Tuesday 31 March 2015

Tunesday Tuesday- March




Hey guys! I's time for my monthly music post, I run down the top ten giving my verdict and then talk about my personal playlist and a star of the month! It seems like so long since I've done one of these, is it just me that feels like March has dragged? Anyway lets have a lil look at the top 10.

1) Hold my hand- Jess Glynne
I really like this chick, she has a really fresh sound in all her songs, something different and refreshing and distinctive.
2) Hold back the river- James Bay 
I've been liking this song a lot and hearing it a lot too! Again its something quite different and catchy.
3) King- Years and Years
I've not heard this song a lot? Maybe it's just not been on the radio when I've been listening! It's got a nice beat, I'm expecting more from Years and Years.
4) Fourfiveseconds- Kanye West, Rhianna and Paul McCartney 
I love this song, it's so diverse and new somehow and I just love the mix of artists!
5) Love me like you do- Ellie Goulding
I have always been a fan of Ellie's voice! It's so unique
6)Lay me down- John Ledgened and Sam Smith
Such an emotional song sung by two of my favourite artists! I love them so much, such a beautiful song.
7) Take me to church- Hoizer 
Can never get enough of this song!
8) uptown funk- Bruno Mars
Another song I just adore!
9)  Sugar- Marroon 5
The video for this song is imense, I want Marron 5 at my wedding!
10) Earned it- The Weekend.
Not heard this song much! Only thing putting me off is that it's from the fifty shades of gray soundtrack hmm.

My playlist: 
Fall out Boy- Just one yesterday
Billy Idol- White wedding
Tracy Chapman- fast car
Jordin Sparks- I am woman
Demi- Lovato- skyscraper
Blu Cantrell- hit em up style (oops)
BANKS- beggin for thread

You can find my March Playlist here

Star of the month: BANKS
I adore this girls cool sound, her voice sounds amazing on every track and sounds so versatile too, she can change the style of her voice and song so easily it's amazing! She's becoming bigger but definitely go and have a listen if you haven't!

Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Sunday 29 March 2015

100 days of happiness! Days 82-88

Hey guys! Here's my next seven days of my 100 happy days challange!

Day 82: Ballet! It's been so long since I went to ballet with one thing or another so it was nice to be back!

Day 83: My cooking. I pretty much consider myself to be a cook at this point, my dinners are on point. 
Day 84: Costa date! Wednesday I had a training day so popped into town to see my boyfriend for a skinny vanilla latte, yum! 
Day 85: New eyeliner. I've wanted to try this for ages, I will do a review on it at some point!
Day 86: relaxing. I spent my friday evening relaxing in bed with a hot chocolate and catching up on youtube videos! 
Day 87: More relaxing! My saturday was spent at my boyfriends watching the back to the future trilogy. I had never seen the second and third ones so I needed to see them!
Day 88: New bed covers and curtains! I choose my new curtains and bedcovers, they're not up yet but they're gold with roses on! So pretty, can't wait for my bedroom to feel like mine properly!
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Mental Health Awareness March- Depersonalisation disorder

Hey guys! This is the last mental health awareness post! Thank you all for sharing my posts and whatnot and I hope I've helped in this past month!
The final disorder I want to talk about is depersonalisation disorder. This is where someone has feelings of detachment from their own body, thoughts or emotions, feeling like you are in a dreamlike state. They may not see their reflection as their own and have outer body experiences. In addition, their inner turmoil can cause anxiety and depression.



It is thought to be largely caused by severe traumatic life events such as childhood abuse, accidents, war and tourtue. It is not a psychotic disorder, this means that the person is aware they have this and can distinguish between their own experiences and fantasy and their grasp on reality stays stable.

The symptoms are common in one to two percent of the population and chronic depersonalisation in about 0.1-1.9%. People with depersonalisation disorder often think about the nature of reality and have an uncontrollable urge to question society and ask deep philosophical questions. Some patients also have hallucinations and may feel as though time is passing but they are not present in this time.

Patients may also have de-realisation, which is where they believe their environment is is lacking in colour and depth , the world seems unreal to them.
Depersonalization is the third most common psychological symptom, after feelings of anxiety and feelings of depression. It can also accompany sleep deprivation (often occurring when suffering from jet lag), migraine, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, stress, and anxiety. It can be a side effect of many drugs too,

I hope this has educated you! Thank you again for all getting involved, but of course this isn't the end of mental health awareness and it's up to all of us to make others aware of issues and to work on improving how people see them in society!
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Menal Health Awearness March- Pyromania


Hey guys! Today's Mental Health issue is Pyromania. I had never heard about this before and so it was something I definitely wanted to look into and research in more detail. Pyromania is an impulse control disorder, where they cannot resist starting fires, either to release tension or in the spur of the moment. Pyromania is one of the four categories of the types of arson, the other types being to get profit, to cover up another crime and for revenge. It is estimated that less than 1% of the population have this and 90% of these are male.

