Hands up anyone who’s starting to feel the stress of the holiday season.

Mine hand is up. Is yours?

Well, you’ve shown up at Healthbolt at the right time because this next giveaway is aimed at not only relieving holiday stress but also helping you Achieve New Year’s Resolutions.

It’s a CD called Relieving Your Holiday Stress and Achieving Your New Yearʼs Resolutions.

Created by Ronald G. Nathan, Ph.D., a practicing psychologist, award-winning teacher, and co-author of three popular stress management books, this CD is a collection of simple and effective strategies to handle holiday stress more creatively.

It addresses ways to stay focused and relaxed while dealing with holiday related stress such as gift-giving and budget-busting to jammed parking lots and long cashier lines.

There are two guided relaxation tracks on the CD that follow help listeners to trigger the stay-and-play response, counteract the fight-or-flight response, desensitize to the ghosts of holidays past, and strengthen New Yearʼs resolutions.

Dr Nathan talks you through all of this and more, accompanied by relaxing harp music destined to reduce your stresses.

Sounds like something that should be playing on all car radios for the next two weeks if you ask me.

Want the CD?

Then leave a comment by 17th December telling us why you’re so stressed, and you never know, this CD could be heading for your mail box.

Open to US residents.

The winners will be announced on 18th December and sent an email with the subject heading ‘Healthbolt Giveaway Winner’ with instructions on how to claim their prize.

And don’t forget it’s ‘every day a giveaway’ this month at Healthbolt.

Looking at the calendar this morning, I suddenly realized that it was one year ago today that I started blogging at Healthbolt. Wow, how time flies when you’re having fun. I know it’s a cliche, but it only seems like yesterday.

So in celebration of the day, I thought I’d share some of my favorite posts with you…

Nine Christmas Gifts for the Hypochondriac in Your Life was the second post I wrote for Healthbolt and it was probably the most fun. Exploring all the interesting and fun gifts you could buy for the ‘hypochondriac’ was a blast. After all, how could a person resist fluffy giant microbes and internal organs.

And then there was Doing the Hasselhoff and Pumpkin Positive, an examination of entertaining and information medical slang.

On a more serious note, I wrote about how the CDC says Morgellons is a mystery disease worth investigating, found 5 Smoking Gadgets That Might Help You Quit Smoking, discussed needle phobia in No Needles Please…I’m Belonephobic, and looked at some fascinating historic facts about Marijuana.

There was also human interest stories with the Ice Man, the Blue Man, the Tree Man, and the Upside Down Man.

Plus the unique, the intriguing, and the bizarre with Can You Do This With Your Body, Dermatographia as Body Art, Blood-Sucking Beauty, What’s That in Your Head,  A Visit to the Anatomical Theatre, and Russian Spa builds a monument to the enema.

There were some health tips such as Humming my way to clearer sinuses, Do the Hara Hachi Bu, Zip Your Migraine Away With Magnets, and Are You Tired of Being Tired.

But of all 300 plus posts over this past year, Remembering Randy Pausch is the one I consider the most important. What he said in The Last Lecture will stick with me always…

Paul Newman, the legendary actor whose steely blue eyes, good-humored charm and advocacy of worthy causes made him one of the most renowned figures in American arts, has died of cancer at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He was 83.

(CNN, September 27, 2008)

Paul Newman - the man…

Paul Newman - the actor…

R.I.P.
Paul Newman
(1925-2008)

Have you heard about Damaged Care: The Musical Comedy about Health Care in America?

This medical musical comedy, written and performed by physicians Greg LaGana, M.D. and Barry Levy, M.D. has been performed in 27 states over the past 13 years.

Here’s just one of the many songs performed by this duo…

If you like these guys and want to see more, check out their other videos here…

Lists, lists, and more lists.

Whether you are looking for the informative or the bizarre, there’s a list here for you.

All About Sex…

27 Ways to Create a Greener, Healthier Sex Life
10 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex

All About Wellness…

Top 10 Nutritional Facts for Coffee
10 Foods that Build Healthy Bones
20 Common Cooking Ingrediets that Act Like Medicines
10 Natural Ways to Save Your Teeth
The Poison Ivy Cure…and 9 Oter Weird Uses for Vodka
8 Simple Strategies to Boost Your Brainpower
50 Habits of ‘Naturally Thin’ People

All About Diseases…

5 Crazy Diseases
10 Craziest Facts About the Human Body
Top 10 Bizarre Mental Disorders
Top 10 Weird Anomalies in Medicine

All about Everything else…

8 Medical Terms Your Doctor Uses to Insult You
Killer Jobs: 10 Painful Professions
9 Ways to Prevent Job Burnout
10 High-Tech Breakthroughs Coming Soon to Your Body
4 Things in Your House Dirtier Than a Toilet
10 Surprising Places Where Germs Lurk
The 10 Worst Jobs in Science

I suddenly realized that Liberty and I have just passed our 5 month anniversary as Healthbolt bloggers. Wow, how time flies when you’re having fun. And it is fun. Getting to research and post on all the interesting, informative, bizarre, and oddball health and medical things is like a dream come true…

I did some maths and five months working on ‘the Bolt’ equates to around 250 posts between us. That’s a whole lot of words.

