Category Archives: WELLNESS

Is Telehealth The New Secret Weapon To Company Mental Health?

April 12, 2021

Excessive wait times and a spike in demand for mental healthcare during Covid has given birth to an innovative experience: mental telehealth.  And in an effort to support employees, forward-thinking employers have begun to offer this service as part of their employee benefit packages.

So what does this service look like? Mental telehealth typically includes the patient services in highest demand — virtual talk therapy, psychiatric medication, and mental health education.

Concerning statistics, such as 40 percent of Americans struggling with mental health during the pandemic, have led many companies to announce new ways they are supporting mental health in the workplace – improving employee care, corporate productivity and perhaps, even becoming chic, given the latest workforce reports:

  • Mental and neurological disorders are a leading cause of disability in the United States.
  • In a 2019 survey of 1,500 respondents, 61% said their productivity at work was affected by their mental health and over 50% said cost and poor insurance coverage are key barriers to accessing mental healthcare.
  • And mental health is experienced differently by age in the workforce since the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a recent survey of 1,400 workers, a generational difference exists among those most likely to face mental health issues: Gen Z: 71%, Millennials: 59%, Gen X: 36% and Baby Boomers: 22%.

Now, with more people beginning to head back to the workplace after working remotely — or not working at all — during the pandemic, profound changes must be made in how they approach employees’ psychological and emotional well-being, advocates say.

While many California companies are prioritizing mental health, what is stopping some from offering expanded mental health support, despite the rise of mental health needs, and the proliferation of mental telehealth alternatives available?

Reasons commonly cited by employers include:

  • Perceived stigma toward individuals with mental health conditions. Employees harbor concerns that if they used company mental health benefits, their careers may suffer, which would leave these benefits unused.
  • Privacy limitations make it difficult for companies to measure the positive impact these benefits have had on their employee population.
  • Navigating a new territory of employee benefits and not knowing where to begin.
  • Companies already having insurance-based plans in place that include psychologists and psychiatrists for employees to access; they believe they can’t afford the incremental cost to add additional company-funded services.

What some employers fail to factor into their decision is the ease and convenience of these newer mental telehealth services. Individuals can often get video appointments within 24 hours from the comfort of their home — days, nights and weekends — while many insurance-based offerings can take weeks to months for an appointment, and have availability only during work hours.

Remedy, a telepsychiatry company based in Los Angeles, was founded by Dr. Kirsten Thompson because she wanted to make psychiatric mental care more accessible to all needing help.  Remedy provides psychiatric medication telehealth care for adults in California (expanding to other states in future) for all symptoms including depression, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, OCD, bipolar, insomnia and more from the comfort of one’s home – days, nights or weekends; and is encouraging California business owners to expand support for their employees to include mental health. Remedy recently launched an effort targeted to companies to offer their employees affordable access to medication treatment services to meet their employee mental health support needs.

“With mental health being the most important driver of productivity and happiness, companies are now realizing that offering improved mental health benefits is a clear win-win for both employees and the business. The disconnect is that our current insurance-based system is over-taxed, so companies relying on their existing medical insurance offerings are unknowingly behind the times and under supporting their staff. Luckily, many new telehealth companies have arisen to fill the gaps- but employers need to be aware of this deficit, and then take action.”

–       Dr. Kirsten Thompson, Founder & Supervising Psychiatrist, Remedy

If employee mental health becomes normalized as part of the business culture just as quarterly performance reviews and professional development, organizations will be rewarded with higher performance, fewer disability claims, and reduced employee turnover.

Sources:

https://jamanetwork.com/channels/health-forum/fullarticle/2770050

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/coronavirus/survey-nearly-half-us-workers-suffer-mental-health-issues-during-pandemic-178105

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/mental-health-in-the-workplace-the-coming-revolution

 

 

 

 

 

Mellö For Daily Maintenance Of Mind, Body, Mood

March 27, 2021

Daily maintenance for mind, body, and mood.

Loving this magnesium product from NED.

Mellö is specifically formulated to replenish your body’s magnesium levels at a cellular level, simply and naturally, while regulating feelings of stress and anxiety and their associated physical symptoms. I love popping this in a glass of water in the evening.

