“I am frequently asked what the key is to…finding greater happiness in life,” psychologist Marc Muchnick, Ph.D., tells Psychology Today. “If you want to be happier and have less regret in your life, stay as far away as possible from toxic people.”

Toxic people come in many shapes and forms. After all, they’re human, and humanity is as diverse as the stars. They could be your best friend, girlfriend, neighbor, cousin or church deacon. However, you’re likely to encounter people who fall into the major categories of toxicity:

1. The Blamer: With this person, everything is your fault. You are somehow responsible for their problems, and they will point that out every chance they get. The truth: No matter what you do, it will still be wrong to them. In your constant struggle to appease them, you’ll give up too much of yourself in a vain effort that will only leave you completely empty. Even worse, you will start absorbing their criticisms until who you are is defined by what you’re not to them.

2. The Needer: Unlike The Blamer, in this case you’re responsible for this needy person’s happiness. They constantly need your affirmation, reassurance, time and energy. They are unhappy without you and unable to be satisfied on their own. The truth: If someone isn’t happy with themselves, they will never be happy with someone else. In your pursuit to make them happy, you’ll be driven to new levels of unhappiness.

3. The Chronic Complainer: They need to share everything that’s terrible in their life, from the trivial — the waiter totally messed up their order, again! — to the major. And if you point out something positive in life (“Isn’t today just beautifully sunny?”) they’ll point out the negative (“It is, but they’re calling for thunderstorms tomorrow.”). The truth: If someone is constantly focused on the negative, all they’ll see is the negative, and they’ll drag you down. Their negative energy will soon pervade the way you see the world, until you are proclaiming rainy forecasts on sunny days, too.

The Assessment Test

Often, people don’t like to assess their friendships or relationships because they have invested so much time and effort into it. And yet, just as an investment broker constantly reviews his portfolio for positive growth, you should also review the people in your world to check that they are bringing positive growth to your life, and you likewise to them. Assessing whether an individual is toxic or not is really a simple matter of asking simple questions, such as:

• Do I look forward to seeing this person?
• Am I doing something different just to please him, or does it also please me?
• Does she ask me to do things that go against my values or feelings?
• Do I feel happier and more full of energy after spending time with him, or do I feel drained and tired?
• Do I feel on edge or judged when I’m in this person’s presence?
• Do I ever feel like I need to lie, or at least not tell all of the truth, because I’m afraid of her reactions?
• Does this person hold me back from who I want to be or where I want to be?

Once you identify a relationship that is toxic, there is no need to confront the person or cast judgment on them. In a positive, energized life, there is no room for judgment or conflict, and most toxic people don’t even realize they’re toxic anyway. Instead, simply start to put distance between the person and yourself. And as you withdraw, don’t create a vacuum where the toxic person once stood. Fill it with new, positive energy, such as by focusing more time and energy on a nurturing, positive person in your life.

Bring smiles to your partner's face without making Mother Nature frown.

Don’t let your love for your partner get in the way of your love for the planet. With the right eco-conscious planning, Valentine’s Day can be as green as it is red.

In the United States, almost 20,000 floral shops produce nearly $400 million in cut flowers (wholesale value) for Valentine’s Day, estimates the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, its northern neighbor produces more than 13 million roses for the holiday, reports Statistics Canada. This is a lot of energy, shipping fuel and similar environmental expenditures, to say nothing of the millions of pounds of chocolate, jewelry and other gifts manufactured, shipped and given in Saint Valentine’s honor. This year, express the wide depths of your heart while narrowing your carbon footprint.

1. Ditch the online floral shops. While it may be convenient to click through an online site and have flowers shipped, the packaging and fuel emissions can be an environmental nightmare. Instead, support your local florists — which is nice to the earth and to the economy. It’s estimated that for every $100 spent at locally owned stores, $68 of that is invested back into your local community; online shopping leaves nothing for your town or city.

2. Read the flower labels. Not all roses are the same. Many come from chemical-intensive, mass-manufacturing hot house operations while others rely on extremely cheap labor. Please your partner and appease your conscience with organic and certified fair trade roses. Or, consider skipping roses completely, which avoids the entire issue of greenhouses/importing. Break tradition and show your lover how creative you are by creating a breathtaking bouquet using local, in-season flowers.

3. Use recycled paper. Hallmark estimates that it will send 144 million cards this Valentine’s Day. That’s just one greeting card company! To minimize your environmental impact, look for greeting cards made from recycled paper, make your own recycled cards or commission a local artist to make greeting cards crafted from recycled paper (starving artists need love, too).

4. Hail hemp. If you’re into the whole lingerie-gifting tradition, there are many manufacturers out there who craft naughty undergarments made from non-naughty, sustainable fibers such as bamboo or hemp.

