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What’s the second largest commercial holiday behind Christmas? It’s Halloween! In fact, a recent survey found that Halloween spending will reach 8 billion dollars this year – from candy to costumes to tickets to haunted houses. So, why do we love Halloween so much? There are a couple reasons:

• Going on haunted hayrides and seeing scary movies makes us feel good! Researchers say that fear and fun engage the same neurotransmitter in your brain. That’s why when you get scared, your next reaction is to laugh. In fact, within FIVE SECONDS of feeling fear, your brain begins releasing dopamine, the feel good chemical, to help relieve any pain you may experience. That makes terror feel thrilling, which is why some people love to be scared – especially when they know they’re actually safe inside a movie theater or haunted house.

• Because it gives us permission to be someone else for a night. Want to be Cinderella? Throw on those glass slippers! Or Agent double-oh-7? Grab a tux! Basically, we get tired of always having to have our “public face” on. You know, the one we use in our day-to-day life, because we’re expected to act in a certain, reasonable way. It’s what we need to do to fit in with society 364 days of the year. But on Halloween, we’re allowed to let our alter egos run loose. It’s okay to be a witch or a monster one night a year.

What’s the chore you hate the most? Is it vacuuming? Laundry? Washing dishes? If you’re like most people, it’s doing the dishes! A report from the University Of Utah found that, out of all household chores, dishes stress people out the most. Professor Dan Carlson led the research… and his team looked at how couples divide household chores and how that impacts our relationships. And they found that doing the dishes causes the most stress and conflict in relationships.

In the study, women who did the majority of the household dish washing reported less satisfaction, more conflict, and less intimacy in their relationships.

So why do dishes cause more problems than, say, laundry? Professor Carlson says the reason is simple: “Doing dishes is gross.” And if you have kids, it seems never-ending. And after a while, you start to resent the people making those dirty dishes for not helping you clean them up. So, for the sake of our stress levels and your relationships, we all need to pitch in and do more dishes.

Here’s what you need to know before your next doctor’s appointment to get the best care.

To start, chill out for 5 minutes before a blood pressure reading. That ensures you won’t have an artificially high reading. Because if your reading is too high, you may be prescribed unnecessary medication. That’s according to cardiologist Sarah Samaan. For example, rushing into your doctor’s office after dealing with crazy traffic can raise your systolic pressure by as many as 20 points! So sit quietly, check Facebook and calm down in the waiting room.

Next, if you need a mammogram, lay off caffeine for a week before the test. Dr. Barbara Jaeger is the director of mammography at American Radiology Services in Baltimore and she says, caffeine increases tenderness. Skip it, and your mammogram will be less painful.

When it comes to the dermatologist: Wipe off your nail polish before a skin cancer screening. 5% of all melanomas occur under nails. But if you’re wearing polish, your doctor won’t see the streaks or pigmentation that can signal a problem.

Lastly, if you’re getting a cholesterol test, skip fatty meals for a few days beforehand. Eating high-starch or fatty meals in the 3 days leading up to a lipid test can raise triglycerides and affect the readings.

Your pet may be in danger, right in your own house, and you may not even know it! Here’s what to watch out for:

• The first hidden pet danger: Sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners. Xylitol is a sweetener frequently used in sugar-free candy, chewing gum, baked goods, and toothpaste and it can cause low blood sugar and liver damage in dogs. So, keep your sugar-free treats out of reach!
• The next danger: Candles! The delicious-smelling candles that melt and become liquid tempt cats and dogs to take a lick. Not only can your pet get badly burned, but many of the ingredients in the hot oil can cause ulcers in Felix or Fido’s mouth, throat, and gastrointestinal tract.  
• Another hidden pet danger: Bottles of medication – even those with childproof lids. Animal poison control expert Dr. Steven Hansen warns that animals can easily chew up pill containers, and die from an overdose of prescription pills.   
• Also, cats and dogs have been known to gnaw on potted plants – and many of them are toxic. For example, lilies can damage a cat’s kidneys, and dogs can get sick from eating azaleas or rhododendrons.   
• Also, beware of bottles of glue – especially the polyurethane kind. Dr. Hanson says that dogs view any small bottle as a toy. If they get a mouthful of glue and swallow, it can form a large, rock-hard mass, which has to be surgically removed.
• Another danger to pets: Onions and garlic – even if it’s just cooked with the meat you decided to share off your plate. Onions and garlic contain sulfur compounds that can cause gastrointestinal distress in pets, and harm their red blood cells. 
• Also: Keep dogs away from grapes and raisins. Chemicals in the fruit commonly trigger vomiting, diarrhea, and kidney failure.
• Finally, don’t scrub your floors with pine oil cleaner. A chemical in the products called “phenol” can cause serious liver damage in cats and it doesn’t take much for a kitty to be exposed: All she has to do is lick the wet stuff off her feet.

