The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and woodland creatures are literally coming out to play—it’s like a Disney movie out there. But while springtime seems hyper-cheerful, not everyone feels that way. For some people, the season can be especially tough, and sadly, research shows that suicide rates tend to spike in spring.

One possible culprit for feeling low this time of year is seasonal affective disorder: It's typically associated with winter, but warmer temperatures and brighter days aren't always enough to lift the blues. What's more, seeing cheery people all around you is a constant reminder that others are having a good time when you aren't, says Michelle Riba, MD, professor and associate director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center.

There's also a phenomenon called summertime depression, she adds, which means people may start to get sad when spring arrives. “We don’t really know why. It may be hormonal for women, and there are theories related to melatonin production, but we’re not sure,” she says.

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And then there are social influences that can bring a person down: This time of year, "people go on vacations, and some groups may be disbanding for the season," explains Dr. Riba. "So there may be less structure and a sense of support in place.” Meanwhile, you're watching friends enjoy those picture-perfect vacays on Facebook or Instagram. “You wish well for everybody but sometimes you can experience jealousy and envy when you see this," says Dr. Riba. Especially if you happen to be struggling with challenges in your own life, like a bad breakup or financial concerns.

Given these factors, it may not seem so surprising that suicide rates rise this time of year. Suicide rates spike in the spring and to a lesser extent in the fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not around the holidays as everyone suspects. And in fact, suicides in general have increased 24% between 1999 and 2014, according to a CDC report released in April. The uptick begins in early April and late May. Why? The seasonal brightness may actually have something to do with that: In a recent op-ed in The Washington Post Harvard professor of psychology Matthew Nock cited a 2014 study published in JAMA Psychiatry that found that as hours of sunlight increased, so did the risk of suicide. "The authors speculate that sunlight could boost energy and motivation, thus giving people who are depressed the ability to take action and make a suicide attempt," he wrote.

And some researchers are looking at suicide rates at times of high-pollen counts compared with less pollen, theorizing that the increase might be due to increased anxiety or aggression related to inflammation, according to Vox…

Whether it's kids squabbling in the back seat, work stress, or your phone constantly pinging, countless things can distract you when you're driving. But are certain distractions riskier than others? 

That's what researchers from the University of Houston and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute wanted to find out. In a new study (funded in part by the Toyota Class Action Settlement Safety Research and Education program), they observed how drivers coped when distracted by absentminded thoughts, emotions, and text messages. 

The authors noted that while many studies have explored the dangers of texting and driving, there's less research on how other kinds of stressors can affect your behavior at the wheel. But their results indicate that the worst kind of distraction may indeed be checking your phone. 

The researchers found that people who drove while absentminded or emotional benefitted from a "sixth sense" instinct that helped them navigate safely. Meanwhile those who were texting while driving did not experience the same protection.

RELATED: This Smartphone App Blocks Teens from Texting While Driving

For the study, 59 drivers navigated a simulated stretch of highway four times: once under "normal conditions," once while they were asked cognitively challenging questions (think math problems), once while they were asked emotionally charged questions, and once while they were distracted by texts. Each time the researchers measured the sweat under the drivers' noses (an indicator of their stress level), how jittery their steering became, and whether or not they drifted out of their lane.

The three types of distractions all increased the drivers' perinasal perspiration levels, and caused them to be more jittery. But when the drivers were asked cognitively challenging and emotionally stirring questions, they were able to maintain a straight course; while texting led them to veer out of their lane.

Lead researchers Ioannis Pavlidis, PhD, and Robert Wunderlich speculate that the driver's trajectories remained straight under cognitive and emotional stress thanks to the intervention of a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which provides a "fight or flight" reflex. "For sure, there is corrective action precipitated from some brain center, likely the ACC, when we are distracted while performing a routine dexterous task, driving in this case," Pavlidis says. "When this distraction is purely mental, this corrective mechanism works well."

RELATED: Constantly Reaching For Your Smartphone? You May Be Anxious or Depressed

But to do its job, your ACC requires eye-hand coordination: "It appears that an eye-hand feedback loop is needed for the brain to be able to accomplish these corrections," Wunderlich explains…

Commencement speakers love to give flowery advice: Dare to dream! Reach for the stars! Embrace the whole new world waiting for you on the other side of graduation! 

They’re a little less likely to mention what really matters when it comes to securing your long-term success. A lot of it involves adjusting to adult life and learning what it means to be healthy, both physically and mentally—and that's a struggle for many new grads. 

After you change out of your cap and gown, keep this cheat sheet on health mistakes to avoid in mind. You'll be #adulting like a pro in no time. 