5. Pay attention to the little things. Many small details add up when it comes to minimizing your carbon footprint. This includes using soy candles instead of traditioanl candles, choosing an organic bottle of wine or champagne, and using in-season produce for your special meal.

6. Just do it. One of the best Valentine’s Day gifts you can give your partner is quite eco-friendly. Once you turn off the lights, the only energy you’ll be burning is your own.

Vitamin C

One thousand milligrams of vitamin C, split into two 500 mg doses per day, can help battle chronic fatigue and increase your leg muscles’ endurance. This may be in part to the vitamin’s effects on adrenaline and cortisol in your muscles, as well as its anti-inflammatory effects. In a 2001 study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers noted that vitamin C supplementation in ultramarathon runners helped increase the presence of anti-inflammatory substances in the runners, as well as reduced stress hormones — all factors that may lead to faster recuperation and increased energy.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 helps with the conversion process of fat and protein into energy. Thus, it’s often used by athletes to increase energy levels, enhance performance and build endurance. The U.S. Office of Dietary Supplements warns that a deficiency in this vitamin — the average adult needs 2.4 mcg a day — can directly lead to weakness and fatigue, both in your legs and the rest of your body.

Vitamin D

When you turn your face up toward the golden sun, you get not only a dose of warmth, but also a boost of vitamin D. For runners, vitamin D can help reduce muscle pain and can also help battle chronic fatigue, reports Men’s Fitness magazine. Other benefits for your leg muscles: it may help reduce inflammation — perfect after a strenuous leg workout — and boosts immunity. Additionally, a 2009 study in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise medical journal notes that vitamin D improves general athletic performance by increasing the number and size of muscle fibers in your legs and elsewhere. The average adult needs 600 IU of this vitamin daily.

Pantothenic Acid

Pantothenic acid, also known as vitamin B5, is critical for your energy production in your legs and the rest of your body. For this reason, it’s been used to treat everything from fatigue to muscle cramps. Many runners and athletes don’t get enough B vitamins in general; aim for 5 to 10 mg of vitamin B5 a day.

Know the perfect number when it comes to cholesterol, vitamins and…sex and sushi.

Some numbers are best left forgotten or unknown. Like, the number that girl scrawled on a bar napkin last night. Or the number of kids Michelle and Bob Duggar currently have. But other numbers are important to know, track and control — for your health, well-being and general state of happiness.

1. Cholesterol: 120-130 mg/dl

The most recent survey conducted by the National Center of Health Statistics found that 32 million Americans take statins to control their cholesterol. The first thing to do: buy stocks in those drug companies. The second thing to do: get your cholesterol levels tested. The ideal, healthy adult should have a total cholesterol number of approximately 120-130 mg/dl, and an LDL of 70 mg/dl.

2. Vitamin D: 400 IU

Vitamin D has benefits for everything from heart disease to depression. You may be woefully under the recommended daily intake of the “sunshine vitamin” if you live in an igloo or basically all of Canada. General studies have found benefits for daily intakes of 400 to 800 international units per day.

3. Sushi: 3 Rolls

If you’re pregnant or a child, step away from the all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. Due to mercury contamination, many doctors and agencies recommend complete avoidance of sushi. If you are an otherwise healthy, average adult, many doctors recommend a maximum of one meal if the sushi is made from swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish or shark. If you’re enjoying low-mercury fish, such as salmon, many recommendations come in at around 12 ounces a week. Unfortunately, that’s like, just three average-sized sushi rolls. May I suggest the cucumber rolls instead?

4. TV: 0

In a 2011 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, doctors found that your risk of developing heart disease or type 2 diabetes increased by 15 percent and 20 percent, respectively, for every two hours of TV you watch per day.

5. Exercise: 20 Minutes

The American College of Sports Medicine suggests a minimum of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise, such as running or swimming, three to five times a week. Of course, more is usually better.

6. Sex: Lots

Apparently what feels good is good for you, too. A Duke University research report followed a group of Americans for 25 years and concluded that “frequency of intercourse was a significant predictor of longevity,” while a British study found that men who had two or more orgasms per week had a 50 percent reduction in their death rate over the course of a decade compared to men who had sex just once per month.

7. Blood Pressure: 120/80

A whopping 50 million Americans have high blood pressure. Scarily, 30 percent of them have no idea they do. High blood pressure numbers increase the risk of everything from kidney damage to heart failure. Ideally, your blood pressure should ring in at 120/80. One of the easiest ways to reduce your blood pressure: reduce dietary salt intake, lose weight, quit smoking and avoid alcohol. Speaking of which…

8. Alcohol: 1-2 Per Day

If you drink, doctors typically recommend a maximum of two drinks a day for men and one drink for women. But here’s the kicker: most people underestimate how much they’re drinking. To put it into perspective, one drink is a 12-ounce serving of beer (not a pint) and a 5-ounce serving of wine (and note that many wine glasses hold much more than this).

