Lisa Find Love

Sketchy skeleton

Genetics play a big part in health conditions, so looking at your mom’s health can give you a clue what’s to come. This is especially true of complications that affect women more than men, like osteoporosis, a weakening of the bones. (Here are six silent signs of osteoporosis.) According to the CDC, osteoporosis affects 25 percent of women over 65, but only six percent of men—and recent research has found genetic variants predisposing some people to the disease. “There is strong evidence for an increased risk of osteoporosis if your mother had it,” says Todd Sontag, DO, a family medicine specialist with Orlando Health Physician Associates. “Many times this has to do with an inherited body structure of having lower body weight—less than 58kg [128 pounds] in adults or a BMI of less than 22.” Another risk factor is simply having a parental history (mom or dad) of hip fracture, he says. To mitigate these affects, make sure you’re getting enough calcium and vitamin D, and are living a healthy lifestyle.

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Slather on Shea butter

Aussie beauties like Emma Louise of Chemical Detox know that a flawless face starts with great skin. “I use straight organic Shea butter at night to hydrate my skin and heal any acne scarring. In the morning, my complexion is primed and ready for makeup application,” she says. Fake flawless skin with these six simple makeup tricks.

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With their large glass windows, rows of little basinettes, and clear views of the hospital’s newest arrivals, it’s hard to imagine hospitals without newborn nurseries. But how did this slightly odd, if precious, concept of putting babies on display come to be? (Meet the baby who is her family’s first girl in over 100 years.)

Well, they’re not really for putting babies on display. First and foremost, they were created as an area for nurses to take care of the all of the new babies, separate from their mothers. Newborn nurseries have been around pretty much since moms started having babies in hospitals. In the early 1900s, hospitals replaced homes as the primary place to give birth. Hospitals built maternity wards, and right from the get-go, those wards had nurseries with windows. Here are 13 ways to get your mojo back after baby.

According to Smithsonian.com, a 1943 publication by the American Academy of Pediatrics and The Children’s Bureau gave two main purposes for the nurseries. The first reason was to allow the relatives to see the new bundles of joy. The windows, however, were to keep the babies safe and clean while they were being admired by said relatives. And that sanitary concern is justified. Babies’ immune systems are not yet developed, which has to do with the scary reason you should be careful about letting people kiss your new baby.

However, the Smithsonian.com article does admit that solid walls would be even more effective at keeping germs and infections out than windows. Not to mention they would be more cost-effective. So, yeah… the primary purpose is still to look at the cute babies. Some hospitals would offer individual viewings, so that relatives could have some quality time with their new member of the family. In the mid- to late twentieth centuries, these nursery viewings were often the first time fathers got to see their new babies. Awww. This new dad’s hilarious daddy-daughter photos will melt your heart.

Today, though, the nurseries mean a lot to many hospital visitors, not just family members. Dotti James, PhD, RN, claims that “the nursery window has become a destination for patients and families from other parts of the hospital experiencing a health crisis… Standing outside the nursery, seeing the babies… can give hope to families trying to cope.” It’s pretty much a universal truth that healthy babies are an immediate mood booster. If you need proof, take a look at these adorable baby photos: they’re guaranteed to make you smile.

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Bee stings

No surprise here, bees are one of the ten most dangerous bugs to watch out for in the summer. Often a bee leaves its stinger behind when it jabs into the skin. Carefully remove the stinger by scraping it with a credit card. “If you pull it out with tweezers or your fingers, you may accidentally squeeze the stinger’s venom sac and inject the rest of its venom,” says L. Gail Curtis, MPAS, PA-C, a physician’s assistant and board chair of the American Academy of PAs. Next, clean with soap and water and apply a cool compress. Hydrocortisone or calamine cream can help relieve pain and itching. After a sting, watch for signs of an allergic reaction, such as hives and swelling away from the site of the sting. If you see these, check with your doctor about how to respond. Swollen lips and/or throat, dizziness, and difficulty breathing or swallowing could all be signs of anaphylaxis—a life-threatening allergic reaction. Call 911.

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It’s practically a no-brainer that exercise has some incredible perks for your body’s health. But the next time you lace up your sneakers for a run at the gym, don’t leave your brain behind; turns out, exercise can benefit your mind, too.

Raising your heart rate and sweating for a sustained period of time, also known as aerobic exercise, is key to a healthy brain AND heart, according to a new study published this month. Like plenty of experts before them, the researchers found that aerobic exercise “has a significant, overwhelmingly beneficial impact on the brain,” Business Insider reports. (Exercise also does these bizarre things to your body.)

The latest study analyzed the effects of aerobic exercise on the memories of breast cancer survivors. Researchers wanted to test the effects of activities like walking and swimming on “chemo brain,” a common symptom of breast cancer treatment involving memory loss and shortened attention span.

Nearly 300 participants, all breast cancer survivors, received accelerometers to track their daily activity. They were also given an iPad app called BrainBaseline, whose quizzes would gauge their focus and memory. After one week, participants who exercised every day reported feeling less fatigued than those who did little to no exercise, and they also performed significantly better on the app’s quizzes.

“The message for cancer patients and survivors is, get active!” said Diane Ehlers, the lead author on the study and a professor of exercise psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, in a statement.

The week-long study merits future research on the benefits of exercise for cancer patients, particularly given its short time frame. Still, it can’t hurt to get more active—regardless of age or health—and the research suggesting the positive effects of exercise are nearly indisputable.

Ready to try it yourself? You can expect to feel some of this exercise’s positive side effects right away, such as a boost in mood. Others, like improved memory, might take several weeks before you notice them. To reap the most benefits, experts recommend doing any aerobic exercise regularly and consistently for at least 45 minutes at a time, especially for adults aged 50 or older. (Exercise can have these great benefits for your immune system, too!)

And it couldn’t be easier to get started! These tricks will get you motivated to hit the gym—right now.

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Being a DJ

After a semester at a junior college, Brian Buonassissi left school to become a DJ, a subtly smart choice given that music is so good for your health. He got his start working as an apprentice for a DJ manufacturer marketing manager. Within a year of his apprenticeship, he was DJ-ing in nightclubs in California. Over time, he was booking night clubs across the United States, specifically landing private events in New York where he relocated to work full-time in 2011 as DJ Brian B. Officially he’s been in the business for 21 years. When he started, he was earning $25,000 to $30,000 per year and now earns over $150,000 per year.

His advice on making it as a DJ? Know your financial basics, practice the craft, market yourself (but make sure you have the skills to back yourself up). With an open approach to his work, Buonassissi incorporates retro classics, pop hits, hip-hop, rock, reggae and house into the rotation. He interacts with the crowd through creative programming, which, to him means figuring out the vibe and adjusting as needed.

Other than DJ-ing for the love of music, Buonassissi lives for the moments he creates through his work. Often working weddings, Brian is charged with being the soundtrack to some of the most tender experiences in a person’s life. For one particular wedding, he found out that the father of the bride had stage four cancer and the event had to be rescheduled because she wanted her dad to walk her down the aisle. “In some cases, you’re bringing family members back together,” he says, “and for some, it may be the last time they share a moment with certain folks.”

