Blog Posts by Jessica Ashley, Senior Editor

Perhaps it's time to stop seeing massages as something we do to simply pamper ourselves and start viewing them as part of our health regimen.

A small but significant study out of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles showed that a single massage sparks biological changes. Participants were given either a Swedish, or deep-tissue, massage for 45 minutes or a lighter massage.

Here's why the study's lead author and chairman of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Mark Hyman Rapaport, said the results were "very, very intriguing and very, very exciting - and I'm a skeptic."

• Participants who had a Swedish massage had lowered levels of the stress hormone cortisol. They also showed decreased levels of arginine vasopressin, a hormone that can spur cortisol production.These participants had increased lymphocytes, white blood cells that help the body fight back against germs and diseases.

• Participants who received lighter massages indicated increased

Yeah, I'm talking to you, GULL.The scavenging birds that dive-bomb your beach blanket in an attempt to grab the last bite of PB&J out of your kid's hand and squawk so loudly you can barely talk on your cellphone on the boardwalk and sneakily infiltrate urban parks where there's no sign of water in sight, somehow just got a little more disgusting.

Scientists recently found that seagulls carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria in their intestines. Researchers believe that seagulls are spreading the bacteria among each other and wonder if they could also pass it on to other species, including humans.

The antibiotic-resistant bacteria are mutations from normal bacteria -- much better known by the sexy, fear-inducing term splashed all over the media called "superbugs".

What's truly worrisome is that scientists believe seagulls develop superbugs when they go dumpster diving and find plenty of antibiotics in the trash to dine on.

The findings come from analysis of 57 seagulls' droppings in Portugal (insert sh*tty job joke

The plaid couch and orange shag carpet in your grandmother's 70s living room may seem outdated and old-timey to you. Her time capsule, however, might not just be keeping her young, it could be keeping her alive.

In an experiment documented by the BBC, researchers found that pretending you are living in your youth may actually impact how young you feel and act. The BBC invited six aging British celebrities to live in a country house for a week. From the clothes they wore to TV shows they watched, the participants, aged 76 to 88, were submerged in a time when they were in their heyday. Their bedrooms were even replicas of the ones they slept in during that decade.

The three actors, one athlete, and two journalists-all retired- volunteered to take care of themselves in the house and engage in assigned tasks, like carrying their bags up a flight of stairs. A team with surveillance cameras quietly observed them through it all.

Fending for themselves, the BBC notes, was a big challenge

It has been five years since the FDA approved Gardasil, the HPV vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. Since then, you've probably been smothered by commercials for Gardasil or discussed whether you or your daughter should get it or have read many first-hand accounts on why or why not this vaccine is a good idea.

But have you heard about the incidences where getting the Gardasil shots goes wrong? Some of those stories -- let me warn you, they are sad and frightening -- are making the rounds online. Of course, they need to be voiced and heard, just as the vaccine given primarily to girls and young women needs to be scrutinized over and over again by doctors, scientists, and the patients and their parents who are at the other end of the needle.

We do, however, also have to acknowledge that the experiences of women who have suffered side effects from the vaccine are anecdotal. The are valid, and they are not all the women who have chosen to be vaccinated.

Yes, some of the side

There, in my email inbox, was a photo of a woman I didn't recognize at all. The slender, lovely-without-a-lick-of-makeup lady that I see nearly every day was smiling, pretty, and overweight. It startled me.

She'd put her picture through a new photo-altering app available for iPhone and iPod Touch. Here's how it works: you whoosh your photo through the FatBooth app and seconds later, you get to see how you'd look as an obese person. Simple as that.

Fatbooth call itself an entertainment app and a "fun way to instantly supersize faces" that you will want to share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, through texts or even the old-fashioned crapmail forward method.

The blurb about it on iTunes, however, touts more than just a fun way to blow up your face. It makes a motivation play with this message:

Tired of diets? Get fat instantly with FatBooth...What would you look like with a "few" extra pounds? And what about your friends? Find out with Fatbooth...Use Fatbooth on family, friends

Why does washing your hands after going to the bathroom sometimes feels like such a job?

There's the whole pumping of the liquid soap, lathering, and if you're really thorough, drying, which also requires pulling out shreds of paper towel or finding a corner of a hand towel that's only semi-damp. If you do it right, it could take as much as 20 seconds and could involve vigorous scrubbing (see? work) of wrists and under fingernails.

Whether this is a valid explanation or there's some other compelling reason that public bathroom goers cut and run, apparently way too many (in my opinion) people (mostly known as: men) aren't taking that half-a-minute or less to wash up.

The American Society for Microbiology and the American Cleaning Institute conduct recurrent studies on hand-washing behaviors of people at sport stadiums, train terminals, and other places where public bathrooms are located. The researchers covertly observe whether or not people wash their hands before exiting

A few weeks ago, I spent three days at an indoor water park with my little boy. We sped through tunnels on inner tubes, swung through a mini-ropes course hovering over a pool, and floated down a lazy river that wound throughout the park. At the end of each day, we were both exhilarated and relaxed. We were worn out and we reeked of chlorine.

I get why a family-focused resort that is often packed with kids who range in age from diaper-wearers to dad-who-tries-to-squeeze-on-kiddie slides would be generous with the chlorine. Basically, adding chlorine to pool water creates a chemical reaction that kills bacteria (here's a more science-y explanation for those of you who need to understand exactly how chlorine oxidizes). I only need to see one kid with a Pamper hanging out from his size 12-month Cars swim trunks to know that there's plenty of bacteria to be zapped in those waters.

However, at the end of the third day, that smell of chlorine that never seemed to leave our hair and hands

While the finger was once pointed at fast food, television, and even sunlight, it seems like the list of things responsible for the alarming childhood obesity rate grows every day. New evidence puts the hours of sleep a child gets in the hot seat.

As a parent or caregiver or someone who reads these kinds of studies, you might roll your eyes or even ignore this research as one more scare tactic or scolding or should about raising a child in a busy, complex world. Sure, it is challenging, exhausting, and expensive to bring up a kid, even to the most affluent, together, and supported of us. But living in an iPhoned, overscheduled, traffic jammed country might just be the best reason to pay attention to this one study.

Why? Because it seems to me -- and I am sure some of you will disagree -- that what babies and small children need to thrive is pretty simple. Of course, there's that pull to want a full set of Baby Einstein DVDs and the bouncy seat with seventeen different vibrating