Health A-Z

Top 12 foods for brain and nervous system

Your brain ages with time, it is important to improve the functioning and health of the brain along with the nervous system. These top 12 foods can prevent brain deterioration, blood pressure, mental disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, and prevents nerve damage.

Spinach: Spinach is a magical vegetable, that has innumerable health benefits.

No matter the disease or health problem, spinach is a power house of nutrients. Besides, the antioxidants present in spinach gives slows down the aging of the brain and nervous system, hence improves cognitive functioning. Cognition simply means mental functioning – concentration, decision making, problem solving abilities, reasoning and learning.

Dark green leafy vegetables: Homocysteines is a chemical responsible for dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and break down of arterial walls, when present in high amounts. But dark leafy vegetables break down homocysteines with the help of folate and vitamin B and B6.

Whole grains: Whole grains and brown rice contains vitamin B6 which can break down high levels of homocysteines that is responsible for mental deterioration. Whole grains also contain magnesium that enhances cognitive functioning.

Cocoa: Cocoa is a powerful antioxidant that prevents the brain from oxidative stress that can cause Parkinson’s Disease, atherosclerosis, heart failure, Alzheimer’s Disease and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Nuts: Nuts like almond and walnuts are a great ingredient for maintaining blood vessels. The Omega 3 fatty acids present in walnut also enhance the mind and the antioxidants present in nuts lowers cholesterol.

Garlic: Garlic can prevent aging of the mind and improves the cardio vascular system too. Garlic too contains antioxidants that fight infections.

Olive oil: Olive oil contains antioxidant polyphenols that lowers high blood pressure and reduces cholesterol. This oil is perfect for maintaining the health of the nervous sytem.

Red wine: Red wine is a potent source of antioxidants that improves the brain and clears the cholesterol too. Red wine can increase longevity but drink red wine in moderation to reap the health benefits.

Tea: Tea not only increases metabolism but also spikes your mind and cognitive abilities. Tea contains antioxidant, catechines that enhances blood flow.

Sardines and herrings: Omega 3 fatty acids is the key component in the fish that improves the functioning on the brain and nervous system. These fishes are known to prevent mental disorders and beneficial for heart health.

Blueberries: If you get your hand on blueberries that’s great! It is loaded with antioxidants that fight free radicals. It is the ingredient to enhance your cognitive skills.

Pomegranate juice: Pomegranate is available all year round and we should reap the benefits to keep our minds active. Antioxidants present in pomegranate fights free radicals.
source: UNB Connect

10 tips to manage high BP without pills

Hypertension on the high? Here are top 10 tips to get it down and keep it down.

Seven in 10 adults are at a greater risk of stroke or heart attack because their blood pressure is too high. Desk jobs, lack of exercise and eating salty fast foods have contributed to the problem, even among the young. If your level is consistently at or above 140mmHg/ 90mmHg (referred to as 140 over 90). The 140 figure is the systolic pressure — the pressure reached when the heart forces the blood around the body — and 90 is the diastolic pressure — the lowest pressure that occurs between heartbeats when the heart relaxes.

In India, experts say, the prevalence of hypertension ranges from 20-40 per cent in urban adults and 12-17 per cent among rural adults. But there’s no reason to worry. Simple measures will help to cut your risk.

1. Go for a weekly jog
Jogging for just an hour a week can increase your life expectancy by six years, according to a Copenhagen City Heart cardiovascular study of around 20,000 men and women aged from 20 to 93.

Researchers believe jogging delivers multiple health benefits, improving oxygen uptake and lowering blood pressure, as well as many more benefits. However, any physical activity can help lower blood pressure by strengthening the heart so it can pump more blood with less effort, thereby decreasing the force on the arteries. Power walking can be just as effective as jogging.

2. Enjoy yoghurt
Just one small pot a day can reduce your chances of developing high blood pressure by a third, according to a study presented at the University of Minnesota in the US. Scientists think naturally occurring calcium can make blood vessels more supple, enabling them to expand slightly and keep pressure low.

They found those who ate a 120g pot daily were 31 per cent less likely to develop high blood pressure over a 15-year period than those who did not.

3. Go bananas
Eating potassium-rich foods, such as bananas, and reducing salt intake could save thousands of lives every year, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal online.
Potassium is an important mineral that controls the balance of fluids in the body and helps to lower blood pressure. Making sure you eat five.

