Sleep Like A Baby

Follow this advice to get better rest and wake up refreshed.
By Ellen Mazo and the Editors of Prevention

Follow these tips to help ensure that your time between the sheets leaves you feeling refreshed and renewed:

Make breakfast your heaviest meal of the day.

Digesting food takes energy, so if you eat a heavy meal late in the day, your body will have to work hard to digest it while you're trying to go to sleep. Many people sleep better if they have protein at breakfast and lunch, and a light dinner with some carbohydrates.

Cut back on the sleep robbers.

Cut out caffeine after 2 p.m., and refrain from drinking alcohol within three hours of bedtime. You may become drowsy after a couple of glasses of wine, but too much alcohol will make you wake up frequently during the night. In addition, although coffee is the most obvious source of caffeine, don't forget that there's also caffeine in colas, chocolate, tea, and some medications.

Go toward the light.

Get outside when it's sunny, or at least turn on the lights at home in the morning. This will help you reset your awake-sleep cycle.

Drink like a fish.

Even mild dehydration—losing as little as 1/2 cup of body water—could turn into low-grade chronic fatigue. Drink eight to 10 eight-ounce glasses of water a day, and add four to six more glasses when you exercise. To prevent unnecessary trips to the bathroom at night, empty your bladder before going to sleep, and don't drink more than 4 ounces within an hour of going to bed.

Exercise earlier in the day.

Regular exercise first energizes, then relaxes you. So if you start doing calisthenics or aerobics right before bed, nerve-stimulating hormones will be released and will raise your body's core temperature, preventing you from falling asleep. Exercise—but do it earlier in the day.

Walk into sleep.

You don't have to walk far to get sleep-enhancing benefits. People who walked at least six blocks a day at a normal pace were one-third less likely to have trouble sleeping, according to one study of more than 700 men and women. Those who picked up the pace had even better sleeping habits. You get the same benefits with walking that you'd get by taking sleep medication—but without the medication's side effects, such as grogginess, increased snoring, risk of sleep apnea, and possible addiction.

Take a nap.

It's okay to nap, especially if you didn't sleep well last night. Research has found that people who nap for 15 minutes feel more alert and less sleepy, even after a bad night's sleep.

Go to bed only when you're sleepy.

If you can't fall asleep within 15 to 20 minutes, get up and leave your bedroom. Go into the living room and read until you're tired again. Or sit in a chair and think pleasant thoughts: a dream vacation, standing by a waterfall. This should help calm you so that you can return to bed and sleep.

Move the television out of your bedroom.

Your bed and bedroom are for sleep and sex. That's it. No reading. No talking on the telephone. No worrying.

Create a sleep schedule and stick to it.

You may not be able to go to bed at the same time every night, but you can establish a regular wake-up time. Get up at the same time every morning, even on weekends.

Watch your nighttime posture.

For a restful night, try these strategies:

• Relieve lower-back pressure by putting a pillow under your knees. The pillow comfortably flexes your lower spine.
• Try a pillow made with down instead of a foam pillow. You want a pillow that is low enough to support your head without flexing your neck, to avoid neck and shoulder aches. Orthopedic pillows with a scooped-out hollow for your head help support the neck and can also be helpful, especially if you have chronic neck problems.
• Put enough blankets on your bed to stay warm. You may otherwise unconsciously curl up to keep warm, which can leave you with a sore back.
• Allow yourself enough room to be able to move your arms and legs and roll over during the night. This is a natural way to prevent your joints from getting stiff.

Take special measures when you're on the night shift.

You weren't designed to work the night shift, or rotating shifts, but you may have no choice. So, here are some tips for when you must work while everyone else is asleep:

Use bright lights to mimic daylight, to keep you awake.

Try to stay on the same shift, but if you must rotate, do it by the clock: from days to afternoons to nights.

If you can't sleep when you get home in the morning, don't force it. Wait till early afternoon when you have an energy dip.

Try an herbal soother.

Instead of sleeping pills, you might want to try valerian, an herb that can improve your quality of sleep without leaving you feeling groggy the next morning. You need to allow about 2 weeks for valerian to build up in your system. Try taking between 150 and 300 milligrams at bedtime as needed, but give yourself a break now and then to allow your sleep patterns to develop without help. You don't have to buy the more expensive valerian supplements that have other ingredients or herbs.

