Sleep

I'll find a way to footnote this later, but first... sleep....

There is something about sleep. We don't get nearly enough of it. We need it to survive, and they have fairly well documented results of good studies where they completely mess with people's sleep rhythms, and all kinds of bad stuff happens to their bodies;

Loss of sleep leads to weight gain.

Lack of sleep leads to memory loss.

... leads to other health issues (both physical and mental.)

If you are not getting a good 8 hours of sleep a night, nearly every night, are you at least sleeping in a completely blacked out room? Your eyes can register almost anything brighter than starlight in the dark.

Try blocking out your clock radio. Do you need to get up with an alarm every day? Are there any days that you cannot? Sleep in the blackest black room, and see how well you sleep. If you are the kind of person who needs to fall asleep with a TV on, try out blacking out everything. Take your time with it... see if you can make your room blacker than anything you have ever been in. Cover the clock radio, and wait to see what is bright in your room now. Now you can see that that nightlight is so bright... unplug it. Work your way down to the tiny lights you forget are on.

Eventually, you will reach the point where the little light from the charger for your cell phone will seem to illuminate half your room. Black that out, too. Find a way to make your shades completely dark, or try out a set of blackout shades/liners.

I started doing this on my overnights, and we pretty much do this at home now, too. You will sleep so much better....

When you sleep, your body recharges, rebuilding and healing itself. It releases HGH (human growth hormone,) which is the elixir of life. In various studies, people who age well, always looking younger than their age, wrinkles develop a decade later than on anyone else, etc... invariably have higher amounts of HGH in their blood naturally. You want to visibly age slower? Provide your body a chance to release this regularly.

Your mind also needs the time to recharge. It needs time to heal. Give it that time.

Sleep well.

Scott