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Whether you're down because of the crappy weather, had an argument with your BFF or this time of year just isn't your fave, it's safe to say this season can bring on a whole range of emotions.

And while this won't cure your blues indefinitely, it will make you feel a little bit better.

According to the Journal of Positive Psychology, people who bake every now and again are much more relaxed compared to people who don't.

Image result for baking gif

The researchers followed 658 people for two weeks. Each participant had to write a diary, which was read by the researchers afterwards. They discovered that each person who baked or cooked at the end of most days felt that they were "flourishing," and advancing in their personal growth.

The study's lead author author, Tamlin Conner said: "There is growing recognition in psychology research that creativity is associated with emotional functioning.

"However, most of this work focuses on how emotions benefit or hamper creativity, not whether creativity benefits or hampers emotional well-being.

Image result for baking gif

"There is genuinely something very therapeutic about baking."

Whether you're going to take this on board or not, we have to admit, we'll be whipping up a few cupcakes next time we're feeling low.

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It's safe to say it's been a crazy week and whether you're stressed about your job, you BF, or just the world (ie. TRUMP), then we have the perfect thing for you: cat meditation.

We know, we know. It sounds stupid, but many of us struggle with anxiety and stress, and this is the puuurfect thing (sorry!) to put you back on track.

Blue Cross has created the first mindfulness online meditation class which stars adorable felines and experts from The Mindfulness Project.

The 10-minute class is available online and absolutely free, so you can use it to your peril for whenever you need to de-stress.

Image result for kittens

The video aims to draw attention to how cats and kittens can put us in a good mood, and hopefully it'll help Blue Cross re-home it's adorable rescue cats.

Take a look and see if it calms you a little – just watch out for the purring (you'll know what we mean when you hear it)!

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While feeling forgetful is often associated with old age, a new study has revealed that stress is causing young Irish women to forget some very important tasks.

60 percent of female Irish millennials were found to be so consumed by stress that they were failing to take care of everyday jobs like taking their contraceptive pill, while 30 percent admitted that forgetfulness has become a regular feature of their everyday lives.

According to the survey – which was conducted by Bayer to mark World Contraception Day – a huge number of 21 to 29-year-olds are at risk of having an unplanned pregnancy, with 70 percent admitting they were more likely to miss their pill when stressed.

As reported by The Irish Mirror, one in seven women admitted to forgetting to take their pill once or twice a month.

Other basic tasks like removing makeup at night and putting a phone on charge were also affected during times of worry.

Professor Sabina Brennan from Trinity College told The Irish Mirror that the results of the survey add to existing research which suggests that stress and memory are connected.

She said: “Stress isn’t always a bad thing; a properly controlled stress response can give us extra energy and focus needed to cope with challenge.”

“But in today’s complex world psychological and social stressors can be unrelenting for millennial women, and can affect health, well-being and even memory.”

Spa day anyone?

GIFs: giphy.com

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She's one of the most enviable celebs in Hollywood at the moment, but as it turns out, Gigi Hadid is just like the rest of us when it comes to guilty pleasures.

The model held a Q&A on Twitter last night, and one fan asked her what her guilty pleasure is, to which she simply replied, "sleeping in."

Mmm hmm. There's nothing better than being a cosy cinnamon bun in bed.

Some of her followers also asked, "what are your effective stress relievers?" to which Gigi said, "art, baths, cooking, performing Broadway numbers in my apt."

So even with her gorgeous bod, heart throb boyfriend and glam BFFs, she's the same as us (minus all the $$$).

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If you're known among your friends for stressing about things that they wouldn't bat an eyelid over, you can tell them that it's not your fault and much of it comes down to how your brain is wired.

In an effort to ascertain how different individuals cope with stressful situations, Rajita Sinha, director of the Yale Stress Center, conducted a study which has since been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

After recruiting 30 healthy individuals, Rajita and her team set about analysing their individual responses to certain imagery with the help of an fMRI scan session.

