1 . How to prevent stress from turning into depression

A few years ago, I had a bad day at work. My boss and I disagreed on a major financial investment and the conversation escalated.     1     And I took those comments personally. The good news is that there are ways to prevent feelings of discomfort from turning into depression.

Change the scene

Go outside, go to the bathroom, call a friend, take a few deep breaths. I didn’t realize I had done this after my fight with my boss.     2     Just noticing the trees and the birds around me got me out of my head.

Recount what happened

    3     This can help discover what is exactly giving you depression and remember the details you may have overlooked that can add to the situation. Do this with a friend, a family member, a therapist, or even yourself. You can also talk out loud as you walk your dog.

Name your emotions

As you describe what happened, name your emotions. For example, instead of saying you simply feel “bad,” maybe you actually feel “indifferent.” I turned to a therapist to help me unpack my fight with my boss. She helped me realize that it wasn’t my boss or the argument that was making me upset, but the feeling of being dismissed and made to feel small.     4    

Identify your causes

Examine what gives you discomfort. For example, if you have terrible road rage, you may have a conversation with yourself about it. You might ask yourself. Why am I prone to being so angry on the road? Is it because I am in a rush? Or is it because I hate sitting in traffic?     5     To avoid being rushed, maybe leave the house a half hour early. To avoid traffic, ask your boss if you can work from home a couple times a week.

So now, when I find myself in this circumstance, I tell the other person that I need time and space to consider their feedback. And that I’ll come back to them when I’m ready. This helps me feel more in control of my feelings.

2 . Living a healthy lifestyle is all about choosing to make healthy choices each day. Here are some tips on how to improve your physical, mental, and emotional health.

Set specific and actionable goals to improve your health. When you have specific goals you want to achieve, you’ll be more motivated to implement (实施) healthy changes in your life.     1     And then set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound to better guarantee your success.

    2     It’s no secret that healthy eating is one of the keys to achieving a healthy lifestyle. When you follow a healthy diet, you reduce your risk for obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and certain types of cancers. Healthy eating can also improve your mood and make you happier.

Make a conscious effort to drink enough water throughout the day. Just like nutritious foods, water is essential to keeping your body healthy.     3     For adults, drinking around 13 cups of water a day is enough, but this amount can vary depending on your age, weight, environment, and physical activity level.

Aim for at least 7 hours of quality sleep each night.     4     It helps you maintain a healthy weight, and improve your overall mood. Most adults need at least 7 hours of quality sleep each night, and children need 8 to 13 hours depending on how old they are.

Find a type of physical activity that’s enjoyable for you. The benefits of physical activities are endless. Doing physical activities lowers your risk of things like stroke and high blood pressure, helps you lose weight, and improves your cognitive (认知的) function. .     5    

3 . Although most empty plastic bottles are thrown, there are actually many other ways you can reuse them other than drinking.     1    . Here are some interesting tips to use with empty plastic bottles.

When making biscuits, did you just realize you didn’t have any tools to cut them? You just need a small or large plastic bottle depending on your needs. First cut the bottle into half.     2    .

Do you find it challenging to separate eggs?    3    . Break the eggs into a bowl. Remove the lid, press the bottle, put the ends into the egg yolk (蛋黄) and stop the pressure. This way, the egg yolk will be taken into the bottle while the egg white will remain on the plate. In this way, separating eggs isn’t a challenging problem.

    4    

Want to remove flies in your garden safely? Use plastic bottles. Cut the bottle into half and place a sweet syrup (糖浆) at the bottom. Then place the top in the bottom so that the bottle mouth faces down. The fly will be attracted to the smell and fly into the bottle hole. Once in the bottle, the fly will climb through a narrow opening without thinking about how to get out and eventually dies.

Sometimes, the fan removes hot air and does not cool the room but now we have a solution!     5     Then, place the bottle with ice on the floor for a high fan. Put the fan behind the bottle and the fan will blow the cold air as the bottle with ice causes the temperature to be lower.

4 . Enjoyable and immersive hobbies have the power to make us happier and healthier. Hobbies lead to better physical health, more sleep, lower stress, greater life satisfaction, a larger social network and improved work performance.     1     We asked experts how to discover the hobbies you don’t yet know you’ll love.

