Mind

Empathy Is Important

October 13, 2020 by Rimikak

Even the smallest act of consideration for another person is like a drop of water falling in a lake. It will make ripples throughout. The act of caring for others is so significant because, when people rely on each other for emotional support, it builds deeper bonds. It also teaches essential virtues such as loyalty, patience, and understanding that help individuals grow in their personal and professional lives.

Being compassionate helps to empathize with others and live a life focused on the people around you, friendship, devotion, and compassion. It can be enticing to slip into an egotistical life and concentrate solely on your ambitions and desires. In contrast, your days will be far more rewarding if you think about what the people in your life are thinking and feeling. Caring involves having a listening ear, recognizing when someone needs assistance, and supporting the community without asking for a reward.

Caring girl with a Dog — Caring girl with a dog

Get started with the following if you want to know how to be more compassionate today.

Ways you can show care

Develop a More Empathetic Perspective
Be sensitive to the feelings of others.
Review the consequences of your actions on other people.
Refuse to Argue and Pick Your Battles.
Appreciate the people in your life.
Push away feelings of selfishness.
Apologize Often, Even If You’re Not Wrong.
Do Something Unexpected.
Sharing is Caring.
Wake Every Morning with Gratitude.

One of the most treasured and personally fulfilling roles a person can play in their lifetime is caring for others. Its benefits extend to the recipient and those who provide the care, from having a stronger sense of purpose to new life skills. You can develop your caring qualities by being polite and affectionate.

You will experience the following benefits while caring for others:

Feeling Good

Caring for others bestows benefits that most people often don’t experience in their daily jobs. It gives more significant meaning and purpose to our lives, helping us refocus on the more essential things in life – our relationships and co-existence with the people around us.

Feeling Affectionate and Building Strong Relationships

Caring about others helps cultivate empathy, even in tough times, and communicate with others. Family caregiving improves sibling activity/sharing for teens, which is their struggle. The act of care for another is significant because it builds deeper bonds when people rely on each other for emotional support.

Feeling Valued and Experiencing Personal Growth

Taking care of someone else helps us think about the best ways to do things, whether it’s financial planning or future planning. Caring for others gives a unique opportunity to gain intangible benefits that last a lifetime.

Daughter and Mother showing Empathy — Daughter and Mother

The positive energy you exude toward others will come back to you multifold. On some levels, it’s a hospitality thing–people in the industry understand the value of making people feel comfortable. Raise your mindfulness with JoyScore app. Download it today to experience a higher sense of awareness and living a content life.

Few Amazing Self Help Tips To Overcome Mental Health Issues

October 10, 2020 by Dikshi Gupta

Every new day is a new opportunity for you to start fresh. With stress and anxiety overwhelming our lives, mental health concerns are substantially rising, impacting our mood, thought, and behavior. These concerns become mental health disorders or illness when the symptoms start interfering with your day to day life and maybe so severe that they cause suicidal thoughts.

We often have this phobia of being judged for our mental illness or struggle with thoughts that asking for help indicates weakness. Due to this, we take a step back and try to suppress our thoughts and feelings. But it is vital to acknowledge and treat them before they become severe. Guided self-help is often fruitful in treating common mental health problems.

Some Self Help tips you can easily follow are listed below:

Pay attention to signs, and take proper treatment to reduce the symptoms that impact your life. Don’t be afraid of being labeled with mental illness.

Seeking assistance is imperative. It is an indication of strength because it takes courage to speak up.

Say positive mantras like ‘I am strong. I am enough’ instead of playing the victim. It separates the person from the illness. Never let the illness define who you are.

Keep yourself engaged because an idle mind is devil’s workshop. Try new things, pursue your hobby, cook, learn a language, solve a crossword, etc. because it boosts your mood and breaks unhealthy thinking patterns.

Understand your worth and accept who you are to deal with it better. Don’t let stigma create self-doubt. Treat yourself with kindness and avoid self-criticism.

Isolation befriends mental illness. Reach out to loved ones, talk out your feelings as sharing helps you feel better.

Set small but achievable goals, as accomplishments boost your self-confidence and motivate you to move towards bigger goals.

