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Red wine can be a one-way ticket to snoozeville—whether you’re ready to hit the sack or not (everyone falls asleep at the company holiday party, right?). But a comprehensive new study review finds that those sleepy side effects of vino are short-lived. In fact, wine might actually be sabotaging a good night’s rest. Writing in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, investigators at The London Sleep Centre examined every study on the topic and found that while alcohol helps you fall asleep faster, it also makes you more likely to wake up halfway through the night....

More from Prevention: 8 Best U.S. Cities for Outdoor Exercise Swinging the poles engages your arm, shoulder, and back muscles, which strengthens your upper body with each step and increases your heart rate. In fact, walking with poles has been shown to boost calorie burn by an average of 15 to 20%—and up to 50%—compared with regular walking, even though it feels just as easy. (Check out our new pole-walking program, which promises to help you drop up to 24 pounds in 8 weeks....

The research: During a telephone survey, Columbia University researchers asked 1,205 women a series of questions about stroke warning signs. The good news is that 84% of the women knew that calling 9-1-1 if they thought they were having a stroke was important. The not so good news? Not everyone’s on the same page when it comes to correctly identifying symptoms of stroke. Only 51% were able to correctly identify sudden weakness or numbness on one side of the face, arms or legs as a warning sign of stroke44% identified difficulty speaking or garbled speech, which is a warning sign 23% accurately recognized a sudden severe headache as a warning sign 20% correctly acknowledged unexplained dizziness18% said that vision loss was a warning sign of stroke—it is....

No, the stuff’s not for serving at Titanic-themed parties (although, yes, we immediately thought of that, too). It actually has to do with water purity. The water trapped and frozen in icebergs is 7,000 times purer than tap water and up to 12,000 years old, according to the company’s website. And since it’s shielded from the contaminants of our modern, dirty world, iceberg water makes exceptionally pure and smooth-tasting vodka....

Why asthma happens When you have asthma, your airways and lungs overreact to dust, pollen, mold, and other pollutants. When irritated, your breathing passages swell and the adjacent muscles constrict, causing you to cough, wheeze, or feel like you can’t draw a breath. Your chances of developing asthma are higher if a close relative has it or you have a history of sensitivity to environmental irritants. “People who had allergies as kids often develop asthma,” says Karin Sloan, MD, a pulmonologist at Boston University School of Medicine....

On 2 consecutive days in each of 3 weeks, 32 subjects chose as many food portions as they wanted. But the serving portion sizes changed: Regular size portions during week one became 50% larger the second week and doubled during week three. Compared with the first week, total daily calories jumped by 335 calories per day for women and 504 calories for men during the second week, and by an astonishing 530 calories for women and 812 calories for men in the last week....

If you’ve tried the traditional diet route and failed, it might be time to look to the stars. No diet is one-size-fits-all, so what works for your friend may not work for you. To tailor advice to your specific needs, we tapped astrologer to the stars Susie Cox, author of Susie’s Sun Signs to give us the low-down on your unique personality characteristics, then asked registered dietitian Laura Laine, RDN, LD, owner of the Sophia Grace Center for Nutrition, Health, and Spirituality in Sugar Land, TX for targeted tips to eat right....

Fourteen years ago, Sister D barely even meditated. She answered to the name Huynh Thi Ngoc Huong and was a family physician who lived with her partner, John, in San Francisco. She’d known since she was a little girl that she wanted to dedicate her life to helping others. So after emigrating from Vietnam to the United States when she was 16, and then graduating from the University of California, San Francisco, Medical School, she seemed, on the face of things, to have it all: a best friend and lover in John; a prestigious job....

A treadmill comes in handy for those dark, cold days when you can’t gather up the motivation to walk or run outside. Using one seems simple enough, but you can still develop bad habits that can sabotage your results—and even lead to injury. Here are the 10 most common treadmill blunders and how to correct them: You wear the wrong shoes. This is not a good time to be vain—so when selecting your sneakers, go for function before style, says Michele Olson, PhD, CSCS, professor of exercise science at Auburn University....

Gas usually isn’t harmful, but if bloating persists, see a doctor, especially if it’s accompanied by abdominal pain more severe than the “pop an antiacid” kind, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, weight loss, or frequent heartburn—all signs that an issue like irritable bowel syndrome or celiac disease may be involved. How to Prevent Gas, Pain, and Bloating Limit “problem” foods. If the small intestine lacks specific enzymes, certain foods can make it to the colon without being broken down, providing a feast to gas-generating bacteria....

We searched the web for sex toys like you’ve never seen before. While some of the gadgets on this list are intriguing (and hey, maybe worth buying!), others are just plain confusing (you’re supposed to put that where exactly?). One thing’s for certain: when it comes to sex toys, you really can pick your pleasure! (Get relationship advice, fitness tips, and need-to-know health news sent straight to your inbox by signing up for one of Prevention’s FREE newsletters....

Booze We hate to be the bearers of more bad news, but alcohol is a known carcinogen. And whether your drink of choice is glass of red wine, a cold beer, or a martini, the more you alcohol you sip on a regular basis, the higher your risk for developing certain types of cancer, says the National Cancer Institute. In fact, a study of more than 28,000 women found that every drink consumed per day was associated with a 12 percent increased risk for breast cancer....

Rethink your comfort foods What makes a food calming? Too often, a client will wave me off when I bring up this topic and say, “Oh, Keri, all foods are calming foods. Whenever I’m eating, I feel better.” But there’s a huge difference between tapping into a food’s inherently calming properties and using any food as a kind of emotional anesthesia. That kind of eating may buy you a temporary sense of calm, but it’s a quick fix that wears off way too fast....

Weight loss apps can connect you with dietitians, doctors, and trainers to help you navigate everything from what to buy at the grocery store to choosing a healthy dish at a restaurant. They can also be a great source of motivation, providing support through active online communities. And if you need some help on the fitness front, the best weight loss apps are equipped with on-demand workouts from top trainers that you can do right at home....

Researchers from the University of South Florida collaborated with Chinese researchers to compare the effects of tai chi—an ancient Chinese practice of slow, deliberate movements intended to help with relaxation and balance—on the brain. They split 120 elderly Shanghai residents into four groups: one group practiced tai chi, one walked, another upped their social interaction, and the last group just went about their normal routines. The results? After 40 weeks, those who practiced tai chi three times a week had the biggest improvements in brain volume, an important part of cognition since gray matter typically shrinks with age....

Got the sniffles? Head for the kitchen and make one of these single-serving soups right in the bowl. Each has ingredients like ginger, garlic, and strong spices that ease cold and flu symptoms—and taste way better than cough syrup. Curry Green Leaf Soup Photo by Emily Kate Roemer Add ½ cup finely shredded spinach or kale, 1 Tbsp finely diced red onion, 2 tsp curry powder, and ¼ tsp cayenne to soup bowl....