All posts tagged: calmer

My Android phone felt instantly calmer after I disabled these defaults

My Android phone felt instantly calmer after I disabled these defaults

Published by skeptic

Modern Android smartphones are packed with default behaviors to make your life easier. However, sometimes these small conveniences quickly add up and make your phone busier than it should be. This was happening to me, too. I started feeling as if my smartphone was constantly asking me to look at something. That’s why I decided to make a handful of small changes to my handset. No, I didn’t install a minimalist launcher or give up on my social media apps. I either disabled or reduced several defaults on my phone. These changes didn’t make my phone more powerful, but they definitely made it calmer and more intentional. Stop adding new apps to my home screen automatically My home screen, my choice The very first thing that I changed was how my phone handled newly installed apps. I install a lot of apps on my smartphone for testing purposes. Sometimes, I would use that app only once or return to it for a specific task. Every time I install an app, my phone automatically puts it …

Are your tight hips stress-related? Try these three yoga poses that will stretch your muscles and help you feel calmer

Are your tight hips stress-related? Try these three yoga poses that will stretch your muscles and help you feel calmer

Published by Jenni Sidey

If you’ve ever found yourself needing the bathroom more when you’re nervous or experiencing dry mouth when you’ve had a shock, you’re not imagining things—emotions can have a big impact on your body. Stress can cause some particularly nasty symptoms such as muscle tension. “When you’re stressed, your body switches into fight or flight mode, increasing muscle tension to protect your body from what it perceives as a threat,” explains yoga teacher Nicky Cossins. Latest Videos FromFit&Well This muscle tension can make your joints feel stiffer. According to Cossins, there’s no definitive way to link hip tension to stress, but there are clues—like fluctuating flexibility. You may like “One week you may find it easy to sink deeper into a pose, but a few weeks later your hips may feel noticeably tighter. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve lost flexibility, but it may suggest heightened stress since your last practice,” says Cossins. You might also notice tension in other parts of your body, like your neck and shoulders, but if it’s stress-related, this should improve when …

Why do heatwaves make us feel angry or anxious? Four ways to feel calmer when it’s hot

Why do heatwaves make us feel angry or anxious? Four ways to feel calmer when it’s hot

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore As Britain anticipates its first heatwave of the year, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid-30s, the usual excitement for sunshine can be overshadowed by an underlying concern. Beyond the immediate physical discomfort and exhaustion, these intense periods of heat are increasingly affecting our mental well-being and overall mood. To understand the psychological impact of prolonged high temperatures and explore strategies for maintaining balance, The Independent spoke with Dr Ravi Gill, a practitioner psychologist. Can heatwaves impact our mood? Physiological changes in the body and brain due to heat can significantly affect mood during a heatwave. “Heat disrupts neurotransmitter systems (serotonin), impairs sleep and raises stress hormones like cortisol, which are key regulators of mood and impulse control,” says Gill. Heat disrupts neurotransmitter systems (serotonin), impairs sleep and raises stress hormones (Alamy/PA) The physical discomfort and disrupted sleep from heatwaves can …

A Mop, a Broom and a Calmer Mind. Why Some Find Mental Health Benefits in Everyday Tasks

A Mop, a Broom and a Calmer Mind. Why Some Find Mental Health Benefits in Everyday Tasks

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (AP) — Amid spring cleaning season, it can be tempting to dismiss housework as drudgery, so dreaded or anxiety-inducing that it’s best delegated to others if at all possible. But experts from Zen monks to psychologists say there are mental health benefits to be found in such manual chores as sweeping, mopping and clearing away clutter. These tasks can encourage mindfulness or permit the mind to wander, all while producing a concrete sense of achievement in accomplishing the basic tasks of daily life. As one famous Zen saying goes: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” Zen apprentices, or “unsui” monks, spend much of their time cleaning and tidying. “We sweep dust to remove worldly desires. We scrub dirt to free ourselves of attachments,” Shoukei Matsumoto, a Buddhist monk living in Kyoto, Japan, wrote in his book “A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind.” “The time we spend carefully cleaning out every nook and cranny of the temple grounds is extremely fulfilling.” Holly Schiff, a clinical …

