Nicola writes for the baby boy names site. It has plenty of other baby related information including pregnancy advice, baby health and breastfeeding tips.

Pregnancy is a wonderful time in your life but it can also be very stressful at the same time! So how do you go about de-stressing? Here are some of the tips I used during my pregnancy.

Take a bath.

One of the best ways to get rid of the strains of the day! Get some nice bath oils and fill it right up to the top. Half an hour in there and you will feel much better.

Diet.

Diet is so important during pregnancy, eating plenty of fruit and veg and stick to the complex carbohydrates of pasta, rice, potatoes and bread rather than things like biscuits and cakes. Craving snacks is part of pregnancy so stock up on healthy ones rather than chocolate and biscuits.

Exercise.

Exercise makes you feel better – that is a fact! Don’t sit about the house, get yourself out for a walk or even just round the shops. Keeping active during pregnancy may also make it easier to shift the weight after birth. The endorphins released during exercise will de-stress you and research points to this helping the baby as well!

Take up a new hobby or interest.

Take your mind off the baby for a while and take up a new interest or hobby. Talking about the new addition to the family is essential though it can all get too much at times. Make sure that you have plenty of other things going on in your life that give you pleasure. Don’t be put off just because you are pregnant!

Talk about your problems and worries.

Talking about problems with your partner is really important. Worrying alone about how you will cope can really get you down. Planning and working around problems are things you and you partner should be talking about regularly. Friends and family will be there for you too so use them.

Thankfully the answer is yes, otherwise there’d be billions of people bustling around fit to burst at any time! You can reduce anxiety by using some of the following methods:

It’s Good To Talk – This has long been the motto of British Telecom and it applies very nicely to anxiety. If you’ve got a problem that is causing you stress and anxiety then it can be very helpful to talk it over with a friend or family member. A problem shared is a problem halved.

Meditation – Ten minutes of meditation each day will help you to release any anxiety you may be holding in your mind. This is a quiet time where you empty your mind of all thoughts and just “be”. You can learn more about meditation from my article An Overview of Meditation.

Jog On – Jogging for a long period of time (over an hour is recommended) produces what is known as the “runner’s high”. After a continuous period of exercise your body releases a number of endorphins which reduce stress and anxiety, as well as relieve physical pain. Also jogging is a great way to keep fit and studies show that people in good shape are less likely to suffer from high levels of anxiety.

Self Hypnosis – Much like meditation, self hypnosis gives you a break from mental chatter. There is, however, an additional benefit to self hypnosis. You can also implant hypnotic suggestions that can help you to feel even calmer, or perhaps to achieve a personal goal of yours. This does make it a little more difficult than meditation but you can get guided self hypnosis MP3s from websites like HypnoBusters.

Cut Out The Causes – This may be the ultimate anxiety reduction technique. Take time to consider what it is in your life that causes you stress and anxiety and cut out as many as you realistically can. Obviously you can’t, for example, abandon your children (however tempting that may seem at times!) but you can stop returning the phone calls of that friend who always seems to need a big favor at the last minute or quit drinking and smoking.

I hope these anxiety reduction tips help you greatly. For more advice on relaxation be sure to check out the archives here at Relaxation Haven.

The idea is to wake up early and get more things done in the morning, while the rest of the world is still asleep, leaving less for you to do in the evenings when you’re tired. Think about how many times you think “I’ll do that later” and then forgot about until the next day. These small tasks build and build until they become a cause for stress and anxiety.

While no-one expects you to wake up at 4am every morning even if you wake up just one hour earlier that is a full hour to get jobs done where you will have little to no other distractions.

Some people find it hard to change their sleep patterns and this is understandable, as they are the result of years of routine…or non-routine in some cases. So how do you change your internal clock so that you can wake up earlier?

Well there are a number of techniques that can be helpful but the most important and obvious one is that to wake up early you also need to go to bed earlier. This may sound counter-productive in some ways since the idea of waking up earlier is to get more things done, however the vast majority of people are at their most productive shortly after they’ve woken up and then decline gradually as the day goes by. Waking up early gives you an extra hour or so before you have to go to work to get things done around the house, or even get a head start on work you have to hand in to the boss. Imagine how impressed they’d be with you handing in your assignment at 9:00 am whenever they give you a project. That’s the type of impression that can lead to promotions and pay rises!

Besides going to be earlier there are many other ways to help yourself wake up earlier. Most people have an alarm set for a specific time and while this is a good idea it can work even better if taken a step further. Try placing your alarm at the other side of your bedroom so that when it goes off you have to get up to switch it off. This makes it much more likely that you won’t just go straight back to sleep. Also have a glass of water next to your bed so that you can have a drink as soon as you wake up, this will hydrate and energize your body immediately.

