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The Five Steps to Getting Your Baby to Sleep through the Night

If your baby or toddler is having trouble sleeping through the night, the first thing you should know is… you’re not alone! Studies show that up to 30% of babies have sleep problems, and that 75% of parents would like to change their babies’ sleep habits.

The good news is that there are some quick and easy things you can do – starting tonight – to help your little one starting sleeping all through the night… and taking long, restful naps during the day!

So, as promised, here they are: The Five Steps to Getting Your Baby to Sleep through the Night!

Step 1: Choose an early bedtime.

The best time to put your baby or toddler to bed is sometime between 6 and 8 o’clock in the evening. This ensures that your child will be able to get a solid 11-13 hours of sleep during the night. (And yes… that is how much sleep children should be getting every night up until the age of about 10.)

Step 2: Put your child to sleep in the same place every night.

Whether your child has a room of their own or shares a room with parents or siblings, it’s important that you put your son or daughter to sleep in the same place every night (and for naps during the day as much as possible.) Putting your child to bed in a familiar place lets them know they are safe and that they are in a place where sleep is expected of them.

Step 3: Create a predictable bedtime routine.

Consistency and predictability are really important to babies and toddlers. When they know what to expect at bedtime, it makes it *much* easier for them to make the transition from waking to sleeping – and that’s why creating a bedtime routine is so important!

A good example of a bedtime routine might be something like this:

6:20 p.m. Bath time
6:35 p.m. Put on pyjamas
6:40 p.m. Nursing or bottle (NOTE: Do NOT let your child fall asleep while feeding!)
6:55 p.m. Story or songs
7:00 p.m. into crib or bed

Your bedtime routine shouldn’t take more than about 45 minutes, and it’s VERY important that the routine is the same every single night. The repetition and predictability are what let your child know that he or she will soon be expected to fall asleep.

Step 4: Put your baby to bed AWAKE!

If you’ve been rocking, nursing, or otherwise soothing your baby to sleep, this is going to seem like a tough one… but it’s actually the most important step! It’s only by letting your baby fall asleep WITHOUT your help at bedtime that he or she can learn the skills necessary to stay asleep through the night.

Step 5: If your baby wakes up during the night, wait a few minutes before intervening.

Everyone – babies and adults alike – will actually wake up several times every night. For most adults, these wakings are so brief that we don’t even remember them the next morning. However, many babies will immediately start to fuss or cry when they wake up.

This is simply because they haven’t learned how to fall asleep on their own. If a baby has been nursed or rocked to sleep at bedtime since birth, it’s not surprising that they wouldn’t know how to fall asleep independently. The good news is that many babies can figure out how to get back to sleep within just a few minutes of waking up in the night!

If your child continues to fuss or cry for more than a few minutes, you’ll want to go in and offer some comfort, but it’s important to let your child do the work of falling back to sleep. You can speak softly to your child and do some gentle rubbing or patting, but you should avoid picking your child up and rocking or nursing back to sleep.

So there you have it… the 5 most important things you need to know about getting your child to sleep through the night. Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that every child is a little different – there’s no “magic formula” that will work 100% of the time for every baby!

My passion (and my profession) is helping parents like you develop customized plans for solving child sleep problems, so if you have any questions about what you’ve just read, please feel free to get in touch!

All the best and Simply trust your baby 🙂

Elena Werner, HealthyLux passionate contributor

Elena’s Sleep Champions

HealthyLux October theme – Get some sleep

Sleepless Autumn

It’s back to the grind, whether it’s work or school. Returning from a sunny, relaxing summer holiday and stepping into a cold, wet and windy autumn can be depressing. All the hassles and frenetic activities have returned. With all this chaos comes a stressful environment.

We go back to our usual routine, which is tiring. Nonetheless, this is our life. So, at the end of the day, when we finish dinner, get the kids tucked into bed and finally have a few moments for ourselves we find it hard to put the day behind us as there is always something left unfinished. There is not enough time in the day to get everything done.

Now it’s time to get ready for bedtime. “Oh, I need to check my messages one last time.” “I forgot to get the report finished for tomorrow.” “Did I remember to take the clothes out of the dryer?” All of these unfinished things are going through our heads.

