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Last week, I tried to con­vince you that like cake, you need stress in your life. But also like cake, if you don’t have enough or if you have too much, it’s a prob­lem. So how do we find and keep that sweet spot of just enough stress? Spoil­er Alert: There is no cake involved.

A quick Google search for the ​“best stress man­age­ment tech­niques” will tell you that eat­ing right, exer­cis­ing, get­ting enough sleep, med­i­tat­ing, and liv­ing in the moment are some of the best ways to deal with stress. It’s true; those are def­i­nite­ly very effec­tive ways to keep your stress lev­el low.

You know that feel­ing when you’re all caught up at work, the house is clean, the laun­dry is done, your eye­brows are per­fect­ly shaped, the bills are paid, the lawn is mowed, no one is whin­ing, the sun is shin­ing, and all is right with the world?

Nation­al Pet Day is a time to cel­e­brate the fur­ry (or feath­ery, or scaled!) com­pan­ions who enrich our lives. But beyond the cud­dles and cute antics, pets offer a sur­pris­ing range of ben­e­fits for our phys­i­cal and men­tal health.

Our Quin­cy Med­ical Group Behav­ioral Health team shared some ways pets can be ben­e­fi­cial for your well-being:

The hol­i­day sea­son is here, and this time of year is often asso­ci­at­ed with joy and hap­pi­ness. How­ev­er, for some peo­ple, the hol­i­days can trig­ger feel­ings of sad­ness and depres­sion. These feel­ings, often described as the ​“hol­i­day blues,” are not uncom­mon accord­ing to Quin­cy Med­ical Group Behav­ioral Health Ther­a­pist Paul Warning.

Moth­er­hood comes with a lot of joy, but it can also bring unique chal­lenges and strug­gles. As moms, it’s nat­ur­al to pri­or­i­tize the needs of our chil­dren, and it’s equal­ly impor­tant to take care of our­selves. Accord­ing to Post­par­tum Sup­port Inter­na­tion­al, one out of five women are affect­ed by mater­nal men­tal health dis­or­ders includ­ing post­par­tum depres­sion, anx­i­ety, OCD, bipo­lar, PTSD, and psychosis.

Smile! It’s Nation­al Children’s Den­tal Health Month. To instill a com­mit­ment to den­tal health, a den­tal rou­tine should start ear­ly in your child’s life. We asked Dr. Erin Sheffield, Oral and Max­illo­fa­cial Sur­geon with Quin­cy Med­ical Group, to give us some tips to get kids start­ed on the right path with their teeth. Here’s what she shared.

Look­ing for gift ideas for the kid­dos in your life? We went to Anne Zinn, speech lan­guage pathol­o­gist, and Erin Adams, occu­pa­tion­al ther­a­pist, with the QMG Pedi­atric Ther­a­py team for some ideas. From toys that encour­age fine and gross motor skills to activ­i­ties pro­mot­ing sen­so­ry explo­ration, our ther­a­pists have hand­picked items that not only enter­tain but also con­tribute to your child’s wellbeing.

After-school snack­ing is impor­tant to help meet the ener­gy needs of chil­dren. Snacks are also great ways to help boost fruit and veg­etable intake. QMG Reg­is­tered Dietit­ian Brit­tany Win­ship shared that pair­ing two food groups when pro­vid­ing snacks helps keep hunger at bay. Below are five quick and easy exam­ples that include a fruit or vegetable.

Pedi­atric ear, nose, and throat dis­or­ders remain among the pri­ma­ry rea­sons chil­dren vis­it a physi­cian. Ear infec­tions rank as the num­ber one rea­son for an appoint­ment, accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Otolaryngology‒ Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.

Kids will be head­ed back to school again before you know it and along with sched­ul­ing phys­i­cals, eye exams, and vac­cines, it’s impor­tant to think about your children’s men­tal health too. Coor­di­na­tor of Behav­ioral Health, Nik­ki Shields, shares the fol­low­ing back-to-school tips with par­ents and caregivers: