Moods are as easy to catch as the common cold. When you see someone coughing and sneezing with watery eyes, you reflexively move away from them. The same strategy is a good one to follow when faced with people in bad moods.

Studies show how moods are easily passed from one person to another. Psychologists describe this phenomenon as “emotional contagion” and outline a three stage process:

The first stage involves nonconscious mimicry, during which individuals subtly copy one another’s nonverbal cues, including posture, facial expressions and movements. In effect, seeing my frown makes you more likely to frown. People may then experience a feedback stage—because you frowned, you now feel sad. During the final contagion stage, individuals share their experiences until their emotions and behaviors become synchronized.

Consider the mood altering experience of attending a business meeting where the leader is in a great mood or in a bad mood. The tone can run from positive and optimistic to defeatist, stressful and anxiety provoking and chances are your mood will be altered accordingly.

Moods are transmitted to those around you. One of the worst things about a bad day at the office is that it doesn’t stay at the office: when negativity follows you home, it also affects the ones you love.

The good news is that the opposite is true, too. Research suggests that one person’s positive feelings can spread to other members of a household. The study looked at “day-specific self esteem” of working couples and found that if one person came home with a high level of confidence about his or her performance on the job, it was more than likely that by bedtime their partner would also be feeling good about their accomplishments that day.  If one partner generally had low self-esteem and was more prone to having bad days at the office, then the “crossover” of positivity from a partner who had a good day was even more pronounced.

The bottom line: a good mood is catching. Surround yourself with sunspots and don’t get too close to black holes that might suck you in.

Do you spend more time on your children than with them?

There’s a lot of parenting advice out there. In addition to friends and family weighing in on how to raise a perfect kid, there are over 58,000 parenting books telling you what you should and should not do. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel inadequate. A friend and exasperated fellow mom recently told me, “I felt like I was spending more time on my children than with my children.” She has since decided to turn off “power-parenting mode” and enjoy being a mom without the pressure of trying to be the perfect parent with the perfect child.

Here are six science-backed tips to help you do the same:

1. Let your kids get bored

Instead of feeling pressure to plan fun activities and schedule extra classes, allow for some downtime. Encourage your kids to keep themselves busy and to fill free time by coming up with their own plans and activities. In addition to boosting their creativity and ability to take initiative, you will benefit from not having to drive them to yet another afterschool practice.

2. Walk the walk

Make healthy habits a family value. Model the behavior you want to encourage. Eat the fruits and vegetables you serve to your kids. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Make sleep a priority for everyone. Everyone will be happier, healthier and less stressed.

3. Sit on your hands

Allow your kids to solve their own problems (when age appropriate). Resist the impulse to swoop in and resolve any issue they are having at school or with a friend. This robs them of the confidence that they can do it on their own and undermines their ability to learn to navigate their way through a challenge.

4. Cultivate communication

Ask your children questions. If “How was your day?” is usually met with “Fine,” and a shoulder shrug, try something more specific like, “How was today different from yesterday?” or “What’s the one word you’d use to describe today?” Do your best to listen and give them your full attention. Create cell–free zones at home, especially at the dining room table. Avoid being half-there.

5. Take care of yourself

Women are the first to take great care of others and the last to take care of themselves. Don’t skip that doctor’s appointment. Take time to see friends. Hire a babysitter so you can have a date night. You will be a better mom when your own needs are met.

6. Send them out the door

Encourage your children to play outside and minimize screen time. In addition to being good for their physical fitness, studies show it improves academic performance. Best of all, it’s fun.

Do people become more grateful when they are asked to reflect upon their own mortality? Studies show that taking time to thinking about one’s death can actually promote healthy behaviors and help people prioritize what matters most to them.

I read a haunting article in Scientific American article that takes this topic one step further.

What do people think about in the moments before their death? To explore this unfathomable question, Michael Shermer, author of The Moral Arc, analyzed the final statements of 417 death row inmates. His work is not intended to glorify or denounce the accused, rather, it is intended to explore the mindsets of those facing certain death.

According to a text analysis program, “love,” “know,” “family,” “thank” and “sorry” were the words most commonly used. Shermer provides some examples of the final statements:

To my family, to my mom, I love you.

I appreciate everybody for their love and support. You all keep strong, thank you for showing me love and teaching me how to love.

I want to tell my sons I love them; I have always loved them.

I would like to extend my love to my family members and my relatives for all of the love and support you have showed me.

As the ocean always returns to itself, love always returns to itself.

Forgiveness and love were the two main emotions. Shermer found that 44 percent either apologized for their crimes or asked for forgiveness from the families present. Seventy percent of the statements included effusive love language.

Connection to others was a recurring theme. Shermer posits that people say what they truly feel and believe in the seconds before their death and then prioritize those emotions and thoughts by what matters most.