Blog Posts by Oprah.com

Photo: Marianne HaasBy Jena Pincott

Your Parents Were Yuppies
A person born to a couple in their 30s grows up to find older faces more attractive than does one with younger parents, finds a study from the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland. That is, college-aged women with "older" parents were likelier to find wrinkled, weathered faces attractive for either a fling or a marriage. The same was found for young men when considering a woman for a long-term relationship. (Take note: Only a man's mother's age, not his father's, influenced his attraction to older women.)

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Your Limbal Rings Are Riveting
The eye's limbal ring goes in the category of overlooked but not unseen. It's the dark circle around the iris that enhances the whiteness and brightness of the sclera (the whites of the eyes). Researchers at the University of California at Irvine asked people to rate sets of faces that were identical except for the eyes--one had dark and distinct limbal

By Rose Tarlow

Photo: ThinkstockBy Corrie Pikul

The last thing a yogi wants to do is create stress--or talk about it. But when we asked these top instructors to tell us what they're really thinking, they divulged a few pet peeves (as well as some secret tips for Zen seekers). Here's what kept coming up.

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1. If you're more than 10 minutes late, please consider skipping the class--even if we welcome you in.
"Coming in late can not only be distracting to the rest of the class, it can also lead to injury, especially if you've missed the warm-up and sun salutations. Peek into the room. If people are still sitting on the ground, then it's fine to join in. It's even better if you can wait until we're getting up, because then it's less disruptive for everyone to move over."
-- Kristin McGee, a New York-based instructor for more than 15 years, creator of over 15 yoga and Pilates DVDs and an iPhone app.

2. Definitely bring your own mat...
"Most studios are good

Photo: Michael Maren

Karen Thompson Walker, author of the The Age of Miracles: A Novel (now out in paperback) reveals the kind of "I'm sorry" that can turn a marital mistake into a moment of connection.

1. I'm sorry I locked us out of our apartment building that night last January, while you were dragging our Christmas tree out to the curb and it was 20 degrees outside and we didn't have our coats or our phones. But I saw the tree catch in the wind like a sail, and I could tell that you were about to run out into the street after it, and I wanted to help you, so I ran outside, too, but you know how forgetful I am and how absentminded, and I guess we'd be stranded like that a lot more often if you were that way, too.

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2. I'm sorry I was too shy to tell you how I felt when we were 18 and lived on the same dorm floor, and so instead I just stood in the hall, talking loudly to other people, hoping you might hear my voice and want to open your door, which

Photo: Thinkstock

By Corrie Pikul

An All-Nighter vs. 2 Hours of Sleep

It's 3 a.m., and you need to get up at 5 a.m. for your flight or your work shift or your conference. The clock is forcing you to make a decision: Curl up in bed for two hours of shut-eye or power through the next day? While your instinct and your drooping eyelids may urge you to take a nap, this might make you feel even worse than if you hadn't slept at all, says Michael A. Grandner, PhD, research associate at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania. "If you get less than 4 hours, there's a good chance that you'll wake up in slow-wave sleep, which can leave you disoriented, irrational and extremely irritable," Grandner says--in other words, like a hot mess. He explains that our bodies are pretty resilient and can function reasonably well without sleep once in a while, so you'll be able to chug through the day even if your mind will be a little fuzzy (this means catching a plane

By Lynn Andriani

Forget browning meat or sautéing vegetables--just put the ingredients in and walk away until you smell something delicious.

Photo: ThinkstockBy Corrie Pikul

"Why don't we get goose bumps on the face?"
We do get them on our cheeks, says Jessica Krant, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and assistant clinical professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Goose bumps, or cutis anserine, occur where we have hair--pretty much everywhere except for our palms and soles of feet, Krant says. She breaks down the process: Each hair follicle contains a microscopic muscle called arrectores pilorum that contracts in response to the sensation of cold, or the feelings of fear or excitement. The reason most of us, especially women, don't notice goose bumps on our face is because the peach fuzz there is usually fine and short, and our facial skin muscles are less robust than those in our arms and legs. Krant adds that if you find goose-pimply bumps on any part of your body that don't seem to be affected by fear or temperature, you might have keratosis pilaris, an eczema-like condition caused by inflamed follicles.

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Photo: Adam VoorhesBy Liz Krieger

"I'm tired." It's the catchall lament uttered daily by the overworked, chronically fatigued, harried, and stressed. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly a third of all adult Americans are sleep deprived. But having a case of the yawns doesn't automatically mean you're not getting enough rest. To feel truly recharged, you first have to sort out what brand of beat you are.

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Just Plain Sleepy

Feels like...your brain's in a fog and it's nearly impossible to keep your eyelids at full mast.

The Cause: You're generally getting less than seven hours of sleep. While everyone requires a different amount, most people need seven to nine hours to feel fully awake, according to the National Sleep Foundation. "When you deprive yourself of rest--particularly after 9 P.M., when the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin is naturally released--your body switches to a slower survival mode," explains Michael Breus, PhD, a