Dividing the group in half, the stressed group were shown 60 violent images of people being shot, stabbed and chased while the control group were shown images akin to an IKEA catalogue; chairs, lamps and tables.

Following this procedure, the individuals were then asked to describe their coping mechanisms in times of stress with emphasis on alcohol consumption, eating patterns and verbal disagreements.

The study indicated that during times of stress, the ventral medial prefrontal cortex of the brain –  the region involved in emotional regulation and inner detection of feelings like hunger, craving and want – underwent changes.

According to Time, researchers established that individuals with more neuroflexibility and neuroplasticity in this region were less likely to respond to stress in an emotionally destructive way, but were also more likely to binge drink and emotionally eat in general.

"The greater the magnitude of the change in the neural signal, the more active copers they were," clarified Rjita.

Researchers are currently investigating whether it's possible to increase flexibility in this region, with Rajita explaining: "We have a natural circuitry to try to regain control and to be resilient."

"I think it’s tied to the survival processes that are hardwired, and this is what we’re tapping into," she added.

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Lately, we've been hearing a lot about the pitfalls of social media, but now, science has confirmed it: staying away from the "reality distorting" Facebook is likely to increase your happiness. 

A study carried out in Denmark has revealed that even as little as a week away from the social networking site could increase your satisfaction in life and significantly reduce stress. 

Researchers from the Danish Happiness Research Institute (yep, that's actually a place) divided a group of 1,095 people, aged between 16-76, into two groups. 

One group was given their usual access to the site, and the other shut down their profiles for a week. 

“Facebook is a constant bombardment of everyone else’s great news, but many of us look out of the window and see grey skies and rain,” Meik Wiking, CEO of the Institute, tells The Guardian. 

“This makes the Facebook world, where everyone’s showing their best side, seem even more distortedly bright by contrast, so we wanted to see what happened when users took a break.”

Before and after the experiment took place, the participants were asked to rate their life satisfaction out of ten. They also had to comment on how active their social lives were, how good their day-to-day concentration was and if they compared themselves to others.

The resulting study, The Facebook Experiment: Does social media affect the quality of our lives? revealed that those who abstained from the social network had a higher life appreciation, a richer social life and fewer difficulties when concentrating. 

Sophie Anne Dornoy, 35, took part in the study and said: “My to-do list was getting done faster than normal as I spent my time more productively. I also felt a sort of calmness from not being confronted by Facebook all the time.”

“It felt good to know that the world doesn’t end without Facebook and that people are still able to reach you,” she says.

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There are many myths and old wives' tales about grey hair – and many of them will make you worry. 

But, Women's Health recently spoke to dermatologist Howard Sobel and he cleared up what is fact and what is fiction about your future head of hair. 

Myth: If you see a grey hair pop up, you're on your way to a full head of silver soon.

False: Howard says that this isn't true for everyone. By the time you reach 30, you will naturally have a few grey hairs. While some may continue to grey as the years go on, others may just stall at those few strands for years to come. 

 

Myth: If you pluck a grey hair, two will grow back in its place.

False: “Plucking grey hair won’t increase the number of grey hairs that will grow in its place, but the ones that grow back will still be grey,” explains Howard. But be careful, because if you pluck a strand you might damage the hair follicle and then NO hair will grow back in its place. 

 

Myth: The age your mother went grey is a good estimate for when you will turn grey.

True: “Genetics will generally predict when your hair starts to go grey,” says Mr Sobel. However, environmental factors can also come into play.

 

Myth: You can give yourself grey hair from stressing too much.

Possibly True: “The supply of melanocyte stem cells that colour hair deplete as we age, and stress may make someone who is predisposed to grey hair go grey sooner,” says Howard.

 

Myth: Dying your hair constantly can bring on grey hair.

False: Hair dye has absolutely no relationship with grey hair, so this is completely untrue. However, your hair can take a beating from extreme colouring so be sure to condition and be kind to your do'. 

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It's no secret that exercise is good for us, heck, it's probably the best thing going!