Losing sleep doesn’t just make us tired. It could also be making us fat! In a recent study, healthy people who were limited to five hours of sleep a night gained an astonishing two pounds in less than a week! Lead researcher, biologist Dr. Ken Wright, said that losing sleep affects us in three important ways:

• It slows down our resting metabolism. Being tired makes us move less. And a slower metabolism reduces the number of calories our bodies use for basic activities – like breathing and circulating blood.

• Being tired also affects our food choices. Studies show that sleep-deprived people tend to go for salty snacks, and sweets high in carbs and protein – as opposed to healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables. That’s because processed foods provide a short-term energy boost. Plus, when we’re worn out, we have less willpower to resist temptation.

• A lack of sleep also affects when people get hungry. Our bodies are designed to eat more in the morning and less after dark. But when we’re sleep-deprived, we tend to skip breakfast – or eat a skimpy breakfast and binge on after-dinner snacks.

Of course, going to bed earlier won’t magically give you a beach body. But, Dr. Wright says getting the recommend seven to eight hours of sleep a night will boost your metabolism, and make it harder for you to gain more weight.

Last year, a lot of young adults moved back home to be closer to their parents. In fact, HALF of all adults under age 30 now live with their parents… the highest proportion of young people living with Mom and Dad ever recorded!

And they’re not going anywhere!

Even though it was originally supposed to be a temporary situation, because of the pandemic, a lot of young adults plan to stay in their hometowns because they like the security, familiarity and benefits of living close to home – if not IN their parents’ home!

Typically “boomerang kids” – people who move back to their hometowns – are in their early to mid-30s. But now more people in their 20s are returning.

Karen Fingerman is a professor of family sciences at the University of Texas, Austin. And she says it’s clear that there’s been a strengthening of the family bond over the past year. And the influx of young people is revitalizing a lot of smaller towns.

And behavioral science professor Dr. Jacqueline K. Gollan, at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, says moving home is a coping mechanism and a reaction to the unparalleled stress young adults are feeling. And now, instead of young adults feeling the need to exercise their independence, they’re experiencing the need to feel grounded.

Why do we love sub-nosed dog breeds with smushed faces – like pugs, French bulldogs, Boston Terriers, English bulldogs and Boxers?

Because dogs like that are the most likely to look directly into the human eye!

That’s according to a new canine behavior study in the journal Scientific Reports.

And it’s that eye contact that helps animals and humans create loving bonds!

And it’s not just snub-nosed breeds… young or playful dogs, and those that have been bred for visual acuity, like shepherds and greyhounds, are also likely to look people in the eye.

And the study found that eye contact can enhance communication, cooperation, and the relationship between a dog and its owner. Because levels of oxytocin, the bonding hormone, rise for both humans and dogs when they make and hold eye contact.

Now, any dog can be trained to make eye contact… but when it comes to dogs with smushed faces, their eyes are structured differently from those of other dogs. They have more cells in their eyes that are responsible for processing visual information. That means they can more easily focus on what’s right in front of them.

But breed aside, puppies and dogs with playful natures were also most likely to stare into their owners’ eyes. And at shelters, dogs that make eye contact with humans are usually the first to be adopted.

Research shows that the nutrients our bodies need changes as we get older. Meaning, the foods that keep us healthy at 20 won’t necessarily keep us firing on all cylinders at 40. So, here’s a list of the best foods to eat, and the right age to eat them, to help boost your health:

• First: When you’re in your 20s, load up on salmon twice a week. Studies show that depression is most likely to develop between the ages of 15 and 34. And salmon is a great depression-fighter, since it’s packed with omega-3 fatty acids, which help flood your body with the feel-good chemical serotonin.

• Then, ladies, if you’re in your 30s and trying to have a baby, or already expecting one, stock up on eggs and spinach. They both contain choline, which helps babies’ brains develop. The Institute of Medicine recommends getting about 425 milligrams of choline a day. Which you’d get from one egg and a half-cup of spinach.

• Next, when you’re in your 40s doctors say now’s the time to eat burgers. That’s because lean beef is high in iron, which helps make red blood cells, and keep energy levels up.

Just don’t eat burgers every night, since studies from the American Institute for Cancer Research show that will raise our risk of heart disease and cancer. Instead, eat other iron-rich foods, like shrimp, or whole-grain cereal.

• Then, what type of food should you eat in your 50s? Low fat yogurt. It’s packed with calcium and Vitamin D, which is proven to help keep our bones strong.

• And if you’re in 60s, eat beans. First, because they’re rich in fiber, which helps you feel full and maintain a healthy weight. Also, beans are high in potassium, which lowers blood pressure. And experts say that’s crucial at an older age, because studies show that people over 55 are twice as likely to have a heart attack as younger people.