How are we going to relax and fall asleep if we have all these thoughts going around in our minds?

Well, it’s time to take “me time” and learn to take these moments to step back, forget about your busy day and all the things you have not quite finished, and relax. I know that is hard to do. We are so used to going, going, going. But it tires us out. People are not robots. We cannot be running and working 24 hours a day. We need our time to relax and get a good night’s sleep to be ready for the next day.

How do we do that? First, make a cut-off time for you to shut off your phones, computers and the television. Keep your electronic devices out of your bedroom. Dim the lights in your room and allow yourself to fall into a more calming atmosphere. Sit quietly and sip a hot chamomile, peppermint or valerian tea, or if you are not a tea drinker, a warm cup of milk with honey. Take a nice long shower or a warm, lavender bath.

Now, when it’s time to go to bed, lie down quietly and relax. Put all the business of the day behind you. Don’t think about all the things you need to do tomorrow. That is for tomorrow, not right now.

Meditation, mindfulness and gentle EFT tapping are great tools for relaxation at bedtime. Tune into your breathing and tune into your body. Listen to your breathing, feel your breathing as it slows down and your chest goes up and down. The more you tune into and focus on your body and breathing, the more relaxed you will be. Before you know it, you will be fast asleep and energized the next morning.

Natalie Bachiri – Tap Into Your Happiness

HealthyLux Passionate Contributor

HealthyLux October theme – Get some sleep

7 Top Tips for a Good Sleep and More Energy

Do you sometimes have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Are you waking up in the middle of the night or before your alarm goes off? It’s important for you to understand what’s causing your sleep struggles, and use tips like the ones below to prepare for a restful night.

Getting enough sleep has a positive domino effect on our health; our bodies are in restore and rejuvenation mode while we’re sleeping; this can help us heal from illnesses and reduce aches and pains in our joints or muscles, for example. Deep sleep also helps reduce stress and anxiety, so we have more energy the next day.

And speaking of the next day, have you ever noticed that you’re hungrier when you’re tired? Research shows our appetite can increase up to 25% when we’re feeling exhausted, and many of us often turn to caffeine or sugar (or both) to give us a boost of energy. And that begins a roller-coaster of bursts of energy followed by energy crashes. That’s right – not getting enough sleep can actually cause us to gain weight or make it harder for us to lose weight.

Tonight, why not start some of these healthy sleep rituals?

Give yourself a bedtime. What’s your bedtime? Just like kids, we benefit when we have a consistent sleep time, because our bodies anticipate and respond to routine.
Close the kitchen. Make your last meal two to three hours before bedtime, so your body has a chance to digest the food. Digestion is a lot of physical activity – not what you want to be doing while you sleep!
Shut down electronics 30 minutes before bedtime. Turn off the TV, the laptop, the tablet, the Xbox, your smartphone… did I miss anything? According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), all of these devices can hinder your ability to sleep. One reason, explains the NSF, is that these devices emit blue light, “which our brains interpret as daylight. Blue light actually suppresses melatonin, a hormone that supports circadian rhythm and that should begin to increase when you are preparing for sleep.” So when you’re on your tablet or phone at night, your brain thinks it’s daytime. That can make it harder to fall asleep.
Set your smartphone to the “do not disturb” setting. In addition to the blue light, sending nighttime emails, scrolling through Facebook or posting on Instagram right before bedtime might be stressing you out or making your mind race. You’re not alone – NSF research shows that 71 percent of people sleep either holding their smartphone (!), having it in bed with them, or having it on their nightstand. Instead, place your smartphone where it is not within arm’s reach, and set it to “do not disturb” for the seven to eight hours of sleep you should be getting. Note: if you don’t want to miss a call from certain people – say you have elderly parents or kids at college – you can set your smartphone to allow calls and texts from select contacts. Everything else can wait until morning!
Create a relaxing ritual. Very few people fall asleep the minute their head hits the pillow. Instead, you may want to create some rituals that tell your body you’re shutting down for the night. Try a warm bath with lavender or Serenity essential oil. You can also listen to some relaxing music or do some deep breathing, restorative yoga, and/or meditation. My favourite meditation is Louise Hays evening meditation. You can also try the app called Headspace or Calm. Try the 10-minute meditations to help you relax before bedtime.
Dark = Deep. How many little electronic lights are glowing in your bedroom once the lamps and overhead lights are off? The darker you can make your room, the more restorative your sleep can be, because the darkness releases the sleep hormone, melatonin. Cover up those little lights with black electric tape or turn them face down or toward the wall. You might also try light-blocking curtains if light streams in from outside.
Help your hormones with a sleep mask. If your room is still bright, try wearing a sleep mask. It creates the total darkness our bodies need to release melatonin and get a healthier night’s sleep. I always recommend the softest sleep mask you can find, with natural fibers. It may not be attractive, but if it helps you sleep, you will feel and look your best with more energy. And that’s a beautiful thing!

