November/December 2024

Rest and Reset

In this issue you'll find ideas to help you clarify where you truly want to focus your time and energy — plus strategies to honor your needs and set clear, compassionate boundaries.

On the Cover

Amber Lyon on Becoming Naturally Magnetic

Author and self-development coach Amber Lyon on the principles that guided her through dark times — and how we can all find a path to self-discovery, courage, and joy.

By Jill Patton, NBC-HWC

Attitude/Mindset Emotional Intelligence

Behind the Scenes With Amber Lyon (Video)

Go behind the scenes with author and self-development coach Amber Lyon as she reflects on how to be who you truly are.

By Experience Life Staff

Attitude/Mindset Healthy Habits/Goal Setting

Features

Why Resting During Your Workout Matters

Optimizing how you rest during your workout can help you reach your fitness goals. Here's why.

By Andrew Heffernan

Fitness Tips

Why Quality Sleep Matters — and What to Do When You’re Not Getting It

The healing power of sleep may elude us for any number of reasons — including insomnia. Learn why quality sleep is so essential and how to get more of it.

By Laine Bergeson

Sleep

a woman breathes deeply with her eyes closed.

How to Reset Your Vagus Nerve — and Find Calm

Stimulating the vagus nerve can relieve stress and anxiety, as well as depression, physical pain, inflammation, digestive distress, insomnia, and more. Discover tools and strategies that make relief accessible to anyone.

By Mo Perry

Stress

Real Food

4 Hearty Plant-Forward Recipes for the Holidays

These entrées bring plants to the center of your holiday table.

By Maddie Augustin

Cooking & Food Holidays

What You Need to Know About Nitrates

Despite their bad reputation, these nitrogen-based compounds are a vital piece of a nutrient jigsaw puzzle. Our bodies need them to make nitric oxide, which plays a major role in how well we age.

By Catherine Guthrie

Nutrition Tips

7 Types of Processed Foods Worth Embracing

Not everything that comes in a box, can, or bag is unhealthy. These are some of minimally processed foods you may want to keep on hand.

By Rachel MacPherson

Cooking & Food Meal Planning & Prep

Real Fitness

How to Do Savasana

This deceptively simple yoga pose can help you reset and restore your body.

By Maggie Fazeli Fard

Mindfulness/Meditation Yoga

a woman performs a wall pilates sequence.

The Wall-Pilates Workout

No access to a Pilates reformer? Stretch and strengthen your body with these eight moves — simply using a wall as your prop.

By Nicole Radziszewski

At-Home Workouts Body-Weight Workouts

6 Tips to Wind Down After an Evening Workout

Exercising at night can leave you too amped up for sleep. These expert tips can help you relax.

By Sarah Tuff

Fitness Tips Recovery

How to Fall Better

Falling is inevitable, but you can minimize injury by with these tips, moves, and exercises.

By Lauren Bedosky

Active Aging Sports & Recreation

Real Life

a woman looks out the window while writing in a journal.

The Power of Self-Acceptance

Embracing yourself, just as you are, can help you get out of your own way.

By Henry Emmons, MD and Aimee Prasek, PhD

Attitude/Mindset Emotional Intelligence

What Is Reiki Healing?

This energy technique may help the body restore itself.

By Courtney Helgoe

Functional/Integrative Medicine

a woman looks at a castle on top of mountain.

5 Ways to Practice Humility

A Soto Zen teacher on how humility can create connection — with others and yourself.

By Ben Connelly

Emotional Intelligence Mindfulness/Meditation

Parenting Your Parents? Here are 10 Strategies to Help You Cope

Adult children often struggle with the role reversal that occurs as their parents age. Creating a strong support network and holding space for emotions can help ease the transition.

By Jon Spayde

Aging Parents Relationships

Well Informed

Why Do We Dream?: A Q&A With Neuroscientist Rahul Jandial

Can dreams help us solve problems? In his new book, This Is Why You Dream, neurosurgeon Rahul Jandial, MD, PhD explores the frontier of dream science to help us better understand our dreams — and the power they have to improve our lives.

By Katherine Reynolds Lewis

Sleep

a person puts tennis shoes on while sitting on her bed.

How Daily Movement Helps With Better Sleep

Physical activity during the day can lead to quality sleep, according to a recent study.

By Craig Cox

Fitness Tips Sleep

How Many Microplastic and Nanoplastic Particles Are in a Bottle of Water?

Higher than previously estimated, according to a recent study. Here's why that matters.

By Michael Dregni

Sustainability

a person eats a plant-based bowl of food.

Can a Plant-Based Diet Improve Health?

Yes, according to a recent study involving identical twins. Here's what the researchers discovered.

By Michael Dregni

Food Culture Nutrition Tips

Columns

From Dream to Reality

Bahram Akradi reflects on rediscovering your purpose and passion in life.

By Bahram Akradi

Columns

A Place Between

Experience Life's editor in chief on how to slow down and just be when life feels hectic.

By Jamie Martin

Stress

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