Health – Page 4 – Tiana Feng

I Think I’m Allergic to the Sun

September 8, 2015Health, LifeLeave a Comment

Dear blog readers, I think I’m a vampire. The sun makes my arms itchy.

It was a condition that I developed a year or two ago, in my mid-20s. My mom also has a similar condition, but I always assumed she made it up as a ploy to make me wear a hat or sunscreen. Now the latter is mandatory, so I believe it’s hereditary.

From my own google searching (though I don’t recommend you do this) it is very possibly PMLE (Polymorphic Light Eruption). I break out in itchy bumps on my arms which is the area that is most frequently exposed to the sun. I haven’t really had anything show up in my face or legs yet, fingers crossed.

Putting on sunscreen does help but it’s a nuisance to remember and on rainy days I always think I can skip it but the UV rays can still be quite strong in Toronto summers. I was wondering if any of my readers have had such an experience and what sort of tips you guys might have that can help!

I love going outside and I’d rather not be a vampire.

Internet Addiction: Do We Have It?

August 11, 2015Health, Life, Social Media, TechnologyLeave a Comment

Today I read an article about people who were so addicted to the internet they needed to go to rehab for internet addiction. It was an extensive article and by the end of it I started to wonder if I have a type of internet addiction.

4 years ago, I wrote a post where I admitted that I wouldn’t give the internet up for $50 million. I still think that way. In fact, social media has become an increasingly big part of our lives. It’s hard to make any changes unless we decide collectively as a society. It’s now legitimately part of my paid full-time job and a tool that has helped me with opportunities, friends and adventures.

Despite this, I’ve made an effort in the past year to put the phone down whenever I’m with other people (except for the occasionally Instagram with food). I try to not to check feeds when I’m out and enjoy the company around me. I think working with social media as a profession has changed what I do personally in my off hours. I relish the time where I’m occupied with other things. At the same time, I do feel the urge and the obligation to be writing and publishing (at least this blog) every day.

What’s important though is that I know I don’t have a serious addiction and there are two main points that rule out if your internet browsing is problematic:
1) Is it affecting your school work or job?
2) Is the time you are spending on the internet affecting your relationships with people in a negative manner?
3) Does using it/not using it significantly affect your mood?

If you said yes to any or both of these things, you might want to evaluate and control how much time you are spending online.

Building a Ferris Wheel

August 5, 2015Art, Crafts/DIY, Health, LifeLeave a Comment

I love The Bloggess because she openly talks about her issues with anxiety and depression in a rather funny manner. Not too long ago she shared how she builds random mini ferris wheels as a way to relax. So I hit up Amazon and found my own.

The set arrived in a flat envelope in the mail. It was much smaller than I thought!

Inside were two metal sheets of pieces and instructions. Everything was self-explanatory, just a bit tedious and time consuming.

It took me a while to delicately remove the pieces. There were extra parts of carts but not the main frame of the cart itself, so I broke like 6 while trying to fold them in the exact position for them to hang on the ferris wheel. Halfway through I realized tweezers made things way easier. I had bought pliers prior to receiving this, but didn’t realize everything was so tiny.

This was probably 2 hours into the project. It took a while to properly understand how to delicately fold things so that they stayed in place. Once I got the hang of building carts, I was in a groove. It was hard to concentrate on anything else while holding such delicate pieces so it was such a relaxing activity to do. To literally be forced to forget about everything else!

There may have been missing carts (because the broken ones were impossible to superglue) I thought my final product was a masterpiece! I’m super proud to have dedicated time to building something super random and actually completing it. It was the offline break my mind needed.

I totally want to do this again and am already researching other sets (there are some super geeky ones). They’re inexpensive enough to be okay with screwing one up or leaving them on the sidewalk for a child to find.

I Need Water

July 28, 2015July 30, 2015Health, Life1 Comment

I thought I’d be recovered from Wayhome but it must be the heat here in Toronto. It’s like 35 degrees and I feel like I need to constantly be drinking 10 gallons of water or I’m going to die. I think I may have caught a cold which is also part of it. Blog you later when I’m slightly more alive.. now back to drinking more water.

I May Be A Robot

July 11, 2015Health, LifeLeave a Comment

Sometimes I’m like a robot. I have a set of tasks I need to get done before I let myself go to bed. I’ll go on for weeks and months like this.