10 Things You Didn't Know About You

The human body is a great, sweaty, fluid-filled machine, moving and mixing chemicals with precision and coordination, making everything from memories to mucus. Here we explore some of the complex, beautiful or just plain gross mysteries of how you function.

Content provided by: Live Science

Your stomach secretes corrosive acid

There's one dangerous liquid no airport security can confiscate from you: It's in your gut. Your stomach cells secrete hydrochloric acid, a corrosive compound used to treat metals in the industrial world. It can pickle steel, but mucous lining the stomach wall keeps this poisonous liquid safely in the digestive system, breaking down lunch.

Body position affects your memory

Can't remember your anniversary, hubby? Try getting down on one knee. Memories are highly embodied in our senses. A scent or sound may evoke a distant episode from one's childhood. The connections can be obvious (a bicycle bell makes you remember your old paper route) or inscrutable. A scientific study helps decipher some of this embodiment. An article in the January 2007 issue of Cognition reports that episodes from your past are remembered faster and better while in a body position similar to the pose struck during the event.

Bones break (down) to balance minerals

In addition to supporting the bag of organs and muscles that is our body, bones help regulate our calcium levels. Bones contain both phosphorus and calcium, the latter of which is needed by muscles and nerves. If the element is in short supply, certain hormones will cause bones to break down, upping calcium levels in the body until the appropriate extracellular concentration is reached.

Much of a meal is food for thought

Though it makes up only 2 percent of our total body weight, the brain demands 20 percent of the body's oxygen and calories. To keep our noggin well-stocked with resources, three major cerebral arteries are constantly pumping in oxygen. A blockage or break in any of them starves brain cells of the energy they require to function, impairing the functions controlled by the affected region. This is a stroke.

Thousands of eggs unused by ovaries

The average adolescent girl has 34,000 underdeveloped egg follicles, although only 350 or so mature during her life (at the rate of about one per month). When a woman reaches her late 40s or early 50s, the monthly menstrual cycle that controls her hormone levels and readies ova for insemination ceases. Her ovaries have been producing less and less estrogen, inciting physical and emotional changes across her body. Her underdeveloped egg follicles begin to fail to release ova as regularly as before; the unused egg follicles then deteriorate. With no potential pregnancy on the horizon, the brain can stop managing the release of ova.

Puberty reshapes brain structure, makes for missed curfews

We know that hormone-fueled changes in the body are necessary to encourage growth and ready the body for reproduction. But why is adolescence so emotionally unpleasant? Hormones like testosterone actually influence the development of neurons in the brain, and the changes made to brain structure have many behavioral consequences. Expect emotional awkwardness, apathy and poor decision-making skills as regions in the frontal cortex mature.

Cell hairs move mucus

Most cells in our bodies sport hair-like organelles called cilia that help out with a variety of functions, from digestion to hearing. In the nose, cilia help to drain mucus from the nasal cavity down to the throat. Cold weather slows down the draining process, causing a mucus backup that can leave you with snotty sleeves. Swollen nasal membranes or condensation can also cause a stuffed schnozzle.

Big brains cause cramped mouths

Evolution isn't perfect. If it were, we might have wings instead of wisdom teeth. Sometimes useless features stick around in a species simply because they're not doing much harm. But wisdom teeth weren't always a cash crop for oral surgeons. Long ago, they served as a useful third set of meat-mashing molars. But as our brains grew, our jawbone structure changed, leaving us with expensively overcrowded mouths.

The world laughs with you

Just as watching someone yawn can induce the behavior in yourself, recent evidence suggests that laughter is a social cue for mimicry. Hearing a laugh actually stimulates the brain region associated with facial movements. Mimicry plays an important role in social interaction. Cues like sneezing, laughing, crying and yawning may be ways of creating strong social bonds within a group.

Your skin has four colors

All skin, without coloring, would appear creamy white. Blood vessels near the surface add a blush of red. A yellow pigment also tints the canvas. Lastly, sepia-toned melanin, created in response to ultraviolet rays, appears black in large amounts. These four hues mix in different proportions to create the skin colors of all the peoples of Earth.

Eat Smart When Eating Out

Excerpted from Prevention's The 2-Week Total Body Turnaround, published by Rodale, Inc.

Content from: prevention

There are so many things to tempt us when eating out. The portions served are notoriously humungous, and it's easy to feel like you don’t have control over the way your food is prepared. But there are a lot of tricks you can use from 2-Week Total Body Turnaround when ordering at a restaurant that can keep your calories and fat grams down and help you stay healthy and fit.

