Dikshi Gupta

How self-care elevates your quality of life

April 13, 2021 by Dikshi Gupta

Frustration. Worries. Tension. These are describing your daily life. You are stressed and exhausted. You have become desperate as you attempt to cope with the challenges of modern life.

Does this sound familiar?

You live in a society that expects you to work harder, faster, and longer to accomplish more in less time. You may feel this normal.

But, in reality, this culture is taking a huge toll on your health. You are compromising your happiness and overall well-being to adapt to this non-stop pace. You require a way to regulate and manage yourself. The best way to find the balance you seek is Self-Care.

What is self-care?

Self-care is nourishing yourself. It is a deliberate act of spending time engaging with self-caring activities. It is taking responsibility to meet your physical, mental, and emotional needs. It is also avoiding the situations that deplete your energy and happiness.

Why is self-care important?

Engaging yourself in a self-care routine reduces depression and anxiety. It increases happiness and improves energy. Self-care has been clinically proven to reduce heart disease, stroke, and cancer from a physical health perspective.

Here are few tips for self-care.

Be aware of your rest time

Get adequate rest every day. It is the foundation of self-care. Rest is critically important to elevate your mood and emotional well-being. Give yourself the opportunity to get enough sleep. You will be energetic and alert throughout the day.

This will help you a long way on your journey to self-care.

Learn to manage stress

Managing stress should be first on your priority list for self-care. You must learn the strategy for managing stress. The ultimate stress management tool for self-care is meditation. It allows you to see yourself through the eyes of compassion.

Self-nourishment

Your body requires healthy foods that provide abundant energy. Have nutritious food and stay properly hydrated. Try to minimize caffeine and alcohol intake. Reduce intake of sugary and processed foods.

Commit to giving yourself nourishment which is required to sustain health and balance.

self nourishment for Self-care — Self-Nourishment

Have a balance between your life and work

Another key component of self-care is maintaining a work-life balance. As there is a raise in Work From Concept, it is difficult to distinguish between home and work. You need to practice self-care despite you have the urge to remain plugged to work 24X7. You need to connect with yourself to know who you are and what you do for a living.

Maintain working hours for self care — Maintain a Work Life Balance

Exercise

Be active. Your body should always be on the move. Self-care includes giving your body the movement to maintain energy, flexibility, and strength. Keep aside a dedicated amount of time to exercise. You can practice yoga, martial arts, or jog every day. This helps you be hale and healthy.

Self-care is an important act of self-love. It is an imperative act of giving yourself the gift of acceptance and nourishment. Commit to healthier habits. It improves the quality of your life. Give your mind and body a fresh start. Get more tips on self-help and self-care on our Joyscore App. Download now.

Simple Breathing Techniques For A Healthy Life

April 2, 2021 by Dikshi Gupta

“Sometimes the most important thing in the whole day is the rest between two deep breaths” – Etty Hillesum

Breathing is a process of air exchange that includes the lungs, diaphragm, and intercostal muscles in your body. Your body relies on oxygen. Effective breathing provides you a sense of mental clarity, reduces stress levels, helps you to sleep better, and improves your body’s immunity.

Just pay attention to your breathing. The benefits that you reap are limitless.

Breathing techniques help you to relax and calm the mind. Finding the right breathing techniques and making it a routine benefits you the most.

Let’s discuss some of the most useful breathing techniques for a healthy life.

Deep breathing

Try a deep breathing technique to reduce stress and anxiety. Taking a full breath can slow down your heartbeat, which makes you feel calmer.

How to do it?
Sit comfortably and relax your shoulders. Inhale and exhale slowly and completely. Count to 4 for each breath.

Alternate nostril breathing

It is a common part of yoga or meditation practice. It is known as Nadi Shodhan Pranayama which means subtle energy clearing breathing technique. It helps you to be more alert and promotes overall well-being.

