Improve Your Health for Free
- July 31st, 2011
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Tired? Gaining weight? Before you reach for a nutritional supplement like stem cell supplements or a health drink such as bHIP Purple Vitality, try one lifestyle change for two weeks. And no, I’m not pushing exercise (although it is a good thing). Examine your sleep habits. How many hours are sleeping in a day? Six on a good night? How’s the quality of your sleep? When your alarm goes off in the morning are you feeling refreshed? Or are you hitting the snooze three or four times? Our society belittles the effect of sleep. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead!” says the young college student. Go-getters work into the small hours of the morning to prove to their bosses that they have the “right stuff.”
Moms proudly compare how much they can do on only four hours of sleep. And what do we have to show for it? Stressed and suppressed immune systems, gradually rising blood pressures, and expanding waistlines. Examine your reasons for your short hours of sleep. Is it a combination of poor planning, control issues, and ego? We want everyone to be impressed at how hard we work. We want to be the parent that brings in the thematic cupcakes, rather than the quick pickup from the bakery.
When my son Joe spent the last two nights working on a presentation, you don’t want to say that you went on a picnic. So how to balance it? Planning, letting go, and spin. How much sleep do you need to feel rested? Eight or nine hours? Great! Now add at least another thirty minutes to relax before bed. So what do you have to give up? Cleaning the house? Train the other members of the household to pitch in. Dinners and dishes and cleaning the kitchen? Sandwiches, deli salads, and paper plates.
Big, impressive projects for your kids? Let your kids do their own work. And your boss? Make sure your boss knows how you’re keeping on top of projects, and let Joe look like a last-minute procrastinator. Try this seriously for two weeks. Your body will stop pumping huge amounts of stress hormones into your body. Your energy levels will return and you will not only feel better, your body will be healthier too.