FIND HOLIDAY ZZZZs Nearly eight in 10 Americans skimp on sleep during the holidays,
a Gallup poll finds. How to speed your trip to slumberland:
STRETCH: Try this tension-melting pose: Lie with the soles of your feet together, knees open. Breathe deeply, sink into the mattress and hold for a few breaths. Sweet dreams! LOG OFF: The screen’s glow fools your brain into thinking it’s daytime. Shut down an hour before shut-eye.
UNLOAD: Organizing your
thoughts on paper can calm a jumpy consciousness. Jot down to-do’s before bed to clear your mind. BLANK OUT: To transition to sleep, solve a Sudoku instead of reading. Puzzles are easier to disengage from than page-turners.
—Self
FRESH FRUIT Some fruits don’t ripen after they’re picked (they just get softer). So buy ripe peaches, nectarines, pineapples, cherries and berries. Some fruits that can continue to ripen after you buy them: mangoes, papayas, avocados, bananas, apples and pears.
—Nutrition Action
PULL UP OR CHIN UP? Chin-ups are done with the palms facing you; pull-ups, with them
facing outward.
Chin-ups work
the biceps harder, while pull-ups
target the arm
muscle between the biceps and
triceps. Both
exercises are
worth doing.
—Men's Fitness
ACCIDENT-PRONE SLEEPERS Drivers who get a night of poor sleep are more impaired than those with chronic sleep disturbances, so stay off the road after a restless night. In a New Zealand study, people who slept less than five hours the previous night upped their chances of an accident by 170 percent. Those with apnea or regular sleep disruptions increase risk by about half.
—Prevention
FLU FIGHTERS Wash your hands—the influenza virus is highly contagious and spreads easily. Experts suspect that it can live on objects such as telephones, doorknobs, computer keyboards and elevator buttons for as long as 48 hours. To protect yourself, wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water.
Exercise—at the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State
University in North Carolina, researchers found that people who walked at a brisk pace for 40 minutes five days a week had half the number of sick days of those who didn’t exercise.
Get enough rest—research shows that lack of sleep can reduce your number of natural killer cells, the body’s defense against infection. Aim for seven to eight hours every night.
