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5 Ways Facebook and Twitter Can Make You Happier – And Even Healthier

5 Ways Facebook and Twitter Can Make You Happier â And Even Healthier

On its worst days, social media can be a hyperactive negativity cloud, distracting your attention from work and even, according to some experts, worsening your health. But others say that Facebook and Twitter can actually make us happier, as long as we steer clear of its pitfalls. But unless you’re headed to an ashram for an extended stay or currently live in a cave, we’re guessing you won’t be ditching your Facebook or Twitter accounts anytime soon. So here are five ways to make sure you’re making the most of your time on social media – and possibly even improve your overall health while you’re at it: More »

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps May Play Beauty Tricks on You

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps May Play Beauty Tricks on You

I’ve been curious about Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, or “hippie juice” as a friend of mine calls it, since I first saw the 3,000-word tome on the bottle. The all-natural castile soap is supposed to be a gentle but effective multipurpose cleaner fit for washing your body, hair, teeth, clothes, and more. Or as the label says, “Clean body-mind-soul-spirit instantly uniting one! All-One!”

I’ve always been a little skeptical, and so was Alison Pels over at the blog Brokelyn. Pels tested Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap in seven capacities. She left out gardening (it was too cold), lice removal (she doesn’t have lice), and contraceptive douching (eww – not healthy and there are much better alternatives). More »

Podiatry: Custom-Made Orthotics Feel Like a Scam

Podiatry: Custom-Made Orthotics Feel Like a Scam

“You couldn’t be in the military with these,” says the man examining my feet.

While that may have been welcome news to hear as a male of draft age in the Vietnam era, it offered little comfort to me, a woman, in present times, looking not to evade military service, but rather, hoping to run a half marathon.

I have flat feet. Or, according to some yoga instructors I’ve worked with, I have “fallen” or “collapsed” arches. I have a leg length discrepancy that is somewhat significant, or maybe just an imbalance in my hips that sometimes reads as a leg length discrepancy. Or maybe it’s just that one of my flat feet (the left, if you must know) is flatter than the other. Or maybe it’s hardly noticeable. It all depends on whom you ask, and, also, maybe, the moon and the tides.

Welcome to the (or at least my) imprecise world of podiatry. More »

Face Transplant Recipient Meets Donor’s Family

Face Transplant Recipient Meets Donor's Family

In 2004, Connie Culp became America’s first face transplant recipient after 22 hours in surgery. And last week, she finally met the family of her donor, Anna Kasper. Kasper suffered from a fatal heart attack in 2008, and though her body was fine, she was declared brain dead. Her husband Ronald and daughter Becky made the decision to donate her body for medical use. More »

Alternative Christmas Gift Ideas: Give Experiences, Not Junk

Alternative Christmas Gift Ideas: Give Experiences, Not Junk

If you’re tired of giving a bunch of junk to your hard-to-shop-for relatives, and sick of seeing last year’s gift gathering dust on a bookshelf (or worse: wasting space in the back of a kitchen cupboard), then it’s time to start thinking outside of the gift box. Why not give gifts with staying power? Experience-oriented gifts offer friends and loved ones an unforgettable experience and the opportunity to learn skills that they’ll have for a lifetime (and use more often than that too-big sweater they donated to Goodwill over the summer). Whether it’s learning a new skill or simply enjoying a relaxing day at the spa, giving experiences rather than trinkets is likely to make a better impression on your loved ones (and they’re a lot more eco-friendly, too). More »

Celebrity Surgery: Hollywood’s Year In Health

Celebrity Surgery: Hollywood's Year In Health

This week, 30 Rock comedian Tracy Morgan revealed that he’d had a kidney transplant earlier this month. He’s said to be doing well, but Morgan is hardly the first celeb to suffer health problems this year. A slew of other famous folk have survived major health threats in the last twelve months — and have gone under the knife to remedy of a variety of ailments. More »

5 New Year’s Resolutions Not to Make

5 New Year's Resolutions Not to Make

If you poll ten people about New Year’s resolutions you’ll probably find five who make them every year and five who think they’re silly or pointless. I’m in the former group. I rejoice in resolutions and encourage my clients do the same. But there’s a method to resolution-making: You need to make resolutions that are realistic – not revolutionary. Here are my five resolutions not to make, and what to do instead: More »

Christmas Drinking: Alcohol Can Make You Sleep Deprived

Christmas Drinking: Alcohol Can Make You Sleep Deprived

As if we needed another reason to keep our holiday drinking under control, consider sleep. We often think of alcohol as a sedative, but as its sedative powers wear off, people often find themselves wide awake after just a few hours of sleep.

And even if that extra glass of egg nog you drank at your office holiday party doesn’t keep you up all night, it will impact your sleep stages. People who’ve consumed excessive amounts of alcohol decrease what’s called their “slow-wave sleep” (the deepest sleep cycle). People also report waking up more during the night, which can leave you feeling unexpectedly tired and cranky the next morning. Plus, heavy drinking is especially bad for those who suffer from sleep apnea; it can sedate the brain so that it doesn’t react as quickly to breathing difficulties. More »

Green Christmas: 8 Alternatives to Gift Wrap

Green Christmas: 8 Alternatives to Gift Wrap

You’ve purchased or made gifts for everyone on your list and now you’ve settled down for the truly daunting task: Gift-wrapping. Every year, Americans spend around $2.9 billion on wrapping paper, gift bags, bows, and ribbons — an astronomical amount for things that are typically discarded within a few seconds. And that’s why we think it’s time to take back the wrap. Christmas wrapping paper doesn’t have to mean being stuck with piles and piles of shiny reindeer and scary snowmen. There are chic — and eco-friendly — alternatives to traditional Santa- and ornament-covered gift wrap. Check out our gallery of eight of our favorite alternative, much more environmentally positive Christmas wrapping paper options: More »

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