I’d love to hear how your sleep improves with these tips, and which ones are most helpful to you. Feel free to share the comments below – just not right before bedtime! Sending you sweet dreams!

Anne Louise Littlejohn, HealthyLux passionate contributor

Owner at Get Real with Anne Louise – Health Coaching in Luxembourg

HealthyLux October theme – Get some sleep

Quality Sleep : How sophrology can help.

Do you feel irritable, overwhelmed, unable to concentrate or stressed on a regular basis because of lack of sleep?

In 1942, less than 8% of the population was trying to survive on six hours or less sleep a night; in 2017 almost one in two people*. And an adult sleeping only 6,75 hours a night would be predicted to live only to their early 60s without medical intervention.*

Lack of sleep can affect your overall health and make you prone to more serious medical conditions: it directly affects your capacities to learn, memorize, focus and concentrate, your energy levels, regulation of vital functions like glycaemia, toxins’ elimination, stimulation of your immune system…

Because sleep problems are daytime problems, sophrology offers great tools to help you recuperate and de-stress throughout the day and sleep better at night.

The deeply restorative state of relaxation when the alpha brains waves kick in to provide a sense of well-being is at the core of any sophrology practice. Learning to reach this state of relaxation is in itself a great way to recuperate, rest and rebalance: this state is the one that you naturally go through twice a day when you transition from a sleep state to a waking state and vice versa. This state of relaxation is achieved with your eyes closed, sitting in a comfortable position and following the gentle voice of your Sophrologist. With regular practice, you can learn to achieve this deeply restorative state of relaxation within 5 minutes and from there you can work on a wide array of issues concerning your trouble sleeping.

Sophrology breathing exercises can also be a powerful ally to help you get some rest, whether it’s a quick nap or a good night’s sleep. The sensation of calm you gain from breathing and from dynamic relaxation exercises can give you more energy and also a feeling of empowerment to face and solve your sleeping issues : you grow more confident in connecting more with what you feel and listening to your needs , you learn to use the breath to calm and focus your mind while relaxing your nervous system.

Other specific sophrology exercises consist in replacing a negative conditioned response to sleep (most often unconsciously related to your bedroom, bed, your sleep routine, etc.) by a positive one. Practice and repetition are keys to reprogram yourself. But sometimes a few sessions are enough to regain a healthy sleep.

By using simple and efficient tools to access consciousness and grow your inner resources through relaxation, meditation, visualisation and body awareness, sophrology provides a practical, simple, and natural way to either solve sleeping issues or simply learn to better recuperate and optimize your energy level.

Individual sessions are best to tackle specific personal issues. Group sessions are a good way to learn primary exercises that you can use in your daily life.

For more information concerning sophrology and sleep issues : Diane Welfringer Lapaque, certified sophrologist with specialization on sleep, member of ‘’Pole Sommeil CEAS’’ . www.socolibris.com

*Ref. Quoted by Matthew Walker, director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Le sommeil, bien dormir enfin. Dr Luc Audouin, les essentiels Milan.

Nadège Ravoux – HealthyLux Passionate Contributor

HealthyLux October theme – Get some sleep

Take advantage of the Quiet – Explore Luxembourg

As anyone can tell, August can feel like a ghost town in Luxembourg. As with anything there are advantages to the quiet – take advantage of it. Take advantage of the quiet of August and reap the benefits.

While there may not be many people here, there are plenty of activities around the city and around the region. Take advantage of all there is to see. Have you been to a farmer’s market or visited the wine countries of Luxembourg, France or Germany? Have you walked around the city or visited the Grund?