Recycling is potentially the easiest, fastest and most radical thing you can do for the benefit of the environment.

Recycling seems so easy. Instead of throwing your paper cup or empty soda can into the trash bin, you instead toss it into the blue bin with the funky arrows. The ease and effort at which we can all recycle, and the seemingly small difference it makes (“It’s just one can!”), belies the true underlying power of recycling.

The True Cost of NOT Recycling

1. Recycling saves energy. It often costs more to manufacture a new product from raw material than it costs to recycle an old product into a new product. For example, recycling a single aluminum can saves enough energy to provide three hours of power to the computer you’re reading this on. You can feel better about wasting all that time on YouTube now.

2. Recycling saves landfills. Americans generate billions and billions of pounds of solid trash every year, and approximately 70 to 80 percent of that ends up in landfills. But the country is rapidly running out of open landfills. Recycling helps divert as much solid waste out of landfills as possible, saving American soil and space.

3. Recycling creates jobs. And by god, we know how much our economy needs that now. For example, in Ohio, recycling plants generate an annual payroll of approximately $3.6 billion.

Four Easy Recycling Tips

1. Know the rules for your area. Some cities require users to sort their recyclables (e.g., keeping paper items separate from glass items) while other cities let you dump everything into one large bin.

2. Keep your recycle bin easily accessible. For example, if most of your recyclable items pass through your home office, store your bin in your office. By keeping it extremely accessible, you lower the temptation of throwing your items into the nearest trash can.

3. Let others do the recycling for you. When it comes to cans and bottles, many local nonprofits, charities and schools run regular bottle drives where they’ll come to your home and pickup your recyclable items.  Who knew laziness could net you so much good karma?

4. Keep your recycling clean. Many cities have rules for recycling, such as making sure rubber bands don’t end up in your paper recycling bin. Contaminants lower the quality and usefulness of the final recycled material, so do the environment a favor and make sure you’re only recycling what can be recycled.

The holidays can be stressful. Start the new year off to a calmer, more peaceful start.

Fifty percent. Fifty! That’s how much your odds of dying young increase when you’re continuously stressed, according to a study conducted by Oregon State University and published in 2011 in the Journal of Aging Research. If that doesn’t stress you out, I don’t know what will.

As you enter the new year, the stress of Christmas shopping and family gatherings starts to fade and is replaced by the usual day-to-day stresses that many of us face. What will my boss think of my TPS report? How do I stick with my New Year’s dieting resolution? Why hasn’t my girlfriend said “I love you” yet?

This year, take control of your adrenal glands and tell stress to suck it.

How Stress Affects Our Bodies

When you’re stressed, your body pumps itself full of hormones and chemicals. This can lead to a weaker immune system, increased risk of heart disease, and packing on more fat around your abdomen. Love handles? More like “stress handles.” And stress affects everyone, all around the world. For example, the American Institute of Stress calls it America’s #1 health problem, while Statistics Canada reports that approximately six million Canadians label their lives “extremely stressful.”

Four Ways to De-Stress

1. Exercise. Get moving! Exercise boosts your body’s natural stress buffers by increasing the levels of norepinephrine in your brain in the areas of your brain that helps handle and cope with stress. Plus, it also helps you blow off the proverbial steam and release tension in your muscles.

2. Leave work at work. Set boundaries so that external stress factors don’t start creeping into your home. When you’re at work, create “me” time by setting aside 10 to 15 minutes of space every hour or so during which you leave your desk or cubicle. And don’t bring work home with you, nor any of the other negative, external factors that can cloud your life. Home should be a peaceful sanctuary. Defend it like a rabid Greenpeace activist.

3. Try supplements. The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine recommends 5-HTP, a supplement made from the seeds of the Griffonia simplifolia plant, as well as GABA supplements. Of course, talk to your doctor before trying to self-medicate any stress symptoms in your life.

4. Take a deep breath. During stressful situations, your breath often becomes shorter and quicker. This results in mild hyperventilation and a reduction of oxygen in your system, which in turn leads to more stress. Take a deep breath, hold it for a couple seconds, then exhale. Repeat this five or six times. Alternatively, try doing the traditional ardha kurmasana (half tortoise) yoga pose, which brings your head below your heart and helps reduce anxiety and stress. In fact, almost any kind of yoga or meditation has been proven in numerous studies to counter the health effects of stress and anxiety.

By finding liberty from your stress, you have more freedom to pursue the things in life that create positive feelings and emotions in your universe.