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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

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt really close to someone, yet couldn’t imagine kissing or getting intimate with him or her? How about a situation where you could definitely imagine kissing someone, but couldn’t image having a deep conversation? You were probably feeling the difference between emotional and physical attraction. Emotional attraction is when you’re attracted to someone’s mind and spirit, and you may or may not be physically attracted to them. Meaningful romantic relationships are formed when emotional and physical attraction are combined. That’s when the real magic happens. “Emotional attraction is a spirit of kinship. You spend time together, you can have conversations all night long, you find yourself engaging in funny text banter all day,” explains Amica Graber, a relationship expert. “When you’re in a relationship just based on physical attraction, you may feel unsure as to how they really feel beyond the bedroom. Emotional

I’ve got the biggest thing for my friend’s ex. She’s cute and awesome, and I always thought we would be good together. I really want to give it a shot without causing drama. Is there an easy way to date a friend’s ex, you know, without screwing my friend over? For this reason alone, I’m glad my friends only date boneheads. Since your friend has better taste, I’ve compiled 3 tips to help you preserve your friendship and get the girl. TIP #1 Be Honest. To avoid damaging your friendship, give your friend a heads up. “Mention your desire to date your friend’s ex in a private setting when your friend is in good spirits,” says dating expert, Stephany Alexander. “If you don’t tell your friend, you’re risking your friendship because he might feel like you are going out with his ex behind his back.” Since your friend will inevitably find out, you have nothing to lose–and everything to gain–by addressing your feelings early on. Ways to start the conversation:Friends c

At best, having a terrible dating experience can make you feel less excited for the next date. At worst, it can make you want to swear off dating altogether. But rest assured, most bad dates just mean the two of you weren’t a good fit for each other. After all, meeting someone new can have unpredictable outcomes. If you had a great time, it’s disappointing to not hear back after a date. If you had a terrible time, you might be the one doing the disappointing. If you’ve had a bad date (or a string of bad dates) you’re having a hard time bouncing back from, here are a few tips to get over it and move on stronger: 1. Remember, every date will not end the same. Even though we start off almost every date hoping for a happy ending, the majority of them don’t end that way. Sometimes having a bad date can be a reality check that you’re putting too much pressure on your dates to be amazing. Being nonchalant isn’t the worst attitude to have, but you don’t want to anticipa

Do you keep falling for the wrong guy? Are you hopping from relationship to relationship and it’s almost too easy to predict how and when it will end? Do you dream of settling down but none of your past boyfriends were right for that? Have you tried every single dating app that’s out there, but the relationships with your perfect matches were short lived and underwhelming at best and truly disappointing at worst? Perhaps it’s not just bad luck. There might be some underlying issues and we came up with a couple of reasons you might be choosing the wrong men all the time. 1. Charm Over Character Charm is something all of us are guilty of falling for. And I’m not saying that charming people can’t be relationship material, they definitely can be. What I’m trying to say is that you have to look past it and take their true nature and character into consideration. If they’re charming to you but are rude to other people it’s a red flag. It’s easy to be charming on the first couple of d

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

It’s a common phenomenon that, once a couple settles into the joys of a relationship, hanging out with friends takes on a totally new dynamic. Whether you’re a guy or a gal, hanging out with your single friends as a couple can get a little weird at times. And, in turn, your single friends end up feeling like the third wheel on your love bike. As a result, both singles and couples often find themselves spending time hanging out with their own kind rather than crossing the relationship-status divide. So how do you find a double-date as a new couple? While it seems like couples gravitate toward other couples, it’s not always easy to find couple friends that you both get along with. And, just like dating, finding a couple that meshes well with the both of you can take some trial and error. It’s almost like, well, dating. Here are some tips on how to find the perfect couple for your double date… Double Date Who You Know It’s worth starting the double date search by taking not

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

The phrase “happy wife, happy life” might be true, but let’s be honest: it’s pretty one-sided. A successful marriage is a team sport, where both partners do their part to ensure the relationship is moving forward just as much as the life they’re building together is. If you want a successful marriage, you need to own your part in it. Here are 5 tips on how to be a better wife and build a healthy marriage: 1. Acknowledge what he does, not what he doesn’t. It’s easy to point out what your spouse isn’t doing. Like how he doesn’t pick up his wet towel from the bathroom floor, leaves the toilet seat up, or always manages to forget to take out the garbage. But you should acknowledge and express gratitude for what he does do too. Multiple studies have shown that expressing gratitude for everyday gestures can not only be a “powerful mechanism for relationship growth” but it can also sustain and maintain the longevity, as well as the intimacy, of your relationship. So the next time

If you’ve been trying to build some real connections—romantic or otherwise—and feel isolated despite your best efforts, it might be time for a change of scenery. Here are five reasons to break up that are signs you might be ready to move on for the sake of developing new relationships. 1. Fair-Weather Friends You’ve got a group of friends who are fun to be around and happy to join you for a good time, but is there someone you can call when things fall apart? Evaluate your friendships and think about who you’d rely on if you were in a difficult situation. If the list is too short, perhaps it’s time to branch out. 2. Consistent Loneliness There’s a difference between being alone and being lonely. If you’re enduring painful stretches of loneliness, it’s probably time for some new scenery. Moving to a new town might be lonely at first, too. But in discovering new places, you can also make new connections with people who are looking for the same things. 3. Limited Resources If

Simply put, breakups suck. They’re not fun for either party and, no matter how hard you try, someone always ends up getting hurt. But we’ll tell you a secret: Even though you may feel awful about breaking up with someone, it’s okay. In fact, it’s not just ok, it’s necessary. You need to prioritize your happiness, and if things aren’t working out with the person you’re with, you owe it to both of you to say something. It’s ok to break up with someone, but what’s not okay is doing so disrespectfully. Breakups happen. At some point, you’ll break up with someone. At another point, you’ll be broken up with. If you want to call things off in a nice way, it’s important to initiate—and maintain—a breakup in a way that you’d want to be broken up with. Here’s some helpful breakup advice on how to be respectful while calling it off: 1. Take the conversation seriously. If you want to break up with someone respectfully, there are a few things you can do in the moment that will make a

Falling in love with someone is one of the most thrilling things that can happen to a person, but only when those feeling are appreciated. Unrequited love can become a dangerous illness that will lower your self-esteem and make you feel like you don’t deserve happiness at all. Fortunately, there is a cure for this illness and as hard as it may sound, un-loving the person that’s making you suffer so much is the only way to become truly free again. After all, everyone just wants to be happy, that includes you and your partner. If you’re feeling that your relationships are inevitably coming to an end and bring you nothing but pain, or if you’ve fallen for the person that doesn’t care about you at all, here are 8 sure ways to get on with your life. Accept the fact he’s not right for you Whether it’s actual experience you share together or simply your wishful thinking getting the best of you, just acknowledge the fact that he’s not the one. It becomes much easier after that! Stop de