Here are just a few areas of Luxembourg that you may not even know about. Take advantage of the quiet of August to explore more than just the city www.visitluxembourg.com

Mullerthal or Luxembourg’s Little Switzerland (Eastern Region)

Mullerthal owes its name to its hilly landscape reminiscent of Switzerland. The Mullerthal is a unique biotope of rock formations that are as beguiling as they are surprising.

Along with Echternach, Luxembourg’s oldest, historic city, there is the Mullerthal Trail which is 112 kilometers of magnificent valley trails. The footpaths of Mullerthal will lead you through fields and forests into the heart of a natural setting. Besides demanding hikes, the Mullerthal offers a network of pleasant walks amidst breathtaking panoramas.

Moselle (East/Southern Region)

The Moselle River is one of the major rivers of Luxembourg. It runs along the border with Germany. Moselle lends its name to one of the most beautiful valleys of Luxembourg, famous for its wineries and medieval towns. The valley of the Moselle is famous for its steep hills and vineyards. It is also the birthplace of Luxembourg wines. Hikes, such as the wine route, are a great way to discover this region.

The Moselle region is great for water sports and hikers. Swimming, water skiing or Nordic walking are just some of the activities on and around the River Moselle, as well as river cruises.

Guttland (Central / West Region)

Just outside the city you can find an enchanting setting of charming villages with old farm houses, imposing castles and beautiful natural landscapes. There are hundreds of kilometers of hiking and biking. A highlight of the area is the Valley of the Seven Castles, which extends over 24 kilometers and includes the castles of Mersch, Schoenfels, Koerich, Hollenfels and Septfontaines as well as the two castles of Ansembourg. Medieval festivals and other events breathe new life into the old castle compounds.

Ardennes (Northern Region)

While the Ardennes is mostly known for it’s medieval, historical castles of Vianden, Bourscheid and Esch-sur-Sûre, there are also the nature parks including Naturpark Our and Naturpark Öewersaue. Traditional markets, outdoor concerts and medieval festivals are reviving this fascinating medieval time.

Land of the Red Rocks (Southern Region)

The Land of the Red Rocks owes its name to the red ore of the steel industry in Luxembourg, back in the industrial era. Today, the former mining area has established a new identity through combining ancient and new technologies. The region encompasses the major commercial cities including Esch-sur-Alzette, Differdange and Dudelange. Modern and trendy, these cities have a young and dynamic atmosphere. Street theater, rock festivals and concert halls form the cultural aspect. The region’s nature reserves have several mountain bike trails.

Take a day trip, go hiking, take a walk in the park, visit the castles, lakes and hills of Luxembourg and beyond. This is a great time to unwind, take some nice quiet breathes and focus on you and all that is around you. You just might be surprised at how much there is to offer if you just open yourself up and look beyond your everyday life in Luxembourg.

Natalie Bachiri

Owner at Tab into Your Happiness and HealthyLux Passionate Contributor

HealthyLux August theme – Anyone in Luxembourg?

Do you tend to get out of your healthy routine?

Anyone in Luxembourg who is going on holiday this summer and tend to get out of their healthy routines?

As a lifestyle coach I meet a lot of active, dynamic and hard working people throughout the year. I love meeting them and working with them all.

I think you are all amazing.

What a commitment you are showing week after week! And this commitment has given a lot of good results.

But what surprises me among a lot of people, is when they are off on holiday, all healthy and good routines seem to be forgotten.

I keep asking myself WHY?

Ok, I admit it, I am a health freak. But I always aim and try to find the balance in life. Sometimes it takes so little to maintain good and healthy routines.

To me, going on holiday doesn’t mean eating unhealthy and being lazy. To me holiday means being able to do what I love. I fully understand that we have different priorities and passions. But you are just as important as your family!

Don’t stop doing what’s important to you just because it’s holiday and you have your family around you. You aren’t being selfish! Take some precious YOU TIME! Remember that! Don’t give up yourself and what’s important to you. You deserve to take care of yourself and live healthy.

The holidays are a great opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends, celebrate life, to be grateful, and reflect on what’s important. They are also a time to appreciate the gift of health. Without our health we are nothing. I think we can all agree to that! Life is a constant work in progress and nothing comes for free. Be grateful for the people in your life, for having the choice to continue staying healthy and being able to travel, move and live!

