Two things I ask nearly every patient on every visit: “How are you sleeping” and, “Are you getting some exercise.”

If the answers are fine and yes, then I begin to relax in the belief that things are going pretty well for this person.  It’s a remarkably sensible formula: Rest + Exercise = Improved Health.

Our bodies were made to do things; and then, to rest in order to more things the next day.  People have been getting physical exercise since the time we lived in caves and hunted for dinner.  In modern times, we spend less time foraging through the woods for dinner and more time standing in front of the microwave oven.

Exercise researchers have shown that regular exercise is good for your mind and body.  It can even be a remedy for mild depression (see earlier blog).  The huffing and puffing of exercise blows off the emotional steam that comes with anxiety.  It is one of the few documented factors that help to reduce the risk of dementia and heart attacks.  Need I say more about the need to make some time for exercise?

Sleep researchers recommend 6-10 hour s of sleep.  Most people need about eight.  Some of us do better with nine.  Very few people function well with less than six.

In many ways, sleep seems like one of the easiest things to do with our time.  It is not.  A healthy sleep pattern takes discipline.  Reduce or eliminate caffeine if you sleep poorly.   Good sleep hygiene also requires that you spend the last hour or so of your day unwinding – not finishing a work or school project, not watching an adventure movie or reading a scary book. Let your mind and body relax.

Then make yourself go to bed.  Your mother does not control your bedtime anymore, so tell your own self “It’s time to go to bed so I can get up in the morning and exercise.”