Take care of your physical health by indulging in physical activities like walking, swimming, eating a nutritious diet, taking quality sleep.

Avoid alcohol and other drugs as they might make you feel better for some time but aggravates the problems in the long run.

Take a break from the monotonous schedule. Give your mind some rest and spice it up with something you like doing or are good at.

Control your restless mind by practicing meditation/ yoga. Start with simple deep breathing exercises as they can improve your state of mind and outlook on life. Try breathing activities on the JoyScore app. The universal 4-7-8 breathing works wonders.

Write a journal to track mood changes, activities, people that cause you to feel better or worse. It might also help you notice that you have more good days than you think. Or the best option you can explore is the mood tracker in the JoyScore app. It also gives you a report of all your days and suggests relevant activities to elevate your mood.

Repel your weak emotions by following the opposite-to-emotion technique. If you are upset with an urge to isolate, instead move out and be around people.

Identifying the symptoms and recovering from mental illness requires strength, persistence, and awareness. If you feel powerless battling with everyday problems, remind yourself that you have made it this far, and you are incredibly strong to make your way further. Joyscore app helps you realize self-worth and stabilize your wandering mind with plenty of techniques to direct you far away from the burdens of life and attain peace. It will also help you change the way you feel and experience a rewarding life.

Autism In Kids – Signs, Causes, And Symptoms

October 9, 2020 by Dikshi Gupta

1 in 54 kids in the United States are affected by autism today, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Autism is four times more prevalent in boys than in girls. It may occur in people of any nationality, race, or social background. A child’s risk of autism is not affected by family income, lifestyle, or education level.

It takes a village to nourish a child, especially for parents of children with autism. Autism refers to various distinguished conditions like social disabilities, repetitive activities, speech, and nonverbal communication problems.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a disorder that involves communication and behavior issues. People with autism have trouble with communication that makes it difficult for them, either through words or by movements, facial expressions, and touch, to express themselves.

People with autism may have learning difficulties. Their abilities may grow unevenly. For instance, they may have trouble talking, but they may be unusually good at art, music, math, or memory. Because of this, they might do exceptionally well on tests of analysis or problem-solving.

Signs and Symptoms

Autism signs are visible typically before a child turns 3. Some babies show signs from birth. Widely known autistic symptoms include:

Lack of eye contact.
An individual showing less or intense interest in specific topics.
Children repeating an action or words & phrases or rocking back & forth.
Strong sensitivity to other people’s noises, touches, smells, or sights that seem familiar.
Not wanting to be held or cuddled.
Child talking in a sing-song, flat, or robotic tone.
Trouble adapting to changes in routine.

Often, some kids with autism can have seizures. These might not start until adolescence.

Autism Causes

Autism might stem from issues that perceive sensory feedback and process language in parts of your brain. Autism might run in families, so a child’s likelihood may be raised by certain combinations of genes.

There is a greater risk of autism in a child with an older parent. An infant is more likely to be autistic if a pregnant woman gets exposed to certain substances or chemicals, such as alcohol or anti-seizure medications. Maternal metabolic disorders, such as diabetes and obesity, are other risk factors.

Autism Treatment

There’s no cure for autism. But for a child with autism, early therapy can make a significant difference in growth. Tell your doctor as soon as possible if you believe your child has ASD symptoms.

For one person, what works may not be favorable for another person. Your doctor should tailor treatment for you or your child according to circumstances. The top two recommended treatments are:

Behavioral and communication therapy that helps with structure and organization. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is one of these treatments; it promotes positive behavior and discourages malicious behavior. Occupational counseling may assist with life skills, such as dressing, sleeping, and personal relationships. Speech therapy improves communication skills.
Medications that aid with ASD symptoms, such as issues with concentration, hyperactivity, or anxiety.

How Can I Help My Child?

Many resources and support services can help if your child is diagnosed with ASD. You will be directed in the right direction by your doctor and care team.

Mental Illness and Its Causes

October 8, 2020 by Rimikak

There is a lot of stigmas attached to mental illness. But just like heart disease or diabetes, it is also a medical condition. And mental health conditions are treatable.

