Feeling Good? We’ll Help You Feel Better

      Very often, my newspaper gives me just what I want. Plenty of puzzles to work over the splendidly empty days after Christmas. Insight into the world around me, from my community to the cosmos. Advertisers to fix what’s broken and bring me unexpected benefits, like the Pashmina shawl from Green Phoenix that’s kept me warm since Christmas.

      True to the pattern, Bay ­Weekly’s first issue of the new year — our 25th — is just what I need when I need it. It’s our Health and Wellness Guide, and I’m one of us on the casualty list of winter illnesses.

     I’ve seen and heard enough of other people’s woes to know I’m among the lucky ones. Chest congestion is just a cough compared to potentially deadly pneumonia or spending New Year’s Day with an IV drip, courtesy of a really nasty stomach bug. Only occasionally do I imagine I’ll need Response Senior Care — Care That Can Keep You Comfortable in Your Own Home — to lift me out of my doldrums.

     Plenty of other strategies, tips and opportunities in this issue are just what the doctor called for.

     Primary and urgent care centers have been a lifeline for me — and much of Bay Weekly — these hard-hit weeks. This week’s Health and Wellness Guide introduces primary care centers in Southern Anne Arundel County, Owensville Primary Care, and Calvert County, CalvertHealth Primary Care; and urgent care centers AFC Urgent Care in Edgewater and Priority Care Clinic in Severna Park.

     (Bay Weekly has even had a visit from Mobile Pet Vet. All of us looked on as Chester got his flu shot plus wellness tips, and all of us, even Chester, were impressed with this approach to veterinary care.)

     Now that I’m seeing my way back to wellness, Dr. Thomas Sheesley’s prescription of 30 minutes of exercise a day gives me an aspirational wellness goal. Aspirational as in later this month.

    This week, I’m starting with Ridgely Retreat’s even-the-sick-can-do-it strategy of lying flat on the floor with my legs up against the wall. That’s one of the many yoga routines I’ve been missing since my germy invasion. I know from experience that yogi Di Goodman of Ruah Studio is right: “moving and breathing in a living studio in the hands of a knowledgeable teacher will make you feel better.”

    Dr. Sara Poldmae of Meadow Hill Wellness reminds me that acupuncture will give my recovery another boost. I know that’s true, so why haven’t I been taking advantage of that great healing opportunity, one that’s covered by many insurers?

     Chesapeake Health and Fitness Club’s five tips will help me get back on the road to more strenuous exercise. Enticed by Enticement Stables, I’m even dreaming of trying horseback riding again. In last night’s dream, I was riding like the wind.

    But I’m getting ahead of myself. Right now my prime wellness need is a pot of Willow Oak Flower and Herb Farm’s Immunity Blend tea. Plus a hair rescue. As Rick Shane of Style Lounge advises, “Your hair reflects your health,” and what mine is reflecting isn’t good.

    I hope you’re feeling fine this new year. If you are, Bay Weekly’s Health and Wellness Guide will help keep you in the pink. If not, here’s plenty of help on ways to get better — including special services for keeping your vision tiptop, relieving severe back pain, breaking the tobacco habit, no-cost cancer screenings and re-wiring your brain to healthy habits with hypnosis.