One Week to a Happier You

Your mission: March right past the elliptical trainers and treadmills and into the locker room. Wrap yourself in your fluffiest towel (bring one from home if the ones at your gym are napkin-size). Enter the sauna. Sit — then sit some more.

That jerk in the convertible totally cut you off! But before you start tailing him, says Leon James, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii and founder of drdriving.org, try this unorthodox measure: Bark like a dog! Sure, your preteens will roll their eyes at you, but making a silly sound takes the edge off those first few seconds when the adrenaline rush (and anger) is the strongest.

"Once this emergency mode is over, think of excuses you can make about why the driver behaved in that way. For example: He is rushing off to the hospital," says James. Stuck in the passenger seat with a crazed-driver hubby? Speak calmly and repeat your main message over and over. Try saying, "Let it go. It's not worth it. Let it go. This is dangerous. Please, let it go."

Need a vacation to recover from your vacation? If you can swing it, plan a free day at the end of your trip to catch up on laundry and sleep. If that's not an option, get organized before you leave and return to a house that's as orderly as possible, says Emily Kaufman, author of The Travel Mom's Ultimate Book of Family Travel: Planning, Surviving, and Enjoying Your Vacation Together.

Suspend your newspaper delivery so you're not tripping over piles of paper and ask a neighbor to pick up your mail. Make an extra lasagna or casserole to freeze so you'll have a plan of attack when you hear "What's for dinner?" the second you step in the door. It may seem like yet another hassle before your trip, but "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," promises Kaufman.

You scored an invitation to your neighbor's party and chowed down several of his famous brownies -- with a side of homemade fruit cake. And it would have been rude to turn down that eggnog! Cue the broken-diet regret, right? Not so fast, says Judith Beck, Ph.D., author of The Beck Diet Solution.

"It's not possible to lose weight without making an occasional mistake," explains Beck. "Say, 'I can decide it's hopeless or get back on track and see what I can learn from this experience.'" If it's a small binge (you couldn't resist pie), just follow your diet for the rest of the day. If it's more serious (hello, buffet table!), cut down at your next meal, but don't deprive yourself too much or you're likely to overdo it again tomorrow.

You've been pinching your pennies for a Caribbean cruise, but now that you have set sail, your churning stomach wants to disembark at the nearest port. Relax, matey: You can calm the storm with ginger, says Patricia Raymond, M.D., founder of yourhealthchoice.net.

Pack some gingersnaps containing real ginger or pieces of the candied stuff in your bag to munch on -- they've been proven to reduce nausea. And you may have to pass up that fabulous shipboard smorgasbord: It's best to keep your meals plain (potatoes, pasta without sauce) and steer clear of fatty foods. "Anything greasy or highly spiced will certainly not stay down," warns Dr. Raymond.

At the company happy hour, you asked your new co-worker when she's due and -- yikes! -- she's not pregnant. Can you get past it? "If it was a standard 'oops,' in which you couldn't have known you were saying something wrong until it was too late, then say you're sorry and move on," says Washington Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax.

For bigger mistakes -- a friend told you that she lost her job, and you blurted it out at the neighborhood block party -- first apologize and then do damage control. Go back to the folks you blabbed to, explain you shouldn't have shared and ask them to keep the secret. Then, it's OK to move on. "Once you've made a genuine effort, you can and should leave the whole matter behind," says Hax. "Endlessly revisiting a mistake doesn't benefit anyone."

Those fruity drinks at girls' night out looked so refreshing, but this morning you're vowing never to drink anything with an umbrella in it again. The best cure for a hangover is time, but while you're waiting, start chugging the H2O. (Alcohol is very dehydrating, so drinking water helps your body feel better.)

And forget the black coffee, says Winnie Yu, author of What to Eat for What Ails You. A cup or two might give you the temporary pick-me-up you crave, but caffeine will only parch you further, so stick to the clear stuff. If you're truly dehydrated -- feeling cold and shaky -- go for Gatorade or fruit juice, says Dr. Raymond. They contain the electrolytes your body needs to recover.