How to do it?
Sit in a comfortable position. Close your right nostril with the thumb of one hand and breathe in through the left nostril. Close the left nostril with the fourth finger and remove the thumb. Breath out through the right nostril.
Similarly, breath in through the right nostril, close it with the thumb and remove the fourth finger on the left. Exhale through the left nostril. Repeat these actions.

Alternate Nostril Breathing for overall wellbeing

4-7-8 breathing

This technique is helpful for you to get more sleep. It helps you to ease your mind and relax.

How to do it?
Inhale through the nose and count to 4. Hold your breath and count till 7. Part your lips. Exhale loudly through your mouth and count to 8.

Box breathing

Box breathing is also known as square breathing. It helps you to improve concentration and focus.

How to do it?
Sit upright on a comfortable chair. Inhale through the nose and count to 4. Hold the breath and count to 4. Exhale through the mouth and count to 4. Wait and count to 4 before breathing again.

Pursed lip breathing

Try out this technique if you have lung conditions such as asthma or COPD. This technique helps to get the diaphragm working and increases the amount of oxygen entering the body.

How to do it?
Sit comfortably with your back straight and inhale through the nose. Exhale through the mouth with pursed lips. Exhale slowly, taking twice as long to exhale as you took to inhale. Then repeat by increasing the count.

Mindful breathing

You have to concentrate completely on the breath and use this as a form of meditation. This technique focuses on the natural rhythm of breathing in and out.

How to do it?
Sit or lie down in a quiet place. Focus only on your breathing. Listen to your body performing the inhaling and exhaling process.

The breathing techniques are best for reducing stress and anxiety. Practice these techniques and make them a part of your daily routine. Try to practice once a day at a fixed time for 10 -20 minutes. Once you have the habit of following a breathing technique, you are likely to feel better and energetic.

Wondering how to get started and improve your breathing practices. JoyScore can help you get started. It is a self-improvement app that helps you develop healthy habits and self-care routines to increase your joy & happiness. Download the app now to know more.

How to stay happy in times of crisis

March 16, 2021 by Dikshi Gupta

You may be scared because of the things happening around the world. You may be unhappy or worried. Most of the people are talking about COVID-19 and its impact on their lives. This can make you feel uncomfortable and you are not alone. Many people are feeling the same way right now. There are few things that can make you feel positive and help look after yourself and others.

Here are 6 ways to stay calmer and happier during times of crisis:

Be in touch with friends and family

There are a lot of ways to communicate with loved ones nowadays. If you are not hanging out with your friends or family, as usual, you would do, try to have a video call or group chat. You can even send voice notes over WhatsApp. Share your feelings with them. Be in touch so that you don’t feel alone.

Stay wise; Keep in mind that every news online isn’t true

Be alert and analyze the news which you consider before taking any measures. Remember, not every piece of online news might be true. Refer official news sources always. It is also good to not check the news or scroll through endless updates each day.

Keep calm and be active

Keep your mind calm by doing Yoga and meditation. Keep aside some time of your day to relax. You can read a book, try out a new hobby or walk with your pet.

Keep yourself active by doing some exercises or by taking a stroll every day. This can help your mind and muscles to relax and you can be energetic.

Stay Active and Happy — Women working out

Be kind and help others

It is good to know that people often come together to support each other and help others out. Help out the needy in your community by donating to them. You can feel positive vibes around you and feel that you are making a difference in their life.

Focus on small things

You can have some fun activities with family or friends. You can watch a comedy or dance around to your favorite song. Start a new hobby in which your mind will be diverted and also you can have a sense of being responsible towards yourself.

Create a healthy environment around you

A healthy environment is essential for your mental and physical health. You need to follow good hygiene in thinking, behavior, and attitude for a happy life. You need not be affected by other beliefs, lifestyles, and other’s opinions. You need to thrive in all the crises and achieve the goals of having a happy life.

Thus, having a strong mind and health can resist any diseases and viruses. This is a tough time for everyone and you can learn a lot from it. Now, you will realize the importance of spending face-to-face time with people you care about and the happiness tagged with them. There is a need to change the way you approach a crisis and realize the importance of what we have at the moment for a happy and better life.

