Latest news with #bigcity
Vogue
05-07-2025
- Health
- Vogue
Easy Ways To Regulate Your Cortisol Levels in the Morning and Have a Stress-Free Day
Good morning! As you probably already know, cortisol is the big hype of 2025. High cortisol levels! Cortisol deficiency! Foods and supplements and practices for balancing that cortisol! We've gotten just as obsessed with lowering the levels of this steroid hormone as we are about keeping our collagen levels high. And that's life: Certain trends and topics of conversation are cyclical, and right now, what we're interested in—given our stressful lifestyles—is lowering cortisol levels. Especially when you live in a big city, leave home in a hurry, and get into a crowded subway car: Frankly, it's hard not to arrive at work stressed, exhausted, and with levels of this tricky hormone skyrocketing. But cortisol is necessary to be able to function and move through the world. As psychologist Brenda de la Peña tells Vogue: 'Every morning when we wake up, our body generates a natural cortisol spike that helps us to get up and running. The challenge here is to keep it stable and sufficient for the whole day, preventing it from spiking more than necessary or staying elevated all the time.' So: The goal is to keep cortisol stable and regular, but without beating ourselves up about being emotionally stressed. What it is about, says de la Peña, 'is to raise awareness about the tendency to activate the automatic pilot, [which we do to] save cognitive resources. We live our day to day lives in a fairly automated way, exhausting ourselves, and reacting to things that happen around us. In reality we can simply choose to let them pass. Our energy is limited, and stress does not exactly play in our favor.' 'We must establish a strategic and firm commitment to the habit of consciously choosing what we decide to spend it on,' she adds. '[We must] foster a state of inner calm that allows us to listen to what we need. We can make the small day-to-day decisions with a firm and calm attitude, instead of an anxious one.' What happens when cortisol is high or unstable? An established and consistent early morning routine is so important for avoiding your cortisol skyrocketing before you even arrive at the office. And if your mornings are chaotic and stressful? You can expect symptoms like constant exhaustion, irritability, pain, muscle tension, digestive problems, or even hair loss as signs of high cortisol levels. These vary from one person to another, but it's what should usually raise the alarm about the need to respond differently to everyday life.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Man Says He Was Disinvited from Group Trip He Planned After He Refused to Split This One Cost
A man says he was disinvited from a trip he planned after he refused to split one of the costs The man initially arranged a trip with his brother that soon turned into a group outing, he wrote on Reddit. When the group expanded beyond who would fit in his car, he says, he was unwilling to pay an extra $1000 to rent a car He then discovered he'd been removed from the group chatA man says he carefully crafted a travel itinerary for his brother and friends, then one big expense got him disinvited from his own trip. The traveler shared his frustration in a post on Reddit's "Am I the A------" forum, claiming the unexpected drama left him questioning whether or not he did the right thing. He opens the post by noting that the trip to an unnamed big city for the weekend was originally going to be for just him and his brother, but quickly expanded to include several of his brother's friends. Related: Loose Pigeons Wreak Havoc on Delta Flight as Passengers Are Seen Screaming in Viral Video They chose dates and hotels, the original poster (OP) explains. For transportation, he planned to drive everyone in his car. After the details were hashed out, a friend of a friend, Adam, who "wasn't part of the plan at all" said he wanted to join, not for vacation, but because he had a business trip in the same city and wanted a lift, the OP claims. Including Adam would push the number of people over the limit that could fit in his car. Instead of finding another driver and splitting up the group into two cars, the OP says they decided to rent a larger vehicle. The added cost would be $1000 for five days, he claims, 'Just to make room for Adam, who wasn't even vacationing with us.' The OP put his foot down, telling the group he wouldn't spend the extra money. 'I didn't think it was fair to take on that extra cost just to accommodate someone who wasn't part of our group,' he wrote. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Related: She Called Off Her Wedding. Then She Took Her Honeymoon with a Different Man Instead (Exclusive) The next day, the OP says, he found out that the other guys had started a new group chat — and he wasn't part of it. Soon he received a text from his brother asking if he would be 'okay with not going' on the trip. "I didn't back out — I got pushed out of the trip I planned,' the OP wrote. 'I'm pretty upset, especially since my own brother was part of it,' he confessed. 'I didn't make it about money or control — I just didn't want to foot the bill for someone else's business trip.' In the comments, fellow Reddit users offered up their opinions on the man's story. 'Your brother and his friends then acted like entitled children, created drama, and excluded you,' wrote one person. 'Good riddance to that trip with them, honestly. Let them deal with Adam and the rental. You did nothing wrong by standing your ground.' While another user offered some advice: 'Take a nice trip somewhere by yourself if you can afford it." Read the original article on People
Washington Post
01-06-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Asking Eric: Neighbors' trash habits cause a ruckus
Dear Eric: We live in a big city where houses are very close together. My neighbors keep their trash bins in the driveway close to my front and side doors. They have three dogs, and the bin banging begins early, sometimes before 7 in the morning. My living room and kitchen are right next to their driveway, so I hear banging from trash lids all day long from throwing dog waste and more. When I worked, I probably didn't notice as much, but I'm retired now, and it is really getting on my nerves. I want to ask them to please try to close the bin quietly instead of just letting the lids drop and bang, but my husband thinks they will retaliate and make it worse. We mostly have a good relationship with them, but I do not want to have this banging the rest of my life. Ideally, they should put their bins in the alley, but I would settle for quiet shutting as I guess it is convenient for them to keep close to my door. Your thoughts? — Quiet Please Quiet: If you have a mostly peaceable relationship with your neighbors, it doesn't seem likely that a request like this would escalate to retaliation. It's a reasonable ask and your solutions — either moving the bins or being more conscientious about shutting them — are seemingly easy to implement. Whether in a big city with its close proximities, or a remote piece of land where the nearest house is barely in view, or somewhere in between, we have to figure out how to live in harmony with those around us. As with any other relationship, one of the foundations of good neighborhood is communication. And that runs both ways. When you let them know what you're experiencing, you empower them to make a change. So, don't be afraid to speak up. Now, it's also true that some people are, well, jerks. And if that's the case and they set about making more noise, rather than less, then you've got a different issue. But I'm hoping conscientiousness wins out for your sake. Dear Eric: I have remained close with my college roommate, Chris, for 45 years. Life has not been easy for her due to various health issues, which I believe all stem from her unhealthy eating habits. About 10 years ago, after Chris was laid off from a job she loved and had worked at for years, she found herself in a financial bind. She came to stay with my family in another state for several months, rent free, while she looked for another job and an affordable apartment, neither of which panned out. After advising us that she was going to stop looking until she got back from a planned cruise, I finally had to ask her to leave when we realized we were being taken advantage of. Before Chris left, we paid off her car loan to help her along. Since then, Chris has continually called to ask for money because she knows I can afford to give it to her. She has asked for and been given money from other friends as well to help her out with her medical bills. The last time she called I finally put my foot down and told her I was not going to give her any more money. Now I find myself feeling guilty, but I am also feeling resentful. I do worry about Chris and what will happen to her. Am I wrong for feeling this way? — Guilty Friend Friend: It makes sense that you'd feel a complicated mix of emotions. You care about Chris — and have for decades — and you want what's best for her. You've also put a lot of energy into helping her out. But, from your telling, Chris isn't being active enough in finding solutions to her financial troubles. Or, at least, as active as you'd prefer. So, the guilt probably stems from the feeling that you can do more, even though you suspect that doing more for Chris might not solve the underlying issue. It's worth considering that Chris may have other struggles that are preventing her from getting back on her feet. This doesn't give her free license to treat you like an ATM, but perhaps thinking about her journey in a different way will help ease the resentment you're feeling. Now that you've drawn the line, you have an opportunity to redefine how your friendship works. You might talk with her about how those requests felt to you and how you're feeling now. The goal is to clear the air a bit so that, ideally, you can be there for each other as longtime friends and, potentially, you can provide support for Chris in ways that aren't monetary. (Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@ or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at 2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
I'm in my 40s. Is it too late to try Botox?
