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If you were in the midst of planning a big wedding bash when COVID-19 began rapidly spreading, there’s a good chance your plans for the day took a turn one way or another. According to a survey conducted in March 2021 by wedding planning platform Zola of 1,400 people who were engaged when the pandemic hit, of the 83 percent who reported changing their wedding plans, 41 percent delayed or rescheduled. If you fall into that camp, now that over a year has passed since the onset of lockdown, it’s possible that you’ve entirely re-prioritized what’s important to you for your event. Or, more specifically, whom you deem important to be by your side during it. Well, good news: You’re absolutely not locked in to your pre-pandemic wedding guest list—and it makes sense that you may want to disinvite certain wedding guests, given how much has changed. “When we think about this past year and all the things that happened culturally and societally—including the pandemic, the presidential election, ...

The pandemic was an isolating time for many of us, and much has been made of what’s to follow—aka, the horniest summer on record —as vaccinations allow us to explore intimate relationships once more. But the last 15 months have likely changed us, and that can leave us feeling unsure of how to proceed. Do we want casual hookups that were inaccessible during the pandemic? Or did the sobering experience of the past year leave us wanting more than steamy sex? What if we’re not ready to have sex at all? On the latest episode of The Well+Good Podcast , sexperts discuss the opportunities and challenges presented to us by the hot-vax summer ahead—and any baggage we might bring along as we make up for lost time. The prospect of getting it on—with a stranger or any other human—can be very exciting right now; however, it’s perfectly normal not to feel ready. For many, the stress of the last year diminished sex drive, says Rebecca Alvarez Story, sexologist and founder of the intimacy market...

Cooling the air inside your home isn’t the only thing you should consider this summer. As you turn on your fans and blast your air conditioners, you’ll need to keep your summer indoor air quality top of mind, says John McKeon , MD, CEO of Allergy Standards , a company that certifies home goods and appliances as allergy and asthma friendly for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). “You have to be a bit of a detective and look at all the parameters because there are lots of things that contribute to healthy indoor air,” says Dr. McKeon . While winter brings its own host of indoor air quality issues, summer indoor air quality issues may be impacting your well-being. “Anything from the environment you live in, to your air conditioner could be making your air dry.” Tips for good indoor air quality throughout the summer 1. Make sure you have good air circulation When you’re running your air conditioner, it’s most efficient to close all your windows. But that can limit c...

The abundance of fresh fruit during the summer months means they get to be the starring ingredient in dessert recipes all season long. Strawberry shortcake , blackberry pie, peach cobbler—there is no shortage of ways to get your sweet fix with nature’s bounty. And as the recipe in the latest episode of Alt-Baking Bootcamp proves, citrus fruits shine in summer desserts, too. Today, we’re whipping up mini lemon pound cakes. “Your traditional pound cake earns its name from literally using a pound of butter, a pound of flour, and a pound of sugar,” chef, certified health coach, and Barry’s Bootcamp instructor Sasha Handel says in the video. “We’ll still be using flour, butter, and sugar, but this time we’re going to swap our all-purpose flour for a gluten-free blend, cow’s milk butter for a vegan option, and we’re sticking with cane sugar, because all of the alternative sweeteners that I use just didn’t yield the same crumb I was looking for. So cane sugar it is.” Taste is everything, a...

Makeup wipes present somewhat of a dermatological dilemma. On the one hand, they do remove makeup debris ; debris that could otherwise pack into pores and cause a plight for your skin. In the words of Mona Gohara, MD, a Connecticut-based dermatologist, makeup wipes provide “an alternative [to cleanser] when you’re tired and you don’t want to deal.” (Derms! They’re just like us!) On the other hand, however, she says makeup wipes are “suboptimal [compared to cleanser] in terms of getting stuff off your skin.” Moreover, given the waterless, single-use packaging, makeup wipes can quickly become vectors for redistributing grime—or, as Dr. Gohara puts it, “swirling stuff around on your face.” To ensure you’re actually cleansing —that is, removing grime instead of potentially just pushing it around—Dr. Gohara suggests swapping makeup wipes for micellar water , a waterless cleanser powered by molecules called micelles. Micelles attract dirt and debris on your complexion. They have a hydrop...

If you were in the midst of planning a big wedding bash when COVID-19 began rapidly spreading, there’s a good chance your plans for the day took a turn one way or another. According to a survey conducted in March 2021 by wedding planning platform Zola of 1,400 people who were engaged when the pandemic hit, of the 83 percent who reported changing their wedding plans, 41 percent delayed or rescheduled. If you fall into that camp, now that over a year has passed since the onset of lockdown, it’s possible that you’ve entirely re-prioritized what’s important to you for your event. Or, more specifically, whom you deem important to be by your side during it. Well, good news: You’re absolutely not locked in to your pre-pandemic wedding guest list—and it makes sense that you may want to disinvite certain wedding guests, given how much has changed. “When we think about this past year and all the things that happened culturally and societally—including the pandemic, the presidential election, ...

The pandemic was an isolating time for many of us, and much has been made of what’s to follow—aka, the horniest summer on record —as vaccinations allow us to explore intimate relationships once more. But the last 15 months have likely changed us, and that can leave us feeling unsure of how to proceed. Do we want casual hookups that were inaccessible during the pandemic? Or did the sobering experience of the past year leave us wanting more than steamy sex? What if we’re not ready to have sex at all? On the latest episode of The Well+Good Podcast , sexperts discuss the opportunities and challenges presented to us by the hot-vax summer ahead—and any baggage we might bring along as we make up for lost time. The prospect of getting it on—with a stranger or any other human—can be very exciting right now; however, it’s perfectly normal not to feel ready. For many, the stress of the last year diminished sex drive, says Rebecca Alvarez Story, sexologist and founder of the intimacy market...