Men are always complaining about women and PMS and all that jazz. To which I respond by hitting them…and then eating a candy bar. They just don’t understand; it’s not our fault that our hormones go completely nuts every month and make us want to scream/laugh/cry/murder someone/eat a cake in the span of about 4 minutes.

But maybe now they do?

According to Jed Diamond, there is a new syndrome being seen in men with symptoms similar to those of a PMS-y woman: Irritable Man Syndrome. Diamond claims this disorder sets in at about the same age as women go through menopause (40-55), but I am convinced it is affecting our college boys too…and not just on those days when their favorite football team just lost a big game.

While you may be tempted to dump this dude’s ass for his strange (and pathetic) behavior, you should be patient: it’s clinical and he, like you, just can’t help it.

Below are 5 signs your man is in the throes of Irritable Man Syndrome. Read More »

We might have figured out why the guy in the Dave Matthews’ video was soliciting for hugs…

To lose a few lb’s.

Family therapist Virginia Satir theorized we need 4 hugs a day to survive and 8 to 12 to thrive. Chances are most of our hug quotas aren’t up to par (let alone thriving). So how are we dealing with this lack of affection? Theories suggest being touch-deprived can translate into self-nurture - one being overeating.

According to WebMD, 75% of overeating is caused by emotions. We try to control our feelings by filling the void with indulgent goodies. So, if the theory is true, more hugs could possibly mean a slimmer waistline.

Besides, a possible factor to melt away some body fat, hugging has other benefits too. Increasing your daily hug intake can dramatically lower blood pressure and each hug boosts blood levels of oxytocin (a relaxing hormone).

Before you become a serial hugger, take a look at our hug tips to get the most out of your public displays of affections. Read More »

Bad habits. Everyone has them (yes, even me!). I pick my cuticles. And I’ll be the first to admit- it’s not appealing. Far from it actually. It can be painful, but mostly it is just gross. Not only to me, but to those around me.

I realized just how gross when I saw a not so charming boy taking part in the same not so charming habit during a lecture and my friends pointed out that:

a) Yes, I look like that too when I pick/bite
b) We are destined to be together because we share the same nasty habit.

Whether it is nail biting, throat clearing, being chronically late, talking too loud on your cell phone etc- we all have that one (or eight) habits we just wish we could break. But sometimes we really can’t help but take part in our bad habits. Kind of like when we couldn’t help but text that guy last Saturday night at 2am, even though we said we were sooo done with that.

Sometimes bad habits are just really hard to break.

So before you make that New Years Resolution to not oversleep or stop cracking your knuckles, here are three steps to actually help you achieve that goal.

3 Easy Steps to Breaking Bad Habits (From WebMD)

1) Make It Conscious. Many times, we do these things without thinking about it. Like when we are bored in class or stressed in the library etc. So figure out when and why you take part in your habit(s) of choice. If you realize when/why you are doing it and can attribute what you are feeling that is driving you to do it, you will have an easier time finding a way to stop. Read More »

In case you needed another reason to use a condom, recent polls show that people across the nation are still completely skeeved out by the idea of herpes.

In a report released by CBS news and WebMD, “503 U.S. adults with genital herpes and about 1,400 other adults who said they didn’t have genital herpes” were asked questions regarding the icky yet easily transmittable disease.

In addition to ranking herpes second to HIV as a social stigma, most of the non-infected participants said they’d steer clear of sleeping with someone who had the disease. Read More »