Be open.

“Keeping an open mind and not dismissing potential hobbies even if they seem out of your wheel-house is key,” says Katina, a clinical psychology researcher. “We’re wired as humans to be curious and open, but in a very burned-out world, we forget that,” she says. “It’s the first thing to go.” So next time someone hands you a flier or invites you to an event, seize the opportunity.     2    

    3    

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? The answer could point you towards an appealing hobby. If you wanted to be a major league player, what can you do now that fulfills that urge for you? Joining a softball team or coaching some neighborhood kids could inspire a long-dormant passion.

Go back to school.

Consider auditing (旁听) a class at a university or signing up for a lesson to learn more about a potential hobby.     4     Join a fiction writers group. Fascinated by family history? Take a genealogy class. Plenty of e-courses are available free.

Take an assessment.

Lots of colleges offer career assessments to help students determine what to major in and how to guide their professional lives.     5     If you’re a college graduate, connect with your university’s alumni center; sometimes they make these assessments available for free. Or you can pay a career consultant for access.

5 . It’s a struggle for many of us to get out of the sedentary (久坐的) lifestyle, despite our best intentions.     1    , the biggest barriers are mental ones. Maybe it’s a lack of self-confidence that keeps you from taking positive steps, or you get easily discouraged and give up.

You already know there are many ways and great reasons to exercise — from improving mood, sleep, and health to reducing anxiety. But knowing how and why to exercise can’t get you starting and sticking to your exercise plan.     2    , you need to follow these steps which can make exercise less painful and more fun.

● Get rid of the all-or-nothing attitude. You don’t have to spend hours in a gym or force yourself into boring or painful activities you hate to experience the physical and emotional benefits of exercise.     3    . In fact, adding just tiny amounts of physical activity to your weekly routine can have a great effect on your mental and physical health.

● Be kind to yourself. Don’t punish yourself if you miss a workout.     4    . If you miss a day, consider it a rest day, and remember there’s always tomorrow. If you have a hard time sticking with your workout routine, just try something different. There are plenty of ways to stay active, and at the end of the day, you will find an exercise routine that works for you.

●     5    . You are not out of shape overnight, and you’re not going to instantly transform your body either. Demanding too much, too soon only leads to dissatisfaction. Instead of paying attention only to results, focus on consistency (连贯性).

6 . How to spot misinformation online

We’ve all seen a lot of misinformation that seems absolutely crazy or unbelievable online these days.    1    : you have ways you can use to help sort through misinformation and identify what’s real and what’s fake.

Pause and be skeptical about new information.

Whenever you come across an article or post sharing information that you haven’t seen before, take a second to consider it. Don’t just scroll by accepting it as a fact or share the information without exercising some skepticism first. It’s okay to be doubtful!     2    .

Confirm the source and date of the information.

Look up the information at the source to see if it was actually published there. Double-check the date of the article to make sure it’s current and still accurate. Usually, the date is located next to the author of the article. The date can be a really big deal.    3    .

Check to see if you can tell who the original author is.

    4    . Check to see if the author is an expert or a journalist who often covers the subject to make sure they know what they're talking about. If an article or information doesn’t list the author, it’s a sign that it could be false or misleading information. For example, an article about health and wellness written by a registered doctor is more credible than one without an author listed.

    5    .

Misinformation is often designed to make you feel angry, sad, scared, or just plain old upset. If you spot a claim, article, headline or any other information that causes you to feel a super-strong emotion, be cautious. It could be a sign that it’s fake and designed to get a reaction out of you. If you come across a headline that says, “NEW LAW TAKES AWAY PET DOGS,” it’s most likely false or at least misleading.

Misinformation isn’t just annoying, it can be dangerous. But by identifying it, you can help stop the spread of it.

7 . How to improve your memory?

It’s generally accepted that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but when it comes to the brain, scientists have discovered this old saying simply isn’t true.     1     Whether you’re looking to sharpen your mind, boost your mental performance, or preserve your memory as you age, these tips can help.

    2     Memory, like muscular strength, requires you to “use it or lose it”. The more you work out your brain, the better you’ll be able to process and remember information. The best brain exercises break your routine and challenge you to use and develop new brain pathways.

