Just as important as food, water and exercise for the health of your body is sleep. In fact, without sleep, animals in the laboratory die in a matter of weeks.

In humans, lack of sleep works havoc on biological systems. It not only causes the relatively minor symptoms of drowsiness, irritability and concentration difficulty, but it appears to also cause hormonal changes that result in increased appetite, weight gain, obesity and greater risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. It also contributes to motor vehicle and on-the-job accidents.

In today's hyperdrive, high-stress society, people generally get less sleep than they ought. In fact, compared to citizens of a century ago, Americans today on average get one to two hours less sleep than they used to. Electric lighting, work demands and the quest for entertainment take a toll on the time allotted for sleep.

Adults should get seven to eight hours of sleep a night, and children and infants two to four hours more. So it's important you get the appropriate amount of horizontal time each night.
It doesn't help, however, if you're in bed, but something prevents you from getting to sleep. That's where attention to "sleep hygiene" comes in. To have good sleep hygiene, pay attention to the following:

-- Shun caffeine in the last half of the day.

-- Avoid nicotine, which disrupts sleep.

-- Don't drink alcohol at night. Far from being a sleep aid, it reduces the quality of sleep.

-- Vigorous exercise, while good for promoting health and deep sleep, is not good a few hours before sleeping, when it stimulates the nervous system, making sleep difficult.

-- Eating, listening to the radio, watching television or working in bed all interfere with sleep.

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