WHAT:

Mellö is a powerful daily magnesium supplement to propel memory, mood, brain function, stress response, sleep, energy, and nerve and muscle health.  

Mellö nourishes every inch of your body with a proprietary superblend of 3 forms of chelated magnesium, L-theanine, GABA, and over 70 trace minerals, specially formulated for whole-body—and brain — absorption.

WHAT’S INSIDE:

Magnesium lactate gluconate, Magtein® magnesium L-threonate, Aquamin magnesium citrate, L-theanine, GABA, trace minerals, birch xylitol, monkfruit, citric acid, sodium bicarbonate, purple carrot*, organic flavoring*.

There’s magnesium — and then there’s Mellö

MIND

Boost memory and brain function.

BODY

Support nerve + muscle health, restful sleep and regularity.

MOOD

Promote calmness and a healthy stress response.

WHO: 

The founders, Ret and Adriaan. Read more over on their site!

Ned® is the result of two friends, Ret and Adriaan, who started in different places arriving at the same destination. For years, we’d been living lives that left us feeling empty, bewildered, and disconnected. It wasn’t just us – everyone around us seemed beset by anxiety, stress, device addiction, you name it. The so-called solutions – pills, paychecks, more consumerism – seemed only to address the symptoms, never the underlying issues. Something about this way of life just wasn’t working.

Embody Retinol And ACV Gummies

March 5, 2021

The gummy biz is really just taking off. And now, EMBODY is the world’s first retinol gummy with a mission to radically evolve how women treat their skin. They are replacing hundreds of skincare products with one simple tasty gummy. Even better, Embody is a women-owned, minority-owned, women-led brand.

Just two a day (it’s hard to eat only two – they are THAT yummy), and your skin will appear more evenly pigmented, texture is eliminated, and collagen production is increased resulting in more youthful looking skin to produce a luminous glow.

Also right here on Amazon!

A formula designed to provide a dewy glow, reduce blemishes, promote cell turnover, strengthen hair, skin, nails and prevent premature aging (inclusive of ingredients like Vitamin A, C, D3, E, Biotin, Folic Acid, B12 and more). 

A juicy apple-flavored, inside-out wellness solution is designed to support healthy gut flora, improve digestion and replenish antioxidants. Supporting your gut health helps relieve inflammation in your skin and throughout your body; poor gut health can actually be the cause of acne and aging in the skin (it breaks down collagen!!).  Embody‘s ACV gummy provides the full recommended dose of ACV in just 2 gummies!

While Embody’s Retinol Gummy helps to promote skin cell turnover, the ACV gummy promotes gut health – while both add to the whole body approach to skin care. Most consumers don’t think about starting in their guts (healthy diet, probiotics, gut-supporting vitamins) when some of their skin concerns can be treated with a simple change in diet.

And the ACV Gummy!

 

More about Jenn Chung, founder of Embody:

Jenn Chung the founder of Embody Jenn immigrated to the US from Vietnam with her mother when she was 1 years old. She worked her way up through her family cosmetics company (Forever Beaumore) from packing boxes at age 15 to stepping in as President at age 24. Seeing first-hand how successful her family’s beauty supplements were in the Vietnamese market, Jenn was inspired to create a brand for women just like her and bring eastern beauty remedies to a modern western audience in a fun, palatable way.

Kiva Confections, Cannabis And Keep A Breast

January 14, 2021

Keep a Breast, is a nonprofit devoted to early breast cancer detection through consumer education and the promotion of regular self-checks.

Called CHECK YOURSELF, this campaign is spearheaded by cannabis manufacturer Kiva Confections in tandem with San Jose dispensary Airfield Supply Co.

Kiva created a new limited edition Lost Farm Live Resin Passionfruit Gummy, the sales of which will support Keep a Breast. The campaign’s goal is to raise $20,000 for this nonprofit.

The Lost Farm Live Resin Passionfruit gummy is available for purchase at Airfield Supply Co. (San Jose), The Apothecarium (San Francisco), Jayden’s Journey (Modesto), King’s Crew (Long Beach), March and Ash (San Diego), Solful (Sebastopol), and Sweet Flower (Los Angeles).

Additionally, you can support the work of Keep A Breast through point-of-sale donations at Airfield and Sweet Flower’s registers.

