related to standard tests of creative thinking. In other words, being able to accurately perceive emotions, understand causes and consequences of emotions, and manage emotions does not predict creativity of ideas on tasks asking for different uses for a brick or a tin can⁶. This makes sense. Being more effective in thinking about emotions does not help on tasks devoid of emotion and outside of any social context.

However, in everyday life many problems are not free of emotion and creativity is expressed in the social context. When we study creativity in everyday life, emotional intelligence abilities to successfully manage emotions are relevant⁵. In one study we defined creativity in a relational way – as observed in behavior by those in one’s immediate environment. We asked high school students who are their most creative peers and we asked their teachers to indicate students who are most persistent and passionate about their interests. The study showed that students’ ability to manage emotions predicted their persistence and passion, which in turn was related to observed creativity. This was the strongest among students who were predisposed for creativity.

Creativity includes psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors

It comes naturally to think of creativity as a psychological phenomenon – it involves thinking, personality, motivation, and emotion. We know that creators tend to be open to new experiences (they are curious, flexible, imaginative), that they tend to be motivated by enjoyment and challenge in what they do (intrinsic motivation), and that they can think broadly to search for ideas, as well as narrow those ideas down to successfully pick the best ones.

Creativity without action stays in the realm of imagination and dreams. Actions bring ideas to life as performances (telling a story at an open-mic event, playing music with one’s band) or products (writing an essay for school or writing a scientific paper, building an app to deliver food from local restaurants, sawing a vintage-inspired dress). Successful creative action will depend on how we regulate the many ups and downs of the creative process⁷. 

Finally, creativity is cultural and bound by history. As the conference met at the Marconi Institute near Bologna, Italy, where Guglielmo Marconi made his first wireless transmission, we were reminded that in the late 19th century this was the cutting edge technology. Today, the cutting edge technologies might pertain to artificial intelligence. In the United States we tend to celebrate disruptive creativity, but that is not a universal ideal. In Japan, for instance, systematic incremental improvements are valued instead of disruptive creativity⁸.

To understand creativity, we need to learn about psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors that affect the process from approaching problems, to generating ideas, selecting ideas, and maintaining effort towards realizing ideas.

Suze Orman wants young people to stop “peeing” away millions of dollars on coffee. Last month, the personal-finance celebrity ignited a controversy on social media when a video she starred in for CNBC targeted a familiar villain: kids these days and their silly $5 lattes. Because brewing coffee at home is less expensive, Orman argued, purchasing it elsewhere is tantamount to flushing money away, which makes it a worthy symbol of Millennials’ squandered resources.

Orman’s not alone in this view. The old guard of personal finance has spent years turning the habit of buying coffee into a shorthand for Americans’ profligacy, especially that of young Americans. Dave Ramsey, a finance personality who hosts a popular radio show on getting out of debt, says that forgoing lattes is one of four keys to saving thousands of dollars. Kevin O’Leary, one of the investors on the entrepreneurial reality show Shark Tank, once told CNBC, “I never buy a frape-latte-blah-blah-blah-woof-woof-woof.” Even the official Twitter account for Chase Bank has gotten in on the fun, intimating via meme that a failure to brew at home is why young people don’t have any money.

In the face of coffee shaming, young people usually point to things like student loans and housing prices as the true source of the generation’s instability, not their $100-a-month cold-brew habits. Nonetheless, coffee endures as a personal-finance flash point because it provides such a tidy intersection of generational tensions. A cup of coffee embodies changes in everything from how younger Americans eat to where they live and how they approach their finances. For young people who buy one each morning, the walk up to the barista can be a shame-tinged tug of war.

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In recent years there has been mounting concern about the presence of chemicals from pharmaceuticals and personal care products, such as cosmetics, in the nation’s streams and rivers.

There is no question that these chemicals are present in the nation’s waterways. The USGS conducted the first major investigation in 2002 and found, on average, seven chemical compounds in the streams they surveyed.

