For several days now, I've been writing an ongoing series of diet and fitness posts titled "Why the Pounds Are Sticking Around," which are a collection of tips sourced from the health magazine Self. Since the response has been so positive, I decided to forge ahead with an idea I had for a series of healthy living posts. Since exercise and training are more my forte, I sought out information from an outside source -- Men's Health magazine. To that end, I found ten great health and wellness tips that I thought would be perfect for pieces on healthy living.

So, just as I have been doing with the diet and fitness posts, I will also be posting one healthy living tip per day as part of a series I think I'm going to call "Living Well." I think you'll find these tips to be as interesting and as helpful as I did.

Healthy Tip # - Showering shouldn't be a contact sport

If you wear contact lenses, you should avoid doing so while showering, say the folks at Men's Health magazine. Based on research conducted at the University of Illinois at Chicago, wearing contacts while sudsing up can expose your eyes to infection-causing water-borne microbes.

Instead, keep contacts in their solution-filled container until after you're done showering. Then, after you've toweled off, you can throw those bad boys back in.

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Maybe you can't sleep, and your spouse's sleeping pills look tempting. Or maybe you're due to replace those contact lenses and just can't seem to find the time to get in for an appointment. These health shortcuts may seem like they're no big deal, but sometimes taking the easy road can get you into trouble. For instance, did you know that while many foods can be safely enjoyed after their expiration date, lunch meat is one that you should definitely throw out when it's past its prime? That's because it can become contaminated with a dangerous bacteria.

Learn more about which health shortcuts are a safe gamble and which should be avoided all together by reading this article from Real Simple.

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Sight is one of those most precious abilities we have, yet sadly it's one of things many people know the least about. Almost half of people surveyed said they worry more about losing their vision as they age than they do their memory or their ability to walk or hear. But at the same time only 30% of adults get their eyes checked every two years as recommended, and a whopping 79% of contact lens wearers admitted to bad habits like wearing their contacts to bed and/or wearing them longer than recommended.

What's wrong with this picture? Do you think it's because people don't know what they need to do to take care of their eyes, or just that they aren't taking it seriously?

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While I love the look of glasses on kids (and adults), most kids can't wait until they're old enough to replace their dreaded spectacles with contacts.

Lucky for them: They may be able to trade their glasses in sooner than previously thought.

Many optometrists won't prescribe contact lenses for kids until they reach their teens, but a recent study from Ohio State University showed that tweens can handle their contacts too. Over a three-month period, kids ages 8 to 12 were able to wear contacts just as long -- and use them just as easily -- as teens ages 13 to 17. Both groups also preferred the look of lenses over glasses, and said contacts helped them see better while playing sports (that I can understand.)

Talk to your child's eye doctor to see if they agree.

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When I read about Nike Maxsight contacts today I thought it was especially interesting since I had just read this article on sunglasses versus UV contacts a few days ago. UV contacts are made to filter UV rays, but Nike Maxsight lenses take it one step further and throw a sunglasses-like tint into the lenses so you get all the benefits of wearing polarized shades but without the inconvenience of glasses that can fall off or get in the way during sports or athletic activities.

Available in two colors (grey/green for golf, running, training and amber for sports like tennis, baseball, football, and rugby), Fitsugar has some good pictures of what they look like compared to regular contacts if you're curious. And Nike is offering a free trial so you can see how big of a difference they make before committing -- I for one can't wait to try them!

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I wear glasses and contacts, and I remember years ago thinking it was so awesome when I got my new box of contacts and noticed the little "UV blocking" logo on the corner. So do they work just as well as UV blocking sunglasses when it comes to protecting your eyes from harmful rays? The answer is NO, contact lenses don't provide enough protection to completely substitute them for sunglasses. In studies contacts were 10% less effective than sunglasses at blocking UV rays, and even that level of protection varied greatly from contact to contact. But contact lenses do have one thing that sunglasses don't: they cover your entire pupil and protect your eyes from light from all angles, including the sides.

Bottom line: Your best bet is to wear both -- combine UV blocking contact lenses with UV blocking sunglasses for the best protection.

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If you have paid attention to the voluntary recall of contact lens solution, what have you been doing to ensure those contacts are properly lubricated?

Advanced Medical Optics said yesterday that improper handling of contact lenses was actually the cause of many eye infections that resulted in its products being pulled from store shelves recently.

The contact lens solution was connected last week with Acanthamoeba keratitis, which is a painful eye infection that can lead to blindness. Advanced Medical Optics stated that improper handling can cause the infection rather than the issue being caused solely by a manufacturing or related contamination issue.

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Contact lens wearers, heads up: the CDC has issued a warning about AMO Complete Moisture Plus Multi-Purpose Solution, which is used for cleaning and storing soft contact lenses. Apparently the solution has been linked with the painful and potentially blinding eye infection called Acanthamoeba keratitis.The makers of the lens cleaner, Advanced Medical Optics Inc., has issued a voluntary recall and is recommending that people throw the product away along with the storage case and their current contact lenses (lets hope they're disposable and you haven't just busted out a new 30 day pair!).

It's not immediately clear right now how and why this product is connected to the spike in eye infection cases, but the FDA will be looking into it.

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