【推荐1】A Good Night’s Sleep

Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. While you’re sleeping, your brain is forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information. Although we all know the importance of getting a good night’s sleep, not all of us know the best way of getting it. A sleep expert, Phil Atherton, gave some top tips for getting the most out of the night, which will leave you ready for action in the morning.

According to Phil Atherton, not eating a large meal before bedtime is important for getting a good night’s sleep. The time difference between eating and sleeping should be at least three hours. So you’d better avoid eating any food three hours before bed, as it will lower your blood sugar during sleep and help minimize damage from too much sugar floating around.

It’s also important to find ways to prepare your body for sleep. You can follow a routine like trying not to expose yourself to too much artificial light within 1 hour before bed, as your brain uses light to help set internal “body clock”. Although it might seem unnatural to schedule your sleep, the purpose is to send a signal to your body and mind that it’s time to sleep.

Another way to prepare your body for sleep is to get into a relaxed state by taking a bath or listening to soft music. Both of them will help to take the mind off the daytime pressures.

Having a suitable bed, especially a suitable mattress (床垫), is necessary for a good night’s sleep. Sleep is a personalized activity, and we all adopt different sleeping positions. Finding the mattress that suits you will reduce back pains that can result from a poor sleeping position. The bed should be four to six inches longer than its tallest user, allowing for space to move around.

The recent research is pretty clear that a good night’s sleep is a major component of good health. Since the start of the 21st century, studies have linked a lack of sleep to many diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. Taking action now will lead to long-term benefits for you and those around you.

【推荐2】Have you promised that your are going to get healthier? Maybe you want to lose weight, get stronger and have more energy. Maybe you are under the doctor’s orders to eat right and take exercise more. Well, those all sound great.But with so many choices, it can be hard to get started.     1    

Eat right. Healthy eating is harder than before. Now many supermarkets or restaurants are packed with unhealthy choices that cause weight gain and weaken energy. Over time, making poor food choices can cause illness. But you don’t have to be concerned about it.     2     Cut out the junk food.

Keep healthy.     3    . So take exercise at once. Once you get started, you will be more likely to stick to it. Reduce stress. In the US, 77% of people often experience physical stress.     4     You can manage stress by taking exercise, getting enough rest and cleaning bad relationships from your life.

    5    . Sure, some people are naturally happier than others. But there are things you can consciously do to be happier. And guess what they are all free. So if you want to be happier, there are a few things to do, for example, express thanks, help others ,or how to meditate.

【推荐3】Americans are more stressed than ever, according to an American Psychological Association survey, and nearly one-third of the people say stress impacts their physical or mental health. If you have any of these symptoms, your stress might be making you sick. Here’s how to battle against them.

If you’ve never suffered from headaches but suddenly your head is constantly striking, you might be too stressed. Stress releases chemicals that can cause changes to nerves and blood vessels（血管）in the brain, which brings on a headache. Stress can cause them or make them worse. It’s also common for your muscles to tense up when you’re stressed, which can also cause a headache. WHAT TO DO: If you don’t want to take medicine, try spreading lavender（薰衣草）oil on your temples（太阳穴）when a headache starts.

Stress can make you mentally sick, too. Too much of the stress hormone cortisol（皮质醇）can make it harder to concentrate, causing memory problems as well as anxiety or depression says Dr. Levine. WHAT TO DO: Relax until you regain your concentration. Practice closing your eyes and breathing in and out slowly, concentrating only on your breath.

Losing a few strands of hair is normal—old hair follicles（囊）are replaced by new ones over time—but stress can disturb that cycle. Significant stress pushes a large number of hair follicles into what’s called a resting stage and then a few months later those hairs fall out, according to MayoClinic. org. Stress can also cause the body’s resistant system to attack your hair follicles, resulting in hair loss. WHAT TO DO: Be patient. Once your stress level returns to normal, your hair should start growing back.