Invaluable tools like mindful meditation, physical exercise, and practicing positive affirmations can help you overcome challenges and improve your mental health. Meditation is all about living in the present moment; instead of worrying about the…
alcohol
Drugs and alcohol can cause or exacerbate mental health issues and conditions like anxiety, but there are also often many other factors involved. That being said, substance use does play a major role in our…
When you use substances to deal with your problems, they never get resolved and those negative feelings will still be there. More effective coping strategies include creative endeavors, talking with a trusted love one, and…
Alcohol consumption can have negative effects on your sleep, which then can lead to problems with mental health. For example, alcohol represses REM sleep, contributes to sleep apnea and snoring, keeps you up, and brings on some crazy dreams. This damage to your…
You can help your love ones through addiction recovery by supporting and listening to them, but you must be careful about your own words. The wrong words can easily hurt an addict, even when you…
Drugs can provide individuals with temporary relief from pain and suffering, but the long-term consequences are harmful. These negative effects include impairment in everyday functioning, potential legal issues, and overall injury to one’s mental health….
Many of us enjoy a cold beer or a tall glass of wine every now and again. It helps to “take the edge off,” to calm us down after a long week. But what we…
A friend recently told me that her dad used to put a tiny bit of wine in her sippy cups to “help her sleep.” We both laughed, but I apparently wasn’t very good at masking…
Have you ever witnessed a friend become increasingly aggressive during a night out? As their bar tab grows, so does their aggression and hostility. They get into a silly (but…
Lip (short for Phillip) is a strong young adult, who has overcome more than most of us experience in a lifetime. As a teen in high school, his primary concerns were putting food on the table, paying…
Tom caught his very first glimpse of Ana on the last day of classes—she was trying to unchain her bike from a bike rack and clearly in a fit of frustration. So, he stepped in and succeeded…
Learning a new language is all fun and games until somebody asks you to speak it. Spanish class, 4th period, every day for three years. We started out with the basics, of course—I learned all of the…
