3 Practical Tips For Managing Arthritis

Arthritis is a condition that affects millions of people all over the world, however, most commonly it affects older people. As we age, our joints can become stiff and swollen causing even the simplest gestures like opening a can of beans to be painful. There are many different factors that determine whether you are at risk of developing arthritis or not. 

For some people, it’s too late. And while you may not be able to eliminate arthritis altogether, it is possible to lessen the symptoms, and potentially feel nearly symptom-free. If you’re someone who suffers from arthritis, then here are some of the best tips for not just managing your pain, but even overcoming it.

Get Educated

A lot of people are aware they have arthritis, yet they’re not exactly sure what that means. Any time you’ve been diagnosed with something it’s important to educate yourself as much as possible. Get to know the details of arthritis and the ins and outs of how it can progress.  

From reading books to listening to podcasts, it’s helpful to educate yourself. The more you know, the more you can make better-informed decisions on how to look after yourself. As with any medical condition, your doctor is always the most reputable source. Make sure that you take their word above anything you read online or in a book.

Practice Proper Posture

The more that you sit in an ergonomically incorrect position, whether slouching or in a position that puts extra strain on your body, the more likely you are to flare up your arthritis. Stay aware of the position you’re in and use an ergonomic chair if necessary. 

Regardless of whether you have an active job or a sedentary one, it’s important that you take breaks to stretch throughout the day. Additionally, it can’t be stressed enough how important the right pair of shoes is for your posture. You need arch support to ensure that you’re practicing good posture throughout the day, particularly if you have an active job on your feet.

Check In On Your Stress

Many people don’t realize the connection that stress has with arthritis. If you’re going through particularly stressful circumstances in your life at any given moment, you might notice that your arthritis is flaring up more than usual.  Rather than allow your stress to exacerbate your symptoms, you should slow down and control your stress levels. While we may not be able to eliminate any and all stress from our lives, we can control the way that we react to it. 

Practice everything from meditation to deep breathing techniques and you’ll find that you’re less susceptible to the negative impacts that stress can have on your body.

3 Tips To Help You Learn How To Be A Better Communicator

Communication is key to basically all relationships that you’re going to have in your life. Whether you’re communicating with a teacher, your family, or even with an interior designer working on your home, a failure of communication could result in all kinds of drama and traumas. But regardless of where your communication skills may presently be at, there are things that you can do to improve upon them.

To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips to help you learn how to be a better communicator. 

Communicate With A Purpose

In order to make sure that all of your communication, especially your more professional communications, end the way that you want them to, you’ll need to make sure that you know your purpose and intentions for your communication.

If you’re not sure what you’re trying to say or are trying to hide what you really need to be saying, it’s going to be much harder for your communication to be clear. But if you know the purpose of what you’re speaking about and what you need the other person to hear and understand based on what you’re saying, it will be much easier for you to speak with purpose and get your point across. 

Always Practice Active Listening 

Along with being able to share your own piece well, part of being a good communicator is being able to listen to others as well. 

To help you improve upon this skill, you should seek to practice active listening whenever you’re having a conversation with someone. To use this skill, you’ll need to focus all of your attention on actually listening when the other person is talking rather than trying to come up with your own responses while the other person is talking. If you’re not used to doing this type of active listening, it can be hard to get a handle on. But once you learn how to turn your ears on better, you’ll become a much better communicator. 

Let There Be Silence

Even if your brain seems to be running at a high pace when you’re speaking with someone or having a conversation, other people might not be operating at this rate. And, for many people, taking time to think about what others have said and how they want to respond is part of their communication style. But with styles like this, silence will often happen.

If you find that you’re uncomfortable with the idea of silence in a conversation, try to learn how beneficial not saying anything can be at times. By keeping silent when you don’t need to be talking, you can help others take their fair share of the conversation and both learn to only say things you really mean. 

If you’re wanting to learn how to be a better communicator, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you see how this can be done.