Salary: According to PayScale.com, a DJ’s salary can range from $19,885 to $236,718.

Suggested skills: marketing, social media, music industry knowledge, creativity, software proficiency

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Mid-day calls from my kids’ teachers are pretty much never a good thing. In all my years of being a mom to four kids, I’ve had a teacher call me exactly once to tell me my child did something awesome—every other time it’s because someone puked, wet their pants, or lied about doing their homework. Then there was the one memorable morning I got a call from my son’s preschool teacher that my sweet, innocent four-year-old was running around the room dropping F- bombs like his early reader book was Urban Dictionary.

Of course, I knew exactly where he’d gotten his colorful language from: Me.

That morning I’d been bent over, tying his shoelaces, when his older brother threw open the door to the garage, nailing me right between the eyes with the metal doorknob. I saw stars (yes, like actual sparkly stars) and, in a fit of blinding pain, yelled some choice words. “Oh g*dd*mnmotherf*ckingsh*tonacracker!” At least I’m… creative? I knew as soon as I saw my boys’ little faces that they had discovered a new favorite word. And sure enough, my preschooler started chanting the worst part of it, over and over, as I drove him to school, bruise blossoming across my nose. I begged him not to say it at school but he’d realized that word had power and sweetly chirped “motherf*cker” as he hopped out of the car. I shouldn’t have been surprised when his teacher called. (By the way, this is what parents of young children desperately want you to know.)

Like most moms I try not to swear in front of my kids and, like most moms, I fail on occasion. Obviously. So it was a relief to read a Facebook post from mom blogger Constance Hall about her potty mouth around her kids. She freely admits to cursing around her little ones although she does admit to some mixed feelings about the whole thing. For starters, she has ground rules—no swearing at someone or calling names. Rather, she says she uses it “only for emphasis,” like a “holy sh*t!!” when a breastfeeding baby clamps down painfully on her nipple. (Same, Constance, same.)

Yet that doesn’t mean she necessarily wants her kids to follow suit. She knows that by swearing around them they will in turn use the same words eventually but she says that they also know that for now “they know, mum can. We can’t.” But instead of beating herself up for not having the perfect Mary Poppins vocabulary, she says she uses it as a teaching moment to help her kids learn when it’s OK to use curse words and when it isn’t. (Besides, swearing is one of those weird habits that proves your smarter than most.)

And the outpouring of support has been amazing. Clearly I’m not the only mom who’s found herself in this embarrassing situation and takes solace in Hall’s story. The post has been shared nearly 2,000 times and got 28,000 likes. That’s a lot of motherf*cking mamas! In the comments, moms are sharing their strategies for managing cursing along with funny stories of getting caught out in public. It’s like a giant, profane support group. And I love it. In addition to being a miraculously beautiful experience, being a mom of littles can also be frustrating, stifling, and lonely—especially when all we see on social media are perfect pictures of perfectly behaved kids held by perfectly coiffed moms. Deep down we know it’s not reality (what mom hasn’t been smacked by the proverbial door knob and lashed out? Science even proves it’s OK to swear when in pain.) but it’s so refreshing to get confirmation.

Personally, I still don’t want my kids to curse and do my best to set a good example of how to speak kindly and appropriately. But it’s awesome to know that when I do slip up, I’m in d*mn good company!

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Sunglasses

Why splurge on a pair of designer shades only to have that same pair go out of style at the turn of the season? Sunglasses that flatter your face shape have the power to bring your look entirely full circle—but it’s all about versatility and taking advantage of the freedom to mix and match certain designs. Instead of dropping a fortune on a new pair of high-end frames, consider renting some from Eyedesired.com, a newly-launched eyewear subscription service for both men and women. The site features over 3,000 designs from top brands including Gucci, Balmain, and Alexander McQueen—all available for rent one frame at a time in exchange for a base subscription service that ranges from $45 to $75/month.

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In this day and age, many fall into the trap of defining their self-worth by 401(k) plans and followers on social media—and you could be one of them. But science just offered the perfect reminder that the most important things in life aren’t exactly material.

A 75-year Harvard study analyzed the physical and mental health of two groups of participants, including 456 low-income men in Boston from 1939 to 2014 and 268 male graduates from Harvard’s classes of 1939 to 1944. The researchers spent decades evaluating blood samples, brain scans, self-reported surveys, and personal interactions to determine what made these men feel the most fulfilled.

Their results couldn’t be clearer. “Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period,” said Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.

Having strong, happy relationships in your life relaxes your nervous system, keeps your brain healthy, and reduces both emotional and physical pain, researchers say. (Check out even more scientific benefits of having friends.) They also found that lonely people are more likely to experience an earlier decline in physical health and die younger.

And it’s not about the number of friends you have or whether or not you have a significant other, Waldinger says. Focus on the quality of your close relationships, instead.

That advice includes “finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away,” according to George Vaillant, the Harvard psychiatrist who directed the study from 1972 to 2004. During a particularly traumatic experience like losing a job, parent, or child, it’s important to rely relationships to help you heal rather than closing yourself off. Make sure to avoid all of the biggest myths about happy relationships, too.

In the end, all the money and success in the world won’t make you a happier, healthier person. A little TLC is the only thing you really need. (Plus, these will be the two happiest years of your life, according to science.)

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Fertility rates are in steep decline—and for men, they take a nosedive at this surprisingly young age. Just last year, the CDC reported that U.S. fertility rates had dropped to the lowest ever since 1909, when the government first began keeping track. And a new study, published in the journal Human Reproduction Update, suggests that sperm counts in men from America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand have plummeted in the last 40 years.

In the newest study, researchers in Israel reviewed studies that had included nearly 43,000 men from 50 different countries who had provided semen samples between 1973 to 2011. They checked the studies for the quality of data, and analyzed the men’s fertility, age, amount of time spent abstinent, and geographic location. They discovered that men in several Western countries experienced a 50 percent decline in sperm counts, while men from South America, Asia, and Africa held steady.

Although the study didn’t analyze reasons for the decline, the researchers point to past studies suggesting that falling sperm count can be linked to a number of health issues on the rise. In 2015, Harvard researchers found that men who ate produce with higher levels of pesticide residues—think strawberries, spinach, and peppers—had lower sperm counts than men who got cleaner produce, such as avocados, cabbage, and oranges. Another study suggests that mothers who smoke while pregnant can drive down sperm counts in their sons. Stress and obesity also seem to harm sperm counts, and both are prevalent problems in the countries experiencing the dramatic decline.

Hagai Levine, who co-led the work for this study, told cnbc.com, “This study is an urgent wake-up call for researchers and health authorities around the world to investigate the causes of the sharp ongoing drop in sperm count.”

In the meantime, mothers can help protect their sons’ sperm count by breastfeeding and avoiding pesticides and smoking, suggests research. And men—preserve and even boost your counts with exercise, weight loss, and a clean diet that features plenty of organic food.