4. Down with salt
Salt draws in fluid, raising the volume and pressure of blood in your arteries. But it’s not just the salt cellar you have to worry about — processed foods such as biscuits, breakfast cereals, takeaways and ready meals contain 80 per cent of the salt we consume, says the Blood Pressure Association. Check labels: more than 1.5g salt per 100g is a lot, but less than 0.3mg per 100g is a little.

5. Lose weight
Research has shown that dropping just a few kilos can have a substantial impact on your blood pressure. Excess weight makes your heart work harder and this strain can lead to high blood pressure.

6. Don’t smoke
The nicotine in cigarettes stimulates your body to produce adrenaline, making your heart beat faster and raises your blood pressure, making your heart work harder.

7. Work less
Regularly putting in 40 hours per week at the office raises your risk of hypertension by 14 per cent, the University of California, US, found.The risk rises with overtime. Compared with those who worked fewer than 40 hours a week, workers who clocked up more than 51 hours were 29 per cent more likely to have high blood pressure. Overtime makes it hard to exercise and eat healthily, say researchers. So try to down tools with enough time to relax in the evening and eat a healthy supper. Set a message on your computer as a reminder to go home.

8. Seek help for snoring
Loud, incessant snoring is a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea. And more than half of those with this have blood pressure significantly higher than expected for their age and general health.

Cutting out cigarettes and alcohol and losing weight will help.

9. Switch to decaf
Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, US, found caffeine consumption of 500mg, roughly three cups, increased blood pressure by three points. Effects lasted until bedtime.

Scientists say that caffeine can raise blood pressure by tightening blood vessels and magnifying the effects of stress.

10. Think beetroot
A study published in the journal Hypertension found drink ing a 250ml cup of the juice can cut blood pressure readings in those with high blood pressure by around seven per cent. It’s thought the effect is produced by beetroot’s naturally high levels of nitrate. Eating other-rich foods — cab bage and spinach — might also help

Source: Viral news chart

Strict parenting may reduce teen smoking

Parents who set limits are less likely to have kids who smoke, regardless of their ethnic and racial backgrounds, according to a new U.S. study.

Researchers surveyed middle schoolers from diverse backgrounds and found those whose parents had an “authoritative” and “structured” parenting style were also more likely to be discouraged from smoking by their parents and less likely to become smokers.

“Many past studies have examined broad parenting styles, however this study looked at how specific parenting strategies may help protect youth from cigarette smoking initiation,” said Cassandra Stanton, an assistant professor in the oncology department at Georgetown University, who led the study.

“We also note that unlike many studies in the area that are conducted in largely white middle class samples, this study was conducted in an urban multi-ethnic low-income school district,” Stanton told Reuters Health.

It’s important to identify ways of helping parents prevent kids from starting to smoke, Stanton’s team writes in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, because the majority of lifetime smokers begin before the age of 18.

Although the number of teenage smokers has declined significantly, one in three young adults reports smoking at least once in the past 30 days, according to a 2012 report by the U.S. Surgeon General.

Past research has found links between low discipline, parental disengagement and increased risk of smoking, Stanton’s team notes. Rates of smoking vary among ethnic groups, with white students smoking daily at a rate twice that of African American and Latino students. However, African Americans and Latinos experience significantly higher rates of smoking-related health complications later in life compared with whites.

To delve deeper into which parenting strategies are effective among a diverse set of families, the researchers recruited 459 eighth graders from two low-income inner-city schools in the Northeast. The students averaged 13-years-old, with 29 percent identifying themselves as Hispanic, 34 percent as African American, 17 percent as non-Hispanic white and 20 percent as other/mixed ethnicity.

The students took a comprehensive survey in class with parental consent. The survey asked about the student’s smoking history and whether the student’s parents smoked. It also asked questions about parenting styles, such as discipline and warmth, and whether the student would receive punishments and discussion of the dangers of tobacco if caught smoking.

The researchers then followed up four years later to assess whether students had smoked.

Stanton’s group found that what they called controlling parenting, which was associated with rule enforcement, curfews and set bedtimes, was more likely than a less strict, more understanding parenting style to go hand in hand with so-called anti-tobacco parenting strategies.

Those anti-tobacco strategies include punishing a child if he or she has been caught smoking and discussing with the child the motivations behind smoking and why smoking is so dangerous. Being on the receiving end of such anti-tobacco strategies was in turn linked to a lower likelihood of lifetime smoking for the student.

The association held regardless of race or ethnicity, which the researchers say should be reassuring because other cultural differences don’t seem to alter the effectiveness of this approach.

It is important for parents to take an active role in protecting their children from developing an addiction to tobacco, Stanton said.