The reasons for someone getting this are split into two categories, environmental and individual. Individual factors include personal issues in someone's lives. Often Pyromaniacs have past convictions such as vandalism or sexual assault. Other reasons may because they don't have many friends or were bullied. Environmental factors include being victims of sexual assault or neglect.

Someone with pyromania has tension and a sense of emotional build up before lighting a fire and then feels relief or happiness after lighting it. The person must set fires on regular occasions, deliberately and are fascinated with fire's or equipment associated with fires. Pyromanics also do not have another motive for the fire, it is purely for the release of tension.

However there is not much research in this issue and so diagnosis is quite difficult due to the lack of knowledge about it.

I hope this has been informative! This is the last week of mental health awareness march, if you would like to help out and take part, please email me asap at smitheh01@gmail.com
Lots of love
Eleanor x

Sunday 22 March 2015

100 happy days! Day 75-81

Hey guys! This is my next 7 days of my 100 happy day challenge! There is a lot of food included in this one haha!

Day 75: Jacket potato's! This is quite a strange one, but jackets are such a comfort food, they're so warming and always fill me up while being really good for you too!


Day 76: Options hot chocolate. I am a massive hot chocolate fan but they can be super fattening and I found a really low calorie hot chocolate that still tastes amazing! Since this I have almost got all the different flavours in a draw upstairs although I have only tried three so far, the original, the mint and the hazelnut. My fave was the mint one! Wasn't a massive fan of the Hazlenut one not gonna lie, but I'm so excited to try the rest!
 Day 77: Creme eggs! Another food post, on wed I had a cheeky creme egg as a morning snack! Easter chocolate is the best!
Day 78: Dancing! This was actually a similar one I did in my 100 happy days a few weeks ago, but ballroom dancing makes me so happy!
Day 79: Cherries. I just adore cherries and I've not had any for ages but I had a few on friday. they're defo my favourite fruit!
Day 80: Nottingham Trent uni applicant day. I wanted to look round because I was thinking of putting it as my insurance choice and it convinced me to! I went into Nottingham and it was quite pretty too!
Day 81: Bath bombs! My dad bought me and my sister a few from lush to keep us going and I'm going to use this one in my bath tonight since its spring!
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Mental health awareness march- Hoarding disorder



Hey guys! Apologies, this is a few days late! Nevertheless the mental health disorder I want to talk about today is hoarding disorder which I think sometimes lots of people forget about. Compulsive hoarding is when people excessively acquire items that have little value and cannot throw them away. This may become a problem as the junk may fill up peoples houses meaning they have little space or have unsafe environments.   People with hoarding disorder may also have OCD which is why they feel the need to compulsively buy things.

Hoarding disorder can be difficult to treat as often people don't realise it is a problem, or see their hoardings as things that they need rather than it just being useless. However it is really important to see someone about it as it can negatively impact people social lives, their jobs and families. People with hoarding disorders may state that they "may need this later" or "If I buy this I'll be happy" or "I will feel loss if I throw this away." Attempts to throw things away can  give people a very strong sense of loss or guilt and so it puts people off making decisions. Compulsive hoarding is often associated with family history of hoarding, previous deprivation, anxiety, depression, social anxiety struggling to cope with the death of a loved one and a lack of relationship with friends and family.

Someone who hoards typically keep things of little or no use such as carrier bags or broken things, they may become extremely attached to items and not let other people touch their things, they have difficulty doing everyday activities and making everyday decisions. Studies suggest it can start as early as 13-14 years old with broken toys and school papers but it can often start even younger. It is estimated around 2-5% of the British population have it.

Why is it a problem? Unfortunately like a lot of disorders it is often made fun of in the media and it TV shows however it can be problematic. It can mean their houses are more likely to catch fire or they are more likely to fall. Often they cannot enter rooms due to it being so full or they cannot even get into bed at night or use their shower. People who hoard are reluctant to let people into their houses and can become lonely and live in solitude so they are more likely to be depressed or have anxiety.

If you know someone with this or suspect that this is a super big problem for someone don't ignore it because the media has taught you this is something to be laughed at!
If you would like to talk about your experiences with this or with another mental issue please email me at smitheh01@gmail.com so we can raise more awareness!
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Mental health awearness march- ADHD



Hey guys! Today's mental health awareness topic is one that I myself really wanted to find out more about because I often hear it in passing. Similarly with OCD people often throw the word around and not really understand what it means and I wanted to to some research and find out more!