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You've tried to conceive and can't, so you adopt. Then boom, you get pregnant. What gives?

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Think you have a good grasp of English? Good. Let’s play a little game, then.

Below are seven short sentences. Each one of them is grammatically correct. Can you figure out why, and what they’re trying to say? Take a look, then check the answers below.

1. The old man the boat.

2. The horse raced past the barn fell.

3. The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.

4. The prime number few.

5. The man who hunts ducks out on weekends.

6. Until the police arrest the drug dealers control the street.

7. Fat people eat accumulates.

Linguists call these “garden path sentences.” They take you by the hand, lead you down a winding path, and leave you tricked and confused when you reach a dead end. Despite this, they are all perfectly grammatical according to the rules of English. Let’s take a look at why.

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Until revolutionary medical slug glue is made widely available to the public, your best bet for treating a cut is probably going to be a Band-Aid. The reliable name-brand bandage first was introduced by Johnson & Johnson in 1920 and has proved its versatility as a first-aid kit staple ever since. However, the adhesive wound dressing can sometimes fail you, depending on the circumstance. (By the way, did you know about these genius first aid uses for duct tape?)

Band-aids are designed for specific situations, from knee scrapes to shaving slices, but when it comes to cuts on the knuckle and in between finger joints, the trusty bandage can fall short. But the solution to treat these very specific abrasions can be solved with two quick scissor snips.

Take a standard Band-Aid, with an appropriately-sized gauze pad to cover your cut. Remove the outer paper packaging, then take a pair of scissors and slice the bandage length-wise on each side, just up to the edge of the gauze pad. Now, remove the wax paper from the adhesive, apply the gauze section to the cut, then stick the four bandage strips above and below the bend.

To up the efficacy of the hack, use canvas bandages that are large enough for the cut. Essentially, this works by spreading out the anchoring ability of the bandage, allowing the adhesive to not work again itself when the joint moves.

via GIPHY

You have it all bandaged, but it may still be infected. If your cut is showing one of these nine signs of infection, you might want to look into some more comprehensive medical attention.

 

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Brush up those resumes, stat! If you obsess over adorable photos of Princess Charlotte and know exactly why Prince William and Kate Middleton never hold hands in public, then we have definitely found your dream job.

Kensington Palace is hiring a new Senior Communications Officer to manage the daily flow of traditional, digital, and social media surrounding the young royal family, RealSimple reports. To apply, you won’t even need to book a ticket to London; you can find the job posting on LinkedIn.

This mid-senior level position “will play a key role in the development and implementation of the communications strategy for The Royal Foundation and producing and delivering creative communications campaigns,” according to the post.

Additional responsibilities include conducting research for special projects, contributing to strategic discussions, and supporting the communications team. Experience in marketing, media, or PR—and especially within the context of a charitable organization—would be ideal, according to the Duke and Duchess.

Candidates must have soft skills, too. “The ability to make decisions, using integrity and judgment whilst exercising caution, is also an essential requisite for the job, as is the ability to handle sensitive information with tact and discretion at all times,” the post says. (Do you have the soft skills that employers are looking for?)

With an opportunity like this, there’s no doubt the royal palace will soon be overrun with applications from hopeful job seekers. To make your resume stand out from the crowd, check out what every employer REALLY wants to see on your resume.

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Every day

Wanting to keep a clean home doesn’t mean you have time to polish your silver every week. (If you are pressed for time, here are some chores you can do in 5 minutes or less.) We spoke with cleaning experts who have both feet solidly planted in the real world and asked them how often specific cleaning tasks really need to be done. Here’s what they suggested you do every day:

• Put things away when you finish using them.
• Wash dishes, wipe kitchen counters, clean up stove spills, and empty trash as needed.
• Squeegee showers after use to prevent mineral deposits and mildew.
• Wipe sinks.
• Make beds and straighten rooms. Here are the 10 things that people with clutter-free homes do every day.

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Counting the clock until your retirement? You might want to put away your pension plan. According to a Japanese doctor, you should never clock out of the workforce—or do so well after the age of 65, at least.

In an interview with Japan Times, Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, a physician and chairman emeritus of St. Luke’s International University, said not retiring was one of his secrets to living a long, healthy life.

Before you roll your eyes, consider this: When most people lived until age 68, the typical retirement age was around 65 years old. Now that people are living much longer, they should also hold off on retiring, Dr. Hinohara says. Staying busy well into your senior years gives you a sense of purpose and fulfillment, which could keep you healthy as you age. And doing so couldn’t be easier; just check out the perfect jobs for seniors.

Dr. Hinohara even practiced what he preached. Until a few months before his death at 105 years old, Hinohara still treated patients and worked up to 18 hours a day, according to the New York Times.

“He believed that life is all about contribution, so he had this incredible drive to help people, to wake up early in the morning and do something wonderful for other people,” journalist Judit Kawaguchi told the BBC. “This is what was driving him and what kept him living.”

Thanks to Dr. Hinohara’s example, the perfect age to retire is… well, never. By planning goals for today, tomorrow, and even the next five years, you can keep your body (and your mind!) active for decades longer.

Still aiming for an early retirement? We don’t blame you. If you want to retire with $1 million by age 50, just follow these simple rules.

Source: Business Insider

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 Don’t send thank-you notes

If all you have to say in your e-mail reply is “Thanks!” refrain from sending it. You’re just clogging an inbox. If they feel like they have to follow up with you for a response, they will let you know. Make sure you don’t do any of these other annoying email habits.

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Understand what you are feeling and know the symptoms

Those suffering from panic attacks (a type of anxiety), feel they are having an imminent health crisis because the symptoms of panic disorder are sudden and more severe. According the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults (18 percent of the population). “Symptoms of anxiety disorder range around mood, cognitive, and physical symptoms,” explains Joel Sherrill, PhD, deputy director of the Division of Services and Intervention Research at the National Institute of Mental Health. The long list of symptoms include everything from feelings of restlessness or having difficulty concentrating to muscle tension, fatigue, and sleep problems. While people who have anxiety attacks often experience symptoms for months, they don’t always realize they have anxiety. “They seek treatment because they can’t sleep or they get a massage or go to the doctor because they can’t relax,” says Karen Cassiday, PhD, ACT, President of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. “Worry itself seems like the right thing to do so they don’t seek help for the worry,” says Dr.Cassiday.

“With panic, you have unexpected, sudden attacks of intense fear,” says Dr. Sherrill. “You feel out of control, like you are going to die, and the physical symptoms—tightness of chest, difficulty breathing—can be alarming.”

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Focus on health, not weight

Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 40 years, hitting one in five school-aged children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Does obesity prevention begin with the bottle?) Excess weight can increase a child’s risk factors for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer, says Maryam Kebbe, a researcher on children with obesity at the University of Alberta in Canada. At the same time, eating disorders and body positivity have become important topics for today’s youth. So if your child is overweight, how can you address it with them? First, focus on health, not weight. “It’s a common mistake to focus on the weight itself—this is usually counterproductive,” says Elizabeth Shepard, MD, pediatrician, nutrition, and obesity specialist at Stanford Children’s Health. “The focus should be on action, i.e. incorporating lifestyle changes that lead to the desired outcome of a healthier weight.” For example, try talking about the amazing things healthy foods can do for the body, like give you energy to run, jump, and play—so when you start serving them, there’ll be a positive association.