“Setting and enforcing clear standards of behavior and actively monitoring and supervising a teen’s activities are important strategies for protecting youth from risky behavior,” she said.

“To protect youth from experimenting with tobacco and ultimately developing an addiction to tobacco, it is important to talk about the risks of tobacco, as well as set and enforce clear rules and consequences that are specific to tobacco.”

Heather Patrick at the Health Behaviors Research Branch of the National Cancer Institute, who was not involved in this study, believes structure and authority in parenting is an important tool in preventing teens from smoking. However, she cautions, “heavy-handed” parenting can often cause stress and strain in the relationship.

Patrick said smoking cessation interventions should be tailored to different groups to be more effective. “It’s helpful for intervention materials to have images that show a diversity of racial and ethnic groups,” she wrote in an email.

It’s also helpful, she said, for anti-smoking messages to provide examples, “like how to deal with cravings, how to be smoke free when all of your friends are smoking, or how to deal with conflict at home, to connect with the kinds of experiences real teen smokers face.”

Source: US web daily

Health benefits of apple juice

We’ve all heard the old adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, but does apple juice hold the same miraculous benefits?

We decided to find out and viola, listed below are the top 6 health benefits offered by apple juice.

 1: Reduces heart risk

Drinking a glass of apple juice helps prevent cholesterol formation in your blood vessels and arteries. This further helps in reducing the risk of developing two major causes of heart diseases-high cholesterol and plaques in the arteries.

2: Improves digestion

A glass of raw apple juice helps to clean the liver and kidneys by removing harmful toxins. Due to its cleansing properties, it helps you achieve a cleaner digestive system and you are better protected against liver and kidney diseases.

3: Helps in weight loss

If you are trying to shed some weight, then add apple juice to your diet. Apple juice is completely free of calories and fat and can lower cholesterol.

4: Provides energy

A glass of apple juice is packed with various essential nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin C, Vitamin E, vitamin K and folate. Due to their richness in all these nutrients, it helps to pack your body with lots of energy.

5. Lowers the risk of dementia

Various studies have showed that drinking apple juice regularly helps lower the risk of dementia in older people. Apple juice also slows down brain aging and helps keep it sharp for a longer time.

6: Improves vision

Apple juice is rich in vitamin A, which helps in improve eye health. Vitamin A helps protect your eyes from eye diseases and keeps your vision sharp.

Source; Times of India

High blood pressure continues to be a bigger problem in Southeastern US

 

One third of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, but in the southeastern part of the country the rate is well over half, according to a new study that finds too little is being done to reverse the problem.

The Southeast has been called the Stroke Belt because of well-known high rates of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure. But that knowledge has not led to changes, nor to a full understanding of the reasons for the population’s high risk, the study team reports.

“The rates have not changed,” though the U.S. has had treatment guidelines for high blood pressure since 1977, said one of the authors, Dr. Uchechukwu K. A. Sampson, an assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

“The number of people who do not know that they have high blood pressure is the same,” he added.

High blood pressure is an established cause of death from cardiovascular disease and accounts for up to 7.5 million deaths worldwide each year, the researchers point out.

To investigate the persistently high rates of high blood pressure in the South, Sampson’s group used a large database with recent information on men and women in southern states covering the years 2002 to 2009.

They focused on 69,000 white and black adults with similarly low income and education levels – to eliminate poverty as a factor – and analyzed what other causes might be contributing to blood pressure problems.

Overall, they found that 57 percent of the study participants had high blood pressure. Blacks were nearly twice as likely as whites to be suffering from the disease, which has no symptoms of its own, but can lead to stroke or kidney damage if untreated.

But the racial difference was seen mainly among women. Fifty one percent of black and white men had high blood pressure, but the rates were 64 percent among black women and 52 percent among white women.

Obesity seemed to be a main driver of the problem, especially among whites, with the most severely obese having more than four times the risk of high blood pressure compared to normal weight men and woman.

Other factors linked to the likelihood of severe high blood pressure included high cholesterol, diabetes, a history of depression and a family history of heart disease.

The numbers Sampson’s group found have not changed from previous studies and that consistency is alarming, he said.

“Are they still the same factors people have found before?” Sampson said. “If they are, that is bad news, then that means we have not done what we should have done in the past few years.”

Of the study participants who knew they had high blood pressure, 94 percent were taking at least one blood pressure medication, which is a good thing, Sampson said. But only 30 percent were taking a diuretic medication that promotes water loss from the body. Diuretics should be one of the first-line medication options, the authors write.