Common symptoms of ADHD include having a short attention spam, restlessness and being impulsive. It can occur in anyone, a lot of people think it happens purely in people with learning difficulties but this is not true although it is more common. People with ADHD may also suffer from anxiety and insomnia.

Most people are noticed for having it at an early age from around 6-12 years old, it's quite often spotted by teachers when the notice a child is having difficulty paying attention in class. Many people live with this and are absolutely fine, many may not even consider it to be a "mental disorder" because they continue life as normal although for others it is severe and may interrupt their daily activities.


ADHD can be quite difficult to diagnose especially if the person is young, as young children suffer from a lack of concentration as it is, but as a person gets older it can be easier to tell. It is also the most common behaviour disorder in the UK and affects around 2-5% of children and is more common in boys. Something I found interesting however is that girls with ADHD are more likely to suffer from the lack of attention symptom rather than the hyperactivity and so it can often be harder to spot, many girls with ADHD may go undetected.

It is important to remember that people with ADHD cannot control their behaviour just like any other disorder. Children with it often get labelled negatively and this needs to stop because of the effects it has on them later in life. Just as we wouldn't blame a schizophrenic for having delusions we shouldn't blame someone with ADHD for being hyperactive.
If you suffer from ADHD and would like to talk about it for my mental health awareness month please email me at smitheh01@gmail.com. Likewise if you would like to do a post on another mental health issue you want to talk about please do email me too! The more awareness we raise the better.
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Sunday 15 March 2015

100 days of happiness! days 68-74

Hey guys! Here's the next 7 days in my 100 days of happiness challenge!

Day 68- Running. Last week I bought a new running kit and this week i've been able to get out jogging when the weather has permitted it! Although it's a bit too cold for me at the moment, I can't wait for the summer when I can go often!
Day 69- at by boyfriends gig. I've been to two of my boyfriends gigs this week, one of them was on Tuesday with his ensemble group from college and it was part of his assessment.
 

Day 70- coffee date with my besite! As we finished early me and my friend went into costa, I got a small skinny gingerbread latte it was so yummy. I'm trying to taste all the latte's and mark them out of ten, I gave this one a six, it was just a tad sweet and I think I prefer the caramel one so far!
Day 71- My cooking. I have been making dinner for the past few weeks as you know and this has been one of my faves so far! Chicken on a bed of salad.

Day 72- Red nose day! I love red nose day its so funny but it does so much good in the world! I wish id tried to collect all the red noses!
Day 73- watching Luke play again! Once again I was my boyfriends groupie, and despite being ill it was a good night!

Day 74- mothers day! I like to keep up traditions by going to church and getting a daffodil to give to my mum and getting her a card and pressies.

Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Saturday 14 March 2015

Mental health awareness march- narcolepsy



Hey guys! Today's mental health issue I'm talking about is narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a relatively rare sleep disorder, effecting 0.05% of the population. It effects the brains ability to to regulate normal sleep patterns, leading to disturbed nights and sleeping during the day.

Key symptoms:
1) disturbed night time sleep- frequent waking up during the night
2) excessive sleepiness- falling asleep at inappropriate times during the day and experiencing chronic tiredness
3) cataplexity- this only happens in some people with narcolepsy, it involves temporary muscle weakness in response to emotion. This stems from a mild facial weakness, buckling of knees or even collapsing. it can also last from a few minuets up to 60 minuets.
4)  sleep paralysis- an inability to move while being concious
5) hallucinations- vivid frightening dream like experiences which occur during the transition of sleep and wakefulness.

it can cause serious effects in everyday life such as inability to stay focused and do day to day tasks. There is medication though and many people can get it under control. There are many different theories to why it is caused, it does not seem to be the same for everyone, such as brain structure, lack of certain neurotransmitters or traumatic events. Notable people with narcolepsy includes Jimmy Kimmel.

I hope this has helped inform you! If you suffer from this or another mental illness and would like to raise attention to it for mental health awareness march, please email me at smitheh01@gmail.com.
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Wednesday 11 March 2015

Mental health awareness march- schizophrenia

Hey guys! Today the mental health issue I wanted to talk about is schizophrenia. I'm a bit of a nerd on this since I've learnt a lot about it this year so all of this is taken from my own knowledge, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!  There are many different types of schizophrenia and different sub divisions, for example hallucinational and delusional schizophrenia but also catatonic schizophrenia, where a person may seem to 'lack' things eg they may stop through sentences or have periods where they don't talk or don't move. A lot of people confuse schizophrenia with split personality disorder, that people with schizophrenia have a "good" and "bad" side, such as Jekyll and Hide or Gollum but that is something else entirely.