I'm in my early 40s and I've never had Botox, but I'm surrounded by it. I live in a big city and all of my friends are big believers in the neurotoxin. I'm not against it — not scared of needles, don't really object to the idea of chemicals in my face — but, for me, it's more about "Ugh, do I really need to add another thing to my beauty regimen?" My understanding is that you have to keep on doing it for it to actually work and that sounds time-intensive, not to mention expensive. I don't have wrinkles that keep me up at night. But obviously, I know more wrinkles will eventually come ... so I don't want to wait until it's too late. Is now the time to do it? Dear Decision Paralysis, In a world where literal 22-year-olds with fewer lines than an atom mirror are dropping coin on preventative "Baby Botox" to avoid even the slightest sign of aging, I'm going to start with what I suspect is an unpopular opinion: If your wrinkles aren't bothering you, you don't need to freeze them with a neuromodulator like Botox. Period. You're right that these injections are temporary (treatments last about 3-6 months), expensive (between $300-$1,400 a session, depending on your city and injector) and getting them before you're ready is also a slippery, self-critical slope. If you are currently looking at your face and not hating what you see, my advice is to bask in this rare and glorious moment as a woman on Planet Earth. The truth is, aging naturally can actually be more gratifying than you may have imagined yet and, contrary to everything the world and TikTok will tell you, you may continue to like what you see. I am perhaps in the old-school minority when I suggest that you need not panic nor bend to societal pressure and, instead, let your face do what it's going to do. Keep up a quality skin care routine (including daily sunscreen) and if and when there comes a time that you are not loving what your face is doing, then — and only then — should you consider more serious interventions. That said, if you wake up at 48 and think, "I can't live with these frown lines," Botox can be an amazing tool for softening wrinkles — no matter what your age. "For the large majority of cases, patients who are starting at some point in their 20, 30s, 40s or 50s, Botox will relax your muscles and make those lines go away," board-certified dermatologist Dr. Blair Murphy-Rose told me. In terms of being "too late" for Botox, Murphy-Rose says that "at some point, as skin laxity really increases in an aging face, Botox doesn't necessarily always respond the way it does in a younger face. But I've successfully treated patients in their 90s. I've actually treated my grandmother in her 90s — honestly, with a beautiful result." And in terms of "preventative" Botox? You might not even need it: "Deep lines can happen for some people very young, but they can also happen for some people at a much later age. So it really depends on your genetics, your environmental exposures and your skin type and tone. There are so many variables," she explains. Murphy-Rose says that super deep lines can be harder to reverse with a neuromodulator like Botox, but they're still not impossible to smooth with a combination of Botox and a hyaluronic acid filler. Last, while in recent years Botox has become ubiquitous (offered in at-home gatherings — like a modern-day Tupperware party! — and at places like the gym), finding a skilled injector matters to your result. "You want an experienced injector who has very good in-depth knowledge of the anatomy," Murphy-Rose says. "Because Botox is not harmless, it carries risks and it can't just be reversed. So if it's placed poorly and you're getting an unwanted effect — which honestly happens more often than you would want to know about — you just kind of have to sit it out for the most part. You just have to wait the four to six months till it goes away." If you do decide to get Botox, Murphy-Rose says your best bet to achieving the look you want is to find an injector who shares your aesthetic and be clear about your goals upfront.
Washington Post
19-05-2025
- Washington Post
Asking Eric: Parents' house has become free hotel for friends
Dear Eric: I live in a small town about five hours from my parents, who live in the biggest city in our state. They have a beautiful home with a great downstairs room that is perfect to stay in when I visit. My father has Parkinson's, so I make it up close to every month to hang out and try to make life for my mom a little easier. Sometimes I'll go up with a friend for a concert and my parents welcome that person or people with open arms, cooking meals and letting us use their house.