Black people were twice as likely as whites to have high blood pressure without knowing it, Sampson said.

That racial difference did not change even when researchers accounted for differences in income and education, the authors write in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

All of this lines up with what doctors and researchers already knew, Sampson said.

Without specific studies, it’s hard to say why population rates have not gone down, and why so many people still do not know they have high blood pressure, and why so few are on diuretics, he said.

Women may not actually be more predisposed to high blood pressure, Sampson said, but they may be less aware of the risk than men.

Awareness efforts have historically focused on men when it comes to heart and blood pressure problems, but women are equally likely to have problems, he said.

“African American women are known to have a very high prevalence of hypertension and that its onset is significantly earlier than what is seen in white women,” Dr. John M. Flack said.

Flack is chair of the department of medicine at Wayne State University at the Detroit Medical Center in Michigan.

Source: news.nom

Anxiety linked to stroke risk

 

Men and women with severe symptoms of anxiety may have a higher risk of stroke than their more relaxed counterparts, a new study suggests.

“The greater your anxiety level, the higher your risks of having a stroke,” study co-author Dr. Maya J. Lambiase, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told Reuters Health.

“Assessment and treatment of anxiety has the potential to not only improve overall quality of life, but may also reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke, later in life,” she said in an email.

Dr. Philip Muskin, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York emphasized that the stroke risk identified in the study among overly anxious individuals was not vastly increased.

“What it’s really saying is, you’re a little more likely to have a stroke,” said Muskin, who was not involved in the study. Still, he added, “I would like to be a little less likely (to have a stroke) in my life.”

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., but few studies have looked at psychosocial factors other than depression or psychological stress or distress, that may contribute to a person’s risk of stroke.

Yet, Lambiase and her colleagues point out, anxiety has been linked to increased cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse and physical inactivity – all of which are known to increase stroke risk.

To investigate the association between anxiety and stroke, the researchers analyzed data from 6,019 men and women who were enrolled in the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 1971-1975 and followed for about 16 years.

The participants were interviewed at the start of the study to determine the presence and severity of any anxiety symptoms, and stroke events were identified by examining hospital or nursing home discharge reports and death certificates.

A total of 419 strokes occurred throughout the study period, but the risk of stroke was higher among those who reported greater anxiety symptoms, including excessive feelings of worry, stress and nervousness, at the initial interview.

Overall, anxiety was linked to a 14 percent higher risk of stroke relative to participants who were not anxious, Lambiase and her co-authors report in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.

But stroke risk also appeared to rise in line with increasing severity of anxiety symptoms, the results suggest.

The link between anxiety and stroke risk remained even after the researchers took into consideration other factors that may have influenced cardiovascular health, such as alcohol use, physical activity and smoking. After those adjustments, men and women with higher levels of anxiety were 33 percent more likely to experience stroke than those with fewer anxiety symptoms.

Similarly, the link between anxiety symptoms and increased stroke risk remained when the researchers accounted for study participants’ age, gender and symptoms of depression.

The researchers didn’t analyze the reason for the connection between anxiety and stroke, but they speculate multiple factors are likely to be involved. These could include unhealthy coping behaviors people with anxiety indulge in as well as overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls fight-or-flight responses, such as the release of stress hormones.

“People with high anxiety levels are more likely to smoke and be physically inactive, possibly explaining part of the anxiety-stroke link,” Lambiase said. “Higher stress hormones, blood pressure or sympathetic output may also be factors.”

“However,” she added, “future research is needed to determine the precise mechanisms whereby greater levels of anxiety increase a person’s risk for stroke.”

Dr. Muskin acknowledged that the study findings do point to a greater risk of stroke among overly anxious people, “but there are things you can do about that,” he said.

Noting that “anxiety predicts bad health behaviors,” Dr. Muskin cited the importance of stopping smoking and starting to exercise. He also described the importance of meditation and proper breathing techniques, which he teaches in his private practice with patients.

“Doing nothing leaves you at a higher risk (of stroke),” he said, but breathing exercises have “a psychologically beneficial effect,” with no harm and no addicting qualities, he told Reuters Health.

source: yahoo news

New York facility is ‘last hope’ for girl declared brain dead, family say

The family of Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old girl declared brain dead after complications from routine tonsil surgery, said Saturday a hospital in New York may be able to accept her and keep her on life support.

The girl’s uncle and lawyer wouldn’t provide the hospital’s name, saying they don’t want media attention to hurt her chance of being accepted and transferred there.