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Paprika

Smoked paprika brings a pop flavor to any dish. “It’s an especially good ingredient for bringing a smoky depth to vegan food, almost like bacon,” shares Linda Shiue, MD, an internal medicine physician and the Director of Culinary Medicine with Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. “This is made from capsicums/peppers and contains vitamin A, beta-carotene and other carotenoids. As antioxidants, carotenoids prevent cellular damage that can lead to chronic health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and arthritis.” Learn about more these foods packs with antioxidants.

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Whether you admire them for their established birthrights or myriad of leadership qualities, the esteemed British family is revered throughout countless nations. Royals seem to have it all—power, prestige, and perhaps most importantly, money. From gargantuan oil supplies to significant charitable donations, the wealth of the British royal family is quite substantial. Surprisingly, most of the money used to fund the British monarchy doesn’t actually come from the taxpayer—the royal family are all wealthy on their own. With the combined sums of inheritances, crown estates, and allowances, these royals are able to spare no expense when it comes to enjoying the better things in life. Although we can’t directly indulge ourselves in the abundant realm of high jewelry, impeccable art, and acres of land that comprise their lifestyle, we can revel in their considerable net worths to a cup of herbal tea—with our pinkies raised in the air of course. (Here are 14 other etiquette rules that everyone in the royal family must follow).

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We all have awkward moments, of course. The unintentionally insulting blurt. The joke that lands like a lead balloon. The forgotten name in the midst of introductions.

But in his engaging and practical new book, Awkward: The Science of Why We’re Socially Awkward and Why That’s Awesome, psychologist Ty Tashiro addresses not the occasional faux pas, but the life lived awkwardly, “to explain why some people experience awkward moments not as an exception to the rule, but as a way of life.”

Awkward people might consistently forget to greet people when they enter the room, find eye contact unbearably intimate (causing them to miss social cues) or chatter on about esoterica, unaware of eyes glazing around them.

“Awkward people see the world differently from non-awkward people,” writes Tashiro.

“When non-awkward people walk into a room full of people, they naturally see the big social picture. They intuitively understand things like the emotional tone in the room or how formally they should act. By comparison, awkward people tend to see social situations in a fragmented way. It’s as if they see the world with a narrow spotlight that makes it hard to see the big social picture all at once,” writes Tashiro.

It may sound a lot like autism, but Tashiro teases out the differences between awkwardness and autism or Asperger’s. He finds that awkward people are often pretty comfortable with the label, recognizing and accepting it even if they wish it weren’t so. Tashiro readily owns his own awkwardness, and draws from his own life as well as case studies to illustrate and explain throughout the book.

Tashiro recalls, for example, early in his junior high career when he and his “band of misfits”—stymied by the MTV cool of their new school—decided that no matter what the other kids thought, they would just do what they always did: play.

“After some deliberation, we decided to go with one of our playtime activities from sixth grade, reenactments of wrestling matches from the World Wide Wrestling Foundation,” writes Tashiro.

The thing ended badly, both physically—when Tashiro went flying into a steel fencepost—and socially, when they realized that the other seventh graders were not joining in, but were standing around watching the show.

“How could I not see that wrestling reenactments were a bad idea?” He wondered later, as he recovered from a near-concussion.

On one hand, your heart breaks for little Ty, whose childlike spirit was on the verge of being crushed by social pressures. On the other hand, an inability to read social cues and conform to norms, at least to some extent, is a social liability that can affect everything from junior high social status, friendships and jobs to intimate relationships.

“When someone is chronically awkward, then the accumulation of their awkward moments can threaten their social inclusion,” writes Tashiro.

Tashiro’s parents, who realized his struggles early on, made a point of drilling “life skills” into him. For example, before they went into a fast-food restaurant, his “parents would park our station wagon, turn to the backseat where I sat, and one of them would say ‘Let’s get mentally prepared.’…My parents’ series of well-orchestrated questions led to Socratic dialogues about how I would engage with others.”

The dialogues included why they were there, where he should go when they entered the store (to the end of the line), how to prepare before he got to the counter (decide what to order, get his money ready), how to speak to the cashier (eye contact, project his voice, say please), what do to and where to stand after he ordered. This approach, while a little draconian sounding, plugged into Tashiro’s methodical mind to break down elements of interaction and provide concrete skills.

Tashiro uses research and anecdotal case studies to explain the perception differences of awkward people, which studies suggest may involve a genetic component. He outlines some of the ways awkward people can use their hyper-focus and methodical minds to learn to read social cues as they would any other skill.

In the chapter “Emotions Make Me Feel Funny,” Tashiro points out that while awkward people often know when they have violated societal expectations, they don’t always know why. He suggests skills to help awkward people translate emotions into actions that can repair damage, including a chart listing what an emotion is, what it means and what the proper response is.

Tashiro even takes the discussion all the way to flirtation, intimate relationships and the bedroom. His tone is straightforward and compassionate, with clear affection for his fellow blunderers. Woven throughout are reasons the qualities that cause awkwardness can also be assets, and the last chapter delves more deeply into this, connecting the dots between awkwardness and giftedness, the adaptive qualities of awkwardness and the benefits of awkward people’s intense focus.

Useful for those wondering about their own tendency towards social blunders, parents concerned for awkward children or educators who want to help children succeed, Awkward takes an amorphous sense that “something ain’t right about that boy” and shapes it into something we can understand and work with.

Awkward: The Science of Why We’re Socially Awkward and Why That’s Awesome
Ty Tashiro, PhD
William Morrow (April 2017)
Hardcover, 288 pages

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More than 15 million Americans are currently living with depression in the United States, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports, and depression can develop at any age. While it’s not uncommon to feel sad every once in a while, clinical depression is a constant feeling, and it’s important to know the difference between sadness and a debilitating mental illness. There are silent signs of depression, including hiding your feelings and randomly feeling mad, but research is pointing to a possible new indicator for depression—your genes.

In a study published by Rosanna Scott in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, researchers found that there’s a possible gene variant in the DNA of nearly 25 percent of the population that can increase your risk of developing depression. Science Daily reports that people with the gene variant, polipoprotein-E4 (ApoE4 for short), have an increased chance of developing clinically significant depressive symptoms later in life compared to those who don’t have the gene variant.

For the study, Dr. Scott used data from more than 3,000 participants aged 53 to 71, who were part of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a long-term study of health, relationships, mortality, among people who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. Based on the data, Dr. Scott found that those with ApoE4 noted more symptoms of depression as they grew older.