So my question to you is… Would you like to continue healthy routines on your holiday? If yes, then you should continue reading…. I will try to tell you how you easily can maintain some of the good habits you have throughout the year. But first we need to find the obstacles. Is it hard because you aren’t cooking yourself? Or maybe you don’t have a gym in the area? Is it because you have your kids around? There can be many reasons and I hope I can help you to find some solutions to keep up your healthy habits or even start some!

NOTHING WOULD MAKE ME HAPPIER!

Firstly, it’s always easier if you do your healthy routines because you want to not because you have to. Good health and healthy routines don’t have an expire date and living healthy isn’t boring and without joy and fun. You have to trust me on that one. You will feel happier, more energetic and better about yourself. Good routines that both you and your family and friends will benefit from. So let’s start the journey towards a healthy and active holiday. Are you ready?

TRAVELLING

Chances are, you’ll be traveling during the holiday season to reconnect with family and friends or take a much-needed vacation. While holiday travel can be great for your psyche, it can take a hefty toll on your health. The journey itself can be filled with stress. Traffic, flight delays, jet lag can cause a disruption in your sleep schedule and eating habit. All of these can lower your immune system’s ability to fight off cold and flu germs, making you more prone to getting sick. Once you arrive at your destination, you’ll likely face large festive meals combined with a lot of sitting and schmoozing, not great for your waistline. Having a healthy start to your holiday might higher the odds for continuing staying healthy so with a smart action plan, you might be able to clear some of these hurdles to stay healthy already from day one!

You will always travel with hand luggage. Make sure you are prepared and have easy access to your bag filled with peeled carrots, apples, nuts, almonds, dried brown apricots… These delicious snacks will keep you off the crisps and chocolate bars in case of pro-longed travels or cravings. Airport food isn’t always unhealthy. There are so many airports around the globe that serves healthy options like crispy salads, grilled vegetables and chicken, freshly pressed juices. And when you get your not-always-so-delicious-airplane-food, avoid the pasta, bread and dessert and replace it with the healthy snack you have in your bag! Trust me, nothing beats the feeling of starting your holiday the healthy way already from day one!

And for the sleep… Let’s hope for quiet children, busy reading, playing with the little surprises you have in your bag and that will that nicely fall asleep in the seat next to you.

EATING

Being a guest in someone’s house isn’t easy. Normally we don’t do the cooking but if there are certain food you don’t eat due to allergies, intolerances or digestive issues, please tell them. I have to say it’s so much easier to cook when my guests tell me what they can’t eat rather than not eating what I cook or eat something they shouldn’t just because they are being polite… Offer yourself to cook one evening. You can easily set the standard and show what kind of food you appreciate by doing that.

Renting a house and being able to cook for yourself makes it so much easier to stay healthy. A lot of villages in Europe have local farmers market one day a week. It’s such a treat to go, explore, smell and taste the local greens, olives, cheeses, fruits, nuts and take it home to prepare something good for you and your family.

Before you book your hotel for the holiday, pay attention to their kitchen. You can come to a hotel having buffets filled with cakes, meat, pasta, bread, but nothing really nutritious. Other hotels might have a wide selection of all your favorite salads, vegetables, freshly grilled fish and chicken, lovely fruit desserts… These hotels are heaven for waist lines and hearts.

As I said, hotel food and buffets can be fantastic or very frustrating! Just remember, whatever you put on your plate, you will eat… Very often the joy and satisfaction of eating that cake is very short!

When going to a restaurant, check the menu before sitting down. Make sure they have something healthy for you. Many of us always put our children first. Great, but I think most restaurants might be able to come up with a portion of pasta, rice, some meatballs or grilled chicken for the little and picky ones.

If there is anything I can recommend you to avoid on your holidays, my number one is fried food! Don’t order yourself one and don’t eat your children’s. Another one is the ice cream… Do we need an ice cream per day? Probably not! A big class of water from a jar filled with cucumber, menthe and lemon is absolutely refreshing and delicious and so much better than an ice cream. Not to mention all the sweet and ripe melons, strawberries, cherries! That is really yummy for tummy!

