TIPS AND TRICKS

It’s Time to Strengthen Your Feet. That’s Right, Your Feet.
Strong feet give your legs a durable base to push off from when you’re running, cycling, squatting, or doing whatever it is you like to do to stay fit. Second, strong feet are more resistant to foot pain, one of the most common sources of bodily aches right up there with back pain. These two exercises can help.

· Towel Scrunch
Sit in a chair with bare feet. Place a towel on the floor, about two feet in front of the chair. Using the toes on your right foot, extend your digits across the towel, then contract them, scrunching your toes together and pulling the fabric close to your chair. Release the towel and extend your toes against it, grabbing more fabric and you scrunch them together. Continue reaching and scrunching until you have created a balled-up towel in front of your chair. Do three sets.

· Pick-Up Game
Take the pieces to your favorite board game like Monopoly (chess and checkers work, too), and scatter them on the floor. Sit in a chair in the middle of the mess. Using only your toes, grab, lift, and carry each piece to a nearby bucket where they will be stored. Continue until the floor is clean. Bring the kids in on this one — it’s a family favorite.

Here are a few more foot exercises to try.

TIPS AND TRICKS

Don’t Neglect Your Support Network
There’s a lot going on right now. It’s important to do everything you can to maintain connections with the people in your lives — especially those who support you. “We underestimate how being able to relate to people, emotionally connect, and hang out can be very nourishing to our mental health,” says Traci Maynigo, a psychologist and head of the Supporting Healthy Relationships/Fatherhood program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “We handle difficult times better when we’re nourished by the people around us.”

Yeah, yeah, you’re busy. We get it. But find ways to hang out with your friends. Call them. Text them. Make plans. Fill them in. Listen as they do the same. “There’s research that shows that when we have a close attachment with another person, it causes our brains to experience and perceive stress and pain differently — our perception of threat and pain decreases when we’re in the presence of someone we have an emotional connection with.”

Here are 15 more mental health strategies to keep in mind.