8 BEST STRETCHES TO DO IF YOU'RE OVER 40

You've heard the expression "if you don't use it, you lose it." When it comes to your flexibility and range of motion, truer words were never spoken, says Rob Danoff, DO, a physician and program director at Philadelphia's Aria Health System.

"You can tell a person's age by their flexibility," Danoff says. "And you can reverse or stop a lot of loss of flexibility by doing regular stretching."

WHY YOUR MUSCLES MAY TWITCH WHEN YOU LIFT WEIGHTS

Those tics are annoying. Here's what causes them, and when you should actually worry.

Hitting the weights can tire your muscles out, but it also could spur a little action from them, too.

Your muscles can actually start twitching involuntarily when you're lifting. What gives?

Those tiny, uncontrollable spasms are called muscle fasciculations, says Christopher Minson, Ph.D., a professor of human physiology at the University of Oregon.

8 BEST MOVES TO TARGET ARM FAT FOR WOMEN OVER 40

One of the unfair aspects of aging is your muscle tend to turn to noodles. Plus, the hormone changes waiting for you in perimenopause and menopause will encourage your body to pack on pounds. That's why strength training is so crucial for women for women over 40. You can minimize or even banish the downsides of aging with a regular weight lifting/toning. Do 3 sets of these 8 arm moves every other day for the best results.

11 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EXERCISING ON YOUR PERIOD

Here's a fact that will surprise you: You can stop worrying about having your period on race day. Everyone worries about having their period for a big event, but in reality, your hormones are favorable for performance once your period starts. Remember Paula Radcliffe broke the world record for the fastest marathon in Chicago in 2002 while she had menstrual cramps!

12 FRUITS THAT WILL MAKE YOUR SKIN GLOW

Foods are the building blocks that our bodies use to grow, develop, and repair. Healthy, plant-based fruits provide the energy and nutrients to do so.

If we aren't eating well, we're starving our cells or at the very least not giving them the proper tools they need to function at their best. Here are few of the top foods to keep you looking young and your skin at its finest:

9 FOODS YOU SHOULD NEVER EAT JUST BEFORE GOING TO BED

Healthy sleep is trending and, as odd as it may sound, finding ways to sleep more efficiently is one of the latest crazes in the world of health and fitness. There are unusual beverages that can help you fall asleep and there are even a bunch of snacks you can eat before bed in order to help you build muscle. And while everyone knows that caffeine before bed doesn't equate to a great night's rest, it's possible that you are not aware of the many foods that aren't great to have before bed.

IMPORTANT NUTRITIONAL FACTS ABOUT HONEY

Honey is definitely more than just a simple sugar because it's rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. This healthy natural sweetener offers many nutritional benefits without the man-made chemicals that comprise other types sweeteners. Although, nutrition facts can vary slightly based on the floral variety, they usually are very similar.

10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD INCLUDE BANANAS IN YOUR DIET

Creamy and sweet, bananas are known as one of the most favorite fruits around the world. In fact, eating bananas is recommended for everyone because of the many health benefits one can get from this amazing yellow fruit.

Below is the list of undeniable advantages of bananas that will make you add them to your everyday meal instantly.

1. Bananas, particularly the black-spotted ones, can fight cancer.

The riper or the more spotted a banana is, the more TNF factor it has. This is the cancer-fighting compound that prevents tumour cells from spreading.

5 NATURAL SLEEP AIDS

Sleep restores us. And not getting enough of it can put us at greater risk of heart disease and cancer. Sleep even makes us smarter. Yet researchers are finding that more than 10 percent of the population is chronically sleep deprived.

MOTHERS 'IMPROVE BABY'S MEMORY AND DEVELOPMENT' WITH EVERY PORTION OF FRUIT THEY EAT

Want intelligent children? Eat FRUIT during pregnancy: Mothers 'improve baby's memory and development' with every portion they eat.

By Colin Fernadez

Children of pregnant women who eat fruit performed better on tests, a study found 

• Each daily portion of fruit consumed increased test scores by 2.38%
• But amount of fruit the child ate made no difference to test performance  
• Suggests pathway it effects is particularly susceptible during gestation

10 TOXIC CHEMICALS TO AVOID IN EYE MAKEUP

Makeup is supposed to make you look beautiful, but that comes at a cost when you consider the toxic chemicals that are lurking in most brands of eye shadows, liners, mascaras, makeup brushes, eyelash curlers and false-lash adhesives.

Experts say using these chemicals can lead to red, scaly eyelids, blood-shot eyes, dry eye disease, and a serious long-term health conditions.

What's more, although more than 1,300 chemicals are banned from cosmetics in Europe, only 11 are in the U.S.

Here are for 10 chemicals to avoid and ways you can find better alternatives.

20 NEW WAYS TO WEAR A PONYTAIL

THE BUBBLE PONY:
As seen on Olivia Wilde.

IS IT OK TO WORK OUT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH?

Waking up to make that 7AM boxing class is enough of a challenge already. Getting out of bed with enough time to eat breakfast before running out the door? That might take a miracle.

Plenty of people work out on an empty stomach (often referred to as a "fasted state"), but whether or not that's beneficial has been debated for decades, Steve Ball, Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri, told SELF. Why? "It is complicated and one size doesn't fit all." Here's what we do know:

WHAT TO EAT FOR A BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY, SHINY HAIR

Throughout the years, my clients have seen such dramatic changes in their hair when they're not only taking care of it externally, but internally. Here are my go-tos when it comes to edible supplementation for gorgeous hair.

HOW TO APPLY EYE SHADOW FOR EVERY EYE SHAPE

ROUND EYES:

If you have round eyes like katy perry, start by applying eyeliner from the inner corners of your eyes all the way to the outside ending in a straight line or small cat eye. Then highlight below the brow bone and the inner corners of your eye, take a medium shadow. To show contrast between the highlighted parts of the eye, take a medium eye shadow color and lightly apply it above your lid. Finally, thickly apply a darker color shadow along the crease of your eye, without going too overboard. Blend the shadow from the outside going towards the middle of the eye to add dimension.

FATTY FOODS DURING TEEN YEARS MAY INFLUENCE LATER BREAST CANCER RISK

Teens who eat high amounts of saturated fats or low amounts of healthier mono- and polyunsaturated fats tend to have denser breasts 15 years later, new research suggests.

That's important because greater breast density is a risk factor for breast cancer, the study authors said.

But the researchers noted they didn't find a large change in breast density fat intake. "It was a modest difference in breast density," said the study's senior author Joanne Dorgan. She's a professor of epidemiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

COULD A LOW-SALT DIET HURT YOUR HEALTH?

A controversial new study contends that a low-salt diet could be dangerous for your heart health.

BE GOOD TO THE SKIN YOU'RE IN

Every minute of every day, your skin is protecting you. Make sure you protect it, too.
The skin is the body's first line of defense. It protects against all manner of microscopic invaders too small to be seen by your eyes. It also protects against the sun's harmful radiation. But that protection comes at a cost, and that's why it's important to protect to your skin.

POTATO-HEAVY DIET LINKED TO HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Packing potatoes into your diet may put you at higher risk for having high blood pressure, a new study finds, although  the researchers acknowledged that the study presents an interesting paradox.

People who reported eating four or more servings of potatoes per week were 11 percent more likely to have hypertension, compared with people who ate less than one serving of potatoes per month, according to the study.