I love seasonal things: the leaves turning in Central Park, black tights and especially skiing - so why is it I much prefer to "spring forward," and feel a little off when it's time to "fall back?"
Biologically - I may have it backwards.

Nights get longer, days get shorter - but as counterintuitive as it sounds, new research suggests we should actually feel a little better when we move back from daylight saving time to standard time, at 2 a.m. Sunday, than we do come spring.

It has to do with your circadian clock, which - even more than your BlackBerry alarm- is your brain's master timekeeper. It governs sleep and wake cycles and body functions. Circadian rhythms naturally follow the sun in terms of sleep patterns, providing synchronicity as the seasons change. It's not just we humans who are affected by circadian cycles - they govern rhythmic changes in the behavior and physiology of most species.

When you feel alert - sleepy - want to eat, even the urge to urinate (less frequently at night) - all circadian.

Now, a large German study looks at what happens when man fools with Mother Nature's clock. Analyzing subjects who kept sleep records, researchers found sleeping patterns work clockwise, and the end of daylight savings time is how the body naturally wants to work - and our sleep and peak activity levels readily adjust.

But the study found when daylight-saving time kicks in come March and we lose that hour of sleep, it goes against our natural circadian rhythm - and we feel out of whack.

This should fuel the argument that daylight saving time - practiced by one-fourth of the world - messes with human physiology more than it should. Keep in mind, daylight saving time didn't evolve to get us in sync with the universe - it's a man-made thing designed to save energy.

So what if you're NOT feeling so energetic as you fall back, as we theoretically should?

We are in for shorter days, and that may burden folks who suffer from seasonal affective disorder. You may feel tired, blue or crave carbs - all telltale symptoms of SAD. Experts say the best way to deal with that is to maximize your exposure to light (natural light is best,) plus, exercise in the morning and regulate your sleep schedule.

Does changing the clock affect how you feel? We'd like to hear from you.

Those of you ladies out there who are in relationships, have you found your gaze lingering a bit too long on an especially beautiful woman? I think we all probably have. It's not just because of her perfect hair or "toothpaste commercial teeth" though. It's because of evolution.

That's what psychologists at Florida State University recently discovered. They measured how long it takes a person to avert their eyes when they see a really attractive person of the same sex, and concluded that we have an innate reflex of looking just a little bit longer at someone who appears to be "competition" for our mate, compared with when the interloper is just average-looking. And, if you're straight and you see someone of the opposite sex who's really attractive, it generally takes longer for you to avert your eyes too; you are literally mesmerized.

When I talked a little longer to lead study author John Maner, he revealed some other really interesting tidbits about the effects of evolution on how we choose our mates. It turns out beauty isn't really just in the eye of the beholder, as they say. In fact, it has generally objective parameters that are driven by evolutionary motivations. Study after study proves that our biological need to procreate leads most of us to pick mates with the same specific types of physical features over others. At the end of the day, most of us tend to latch on to people whose features suggest their own high potential for reproductive success. How unromantic!

Men look for women with a hip-to-waist ratio of 0.7, and a face with a high forehead, good skin, and big eyes because it means you're youthful - all signs of good childbearing potential and healthy future offspring. Meanwhile, women look for men with strong square jaws and other macho features that suggest high testosterone levels (big muscles, etc.) because the more dominant they are, the more likely they will provide resources and status for the woman. But when a woman wants to cheat, she usually looks for someone who's got really symmetrical features. That's because symmetry is something we tend to associate with having good gene... so in the end, even when we cheat, we're looking for good procreating prospects.

Every week I call my grandma and fill her in on what I've been working on. At 87, she is quite Internet savvy and reads most of what I post online. Last week, I was in Southern California covering the devastating wildfires. She knew before I even told her.

But today I am really praying that Grandma and the gals at the retirement community are caught up in a wild game of "hand and foot," because I'm reporting on oral sex and teens. Don't think I will be mentioning that during our next conversation.

We've been asked to look into the sex lives of teens for a special "Out in the Open" tonight at 8 ET. Rick Sanchez is interviewing Genarlow Wilson, who was released from prison on Friday. In 2005, Wilson, a high school honor student and football star, was found guilty of aggravated child molestation after having consensual oral sex with a female classmate at a motel-room party. Wilson was incarcerated for more than two years. On Friday, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the conviction. (Full Story)

Teens and oral sex. It's amazing how the topic can turn even the most mature group of adults into a gaggle of giggling sixth-graders. When I was a kid, only the "slutty" girls did that (or at least admitted it.) In my small Ohio town, what we knew about oral sex came from watching "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" at slumber parties while our parents slept upstairs.

But things seem to have changed. According to a 2005 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, slightly more than half of American teenagers ages 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex. Boys and girls report having similar levels of experience. It appears more teens are doing it now than 20 years ago. In the 1980s, a study found roughly one-fifth of 13- to 18-year-olds surveyed said they had ever had oral sex.

So what do you think? Do you think kids are engaging in oral sex at higher rates than they did in previous generations? Do you think oral sex is the same as intercourse? Do you talk to your kids about it?