Get Support     Once you identify five or six suitable moms who aren't too annoying, it's time to start a support group, known in some parts of the country as a "playgroup." It can be fewer than five or six, but you should be able to corral lots of takers if you hang out long enough at your library's children's ...

Share a Meal with Your Sangha Traditionally, Buddhist monks worked side-by-side in the garden and ate together in a large dining hall. Sharing a meal is one of the simplest and most effective ways to strength our connections with loved ones and with our food. Try out a recipe with friends; surprise someone with a homebaked treat. The experience can be ...

Stay Grounded in the Present       You’re at the movies and a worrisome thought crosses your mind. Did I check whether the documents were sent tonight to my client? This thought leads to another and another: If it didn’t get sent, maybe I can drop it off in the morning? But I have a breakfast meeting with the V.P. ...

Between 8 and 17 percent of American adults—up to 34 million people—suffer from symptoms of overactive bladder: frequent, sudden urges to urinate that disrupt work and sleep and are sometimes accompanied by involuntary urination. Men and women seem to be about equally affected, and the condition is estimated to cost the economy about $12 billion a year in lost productivity, money ...

Eggs: good or bad? Well, neither. Eggs were once vilified for their high cholesterol content and thought to be a major contributor to heart disease.

Most low back pain is triggered by some combination of overuse, muscle strain, and injury to the muscles, ligaments, and discs that support the spine. Many experts believe that over time muscle strain can lead to an overall imbalance in the spinal structure. This leads to a constant tension on the muscles, ligaments, bones, and discs, making the back more prone ...

There's no such thing as breast cancer prevention (although prophylactic mastectomy or taking drugs to prevent a recurrence get pretty close). But making a few basic lifestyle changes can significantly reduce your risk of developing the disease.  

Me? I started a playgroup by walking around my neighborhood and putting a flyer into the mailboxes of homes in which I could see a stroller. I also posted signs at a local office supply store, coffee shop, and diner. Once ten moms confirmed interest, I hosted a playgroup every Wednesday morning at my house for a year. It really served ...

Ask (or Beg) for Help     In her informative book, A Deeper Shade of Blue, Ruta Nonacs, M.D., Ph.D., writes: "One of the most challenging aspects of caring for young children is the social isolation. In traditional cultures, a woman's family fathers around the mother after the birth of a child. They help her learn how to care for her ...

Happy people tend to talk more than unhappy people, but when they do, it tends to be less small talk and more substance, a new study finds.   A group of psychologists from the University of Arizona and Washington University in St. Louis set out to find whether happy and unhappy people differ in the types of conversations they tend to ...

Don’t Let Possessions Possess You       Don’t let objects rule you. Don’t give them the power to spoil your day. No one’s advocating that you don’t react upon losing or damaging something, but worrying over a problem after the fact can’t restore or bring anything back. Let go of your attachment to things—no attachment; no worry. The less you ...

So when the "what-if's" are driving you mad, simply cut them off by saying over and over again, "Whatever happens, I'll handle it!" You'll feel a sense of confidence wash over you. "What if I lose my job? I'll handle it." "What if my children have difficult times? I'll handle it. Whatever happens in my life, I'll handle it!"

"The finding suggests that any kind of policy that reduces consumption might have a dramatic health benefit," said senior study author Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who was to present the finding Friday during the American Heart Association's Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention annual conference, in San Francisco

What is multiple sclerosis? Multiple sclerosis, often called MS, is a disease that affects the central nervous system—the brain and spinal cord. It can cause problems with muscle control and strength, vision, balance, feeling, and thinking. Your nerve cells have a protective covering called myelin. Without myelin, the brain and spinal cord can't communicate with the nerves in the rest of ...

Sleep (I'm Serious)     Part of the reason I'm so adamant that you get help is because the longer you stay sleep-deprived the better chance you have of winding up needing to check into a pysch ward, like I did. Brain experts have always made the connection between insanity and insomnia, but new research suggests that chronic sleep disturbances actually ...

Hang on to Yourself     The second biggest mistake I made as a new mom was throwing my old self into a locked closet. I kept here there until after my postpartum hospital stay, when I learned that motherhood doesn't require chucking my prior existence: my interests, my friends, my career, and so forth. In fact, the nurses there convinced ...

By Susan Jeffers, Ph.D. We are an anxious nation...in fact, we are an anxious world. There is no question that uncertainty seems to have increased dramatically in the last few years. We worry about terrorism. We worry about war. We worry about losing our jobs. We worry about the dangers confronting our children. And on and on and on. This worry ...

Un-Set Your Heart Un-setting your heart means letting go of your picture of how you want it all to be. It means letting go of trying to control things over which you have no control. One of the prime causes of our suffering is our wanting things to be different than they are. Yes, we all want a peaceful world instead ...

Collect Heroes   Heroes to me are people who have created much good in this world as a result of horrible experiences in their lives. A few heroes come to mind: Christopher Reeve, who created so much good as a result of his paralyzing accident; Viktor Frankl, who created so much good out of his experience in a concentration camp; Ram ...

Celebrate American Heart Month by using this calendar of tips to lower your risk for heart disease. Each year, more than 870,000 Americans die from cardiovascular disease—it’s the leading cause of death among women and men. The good news is that the vast majority of heart disease cases can be prevented with a healthy diet and lifestyle. Each day we’ll reveal ...