But as the saying goes, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. And while a lot of us find it hard to actually get up and workout, once you do it can become addictive. 

And when Ellie Goulding revealed today that she's toned down her exercise regime after doctors warned her she was overdoing it, we got thinking about our own fitness habits.

One of the most important stages of working out is the recovery period, so unless you're giving your body some down time, you won't be reaping in the full rewards.

These are signs to look out for if you might be over-doing it:

1. When you exercise, you leave feeling exhausted rather than energised – this is a sure sign your muscles need a break.

 

2. Injuries and illnesses are slow to clear up. Healthy people have good immune systems, so if yours isn't top notch, you certainly need to rest.

 

3. You have a short temper. Exercising too much can lead to stress build-up, which in turn effects your level of tolerance for even the most mundane things. 

 

4. You're doing several sessions of exercise a day, but you're not actually training for anything.

 

5. You can't sleep. Working out too much can make your body a super-stress zone because your levels of cortisol peak, leading to insomnia. So, if you want to catch some z's, it's time to cut down on the gym. 

 

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One in five 18-34 year-olds have cried due to anxiety this week. 

That's according to a new poll that came out yesterday from the mental health charity, Mind. 

The poll was conducted by Populas, and they interviewed 2,063 adults online in May of this year. 

"Anxiety has now become level with depression as the most common reason for calls to Mind’s information line," the charity says.

"In 2014/15 alone there were 6,087 calls about anxiety and panic attacks, which accounted for nearly one in six of all calls."

Gender was also shown to play a major role in anxiety, with women being three times more likely than men to have cried because of anxiety in the last week. 

However, women were also twice as likely to feel better after crying. 

The charity has launched a free guide for people to help them recognise if what they're going through is anxiety, and the best ways to cope with and manage it. 

It comes at a much-needed time, as the demands of our modern society and being constantly plugged-in and unable to escape work or social obligations, it seems that we are all more anxious than ever. 

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We all get stressed from time to time – for an uncountable number of reasons. 

Whether it's about work, college, family or your love life, it's something many of us simply can't avoid. 

Not only does it suck up your energy, it puts you in a bad mood, and eats away at your desire to do anything interactive. 

Some stress is healthy, yes, but when you over do it, it can lead to these nasty side effects. 

It makes you exhausted

When you stress, your brain to releases a hormone called cortisol into your bloodstream to help your body deal with it. 

BUT it totally backfires if you stress too much. Frequent freaking-out can cause your brain to limit the amount of cortisol it sends to your bloodstream, which makes you feel really tired, all day, everyday. 

 

It makes you break out

When you really stress out, hormones called androgens in your body spike, causing acne to flare up. It can also cause other parts of your body to produce nasty rashes.

You can always use a topical treatment to try and stop the spots, but in reality, when you stop stressing, the blemishes will go away. 

 

It makes you gain weight

A recent study found that dieters who learned stress-management techniques were more successful at losing weight than dieters who didn't.

The connection between reducing stress and losing weight could be that it helps cut back on stress binge-eating. So be careful what you eat next time you have a freak out.

 

You could lose some hair

Just like a spike in androgens can cause your skin to break out, it can also cause your hair to shed more than usual. The unfortunate side effect is only temporary but it could get worse if you worry for a continued amount of time.

 

It makes your back ache

When you stress, your heart rate and blood pressure rise and your body pumps out more hormones to help with your fight-or-flight response.

This combo can cause your muscles to tighten up and amplify the aches you get from day to day.

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It's often touted as the best time of your life – and in many ways it is: after all, your 20s is the decade that brings with a load of amazing milestones.

Renting; graduating; jobs; travel and great friendships: it's all actually pretty awesome.

You have the freedom to do pretty much whatever you want, with none of the responsibilities and stresses of the likes of home-ownership, marriage, and children (hello there, 30s!).

Let's face it though; your 20s can also be a pickle – full of uncertainties, broken hearts and set-backs. In fact, at times it's easy to let the pressures of your third decade get to you.

