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10 Surprising Ways to Eat Sea Vegetables | The Health Sessions

10 Surprising Ways to Eat Sea Vegetables (Besides Sushi)

Your momma probably told you to eat your greens, but did you know that sea vegetables are surprisingly good for you too?

Seaweeds grow along rocky shorelines and these algae pack pretty much all the minerals found in the ocean. Sea vegetables are especially known for their high iodine content, a nutrient necessary for thyroid functioning. They’re also rich in vitamin C, manganese, vitamin B2 and chlorophyll. The high level of antioxidants found in certain algae helps to reduce inflammation – an important cause of illness – in your body.

That sounds great, but how exactly do you add seaweeds like nori, dulse and kelp to your diet? Take a look at these 10 surprising ways to eat sea vegetables (that aren’t sushi).

4 Easy Ways to Pamper Yourself at Home

This article is written by Sarah Smith.

Summertime is upon us, and that means a lot of people will be spending time outdoors. However, if you are an individual with health problems, you may not be able to spend as much time outdoors as others. Therefore, you need to come up with ways to pamper yourself at home in order to keep yourself occupied during your free time.

Since many people exert a lot of time and energy into their work, coming up with leisure activities at home to occupy your time that doesn’t include rest may be challenging. If you are one of those people who can not spend much time outdoors, and are struggling to figure out what to do in your spare time at home, you have stumbled upon the right post. In this article, we will be discussing four ways to pamper yourself at home!

Don’t Take My Breath Away: 10 Sports That Can Improve Your Asthma Condition

This article is written by Hannah Belger.

Sometimes it feels like exercising and asthma are a match made in hell. Although working out can trigger shortness of breath or other symptoms, having asthma doesn’t have to keep you on the bench. In fact, some Olympic athletes have this condition and still manage to take the medals home.

If you have asthma, you can successfully exercise with proper guidance and treatment, and even benefit from the physical activity. Although there are no sports that should be off limits to people suffering from asthma, there are some activities that will probably trigger asthma symptoms because you have to be active for a long time. These include soccer, cross-country skiing, and ice hockey. On the other hand, there are those that can have a positive impact on your health and help you stay in shape.

Here is a list of activities you could include in your daily routine without worrying you will run out of breath.

How to Have a Healthy Beach Day

As a kid, I spent countless of summer days building sand castles, floating in the sea and being fully immersed in books on the beach. I can still remember the delight of eating salty and crispy French fries in the sand after swimming and playing all day.

Nowadays, I don’t tolerate the heat very well, but still, going to the beach feels like the ultimate summer experience. And there’s some truth in getting your ‘vitamin Sea’. Soaking in salt water works wonders for your skin, fights infections and is therapeutic for your joints and bones. The beach also offers great opportunities to relax and work out in a fun and doable way. And of course, getting your daily dose of fresh air and vitamin D boosts your health too.

But we all know the typical tourist look of people who got a massive sunburn after a day at the beach. Heat stroke is also a real risk when you spend all day under the burning sun. Plus, lying down on your towel all day, only flipping from front to back to get an even tan or grab some unhealthy snacks, is a relaxing, but not really recharging pastime.

Make the most of your vacation time with these 7 tips to have a healthy beach day!

12 Uplifting Quotes about True Happiness

We all want to be happy. And understandably so. Happiness doesn’t just feel good, it also protects your physical and mental health and lengthens your life.

But our modern-day fixation on happiness has some downsides. When you expect to wake up with a smile every day, it can be hard to deal with the sadness and anxiety you’ll inevitably feel. Accepting negative emotions as a normal part of life may actually protect you from developing depressive symptoms. What’s more, because there’s so much focus on what you yourself can do to feel happier, our positivity culture puts a lot of responsibility on a person’s shoulders. If you aren’t jumping for joy, you must be doing something wrong.

One of the reasons why we struggle with the pursuit of happiness, is the way we define being happy.

What does ‘happiness’ mean to you?

Happiness can mean a lot of different things to different people. In the English language and positive psychology field, ‘happiness’ can refer to:

fleeting emotions of joy, excitement and pleasure;
a collection of multiple positive emotions over time;
a global assessment of your life satisfaction.

You’ve probably read plenty of headlines about “20 ways to feel happier instantly” in the past few years. And although it’s important to learn how you can cultivate more positive emotions like hope, joy and awe, we pay a lot of attention to our day-to-day fluctuations in happiness. But being cheerful all the time under tough circumstances like chronic illness, financial problems and relationship troubles is hard – and arguably not that healthy.

What if we’d focus more on happiness as an overall, long-term sense of contentment? Instead of being triggered by outside events or momentary thoughts, true happiness would be more about how satisfied you are with your life most of the time. Not that you should be happy-go-lucky every day, but that you experience an enduring appreciation of your family and friends, career or life-as-a-whole.

To ponder what true happiness means to you, take a look at these 12 uplifting happiness quotes.