There's no better time than now to start working toward a happier, healthier you. How do you get there? By embracing a series of effortless lifestyle changes that will improve your health and wellbeing, almost instantly.

These fast tips will improve your life: mind, body and soul. Ready to feel better than ever? Read on and start working your way through our Life Booster List.

1. Cut frenemies and toxic friends from your life. Your time is gold: share it with members of your mutual admiration society, not backstabbers or energy suckers.

2. Get your beauty sleep. The average woman needs seven to nine hours of sleep each night. You'll know what's right for you because you'll wake refreshed, not exhausted or sluggish.

3. Cut your risk of breast cancer by limiting alcohol to a drink a day – or less.

4. Crave sour candy? Save some calories – and your teeth – by munching on a juicy peach or handful of tart cherries instead.

5. Book that Pap smear. Regular Pap smears help prevent cervical cancer.

6. Reward yourself for #5 by buying a distracting magazine to read in the waiting room (so you're not stuck with a "news" magazine from 2003!)

7. Work out at least four hours a week to help maintain a healthy weight and to reduce your risk of breast cancer.

8. Quit hanging out with smokers on your work break. Secondhand smoke kills, too. Limit face time with your favourite colleagues to nicotine-free contexts.

9. Are you a smoker? Start researching ways to quit today.

10. Is the sun shining today? Walk a couple stops before getting onto public transit during your commute. Or get off earlier for a leisurely stroll home. If you don't take public transit to work, fit in a walk on your lunch hour. You'll feel refreshed and shed some pounds.

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11. Invest in your mental health by using a "sick day" to veg out at home, read a book, catch up on your PVR selections, make love, garden, work out then relax in the locker room sauna, catch a movie or anything else that would make you go from stressed out to blissed out.

12. Pack an orange, tangerine, tangelo or mandarin in your bag for a late-afternoon snack/pick-me-up. Savour every bite!

13. Everyone has a show they watch regularly yet aren't even all that crazy about anymore. Ditch it and, for the sake of a healthier, better looking you, fill that time-slot with a weekly swim at your local community centre or YMCA.

14. Brush your teeth after a meal. Or chew sugarless gum if brushing must wait.

15. Rent an "OMG, I think I just laughed so hard I peed" comedy à la There's Something About Mary. Laughter boosts your immune system.

16. Pat a furry pet (yours or someone else's). Within 15 minutes, you'll experience beneficial upticks in your endorphin, dopamine and oxytocin levels so you feel all warm and fuzzy.

17. Start learning a new language and give your brain a daily workout by flexing your memorization, speech and interpretive "muscles." Besides helping to protect your long-term mental fitness, it will help you to drown out.

18. We all go through autopilot for a great deal of the day. Take a breather and exercise your brain with a crossword, sudoku or word-puzzle, or a couple fast rounds of online scrabble.

19. Give $5 to a homeless person. (Or drop non-perishables off at a food bank.) Acts of giving boost the giver's happiness as well as the recipient's.

20. Have a glass of milk. While sipping, use Osteoporosis Canada's online Calcium Calculator (osteoporosis.ca) to see if you're getting enough calcium in your diet.

21. Floss every night. Studies have found a link between gum disease (gingivitis) and heart disease. Good oral health may promote heart health, too.

22. Say a prayer for someone (other than yourself, silly!).

23. Not religious? Take up meditation or practice another deep relaxation technique.

24. Have sex. Regular weekly sex increases the antibody immunoglobin A, boosting your immune system. It also burns around 85 calories per half hour, increases your estrogen levels (which will help your hair and skin look younger) and makes you feel great, too!

25. Smiling releases feel-good endorphins, so make it a point to smile more often.

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