“It’s an organization that believes in life,” attorney Chris Dolan told the Associated Press.
“It’s our last, last hope,” he said after two facilities in California that agreed to accept Jahi decided to back out.

A nursing home in the San Francisco Bay Area that had been willing to care for the girl if she had two tubes inserted changed its mind. Dolan said a facility in the Los Angeles area also withdrew its offer because it didn’t want media attention or to jeopardize its relationship with its doctors, who refused to treat someone who’s been declared brain dead.

Time is short for the family, as Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo on Tuesday ruled that the Children’s Hospital Oakland may remove Jahi from a ventilator at 5 p.m. Monday unless an appeal is filed.

Jahi underwent a tonsillectomy at the hospital on Dec. 9 to treat sleep apnea. After she awoke from the operation, her family said, she started bleeding heavily from her mouth and went into cardiac arrest. Doctors at Children’s Hospital concluded the girl was brain dead on Dec. 12 and wanted to remove her from life support. The family said they believe she is still alive.

Before Jahi can be transferred, she must undergo two more medical procedures — the insertion of a breathing tube and a feeding tube.

“Children’s Hospital Oakland does not believe that performing surgical procedures on the body of a deceased person is an appropriate medical practice,” David Durand, its chief of pediatrics, said in a statement Thursday.

Douglas Straus, a lawyer for the hospital, said in a letter made public Friday that before the hospital would comply with the family’s request to move Jahi, it would need to speak directly with officials at any nursing home to make sure they understand her condition, “including the fact that Jahi is brain dead” — and to discuss needed preparations, including transportation.

“Children’s Hospital will of course continue to do everything legally and ethically permissible to support the family of Jahi McMath. In that regard, Children’s will allow a lawful transfer of Jahi’s body in its current state to another location if the family can arrange such a transfer and Children’s can legally do so,” Straus wrote in the letter.

He also said the Alameda County coroner needed to sign off on the move “since we are dealing with the body of a person who has been declared legally dead.”

Dolan said he had already obtained signed consent from the coroner for Jahi’s transfer. The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau said it had no comment.

He said Saturday he was waiting to hear from the New York hospital after its facility director and medical director speak.

Hospital spokeswoman Cynthia Chiarappa said the hospital has not heard from any facility to discuss how it can accommodate “a deceased body on a ventilator.”

source: Nbc news

Study: Concussions May Lead To Alzheimer’s Plaque Buildup For Some

Concussions have already been linked to the Alzheimer’s-like degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in athletes and military members who have experienced repeated head blows and traumatic brain injuries.

Now, a new study links concussions to Alzheimer’s disease itself.

Mayo Clinic researchers gave brain scans to 141 Minnesotans who had been experiencing memory problems, and found those who had suffered a brain injury that caused them to black-out had more amyloid plaques in their brain than those who hadn’t.

Amyloid plaque is the telltale sign of Alzheimer’s disease, formed by pieces of a sticky protein that break off in the brain and clump together. Some clumps may form in brain regions involved in learning, memory and thinking, the Alzheimer’s Association explains. More plaques form as the disease progresses.

Researchers gave brain scans to 448 people without any memory or cognitive problems, and 141 people who had mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition characterized by declines in memory and thinking skills that aren’t caused by aging. They were also asked whether they had ever experienced a brain injury that caused them to lose consciousness. People with MCI are at a heightened risk of developing Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia, but not everyone with the condition will get worse.

The researchers found 18 percent of those with MCI had reported a prior brain injury, and on scans, they saw the patients had an average of 18 percent more amyloid plaques than those with no history of head trauma. They found no plaque differences in any of the brain scans of people without memory problems, regardless of whether they’d had a brain injury.

Source: dig triad

Is your yogurt actually healthy?

If there’s ever news in the yogurt world, this is it: Whole Foods Market plans to stop selling Chobani Greek yogurt in 2014 because the product contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

GMOs are a result of a crop’s DNA being altered by scientists to protect it from various environmental threats, according to the National Institutes of Health. They get a bad rap because these combinations of genes can’t occur in nature, and they contain compounds not yet tested for human consumption

While Chobani markets its products as containing only natural ingredients, the company’s use of milk comes from dairy cows fed GMO animal feed.

Whole Foods says they’re making way for more exclusive, local brands, especially those that are organic, according to the announcement.