According to Dr. Scott’s co-author, Daniel Paulson, this gene can be an indicator of future depression development, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll definitely develop depression. “Some genes are deterministic, like the one that causes Huntington’s disease—where if you’ve got it, you’ll get the disease. This isn’t one of those genes,” he said.

This isn’t the first time that Dr. Scott has looked at the effects of the ApoE4 gene. Her previous research looked at the negative impact of the gene on how our body handles high cholesterol, and served as the inspiration for this study. She wanted to see if adults with ApoE4 and high vascular burden were at a compounded risk for depression. Based on her research, she was able to conclude that ApoE4 and poor vascular health do not create a compounded risk, but both separately increase the chance of depression.

“Bottom line, you do statistically have a higher risk of developing depression if you have ApoE4, but it’s not fate. You can’t change your genes, but you do have some control over improving your health,” Dr. Scott said. “That should be encouraging.”

Avoid these everyday habits to lower your risk of depression.

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We all know how important our parents and our spouses are. As for our kids, we’d die for them. But there’s one bond we underrate, says Jeffrey Kluger, author of The Sibling Effect (Riverhead Books). “From the time we’re born, our brothers and sisters are our collaborators and co-conspirators, our role models and our cautionary tales,” writes Kluger, a Time senior editor, and one of four brothers. We asked:

Why do we take our siblings for granted?
They are seen as early-life companions whom we lose interest in over time, but we actually imprint very early on the people closest to us. Of course, that involves your parents, but siblings are there all the time too. Even the most attentive parents are more like doctors on grand rounds. They say “Put his toy down” and “He’s not going to hit you again” and “Dinner’s on the table in 15 minutes.” But to the kids, there’s a power struggle going on; there’s possession of property; there’s physical aggression (psychologically speaking, this is why siblings stop speaking to each other later in life). The people with whom you engage in those psychodramas become vitally important to your development.

What about parental favoritism—how does that play out in adulthood?
It can actually benefit the non-favored child, who becomes better at understanding that kudos have to be earned. On the other hand, the favored child quickly develops self-esteem and confidence, while the less-favored has to struggle. Most people grow past it, but when parents are aging, it creates problems. (Here are nine other bizarre ways your siblings affect you as a grown-up). If you were the favored oldest son, and your little sister who always felt second-tier becomes the caregiver, she has every right to be exasperated.

How does the sibling bond change later in life?
There’s a sort of sibling moratorium when you’re establishing yourself as an adult. So much of your energy has to be focused on other things like work and kids. But when people become more settled, siblings tend to regroup because now you’re building a new extended family. Some of the most rewarding times my brothers and I have are when all of us get together, and we can see what we’ve been building genetically and culturally. You can get through life fine without them, but to have siblings and not exploit that resource is folly of the first order. (If you need some inspiration, here are 11 ways to become BFFs with your siblings as grown-ups).

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We’ve all experienced the embarrassment of getting home from dinner and finding food stuck in our teeth, but what’s equally bad is realizing that your teeth have been stained blood-red by a glass of Merlot! Red wine teeth are not a pretty sight (um, can you say vampire?), and once the stains have settled the color is hard to get off. Fortunately, there are a few helpful tricks for keeping your smile pearly white all night. (These are 9 things dentists wish you knew about teeth whitening.)

To start, red wine stains are entirely avoidable, so the best actions you can take are preventative measures. New York City makeup artist Anni Bruno is an expert at getting her clients ready for special events like weddings, galas, parties, and photo shoots. Her primary advice for avoiding red stains is to “make sure your teeth are squeaky clean before drinking red wine. The stains you see after a glass of wine are actually the wine sticking to plaque on the teeth. So make sure to brush and floss beforehand,” says Bruno.

To fully remove plaque buildup, you also need to regularly visit your dentist for routine, deep cleanings. On top of brushing in the morning and at night, it’s wise to carry a travel-sized toothbrush and toothpaste in order to do an extra scrub before you start drinking (leaving the office before going to dinner, for example). And although it’s counterintuitive, dentists advise that you don’t brush your teeth too soon after drinking red wine, as this can cause the wine’s acid to penetrate the pores of your teeth, and further erode your enamel.

If you do happen to find yourself with red wine teeth stains despite brushing them, don’t panic! Bruno has a foolproof method for getting rid of the tint. “After drinking a glass of red, chase it with a glass of sparkling water,” she says. “It’s good for hydrating—and the effervescence will help loosen the red wine’s stainy effect.”

For those who aren’t fans of sparkling water, the next best way to get rid of red wine stains is to eat cheese, so it’s a good thing these two go hand in hand! Eating cheese causes calcium to build on your teeth and closes the micro-pores on the surface of your enamel, which makes it harder for red wine to stain them. Here are other foods that naturally whiten your teeth.

To be extra prepared, you can even invest in red wine teeth wipes, which work wonders if you want to run to the restroom and quickly remove any dark stains.

And finally, Bruno advises that you make wise choices when choosing which wine to drink. “Stick to lighter reds than heavier, darker reds,” she says. “The darker the red, the more staining tannins it will contain.”

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Are you feeling stressed? Lonely? Bummed-out? Social scientists may have found a miracle cure. It only takes five minutes to test, and you can probably try it right now: Call your mom.

In the science of relationships, there are few magics as potent as a mother’s love. Researchers have long known that, for example, a child who hugs their mother will soon be flooded with the feel-good hormone oxytocin, a crucial ingredient in parent-child bonding, stress relief, and building trust. You can probably think of a time in your life right now when a little motherly love changed your mood right around. (Here’s the best advice we ever heard from a mom.)

But the power of mom’s love may go even farther than that, new research suggests—you may be able to get the same mood-improving hormonal benefits of physical contact even when mom lives 3,000 miles away. A study from University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Child Emotion Lab says that even just hearing your mother’s voice over the phone can have the same stress-reducing effects of a hug. Researchers subjected 61 girls (whose ages ranged from seven to 12 years old) to a routine stress test that involves solving tricky math problems in front of an audience of strangers. Once sufficiently frazzled, one group of girls was turned back to their mothers for reassuring physical contact; a second group was provided with phones to talk to their mothers for 15 minutes, and a third group watched an emotionally-neutral video. (Scientists use this movie clip to make people sob—can you withstand it?)

After analyzing fluid samples from each girl to measure their levels of both oxytocin and the stress hormone cortisol, the research team found some surprising results: girls who talked to their mothers on the phone showed nearly identical levels of stress reduction as the girls who got physical mommy time. “The children who got to interact with their mothers had virtually the same hormonal response, whether they interacted in person or over the phone,” says Leslie Seltzer, lead author of the study. After a stressful ordeal, mom’s the word.

But say calling your mom is impossible? Is dad the next best option? Maybe not. A paper from the Journal of Personal and Social Psychology says that talking to a woman—any woman—can reduce feelings of loneliness and improve mood more than talking to men can, no matter your gender. This result comes after two weeks of monitoring 96 college students, who recorded and rated every social interaction they had. Both men and women felt less lonely after talking to a woman. Part of this might be that many women are naturally skilled at listening and responding to emotional information. According to Kira Asatryan at Psychology Today, “women’s brains are more wired for social skills and memory—a combination that’s excellent for retaining details about another person’s private life.”

