[bc_video video_id="6258068231001" account_id="2226196965001" player_id="rkljM4WDEg"] Was your stress response higher than usual this past year? Stress can cause significant health effects on your body that lead to a variety of issues. Feeling anxious and overwhelmed especially during the pandemic is beyond normal and expected. Dr. Joey Shulman shares natural ways to reduce your stress. What is the five ways to naturally reduce stress?  1) Eating The Right Way You MUST eliminate foods that can exacerbate stress such as refined flours and sugars. When you are feeling anxious and overwhelmed your body naturally craves foods that are sugary, full of fat, or salt. These will cause more brain and body inflammation, which will only make symptoms worse (and can cause sleep to be restless). Examples of foods that can help with brain health and can help satisfy a craving without causing heighted stress reaction in the body are:

• Add some brazil nuts into your smoothie – they are rich in selenium which help with stress
• Fatty fish – rich in omega 3 and have been shown to reduce inflammation
• Eggs – a source of vitamin D and protein – both helpful in regulating mood and blood sugar
• Dark chocolate –it appears the flavanoids in dark chocolate reduce neuroinflammation. Chocolate also has a high tryptophan content, which the body uses to turn into mood-enhancing such as serotonin in the brain.
• Tumeric – has been shown to be very effective at reducing inflammation – pills or powder
• Green tea – releases l-thenine in the brain that helps you feel very calm and alert at the same time.

Source: Chemistry World  2) Try Meditation and Mindfulness It is best to practice meditation in the early morning to set the tone for your day. In addition, you are more likely to have some quiet time in the AM where you can be alone. It's helpful to have a designated place to sit that feels right to you. For example, on a yoga zafu when meditating with a guided mediation. You can sit quietly or use a guided version. Another technique to relax is the 4-7-8 breathing technique developed by Dr. Weil based on a yoga technique called Prayanama. Here are the steps:

• Relax, close your eyes if you feel comfortable and exhale for a count of 4.
• Then visualize a calm setting and inhale for 7 seconds and hold
• When you can no longer hold your breath, exhale and breath out all anxiety

Repeat as many times as you like. You can do the 4-7-8 breathing technique many times during the day. The more practice, the better. Source: Allina Health  Need a mat for meditation? Click the image below 3) Engage in Joy Sounds simple right? To train the brain not to loop on things that make you nervous or worried – you need to create a different neuropathway. Find things that “make you lose track of time” or that give you great joy. Dancing, reading, music, your dog, friends, outdoor time, or de-cluttering a closet. Things that involve creativity tend to be very helpful in this regard. Source: Medium 4) Supplements and Body Scan Consider supplementing with a mixed B vitamin for some extra nervous system support. Take a moment and identify where you are feeling the anxiety. Is it your shoulders, throat or jaw area? Wherever you feel that tension – try to soften the area with relaxing thoughts, gentle massage or breath work. This may not work at first – but the more you repeat this – the more effect it will have on the body! Source: Healthline  Get your supplements in! Click the image below if you're in need of some Vitamin B! 5) Feed Your Gut and Mind We know that over 70% of your seratonin is in your gut. If you are having gut issues (constipation, bloating etc.) consider supplementing with gut enhancing supplements such as pre and probiotics and taking a very close look at your diet. Other helpful ingredients include marshmallow, quercitrin and slippery elm (take to your naturopath, holistic nutritionists or doctor about your specific concerns). Source: Atlas Biomed

All of our product suggestions are independently researched and sourced by Cityline. However, if you purchase something through cityline.tv, we may earn commission. Thanks for visiting us!

[bc_video video_id="6258068297001" account_id="2226196965001" player_id="rkljM4WDEg"] Father’s Day is coming up - but so is graduation! Here's a list of the latest tech gifts to help you check both off your list.

For the dads

Lenovo Smart Display Since more of us are most likely going to be home this summer, this device is great. You can cast any of your favourite content from your mobile device to the display wirelessly - works with Ignite TV too. It also doubles as a digital photo frame. Jabra Wireless Headphones  These wireless headphones have active noise cancelling and a smart assistant built right in. There are 11 levels of sound to choose from and up to 25 hours of battery life. In addition these buds are equipped with a six way microphone so you can keep in touch with all your loved ones! Meater Wireless Meat Thermometer For the dad's looking to grill this summer, this smart thermometer has all of the specs! Achieve the perfect doneness on any meat. This gadget is sleek, thin and runs for up to 24 hours. The best part is that it wirelessly connects to an app on your phone and so you can set it up to get alerts when your meat is perfectly cooked!