In 2008, the Associated Press found an array of pharmaceuticals, from pain killers to antibiotics to mood stabilizers, in the drinking water of 24 major metropolitan water suppliers. Further, 34 of the 62 water suppliers contacted by the AP couldn’t provide results as they had never tested for pharmaceutical compounds.

This problem won’t go away anytime soon.

American drug consumption has increased rapidly in recent years, and Americans fill 3.7 billion prescriptions every year. The chemicals in these drugs end up in waterways after being excreted from the body or when unused medication is flushed down the toilet.

Most municipal sewage treatment facilities do not remove the pharmaceutical compounds from your water, and major upgrades would be required to do so. The federal government hasn’t stepped in to require testing or set safety limits, leaving many questions unanswered.

How does this impact my health?

Pharmaceutical compounds are found at much lower concentrations in rivers and streams than the normally prescribed doses, but there is concern that chronic exposure to numerous compounds could cause serious health problems and that compounds can act synergistically to cause adverse health effects.

Of particular concern is the presence of endocrine disruptors, which come from a variety of agricultural, industrial, and domestic sources, including pharmaceuticals.

These compounds disrupt internal biological processes such as development, growth, and reproduction that are regulated by hormones.

Whether these compounds are present in sufficient levels in our waterways to affect human health remains a topic of serious concern and ongoing research.

Snapshot: The Potomac River

The fish in the Potomac River may look normal at first glance, but many of the Potomac’s male bass are producing eggs, and similar “intersex” fish are being found in rivers across the country.

While scientists have yet to pinpoint the cause of this mutation, it’s thought that a group of compounds known as endocrine disruptors are responsible.

These chemicals affect key biological processes regulated by hormones, such as growth, development and reproduction, and include common medications including birth control pills.

Whatever the cause, it’s unknown what effects these compounds are having on us when we drink or swim in the same waters. Like the canary in the coal mine, the story of intersex fish may be an early warning of the effects that pharmaceuticals are having on the health of our waterways and on the people and organisms that depend on them.

What can we do?

Use the following steps to reduce the risk of long-term human health effects of pharmaceuticals in your water supply:

Proper drug disposal

The cheapest and easiest way to limit pharmaceutical contamination is to keep drugs from entering our waterways in the first place. Drug take back programs, public education on proper disposal, and regulations to limit large-scale medicine flushing at hospitals and nursing facilities are important first steps that can greatly reduce the amount of contaminants entering our waterways. Some states and counties have begun to experiment with take-back programs. For example, Washington State collected and disposed of over 15,000 pounds of unwanted medications during a two year pilot program.

Research

Additional research is needed to assess potential human health effects and identify the best methods for removing pharmaceutical compounds at treatment plants. If there is a significant long-term risk to public health, more aggressive efforts to control the problem may be needed.

Long-term solutions

While proper disposal can limit pharmaceutical contamination, more work on source control will ultimately be needed in addition to upgrading treatment infrastructure and reassessing our approach to use and dispose of pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

“Reiki literally wakes up our Divine essence so we can see our spirit behind the veils.” ~ Colleen Benelli.

Reiki is a holistic healing method that works on the mind, body and soul. It is a Japanese word made up of two syllables – “Rei” meaning universal, abundant, or boundless and “Ki” meaning life force and vital energy. Thus Reiki literally means universal life force.

The whole universe moves with this life force or cosmic energy. Each one of us experiences this energy all the

time, but we are unable to make use of it. With Reiki we learn to tap into the universal energy that dwells within us in the form of our vital force and use it for the benefit of others and ourselves.

How does Reiki work?

It works on the principle that each of us has the power of healing within us. This is why when we are physically or emotionally hurt, the touch of a loved one makes us feel better. Before practicing, one has to be initiated by a Reiki master.

He/she douses the practitioners with a strong beam of energy that dissolves all the blockages in the etheric body, and aligns us with the universal life force. Once this process is done, the practitioner’s vital force reconnects with the source energy and we can accept more energy from the cosmos.

