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Along with feelings of joy and overwhelming love, new moms are bombarded with a slew of emotions that can include overwhelming sadness and anxiety. Increased awareness of the symptoms of postpartum depression and other mood disorders have led to more comprehensive surveys given at appointments. But along with these emotions, doctors should also be screening for anger in postpartum checkups, according to a recent study, because it, too, could be a sign of postpartum depression. A team of researchers out of the University of British Columbia reviewed past studies and found that anger was a significant feature in postpartum mood disturbances, according to Science Daily. The review, led by UBC nursing Ph.D. student Christine Ou, was published in  Birth  and also found that moms had feelings of powerlessness, unmet expectations of support, and a perceived difference between the reality and their expectations of motherhood. While anger is a normal and expected emotion, when one is

Waiting to get pregnant can be one of the most frustrating experiences, so anything that speeds the process along is welcome news. Now researchers are saying that  eating seafood may boost couples' chances of getting pregnant more quickly. A new study, released in the  Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism , shows that consumption of seafood twice a week, or more, increased sexual activity and decreased time until pregnancy. The team of researchers studied 501 couples in the United States who participated in a study on the ways environmental factors affect the ability to get pregnant. According to the study's abstract, couples recorded their seafood intake and sexual activity in journals. Results showed that couples who consumed two or more servings of fish per week were having sex more frequently, and that 92 percent of them were pregnant at the end of the yearlong study, according to Medical Xpress. That’s compared to a pregnancy rate of 79 percent among

When you think about health, you might spend most of your time thinking about how much activity you're getting, what sorts of foods you're choosing to eat (or not), how stressed you typically are, and even how much sleep you're getting each night. One thing you might not think as much about is how hydrated (or not) you are, which actually is pretty important. So you might want to know about eating  chicken and six other surprising things that dehydrate you , particularly if you generally think a lot about what you're eating most of the time. Your body needs plenty of water in order to function effectively and healthily, but if you're not drinking enough water and getting enough hydration from liquids themselves, there are other ways that you can get it. Similarly, however, some of the things that you might be eating or drinking can have a negative effect on your hydration levels, causing you to lose that water that actually might be beneficial to your body. K

My first experience giving birth without meds was crazy. I cried, I swore, I yelled, I called for my mom. The second time, thanks to a hypnosis training, I went into a deep relaxation between contractions. To the point that my midwife thought I was sleepingand decided to take a nap while I was on the verge of delivery. While I experienced as much pain the second time as the first, my experience was very different. Instead of anxiously panicking (and wallowing in self-pity) at the thought of the next contraction, I completely stopped resisting. I rested instead of wasting my energy being anxious. It went by easier, smoother and much faster. This isn’t an article about physical pain, though.  I’m not saying you too should go  au naturel  when you give birth or shouldn’t get shots at the dentist (I definitely get numbed up at the dentist).  The problem I’m addressing is that we freak about our emotional pain the way we do about our physical pain and it’s stopping us from being h

There is a long-standing body of research suggesting that “self-administered” interventions, like books or websites, can (link is external)  be (link is external)  an  (link is external) effective (link is external) medium (link is external)  for (link is external)  self (link is external) -improvement (link is external) . Numerous such websites and apps exist, tackling every self-improvement goal from losing weight to following a doctor’s treatment regimen to improving one’s  happiness . Unlike  psychotherapy , which is governed by ethical standards as well as law, self-improvement is, for the most part, unregulated. The onus, then, is on the companies themselves to behave ethically. What signs should consumers look for that will let them know that a given website is taking their ethical responsibility to users seriously? They Acknowledge Their Limits Websites that are not serious about their ethical responsibility claim that they can help anyone and everyone. Responsible 

When you're trying to conceive (TTC), there are a lot of factors to be aware of and daily routines to tweak. Things like taking your basal body temperature and testing your urine for ovulation hormones quickly become automatically engrained. No doubt you're also experimenting with different positions for sex, and maybe even changing your schedule to accommodate your expected date of ovulation. So is it going too far to try and work out the time of day  when your partner's sperm count will be highest ? There's a lot of advice out there about timing, mostly centered around figuring out your exact moment of ovulation so you can flood your reproductive organs with sperm during that small window of opportunity. But there's more to it than that. There are two of you involved, after all, and couldn't your partner's contribution vary in potency depending on the time of day? When you're in the fog of the all-consuming TTC routine, every little bit of cl

Picture one of your major turn-ons. Yep, you know the one—that thing you'd NEVER admit to your BFF, because you're certain she'd find it gross. Everyone has different things that get them going during sex. But, unfortunately, the world can be pretty judge-y when it comes to anything that deviates from standard missionary penis-in-vagina intercourse. Which means being honest about your sexual likes, whether it's with a friend or a partner, can be pretty intimidating. But the reality is, there’s a whole world of sexual acts and preferences out there (kinky   fetishes, anyone?). And if you’re into something that seems out-of-the-norm, that's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, that was precisely the topic at-hand on the recent Reddit thread aptly named:   Things that you like during sex that others find gross . Here's what they like between the sheets: KISSES POST-ORAL "Kissing after giving/receiving oral. Never understood why people thin

Birth order has a great influence on child development, specifically because parents tend to raise each sibling differently—which can be both good and bad. But before you go blaming your parents, read on to see if it stands true for you, as there are mitigating factors. Eldest children are leaders Eldest children tend to be ambitious, driven leaders. "The firstborn gets a lot of focus and attention as there are no other children for distraction," says child and family therapist Meri Wallace, LCSW, author of Birth Order Blues. "The child can get lots of teaching, and so can grow up to feel very self-confident and strong enough to be a leader." This leadership role was noted by Alan Stewart, psychologist at University of Georgia, in his 2012 definitive analysis of birth order studies. Plus, parents often task firstborns with helping with younger siblings and chores, which develops their leadership role. "Mom will say, 'I have to take a showe