Yes indeed, I was reading an article on Huffington Post by Rachel Moss that suggests if we adults would colour more we would reduce our stress and anxiety (Colouring Books are Helping Adults Beat Stress and Anxiety 07/10/14). Did she say colour?  Brilliant idea!

Personally as a little girl I would have given my eye teeth to own a large box of crayola crayons. All new, sharp and full of multiple colours.  My dream gift (people christmas is approaching).  Just imagine how engrossed we could all get in opening a new colouring book, dropping to the floor in our PJs and just spending an evening quietly colouring away the hours.  Can you conjure this picture?

Of course, we would have to postpone cleaning the kitchen, putting in the loads of laundry, getting off the computer, or watching telly, but I think that’s the point! All of those chores will be there again tomorrow and the day/evening after.  What isn’t constant in our evenings is a sense of focus, calm and utter enjoyment in some sort of endeavour (yes crayoning can be artistic endeavour).

The article makes the point that 59% of brits are more stressed today than they were 5 years ago, so having a little colouring book and crayons might just be the thing to come home to in the evening. No one at work needs to know what you’re up to….unless of course, you are brave enough to bring one of your masterpieces into the office to hang on your wall!  You could always say it was done by one of the kids, or the dog!!!!

Come on all you adults who are depleted, tired, and exhausted… a box of crayolas and colouring book might be just the thing to wash away the stress of the day or week and give you a beautiful (and artistic) sense of calm.

The Burnout Queens xx

The need to catch up on sleep is on every woman’s lips these days.  Between juggling kids, aging parents, home, chores, work, and who knows what else, the last thing we experience is proper sleep.

We hear many women laughingly talk about being forgetful, misplacing the keys, forgetting their own heads if it wasn’t screwed on straight!   All signs of little sleep and one of the symptoms of burnout.

So bring on the power nap!?  I read this little article in RealAge the other day and thought I’d pass it on.  Give the advice a try—I know one of my clients swears by napping!

Improve Memory with a Power Nap*

You could improve memory skills with this brilliant little habit: power napping.

In a study, people who took a power nap after learning a new task performed 50% better than the non-nappers when they were later given a test on the task.

Power Nap, Total Recall

The process of making memories is complicated. And new memories are the most fragile. But in the study, researchers discovered that nappers who got quality deep sleep (slow-wave sleep) during their naps learned new material much better compared with the sleep-deprived participants. Scientists think something about deep sleep helps new memories encode into higher brain regions where memories become more permanent.

Something About Sleep

Getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night is a good health goal. It boosts your immune system, helps control stress levels, and may even be essential in keeping your heart and other body parts healthy. And a power nap every now and then can be a good way to catch up on lost ZZZs — not only to improve memory and keep your mind sharp, but also to help you reach your immune-system-supporting, stress-reducing [optimum].

*(from Improve Memory with a Power Nap – RealAge.com)

Ps: at the end, not included here, it said proper sleep can trim 1.5 years off your real age!  I’m in, night-night ladies

The Burnout Queensxx