Love sandal season, but aren’t ready to show your toes? Good news: All you need is the right kind of babying to make your feet ready for your even your skimpiest warm weather footwear. Here’s what dermatologist Richard Scher, M.D., recommends for getting  beautiful-looking feet fast:
* Rub away calluses. Fill the tub with warm salt-water and soak your feet for about 10 minutes. Dry off, then gently massage hard, thickened areas of skin with a pumice stone.
* Banish dry, cracked heels. Use an exfoliating lotion that contains alpha-hydroxy acid, which removes rough skin. Try Eucerin Plus Intensive Repair Foot Crème ($5.99 for three ounces, drugstore.com).
* Soften at night. Right before bed, rub on your favorite moisturizing lotion. Or try one that’s infused with mint, which quickly soothes tired, achy feet.

[photo: dml82]

Next time you twist your ankle, have menstrual cramps or are suffering another type of discomfort, try breathing slowly. Study volunteers who took in 50% fewer breaths per minute experienced significantly less pain when heat was applied to their palms than when they breathed normally, reports the journal PAIN. Research shows that breathing slow relaxes tense muscles and relieves anxiety—two factors that make pain sensations more intense.

[photo: slip]

Or where you laid your purse, eyeglasses or the remote control? You may have better luck finding them when you cut down on your intake of sugary foods. In a recent Georgia State University study, scientists found that a diet high in sweets impaired spatial memory—the type needed to recall where you placed items—by raising levels of triglycerides, a fat that interferes with brain signals needed to boost memory.

[photo: Kaibara87]

A lavender sachet. Long known to soothe the jangled nerves of humans, the scent of lavender has now been shown to calm anxious dogs who are traveling by car, making them more likely to lay down quietly and less inclined to move around or bark, reveals a study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Even better? Unlike pricey pet tranquilizers, breathing in the scent of lavender has no dangerous side effects.

[photo: oOlemon]

Burning a scented candle or spraying a room with your favorite air freshener doesn’t only make your home smell wonderful, it stimulates areas of the brain that change your mood. “Scents can generate reactions in the frontal lobe and the hypothalamus that influence behaviors and personalities,” says Alan Hirsch, M.D., Founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. According to his research, if you want to be more…
* Energetic, sniff coffee: This wake-me-up aroma helps you approach life with more gusto and passion.
* Creative, sniff baby powder: After breathing in this scent, you’ll enjoy trying new activities for the first time and take fresh approaches to old ideas.
* Confident, sniff fruit: Folks who breathe in citrus, apple, pear and berry scents tend to be strong-minded, ambitious and natural leaders.
* Organized, sniff rain, grass or ocean: These and other nature scents help you stay on top of important details and schedules.
* Resolute, sniff jasmine or lavender: Trying to stick to a diet? Exercise regime? New Year’s resolution? These gentle aromas amp up your willpower and keep you focused on your goals.

[photo: prakhar]

Imagine you’re out on a mani/pedi date with your BFF when, in between coats of Lickable Pink, she suddenly slumps to the floor and stops breathing. Can you remember enough CPR training you learned from Girl Scouts mumble-mumble years ago to save her life?

Why risk it? Invite your friends and family over and get a refresher course right at home using the Family & Friends CPR Anytime kit from the American Heart Association. Each kit contains an inflatable mannequin, practice lungs and an instructional DVD that shows you the basics of CPR. An accompanying booklet explains how to perform CPR on babies and what to do for a choking victim.

In just 22 minutes, you and your guests will learn the proper way to give the breath of life. Based on the traditional American Heart Association CPR for Family and Friends Course, this self-directed course has been  research-proven to be equivalent to the traditional course for learning the core skills of CPR.

Each party guest receives her or his own kit unless they’re related or don’t mind sharing a mannequin. (Blowing air into the kit’s practice lungs has the equivalent germ factor of eating off the same fork). But, at $34.95 per kit, that’s less than you’d spend on a Mojito party. Get yours at Family & Friends CPR Anytime Online Store, 800-233-1230.

 Tip: Have pets? Bone up on the pet CPR technique that can save little Fido and Fifi, which is different than the human method. Free online instructions from HealthyPet.com

[photo: srqpix]

Check on an elderly neighbor, return cash to a cashier who gave you too much change or do another nice deed. Just like Mom insisted, beauty really does come from the inside, report researchers in the journal Personal Relationships. In their study, volunteers who were asked to rate the attractiveness of strangers in photos actually changed their views after learning how nice they were. Folks who were friendly and honest were perceived as better looking while those who were unfair or rude were perceived as less attractive!

[photo: Zaldymlg]

It worked for hundreds of Cornell University students in a recent experiment. Those who chewed gum prior to and during test-taking scored, on average, 30 points better than those who didn’t chew. Shocked? So were the students! Upon announcing the findings, “you could literally hear a gasp from the class,” says Edward McLaughlin, Ph.D., who conducted the study. So, was it a special ingredient in the gum? Nope—past studies show that the simple act of chewing gum eases anxiety, increases your focus and makes it easier to recall information.

[photo: Nadya Peek]

When you don’t enough zzz’s, it triggers a shutdown of your prefrontal lobe, a part of your brain that keeps emotions under control. The result? You’re more likely to act irrationally and dramatically overreact to negative situations—such as spilling your drink or someone showing up late to a meeting, according to a new brain imaging study from researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, Berkeley. “Sleep appears to restore our emotional brain circuits, and in doing so prepares us for the next day’s challenges and social interactions,” the study authors explain.

[photo: aussiegall]

It’s your multivitamin! A recent National Institutes of Health study reveals that the body cells of women who pop one every day are biologically younger than those who skip them. Credit goes to the micronutrients they contain, which help fend off free radical damage and chronic inflammation that age your body faster, says lead study author Honglei Chen, M.D., Ph.D..

[photo: ian.schofield]