Talk to a woman and you’re likely to get a more genuine response than from a man—and when you’re feeling lonely, that’s just what the doctor ordered.

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Make artisanal vinegar

Pour a red variety into a jar of non-pasteurized vinegar and leave it alone, stirring weekly. Within a couple of weeks, you’ll have “artisanal” vinegar. Try out these other ways to use vinegar around the house.

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You like to learn new things

Seniors who spent 12 weeks learning to use an iPad and various apps better remembered daily events and how to perform simple tasks than those in other groups who did activities that didn’t involve learning new skills, such as watching movies or socializing with others, according to a study in the journal The Gerontologist. Researchers believe it wasn’t just using the tablets that improved participants’ thinking, but the process of actively learning something new. Try it yourself instead of sticking with what you already know. Here’s what you can do later in life to boost your brain power.

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Maybe you’re on deadline, maybe you’re concerned about an upcoming performance review, maybe you’re worried about some fancy robot coming along and replacing you and taking down all the quirky decorations you have in your cubicle. Regardless of the situation, at some point or another, you’re going to feel stress at work.

There are plenty of ways to manage stress, and plenty of ways that you may think are managing your stress, but are doing quite the opposite. One group of researchers found that the key to relieving workplace stress may be found in something more common to a teenager’s bedroom than to a corporate board room. That workplace stress solvent is video games.

The study, published by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society examined the effects that stress, anxiety, and frustration have on the cognitive fatigue of 66 participants. The participants were put through a strenuous computer task to induce fatigue and then were given five minutes to unwind.

The group was broken down into thirds, with 22 participants spending the five minutes in a quiet room without a phone or computer, 22 participants taking part in a relaxation exercise, and 22 participants playing a casual video game called Sushi Cat.

Of the three groups, only the participants who played the video game reported that they felt better after the break. The group that spent time in the quiet room reported that they actually felt worse because they felt less engaged, and in turn, became worried about their work. The relaxation group saw a reduction in the negative side effects associated with stress but were not quite as relieved as the gaming group.

We know what you’re thinking: What job lets you play video games at work? If that’s your worry, we have good news for you. Turns out, just listening to their soundtracks can make boost creativity and improve attention span.

Source: Newsweek

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Talking eye?

This symbols means telling what you see—specifically, from the “I Am a Witness” campaign from the Ad Council. Apple teamed up with the anti-bullying campaign, which encouraged kids to speak up when they saw bullying, to create the emoji with an eye in a speech bubble. Think your kid is getting picked on, but don’t have eye-witness proof? Watch out for these warning signs your kid is being bullied.

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Circuit training

Circuit training offers a great way to mix both strength and cardio exercises by making participants rotate frequently between exercises. With this fast-paced workout, you can expect to burn up to 10 calories per minute; that’s close to 600 calories per hour! If you’re new to strength training, these are the physical and emotional changes you can expect.

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For seasoned gardeners, one of the last things you want to see peeking out of your freshly tilled soil is a slug. There are plenty of ways to get rid of them and other garden pests, but it’s probably more preferable to never see them in the first place. They’re ghastly, greasy, and almost alien-like, tracing slides of slime all over the fertile earth of your planters.

While these nasty little guys may do little to solve your gardening woes, they may prove to be a big help next time you prick yourself on your roses.

(Every rose has its thorns, and every rose color has a meaning, by the way.)

A new medical adhesive which mimics itself after the mucus of the arion subfuscus (one of the most common slugs in North America) has proven to be effective, according to a new study published in Science Magazine.  

The study was attempting to address a common problem with the standard solution to wounds in the medical field; frequently, the attempted solution doesn’t quite mesh with the human body, because it is non-organic and non-adaptive. A set of stitches or a staple can only do so much because it’s a rigid, non-changing solution. Additionally, many current solutions in the medical field cannot continue to adhere to “diverse wet surfaces.”

Andrew Smith, a professor of biology at Ithaca College, told Smithsonian about the initial inspiration he found in the form of the slug mucus.

“When I discovered these slugs and picked one of them up, I knew this material was really amazing. It literally oozes off the back of the slug and sets in seconds into a really tough, elastic gel.The thing that makes it exciting is that the material is very tough,” said Smith. 

The research included the work of authors from Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard University, McGill University in Canada, Tsinghua University in China, Trinity College and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

The glue, which was created for the study, can stretch and adapt as needed, adhere itself to pretty much any surface, and remain durable for extended stretches of time. The adhesive proved to outperform all already available competitors in a lab test, successfully repairing a damaged beating pig heart and fixing injured rat livers.

So if you’re a rat or a pig, this is pretty big news.  

Source: Smithsonian

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Not all pencils are created equal. There's a reason why teachers and school supply lists might specify a specific pencil brand.

from HowStuffWorks - Learn How Everything Works! http://ift.tt/2tWFGqY

How giant squid process visual information has long been a mystery, but a new study finds their visual processing is surprisingly uncomplicated.

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In Colorado, a recycling robot uses artificial intelligence to sort through discarded cartons more efficiently.

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We rarely get a glimpse into the personal thoughts of therapists outside their offices. We rarely get a glimpse into their personal lives. Which is exactly what we do with our regularly series “Clinicians on the Couch.” We talk to clinicians about everything from the joys and challenges of working with clients to how they cope with stress in their own lives. We delve into other important topics, such as myths and misconceptions about therapy and therapists’ best advice for living a meaningful life—and a whole lot more.

This month, we’re honored to share an insight-packed interview with John Lundin, Psy.D, a licensed psychologist with practices in San Francisco and Oakland, Calif. Lundin has taught, lectured, researched, and written on his specialties, which include anxiety, relationship issues, parenting and trauma.

He volunteers for a group called A Home Within, dedicated to offering free psychotherapy for current or former foster youth. He also writes a monthly blog, called “Anxiety and Everyday Life” and lives in San Francisco. Learn more about Lundin and his work at http://ift.tt/2bJqFgp.

1. What’s surprised you the most about being a therapist?

I was surprised by how complex, difficult, and life changing the process of becoming a therapist was for me. Like most therapists, when I first started out I thought psychology was fascinating, and I just wanted to help people. In my first clinical placement, at The Salvation Army, I learned how difficult the work was, not just from an intellectual perspective, but from an emotional one. Many people assume the hardest part about being a therapist is hearing sad stories all day.

While patients’ stories were often quite sad, what surprised me was the personal emotional investment the work required and the way the work gets inside you. It surprised me how both powerful and disrupting it can be to fully absorb another person’s emotional experience, especially the most disturbed parts of them. I quickly learned that in order to help my patients most effectively, I had to allow myself to be truly open not just to the content of what they are saying, but the emotions and experiences that come up in the room while I am with them. I have learned that it is only when we have allowed ourselves to experience as much as possible of our patients’ emotional lives that we can find the words and expressions that can finally help them to heal. You can’t really get away with merely being a bystander if you want to really help your patients.

