Score your health smarts: our 4-point quiz helps you determine which areas you need to make over this year. The payoff? A happier, healthier you!

Shape, Jan, 2005 by Susan Bierma

To promote emotional well-being, it's important to have at least one loving relationship in which you can comfortably and safely disclose your innermost feelings and thoughts, Justice says. And take the initiative to make good things happen for yourself, Keyes recommends, whether it's researching your dream job, or making time to hike, paint or get together with friends. Maintaining an attitude of appreciation, volunteering, caring for a pet and having a sense of humor have also been shown to have mental and physical benefits, Justice says.

And don't underestimate the power of spirituality. "When one connects with something bigger, studies have shown the experience results in lower blood pressure and a slowing of heart rate and respiration," Justice says. "Over time, the immune system is also strengthened through an increase in antibodies." If praying or meditating isn't for you, get out in nature, lose yourself in a piece of art or music or become involved in a greater cause that serves others, he suggests.

Seeing the doc

An ounce of prevention ...

If you avoid the doctor, you'll miss out on checkups and tests that can uncover diseases or health conditions early, when they're easier to treat. Talk to your gynecologist and primary-care physician about how often you should visit them and which tests--such as Pap smear, STD screening, cholesterol check, diabetes screening and breast exams--you need. Then make, and keep, your appointments. If you don't like your doctor, switch to another. If you're afraid she might discover something you'd rather not know, realize that the consequences of putting off diagnosis and treatment might be far worse, says Karen Johnson, M.D., M.P.H., vice chair and professor of preventive medicine and internal medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

Checkups and screening tests depend on your age, personal and family health history and lifestyle behaviors. So fill your doctors in on absolutely everything, experts emphasize, including any major stressors in your life, herbs or supplements you're taking, sexual practices, how much you drink and smoke and mental-health problems you or a family member have experienced. Don't be shy about mentioning anything else you think could affect your health, even if it's simply that you feel different lately.

And don't forget to see your dentist twice a year. Oral infections can spread to other parts of your body, and some mouth disorders may be a sign of other serious health conditions.

Freelance writer Susan Bierma is working on curbing her red-licorice habit and taking plenty of stretch breaks when on deadline.