Mental illnesses are health conditions showing sudden or gradual changes in emotion, thinking, or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illness is common. Statistics reveal that :

Almost one in five (19 percent) U.S. adults experience some form of mental illness.
One in 24 (4.1 percent) have a severe mental illness.
One in 12 (8.5 percent) suffer from substance use disorder.

Examples of severe mental Illness include major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Although the precise cause of most psychiatric disorders like mental illness is not evident, research suggests that most of these conditions are because of a mixture of biological, psychological, and environmental factors.

Biological Factors

The abnormal functioning of nerve cell circuits that bind specific brain regions do have a connection to mental illnesses.

Genetics (heredity): Mental disorders often arise in families. Individuals who have a mentally unstable family member may be much more likely to acquire one of their own.
Infections: Certain infections cause brain damage and mental illness development or the worsen the symptoms further.
Brain defects or injury: Defects in or damage some brain regions are also associated with mental illness.
Prenatal damage: Some research indicates that a disturbance of early development of the fetal brain or trauma that occurs at birth, such as oxygen deprivation to the mind, may develop certain disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder.
Other factors: Malnutrition and exposure to toxins, such as lead, may play a role in developing mental illnesses.

Psychological Factors

Psychological variables that can lead to mental illness are:

Significant psychological trauma, such as emotional or physical violence, suffered as an infant.
Parent-Child Separation: Experiencing a consequential early loss of a parent or a dear one.
Neglect or ignorance from your loved ones.
Lack of Empathy towards humans and animals.
Sexual difficulties
Marriage problems

Socio-cultural Factors

In a person who is vulnerable to mental illness, particular trigger events may cause disease. Following are few trigger events:

Death or divorce
A dysfunctional family life
Feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, anxiety, anger, stress, or loneliness
Changing jobs or schools
Social or cultural expectations (For example, a society that associates beauty with thinness can be a factor in developing eating disorders.)
Poverty
Unemployment
Alcoholism

It’s necessary to note that mental illness is not less severe than any other disorder, less worthy of acknowledgment and treatment, or easier to recover, only because we are not sure of the exact cause of anyone having a mental health problem.

JoyScore is your digital guide dedicated to improving your Mind, Body, and Life by helping you experience better sleep, increased productivity while relieving stress and anxiety by building simple habits through recommended activities. The app is a perfect meditation, wellness, and mindfulness app that includes a personalized journey, keeping your motivation and mental health on track with carefully crafted activities that boost your daily basis focused on self-care and wellbeing.

Sleep Well, Be Well

October 7, 2020 by Shweta Dayal

A person sleeps 26 years on an average of 70 years of his lifetime. This activity may not seem so productive, as sleeping takes away the precious hours of potential when you could be getting stuff done. 34% of the adults in America barter the sleeping hours for working or catching up on emails, binge-watching on Netflix, texting overseas peers, scrolling through Instagram, and getting stuck in the loophole of the internet. After all, what else can be done in the period between 10pm – 2am, right?

This is the best time to sleep. The deepest and most regenerative sleep occurs during this time which is responsible for the feeling of freshness and zeal in the morning. Your body is ever ready to finish up the tasks of the day. After 2 am, sleep becomes superficial. This period is called dreaming sleep or REM ( Rapid Eye Movement). Your brain is twice as active as when you are awake and your eyes dart back and forth rapidly behind closed lids. This is well described as “ an active brain in a paralyzed body”. Just as deep sleep restores your body, dream sleep, or REM restores your mind by dissipating the irrelevant information. Studies have found that REM sleep eases learning and memory. After conducting a test, it was discovered that students who pulled an all-nighter to cram up before an examination retained less information than the classmates who got adequate sleep. If you refrain from sleeping before 10pm, you may wake up feeling still fatigued from the previous day. Hence, it is not important how much you sleep rather when you sleep.

Our brain is equipped with an internal clock called- the pineal gland. The pineal gland produces the hormone, melatonin, as the sunsets. Exposure to light prevents the secretion of melatonin and darkness promotes it. Parents often advise teenagers to avoid using cellphones during bedtime. This is due to the same reason that excessive screen time can allay the secretion of melatonin further impairing the sleep cycle. This can lead to obesity, a weakened immune system, hypertension, anxiety, and stress. Hence, even the adults should take the advice seriously and switch off their computers, laptops, and smartphones one hour before bedtime.

