Sleep Well

Even if you're just a few hours short of a good night's sleep, you may be amping up inflammation throughout your body. Studying healthy adults, scientists recently found that activation of inflammatory signaling was much greater in female volunteers the morning after they'd stayed awake from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., compared with when they got a normal night of sleep.

Published in Biological Psychiatry, these findings shed new light on the link between sleep loss and inflammation-related conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, says Donna Arand, Ph.D., medical director of Sleep Disorders Center at Kettering Hospital. "Moreover, studies show that the shorter the sleep, the greater the impact on health." For sounder slumber, Arand recommends keeping a regular bedtime, getting a safe amount of sun exposure daily (this helps maintain your circadian rhythms), and using relaxation techniques like meditation and yoga to manage your stress.