4 . Sleep is important for our physical and mental well-being. Getting enough sleep can improve our overall health and quality of life. However, many people struggle to get the recommended amount of sleep each night.     1    

Get good exercise. Regular exercise is known to reduce stress and anxiety, improving the quality of sleep. Additionally, getting in a good workout can help regulate your sleep-wake cycle, making it easier to fall asleep and wake up at the same time each day.     2     It can increase your heart rate and body temperature, making it a struggle to fall asleep.

    3     Creating a sleep-friendly environment is important for getting better sleep. Your bedroom should be cool, dark, and quiet. Keeping the room dark can help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.

Treat sleep apnea (睡眠呼吸暂停). Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that affects millions of people worldwide.     4     It can lead to health problems such as high blood pressure. Treatment choices include lifestyle changes, such as sleeping on your back or weight loss.

Avoid caffeine after 2 pm.     5     It can take several hours for the effects of caffeine to wear off, so make sure to avoid caffeine in the evening.

Someday it may be possible for people to tackle their food allergies    1     (simple) by brushing their teeth.     2     New York City-based company has launched a trial to test this concept in food allergy sufferers. The idea is to expose users to small numbers of an allergen daily     3     (build) and maintain tolerance to it.

An existing treatment that delivers allergens through under-the-tongue liquid drops     4     (offer) decent protection. But it can be hard for users to keep up this daily routine.

Allergist William Reisacher    5     (come) up with the toothpaste idea while brushing his teeth in front of a mirror several years ago. “I saw all the foam (泡沫) in my mouth going into all the areas I wanted it to go,” he says. Delivering the allergen in the form     6     a toothpaste used daily would get the treatment to the right cells and keep it there, he thought.

A trial launched by Intrommune Therapeutics, which is developing the toothpaste, will test     7     well 32 adults tolerate growing numbers of allergens.

Allergist Sakina Bajowala supports the concept. But she worries about     8     (safe). She says that     9     (healthy) toothpastes could give allergens access to the blood stream,     10     (increase) the risk of allergic reactions.

6 . Regularly practicing facial “yoga”, or exercises for your facial muscles, may actually make you look younger, early research suggests，

In a small, new study, researchers taught 27 middle-age women (ages 40 to 65) how to perform 32 facial exercises, which included simple actions such as smiling in the cheeks. After this training, the participants performed these exercises at home for 30 minutes a day, every day for eight weeks. On the ninth week of the study, the participants reduced the frequency of their 30-minute exercise routine to every other day (three to four days a week), and continued the exercise for 20 weeks.

The participants also had their photos taken at the beginning and end of the study, and several doctors rated these photos using a standard method for assessing the appearance of aging in the face and neck. The raters, who didn’t know which photos were taken before and which photos were taken after the exercises, also estimated the age of the person in the photo.

After 20 weeks, the participants had better ratings for the fullness of their cheeks, on average, compared with their ratings at the start of the study. In other words, their cheeks looked fuller after their 20-week facial exercise. This change in cheek fullness also made the participants look younger: Raters estimated that the participants looked nearly three years younger after the exercises, compared with before.

However, the findings are preliminary and should be confirmed with a larger study, the researchers said. And many questions remain about exactly which exercises are beneficial and who might benefit from them. “The study involved middle-age, mainly white women, who stayed in the study for 20 weeks, so it’s not known whether the effects seen in the study would apply to men, or to people of other ages or races. It’s also not clear how long people need to perform the exercises in order to see benefits,” lead study author Dr. Murad Alam said.

7 . When colds and flu hit, many people automatically turn to over-the-counter (OTC) medicines to push through and treat their symptoms. Although these medicines are easily accessible and widely used, it might come as a surprise to many people to learn that they are not risk-free. A study estimated that every year, 26,735 people went to the emergency room for adverse (不利的) events related to OTC cold and cough medicines.

When two or more drugs are used together, their interactions can sometimes produce unexpected harmful effects. Physicians are typically knowledgeable about potential drug interactions, so it is very important for patients to ask their healthcare providers which OTC medicines are safe for them to use.

It is important to read the package ingredients of OTC medicines closely to avoid duplication of doses (剂量重复). Cold medicines are typically made up of multiple ingredients. A person who takes a single-ingredient medicine paired with one of these multi-ingredient medicines can receive an unsafe dose of that ingredient.

While everyone could potentially experience adverse effects from cold and flu medicines, some groups — including older adults, children and pregnant women — may be at greater risk. Older people who are using prescribed drugs to treat multiple health conditions may have a higher risk of drug interactions because of the higher number of medicines being used at the same time to treat different conditions. The aging body is not as expert at absorbing, distributing and clearing medicines as younger bodies are. This can put older adults at higher risk for an overdose and drug-1o-drug interactions with some medicines.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not recommend giving cold medicines to children under age 4. Because of a variety of factors, young children have a higher risk of an accidental overdose and adverse events that could lead to death.

It’s becoming clear that nature nurtures (培养) your body, mind and soul.

In 2003, researchers at the University of Essex invented the term “Green Exercise”,     1    (recognize) the remarkable impact of nature-based activities on health and wellbeing.

“In an analysis of the entire population of England, it was found that the odds of hospitalization (住院几率) for heart disease and stroke are lower among adults     2    live in neighborhoods with highly variable greenness. Improved mental health, reduced obesity and risk of diabetes are other benefits of residential greenness,”     3     (describe) in the World Health Organization’s report.

For those confined to a bed, a window can do wonders for your wellbeing: a study in 1984 revealed that hospital    4    (stay) for some surgical patients were shorter, and fewer painkillers were prescribed (开药方), when the window view was onto a natural scene rather than a brick wall.

“    5    exercise were a pill, it would be one of the most cost-effective drugs ever invented,” says Dr Nick Cavill, a health promotion consultant. Aside from its ability    6    (reduce) your risk of major illnesses, exercise also extends to benefits to the mind,     7     (improve) mental health and wellbeing.

Safe, accessible green spaces make exercise    8     (attractive). “Simply being” quiet and calm among the trees can also boost health and wellbeing, in a practice known as forest bathing.     9     (fascinate) by nature is a balm (让人放松的事物) for the brain, relieving stress. Let’s return to the lost art of being still.

Whether picnicking or park running, being with people brings its own set of benefits. Studies show it is loneliness     10    is as harmful to health as obesity, smoking and high blood pressure; friends enrich your life and enhance your health, through support, stress relief, and sharing of healthy habits.