Mistake #1: Going to urgent care for all your medical needs

We get it: you're young, you're healthy, and you haven't been sick since that unfortunate case of mono in the 11th grade. But building a relationship with a primary care doctor now establishes your baseline level of health and allows for continuity of care. And, in parts of the country where there are more primary care physicians, people live longer and have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other medical conditions, according to study published in the International Journal of Health Services. 

If none of that's enough to sway you, then remember: on many insurance plans, a trip to the emergency room or urgent care is more expensive than a visit to a PCP. 

RELATED: The Early Signs of Stroke You Need to Know—Even if You're Young

Mistake #2: Skipping health insurance

Speaking of insurance, you really won't be saving any money if you don't sign up for it after you graduate. The Affordable Care Act says you have to be insured, and you can get hit with a fine if you don’t register quickly enough. You can usually be added to a parent’s health plan if it covers dependents and you’re under 26—even if you're living on your own. If you’re younger than 30, you can buy a catastrophic plan with low monthly premiums; you’ll pay most non-emergency medical expenses yourself, but coverage includes three primary care visits each year—as well as preventive care like shots and screenings—before you hit your deductible.

Mistake #3: Eating a sad desk lunch every day 

Chowing down in front of the computer might seem like a good way to gain traction at a new job. In fact, one 2012 survey found that 39% of employees spend their lunch breaks at their desks. Truth is, in the working world, many of us aren’t counterbalancing our hours of inactivity with regular movement (such as crisscrossing campus for classes). Moreover, “when we eat distracted, we tend not to enjoy, appreciate, or even register the calories—they’re calories eaten, calories forgotten,” says Katherine Zeratsky, RD, an associate professor of nutrition at the Mayo Clinic. “If you absolutely have to eat at your desk, appreciate each bite of food in your mouth, chew it, notice that you’re chewing it—and do so at least several times before you swallow it—and then type a paragraph or read what you have to read…

As the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine from 1965 to 1997, Helen Gurley Brown was famous—and famously criticized by feminists—for doling out endless advice on how to lose weight and how to catch a man. And while she often deserved the flak, she also dispensed gems of wisdom on countless other subjects, from balancing a budget to becoming an individual, at a time when most women’s magazines taught housewives how to whip up the perfect pot roast and wax the floors before their husbands got home. Here are some of the best life lessons, both big and small, I discovered while writing a new biography of HGB, Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman ($29; amazon.com).

Take your pleasure seriously

“What is a sexy woman? Very simple. She is a woman who enjoys sex,” Helen wrote in her 1962 bestseller, Sex and the Single Girl. It was a shocking message at the time (nice girls weren’t supposed to have sex before marriage, let alone enjoy it), and it’s one that she continued to deliver for the rest of her career: The more pleasure you get, the more pleasure you give.

Work hard and pay your dues

As a young woman, Helen worked 17 secretarial jobs before she became a high-powered and high-paid ad copywriter à la Peggy Olson. In Sex and the Single Girl, she shared what she learned along the way. Rule Number 1: “DON’T DEMAND INSTANT GLAMOUR.” “Give yourself time to get useful before you get difficult,” she advised.

Pack your lunch

I know it’s not the sexiest advice, but it is sound. When I worked at a magazine in Manhattan, I easily dropped $20 on an average meal, spending up to $100 a week! In Sex and the Office, Helen provides two Brown Paper Bag Plans designed to fill up the working girl without draining her wallet. “Home-lunch can be delicious glamor-girl fodder instead of junk,” she wrote, adding that you can even “save enough money to spend Christmas in Jamaica.”

RELATED: 5 Mental Blocks That Are Ruining Your Sex Life

Listen to people

“Never fail to know that if you are doing all the talking, you are boring somebody,” Helen wrote in her 1982 book, Having It All. A conversation should be two-sided. Sometimes it’s better to listen and learn.

Sit up straight

Helen gave a lot of nutty beauty advice over the years (she advocated wigs, plastic surgery, and lots of makeup), but this tip is timeless: “Sit up straight, stand up straight, posture, posture, posture!” she wrote in her 2000 book I’m Wild Again. “Good posture can make more difference in how you look than virtually anything else”—and the best part is, it’s free.

Let your problems be your fuel

A self-described “mouseburger” from Arkansas, Helen told and retold the tale of her childhood: Her father died young, her mother sunk into depression, her sister contracted polio, and the family fell on hard times…

It is pitch black, and eerily quiet. I am floating in a foot of salt water, inside a light-proof, sound-proof tank. The air and the water are about the same temperature as my skin, and I realize I’m not sure where my body ends and my surroundings begin. I suddenly feel dizzy, and a wave of nausea washes over me.