You should also relax as much as possible before you go to sleep at night. A long soak in the bath and a book will help you to unwind and this in turn will allow you to enjoy a deeper, most restful sleep so that when you wake up you are ready to get up and get on with your day.

The biggest battle in waking up early though is the one with your mind. The alarm goes off at 6:00am and there’s an argument going on with one side saying “Come on! Time to get up!” while the other side is saying “Urghhh…let’s go back to sleep”.  One of the best ways to win this battle is with self hypnosis. You can program your mind and convince both sides that it is much more beneficial to wake up early in the morning. Our friends at HypnoBusters have a great session called Wake Up Early that will relax you before you go to bed and strengthen your desire to wake up early.

Remember, the more you get done early on, the more time you have to relax later on.

Learn how to relax during labor.

The reason that relaxation is so beneficial during labor is that stress and anxiety cause your body to produce hormones such as adrenaline. These hormones reduce the blood flow to the womb which in turn makes your contractions less powerful. This is why stress leads to a longer labor.

So how exactly do you relax during labor? Well you need three things – support, preparation and the proper environment.

Support comes from your close family and friends, especially whoever you choose as your birth partner. Your support will help you in the preparation. This involves going to birthing classes, learning breathing techniques, having a bag packed for the big day, etc.

Having the right environment means different things to different people. Most people now like to have a CD or play list of relaxing music to help during the birthing process. However there are many more options. For example HypnoBirthing has become very popular recently, as has water birthing. Take your time to study the options and choose the one you think will suit you the best.

Due to the nature of contractions it will be nigh on impossible to relax in the middle of one. The time to practice your breathing techniques and relax your mind are in between contractions. Allow the tension to ease away from your muscles and relax as best you can.

To learn more about preparing for labor view the video below.

A pair of pinhole glasses can improve eyesight.

The way pinhole glasses work is actually quite simple. Whenever you look at a blurred object your brain instructs your eye to focus on it until it is a sharp image. If this can not be achieved because the eye is damaged then the brain leaves the object unfocused. Pinholes work by improving the focus of the object which allows you to find the point of focus. During this focusing process the eye muscles become more adept at this exercise and over time this will improve your eyesight greatly.

On top of that pinhole glasses also blocks out most harmful light rays such as those put out by a TV screen or computer monitor. As mentioned earlier most makes now also provide UV protection. While exposing your eyes to natural light is good and healthy for them it is the UV rays that cause damage. So pinholes block out UV rays and allow a small amount of natural light in.

There are seven known benefits to wearing pinhole glasses:

1. Greatly improves distance of vision.
2. Eliminates everyday stress and strain on the eyes.
3. They prevent many eye conditions such as astigmatism, myopia and presbyopia.
4. They break dependence on regular eye glass lenses which merely mask the problem, not cure it.
5. Helps to improve the focus ability of the eyes.
6. Extra protection from harmful UV rays.
7. Makes viewing TV or computer screens much less harmful to the eyes.

People have actually been using pinhole glasses to improve their eyesight for quite some time despite their relative obscurity. During that time there has been no recorded negative side-effects however while you wear pinhole glasses your peripheral vision will be somewhat restricted so it is a good idea to take them off while driving or operating machinery.

There is no real time frame for how long it will take to improve your eyesight with pinhole glasses since obviously there are many factors to consider such as current levels of eyesight, time spent wearing the pinhole glasses, etc. However you will find that your eyes feel much more relaxed and less strained after only a few minutes of wearing the pinhole glasses. For most it will take a few months of persistent use to see an improvement in eyesight.

At this point you may be wondering if pinhole glasses are so great why don’t opticians sell them? Well sadly because pinhole glasses are so inexpensive (you can find pairs online for anywhere between $3 to $25) and provide a solution they would put opticians out of business. Think about it for a second, how to opticians make their money? By selling you expensive glasses that merely mask the problem and making you come back every six months to pay for a new eye test and possibly a new pair of glasses.

There is even a conspiracy theory that the FDA is suppressing this inexpensive technology in order to protect the interest of opticians. You can read more about that, if you wish, at http://www.myopia.org/conspiracy.htm

I personally use pinhole glasses and I feel they have made a lot of difference. I wear glasses but I am on the weakest lens available and I am hoping to eventually be able to stop wearing them altogether. Since I began wearing them a few weeks ago my eyes have felt very fresh despite the fact I work long hours in front of a computer. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a pair of pinhole glasses online. They can be found easily with a simple google search. Improve your eyesight with pinhole glasses today!