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Late Sunday night, after the last champagne glass had been drained and every golden statuette had been kissed before bed, a collective sigh of relief could be heard from mansions all over Los Angeles. The women in the entertainment industry could finally shed their shapewear. There's no shame in admitting to needing a little extra support for high-profile events--actors Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, and even red carpet interviewer Tim Gunn have all recently dished about their dependence on it. But according to medical experts, when it comes to tight-fitting undergarments, you really can have too much of a good thing. Here are three ways to know to when to loosen up—literally:

1. Tingling, burning or numbness in your outer thighs. Too-tight bike shorts can compress nerves that run from the groin to the thigh, leading to a chronic condition called meralgia paresthetica, says Orly Avitzur, MD, a New York-based neurologist and medical adviser to Consumer Reports. When she sees patients with this problem (it's also caused by too-skinny jeans), she advises them to cast off the "offending garment," and exchange it for underwear that doesn't have tight elastic openings around the legs. The irritation can take a while to subside, but usually disappears within a few weeks.

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Remember those fitness tests you had to take in gym class? The ones where you huffed and puffed through the sprint drills, grimaced while reaching for your toes, and, most memorably, sweated and trembled through one dramatic pull-up (or more likely, hung in the air for an interminable "stay-up")? Well, they're back: in adult form. You can now take an adult version of the President's Challenge fitness test online.

The new test, which is free, involves four components: aerobic fitness (a 1 mile walk or 1.5 mile run), muscular strength and endurance (crunches and push-ups), flexibility (the good ol' sit-and-reach) and body composition (your BMI and waist circumference). You don't have to do any of these in front of giggling, gossiping, preteen witnesses, but the test-makers suggest they're more fun with a partner. When you're done, you can enter your data online to see how you measure up to other fit Americans.

We're pretty excited about this. Back in school, the tests seemed like pop quizzes that we didn't have a chance to study or prepare for. Worse, we had to execute all of the moves in front of our friends. But in the past tentwenty-odd years (who's counting?), we've been taking our health more seriously. In the immortal words of LMFAO, we're sexy and we know it--we work out. Even if we don't smoke the test this time, we know can take it again in the future, which means--keep doing those push-ups. It's also fun to know that no matter how we score, we can still buy one of these nifty, nostalgic patches and a completion certificate--just like the one we got many years ago. 

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What's do you do every workday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.? Order a mocha latte? Cruise by the vending machine? Sneak out for a smoke? For New York Times writer Charles Duhigg, 3:30 was cookie o'clock. Every day, he confessed in an article that appeared in last weekend's New York Times Magazine, he would buy a sweet treat from the company cafeteria. This routine soon led him to pack on 8 pounds (we can't help but wonder: how big was that cookie?).

Duhigg knew he needed to break the cookie cycle, but leaving himself chastising notes didn't seem to help (it never does). He happened to be writing a book on habit formation and how companies exploit our routines to sell us stuff, so he took what he heard from the experts and applied it to his own vice. He asked himself five questions the moment the urge hit and discovered that he wasn't hungry; just bored.

This is where most of us would have tried to create a healthy new habit--instead of snacking, we'd tell ourselves, we'll go for a brisk walk. But Duhigg knew that he needed to go one step further to make the new habit stickier than the "No More Cookies!" notes that kept falling off his computer. So he went back to the principle Proctor & Gamble used in marketing Febreze: "To shift the routine--to socialize, rather than eat a cookie--I needed to piggyback on an existing habit," he wrote. At cookie o'clock every day, he stood up and scanned the room for coworkers to talk to, then spent 10 minutes gossiping with them. He responded to the same cues, looked for the same rewards, but tried a different routine. It worked; he's happy, caught up on the office gossip, and 12 pounds lighter. Read the article to find out exactly how Duhigg did this, and how you can you can apply the Febreze method to your own bad snack habits. 

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Sometimes the most frustrating part about dealing with depression or anxiety isn't not knowing what to do about it--it's knowing what you should do and still, for whatever reason, not being able to do it. Take the example of a really bummed-out woman lying on the couch, mentally collecting all of the upsetting psychic Play-Doh bits that are troubling her and sticking them together to make one ugly, pieced-together ball-of-woe. She's done this before, so she knows she should pick up the phone and call someone--her mom, her best friend, her therapist--but she just doesn't have the energy. So the ball-of-woe keeps getting bigger and heavier.

