8 clear signs that you are mentally exhausted

 Mental exhaustion is a symptom of long-term stress. Because stress can sometimes last for weeks and months, the whole body has consequences.

When you are constantly engaged in work or activities that trigger stress, cortisol and adrenaline levels remain high for a long time.

Eventually, it begins to interfere with your body's normal functions.

How to recognize that you are mentally exhausted?

- You laugh less than usual, even in situations that are usually funny and fun.

- It seems to you that your feelings are dull, so the food does not have a special taste, the music does not move you, the massage does not give you pleasure and you constantly reach for black and gray clothes.

- You can not sleep, and you desperately need sleep.

- Socializing is difficult for you. When you are with friends or family, you feel that it is difficult to follow the conversations.

- Voices, sounds, and movements easily irritate you. You feel nervous.

- You are irritated by small things, such as waiting in line or talking on the phone for a long time.

- You are starting to feel claustrophobic.

- It is easier to cry in movies, sad news, and sentimental stories.

Can you overdo it with vitamins and what are the consequences?

 The best measure is moderation, and this also applies to taking vitamins and minerals and other supplements for better health. Can you overdo it and what are the consequences?

Here are some things to look out for, but be sure to consult your doctor before consuming:

Omega-3 fatty acids

These healthy fats are known to prolong life, but they are by no means good in large quantities. If you overdo it with the recommended daily dose, they upset the balance of immunity, so the body becomes incapable of just fighting infections and bacteria.

Vitamin C.

The vitamin we all drink "for a good morning." But if you overdose you can upset your digestion. Flatulence, pain, nausea, and vomiting are common symptoms if you take more than 2,000 mg daily. Of course, the dose depends on your age and your health.

Zinc

This mineral strengthens immunity and regulates the metabolism, but if you overdo it, you can cause several problems. Some of these are indigestion, dizziness, headaches, fatigue, sweating, and even hallucinations.

Iron

We know the problems with low iron, but what are the side effects if you overdo it? In that case, iron accumulates in various organs such as the heart and liver. Be careful not to consume more than 45mg of iron a day, but be sure to consult your doctor first for a safe dose, which is different for everyone.

Calcium

Calcium in large quantities usually attacks the kidneys first, and you do not want that. You can also get too much calcium through your daily diet, so be careful.

Note: These are general recommendations, but each body functions differently and faces different health conditions. Be sure to consult your doctor about whether and how much your daily dose of vitamins and other supplements should be.

A simple guide to delicate questions - what does the color of your menstrual cycle mean?

 You are probably not the first girl or woman to go "crazy" about the color of her menstrual cycle wondering if something is wrong.

Do not panic, not every menstrual cycle from the beginning to the end has a clear red color. After all, through this simple Instagram video you can find out the reason behind the different nuances of the cycle:

Dark brown or even black - the cycle begins or ends, the tissue is older and has reacted with oxygen.

Dark red color - the same as before, with the cycle becoming more abundant.

Strong red color - the cycle is heavy, and the blood is "new", the lining of the uterus quickly "breaks down".

Light (pale) red or pinkish color - light bleeding or small spots with minimal spillage.

Blood clots - the blood is solid or semi-solid. A sign of a very abundant cycle.

7 things your psychologist would like you to know

 The need for therapy does not mean that you are "crazy" ... You should not be ashamed to ask for help for fear that others will think of you as the first and basic rule.

Going to a psychologist used to be considered a taboo subject, but now it is quite normal.

When you have a problem, you should definitely seek help, because it is your psychologist who may know the secret to how to recover.

You need to relax in the process and build a relationship of trust with your psychologist. That's the key to getting the most out of your sessions.

Things your psychologist would like you to know:

The need for therapy does not mean that you are "crazy"

Therapy is a way to learn to deal better with your feelings and thoughts in a more effective way, says California psychologist and author Tina B. Tessina.

There should be no shame about mental health, whether you are diagnosed with depression or something else. You should not be ashamed to ask for help for fear that others will think of you.

You are stronger than you think

"Clients often see their weaknesses and the things they fail to do, but I see how much they struggle to carry out their daily activities and I see strengths in them.

The metaphor I use is that they are trying to go straight with a 100 kg backpack and I do not think they are thin. "Sometimes I help them realize that I know how much strength they need to get through the day," said Dr. Tesina.

Things can get better

"Sometimes I just want my clients to know that things can get better. An important concept in dealing with emotional pain is to get rid of the hopelessness that overwhelms them after a period of fighting the pain and finding no relief or improvement. "But they should not give up because I see clients whose improvement comes only after a few years."

But your psychologist can not "fix" you

The worst assumption is that psychologists can "fix" clients. Instead, there should be a partnership between the therapist and the client and it only works if both parties are actively involved in the process.