What are the other ways of improving sleep?

Avoid stimulants such as coffee after lunch or in the evening. Caffeine delays sleep. Caffeine blocks the adenosine receptor to keep you from falling asleep.
Take up relaxing activities to encourage sleep before going to bed such as meditation, reading a book, or a hot bath.
Make sure your bedroom is darker than the shades of your room.
Get yourself a comfortable mattress.
Keep your bedroom at a cool temperature.
If you are struggling to fall asleep, try a breathing activity called ‘parasympathetic breathing’, which is aimed at restoring your body to a state of calm. Or head over to JoyScore to try some breathing activities.
If you had a poor sleep at night, you can take a power nap of 20 minutes for restoring the maximum functioning of the mind as well as alleviate stress. Napping too close to your bedtime impacts your sleep time at night.

There is no such ideal total number of hours for sleeping. Your sleep requirement and sleep pattern change as per your age. You can monitor and regulate sleep by being more aware of your body needs. For more insights on living a healthy and mindful life follow JoyScore. Download the JoyScore app now to experience more joy.

How To Cope With Anxiety

October 6, 2020 by Dikshi Gupta

Life is a blend of a little that we experience and mainly how we respond to it. Anxiety is the mind’s reaction to stress or fear of what will happen. Your first day at work, moving to a new place, approaching exams, an interview, public speaking, etc. can trigger nervousness and anxiety. Anxiety is becoming more common in today’s unprecedented COVID times as the situation was not anticipated and everyone was/is stuck at home.

But remember that an anxious mind results in an obnoxious life. If appropriately dealt with, anxiety can also motivate you to perform better, for example, a job interview. But if left unattended and untamed, it can lead to severe anxiety disorder and other mental problems like depression.

Signs that you might be anxious:

You feel scared, have racing thoughts in mind, tend to overthink, or worry too much

Lack of patience and restlessness

Difficult to concentrate on a specific task

Inconsistent sleeping pattern like trouble falling asleep and waking up in the middle of the night

Getting startled or irritated easily and changes in appetite

Panic attack occurrence because of extreme fear accompanied by shallow and fast breathing, rapid heartbeat, sweating, shaking, dry mouth, short breath

Extreme tiredness, lack of energy, dizziness are few other signs

But, everyone who worries a lot may not have an anxiety disorder. You may also feel anxious because of a tight schedule, lack of sleep, pressure at work, or even from too much caffeine. An unhealthy and stressful lifestyle can make you even more anxious. So, before opting for medications, try to alter your lifestyle as it might be useful to cope with the symptoms.

Some tips to help you lower anxiety and manage symptoms:

Stay connected with your trusted loved ones, and share the concerns bothering you because seclusion and loneliness can worsen anxiety while talking about it might calm you down

Review your responsibilities and try to share or delegate them to others to manage your stress levels

Practice relaxation techniques such as meditation, visualizing techniques, yoga, and deep breathing as they get rid of chaotic thoughts from your mind, restore normal breathing, and eases anxiety

Exercise is a stress buster and anxiety reliever. Try to ingrain at least 30 minutes of exercise in your routine. Start with simple ones, may it be stretching or walking in a park

Get quality sleep of 7-8 hours every night as sleep deprivation can increase anxious thoughts. Hence, avoid using your phone in bed, avoid caffeine before bedtime

Consider reducing your caffeine intake, alcohol, cigarette consumption as it stimulates higher levels of anxiety

Stick to a healthy diet by staying hydrated, eliminating processed foods, eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Artificial flavors, sugar, and preservatives in processed foods may cause mood changes and impact temperament

Lastly, try to accept uncertainties, challenge your thoughts, and end this mental habit of worrying

Therefore, proper self-care is vital to manage your anxiety levels, and nothing diminishes it faster than action. Especially activities like breathing in a particular pattern can help you reduce anxiety in an instance. So, act now and download the JoyScore app to experience calmness and peace in your life. And remember to live in the moment to take charge of your life.