Don’t skip the physical exercise. While mental exercise is important for brain health, that doesn’t mean you never need to break a sweat. Physical exercise helps your brain stay sharp.     3    

Get enough sleep. There is a big difference between the amount of sleep you can get and the amount you need to function at your best. The truth is that over 95% of adults need 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep every night.     4     Memory, creativity, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking skills are all harmed.

Make time for friends. When you think of ways to improve memory, do you think of “serious” activities such as mastering chess strategies, or is it more relaxing pastimes—hanging out with friends or enjoying a funny movie?     5     But countless studies show that a life full of friends and fun comes with brain benefits.

8 . Creativity is advocated everywhere these days. But most of us don’t know how to set it off. Here are some ways to start the process.

Work in a blue room. As we grow up, colors take on specific associations. Red means danger, and blue relates to peace.     1    . In one experiment, people facing a red computer screen did better at detail-oriented tasks like proofreading. Volunteers who faced a blue screen did better at creative tasks. That study appeared in 2009 in the journal Science.

Why the difference?     2    . Blue, on the other hand, tells us we can relax and let the imagination run free.

Sleep on it. Sleep helps generate new ideas in several ways. During sleep, the brain strengthens memories. That act of strengthening actually reorganizes thoughts, much like reorganizing books on a shelf.     3    . And that half-awake period right before we fall asleep or when we wake up may also help us focus on a problem.

    4    . The sleep-on-it solution only works best when people feel that they are getting close to an answer that is most likely to be solved by waiting a day.

Live in a foreign land. People who had lived abroad performed better on creative problems and tasks. A week in Paris isn’t enough to light the creative spark, delightful though that trip may be.     5    .

9 . When you are dissatisfied with your current situation, sometimes you doubt yourself. Maybe you reflect on yourself from time to time: What kind of person am I? Have I become the person I want to be?     1    

Take a good look at yourself. When you do, you might realize that you aren’t what you want to be in life.    2    , but you shouldn’t stay stuck where you are anyway. Take ownership of the person you are and accept your unique qualities. Commit yourself to personal improvement, whether it’s through learning new skills, developing new interests, or simply taking better care of yourself.

    3    . You may feel disconnected from yourself as you are busy taking care of the needs of others in your life. Go back to the interests and activities you overlooked and reflect on your personal goals and achieve them. Schedule time on your calendar to reacquaint yourself with your passions. And remember to see how they influence you.

Make significant changes. When Gretchen Rubin, the former chief of the Yale Law Journal, realized her true dream was to become a writer, she quit her job. And, today, she is a best-selling author, with her website attracting 275,000 visitors per month.    4    . “One reason why people don’t find their true selves is that they aren’t willing to make changes,” said she.

Find support. In the journey of life, support is often what keeps us going. It helps us stay strong and move forward. Life coach, author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins has said, “    5    .” Find a person who is willing to guide and support you as you start to switch things up in your life.

10 . How to Make Your Writing Flow?

Writing flow refers to how smoothly text flows from one sentence to the next and one paragraph to another.     1     On the other hand, choppy (不连贯的) writing lacking flow disrupts the reading experience. Luckily, you have the tips below to improve the flow of your writing.

1. Vary your sentence structure.

Using only short, choppy sentences creates a disconnected rhythm that disrupts the flow, while a series of long, complex sentences overwhelm readers.     2     Varying sentence structure keeps readers engaged and create s natural movement from one idea to the next.

2. Use transition words and phrases.

Transition words and phrases act like bridges between sentences and paragraphs. They create logical connections between ideas. Use transitions like “however,” “therefore,” “similarly,” and “in contrast” to glue sentences and paragraphs together smoothly.     3    

3. Structure paragraphs around a central idea.

    4     The supporting sentences in the paragraph should work together to explain, develop, or argue that central idea. This creates cohesion within paragraphs and connects them to each other logically. Use topic sentences to introduce the main idea of each paragraph. Paragraphs structured around a singular focus improve writing flow and readability.

4.     5    

Revisiting writing with fresh eyes makes flaws in flow and transitions more noticeable. Let your drafts rest for a day or two to prevent getting stuck reworking the same passage repeatedly. Approaching writing anew allows you to evaluate flow and smooth out imperfections with distance and objectivity.