health Archives | Winstead Wandering

Essentials for When You’re Sick

October 23, 2015 by Abby

Not feeling well sucks, but there are a few products out there that can, literally, help ease your pain. Here are some essentials for when you’re sick.

I hate to be sick. I hate it. And maybe that sounds obvious, because who really likes to be ill? But I hate losing sleep due to a sore throat or congestion, I hate calling in sick to work, and I hate the way missing one day of school throws off my lesson plans for the whole week. Most of all, I hate feeling yucky.

I woke up Monday feeling just that way, though, and I knew this week wasn’t going to allow room for me to lounge in bed. As much as I wanted to spend quality time at home with my favorite sweatshirt and a bottle of Dayquil, I had a field trip to chaperon, a playoff softball game to cheer at, and an awesome economics game to introduce my students to. Sick time didn’t factor in.

Over the years, I’ve learned there are a few things I consider essentials for when you’re sick. Products to take as much unpleasantness out of the situation as possible; products to minimize down time and get you back at it. These are my favorite products to keep around when I’m sick.

Essentials for When You’re Sick

Kleenex Cool Touch Tissues

I stock two different kinds of tissues in my house. The first kind is regular tissues, for regular nose-blowing and face-wiping. I also keep these tissues on hand, and we call them sick tissues. When you’re sick and wiping your nose every ten minutes, ordinary tissues don’t cut it. It doesn’t take long for them to leave your nose feeling raw and abused.

These Kleenex are magical. They feel, literally, cool and soothing against your nose when you seem to be blowing and wiping it nonstop. Keep these guys on hand for sick days and, I promise, your nose will thank you.

Throat Coat Tea

J and I aren’t always big into drinking hot tea. We go through phases where I’ll make us each a cup in the evenings, but then we’ll go through periods of time when I don’t. As soon as my throat starts to hurt, the first thing I reach for is Throat Coat tea.

Tea, by its nature, is soothing because it’s hot. In addition, this formula includes fancy roots and herbs that are intended to settle your throat. The taste isn’t bad; I much prefer it to any sort of liquid medicine. And, yeah, I typically add a little sugar or honey to mine to sweeten it up, but the benefits are still there.

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5 favorite beauty products under $10

February 23, 2015 by Abby

Those who know me are probably perplexed. “What business does she have writing a post about beauty products?”

It’s true. I don’t wear much makeup, my hair is pretty low maintenance, and I don’t use any fancy creams or serums. I’m going to suggest, though, that my no frills beauty routine makes me that much more qualified to write this post. If I only use a handful of products every day, each one must be pretty special to make the cut.

So even though I don’t spend too much time on my hair and makeup, I do know what products I like, and I’ve tried several different brands of most of those products, searching for the best.

fiber mascara

I’m pretty sure I originally ordered this product by accident. I didn’t mean to add it to my cart from my phone, but then I forgot to remove it and checked out the next day. Best mistake ever. I love what this mascara does to my eyelashes. I’ve never worn false lashes, but I would guess this is as close to those as you can get with a mascara. I think I have pretty average lashes; they’re definitely there, but they need help. This mascara makes them look longer and fuller than any other brand I’ve tried (and I’ve tried a lot of different brands).

Note: the mascara works by attaching tiny little fibers to your lashes. For this reason, I would recommend not using it on your lower lashes, to avoid getting the fibers in your eyes. Also, as the reviews on the product suggest, you should follow up the fiber mascara with a coat or two of your regular mascara, to seal in the fibers.

coconut oil

Maybe this scenario is familiar to you: I didn’t have great skin in high school. I never had acne, but I struggled with breakouts and never could find a product or a skin care routine that cleared things up. My mom would say, “it’s your teenage hormones; you’ll grow out of it.” Fast forward through college and beyond. I never really grew out of it. My skin got much better, and there were times it even looked great, but breakouts were never completely behind me.

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5 non-medicinal quick fixes for a headache

February 6, 2015 by Abby

Headaches are kind of a pain (see what I did there?). I get a few every month and, at the risk of over-sharing, they seem to closely follow my “cycle” if you know what I mean.

When a headache strikes, most of us don’t have the luxury of dropping everything and holing up in a dark room with a cool cloth. But sometimes, for whatever reason, we want to avoid over-the-counter pills. Maybe, like me, you just try to avoid pharmaceuticals if there’s a non-medicinal alternative that’s just as easy and just as fast. Maybe you’re allergic. Maybe you don’t have access to medicine.

Whatever your reason for seeking alternate solutions, here are five that have been successful for me in getting rid of a headache.

Note: I am not a doctor, nor have any of these statements been evaluated by a doctor. These are just the remedies that have been successful for me.

1. drink a coke

Drinking a Coke gives you a blast of caffeine and sugar. Sometimes a headache can be caused by a lack of caffeine (lack might be the wrong word, but if your body is used to getting caffeine but doesn’t, it certainly thinks it’s lacking), which is why over-the-counter headache medicines contain it. Sometimes your body can use a little sugar, too, which makes Coke a one-two punch.

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