There I became a fitting room Goldilocks, surrounded by piles of dresses that were too young, too short, too tight, too glittery, or just too icky. [...] despite the hefty price tag, a body shaper was still cheaper than lipo. Congratulating myself on finding a secret weapon against aging, I kept the shaper in a bag until the morning of the wedding. Out of the package it looked more like a steroid-fueled rubber band with leg holes than an over-the-counter fountain of youth. Wanting to spare my husband the visual trauma of the human sausage-making process, I waited until he was out of the house before attempting to put it on. Once I'd managed that feat, I checked the package again, this time looking for an official statement exempting it from the articles of the Geneva Convention. What if, upon tasting freedom, my body refused to be stuffed back into this thing? The wedding and reception were uneventful until a mysterious roll of flesh appeared around my ribcage. "Hey kids, Grandma used to be a magician's assistant and she was actually sawed in half!" I tried to take my mind off the pain by eating a piece of wedding cake.

In Britain, it's the third leading cause of divorce, and China bans snorers from the ranks of the People's Liberation Army. Many of these people suffer from sleep apnea, a dangerous condition that can lead to high blood pressure and heart attacks. of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, most snoring is run-of-the-mill -- harmless for the doer; a nightmare for the bed partner. Dr. Ian Weir, associate director at the Sleep Disorders Center at Norwalk, explains that snoring is noisy breathing that can be caused by many issues, including the anatomy of your mouth and sinuses, nasal polyps, tonsils, adenoids, deviated septum, alcohol consumption, smoking, allergies, a cold and/or your weight. [...] estrogen and progesterone promote open airways, and as women go through menopause and lose these hormones, snoring can become an issue. [...] how do you tell the difference between sleep apnea and simple snoring? "It's not easy," Weir says. If someone is sleeping great, and has no medical problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure, it's probably safe to assume they don't have sleep apnea. Elizabeth Craven (her name has been changed to protect her in-denial husband and preserve her marriage), says her golfer husband starts gaining his winter 15 pounds as soon as the golf courses close for the season. * Treat inflammations of the nose and/or throat caused by illness or allergies, which in turn can cause snoring. * If your nose is stuffy, use a netti pot and saline solution to open nasal passages. * In some instances, surgery can tame the snoring beast by correcting deformities in the back of the throat, roof of the mouth or nose. Both agree that if any of the following symptoms occur, the person should see a sleep doctor, since they could signal sleep apnea:

According to recent surveys on the subject, more than two-thirds of white collar workers say they do. [...] our schedule of long hours, late nights and working weekends meant we often spent more time together than we did with our significant others, but were we being inappropriately intimate when we huddled together over his computer to look at layouts? Dr. Jacqueline Olds, clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who has studied the phenomenon, defines a work spouse as "a person at work with whom you have a special relationship in which you share confidences, loyalties, experiences and a degree of honesty and openness." Previous research has consistently shown that friendships in the workplace boost morale and increase productivity. [...] a study coauthored by University at Albany sociology professor emeritus Maurice N. Richter Jr. found that out of 222 business managers from large cities across the country, nearly 77 percent approved of coworker friendships -- despite the risk of gossip, romance and distraction -- because it pays off in mutual support, an improved work environment and communication, better performance and higher productivity. To try to get a handle on how employees are getting along, human resources managers use the Gallup 12 survey to measure employee engagement. "What we're looking to measure is someone's commitment to and satisfaction with work," says April Squillante, president of the Western Connecticut Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management. The authors of that particular study, Chad McBride, associate professor of communications at Creighton University and his partner and Karla Bergen, assistant professor of communications at the College of St. Mary, had no trouble believing that. There's a level of discomfort about it because it makes it sound like something salacious is going on when there's not, says McBride, adding that nearly every respondent took great care to note that their relationships were strictly platonic. "To even call someone an office spouse is to imply certain types of intimacies that should be reserved for the spouse relationship," says Jan Yager, Stamford-based author and expert on workplace relationships. [...] though the majority of "office spouses" never cross the line to become office romances, people may still sometimes find their relationships become fodder for water cooler gossip. Romantic relationships that end badly often lead to sexual harassment lawsuits, which is why most companies have policies forbidding relationships between supervisors and subordinates, Squillante adds. Some human resource professionals feel that an office spouse relationship may ultimately be detrimental to the two people involved, because it can cut them off from developing productive and strategic relationships with others. Phone calls, texts and e-mail between office spouses after working hours are liable to raise suspicions at home, particularly if they're not work-related. In July 2010, a Captivate Network survey of 640 white collar workers from 14 states and Canada explored the phenomenon of workplace spouses. * Most people said their significant others knew about their work spouse: 68 percent of married men and 82 percent of married women said their spouses knew about their office mates and 86 percent of married men and women said their spouses had met their office partners. * Conversations between office spouses are typically work-related but 63 percent of respondents said they discussed health issues; 59 percent confided problems at home, and 35 percent talked about their sex lives (although men were more apt to do that than women).

The journal incorporated all of Naliboff's passions: to travel, be a food writer, be in a job she loved, and someday be married with children. "When I started it, I wanted to push myself to achieve more in life, so I wouldn't get lazy," says Naliboff, a Stamford resident. Naliboff, a direct marketing writer, has achieved many of her goals. While she was out forming a career and building a life that was self-sustaining and interesting, the dream of a family took a back seat. Naliboff has the attitude you need, says life coach "Grieving the loss of a fantasy is sometimes harder than a person," Mayer says. If you subscribe to the philosophy that you only get one shot in this world, it is never too late to get off the couch and get in control. Because we don't want to find ourselves "rudderless, floating on a sea without a direction," says Kathy Caprino, a Norwalk-based woman's career and executive coach. Caprino, who is also a licensed therapist in Fairfield County, documented it all in her book, Breakdown, Breakthrough, which highlights hidden crises working women face and how to overcome them. "When I got bumped out of the corporate world, it was an awful thing to be discarded," she says. [...] after experiencing high-pressured life and death emergency room situations, she realized the clinical side wasn't for her: [...] maybe she'd be able to stay home or work part time when she had kids. [...] she was working two jobs at an insurance company and a nursing facility, while taking classes, and sharing kid duty with her husband, who was also going to school. Makar feels that had she stuck with the original plan, she would have missed out on this life-changing experience. By making mistakes, you can start over and begin again. Even though meeting a man is no longer one of Naliboff's top goals, she's still planning to attend a speed-dating event because, "you have to remain open." [...] that's why Makar is staying on top of her industry, in case she needs to reinvent her skills once again. The ability to keep going and stay focused on whatever you are doing," says Mayer, "that's creating your own luck. Begin to form a blueprint of your life by adding inspirational anecdotes, pictures and quotes of milestones you want to achieve -- to remind yourself why you chose these goals in the first place. By forming a well-constructed plan, you are creating something you know you can achieve, yet it's still healthy to add a couple of far-reaching goals. Make a phone call, send an e-mail, or research your topic.