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This is especially beneficial as we get older since skin cell turnover rate slows dramatically1, and exfoliation can help speed up that process. But remember: As with anything good, you can absolutely overdo it. And exfoliating too frequently, with too harsh products for your specific skin type can result in redness, sensitivity, and inflammation. So the key with exfoliation is this: balance. And of course, everyone’s exfoliation regimen will look different....

That’s the premise behind the famous “36 questions that lead to love,” an experiment popularized by a viral essay and inspired by real psychological research on how intimacy forms. Today, people are bringing the quiz with them on first dates, and marriage therapists assign the activity to couples looking to emotionally reconnect. Here’s how the 36 questions work and the science behind them. The experiment became massively popular after the New York Times Modern Love column published an essay by Mandy Len Catron in 2015 about her experience trying the questions with an acquaintance whom she went on to marry....

To help you take control of your own stress response, we spoke with experts and researched the best at-home cortisol tests available today. Below, find our top picks that are the most accurate, easy to use, and a good value for your money. Cortisol’s primary function is to convert protein into glucose, a form of energy. It does this by breaking down the protein in the liver and muscles, explains Daniel Boyer, M....

While we could have easily assembled a list of highly rated memory foam beds-in-a-box, we know you’ve likely turned to mindbodygreen because you care about your health and the health of Mother Earth. That’s why we did the extra legwork to vet each of these brands, not only for quality and nontoxic materials but for environmental efforts, too. Read on to find out how some of the best memory foam mattresses stack up in terms of quality, sustainability, comfort, and more....

Now I’m experimenting with a simpler way of living—one that’s less stressful and more fulfilling. I am by no means immune to getting caught up in the crazy pace of our culture, but I’m improving every day. Here are 30 of the most helpful tips I’ve picked up on the art of simplifying:

You can try to fend off the dreaded brown and preserve the green of a cut avocado by storing it in a shallow pool of water, but if you want to extend its life any longer than just a few days, your best bet for a ripe avocado is the freezer. (For an unripe one, try pickling it!) Once thawed, the avocado isn’t quite as firm as the fresh avocado....

“Primary emotions are basic emotions that humans are born with that have been wired into our brains,” Espinoza says. “Along the outer edges of the emotion wheel, you’ll find low-intensity emotions such as acceptance, distraction, boredom, and so on. As you move toward the center, the color on the emotion wheel deepens and milder emotions become your basic emotions.” Psychologist Robert Plutchik, Ph.D., created one of the most popular versions of the emotion wheel, a flower-shaped diagram to visually illustrate our emotions and their various, adjacent relationships to each other....

Gottman named these four communication habits as a play on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Christian Bible’s New Testament. Those four horsemen—conquest, war, hunger, and death—signaled the end of times. Similarly, when there is a chronic use of Gottman’s Four Horsemen, research has shown the relationship is likely to become unstable and unhappy and, in likelihood, will end. Since the 1970s, Gottman has studied thousands of couples in what is called the Love Lab, where he and his team watched couples interact and tracked their relational satisfaction....

The world of tea offers something for everyone, depending on your taste, mood, and health goals. All true tea comes from the tea plant Camellia sinensis. That’s right, black tea, green tea, white tea, and oolong tea all come from the same plant—everything else is technically a tisane (herbal tea). What makes them so unique in look and taste is the way they are grown, harvested, and prepared. Even though tea tends to have less caffeine than most coffee, all of these teas have some caffeine....

Here’s what to know about the tower tarot card and what it could indicate about love, relationships, work, finances, and challenges. “The image certainly doesn’t look good, with lightning striking the top of a building, fire coming from the windows, and people falling to the earth below in fear,” Mark Horn, tarot reader and author of Tarot and the Gates of Light, says. But he explains that like every card, the meaning of the tower can be positive or negative depending on the question you asked your deck....

I’m not sure what has fostered my positive relationship with sleep, but I do know that as a child, I always felt safe when sleeping and recall being roused gently. I have vivid memories of taking a hot bath and then listening to books on tape before going to bed. Now that I think back, I had a routine put into place by my mothers. Family dinner was routinized, as was bath time and a consistent bedtime....

So if you’re someone who begrudgingly tacks core work onto the end of your workout, or you only do it when you “feel like it,” this quick circuit might be your soul mate. You’ll spend less time doing this circuit than you would standing in line for the bathroom. (The women’s bathroom. Not the men’s. Don’t even get me started.) “Our core stabilizes our axial skeletal, or our spine and pelvis,” says Sarah Kostyukovsky, DPT....

Hopefully not for long thanks to NativaSPA, a Brazilian beauty brand on a mission to inspire a whole new kind of care: one that embraces our whole body. With all that we have going on, we deserve a self-care ritual that takes into account our whole being rather than a fragmented, face-first approach. We deserve a moment to experience what it feels like to be human and to enjoy being in our own skin, each and every day....

But what do carb cravings mean? And is there a healthy way to handle them? Step one, then, to alleviate carb cravings, is making sure you’re eating a balanced diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and protein—and that you’re eating enough of all of that food. It’s also a good idea to have a yearly physical with a health care provider to make sure there aren’t any underlying health issues affecting your nutritional needs....

Being a better lover of the earth requires us to start with introspection. It requires a willingness to look at uncomfortable truths and have the courage to unlearn what we thought we knew. It is only through unlearning that we can begin to see beyond the individual and collective stories that keep us trapped inside our own heads. In a world that is built on convenience and knowing, this process is, in itself, a revolution....

Vitamin C plays key roles in immune, cognitive, cardiovascular, and skin health, as well as iron absorption and collagen synthesis.* But since the body can’t produce it spontaneously, we have to seek C out in food sources, and many people do a less-than-stellar job of meeting their daily needs: Almost half of American adults have a vitamin C gap in their diet1, and an estimated 108 million of us have insufficient vitamin C levels, per blood tests....

Read more about connected beauty. Read more about liquid plastics. Read more about the skin microbiome. Read more about biotech beauty.

The principle of energetic flow in the philosophy of yoga overlaps with the ideas of traditional Chinese energetics. As we move our body in an asana, we dance in both our energy and that of our surroundings. When our consciousness surrenders into the universal, a radiance grows until we blossom into a fuller expression often resulting in a sense of timelessness, a feeling of joy, or a laugh. When my students connect to that “something” bigger and greater, it’s beautiful to watch....