Tip 1: Order fish or chicken and ask for extra veggies instead of rice or potatoes. And get a side salad to start!

Tip 2: Look for entrées that are baked, steamed, grilled, broiled, or poached. Avoid crusted, stuffed, and fried foods.

Tip 3: If you are going to a restaurant you have never been to before, look up the menu online and pre-select the healthiest choices.

Tip 4: Ask for salsa as a side sauce instead of sour cream, butter, cheese, or bacon.

Tip 5: Ask for a take-out container before you start eating and divide your meal in half right away. Then take half of your meal home.

Tip 6: Watch your liquid calories. Avoid soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, and flavored coffees especially. If you must drink alcohol, a glass of wine is your best choice.

Tip 7: Choose foods that are rich in whole grains. Ask for brown rice instead of white and whole-grain bread instead of white.

Tip 8: If you have a sweet tooth, split your dessert with others at the table. If no one will split with you, order lighter fare, like fresh fruit or sorbet. If you absolutely must, order the dessert, but only take a couple of bites—and don’t feel guilty for leaving the rest on the plate! Remember you are in control of your choices! Try to leave that restaurant feeling as good as you did when you walked in.

9 Natural Fertility Boosters

Limit caffeine consumption

Several studies have shown reduced fertility for women who consume more than 300 mg of caffeine each day. Fortunately, the threshold is high enough that you can still indulge in that morning cup o' joe, since the average 8-ounce cup of coffee only has 100 to 130 mg of caffeine. Don't forget, though, that black tea, green tea, chocolate, and some sodas also contain caffeine.

For women undergoing in vitro fertilization, however, the threshold is much lower: A mere 50 mg of caffeine—the equivalent of one cup of tea—can negatively impact success rates.

Alice Domar, an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School who also counsels women dealing with infertility, suggests that you may want to further restrict your caffeine intake if you've been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant, even if you're not doing IVF. Since only limited research has been done on the topic, Domar worries that further research may show that lower amounts of caffeine still impact fertility.

"Fertility is a very time-limited period in a woman's life, so try everything you can now," Domar recommends. "There's no downside to further limiting your caffeine intake, and if further research shows that lower caffeine intakes negatively impact even non-IVF women, you'll know you’ve done everything you could."

If you're overweight, lose weight

Being extremely overweight can make a woman less likely to get pregnant. Obesity can inhibit ovulation and wreak havoc with hormones. It also puts women at risk for a variety of health problems (such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure) that negatively impact fertility and can create complications during pregnancy. Women who are morbidly obese are also less likely to be successful with fertility treatments.

Part of the problem is the hormonal imbalance that's created by the fat cells themselves. Fat cells produce extra estrogen, says Gerard Letterie, a reproductive endocrinologist at the Northwest Center for Reproductive Sciences. The more fat cells, the more estrogen, so being overweight is very similar to being on birth control pills.

Domar explains that although female fertility peaks with a body mass index in the low- to mid-20s, weight-related fertility problems are most common in women with a BMI greater than 34, which is considered obese. For instance, a woman who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds isn't just obese; she’s also jeopardizing her fertility.

If you're having trouble losing weight, Letterie recommends a group weight loss program like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers. "Studies have shown that women participating in group weight loss programs are the most likely to be successful," says Letterie.

You needn't diet down to a size 8 to get pregnant. "Research shows that when obese women lose an average of 10 to 14 pounds, many will get pregnant the natural way, without medical intervention," Domar says.

If you're underweight, gain weight

A normal, healthy Body Mass Index ranges from 18.5 to 24.9. Anything lower than 18.5 is underweight. For instance, woman who is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 105 pounds has a BMI of 18 and is considered to be underweight.

Being even slightly underweight can dramatically reduce your fertility, as fertility starts to plummet for women with BMIs of 18 or lower.

Women who are underweight are less likely to ovulate. Some will stop menstruating completely. Others will menstruate irregularly. But experiencing a monthly period doesn't necessarily mean you're fertile, since it's possible to menstruate without ovulating.

Sometimes low body weight can be caused by excessive exercise and athletic training, which has also been linked to problems with getting and staying pregnant. For such women, dialing back on the exercise can be enough to gain weight and boost fertility.

For low body weight caused by an eating disorder, it's important to seek professional treatment.

Simply gaining some weight is usually enough for women to begin ovulating again, says Letterie. For those women who don't, Letterie stresses that there are simple treatments to help women ovulate again, but only after they've gained the necessary weight.