But the weight of the world is heavy thing – and not every little hiccup merits getting really worked up over.

So here, SHEmazing! details the top six things that women aged 20-29 need to chill out about…

 

1) The life-plan:

Yup, your mam and dad (actually – the entire extended family) are pestering you for 'the plan,' but when it comes down to it… you're just not sure what you want to do. It's easy to get distracted by friends too; especially when a load of your closest mates get sorted with jobs and internships mere moments out of college. 

Well, for one – the whole "what am I doing with my life?" question isn't just for your 20s; that's something you'll be asking into your 30s, 40s and beyond.

And no one has all the magic answers either. In fact, you're probably doing pretty well as it is. So cut yourself some slack. It will all be fine in the end.

 

2) Dieting:

Most people pack on a few pounds during their 20s. We like to call it 'the swell'.

So your body changes – so what? Seriously, the amount of 35- and 45-year-olds who look back at their 25-year-old selves and wonder: "why did I ever worry – I looked fecking cracking back then!"

Because, in all likelihood, you do look cracking. Focus on being healthy and eating well and being able to run for the bus without medical intervention, rather than getting worked up over a number on a clothes tag. 

 

3) Being a bad-ass:

Women, especially women in the workplace, still worry about being a 'bitch'. Getting on with people is definitely a good thing, as is making an effort, being polite and being personable. 

However, speaking your mind; standing up for yourself; saying loud and clear 'no siree, I'm not that kinda gal,' is just as important.

Sure, you'd rather not 'make a fuss,' but playing your part is vital. And every time you do, it gets a little bit easier next time.

Maybe you get shot down anyway – but whatever the outcome, be proud of your mind – and your ability to speak it.

 

4) Social media:

We do it ourselves: we stick up our best pictures, taken at the best angles, in the most glamorous settings. We share the highs and ignore the lows.

And yet we still assume that EVERYONE else has this amazingly gilded life full of parties and beaches; expensive shoes and beautiful people.

Stop! Snapchat and Instagram are NOT real-life; NOT everyone on Facebook is getting engaged or getting married or jetting off to Thailand. Remind yourself as often as you need to that comparing yourself to others is pointless – especially when those others are only offering a gilded portion of themselves.

 

5) Contraception:

Deciding on contraception can actually be stressful, problematic, and confusing. You worry about the side-effects, not to mention that niggling two percent – or five or ten percent – margin of error: the 'well sure you might just get pregnant anyway,' window. To all that we say: relax.

Do your research and chat to your doctor about ALL your options: being prepared and taking responsibility for your own sexual health goes a looong way to placating worries.

Otherwise, simply take things when you're supposed to, and use everything exactly according to manufacturers' instructions – then get on with having fun.

 

6) Ditching friends:

When you're young and in a big group, you do everything with your squad: you socialise together, go to college or school together, and pretty much breathe the same air as one another. 

But that changes over time – and sometimes your 'bestest ever' mate at 21 is not necessary your closest buddy at 24.

That's no bad thing – nor should you worry about streamlining your group down to a handful of 'always there for you' guys and gals. 

On a similar note, kick the ones who aren't worth it to the curb without a second thought. If they're mean, draining, distracting or just down-right negative around you, then they're not what you need in your life.

 

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As exams are approaching for many people, it is important to try and remain as calm as possible. We know this is easier said than done, but these tips may help. Remember to take care of yourself. 

1. Get enough sleep
There is no point trying to learn things at 2am when your brain and body are in shut down mode, get some sleep and start again refreshed.

2. Eat properly
You need the energy to keep you going.

3. Don't compare your abilities with your friends
You all have different ways of absorbing information, so don't let their techniques make you feel bad about your own.

4. Take breaks
Taking the occasional break is important so that you don't become tired and run down.

5. Think positively
Just remember that exams are not the end of the world, so try your best but don't get over stressed. Try to focus on what you currently can do, rather than what you currently can't do.

 

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