If health problems or injury make moving and going about your everyday life difficult a few sessions with a physiotherapist could be the answer Physiotherapy can make day-to-day activities easier. For example, it could help you if you have difficulties walking, climbing stairs, or getting in and out of bed. It can also help you if you have had a fall or are recovering from an operation,” explains London-based chartered physiotherapist, Sammy Margo.

“Physiotherapy can help anyone who is starting to see the effects of life’s wear and tear on their bodies. It can also treat or prevent physical problems that might be brewing as a result of years of poor posture or sitting badly,” says Sammy Margo. It is also invaluable for anyone with a specific health problem such as back and/or neck pain, arthritis, heart disease breathing problems, repetitive strain injury and many other conditions including osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease and incontinence.

You can see a physiotherapist in a dedicated clinic or they can visit you at home. At your first session you’ll discuss your problem and what caused it, have a physical examination to assess your flexibility, strength and range of movement. The physio will then devise a plan of care tailored to your needs. “We take a holistic viewpoint and look at the person’s whole life and daily activities taking into account for example if they are looking after elderly relatives and/or kids, where they live, how they get to work and so on,” says Sammy.

It’s true the brain changes as we get older – what doesn’t? And a normal part of that is getting a bit more forgetful. In fact by age 19, our ability to solve problems in a novel way starts to decline. Losing your car keys or forgetting your mother in law’s birthday are examples of normal forgetfulness. It’s getting lost in a familiar place that indicates you might be experiencing a more serious cognitive issue. But getting dementia or a serious cognitive condition such as Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t have to be a normal part of aging. There are a number of strategies that you can employ to keep your mind agile through the decades.

Here are 10 ways to take care of your brain and keep your short-term memory sharp like the proverbial tack.

1. Eat a Brain-Healthy Diet

Researchers found that following the Mediterranean diet, which focuses on healthy fats like olive oil, fish, vegetables and a moderate amount of wine can reduce your risk of dementia by 20 percent over four years. Other brain-loving foods include blueberries walnuts, salmon and broccoli.

2. Enjoy Regular Exercise

Getting a combination of aerobic exercise like tennis, cycling or walking, along with strength training can increase your cognitive function. Even 20 minutes can be effective for keeping your brain agile. And by the way, no one said exercise had to be drudgery, If you like salsa or swing dancing, by all means do that as your exercise. Just be sure to work up a sweat regularly, on average five times a week.

Many of us try to increase our intake of vitamin C in the winter months, since we think it helps our immune system fight colds and infections. While scientists are still debating whether vitamin C is a foolproof cold remedy, none of them question vitamin C’s role in general health.

Vitamin C’s antioxidant power fights free radicals that can damage our DNA and increases collagen production to repair various tissues in our bodies, such as tendons, Nutrition_Ad3 blood vessels and skin. It also helps us absorb iron, and vitamin C has been shown to help some people get over a cold more quickly and recover from intense exercise.

The current Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C is 90 mg per day for men and 75 mg for most women. If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding the RDA jumps up to 85 and 120 mg, respectively.

But since our bodies cannot store vitamin C, we need to obtain it regularly from our diet. While oranges and other citrus fruits are a great source, you may be surprised to hear that they aren’t the only way to get your daily recommendation.

Sweaty palms, racing heart, awkward nose bumps: kisses can be sweet, sexy, exhilarating and sometimes a little stressful. But did you know it can also be good for your health? There’s a good reason a solid make out session can leave you feeling a little high on life: kisses set off a cascade of hormones and physiological changes that can boost your mood, strengthen your relationship and even burn some calories (between 5 and 26 per minute, according to experts). Believe it or not, there are even more great reasons to keep puckering up – check out these three scientifically backed benefits of kissing:

It lower your stress level

If your partner is driving you crazy, schedule some regular make outs to take the edge off. According to researchers from Arizona State University, couples who kicked up the frequency of their kissing a notch for six weeks had less perceived stress, improved relationship satisfaction and lower total serum cholesterol.

2. It May Help With Allergies

Believe it or not, puckering up has actually been shown to alleviate allergy symptoms. Japanese researcher Hajime Kimata studied 24 patients with eczema and 24 patients with hay fever who were allergic to house dust mites and cedar pollen. According to Kimata, the subjects were “Japanese, and they do not kiss habitually.”

3. It Can Boost Your Immunity

According to a study published in the journal Microbiome, kissing is a prime way to spread germs–but that’s actually a good thing. For every 10 seconds of kissing, you pass along 80 million bacteria that may help your partner fight off future infections, and vice versa. Mixing your unique individual blends of living bacteria will also apparently enable you both to cope with similar infections. The researchers say the immune-boosting results were most pronounced “in couples with relatively high intimate kiss frequency,” so if you haven’t already, take that as an incentive to find a make-out partner you really want to keep around.

