I know that “summer” and “stress” don’t typically go together, but that makes it all the more unfortunate when you do find yourself anxious during those wonderful warm, sunny, days. Here in Minnesota, summer is a fleeting, precious thing. Personally, when I find myself starting to feel stressed and anxious, I usually start to struggle […]
Scars form when there is injury or trauma to the skin, especially when the dermis (the deeper layers of the skin) are injured. Greatly simplified, the process of a scar forming goes roughly like this. Blood rushes to the wound site and begins to clot. Fibroblasts, remarkable little cells that help produce several different types […]
Scars are not bad things- they are simply the body’s response to injury and to heal you-which is a good thing. Some we wear like a badge of honor, while others we would rather hide. From a cosmetic standpoint, I try not to fret too much, but every now and again I end up with […]
Indigestion is hard to define because it’s used so interchangeably with terms like heartburn, bloating, and general stomach aches. It’s best to know the underlying cause in order to find the most effective remedies, but for such a vague term that can be hard. Some define it as only irritation of the upper lining of […]
Hangovers are pretty awful. Do I get the award for understatement of the century? They’re more than awful-they’re a sure fire way to ruin your day, and you’re forced to function with one. You can justify taking a sick day from work when you’re feeling crummy with a bad cold or the flu, but that’s […]
Are you familiar with the feeling of dread you get when you’re body starts to feel warm and flush? Because you know what comes next- the discomfort of the unrelenting heat from another nasty hot flash. Or maybe you’re not even aware that it’s happening, in which case maybe you dread waking up to find […]
Washing your face feels good. It wakes you up, makes you feel fresh and clean and ready to face the day, and can help clear up certain skin issues. This particular face wash is quite simple, and I have found that it works well on all types of skin, from dry to oily to combination […]
We’ve all had them. Those painful little (or big) red bumps that really ruin that suave, smooth look you were going for when you shaved or waxed. But it’s more than just the look-ingrown hairs are dang painful and downright irritating.
I am from Minnesota-thus, I have an extremely intimate relationship with mosquitos. Especially given the time I spend up in the north woods. I’ll never forget the evening I was visiting with an out-of-state friend and, without even thinking about it, idly clapped a mosquito straight out of the air that she hadn’t even seen. […]
As I type these words I am sniffling and snuffling thanks to a very stuffy nose. It’s the frustrating kind, where you can’t even get some relief by blowing it. This is because the worst kind of stuffiness comes not from an excess of mucous, but from inflamed and irritated tissue in the sinuses and […]
Allergies, lack of sleep, dry air, your co-workers overwhelming perfume…lots of things can cause dry, itchy, eyes. And while we’re led to believe that eye drops must be purchased for our own good, it is entirely possible to make your own simple eye drops for times when you find your eyes itchy and irritated. The […]
Like blueberries, red raspberries grow wild up the north woods. I have many fond memories seeking out berry patches and eagerly plucking the little red gems off the plant. Unlike blueberries, I would never collect the raspberries, but pop them in my mouth right then and there. It wasn’t until I was much older that […]
I recently returned from a trip to the endodontist, who spent about 1 ½ hours sticking cotton blasted with freezing compressed air onto an exceedingly painful tooth while swearing up and down he wasn’t trying to torture me. Uh huh. Anyways, I was informed I would need a root canal but to wait until the […]
Influenza. Right about this time of year you start to hear everyone jabbering about it. How it’s time to get your vaccine, what the strain is like this time around, all sorts of nasty stories…not fun stuff. The flu virus chiefly attacks the respiratory system with one of three strains, known as A, B, and […]
Mice are cute little critters, but that doesn’t mean we want them sharing our homes with us. As adorable as their tiny whiskery faces are, the disease they spread via urine (which they communicate with, and therefore leave a lot of lying around) and feces-not to mention the extensive damage they can do when they […]
Puffy eyes (or periorbital swelling, if you want to sound really fancy about it) refers to swelling of the tissues around the eyes-above, below, or all around. The actual puffiness itself is almost always caused periorbital edema, or fluid build-up around the eye, although aging, weight, and genetics all play a role. What’s triggering the […]
When people find out I am a beekeeper, one of the first questions is inevitably “do you get stung a lot?” To which I can merely shrug and say “meh.” The truth is the more you work around bees and the more comfortable you get, the less stings you’ll receive-but you’ll always get some. Honey […]
Our existences are anything but simple, and most of us will find ourselves overworked and exhausted from time to time-or all the time. Fatigue, true fatigue, is much more than feeling overworked and just being sleepy, although it can make you want to curl up in bed and forget the rest of the world. It […]