Psychologists know how to walk on the field but can not carry clients on their backs. The client must work and be part of the journey.

No topic is allowed

A good psychologist will make you trust him and feel like telling him absolutely everything.

Psychologists struggle too

A psychologist is an imperfect person with strengths and weaknesses, just like you.

"As a psychologist, I can tell the client how I feel, while I am in chaos and trying to sort out my life," says Tessina.

No, your psychologist will not judge you

If you are very critical of yourself, it will be difficult for you to understand that your psychologist will not judge you, even when you tell the most intimate secrets.

"It is most difficult for me to convince clients to believe that I am not judging them, as they judge themselves. "I do not want them to feel ashamed in front of me."

Dreams have a message - they reveal the hidden and repressed feelings of the person

 Every dream has a message for the dreamer. The dream is a royal path to integration. The dream is important communication with oneself and is the most spontaneous thing a person does. According to Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt theory, dreams are unfinished situations that offer us existential messages about our identity, current conflicts, and struggles within ourselves. They reveal feelings that are hidden and suppressed by the consciousness of the person. The dream is a reflection of the unconscious, in it, the human emotional truth appears. Man is the creator of his dreams and they are the most spontaneous thing he does. The dream is a royal path to integration. With sleep therapy, the person sees their projected and rejected parts of themselves and reintegrates them with the help of the therapist.

In Gestalt psychotherapy, dreams are not interpreted but brought to life. They are not translated into meaningful units using a symbolic conceptual system.

In Gestalt theory, the dreamer has a unique and personal symbolism that applies exclusively to him. The client brings the dream to "Here and Now", tells it, and experiences it again in the present, actualizes it.

All parts of the dream are fragments of the client and are explored piece by piece, starting with the most priority. Needs are ranked and manifested hierarchically depending on the importance to the client. Conflicts that are at the top of the hierarchy in the inner world of the person will constantly appear as repetitive dreams until they are processed and resolved.

Every dream carries a message for the dreamer, which should be read, he is important in communication with himself.

The therapist's job is not to interpret and interpret the dream, but to give direction to the important parts of it that the client avoids, suppresses.

The person projects his thoughts, feelings, words, and emotions on other characters in the dream or on an object in it. By entering the role of one of the parts in the dream, the client experiences research, experiences emotions, get new perspectives and awareness. Every part of the dream is personal to the dreamer, he creates it and it has meaning for him

For example, if a person dreams that someone is chasing him in a field, the therapist may suggest that he stop and start a dialogue with the persecutor and get the answers to the questions asked. Then, the client can enter the role of the persecutor and explore that position from which he will get a new perspective, new awareness, and discovery for himself.

Working with dreams in psychotherapy is a very interesting and creative process, through which you can get to know yourself, work on your integration, unfinished business, conflicts, and processes within yourself.

Sleep is a great tool for exploration, self-work, and personal growth and development, which is often and successfully used in the psychotherapeutic process.

Organic farms

 Organic farming (the terms "organic" or "organic" agriculture are also used) is a way of managing in accordance with natural cycles. This means that it is necessary to return to the ground what is taken from them. It is a special form of farming that is gaining importance. However, this is not just a form of farming, but a philosophy, a way of life and thinking. It represents one of the solutions to the ecological problems of the modern world, as it focuses on working together with nature and not against it. In both agriculture and animal husbandry, it emphasizes the prevention of problems instead of their treatment. They use natural fertilizers and sprays to control diseases, weeds, and pests, while the use of artificial fertilizers and chemical-synthetic sprays is prohibited. The use of genetically modified organisms and ionizing radiation is also prohibited. Production and processing take place without the addition of chemical ingredients that destroy most vitamins and minerals. Thus, with organic food, we consume everything that the food contains in its entirety and that our body needs. In animal husbandry, feeding with bone and blood meal, the use of hormones, and the preventive use of antibiotics to treat animals are also prohibited.

Organic farms also emphasize the well-being of animals, which need to be released from the barn every day, as well as free movement on pastures for at least half a year, and they also have minimum standards regarding stable areas. Intensive agriculture, which still dominates the world, causes many ecological problems. It uses large amounts of fertilizers and various other chemicals that pollute the environment, rivers, and waters, and thus all living things. As a result, the disturbed balance of pests is increasing and the food produced in this way is biologically poor, as it contains fewer vitamins and minerals than humans need. In animals, they want to achieve the greatest possible increase in meat in the shortest possible time, so in intensive animal husbandry, they use hormonal and chemical additives, which then pass into the human body. In contrast, organic farming maintains the natural circulation of matter and energy, thus establishing a natural balance that brings many benefits and opposition to intensive agriculture.

How is it in Slovenia?