FITNESS

A healthy body mainly starts in the kitchen, no doubt about that! But fitness gives so many other important benefits to our physical and mental health.

Many of us don’t have time to do a lot of fitness during our stressful and busy daily life. Then holidays are the best time to get started. And routines that are started during holiday are so much easier to continue doing when we are back to daily stressful life. The word routine is the clue. Everything that is a routine and habit, we very often do without having the endless discussions with ourselves… should, shouldn’t, should, shouldn’t…

I meet a lot of people who keep going to the gym week after week throughout the year and when holiday comes…. ZERO. All that effort and then you stop!

I try to understand but I don’t. Don’t you hate starting all over again after the holiday? Don’t you feel better when you have done your sports? Did you know that so little effort is needed to maintain your muscles and condition?

During summer we tend to go to warm destinations. There are multiple activities to do. Again, when choosing your holiday hotel, make sure they have a fitness room, they might even have fitness classes you can join. Or maybe try something new. Try yoga, learn how to windsurf, powerwalk along the beach, swim, go for a run in the morning, rent bikes and explore the area. So many exciting things that will widen your horizon and add so much more to your holiday. You will love it. To those of you who are used to go to the gym or would like to have a small fitness program to have a home, in your hotel room, next to the pool, in the garden, I have added a small 20 –minute program to my website. No weights are needed, it doesn’t take much time and you can do it whenever and wherever.

Give it a try. You won’t regret it. And you will feel your body saying thank you for taking good care of it.

I hope I have now started a few ideas in your head. And hopefully you will give some of them a try over the holidays. It’s not complicated, it’s not difficult, it’s only your choice and decision! The feeling of staying healthy, fit and active is just wonderful and keeps the after holiday blues away.

I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday!

Cecilie Rigneus

Owner at Lifestyle Optimiser and HealthyLux Passionate Contributor

HealthyLux August theme – Anyone in Luxembourg?

Anyone in Lux?

Hello – anybody out there!??!

Summer at long last and suddenly the country seems deserted, don’t you think? For me personally, I cherish this time of year and intentionally schedule my holiday calendar to ensure I get to reap all the benefits of hot summer days (hopefully!), no traffic, and beautifully undisturbed quiet time to just read, relax and kick back !

To be honest though, I didn’t always feel this way. When I first arrived in the summer of 2008, my sentiments and reaction to the quietness of it all was completely different. Here I was, adventuring into new and unknown territory and was ready to ‘hit the ground running’ as they say.. but oh NO – it was August in this little sleepy hollow town and I couldn’t as much as open a bank account, or arrange to have my phone and internet connected. You’d simply have to wait for September to roll around before you considered achieving anything like that. How does the country survive with such a mentality I thought?

Jump forward almost 10 years and here I am relishing in it all, having adopted the more European lifestyle, letting August just roll on by without a care in the world. Want something done – talk to me in September when my brain has reawakened!

But that of course, is on the business front. Lets move on to the more social scene shall we? I’m not one to be hitting the clubs and exploring the night scene, so tell me… is my perception true? Does everyone literally pack up the family and head to greener pastures for ALL of August, just leaving the very few behind to relish in the great expanse of the country all to ourselves? Or are there more people and things to do than one is led to believe?

I’ll be sitting on my back porch, swinging in my hammock, waiting for your comments! And while I do – here’s my list of simple things to do for August;

– Rise & Shine with the sun – get up early and embrace the quiet

– Read a book in the hammock

– Cook and eat outside as often as you can – its BBQ time

– Go for a bike ride

– Rose S’il Vous Plait

Sabrina Foley – HealthyLux Passionate Contributor

HealthyLux August theme – Anyone in Luxembourg?

Summer is here!

Now that days are long and the sun shines upon us, what better activity to do than to go outside and enjoy nature and life! Everything is blossoming and everyone seems to be in a great mood enjoying the warm weather.

Summer is here! One of the best things to make the most out of these long days is to enjoy nature and do outdoor sports. No matter if it is going for a swim, hiking, biking (for both acitivities Luxembourg is great!) or simply going for a walk or enjoying the afternoon in the park, maybe with your little ones – there are so many options on what to do, everyone of us will find the right thing.