Researchers at Northwestern University are currently working on an app to help depressed people who find themselves in this situation. A recent Scientific American podcast succinctly explains (in less than a minute and a half, no less) how the app, called Mobilyze!, will use the GPS and accelerometer from a depressed patient's smartphone to track their habits and identify when they're sunken into the couch for hours on end. The phone will then send them impossible-to-ignore reminders to do things like call someone who can help them snap out of their funk.

There are more apps in the works for other mental health issues, too. Scientists are interested in finding ways to combine smartphones and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help people get effective treatment on the go, or when they're least likely to ask for it. Benedict Carey, a science reporter for the New York Times, describes an app for people with social anxiety that involves a repetitive game that, with practice, could distract them from hostile faces in a crowd (read the article to see how this app could potentially train the party-phobic to calm down, refocus and enjoy themselves in a large group).

Neither of these apps are currently available to the public--nor is the one European psychologists are developing for heavy drinkers that involves virtually "pushing" away alcoholic beverages. But until they are, there's this: Steps Away is a meeting locator app that helps recovering addicts find, add and map directions to the nearest 12-step meeting. It may not provide instant therapy, but it can show some people who need it exactly where to find it.

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Isn't this what happens every February 14th? You plan to spend the night reconnecting with your partner, who you haven't seen much of lately. You envision a leisurely dinner out (where someone else cooks) so that you two can talk about important stuff, like the President's budget proposal, your jobs, the Oscars and the return of Mad Men. But then the restaurant somehow loses your reservation (or you, ahem, realize that no one ever got around to making a reservation), so the plan turns into catching up on reruns while eating takeout in front of the TV.

Here's a better idea than vegging out side-by-side: Invite another couple over (you must know some other pair who suffered from a case of reservation-making amnesia). While it may sound counter-intuitive to spend the holiday of love with two other people, science says that a double-date can spice up your love life. A study by psychologists at Wayne State University found that when couples engaged in intense, personal discussions with other couples in a controlled laboratory setting, they left feeling not only closer to their new friends, but to their own romantic partners. The couples also reported learning new things about their partners, and described feelings of novelty (and we've all heard how the spark of newness can reignite a slow-burn relationship). The key here will be to keep the TV turned off--and the wine flowing--so you can focus on good, stimulating, thought-provoking conversation. (Just remember to make time after your friends leave to spend some, um, silent time together, as well.)

Keep reading:
The latest science on love
How to be more giving in your marriage--without feeling like a maid

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While it's very rare to find someone who really, truly doesn't like fatty foods (the preference evolved to help our ancestors survived in leaner, pre-vending machine times), scientists have found that certain forms of the fat-loving gene make some people go crazy for the stuff. In a study recently published in the journal Obesity, food and nutrition researchers explain that those with a variation of the CD36 gene (that's about 21 percent of the population) tended to rate salad dressings as creamier, half-and-half as tastier, and cooking oil as more appealing. The study results may help explain why some people have a harder time sticking to a low-fat diet than to a low-carb diet, one of the researchers told Science Daily.

We like that it gives butter-lovers a bit of a break (it's not my willpower--it's my genes!) without suggesting that they completely throw in the towel on diets and healthy eating.

THE MAN WHO LIVED ON HIS BIKE from Guillaume Blanchet on Vimeo.

This Canadian cyclist manages to shower, shave, fry eggs and type on his laptop--all while riding his bicycle through Montreal (and with just the tiniest bit of help from a film editing app, perhaps). In addition to making us laugh (we love how he woos the lady cyclist), this charming short film made us think about how we could also get fit while taking care of other tasks. Here are some ideas:

Squat as you sift through emails. You can do this at the office or in front of your laptop at home. Stand about one inch in front of your chair, holding in your abdominals. Squat as if you're going to sit, but just as your backside touches the chair, stand back up and squeeze the glutes. Doing this for one minute each day for five days will burn approximately 50 calories, and you'll finish geting through your inbox.