The field as a whole is finding out that the process of healing in therapy more and more requires a process that is similar to how a parent attunes to their young child’s emotional life. The process of having one’s emotional life recognized, respected, and understood is the basis for how we learn that we are lovable, and also learn to love.

Like many therapists, I came from a family where I was often in the caretaker role. This can be a problem when a therapist feels they need to “fix” a client by helping them to feel better, rather than “being” with them first, and figuring out how to help from there.

I would say I was still helpful to the people I saw in my first year, partly because I had already had a good deal of therapy myself beforehand, but doing the work required a whole new level of self-exploration. We have to be with them, and take responsibility for their therapy, while at the same time letting go of responsibility for “fixing” them. If a patient senses that WE need them to get better, that’s not good. Holding and negotiating these tensions in the treatment is highly important, but very difficult for a would-be therapist to imagine before they get into the work.

2. What’s the latest and greatest book you’ve read related to mental health, psychology or psychotherapy? 

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk is a wonderful book about trauma that combines a neuroscientific and psychological perspective. It is a fascinating account of how the brain and body hold, express, and release trauma. I think it’s a must-read for therapists, and there are some exciting new therapies that I’m sure will come out of the work he is describing.

3. What’s the biggest myth about therapy?

I would say that the biggest myth is that a therapist is just someone who listens, or just reflects back what a patient is saying. The depiction of therapists in Hollywood is often that of these pushovers who overanalyze and don’t really do much to help, when the best therapists have clear boundaries, are deeply engaged with their patients, and are often both literally and figuratively saving lives.

To go a little deeper, I think this depiction is a reflection of the fears people have about therapy who either haven’t tried it, or have had negative experiences. The idea that a therapist can see things in your emotional life of which you aren’t aware about can be very threatening to the image we have of ourselves as the captain of our ship.

4. What seems to be the biggest obstacle for clients in therapy?

Lucille Ball once said, “Love yourself, and everything else will fall into place.” I really agree with this statement. Difficulty loving oneself is also the thing, at base, that brings most people into therapy.

It sounds simple, but it is anything but. Self-love is often misunderstood, and gets confused for its opposite, self-obsession. People that talk about themselves all of the time and have no room for others are doing the opposite of self-love: They are self-obsessed because they don’t love themselves enough to be able to relax and enjoy others. I believe that figuring out the obstacles to feeling safe to be truly yourself is the ultimate aim of therapy.

5. What’s the most challenging part about being a therapist?

To figure out how to digest all the emotional material that comes up in a treatment, feed it back to the patient in a way they can digest, and do this in a way that feels like it’s coming from you instead of hiding behind theory or technique, is quite a challenge.

Another way of putting this is that the ultimate challenge and goal as a therapist is to learn to love yourself, because if you can do this, it will be much easier to help others do the same. Here is the real taboo that isn’t often talked about in these terms by therapists because there is a danger of it sounding trite: We heal our patients by acting lovingly toward them in a particular way, and we cannot show someone love and acceptance if we don’t know how to love ourselves.

To give you an example, much of therapy involves helping people to digest their anger in a way that’s more productive. It is common for a patient to get angry with a therapist in this process, even say attacking things towards them. If the therapist is overly insecure, they will be much more likely to attack back, which obviously can cause problems. Just like in a relationship with a spouse or one’s child, love often takes the form of not retaliating, but digesting the anger and trying to do something useful with it, rather than collapsing or retaliating.

I would call that a form of love, albeit one that isn’t often thought about as love. Being verbally attacked is surely not what people picture when they imagine becoming a therapist, but if the therapist can find a way to digest what it means that the patient is angry, and feed that back to them in a way they can hear, such moments can be transformative.

6. What do you love about being a therapist?

What I love most about being a therapist is hard to put into words, because I think it involves some of the most profound aspects of being human, and we don’t have words for all of that. But I will say that it has something to do with the deep sense of connection I feel to my patients, and the joy that I feel when I see a patient begin to connect with their true selves in ways they have never done before. You can feel them come alive, and it is truly breathtaking. These moments make all the difficult stuff very worth it, and make me feel truly lucky to be doing the work that I do.

7. What’s the best advice you can offer to readers on leading a meaningful life?

M. Scott Peck said, “If you pursue happiness, you might be disappointed. If you pursue love, happiness will follow.” As I have already said, learning how to love others starts with learning how to love yourself, and that is an ability that’s really hard to learn through books or by yourself. In other words, it often requires therapy.

Also, learning how to appreciate the small things in life and be grateful for what you have is vital to feeling satisfied. This has been described in many ways by many authors, but is connected to the idea of being present to your immediate experience of the world, for inside you and outside of you.

In sum: Try to be present, concentrate on being able to be fully yourself, and on having satisfying relationships in your life. If you find any of these too difficult to do on your own, which most people do at some point, find a good therapist!

8. If you had your schooling and career choice to do all over again, would you choose the same professional path? If not, what would you do differently and why?

I would probably choose the same path. I think that I underestimated how much meaning I could get from other careers when I first started out. But it’s hard to imagine myself doing anything else, especially since being in the field has changed who I am for the better.

I think it would have been impossible to know the changes that would come about in the field as a whole, such as the need to market on the internet, etc., but which have changed the field a great deal. I still would have done the same thing, I believe, but I would have taken a business class or marketing much earlier.

Many therapists are good at helping people, but have trouble earning a living for themselves. I was one of them, but I’ve learned that we can’t help our patients if we don’t take care of ourselves.

9. If there’s one thing you wished your clients knew about treatment or mental illness, what would it be?

I try to tell them the things that I wish they knew if I feel it is helpful, but what I try to help them really absorb is that it is their illness or neurosis that causes them to feel that they aren’t enough. It’s not reality.

Many people also believe that they shouldn’t have mental illness because it is “just in their head” as if that means they should have control over it, when in fact we are in control of only a small portion, albeit an important portion, of what goes on in our heads.

To accept that their suffering is not their fault is a huge relief for patients. It’s hard enough to suffer from mental illness without beating yourself up or feeling shame for suffering. However, beating yourself up is also often part of the mental illness, which some patients have a hard time letting go of, for various reasons.

10. What personally do you do to cope with stress in your life?

I like to laugh, so comedy in all forms is really important in my life. I even use it in my work, when appropriate. I am on a soccer team with friends, which is really helpful to me, because it gets my body moving and inspires me to keep in shape so I don’t collapse on the field!

It’s also a social outlet and kind of a meditative exercise for me. I play goalkeeper, and when I’m in goal, I can’t think about anything else besides what’s in front of me: the ball, the players, and the field. Even the wind is important to take into account at times, so it really puts me in touch with my surroundings and gets me out of my head, which is important after a week of sitting and listening. I think anything that can take us out of our heads for a little while can be very valuable.

