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Your body is transformed when you’re pregnant. And while the prospect of a new baby is without a doubt worth it, let’s face it—pregnancy can be pretty uncomfortable sometimes. This is all the more reason why engaging in some self-care and pampering is important to help unwind and show yourself some love. But so many things are taboo when you’re pregnant, it can be difficult to know what baby-safe activities you can engage in—even seemingly innocuous ones, like getting a facial....

One aspect of being pregnant that you likely learned early on is that there is a litany of things that should be avoided. So many, in fact, that nearly everything you come across can easily become suspect. To add to the challenge of knowing what’s safe and what should be a no-go, some food, drinks, and activities don’t fit easily into a “yes” or “no” box. Take teeth whitening, for instance....

Babies born in hospital settings are usually cared for in a nursery after birth. Depending on various factors, including health at birth, weight, and number of weeks gestation, a baby may require more advanced care in a different type of nursery. Those nurseries are categorized by the American Academy of Pediatrics into four levels based on the care they are equipped to provide: Level I: Well newborn nurseries Level II: Special care nursery Level III: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) Level IV: Regional neonatal intensive-care unit (regional NICU) Facilities with a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), which provide the highest levels of care, have demonstrated that they meet healthcare standards through federal/state licensing or certification....

Health psychology is a specialty area that focuses on how biological, social, and psychological factors influence health and illness. Could seeing a health psychologist benefit your health and well-being? Or are you interested in becoming a professional health psychologist? Learn more about what health psychologists do, the training and educational requirements, and the job outlook in this brief overview of health psychology. What Do Health Psychologists Do? Health psychologists engage in many different tasks related to health and wellness....

As the adoption “industry” boomed in the 1960s due to many forced adoptions, people affected by adoption realized that there were challenges to how people discussed adoption. Over time, two types of language were used to describe adoption-related topics: positive adoption language and honest adoption language. You can read ahead to learn why language matters in adoption-related discourse and the differences between honest adoption language and positive adoption language. Why Adoption-Related Language Matters While you might not think of adoptees as an underrepresented or marginalized group, the truth is that adoptees experience loss nearly upon birth or during childhood....

Just when parents thought they could finally start relaxing about COVID-19, the Delta variant showed up. We knew from the beginning of the pandemic that there might be future virus mutations, and now there are, causing parents to wonder if they need to reimplement all of the protective strategies they learned. Key Takeaways The COVID-19 Delta variant is highly contagious and spreading rapidly in unvaccinated individuals.Dr. Anthony Fauci recently stated that kids are at higher risk for infection, but the infection won’t necessarily be worse than the Alpha variety....

Your world changes drastically after having a baby. Feeling in the mood for sex may take some time for both you and your partner. And whether you’re dealing with a lack of sleep, hormonal ups and downs, painful recovery, postpartum depression, trouble connecting with your partner, or all of the above, trying to rush an intimate relationship can seem like more trouble than its worth. That’s why it’s important to ease back into this part of your life and educate yourself on what to expect....

Follow Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts Every Friday on The Verywell Mind Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Amy Morin, LCSW, shares the “Friday Fix”—a short episode featuring a quick, actionable tip or exercise to help you manage a specific mental health issue or concern. Friday Fix: Episode 92 Have you ever thought about how you deal with uncomfortable emotions? Do you start scrolling through your smartphone whenever you feel the slightest bit bored?...

ADHD symptoms are often misunderstood. Sometimes the problematic behaviors are viewed as willful and intentional. If your child’s teachers don’t have accurate information about ADHD, they may not recognize that these behaviors result from an impairment. An Invisible Disability ADHD is often referred to as an “invisible disability.” On the surface, symptoms may simply not be very obvious, yet they can significantly impair daily functioning. Chris A. Zeigler Dendy, MS, a leading ADHD expert and author, a former teacher with more than 35 years experience, and mother of two grown sons and a daughter with ADHD, compares ADHD with an iceberg....