Check your BMI

Try acupuncture

In May 2006, the journal Fertility and Sterility published two studies showing significantly increased pregnancy rates for women receiving acupuncture treatments in conjunction with the embryo transfer stage of in vitro fertilization. In one study, women receiving acupuncture were more than twice as likely to become pregnant. In another, acupuncture prior to embryo transfer increased rate of pregnancy by 50 percent.

Researchers aren't sure why acupuncture may be helpful. Some speculate that acupuncture may positively impact hormonal levels or increase blood flow to the ovaries and uterus. Another theory: Since acupuncture can induce a relaxation response, it may be counteracting the stress that often accompanies infertility. Reducing infertility-related stress and anxiety has been shown to increase success for IVF treatments.

Despite the positive findings, scientists agree that more research needs to prove that acupuncture is truly effective.

Although Domar herself has called for more rigorous testing of acupuncture, specifically to sort out the issue of the placebo effect, that hasn’t stopped her from recommending acupuncture to her infertility patients. "There is some very promising data out there," Domar says. "Acupuncture is a safe, cheap, non-invasive and easy way to potentially increase your chances of getting pregnant."

Walk 30 minutes per day

Walking just 30 minutes each day is a simple, inexpensive form of exercise that helps ward off problems like heart disease and diabetes, diseases which may impact fertility and can cause complications during pregnancy. In addition, regular exercise helps maintain a normal body weight, which is an important part of maximizing fertility.

Walking may also help boost fertility by increasing circulation to the pelvis and the reproductive organs, since some research has linked decreased blood-flow to the ovaries with ovarian aging and reduced success with in-vitro fertilization.

"Many couples I see have jobs that require them to sit all day in front of the computer. This doesn't do much for circulation to the pelvis and the reproductive organs," says Dr. Susan Carr, a naturopathic physician at Fertile Path in western Washington state. "Exercise is one way to support circulation to these organs."

Daily physical activity is also a great way to improve your mood and help ward off the stress and depression that are common side effects of infertility.

Thirty minutes a day is easy to fit into even the busiest of schedules and can provide a great opportunity to spend quality time with your partner or a good friend.

Deal with depression

While many experts believe that depression doesn't cause infertility, proper treatment for depression can help increase fertility.

Since it's not uncommon for women struggling with infertility to become depressed, try joining a fertility-focused mind-body group. These groups teach techniques to relax and manage the stress and anxiety associated with infertility. Research conducted at the Harvard Medical School found that women undergoing in vitro fertilization who participated in a 10-week mind-body program were more than twice as likely to get pregnant.

If you were seriously depressed before attempting to get pregnant, it's important to seek prompt treatment from a mental health professional. "Women with severe clinical depression are much less likely to eat well, exercise, and otherwise take care of themselves," says Domar. "And women who are less healthy are less likely to get pregnant."

While anti-depressants can be effective in the short term, Letterie encourages women to work with their doctors to get on the lowest dose possible. Ideally, he'd like to see women weaned off of prescriptions before getting pregnant, since taking medication during pregnancy is not without risks.

To learn to manage depression without drugs, Domar recommends that women work with a cognitive behavioral therapist to learn effective ways of dealing with depression. The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies maintains a database of therapists trained in cognitive behavioral techniques.

Eat a balanced diet

To maximize your chances of conception and a healthy pregnancy, Carr and Domar both recommend eating a healthy, unprocessed diet rich in whole grains, beans, fresh fruit and vegetables, raw nuts and seeds (skip the ones with added oil and salt), healthy oils (like olive oil), lean meat, and cold-water fish like wild salmon that are high in omega-3 fatty acids.

A balanced, whole-foods diet will help you maintain a normal BMI, a critical component in maximizing fertility. In addition, by eating well and minimizing unhealthy fats, white flour, sugar, and salt, you'll reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure—diseases that can decrease your fertility and also cause complications in pregnancy.

To further boost your chances of conception, Carr recommends emphasizing foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as wild, cold-water fish, walnuts, and flax seeds. "Omega-3 fatty acids promote fertility, since essential fats are required for hormone balance and healthy cell function," says Carr. "Unfortunately, most diets are deficient."