Because their are so many symptoms schizophrenia shares with other mental disorders it can take six months before it is diagnosed. Likewise as it is a psychotic disease, the people suffering with it often don't know they are. There are many different ideas about what schizophrenia is caused by and often it depends on the individuals circumstances for example it could come from your family and how you were raised or traumatic childhood events or commonly an excess of dopamine receptors which may be influenced by the use of hallucinogenic drugs.

Schizophrenia can be difficult to treat, often drugs are used but if a person has delusions and paranoia, often they will not take them on the basis that they believe they are being poisoned. While schizophrenics are more likely to harm themselves than other people, severe schizophrenics are often kept in hospitals which can be very expensive but they are getting 24 hour care which some may need. Others may live in communities and be visited by doctors daily.

Many people do live with schizophrenia normally and keep their symptoms under check as much as they can but do continue to live normally. Another common misconception about schizophrenia is that they accociate it with violent behaviour, but as I said above, schizophrenics are actually rarely violent to others and when they are it is often due to drugs or alcohol, which is the same for people without schizophrenia.
I hope this has informed you! If you would like to get involved with mental health awareness march, either by writing a piece on a mental illness or telling us about your storyand living with a mental illness, this could be schizophrenia or anything else please get in contact and together we can raise awareness!
Lots of Love
Eleanor x


Sunday 8 March 2015

100 happy days, days 61-67

Hey guys! Taking a break from mental health awareness march to bring you the next week of my 100 happy days!

Day 61: Snow! I woke up Monday morning and found it had been snowing, everything looks super pretty in the snow!
Day 62: Porridge. All week I have been eating porridge for breakfast and I can definitley see the difference, I have much more energy and feel much better, breakfast is so important, it stops snacking later and keeps you full and energised.

Day 63: The girl with the dragon tattoo. I have been wanting to read this for ages and I finally got round to it! Although I've not had much chance to read a lot I'm really enjoying it.
Day 64: Yoga shred challenge. Remember my meditation challenge? well this time it's a 14 day yoga challenge, this is so much fun! I feel really energised afterwards.
Day 65: Lunch in costa! I fancied something different for lunch and went into costa and got a cheese and ham toastie and a skinny caramel latte, yum!
Day 66: New running kit. There was a sale on at sports direct so I bought new running gear! Excited to try them out later!
Day 67: New tea. I have been wanting to try new herbal teas for ages so I bought some green tea and some honey and camomile tea! I'm having the latter this morning and it's so yummy and lovely!
 Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Friday 6 March 2015

Mental Health Awareness March- Trichotillomania



Hey guys! The next illness I want to talk about is Trichotillomania, or Trich. This was actually something I didn't even know existed until last year so I thought it would be good to bring up as many people may be also wondering what this is.

Trich is a compulsive desire to pull your hair out, this includes hair on your head, eyelashes and eyebows. It's an impulsive- control disorder, so a person is unable to stop themselves doing it. This can lead to guilt, shame and low self-esteem as it can often lead to bald patches on the persons head.

This illness acts like an addiction, the more a person pulls their hair, the more they want to continue to do it. In some cases, it may be a form of self harm or in others a way of relieving stress and anxiety and there are close links with OCD.

There are treatments for it although it can be quite difficult to treat, the main way to treat it is to find other ways of releasing stress and tension, replacing it with something that's not harmful to them or an alternative is medication.  The long term effects of it can be bad too, such as permanent hair loss and skin damage and so if you think you or anyone you know has it see a doctor!

If you know anyone or if you yourself suffer from trich and want to add anything or tell us about a personal experience please email me at smitheh01@gmail.com and I can post it! That way more people can learn.
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Mental health awareness march- Binge eating

Hey guys, the first mental health issue I want to discuss is binge eating. When you hear about eating disorders, must people automatically think about anorexia and do not consider binge eating. People who binge eat are people who eat a lot of food in a short period of time, even when they are not hungry. This can be brought on by stress and if someone is upset and can trigger it. I think one thing people don't often realise is that binge eating can also come from restriction of food, some people do not have a diagnosis of binge eating but if people start telling themselves they cannot eat this or that, the likely hood is they will start binging on it at a later date or when it is in front of them. It can start from a desire to be thin but starvation can lead to people actually eating more. Nevertheless serious binge eaters will eat compulsively, some will even be dazed or forget what they ate. Immediately after eating, they feel embarrassed or guilty with their behaviour.