Then eventually like a robot, I break down a little. I get tired, anxious, stressed out, maybe even depressed. It’s awkward to talk about but at times talking about it is the greatest way to fix it. I need to let myself relax, without thinking about the a million things (there are always things) that I could/should be doing. I’m like a robot that needs to stay on the task at hand and doesn’t know anything else.

This weekend, I’m letting myself relax. Some e-mails will go unanswered. Some posts will go unwritten. Walks will be taken. Food will be eaten. Naps will be taken. Robots need to be recharged once in a while, and I do too.

Cooking As Therapy

July 6, 2015Food, Health, Inspiration, LifeLeave a Comment

Lately, I’ve been so busy that all my meals were quickly thrown together with whatever the hell I had in the fridge. Sometimes they’d taste weird but I made do because I was busy and headed off somewhere else in an hour (or less). Cooking and eating became more of a stressful mandatory activity than an enjoyable one.

Finally today I had time to plan a meal and actually see it through. I pan seared pork chops, following half of the instructions of a Gordon Ramsay video and my boyfriend helped and made pan-fried eggplant with melted mozzarella in between them. It was a team effort, but it was fun and relaxing at the same time.

On days where I’m not so busy, I want to have more fun with cooking again, seek out new delicious recipes and learn different techniques. Cooking can be rather therapeutic if you let it be!

Relax how you want

June 6, 2015June 6, 201530 Day Challenge, Health, UncategorizedLeave a Comment

How do you unwind? Sometimes it’s watch some Netflix. But lately my thing is eating Popsicles in the bathtub. How about you?

A More Active June

June 1, 201530 Day Challenge, Health, LifeLeave a Comment

This weekend when I was home, I weighed myself on the scale and I realized that since moving out I have gained a little weight. It’s nothing detrimental but it made me realize that I need to make an effort to be more active if I want to stay healthy without changing my eating habits. I’d rather die than do that.

Instead, this June I’ll consciously include more physical activity. June is busy as it is with music festivals so that will already involve a lot of standing and travelling by default. I’ll take longer walks and avoiding taking the bus when I’m heading to places that are a reasonable distance away. Maybe I’ll even take the stairs at work (to my 6th floor desk). I’m not about to go to the gym but it doesn’t hurt to make tiny little improvements!

Fighting SADS

February 12, 2015Health, LifeLeave a Comment

I’ve discussed this with a few people on Twitter, but this year, I’ve been having a huge case of SADS (Seasonal Affective Disorder) aka winter blues. Some days, I wake up and don’t feel myself, I feel upset even though there’s nothing particular to be upset about.

Sometimes I feel like I really need to stay home and eat an entire bag of chips or two. Staying in suddenly seems more appealing than going out (to concerts which I love). But this sometimes leads to missing out on things which in turn leads to me feeling more depressed.

I found that the mood I wake up in generally dictates how I will feel for the rest of the day. I’ve been waking up a little earlier to make myself a coffee before heading to work. A relaxed mood on the commute (rather than a rushed one) really helps me to maintain sane for the rest of the day.

I’ve also pushed myself a little harder to go out. There are merits to staying in and doing hobbies I love too, but if I had previously planned to go see a show, I will make myself follow through on that plan. Oftentimes I feel like I don’t want to be there, but once I am, I never regret it. Having things to keep me busy keeps me from wallowing in SADS. This method may not work for everyone (or anyone else), but it works for me.

Have you been experiencing SADS? I’d love to know what you do to stay sane this winter.

One Day is Better Than None

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015Health, Inspiration, Life1 Comment

Whether the corporate aspect of it bothers you or not, #BellLetsTalk day is an important one. For readers that are not Canadian, it’s a day where Bell donates 5 cents to mental health initiatives every time someone uses the hashtag. Started in January of 2011, it has become an important day also for generating conversations about mental health.

Some criticize the movement for not extending to the other 364 days of the year. However, I still think it is important. One day of the year in reflection is greater than none. Plus, it’s the responsibility of everyone to continue breaking the stigmas on mental health, not just an organization.

I vlogged last year about my own experiences with battling mental health. I still struggle with it at times but ever since social media movements like this, I was more eager to speak up. I didn’t feel like a loser. I have friends that had their own experiences and shared them in a zine.

One day is better than none. One day is a start. Today somebody could find a story that they can relate to that can change their life. So keep your damn anti-capitalist opinions to yourself.