Wondering how to increase your happiness and track your mood? Download Joyscore App to know more.

The Simple but Effective Power of Affirmations

February 25, 2021 by Dikshi Gupta

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” –Oprah Winfrey.

Affirmations are part of your life. It is just anything you say with confidence. It is more important to know that your thoughts will be quite negative. Research says that 80% of the 50,000 subconscious thoughts that you have in a day are negative ones. You need to think and speak in a positive pattern to change your life.

The affirmations open the door. It is a path to change. If you are talking about affirmations, you are consciously choosing words that help you to eliminate negative aspects of life and create something new.

What are Affirmations?

Affirmations are positive statements that help you overcome negative thoughts. They allow you to be in control of your thoughts and act as a self-help tool.

Here are few examples of Affirmations that help you see a positive change in your life:

I am overflowing with joy
I am healthy and my mind is brilliant
I acknowledge my own self-worth; my confidence is soaring.
I am blessed with an incredible family and wonderful friends.
I am growing stronger each day
I am a unique and responsible person.
I am confident and capable of what I do.

The power of Affirmations

Affirmations are powerful when used in a correct manner. They are more effective if you use them along with positive thinking and goal setting. You need to embrace powerful and positive affirmations to achieve success. You can reap the benefits of the Affirmations if you practice them regularly.

Do Affirmations really benefit you?

The benefits usually depend on how you use them. They tend to provide the most benefit when they center on specific traits or achievable changes you like to make to those traits.

Affirmation boosts self-esteem

Affirmations allow you to believe in yourself and the potential of an action you desire to manifest. It provides a reassurance that our wish words become a reality. You can tell yourself that you are motivated and capable. You will be able to view the best version of yourself.

Being Affirmative and confident — Being Calm & Confident

It changes the negative thought patterns into positive ones

You will be aware of your daily thoughts, thus reducing the risk of negativity. Negative self-talk habits can be altered for positive changes by practicing daily affirmations.

Reflecting affirmation and positivity — Being Affirmative, Reflecting Positivity

Affirmations lead to better health

“Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another” – William James

You will feel better if you think positively. Practicing daily affirmations reduces the negative thoughts and also the stress levels. You will feel better both mentally and physically.

They set you up for success

Simple and positive affirmations help you to focus on all the good in your life. You would be more open to learning new things. Your beliefs and thoughts will shift in a more positive direction. You will experience success which improves your quality of life.

Affirmations can be a refreshing way to use positivity to reverse negative messages and to motivate ourselves. The real secret of happiness is knowing that it’s an inside job. It’s about understanding that life doesn’t happen to you; it happens for you. After working on yourself and your growth, you’ll notice a high sense of self-worth or high self-esteem, and knowing you are worthy of being happy is the secret to true happiness and leading a complete and joyful life. Download the JoyScore app to get more insights on living a Joyful life.

Importance of Tracking your Mood – How it helps in improving the quality of life

February 17, 2021 by Dikshi Gupta

Mental health is the talk of the day. A mood is an affective state which is a mix of feelings and emotions. It can be positive or negative. It is affected by your nutrition intake, hours of sleep, and facial expressions.

Your mood affects your personality. Tracking your mood is a powerful way to take care of your mental health. It helps you to appropriately attend to your feelings. Everyone has mood changes throughout the day. Identifying and tracking moods can be an effective tool to ensure better mental health. You can use mood trackers to learn about yourself and your health, self-manage symptoms, and improve your quality of life.

Why should you track your mood?

Gain control of yourself

You can self-manage with good health habits by tracking your mood. You can recognize and be aware of the dangers/problems ahead of your different moods and can control those. Keeping a check on yourself encourages you to work on problem areas. Mood tracking can help you bridge the gap between your thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.

Find out what you need to get the best out of you

If you recognize your feelings, you can understand what is required to take care of yourself. You can control the outcome of your mood. If you are happy, be thankful; if you are sad, share it with a friend. You will respond intentionally rather than immediately by paying attention to your moods.