It’s difficult to say definitively that you should avoid GMOs, Alan Aragon, Men’s Health’s nutrition advisor, said. There is some research that demonstrates their downsides, though: The latest animal studies indicate that genetically modified foods have toxic effects on the digestive and reproductive systems.

They have also been linked to many food allergies, according to the University of Medical Sciences in Poland. However, “for anything to be reasonably deemed dangerous, you’d need abundant and consistent evidence in both animal and human trials,” Aragon said. “In this case, the findings just aren’t there.”

If you want to avoid them, you’re likely safe with organic products—which are not allowed to contain GMOs. But when it comes to your yogurt, stick with your Chobani if you like it, Aragon said. If you want to try something GMO-free, go for it, he adds. Brown Cow Greek Yogurt and Straus Organic Yogurts are both organic and non-GMO verified.

Source: Topix

Why stress is taking a toll on moms and how to handle it

Moms are more stressed out than ever before and it’s taking a toll on their health, their relationships and their happiness.

In fact, a survey from the American Psychological Association shows that women are more likely than men to experience physical and emotional symptoms of stress. Furthermore, moms spend 14 more hours per week on childcare and housework than fathers do, according to a recent Pew Research Center report.

Katrina Alcorn, author of Maxed Out: American Moms on the Brink said stressed-out moms are actually a phenomenon, one she knows all too well. After having her third child, Alcorn was busy juggling a full time job, a home, and all of her family’s needs, but it became too much for her to handle.

“On the surface everything looked fine, but I was crumbling inside,” Alcorn said.

Alcorn suffered from panic attacks and sleepless nights for months when finally, on a trip to buy diapers, she had yet another panic attack and realized something had to give. She needed to make changes now if she wanted to be a healthy mom.

Between clocking extra hours at work, caring for spouses and families and managing all of life’s curveballs, it’s not surprising many moms feel like they’re at their breaking points. And if you’re one of them, here’s what you can do to manage your stress now:

1. Say no
You’ll always have obligations, but volunteering on another committee or chauffeuring your kids to extra after-school activities can wear you down.

“We have to figure out what is really important and let everything else go,” Alcorn said.

2. Push back
“Work will take up every inch of your life if you let it,” according to Alcorn who said telecommuting even one or two days a week can help.

Be sure to back up your request with research that shows how working from home can make you more productive and benefit your company.

2. Eat healthy
“Moms tend to snack and grab whatever they can,” according to Christie Rampone, captain of the U.S. women’s soccer team, mother of 2 and spokesperson for EpiCor.

Planning ahead is key to maintaining your energy throughout the day so be sure to decide on your meals ahead of time, if possible, and always have healthy snacks on hand – a handful of almonds or an apple with peanut butter, and a bottle of water.

4. Sleep
Feel like a rock star on just 5 hours of sleep? You might be able to get through the day but consistent sleep-deprivation can make you feel worse. If you have a baby, nap when he or she does or ask your partner to take a nighttime feeding or let you sleep in on the weekends. Or try to go to bed earlier, even if it’s just one night a week, Rampone suggests.

5. Prioritize
“Often when we feel overwhelmed, it’s not because we’re being perfectionists,” Alcorn said. “There really objectively are too many things pulling at our time.”

Instead of trying to do it all, decide on what must be done today, what can wait for tomorrow, and what you can let go of.

6. Swap with a friend
Offering help can be just as powerful as asking for it. So the next time you make dinner, double the recipe, drop off half to a friend and let her reciprocate. Or offer to run errands, swap babysitting, or carpool.

7. Shut down
Your smartphone is always in your hand, you read email incessantly, and can’t go 30 minutes without checking Facebook.

“There’s a mental clutter that we’re all struggling with and we need quiet and peace,” Alcorn said.

It might be hard to step away from work, but if you can check email only at certain times or shut down all your devices at the same time each night, chances are you’ll feel less frazzled.

8. Get help
Hire a babysitter so you can run errands or catch up on your to-do list. Or ask your partner to pitch in on specific tasks and accept what he does as good enough.

9. Exercise
A good workout gives you an endorphin rush, helps to clear your mind and can help you relax – but don’t overdo it or you’ll feel more exhausted than you did before, Rampone said.

10. Make “me-time”
Your needs are last on the list but making time for yourself every day can help you feel less stressed out. Even if it’s just 10 minutes to take a bath, or an hour for lunch with a friend, carve out “me time” every day.

11. Take a break
Rampone suggests establishing an “independent hour,” every day. Sneak into another room to read, watch TV or meditate and have your kids play by themselves—no interruptions allowed.

Source: all voices