No time to meditate? Try this teacher’s favorite walking meditation to feel calmer and more grounded in under 10 minutes

No time to meditate? Try this teacher’s favorite walking meditation to feel calmer and more grounded in under 10 minutes

Published by Jenni Sidey

I find walking to be a naturally meditative practice. I love spending my time outside and combining it with a low-impact exercise seems like a no-brainer. I’ve come across walking meditations before, and even tried a few, but I often struggle to make time for them. What’s more, once I’m on the go with the opportunity to do one, I’ll realize I’ve left my phone at home and have no idea how to actually practice properly without guidance. Article continues below You may like Clara Schroeder, an ecotherapist and meditation expert, often combines meditation with nature because she recognises the benefits of both for mental and physical health. She has designed this guided walking meditation for Fit&Well, and encourages you to try it when you need a moment of calm and clarity. It takes less than 10 minutes, plus it’s fairly intuitive so you can learn to do it yourself—and head out with or without your phone. How to do the walking meditation “Find an area outside where you can safely and easily walk for …

People In Their 50s And 60s Credit These 4 Tiny Habits For A Noticeably Calmer Mind

People In Their 50s And 60s Credit These 4 Tiny Habits For A Noticeably Calmer Mind

Published by Jenni Sidey

It turns out that a calmer mind in your 50s and 60s is about the small, consistent things you do every day. The American Psychological Association notes that developing small sustainable habits across different areas of life is one of the most effective ways to promote mental wellness, and that improvements in one area tend to naturally carry over into others. Reddit is the best place to get unsolicited advice from strangers. A Redditor asked everyone what helped them improve their mental health, and r/selfimprovement had a whopping 936 comments. I read all those comments — and curated them for you. People in their 50s and 60s credit these 4 tiny habits for a noticeably calmer mind: 1. People in their 50s and 60s resist the urge to engage with online trolls  Getty Images / Unsplash+ Redditors agree that internet trolls put the pro in provoking. They argue about the most ridiculous things. Their opinions will make you want to put your head through a wall; their nonsensical rantings are lethal for your brain cells. …

Three ways to become calmer this New Year that you haven’t tried (yet)

Three ways to become calmer this New Year that you haven’t tried (yet)

Published by skeptic

BORUT TRDINA/Getty Images Plans to sign up for a marathon or start a rigid exercise regime may be typical January fare. But what if, instead, you committed to something significantly more low-key to help you feel good in 2026? Making a goal out of becoming calmer may not seem grand enough for this time of year – but it’s one that comes with outsized health benefits. A stack of evidence points to the worrying impact of stress on our well-being, with links to everything from heart health to depression, while techniques that bring you to a calmer state have been found to increase self-reported happiness levels, improve your ability to regulate your emotions and boost sleep quality. This is partly because periods of calm are essential to countering the “allostatic load”, says Sula Windgassen, health psychologist and author of the upcoming book It’s All in Your Body. “This is the wear and tear on the body [as a result of chronic stress] that means key regulatory systems – like the metabolic, neuroendocrine, cardiovascular and immune …

Schools calmer but time still lost to misbehaviour

Schools calmer but time still lost to misbehaviour

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Staff say their schools are now calmer and more orderly, but seven out of every 30 minutes of lesson time is still lost to poor behaviour. The government’s national behaviour survey for 2024 to 2025, published on Thursday, also showed 88 per cent of leaders said their school was calm most days when asked in May, compared to 81 per cent in May last year. While the corresponding figure was lower for teachers, at 63 per cent, it was still much higher than the 53 per cent record in May 2024. Similarly, 57 per cent of year 7 to 13 pupils reported a calmer environment, compared to 54 per cent previously.  There have been similar rises for staff reporting pupil behaviour was “good”. However, teachers reported seven minutes are still lost to misbehaviour for every 30 minutes of lesson time. This remains unchanged from the past two years. Most parents support rules The survey showed 84 per cent of parents were supportive of their school’s behaviour rules, similar to …