Since 1998, we have also had the first controlled organic farms in Slovenia, and in 1999 the Association of Organic Farmers of Slovenia (ZZEKS) was established. Farms entered in the register of organic farms have a certificate that ensures the integrity of products that can be purchased under the label "organic food" directly on organic farms, organic markets, or in larger retail chains. Their prices are higher than conventional ones mainly because the yields in crop production are mostly lower, and the production in livestock farming is also lower.

Since then, their number has been growing rapidly every year. Such a farm provides a healthy and less burdened environment, contributes to the healthy life of all who live there, enables greater biodiversity, lower energy and material consumption, preserves the natural fertility of the soil, and also provides the possibility of additional income in the form of tourism.

This way of farming is suitable for both larger farmers and smaller gardeners. Even if we have a small garden or field and we will not sell our crops, we can stick to the principles and try to achieve the goals of organic farming. Despite the fact that this will reduce the amount of crop, we will take care of the environment and ourselves. With organic farming and all its benefits, we will help preserve the environment and biodiversity, while ensuring high-quality food that, in addition to valuable nutrients and antioxidants, also boasts a full, different taste.

Biodegradable bags

 In Slovenia, about 300-600 million bags are used annually, or 150-300 plastic bags per person, and according to calculations, about 900 bags are discarded every minute. This consumes 8 million liters of fossil fuels, which is absurd mainly because these bags are only used for an average of 20 minutes and then discarded.

They have flooded the whole world, not just Slovenia, mainly because of their practicality and price advantage. A certain proportion of these bags are recycled, and many still end up in landfills and in nature. As many as four of the five shopping bags are made of polyethylene, and plastic materials need 100-1000 years to decompose. However, plastic bags never really break down in nature, but break down into small pieces to which chemicals and toxins bind. With them, we simplify our daily lives and save in the short term, but we rarely think that at the same time we are heavily polluting the environment in which we live and nature, which will sooner or later charge us.

The ecological problems we cause with bags are insufficiently exposed in public and therefore we are often not even aware of them. Rarely does anyone know that thousands of marine animals die every year precisely because of plastic bags, which we carelessly throw away somewhere in nature? These animals replace food bags, eat them, clog their digestive system and die as a result. When the animal disintegrates, the bag comes back into the sea and threatens other animals. Thus, terrestrial animals are also endangered. Namely, plastic bags do not decompose biologically, they undergo light decomposition through which they decompose into smaller and smaller toxic parts that pollute the soil and watercourses. Many cities around the world have problems with clogging drains and sewage systems, leading to an increased chance of flooding and disease outbreaks.

As a solution, they emerged. bio bags. Given that these bags are something relatively new and still not every day, we usually find only a positive response about them in the media, they are presented with superlatives as an "innovation of the future". They emphasize that they are made from corn or potato starch, which is why they can be disposed of in a bio-waste container or in a composter, where they are then decomposed and do not burden the environment. Such bags are therefore environmentally friendly, and at the same time versatile for households (bags for bio-waste, composting) and retail (shopping bags) as well as for agriculture and production.

However, no product is completely ecologically indisputable. Even bioplastics, despite their degradability, are not a perfect solution, as they need raw materials - we have to grow potatoes or corn for them, which does not make sense given the general situation in the world, where about a billion people are starving. Similar to biofuels, we have to allocate a lot of agricultural land for them, where we could otherwise grow food, which reduces the arable land for food production, which also leads to food irritation. The production and distribution of each product require energy and material, with bio-bags being no exception - we also need energy for processing and transport, and composting is not free.

This, therefore, biodegradable plastic does not differ significantly from normal, but it does not leave long-lasting traces in nature, as it decomposes into compost, which is fundamental for the growth of new plants, thus completing the natural cycle.

In all of this, we need to pay particular attention to the goal of what we want to achieve with them. If biodegradable bags become merely a substitute for the existing polyethylene ones, this will not reduce consumption, but will only redirect it. So more lasting solutions are needed.

Campaigns to ban or reduce the use of bags have emerged around the world. At the end of 2010, SD and Zares deputies also proposed new law on the restriction of use and submitted the bill to the legislative procedure before Christmas. With this law, they want to burden the sellers financially and make plastic shopping bags the exception rather than the rule.

This legal solution is not the best either. According to some, a letter to all trading companies stating that the trader is obliged to ask the customer if he needs a bag and to remove disposable separation bags from the cash registers and offer them only when necessary is quite sufficient. The seemingly so complex question, therefore, has a very simple answer. And the bearer of this is again the individual. Before each subsequent purchase, think about the bags first. It is best to have your own bag with you, preferably made of fabric or canvas, but you can also have a basket. At home in the drawer, the bag will definitely not help us, and even less in the trash. If we take this into account, we will be able to offer the same answer to the cashier at the checkout every time - "No, thank you!".