All through summer there will also be MammaFit classes taking place in various parks in Luxembourg in order for mums to be or for mums with their little ones to enjoy the sun and at the same time to do some quality exercise. Feeling great is guaranteed! Meeting other future or new moms while spending some good time with the babies as well!

Check the schedule on http://www.mammafit.lu (English and French)

Join the fun and spend some quality time with your baby while you do something useful for yourself !

Martina Berthoux – MammaFit Team and HealthyLux Passionate Contributor

Bikini Season is upon us! Are you ready?

My mother in law loves taking lots of pictures of us on holiday, including pictures of me in my bikini by the pool! I still remember the first time we went on holiday together and she was taking photos of me. I didn’t like it one bit. She likes “in the action” photos, so most of the time I didn’t even know she was taking them. I had to reassure that she would not post any of them on Facebook!! She promised she wouldn’t. I actually just wanted to burn (delete) them!

This year however, things were different. In March we went on holiday together and again she was taking lots of pictures. This time, when going through them I wasn’t all grossed out about seeing me in a bikini!

YAY!

First of all, what a terrible thing to think about myself! Is it really that bad to look at my own body? Well yes it is! And I am sure I am not alone! But really! Would we say that we are grossed out about seeing our best friend in a bikini if she is a little bulky and overweight? I recon not!

Second of all, did my body really change that much? I have lost some weight but I am surely not skinny and I do not look like the woman in the picture.

So what has changed?

My confidence and how I view myself has changed! All the holistic work I am doing for myself is really working! I am so happy that I am finally accepting and loving my body the way it is.

So can you! Here is the good news!

If you are unable to look at yourself in the mirror and hate seeing photos of yourself, especially in a bikini, you too can start to love yourself, just the way you are! You are worthy of love and you are beautiful!

Here are 5 small things you can do start loving your body:

Take a yoga class. Doing yoga forces you to connect with your body in a different way and you will start to see your body differently.
Get to know Louise Hay! Click here to listen to one of her many lectures or guided meditations you can find on youtube.
Schedule something good for yourself at least once a week. It can be a massage or other treatment, try something new like Reiki, go for a walk, reconnect with a friend – anything that makes you happy! Go on, schedule it in now!
Eat more vegetables! When you fuel your body with delicious nutrients, vitamins and minerals, your body will glow and you will start feeling different.
Stop comparing yourself to others! You are and look the way you look and that’s the end of it! Cherish yourself! You are worthy!

Oh dear, there are so many more, it is hard to choose just 5! Be good to yourself! How do you expect other people to love you if you don’t love yourself? You can start now!

Anne Louise Littlejohn, HealthyLux passionate contributor

Owner at GetReal.lu

Can One Have Holidays whilst Looking for A Job?

In today’s world we are connected to all sort of news no matter where we are located. As soon as we open the phone, e-mails and news feed start occupying our reality.

When looking for a new career opportunity, people are often glued into job boards checking every single possibility to apply for. The more one looks into something, the less we see what is actually happening. We get used to seeing the job advertisements, they all start looking like one another. We become critical to apply as we start focusing on skills that we do not have. When this happens, it is time to pull back and look at the whole picture. It even might require a break.

“WHAT? I cannot afford to have a holiday without a job!”

Holiday does not necessarily mean going abroad. Holiday can mean just turning off from what one is normally doing. If you have been looking for a job and you start to be tired of doing that; have little bit of time off. Be conscious that you are taking time off. It is your decision not to read your e-mails and messages through social media platforms. Switch it all off.

The break does not have to be weeks and months. It can be couple of days. But remember to be conscious about it. You might need to put your phone down. There is actually a whole world out there, if we look around.

Holiday can mean walking on bear feet on the grass, reading a book and sleeping until late. All this can be done also by staying home.

When was the last time you went into a library? Holiday means doing something different than you usually do.

You define what is different and what you wish to do. If your daily routine is based on looking for a new challenge by using lap top and phone, your holiday is being without those two machines.

Be brave and leave them behind. After your time off you can share your experience on social media about your adventure without your electronic equipment or maybe you choose not to do so.

Kristel Weinreich – Lumo Pearls

HealthyLux July theme – Holiday time