This disorder effects woman slightly more than men but not by much and it can develop in teenage years. It is estimated it effects 1 in about 40 people. A lot of us binge eat from time to time, some of us feel bad but all of us move on and our lives, but for people who binge eat it's not that simple, there can be a vicious cycle, a need to eat constantly and this is when people need to seek out help. As I suggested earlier, binge eating can be caused by traumatic events, low self esteem, depression, anxiety and restricting your diet or not eating enough.

Binge eating can lead to obesity but not always. I always hate it when people who have an eating disorder are told "well you don't look like you have one." People do not have to look very thin or very large to have an eating disorder, just as people who are naturally very thin or large don't have to have an eating disorder. Binge eating can lead to anxiety, diabetes and heart problems later in life.

But Binge eating can be helped, self-help, interventions, counselling and drugs. So of course there is always help available!
I found a great website for people here for goal setting for people with eating disorders: http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/recovery/self-help-tools-skills-tips/goal-setting

And another website here for helping you decide a meal plan:
http://healingforeatingdisorders.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-meal-planning/

I hope these help and I hope this has informed you about the disorder. If you have had dealings with this or another eating disorder and feel confident to talk about it and let me share it on this blog (anonymous if you wish) for my mental health awareness month, please email me at smitheh01@gmail.com
additionally if you would like to help me this month but talk about another mental illness, please also email me, you can do so for the whole of this month! Together we will bring about change and awareness!
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Monday 2 March 2015

GUEST BLOGGERS WANTED FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MARCH 2015!



Ahh! You guys I'm so excited for this, to bring back Mental Health Awareness March (now known as Mham) This is nothing official, this is just what I did last year and got thoroughly good reviews from and I had such positive response that I've been waiting a whole year to bring it back. Mental health is something which a lot of awareness has been brought about of late, through social media but there needs to be more continued awareness to be shown and that's what this series is all about. Through the whole of march I will be uploading information about different mental health problems, hopefully to show you some you may not of heard of before or don't know a lot about to help educate you and myself upon them!

But I need your help! If you want to get involved please email me and smitheh01@gmail.com. If you have suffered with mental health issues and you're willing to talk about or you want to raise awareness to, you could tell us what it's like or you could just give facts it's up to you, please get in touch! Of course you can do this completely anonymously if you like. If you have not suffered yourself but would like to do some research on an issue and do a post on them or if you have dealt with relatives/ friends and would like to do one on that or even if you have had no run ins but just really want to learn about something all is fine!

You do not have to be a blogger for this ie you do not have to have an actual blog or anything like that, if you see this shared and you or you know someone who would like to get involved please do or tell them to, there is no restrictions on this in terms of age, where you're from or anything, mental health problems effect all of us no matter who we are.

If you wan't to show support but don't want to do a post, please share this on any social media site, I just really want to get people excited about learning about mental health and the effects and really open people's eyes and the more people that see this the better, plus it only takes a few seconds to copy and paste this to twitter/facebook/tumblr/google+/ instagram. Please use the hashtag mentalhealthawearnessmarch so I can see how many people are supporting me and this little quest.

I hope you decide to join in, I will be uploading two different mental health issues a week and then other people's posts on top so if lots of people get involved we can do four or five posts a week even which will really raise attention which is my aim!

This is running all month on Little Thoughts and there is no specific time you have to email me by, the earlier the better but if you're reading this post and it's half way through March you can still get in touch and talk to me about what you'd like to send me and I'll still upload it, there is no time limit just one whole month! If you have any questions comment or email me but if we work together we can really educate people about this and specific illnesses that are not talked about enough or are not talked about in the right way.I want this to be really positive and supportive and a place where we can all learn new things and bring about change!

Once again guys I hope you decide to join with me and raise awareness for mental health issues,
Lots of Love
Eleanor x

Sunday 1 March 2015

100 days of happiness day 54-60

Hey guys, here's my next week in my 100 days of happiness challenge!

Day 54- My psychology mock score! I did a lot better in my mock that I assumed!
Day 55- Seeing the script! Omg! They we so good, I adore the script too they're one of my fave bands, was so lovely seeing them in concert!
Day 56- new makeup! I love getting new makeup and this mascara and lipstick are amazing I love them so much!
Day 57- In school super early to work with a mocha! I have become obsessed with moccachinos lately, they're so  yummy and I can get them from school.
Day 58- Cooking. I have been making super healthy yummy foods at the moment and the award for the best this week goes to this haddock crumble! Delish
Day 59- Liverpool! Liverpool university is my first choice and comming back made me realise how much I can't wait to move. I'm incredibly excited for university now having looked around it again, my course looks fantastic and I think I'll really love it.
Day 60- boiled egg! I love boiled eggs, isn't my egg cup just the cutest?
Lots of Love
Eleanor x