Do push-ups while you wait for the shower to warm up. Most of us use this time to yawn enthusiastically and rub our eyes. Doing 10 to 20 push-ups against the bathroom sink is a much better way to wake up and go into the day with toned-feeling arms.

Get dancer's legs while cooking. While you're heating something on the stove, grab the counter and tone your backside. Stand straight with one leg slightly in back of you, two to three inches off the ground, foot flexed. Hold for 15 to 20 breaths, then do 20 to 30 tiny lifts, pausing at the top of each lift for a couple of seconds. Stir the pot, add salt to taste, and repeat on the other side.

Keep reading:
10 invisible fitness moves you can do (just about) anywhere
Don't just sit there: get fit at your desk

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Americans probably ate about 30 million pounds of snacks during the Super Bowl yesterday (or so estimates Shape magazine), and studies have shown that overindulging on food high in salt and fat on the weekend sets us up for craving more calorie-iffic food during the week.

So you might think: I'll make it up by not eating a thing today. Problem solved. But...this is not the solution, says Best Life nutritionist Beth Sumrell Ehrensberger, M.P.H., R.D. "Your willpower may hold up all day long, but by the time dinner rolls around, you'll most likely give into your hunger by making unhealthy choices and eating more than  you need." In other words, you'll be powerless against leftover pizza. Another thing to keep in mind: While you may have consumed an excess of calories yesterday, chances are they were remarkably devoid of the things your body needs, like water, protein, fiber and antioxidants. If you deprive yourself again today, you'll effectively complete a two-day nutrient fast.

Here are Ehrensberger's recommendations for what to eat on this post-game afternoon and evening:

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I once tried to give up coffee for one week--just one measly week. It was unbearable, and the withdrawal headaches weren't even the worst of it (although they were pretty awful). I didn't know what to do with my hands when I wasn't typing. I missed my daily 4 p.m. coffee breaks with my friend and the rush of caffeine that kicked my brain into gear. During that time, coffee seemed to haunt me: everyone I passed was clutching a cup, the smell of roasting beans wafted out of coffee shops and delis, and I even detected it on my coworkers' breath. I caved and had a cup of after three days, and it tasted like sweet relief.

While the ubiquity of coffee may have seemed like a symptom of my caffeine-free fever dream, statistics prove that Americans really do drink a lot of it. More than half of all adults--107 million people--drink coffee daily. The average worker spends more than $20 a week on the stuff, according to a recent survey by the web site Consumerist. Our national dependence on the bitter brown fuel may explain the rash of studies within the past year on the health benefits of coffee. The good news for those like me who have a hard time kicking the habit: we don't have to. Here's the very latest on how coffee affects us:

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Fuzzy bunny slippers are exactly what a person wants to slip into at the end of a cold day. But for winter weekends that involve more than shuffling between the couch and the tea kettle, you might want a little extra support. Standing in one position for more than an hour on hard surfaces tires our feet and lower leg muscles, says Phillip Vasyli, a podiatrist and founder of the footwear company Orthaheel USA, and repeatedly walking up and down stairs while barefoot can put strain on our knees.

We're not saying you should wear your sneakers inside. In fact, we're definitely not saying that--outdoor shoes bring dirt and germs into your home, and are better left at the door. But people who usually wear supportive shoes outside will often walk for hours around their home in shoes they wouldn't consider sturdy enough to take them across the street. (I was one of them. I didn't realize my cheapie slip-ons were making my foot injuries worse until they caved in, causing me to walk on the insides of my feet.)

Take a look at your own indoor shoes: Are there scuff marks under your toes? Can you see a deep indentation created by the pressure of your feet? Do the soles slope inward or outward? These are signs that your slippers might be letting you down, says Vasyli. Extreme sloping can be a significant problem, because it means that worn-down shoes are overworking your foot and lower leg muscles, putting you at risk for injuries. In general, Vasyli says that if you feel foot pain while walking around your home, or sore feet when you get out of bed in the morning, or if your lower legs ache all day in your current slippers, you should consider a pair of indoor shoes with firm soles and arch support. You don't have to give your favorite slippers the boot: just save them for lazy days. When you need to get stuff done, here are some slippers that step up: