The holidays mean lots of time spent with family, which can mean lots of opportunities for stress. Whether your brother-in-law insists on talking about politics, your mother probes into your love life, or your Great Aunt Jean picks her teeth at the table, family gatherings are rife with opportunities to lose your cool.

Ah, the holidays. The merriment of the season is tied to the mayhem of buying presents for everyone on your list, shipping packages to far-flung relatives, writing Christmas cards, baking cookies, buying new high heels for the office party, booking plane tickets, traveling to see loved ones (or welcoming them to your home), and worrying about forgetting something crucial when you stop to catch your breath.

Are you having one of those months - or years - when you just can't wake up? You're sleeping eight hours and eating right, but still can't shake that groggy feeling?

What's going on with coffee? For the past year there have been numerous reports on both the negative and positive effects of java. The information has been so confusing that it's virtually impossible to decide whether or not it's detrimental to include a cup (or two) in your morning routine. While there are legitimate coffee alternatives — like tea and yerba mate — it's still important to understand what exactly that grande latte's doing to your body.

A recent study from Case Western Reserve University has found that women who get enough sleep every night gain less weight than their under-rested counterparts. This is great news for those of us that insist on getting at least seven hours of sleep. The report involved over 68,000 women and calculated that those who slept less than five hours a night were more prone to weight gain than the women who slept at least seven hours each night.

Kevin Costner swears by it and my boyfriend won’t start the winter without it, but I’m still suspicious about Airborne’s cold-zapping powers. Developed by a teacher who was “sick of getting sick in the classroom,” Airborne’s effervescent tablets have become a staple for those who find themselves in stuffy indoor environments (think offices, airplanes, and gyms) thought to be the breeding ground for germs and bacteria.

Once in a while I come across a product that gets me genuinely excited. Dagoba Organic Chocolate is my new obsession. After all of the confusion about what it means to be truly organic, Dagoba is proving to be the real thing.

Your skin is what you eat. It makes sense. You are what you eat and your skin is part of you. You get the idea. While it's never been proven that chocolate and French fries cause pimples, nutritionists have found that food does affect the health and appearance of your skin.

Imagine feeling the positive sensations of a couple of cocktails—you know, increased joviality, decreased inhibitions and so on—without the consequential hangover the next day. Scientists are currently developing a cocktail of drugs that will elicit the pleasurable effects of drinking without the slurred speech and spinning head that usually accompany imbibing. Drugs are a poor substitution for a full-bodied glass of cabernet or a cold beer, but the idea is still intriguing the scientific community. Psychopharmacologist David Nutt of the University of Bristol will publish the idea in next month's Journal of Psychopharmacology.