​Around the holidays there are a lot of wonderful conversations about gratitude. Hopefully it's a time of pause to reflect on what we might take for granted on a day-to-day basis.

Gratitude has a positive impact on our health through mood regulation, sleep quality, and chronic symptom management. We can literally build new neural pathways (the wiring in our brains) if we practice gratitude on a regular basis.

However.

Gratitude should not be used to minimize what is challenging in our lives.

“I should be grateful my problem isn't as bad as….”

Sound familiar?

Remember not to use gratitude as a way to shame yourself out of recognizing the totality of what you are experiencing. This behavior is a cousin of toxic positivity where we try to “smile away” what we are really experiencing. These are just ways to numb our feelings, and that ultimately causes damage to our health and well-being.

Instead, practice an attitude of both/and.

Let's acknowledge the coexistence of struggle and joy, and of pain and gratitude.

What is it about asking for help that can seem so challenging? It’s hard to ask for help because we tend to have a handful of reasons why we think it’s better not to. See if these sound familiar:

I don’t want to bother the other person.
I'll be burdening them.
It’s not that bad.
I can do it on my own
They won’t understand.
They won’t want to help.

By not asking for help when you need it, you might be creating a sense of social isolation and loneliness. 

Loneliness is the feeling of being alone, regardless of how many people you have around you. It’s a measure of how candid and authentic your social  interactions are. Psychologists and social neuroscientists often refer to loneliness as painful isolation. 

If you are struggling and not asking for the support of others, reconsider. You might be positioning yourself to feel loneliness, regardless of how regularly you see family and friends.

Sleep Hygiene refers to the choices and behaviors we have around falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking up.

Sleep is a point of frustration for many of my Health and Wellness Coaching clients. Sometimes they are in a cycle of not sleeping enough or getting quality sleep, and they feel stuck in trying to figure out how to fall asleep more easily, stay asleep, or wake up feeling enough energy for the day ahead.

For those of you living with chronic health conditions, a lack of quality sleep can worsen brain fog, heighten pain levels, and lead to social isolation due to extra low energy levels.

The truth is, many of us have a slew of habits associated with our sleep routines. These might be habits we've had since we were kiddos, or we might have developed these habits as devices like cell phones play bigger and bigger roles in our daily lives.

If you feel frustrated with not getting enough quality sleep, here are some behavior choices to consider when looking at your habits around sleep patterns.

1. If you are someone with POTS, Dysautonomia, autoimmune, or other chronic illnesses, consider getting a sleep test. While these may not sound like a trip to Disney World, flagging any issues with restless leg syndrome, involuntary movements, or other sleep-disrupting issues could be a game-changer in getting treatments for better quality sleep.

2. Have a curfew for your phone. This one isn't easy for any of us, but your phone should be put away at least 45 minutes before bed. The blue light from your phone indicates to your brain that it should stay active, and the things you are looking at and scrolling are likely stimulating and even distressing. 

When you think of self-advocacy, what comes to mind?

I just spent 25-minutes on the phone to make an appointment with a specialist doctor. The soonest they could offer me an appointment was January of 2022.

I have some advocating to do. 

For those of you with chronic illness or who support a loved one with chronic illness, you know the hustle it can take to get an appointment with the right doctor.

By the time the appointment arrives, the stakes are pretty high--right? 

You have waited months upon months to get help and answers from this one doctor. There's a lot of hope in that basket.

So, how can you strategize in a way to ensure you get as much out of the appointment as possible? 

Self-Advocacy is not easy. 

It takes thorough preparation.
It takes mind-body work to communicate through the nerves.
It takes working through the emotional hangover of the appointment to take the next steps.

You are in the driver’s seat when it comes to determining what health behaviors are most beneficial to you. A Health and Wellness coach is there to be your supportive guide as you explore. 

A Health and Wellness coach is a teammate that helps you maximize your personal potential to achieve a higher-level of well-being. Coaching helps patients to set realistic goal-sets, feel accountable to themselves, and connect with authentic motivation.
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Health and Wellness coaches do not tell you what to do, why you should do it, or shame you if a goal is not met.

There is no one on this planet that knows how your body feels better than you.

​While following the NBA trader rumors in the news, an article with a cringe-worthy title caught my eye, “Jayson Tatum's Ability to Play Through Pain Only Enhances His Value."

The implication from this headline is that it is a heroic act to ignore or push throughphysical or any other type of pain.
Of course, there are times NBA players play through games with injuries, but that is not because they are above their experience of pain. 

This headline leaves out the added context of much players like Jayson do to pro-actively care for their health and well-being. He conditions his body through well-rounded physical training, is disciplined in resting injuries when possible, and is likely making constant adjustments in his lifestyle behaviors based on his pain levels and injuries.

As a professional athlete, Jayson also has the support of high caliber health care professionals like coaches, trainers, physical therapists, mental health professionals, and clinicians who attend to his injuries and personal challenges.

Chronic illness often requires lifestyle and behavior change, which is why Health and Wellness Coaching can be a helpful tool for people with chronic illness.

People with chronic illness often have a lot to manage between doctor’s appointments, movement practices, sleep hygiene modifications, and new dietary practices.

How can Health and Wellness Coaching support people with chronic illness?

Health and Wellness Coaching can help people with chronic illness to feel more confident in how they can implement a personal wellness plan using science-backed, behavior-driven lifestyle modification practices.

Health and Wellness Coaching is about coaching the individual, and not the illness itself. Health coaches do not give advice, prescribe a plan, or tell their clients what to do. The focus is not on disease treatment but rather, on improving one’s quality of life with whatever their given health circumstances are. ​