Last but not least, I try to minimize distractions when I’m with my friends and family so that I can enjoy the heck out of them. Over the years, I have learned to be more fully myself in all contexts, which is related to being able to be present. Life is not as stressful if you’re not trying to be someone more than you are. That doesn’t mean you don’t make mistakes and learn from them; it just means that it’s possible to take your flaws into account, and still feel important and lovable.

Again, learning to really feel love for yourself is the work of therapy and I think the key to leading a life that is as happy and stress-free as possible.

from Psych Central http://ift.tt/2ubSHs6

Thanks to measurements of microbes taken in recent studies, we can definitively say that shopping carts are some of the absolute dirtiest public surfaces. When University of Arizona researchers sampled bacterial content on 85 grocery store shopping carts in various West Coast cities, they found that cart surfaces had exponentially more bacteria than what they measured in over 100 public restrooms, which included toilet seats and flush handles.

What’s worse, the shopping carts were found to harbor some of the most painful microbial monsters, such as diarrhea-causing Campylobacter and the potentially deadly Salmonella. In the sample of 85 random shopping carts, a whopping 50 percent were found to carry E. coli, and 72 percent contained coliform bacteria. This level of coliform suggests that fecal matter is involved in the contamination of most shopping carts.

You may be wondering how shopping carts can get this unfathomably dirty. After all, cleansing wipe dispensers have been popping up at many major grocery chains, and some stores rinse their outdoor shopping cart lanes at the end of the day. In truth, these gestures simply aren’t enough. With 138,00 total bacteria per square inch, according to the study findings, shopping carts are like petri dishes of viruses, germs, bacteria, and general disgustingess.

So, wiping down your shopping cart should be a no-brainer. Carry your own antibacterial wipes to clean every section you come into contact with. Germaphobes can even bring their own snap-on cart handles. For shoppers with small children, consider using protective seat covers to minimize your child’s contact with the cart. One thing is certain: To stay healthy this flu season and beyond, clean that cart. (Related:  Here are other everyday items dirtier than a toilet seat.)

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You don’t get enough sleep

While you’re asleep, your body ramps up the part of your immune system that learns the best ways to attack new bacteria, viruses, and other triggers. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, though, your body doesn’t have the chance to fight diseases as effectively, according to a study in European physiology journal Pflugers Archiv. Just six days of restricted sleep could prevent your body from using a vaccination effectively, and other studies have shown lack of sleep makes it harder to kick a cold. Aim for seven or eight hours a night to keep your immune system at its prime. Here, sleep doctors debunk sleep myths you still believe.

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71% Don’t Clean Hands After Touching Public Surfaces

I’m [just] careful to wash my hands before eating. I didn’t get a respiratory infection because I touched a door handle after a sick person touched it; I got it because I then touched my hand to my eye or nose.
—Michael Pentella, PhD, clinical associate professor, University of Iowa College of Public Health

I press buttons with my knuckle—especially the ground-floor elevator button, because everyone touches that—or I use my middle finger because I’m less likely to then touch my face with it.
—Charles Gerba, PhD, professor of microbiology, University of Arizona

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We’ve all been brought up to believe that in order to remove icky stuff from our hands and pretty much our entire bodies we should wash and clean ourselves with soap. But bar soap in essence just removes grime and germs from your skin—it doesn’t kill bacteria; it just moves it from one location to the next. So could that gross stuff that you thought that you were ridding yourself of might actually be hanging out on your favorite bar of soap? Try not to think about that the next time you lather up. “Bar soap can and likely does have germs living on it, says Debra Brooks, MD, at Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care. But don’t panic just yet because they are not likely to make you sick, she says. (But these showering mistakes might!)

In a study that was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Infection it was found that even when participants used soap that had been contaminated, their risk of the bacteria transferring to them was unlikely. Dr. Brooks concurs. “If you are in good health, you should have no problem naturally defending against the germs on bars of soap,” says Brooks. “Plus it is easy to disinfect your soap because the top layer usually dissolves in water,” she says.

If you are still concerned and want to take extra precaution you should cover and store your soap in a dry place, as this will also help it to last longer. Also, rinse it off before and after using. Finally, if it still freaks you out and you are worried just stick to liquid soaps or shower gels instead. In other news, have you realized how icky showerheads are?

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Even the cleanest kitchen has germs.

In a new study from NSF International, a non-profit public health and safety organization, when 20 families swabbed 14 different kitchen items they found the following ones contaminated with various combinations of foodborne illness-causing germs such as E. Coli, Salmonella, Listeria and mold and yeast. (No wonder that 21 percent of cases of foodborne illness are due to food consumed in private homes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) Here are some of the worst germ breeding grounds that are dirtier than an toilet seat.

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You get it done

What gets scheduled, gets done and that’s doubly true in the morning. There are fewer distractions (think: last-minute happy hour invitations, unexpected work crises) so you’re more likely to actually complete your workout if it’s early in the day. “The biggest benefit of a morning workout is that if you do it first, you have made it a priority.” says Mike Deibler MS, owner of San Diego Premier Training. “When it is done first, nothing can get in the way.” Deibler adds that we all have things pop up throughout the day and when we push our workouts off later and later, later eventually becomes tomorrow. Here’s how to trick yourself into become a morning person.

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When it comes to working out, you likely think that giving your all every single time you exercise is what it takes to get results. Luckily, according to new research, you don’t really have to. In fact, all you really need is 20 minutes.

That may sound more like a warm-up than a workout, but researchers at the University of California-San Diego of Medicine did, in fact, find that as little as 20 minutes of exercise can have anti-inflammatory effects that boost your immune system. They specifically monitored the effects of one 20-minute session of moderate treadmill exercise, but senior author Suzi Hong, PhD, says that fast walking appears to have similar effects.

In this study, 47 participants first gave a blood sample before exercising. Then, they walked on a treadmill for about 20 minutes—with the intensity adjusted for each person’s fitness level—then provided another blood sample immediately after. The blood samples showed that the exercise caused a 5 percent decrease in the number of immune cells producing a cytokine, or protein, called TNF. (More on TNF later.)

Here’s why that’s important: Exercise activates the sympathetic nervous system, a pathway that increases heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. When this happens, the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine are released into the bloodstream and activate a cellular reaction that suppresses cytokines, including TNF.

TNF has some admirable qualities, like boosting immune responses and killing cancer cells, but it also has pro-inflammatory properties. Though inflammation is a necessary part of our immune systems, too much of it can lead to autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, as well as fibromyalgia.

Previous research has already demonstrated that exercise can reduce inflammation, but the significance of this study is in the physiological explanations about why and how this happens, says Carmen Terzic, MD, PhD, chair of the physical medicine and rehabilitation department at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Moderate exercise also has an abundance of other health benefits, like controlling hypertension and diabetes, preventing Alzheimer’s, reducing anxiety and stress, and slowing the aging process. Dr. Terzic says that people who engage in moderate exercise regularly can increase their lifespan by up to 10 years. “Exercise is our best medicine for almost every single disease you can think of,” she says.

The best part? Light to moderate exercise is as simple as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or spending a few more minutes walking your dog. That’s right—no gym membership required!

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