Two minutes down, 58 to go.

I am here, belly up in this pod, to see what floatation therapy is all about. In the last five years or so, the practice has grown wildly in popularity, with float centers springing up across the country. Devotees claim floating transports the mind and body, offering profound relaxation, and a variety of other benefits, from pain reduction to enhanced creativity and better sleep.

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A few more minutes into my session, I start to get why people do this: As I focus on my breath—in and out—my tension melts away. I close my eyes and imagine myself drifting on a cloud.

When I hear the signal that the session is over, I can’t believe an hour has passed. I know I didn’t nod off. But my brain had somehow slipped out of its regular rhythm into an altogether different state where I lost track of time.

As I climb out of the pod, I feel a deep sense of calm, and incredibly refreshed—like I just woke up from the best nap of my life.

“The majority of people that achieve that restful state, they report the same type of effect,” says physical therapist Robert Schreyer when I tell him about my float. He is co-owner of the Aspire Center for Health and Wellness in New York City, which allowed me to float for free as a journalist in one of their two pods. (The usual price is $90.)

Schreyer and his staff often recommend that their physical therapy patients float before an appointment. “When they get out, their muscles are more relaxed, and our interventions can be much more effective,” he explains. That benefit may have something to do with the 1,000 pounds of Epsom salts—or magnesium sulfate—dissolved in the bath to make the water denser, and thus floaters more buoyant. “There’s a lot of theories that magnesium provides muscle relaxation,” he says.

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“But floating seems to be beneficial for everyone," he adds. “It’s the ultimate way to detach.”

Out in Tulsa, Oklahoma, clinical neuropsychologist Justin Feinstein, PhD, is trying to understand that mental piece of the float phenomenon. Feinstein is the director of the only float lab in the U.S.—the Float Clinic and Research Center at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research. His team has been using wireless, waterproof sensors and fMRI scans to collect data on what happens in the brain while people float.

“Our preliminary analyses are showing that the stress circuits of the brain are shutting off post-float,” Feinstein tells me over the phone…

In a recent Lenny Letter, actress Amanda Peet explained that she plans to stay Botox-free because she wants to set an example for her two young daughters, who are "growing up smack in the heart of America's youth-obsessed beauty culture."

But, she confessed, she's also scared: "I'm afraid one visit to a cosmetic dermatologist would be my gateway drug. I'd go in for a tiny, circumscribed lift and come out looking like a blowfish."

Whether you're philosophilcally against injectables or you wholeheartedly embrace them, everyone seems to have an opinion. Here, eight Hollywood stars open up about aging naturally, or not.

RELATED: 17 Celebrities Explain Why Getting Older Is Actually Awesome

"I've bleached my teeth, dyed my hair, peeled and lasered my face, and tried a slew of age-defying creams. More than once, I've asked the director of photography on a show to soften my laugh lines. Nothing about this suggests I'm aging gracefully. Yet for me, it would be crossing the Rubicon to add Botox and fillers into the mix."

—Amanda Peet, Lenny Letter, April 2016

“I’m not advocating for it one way or another, I’m just saying Botox changed my life.”

—Kelly Ripa, “Watch What Happens Live”, July 2012

“There is also this pressure in Hollywood to be ageless. I think what I have been witness to, is seeing women trying to stay ageless with what they are doing to themselves. I am grateful to learn from their mistakes, because I am not injecting s**t into my face.”

—Jennifer Aniston, Yahoo! Beauty, December 2014

“If it makes you happier and more confident, then why not? But I also think you have to do your research, so you know what to expect—that you'll look fresher but not necessarily younger. I don't want to age, but hey, what can you do? It's a natural process. I'm trying to do it gracefully”

—Sofia Vergara, InStyle Magazine, October 2014

RELATED: 11 Celebrirites on What They Think About Their Breasts

“My goal is to never get Botox. Or any other filler or injectable, for that matter…I don’t hate on people who get Botox; I would just prefer to do everything a more natural way. We don’t know the long-term effects of that stuff, and it doesn’t seem right to me. We are supposed to age—that’s part of life!”

—Kristin Cavallari, Balancing In Heels ($25; amazon.com), March 2016

"Sometimes I use Botox. One time I did too much, though. I feel weird if I can’t move my face, and that one time I overdid it, I felt trapped in my own skin. I don’t have a problem with any of that stuff; if it makes you feel better about yourself and it’s done properly, then fine."

—Courteney Cox, InStyle Magazine, July 2010

“Everyone always thinks I've had my nose done or my lips done or just anything to my face like besides Botox, which to me isn't plastic surgery…