Staying Healthy Archive

Getting enough good-quality sleep is essential to staying healthy and aging well. Certain sleep problems — for example, sleep apnea — require medical treatment. But these 10 simple steps can help you overcome general sleep difficulties, including insomnia.

1. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule and routine. Go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning. A set sleep routine will "train" you to fall asleep and wake up more easily.
2. Use the bed only for sleep and sex.
3. Cut down on caffeine. For some people, a single cup of coffee in the morning means a sleepless night. Caffeine can also increase the need to urinate during the night.
4. Be physically active. Regular aerobic exercise like walking, running, or swimming provides three important sleep benefits: you'll fall asleep faster, attain a higher percentage of restorative deep sleep, and awaken less often during the night.
5. Limit daytime naps. Prolonged napping can disrupt your natural sleep cycle and prevent you from feeling tired enough to fall asleep.
6. If you use tobacco in any form, quit. Nicotine makes it harder to fall asleep.
7. Use alcohol cautiously. Alcohol depresses the nervous system, so a nightcap may help some people fall asleep. But this effect disappears after a few hours and may even lead to waking up throughout the night. Alcohol can also worsen snoring and other sleep breathing problems.
8. Improve your sleep surroundings. Remove the television, telephone, and any other devices from the bedroom. This reinforces the idea that this room is meant for sleeping. An ideal environment is quiet, dark, and relatively cool, with a comfortable bed and minimal clutter.
9. If you're still awake after about 20 minutes in bed, get up and read awhile to relax. Otherwise, you'll set yourself up for tossing and turning.
10. Try to avoid taking sleeping pills. If you do take a prescription sleep medicine, work with your doctor to use it effectively and for as short a time as possible.

For more ways to get better-quality sleep and tackle common sleep problems, buy Improving Sleep: A guide to a good night's rest, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School. 

How can you keep snacking from derailing your healthy eating program, not to mention weight control? Try these tips.

Don't skip meals. Skipping meals may seem like a good way to cut calories, but in fact this just makes you so hungry later in the day that you're vulnerable to devouring mega-portions of snack food, in order to supply your body with easily digested sugars.

Fish is an excellent source of protein, and its healthy oils protect against cardiovascular disease. Because a diet rich in seafood protects the heart and aids neurological development, fish remains an important component of a healthy diet.

However, nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of mercury, a toxic metal, and some seafood contains other contaminants known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). As small fish are eaten by larger fish up the food chain, concentrations of mercury and POPs increase, so that large, predatory deep-ocean fish tend to contain the highest levels. That makes it best to avoid eating large fish, such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel. As long as you avoid these higher sources of mercury, the benefits of eating fish far outweigh the risks of mercury in fish.

When it comes to heart health, there's a lot to love about racket sports.

If you haven't lobbed a tennis ball over a net since high school, you might want to pick up a racket again. A recent study suggests that people who play racket sports regularly may slash their odds of dying from a heart attack or stroke.

Tennis, which ranks among the world's most popular sports, provides an excellent full-body workout, plus a few other less obvious benefits. And lower-impact racket sports, such as badminton or table tennis, may be good choices for people who have certain health conditions or who are older (see "Ping-Pong, perhaps?").

Building strength and power is key to healthy aging, both physically and mentally. It may be easier than you think.

We probably don't need to remind you that your body changes with age. Age-related muscle loss begins at around age 35 and progresses slowly — at about 1% per year. But after about age 60, muscle loses mass more rapidly, so that adults who don't do regular strength training may lose 4 to 6 pounds of muscle per decade. Moreover, the lost muscle is usually replaced by fat.

Studies show that strength training not only can slow muscle loss, it can also help prevent or control conditions as varied as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and osteoporosis. And recent research indicates that it can also improve cognitive function, especially when added to aerobic exercise. As we age, strength training helps to preserve mobility and reduce the risk of falling. "What has been shown is that if you're looking at mobility problems, the most beneficial exercises that are those that focus on progressive training for strength and power," says Dr. Jonathan Bean, an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.