Identify the patterns and triggers

You need to understand what factors trigger your moods. Triggers are those which bring out emotions and behavioral changes. These may be physical exercise, the food you eat, the amount of sleep, interactions with others, relationships, and the external environment. It’s good to know if there is something specific contributing to a particular mood. Tracking these and making simple lifestyle changes can help you feel good.

Identify your mood and acknowledge it — Identify Your Mood and Keep a Track of it

Share your feelings with others and their impact on others

“Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.” ― Charlotte Bronte

Open up your inner child. Share what you feel. This can help you to recognize how other people are affecting you. If you are angry with others, create a boundary and communicate it clearly with them. Also, be grateful to others if you are happy because of them.

Get support from a therapist/psychiatrist

You can seek out help from a therapist/psychiatrist if you are struggling to manage your emotions. They can easily assess and help you if you share the data of the mood tracker. If you can record how you are feeling throughout the day, it can help identify and guide an appropriate course of treatment.

Tracking mood with help of therapist — Get Support from a Therapist

Keeping a mood chart can tell you a lot about the timing and impact of your different moods. It is only you who can take charge of your life. Start taking note of your moods, their triggers, and patterns, you will see an amazing discovery. You can track these easily on JoyScore’s mood tracker feature and see which activities have the biggest impact on your wellbeing. Give it a try today!

Living Naturally with Hypothyroidism

January 26, 2021 by Dikshi Gupta

Have you heard someone from your friend’s group or family talk about facing a Thyroid issue, Hypothyroidism? Have you been curious about it or are you someone who is suffering from it? If your answer is yes to any of the above questions, did you know that this issue can be managed by making subtle lifestyle changes?

Hypothyroidism is a condition where your body doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones, which are required for your well being and is commonly referred to as the ‘Thyroid Issue’. It affects women more frequently than men and also among people over the age group of 60.

The signs of hypothyroidism vary, depending on the severity of the hormone deficiency. Problems tend to develop slowly and steadily, often over some time. At first, you may not notice the symptoms of hypothyroidism, such as tiredness and weight gain. Or maybe you attribute them to getting older. But as your metabolism continues to slow, you may develop more problems like elevated blood cholesterol level, stiffness or swelling in your joints, and thinning hair.

Clean food for Hypothyroidism — Clean Food

But it is possible to live well with Hypothyroidism. Bringing about subtle lifestyle changes can help you better manage your symptoms. Here are 4 simple lifestyle changes you can habituate:

Eat a clean and balanced diet everyday

Clean eating includes a diet pattern that comprises fresh, whole foods. These are minimally processed, real foods that are close to their natural state. To keep your energy levels stable it is important to go for a balanced diet which includes, green leafy vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein and healthy fats.

Exercise Regularly

Moderate intensity workout suits the best to maintain Hypothyroidism. Overdoing it might affect the body’s ability to convert inactive thyroid hormone to the active form. If this process is hampered it can cause visible symptoms of Hypothyroidism. A brisk morning walk or a jog and yoga is recommended. You can try different and simple activities on the JoyScore app as well.

Meditate for Hypothyroidism

Having a chronic disease, even if it is monitored by the doctor, can be stressful and might do much harm than good. Hence, it is suggested, we take control of our well being by striving for a balanced state of mind. Being in a meditative state helps raise our awareness towards our inner self as well as our surroundings. It consciously helps in reducing the stress that we face in our day to day lives. JoyScore is an app which can help you reach this meditative stage by raising your awareness towards your inner self.

Practice restorative sleep habits

Hypothyroidism can make you feel tired all the time. But having a schedule and sticking to it helps a lot. Sleeping at a particular time and waking up early every day- including the weekends, can help you drift off easily at night. Have a warm tea before you sleep as it helps relax your mind and sleep quickly.

Joyscore can aid you with implementing these changes through guided meditation, breathing, sleep management, and stress reduction tools. With the help of such activities and games in the app, you may be able to maintain or even reverse thyroid. With JoyScore, you can enhance your living and lead a joyful life. Download the app now.