Holiday season is in full swing and whether you’re psyched for your annual office party or are dreading an awkward family dinner, you’ll probably be hitting up a ton of social events. Which leads to enjoyment of a cocktail or a glass of wine… or two. Or more. Whoops.

If you’re going to drink, you probably know that you should do it in moderation — health experts say that means one drink a day for women and two for men, max. But it’s normal to bend (or break) certain health rules around the holidays. And while occasionally over-imbibing won’t necessarily de-rail your otherwise good intentions, it can leave you feeling like garbage. Cotton-mouthed, bleary-eyed, hungover garbage, to be exact.

While there’s no guaranteed prevention strategy, research shows that the right preparation can at least decrease your chances of spending New Year’s Day on the couch in sunglasses.

Here’s what our experts and recent studies recommend:

1. Drink a cup of Asian pear juice before a night out.

It sounds weird, but according to researchers down under, it works. A government-funded study in Australia found that people who drank 200 mL (about 1 cup) of Asian pear juice before drinking had less hangover symptoms like headaches, nausea, and light sensitivity than those who didn’t. It also improved their levels of concentration. Researchers think the effect is due to the Korean or Nashi pear’s high water content, plus other factors that actually speed up alcohol metabolism and elimination or inhibition of alcohol absorption. So far, the effect has only been studied in this one specific pear variety, so be sure to buy the right kind of juice if you want to give it a try.

2. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

While it’s not the only thing causing your epic hangover, dehydration can definitely make the discomfort worse. Be sure to sip enough H20 before, during, and after drinking alcohol, and match every alcoholic beverage with a glass of water. According to Erica Matluck, a One Medical naturopath and nurse practitioner, water can do double duty as a prevention tool and remedy. “The best cure for a hangover is hydration, hydration, hydration,” she says. “Then sweat your heart out with exercise, a hot bath, or sauna, and rehydrate with an electrolyte replacement like coconut water.”

3. Skip the bubbles and stick to flat drinks.

Of course it feels more festive to ring in the New Year–or any occasion– with a glass of bubbly, but it turns out that sparkling drinks and mixers can actually make your hangover worse. Researchers in the UK found the gas bubbles in carbonated beverages cause the stomach to expand and increase the rate of alcohol absorption in the blood. Researchers tested this out by having subjects drink flat and fizzy versions of the very same wine. The subjects who drank bubbly got drunk more quickly and the effects lasted longer. So if you’re trying to stave off symptoms, skip the champagne and opt for wine instead.

4. Avoid liquor high in congeners.

What are congeners you ask? They’re byproducts like methanol and acetone that are formed when grains are fermented and then aged to create alcohol like tequila, whiskey and rum. Liquors with high amounts of congeners, like cognac, tequila, and whiskey–especially Bourbon — have been shown to cause more intense hangovers. Clear drinks like vodka, gin, and rum, however, contain lower levels of congeners and may cut down your chances of feeling crummy. Of course, the study notes that no matter which drink you choose, the amount you drink has the biggest effect on hangovers.

5. Eat the right mix of protein, fat, and carbs for dinner and breakfast.

Maybe breakfast burritos are your go-to morning-after meal, but it’s important to also eat a well-balanced dinner before you hit the party. Everyone knows drinking on an empty stomach usually leads to disaster. That’s because food slows the absorption of alcohol, giving your body more time to efficiently metabolize it. Eating a meal with protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates before drinking will help line the stomach, while a balanced breakfast replaces and re-balances the blood sugar that alcohol depletes (hangovers tend to be worse in people with low blood sugar).

If you want to have a baby, there are things you need to know–beyond the birds-and-bees basics–that can help enhance your fertility. We talked to our experts for advice on getting to that positive pregnancy test sooner:

Know Your Cycle

As you learned in biology class, the best time to conceive is right around ovulation. But do you know when you’re ovulating? “As soon as you start thinking about trying to get pregnant, it’s important to become more aware of your cycle,” says Bernadette Donovan, a One Medical Group nurse practitioner in San Francisco specializing in women’s health. Ovulation normally happens mid-cycle, but since menstrual cycles can vary tremendously from person to person, it pays to keep track of yours for several months–noting when you start your period, how long it lasts and when you are ovulating (you should notice an increase in cervical mucus around ovulation). “Your most fertile days include the two or three before and after actual ovulation,” says Donovan, so plan to have intercourse several times during that time window.

Stop Smoking

You shouldn’t smoke once you’re pregnant (it can have serious negative consequences for the fetus), so it pays to quit now. As a bonus, ditching the cigarettes may actually help you get pregnant. “There is a direct connection between smoking and reduced fertility,” says Donovan. Cigarette smoke can damage the eggs and contribute to premature aging of your ovaries, and since DNA abnormalities are a leading cause of miscarriage, smoking can affect both your ability to get and to stay pregnant.

Watch Your Weight

Being either overweight or underweight can affect your hormones, throwing off your menstrual cycle and your fertility. “Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a metabolic condition linked to being overweight, and women who suffer from PCOS may stop ovulating,” says Donovan. Likewise, women who are underweight may lose their menstrual cycles altogether or may have irregular ovulation, making it more difficult to know when they are most fertile.

Reduce Stress

Sometimes the stress of trying to have a baby can be part of what makes it difficult to conceive. Stress causes the release of the hormone cortisol, which affects many of the body’s systems and can interfere with the normal balance of other hormones. “It can be especially hard for high-achieving women who are used to having control over when things happen,” says Donovan. “Having trouble with fertility and not having control over when you get pregnant is quite a jolt.” But being told to “just relax” can add to your stress levels. Don’t make “relaxing” just another entry on your to-do list, but try to take positive steps toward reducing the amount of stress in your daily life. Getting enough sleep, eating well, and exercising regularly can help–as can more traditional stress reduction techniques like meditation, deep breathing, yoga, massage, or acupuncture. “The key is to bring balance and peace to your life,” says Donovan. “You want your body to be a nice, peaceful environment in order to encourage pregnancy.”

Don’t Delay

Even though many women are having babies in their late 30s and early 40s, fertility clearly declines with age. In this respect, biology has not evolved as quickly as modern-day society; cultural norms may be shifting pregnancy ages later, but a woman’s quantity and quality of eggs declines significantly in her 30s.

Pregnant women have a higher risk of developing the yeast infection vaginal candidiasis due to an increased secretion of sex hormones; in the US, around 10% of pregnant women develop the condition.

Although intravaginal formulations of topical azole antifungals are the first-line treatment for pregnant women, oral fluconazole is often used.

However, there is a lack of safety information for the drug; in addition, previous studies have suggested evidence of a distinct pattern of craniofacial and skeletal birth defects in babies born to women treated long term with high-dose fluconazole during pregnancy.

Ditte Mølgaard-Nielsen, of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues evaluated the association between oral fluconazole exposure during pregnancy and the risk of spontaneous abortion and stillbirth.

In a nationwide cohort study, the team studied 1,405,663 pregnancies from 1997-2013 in Denmark.

Published in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, the updated guidelines are a result of a collaboration between the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) Heart Failure and Transplantation, Pediatric and Infectious Disease Councils.

Chaired by Dr. Mandeep R. Mehra, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and medical director of the Heart and Vascular Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital - both in Boston, MA - the revised guidelines for heart transplantation candidacy address some of the issues that have arisen since such guidelines were first put in place in 2006.

One key issue has been heart transplantation eligibility for patients with certain medical conditions; the 2006 guidelines stated that patients with particular illnesses should not be considered for the procedure.

In the journal PLOS One, researchers reveal that women who had more children had longer telomeres than women who had fewer children.

Telomeres are caps at the end of each DNA strand that protect our chromosomes - thread-like structures that contain all our genetic information - from damage.

Each time a cell replicates, telomeres become shorter. They eventually become so short that they stop protecting chromosomes, leaving them vulnerable to damage, which in turn causes our cells to age and stop functioning effectively.

Previously, animal studies have supported the "life history theory," suggesting that higher reproductive behavior is associated with accelerated biological aging.

However, this latest study, led by Prof. Pablo Nepomnaschy and Cindy Barha - both of Simon Fraser University in Canada - contradicts this theory.

A panel of health experts - including Dr. Lawrence Cheskin, founder and director of Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center in Baltimore, MD, and Kathie Beales, associate professor in the Division of Nutrition at the University of Utah - was enrolled by US News & World Report to review and rank 38 of the most popular diets.

Each diet was scored using seven criteria, including short- and long-term weight loss, nutrition, safety and ease of compliance. These ratings were used to rank each diet in nine categories, including best overall diets, best diabetes diets, best weight-loss diets, best commercial diet plans and easiest diets to follow.

Our rankings put hard numbers on the belief that no one diet is ideal for everybody, but the best food plans overall are sustainable," notes Angela Haupt, senior editor of US News.

Besides the rankings and data, each diet has a detailed profile that includes how it works, evidence that supports or refutes its claims and a nutritional snapshot - tools that, along with the advice of a physician or nutritionist, can help consumers invest in diets that suit their lifestyles and further their health and wellness goals.