Photo: ThinkstockBy Jena Pincott

Mistake #1: Skipping Your Morning Joe

Too many cups of coffee make you feel as restless as a puppet and as highly strung. So the smart thing to do when you're stressed is to avoid the stuff completely, right? Not necessarily, finds a study at the U.K.'s University of Bristol. So long as you're female. When women collaborated with other women under nerve-racking conditions (like most stress studies, public speaking was involved), they performed better when they drank about three cups of caffeinated coffee (compared to decaf). They trusted their colleagues more, had more confidence in their performance and coped better overall. Meanwhile, coffee-drinking male groups performed worse under pressure. Stressed women often "tend and befriend," the researchers contend, while their male counterparts resort to "fight or flight." Caffeine appears to augment these behaviors--and, at least for women, that's a real perk.

RELATED: The Self-Esteem Repair Kit

POPSUGAR FitnessSource: 7 Healthy Reasons to Have Sex - Tonight!

Skipping the gym for a romp in between the sheets isn't something you should do every day, but it's still a healthy distraction - it does burn calories after all! With Valentine's Day just around the corner, check out what other health benefits come from having sex.

• Improve Sleep : The hormone oxytocin increases when you have sex, and the heightened level helps you sleep better. Getting enough sleep is an important part of your overall health, so if you're having trouble sleeping, sex is the perfect activity before hitting the hay.
• Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease: Research has shown that men who have sex two or more times a week cut their risk of developing heart disease (and stroke) in half.
• Relieve Stress: Do yourself a favor and get busy to reduce your blood pressure. The feel-good endorphins released during sex will help you forget about your bad day too.
• Boost Immunity: People who have sex once

POPSUGAR FitnessSource: 10 Unhealthy Foods to Give Up For Lent, and the Calories You'll Save

After next week's gluttonous Mardi Gras celebrations, Lent, the Catholic season of penance, will start. Many Catholics give up a vice during this 40-day period, and even if you don't do it for religious reasons you may find that giving something up for Lent is a good way to start a healthy habit or lose weight.
To see just how effective avoiding an unhealthy food for 40 days can be, we've rounded up 10 popular foods that many people choose to give up for Lent, along with the total calories you'll save if you avoid them. Read on for the 10 foods and the calorie counts, based on typical eating habits.

• Soda: Soda is the source of hundreds of unneeded calories, so now's the time to make the switch to water. Forgoing a soda a day for 40 days will save you 124-189 calories a day.

  Total amount: 40 sodas
  Total calories saved: 4,960-7,560 calories

• French Fries: They're salty,

Source: 3 Healthy Habits For Your Heart

With more and more younger women having heart attacks, it's more important than ever to develop new rules to live by for optimal heart health. These three simple habits are easy to incorporate into any lifestyle and will help keep the heart healthy and free from disease.

• Learn to love fish: One study found that younger women who didn't eat fish and other sources of omega-3s had the highest risk of developing heart conditions. Even eating fish once or twice a week is enough to reap all its healthy benefits. If you love to cook, try one of our healthy fish recipes. For anyone who doesn't like cooking seafood at home, make a point to order fish whenever out for dinner. For the vegetarians out there, don't fret: there are plenty of animal-free omega-3 sources out there like chia seeds, flaxseed oil, and edamame.
• Start meditating: If it's not enough that meditation can improve your brain function and stress levels, multiple studies

There are plenty of things we should be doing to take care of ourselves, yet somehow, there are many of us who just don't bother. Sometimes because we're simply too busy, but often it's because we're scared of the results. There are some tests that are critical and painless (or relatively so) that can detect things that, if treated relatively early on, can prolong our lives for decades. The tests are simple enough, and knowing the results is nothing short of great power. Here are eight medical tests that Yahoo Health recommends that all women should consider. Please discuss any tests with your doctor or another medical professional beforehand. - By Meredith Carroll

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Beyonce recently graced the cover of Vogue's power-themed March issue and revealed how she truly feels about her body post-baby. “Right now, after giving birth, I really understand the power of my body. I just feel my body means something completely different. I feel a lot more confident about it. Even being heavier, thinner, whatever. I feel a lot more like a woman. More feminine, more sensual. And no shame," she says.

Beyonce's not the first celeb to claim post-baby love for her body. Christina Aguilara told People, “Some people are afraid of change and [feel] that getting older is a bad thing, but I really love maturing and gaining wisdom. And the experience of being pregnant and having a child and seeing what a woman’s body can do is amazing.” Drew Barrymore, new mom to daughter Olive has said of losing her baby weight: “I’m still working on it, but I’m not worrying about it. We live in a society where everyone’s like, ‘Look at how amazing she looks two weeks out.’ I don’t want to

Sleep BetterScientists like their zzz's just as much as you do - and have put their (hopefully well-rested) brains to studying what really helps you get a good night's sleep.

1. Pump it Up
Regular aerobic exercise - bicycling, walking at a moderate pace, swimming laps - for 30 to 40 minutes, four times a week, improves sleep quality. You can break it up into two 20-minute sessions if that fits better into your life. But don't schedule it in the evening; while exercise helps regulate your sleep/wake cycle, the stimulation that comes from a workout in the three hours before bedtime may cancel the benefit.

2. Combine Carbs and Proteins
Carbohydrates help your brain use tryptophan, an amino acid that causes sleepiness. And proteins help your body build tryptophan. Get the duo in a light bedtime snack of peanut butter on toast or low-fat cheese and crackers.

3. Choose Cherry
The fruit is rich in melatonin, which helps the body regulate its sleep/wake cycle. When study participants drank eight

In a surprising article from a blue-chip panel of experts, the New England Journal of Medicine has shredded many of our most fervently held beliefs about obesity and weight loss. The article begins: "Passionate interests, the human tendency to seek explanations for observed phenomena, and everyday experience appear to contribute to strong convictions about obesity, despite the absence of supporting data." All this misinformation could be the culprit of inconsistent results (see how your metabolism suffers, in the Dangers of Yo-Yo Dieting).

The rest of the "special article," which deals with "myths," "presumptions," and "facts," reads much like a feature story in your favorite health magazine. Only the conclusions are the opposite of what you have read and heard dozens of times. As briefly as possible:

WEIGHT LOSS MYTHS

1. Small changes can yield big results over time.
Fact: Nope, the actual changes may be only 20% of what you have been told.

2. Weight-loss goals must be realistic.