We all know the law of conservation of energy, “energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, but can change form.”

When healing, we tap into this universal energy and transmit it to the intended person with positive thoughts and intentions.

The energy is abundant and can never run out. When we heal someone, the etheric patches start dissolving and the physical illness resolves along with its cause. It can be given either by direct contact at specific hand positions or from a distance.

“Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you- all of the expectations, all of the beliefs- and becoming who you are.” ~ Rachel Naomi Remen.

Why I Practice Reiki

My first experience with Reiki was when I asked a friend who was learning this art to to relieve my strained eyes. She asked me to lie down, said a prayer silently, rubbed her palms together, and gently placed it on my eyes.

Her palms were soothingly warm and tears started seeping through my closed eyelids due to the relief I felt. She kept healing for 10 minutes, and the pressure and strain in my eyes had disappeared. This incident got me interested in this alternative healing method.

After completing the 1st level of Reiki, all students are required to perform a 21 day self healing which is mandatory.   

This process helps a new Reiki healer to fulfill his/her own energy before healing others. At the end of it, I felt like there was a light inside me that sparked positive feelings and made me completely aware of each moment.

Reiki is another form of meditation and the more we practice it, the more we charge our own batteries, and only when we are full up to the brim, can we transmit it to others. Anyone can be given Reiki as long as they are willing to receive it.

The Healing power of Reiki

It can be used for a wide range of conditions – to relieve acute pain, help fasten wound healing, and is effective in emotional and psychological conditions like stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression etc.

On the pathological level, it should not be used as a substitute for medicine, but it has been observed that Reiki healing decreases the duration of treatment and the dose of medicine. It can also help in affirmation and goal manifestation, in healing past traumas and dissolving bad karma.

Reiki promotes positivity and gives a gentle nudge towards fulfilling goals which are in sync with nature’s wisdom and brings us closer to our authentic self.

Cravings are largely considered something to avoid. We’ve been taught that if you’re craving a particular food, you probably shouldn’t eat it. But it turns out that a craving can simply be your body letting you know that you’re running low on something. Once you’re able to identify why you’re craving that food, it can be a very easy fix.

Jennifer Sygo is a registered dietitian and performance nutritionist for both Athletics Canada and the Toronto Raptors who says that cravings can come from a few different place. “Cravings certainly can come from habit, because if you have a routine of eating a doughnut in the afternoon then you will likely keep craving that same doughnut. Cravings can also come from external cues, there’s a reason cinnamon buns smell so good from far away. But cravings can also come from your body asking for something it doesn’t have.”

In Sygo’s experience, runners crave chocolate, salty foods like chip and fries and carbohydrate-based foods. “If you’re craving sugar or carbohydrates it usually means your blood sugar is low. If you’ve been sweating a lot, then salt is a very common craving to have because you’re low on electrolytes. If your body wants chocolate, it’s possible you’re low on magnesium.”

Sygo says it’s very important for runners who are craving something to allow themselves to have that food, “People who are active, runners in particular, may feel badly that they’re craving carbs for example. But this craving usually just means that their body is looking for something they’re low on.”

Beyond being low on one particular food, Sygo says that denial can also breed very strong cravings. “Avoiding denial is crucial. For example, if you’re craving carbohydrates and you eat a sandwich, you need to avoid feeling guilty after eating that sandwich. Acknowledge that you’re feeling depleted and craving carbs. An extra serving of potatoes at dinner is alright. Fighting the cravings only makes them worse.”

However, there is a type of craving that can be curbed, and that’s the habit-based craving. This is the kind of craving that’s derived from routine as opposed to need. “When you’ve built an association with something it’s a hard habit to break. If you’re looking to break this habit, the first thing you have to do is change the circumstances around that food or time of day. If you’re used to going down at 3 p.m. everyday with friends and eating a doughnut, the last thing you should do is walk down with friends and try to not eat a doughnut. Take yourself out of the situation instead. Go for a walk, have a snack you brought from home or get a healthier snack from a different store.”