My choice for Top 5 Posts…

Doing a Hasselhoff…new medical slang and it’s companion piece Pumpkin Positive - more medical slang would be my all time favorite post to write. I simply laughed my way through it.

On the other hand, it was tears and laughter when writing Randy Pausch’s ‘The Last Lecture’ Revisited. Randy is a true inspiration.

Liberty probably ruined a lot of people’s day when she posted Dangit! Now Diet Soda is Bad for You Too?!?. Healthbolt had already highlighted What Happens To Your Body If You Drink [Regular] Coke Right Now? and now it turns out diet sodas not much better…guess that just leaves water!!!

Longevity is a theme Healthbolt has been running with lately, asking questions like Can Our Earth Support Us As We Age?, and then daring you to take the Vitality Compass quiz to see how well you will age.

And who could forget this post - A Fella’s Willy - Handle With Care - that reminded us that some parts of the human body are more fragile that others. Everything, it seems, has a breaking point.

So what’s your favorite posts?

Here is an April roundup from the Health and Wellness channel. Enjoy!

There is something for everyone (breastfeeding or not) in the mix of the Breastfeeding 1-2-3 highlights from April 2008:
Free Pattern for Sewing Your Own Crew Neck Over-the-Head Baby Bibs
Judge Denies FLDS Request to Keep Mothers with Nursing Babies
World Health Day 2008: Protecting Health from Climate Change
Breastfeeding Basics Checklist for a Good Breastfeeding Latch
Gentian Violet and Grapefruit Seed Extract as Thrush Remedies
Breastfeeding and International Travel
Top Five Breastfeeding Interviews

And from Kristen at Lively Women…
April is STD awareness month
Resources for organizing your office and your life
Tap water vs bottled water whats safer and healthier
Guest post aromatherapy 101
Lunchtime lipo investigated by 2020
Gas station condom dispenser preaches abstinence and monogamy
Womens health giveaway nalgene bottle and brita faucet filtration system
History of abortion genocide of african american babies by planned parenthood hotly debated

Hope at Weighting Line also had a roundup pots for you on weight loss and all that goes with it.

Alicia at Mental health Notes had so much to offer…
The more serious stuff:
Wentworth Miller fan pull together for UNICEF
Austrian family presents psychiatrists with bizarre case
Meet famous poets who lived with mental illness
Nurture mental health during the fight against cancer
Mental health repercussions for flds religious sect children
University of virginia higher education meets lower health privacy
Postpartum depression legislation beneficial or conspiratorial

And the fluffier stuff:
They dont make condoms for your brain you know
Harry Potter saved Rowlings sanity
Giving freud the finger just got a whole lot easier
Goodbye American Idol Michael Johns the 5 stages of loss
Brain break oh hai lolcats
Of disloyal house elves and guilt stricken humans
2 sure fire ways to deal with phobias

Here we have Marijke’s top posts at Help My Hurt
Company’s calling - Olympic cyclist Kristin Armstrong talks about her osteoarthritis
Physical activity may help reduce arthritis pain
Help My Hurt lost one of its own today - RIP Tricia
Living with Cancer: Help My Hurt hosts this month’s Theme Day
Friday funnies - April fool’s jokes

Angelique at Breaking the Mirror offers up..
Please tell me weve all been punkd
Her fathers daughter 1st installment
Her fathers daughter 2nd installment
Her fathers daughter 3rd last installment
Anosexya some pro anas think so
In mauritania anorexics looking for love would be out of luck
Just dont tell me okay

Gab at Fertitlity Notes and Daily Tomorrow has some great posts for her roundup…
for Fertility Notes:
Oh wait are we sure we want to do this
The mistress daughter by am homes
The girl with two birthdays
Smokin drinkin sniffin glue
Appreciating the present
The greening of me part 2
The greening of me part 1

And Daily Tomorrow:
Allow me to introduce myself
Make your office a little more eco friendly
Where in the world is the green in that
Kid friendly fridays happy arbor day
Happy birthday John Muir
Another reason to love mushrooms bioremediation
Its national volunteer week

Liberty and Liz at Healthbolt are always a great read….
Testing the vitality compass
Movie theater cuisine so good but so bad
How dandy the anti stress benefits of a dandelion
Is it a computer is it a treadmill
Warning blogging could be bad for your health
Milk the drink of rock stars

What does Grace at Kids Health Notes have to say? Check her out here…
What your poo may be telling you
More students misusing stimulants during stress
Gymnastics cause 27,000 injuries per year, research shows
Skin contact with mom soothes preemies’ pain
Recycle with your kids Tip # 4: bottled water
Recycle with kids Tip #5: Reusing beats recycling

Scott at Health and Men has his roundup here…
Aprils top seven posts for health and men

And Karen at Pink Ribbon Review gave you this…
Seven of my favorite breast cancer blog posts

I seem to be running into lists everywhere I turn at the moment. So I thought I’d share some of them with you…

Stuck in the office with no time to get to the gym. Not to worry. LifeHack has thrown together a list of 29 Exercises You Can Do At (Or Near) Your Desk. You need no props. Just jump on in with a little enthusiasm and motivation and you’ll be keeping fit in no time at all.

Mark’s Daily Apple are also on a list kick, offering up ‘10 Ways to ‘Eat Green’ and reduce your carbon footprint and information on ‘10 Outrageous Diet Scams’ that you should really avoid.

Meanwhile, the Reader’s Digest provides 12 Tips to Create a Sleep Haven, Laurel on Health Food tells us ‘The Top 10 Foods to Boost Your Sex Drive’, Cranky Fitness suggests ‘Five Good Reasons to Quite the Gym’, and dietblog informs us of  ‘5 Amazing Things You Can Learn from a Toddler.’

But if lists aren’t your thing and you need something a little more visual, how about the Anatomy Tattoo Gallery over at Street Anatomy. It’s just been updates with some amazing photos sent in by readers who have gotten anatomy tattoos for one reason or another.

Another month has come and gone. But February was such an important month, as it focused on recognizing the severity of heart health issues and how to take steps to try and outsmart such an unforgiving and non-biased disease.

Here at Healthbolt, we aimed to give you plenty of ideas on how to keep your heart strong and healthy. Here, we’ve packaged up a month’s worth of tips, strategies and anecdotes for you, just in case you missed anything.

We’d also like to introduce you to a fantastic new site, Heart My Heart. It’s a community built on the foundation of Sister to Sister, another fantastic resource for women’s heart health. You don’t need to be a heart disease sufferer to join in - in fact, this is as much a preventative support site as it is anything else. We think you’ll really like it, and urge you to stop in for a visit. We’re sure we’ll be hearing plenty more about this awesome organization in the months ahead.

Now, without further adieu, your month’s worth of heart-healthy links. Enjoy!

Did you know you could actually endanger your heart by slouching?

Nothing brings your heart the warm fuzzies like a couple of feel-good stories.

You know sex is fun. But did you also know that slipping between the sheets makes your heart happy?

Across the entire Science & Health Channel, we all pooled together our heartiest ideas just for you.

Nothing says love like an extremely authentic baked good.

We love when advertisers put their heart into their work.

Getting started on the road to heart health can be a no-brainer with these simple fixes and easy additions.

And finally, some eye-opening statistics that will remind you to embrace a heart-healthy lifestyle the other 11 months of the year.

More Nitpicking…

A few weeks ago The Sunday Sidebar highlighted the life of a professional lice nitpicker who made house calls. Turns out that she’s not the only one making a buck or two out the the hair lice invasion. The Hair Fairies is a franchise of upscale lice removal salons located along boutique restaurants, shops, and cafes in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. No doubt there will be one opening near you soon. Finding lice, it seems, has become a lucrative business. (Salons Make Business of Head Lice Removal )

Brain surgery anyone ?

Apparently you can buy just about anything on ebay these days. How about a 100% fully operational Cranial Fractures Surgery Instrument and Implants, Universal Drill Guide and extras for only US $1,500.

But first you might want to pick up a Human Brain Cranial Cerebral Neurology Model (US $24.99) to figure out where to drill.

I’m all for DIY but this might be taking things a little too far. (Buy your own brain surgery tools online)

Don’t know about you but think I’d rather stick to virtual surgery. Much less mess!!

No time to visit…send the proxy baby instead.

A rice shop in southern Japan has come up with a unique solution for those with newborn babies and too many relatives to visit. Send out a Dakigokochi or proxy baby instead.

The newborn’s face and name are printed on rice filled bags tailor made to the baby’s weight and shape so that the relatives can hold and cuddle them just like they would the real baby. (Japan newborns visit relatives as cuddly rice bags)

And finally…

Ever wonder what would happen if you put a group of science geeks together in a recording studio. Check out the PCR Song and wonder no more…