Tweens are great at scavenger hunts, and a well-planned hunt can keep them busy at a family reunion, birthday party, scout meeting or any other tween event. The best scavenger hunts will be fun and somewhat educational. Consider conducting a nature scavenger hunt for an Earth Day event, for a spring or summer activity, or just because. Be sure your hunt offers things for the kids to find, things for them to observe, and things for them to smell or document, either in a drawing or by a photograph....

Although stretch marks are relatively harmless and super common, many of us wish we could stop them from appearing during pregnancy. While some wear their baby-making scars with pride, others feel self-conscious about them. Rapidly stretching skin can also be uncomfortable, adding one more thing to your growing list of pregnancy aches and pains. Stretch marks, also known as striae gravidarum, are scars that appear when your skin stretches faster than usual....

Breastfeeding is a normal newborn reflex. Immediately after a baby is born, most healthy newborns can be placed on their parent’s stomach for skin-to-skin time. From that position, the baby can begin breastfeeding. Laid-back breastfeeding taps into the baby’s natural reflex to move their body up toward the breast, find the nipple, latch on, and begin to nurse. The laid-back breastfeeding position allows the breastfeeding parent to lie in repose as the baby nurses....

Lamaze is the most recognized name in childbirth education. If your mom, sister, or even grandmother took childbirth education classes, there’s a good chance it was a Lamaze class. Lamaze-style breathing techniques are most frequently represented in the movies, too. While you might be familiar with the name Lamaze and the breathing style associated with it, you may be surprised to hear that the Lamaze class your mom took may not be the same as what’s being offered today....

Having children was never a real priority for Dr. Melissa Kanchanapoomi-Levin, M.D, a dermatologist in New York City. Her early adulthood was marked by more than a decade of schooling, extensive clinical research, and a year in Uganda studying the effects of HIV on the skin—and that was all before she even started practicing. With long hours and an increasingly full schedule, she knew that her life likely wouldn’t get any less busy any time soon....

Widespread opioid and opiate use in the United States is a serious national public health crisis, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The problem not only makes headlines but also creates a heavy emotional and economic burden. The devastating consequences of the opioid epidemic include not only overdose deaths, but also an increased number of newborns with opioid withdrawal symptoms. Every day, 128 people in the U.S. die from an opioid overdose....

Other hallucinogen use disorder is a diagnosis which is documented in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5. The “Other” in the title distinguishes the hallucinogens causing the disorder from phencyclidine and pharmacologically similar substances, which has its own disorder, known as phencyclidine use disorder. The drugs associated with other hallucinogen use disorder include phenylalkylaines, such as mescaline, DOM, MDMA or ecstasy, the indoleamines including psilocybin and psilocin, which are the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, DMT, the ergolines such as LSD or acid, and morning glory seeds....

There’s plenty of research highlighting the dangers of exposure to outdoor pollution, but what about indoor life? A small number of studies on indoor settings have examined things like thermal comfort and satisfaction, but new research by Harvard scientists took a different approach. Key Takeaways Harvard researchers carried out cognitive tests on 302 office workers across six countries.They found that poor air quality had critical consequences for employees’ cognitive performance, such as response times and the ability to focus....

Personality quizzes are all the rage online these days. It seems like you cannot check your Pinterest or Facebook feed without being inundated by various quizzes purporting to detect your hidden personality traits, unveil the “real you,” or identify which pop culture icon you share common traits with. Overview of Personality Tests Most personality quizzes are just for fun, but they sometimes reveal nuggets of truth and wisdom that help shed light on different aspects of personality, behavior, and preferences....

Stretch marks, or striae distensae, are a type of scarring on the skin that happens when the skin stretches quickly. They can also occur when the skin shrinks after being stretched. This is common in pregnancy or extreme weight gain and loss in non-pregnant people. Although stretch marks can affect both men and women, they are more common in women. The scarring may appear as reddish or purple markings that stretch over certain areas of the skin....

If you and your partner have been trying to conceive a baby and have not yet been able to, your fertility specialist may inform you that you, your partner, or both of you as a couple are subfertile. While dismaying at first, it shouldn’t necessarily dishearten you. Subfertility simply means that you, as a couple, are less fertile than other couples like you. It doesn’t mean you won’t get pregnant; it simply suggests that it may be more difficult based on the various measures used to assess your fertility....