SWEET FLOWER

8163 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

The Effects of Stress On The Body From An Integrative Medicine Doctor

January 6, 2021

Consider the facts: most of the world’s population is under some form of stress right now. Standing between a collective standstill and a cultural revolution, no one person can predict whether we’ll ever go back to how things were, or if we even want to. It’s under these unprecedented times that our bodies are undergoing unprecedented stress.

Stress can look like different reactions. And during a pandemic, our bodies’ normal responses to stress might look a bit different. From a doctor’s perspective, stress can cause the body to constantly live in fight-or-flight mode, meaning the sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive. This response essentially short-circuits the brain, rendering the body tense, uncomfortable, and unable to perform daily vital functions with ease. And at times when the sympathetic nervous system has finally exhausted itself, we fall into a deep period of depression and fatigue. It’s a vicious cycle that many can relate to yet few have been able to fix.

What does stress look like from the outside? For one, it can lead to weight gain thanks to the dysregulation of your adrenal glands. Another physical manifestation of stress is premature aging through a variety of different hormonal imbalances. Calling stress “the silent killer” isn’t an exaggeration. Not only can it contribute to an increased risk of heart attack (which is one of the leading causes of death in both men and women in America), but it depletes your immune system, rendering it unable to adequately protect you from outside attacks from viruses and bacteria, leaving you susceptible to a host of even more problems.

Stress can come in many forms, and one form can always lead into the next, be it physical, or environmental. By identifying what stress looks like in your own body, then you can take the first steps to thwart its negative effects and being prepared for any type of stressful situation.

Simple tools to both identify and fight stress:

● When things get out of hand, try to bring your focus to your breath, even just for a few minutes. An easy way to do this by simply counting your breath for 1 minute. Then move to 5 minutes, then 10. Slowly, you can build up your practice and discover other forms of breathwork that are more advanced. This is often the saving grace for people under any sort of strain, especially in moments of high-stress.

● Animal therapy is a powerful tool, and one that I am a strong proponent of. I believe that humans need more animal interaction, always. If adopting a dog or cat isn’t in your abilities, then find some friends with pets and ask to spend more time with them, or reach out to your local shelter and see if you can help walk the dogs. This is a great way to both volunteer your time and alleviate pressure—a win-win scenario!

● More time spent outdoors . Take a picnic, walk in the park, go hiking with a friend. Do anything that gets your body moving outside. It provides much-needed perspective and natural wonder. Trust me.

● This is one not too many people know about: make sure you get enough B  vitamins. Checking levels of all the B vitamins is important to assess deficiencies and see where you should be focused on supplementing. By ensuring you are getting the right amount of vitamin B, you’re facilitating overall brain health which is vital to stress reduction. Do more research on the importance of B vitamins and check with your doctor to check your levels.

● Let it go. Sure, easier said than done, but once you learn to not sweat the small stuff, or even let go of a longtime grudge or issue, you’ll unlock the priceless key to living an anxiety-free life. A calm brain is a calm life.. The next time you find yourself dwelling or fuming over a situation out of your control, try repeating this matra: the things that are in the past should remain in the past. Then count your breath, and see if that doesn’t help your mood.

● Listen to more Mozart. Studies show that Mozart can help heal and sharpen the brain. The different range of frequencies helps mobilize the brain into focus and reason. Music heals, after all. I like to listen to Mozart at least once a week, even if I don’t consider myself stressed. It’s part of my mental health regimen. Find your checklist, commit to it daily or weekly, and I promise you’ll find some of the secrets to living a stress-free and happier lifestyle.

Instagram: @DoctorRahiMD
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www.doctorrahi.com

Dr. Rahi has a clinic in Beverly Hills that has changed life physically and emotionally. She is a known name in the field of aesthetics, integrative and anti-aging medicine in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. Her experience and the number of successful cases precedes her image. She has the reputation of an innovator whose mission is to build perfect solutions that carry both cosmetic rejuvenation and inner health.

For her patients, she has given them hope and confidence through modern services. Her patients come from all over the world to get treatments including:

  • Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine
  • Fillers, Botox, PDO Threads
  • Innovative Radio Frequency Treatments
  • Vaginal Rejuvenation
  • Integrative Functional Medicine
  • Supplements, IV Drips, Blood Testing
  • Hormone Therapy