For the grads

Audible Audiobooks  For the grad to keep learning - Audible audiobooks continue to be popular as you can listen at home or take on summer road trips. You can pick some awesome CANADIAN summer reads – aka stuff to learn at home over the summer. The app is free to download and includes over 200,000 audiobooks to choose from. iPhone 12  The NEW spring edition comes in lilac purple and features new Apple AirTag trackers to find lost things! Put them on your keys, luggage, bags etc. If you lose things all the time, this is perfect as you can easily find them with the connected app! Blue Light Guard Phone Cases If you aren't into wearing blue-light glasses, but still want to protect yourself against light emission. These cases by Glass-M are a great trend to get into, protect your grad with these blue light guard protector cases. Easily to apply and works with all types of phone types!

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[bc_video video_id="6257794252001" account_id="2226196965001" player_id="rkljM4WDEg"] Over the last year, people have been uncertain. About the economy, about their health, but also about their careers. Many people have held onto their jobs for a sense of security in these unprecedented times, but soon, it’s expected that everyone will be ready to make the change.  Career changes are about to explode post-pandemic. When you don’t like your job you have to decide if you want to stick it out, apply for something else internally, move to another organization, or maybe even a whole other industry. How do you decide if you should stay or go? What if you don’t like the specific work tasks you’re doing each day? You have 3 options: talk to your boss about different assignments (yes, you can do that!), apply for something else internally, or leave. It’ll take you a while to find a new position. In the meantime while you're working you can invest less time and energy. Try to expense 70% of your energy instead of 100% (many of your coworkers are already doing that). How big a change do you want? A tiny tweak or a total 180? To figure out how big a change you need, look at the parts of your work that you want to keep and the ones you want to ditch. What do you do if you have a toxic work environment? Easy way to tell if work culture is the problem: unreasonable work hours, you’re burning out, colleagues are also burning out, and turnover is high. Get out, get out, get out! It’s very hard to change an organization’s work culture. It takes a long time, often years. 99% of the time it’s best to leave because you’ll be burned out and empty before you see the changes you need. Organizations rarely even start to make those changes until after good people leave. What do you do if you have a terrible boss? It’s rare to influence upper management to get rid of a crappy manager. In addition, going over a boss’s head can have negative consequences for you. It's hard to stay in situations where you feel awful. When you don’t like your boss it impacts your mental health. Hence the saying, “People don’t leave jobs they leave bosses.” Your best options in this scenario are to apply for something else internally or leave and go elsewhere.

[bc_video video_id="6257798790001" account_id="2226196965001" player_id="rkljM4WDEg"] We’ve all been hit with rotating retail closures over the past year, which has forced many of us to shop online for many items. But when it comes to buying clothing, how do we pull an outfit together when you may be buying items from numerous brands. Stylist Lynn Spence shares her insight. It’s really hard to imagine items working together so you could be left with a bunch of random pieces that don’t make an outfit. We shopped online and pulled some items (pictured below). There’s a great trench, some pants, a blazer, some tops…basic items that you might have in your wardrobe right now. Look #1:  This trench style coat has stretch, side slits, and most importantly, it's lined, which makes a much better garment. Layered a stretchy white shirt under a semi sheer shell and finished with a stretchy piped pant. You could wear the trench as a dress, with a wider belt and the pants would work with just the white shirt and blazer. Alternative Look #1: Women should think of this coat as a jacket also, love it with the shell and the flirty skirt /short because the look is a bit sexier and could be worn with a sexy date night sandal. Look #2:  Sporty toppers done in dressier fabrics, and the pastel mix makes this look a feminine choice. Dress it up with a white mock neck, rather than a tee shirt and fluid white pants, which by the way are from the Tracy Moore by Freda TSC (Today's Shopping Choice) collection.   Alternative Look #2: The colourful alternative to look 2 works great as the fuchsia jersey tunic pairs so well with the pants and wrap which offers you an effortlessly elegant choice. Look #3: The next look is all about styling classic pieces. A great blazer is definitely a wardrobe staple.  This blazer is lined, double breasted, stretchy longer, shaped and it is priced right. Add some gold buttons to it for an extra pop. Paired with a sleeveless gingham shirt and a pair of designer denims, all excellent staples. Alternative Look #3: By replacing the jeans with slim white pants, the outfit can take you just about anywhere. Anyone can shop online!