Health

Two summers ago, I couldn’t see the floor in my living room (or elsewhere in my apartment, for that matter). My one-bedroom apartment in New York City was littered with months-old newspapers, half-empty purses, photos, office supplies, unopened mail, coffee mugs, blankets—even pizza crusts.

For many of the 34 million people in the US who wear contacts, dry, itchy, red eyes can be an uncomfortable and unattractive side effect that causes them to give up entirely and reach for their glasses. Recently Canadian researchers at McMaster University figured out how to attach hyaluronic acid—the body’s natural lubricant—directly to contact lenses.

It sounds crazy, and even a bit cruel, that those ear infections that made you miserable as a kid may have returned to haunt you in the form of fast-food cravings and persistent belly fat. But new research shows that people who suffered moderate to severe middle ear infections when they were young were 62 percent more likely to be obese at the time of the study.

Your hip flexors can tighten as a result of an abnormal tilt of the pelvis and from too much sitting. Also, “biking, running, and activities where you are in a hunched-over position lead to tight hip flexors because the muscle is being shortened,” says De West, yoga therapist at the Yoga Workshop in Boulder, Colorado.