With just a little extra planning, it's easy to integrate more whole foods into your diet. For breakfast, try a bowl of oatmeal with fresh fruit. For lunch, have a sandwich on whole-grain bread or a colorful salad with olive oil and vinegar. Fresh fruits, as well as raw nuts and seeds, make excellent mid-afternoon snacks. "Just be intelligent about your health," says Domar. "Given a choice between fried dough and an apple, we all know which one to pick."

Strictly limit alcohol consumption

Most reproductive experts agree that one or two drinks each week shouldn’t impact a woman's chances of getting pregnant, while excessive drinking is clearly problematic. However, the jury is still out on exactly how much a woman can drink before her fertility is affected.

While a couple of studies have found no link between moderate alcohol (one to two drinks each day) intake and fertility, one Danish study from 2003 found that just seven drinks a week could negatively impact the chances of conceiving for women more than 30 years old. Another Danish study from 1998 found that even moderate drinking (6 to 10 drinks each week) reduced a woman's chances of getting pregnant, with more excessive drinking further decreasing the chances of conceiving.

For women who are heavier drinkers, Letterie recommends that they get their drinking problem under control before they try to conceive, especially since it's critically important that women cut out alcohol completely once pregnant.

Although it's still unclear whether or not moderate drinking will negatively impact fertility, limiting alcohol consumption to only one or two drinks each week surely won't hurt, especially if you’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for more than a few months.

In addition, you should stop drinking after you ovulate during any cycle in which you try to conceive. Alcohol consumption after conception can increase the risk of miscarriage and can cause fetal alcohol syndrome.

Stop smoking and avoid second-hand smoke

More than 100 research studies have consistently linked smoking to decreased fertility and increased problems in carrying a birth to term, says Dr. David Adamson, a reproductive endocrinologist at Advanced Reproductive Care in Palo Alto, Calif.

Smoking damages eggs, reducing the chances of getting pregnant during any given cycle, and smokers may hit menopause several years earlier than their non-smoking peers. Smoking also negatively impacts hormone levels, further reducing fertility.

The problems don't end when a smoker gets pregnant. Smokers are more likely to suffer from miscarriage and complication during their pregnancies, and babies born to smokers are more likely to be underweight.

Although smoking does damage eggs, quitting now can still help boost fertility. Going smoke-free will prevent further reduction in egg quality, help reverse hormonal changes, and increase the chances of carrying a healthy baby to term.

According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, it's not enough for just the woman to stop smoking, since second-hand smoke has been shown to be almost as bad for a woman's fertility as actually smoking. Since smoking also reduces fertility in men, it makes sense to make quitting a family affair.

By Lisa Farino for MSN Health & Fitness

The Core Back-and-Belly Challenge

Say goodbye to the same old ab work. These 8 moves will target your core muscles and help strengthen your back.

By Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & Fitness

For decades, people worked their abs by doing traditional ab moves such as the crunch or ab curl, sit-ups, or extended-leg exercises like the bicycle or Pilates V-sit (such as for the "Teaser"). But these moves tend to flex (or bend) the spine and concentrate on the abs. Not only is this a potentially unbalanced way to strengthen muscles in the torso, but bending the spine repeatedly, or putting great load on it (as when lifting straight legs away from the body) can over-stress the spine.

Instead of hammering away at the belly by bending the spine up and down or back and forth, the new, more functional approach is training muscles to stabilize the spine. By engaging muscles both in the front and back of the torso, abdominal workouts rise to a whole new level. Think of it as a 360-degree approach that targets core muscles all around the spine.

This workout targets the ab and back muscles. By training in this way you'll develop more support for your back. But if you also want to flatten your belly, you'll need to do workouts that reduce body fat. The recipe for fat loss is to do more cardio so that you'll burn more calories: Aim for 30 to 90 minutes of aerobic activities such as walking, running, dancing, cycling or swimming on most days of the week. Eating or drinking fewer calories will help reduce belly fat, too.

How to do it:

• For moves with weights, choose a weight that is heavy enough to challenge your target muscles, but not so heavy that your joints feel strained. Start with dumbbells that are at least two to three pounds and gradually work up to heavier weights as the exercise gets easier.

• Core moves are more about building endurance, rather than strength. Each exercise varies. In moves 1, 2 and 8, you'll start by perform 1 set of 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise, and work up to doing 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps. In moves 3 through 7, you'll simply hold the position or repeat the movement for longer periods.

• Do this workout two to three times a week.

• Modify this workout to match your fitness level. Adapt each move as needed to make it easier.

• What you need: Weights and a resistance band.

from msn health