October's Healthy Habit

Back at the beginning of the year, msn.com had an article on 12 healthy habits to make for the year.  Each month, you get a new habit and I thought this month's was pretty interesting, as I am guilty of this. New habit: Make your bedroom and bedtime routine sleep-friendly.

The skinny: Too many of us have let our daily lives take over our night hours, too. Statistics show a majority of Americans have televisions in their bedrooms, and a good number of people e-mail from under the comforter (you know who you are). For the record, studies now show kids with TVs in their bedrooms run a higher risk of obesity and score lower on standardized academic tests. Seems like those same effects would carry over to us adults, too.

Action steps: Here are is a sleep-friendly makeover plan for your bedroom, compliments of the American Academy of Family Physicians:

• Use the bedroom only for sleeping or having sex (both are healthy, those good docs say). Don't eat, talk on the phone or watch TV while you're in bed.
• Develop a bedtime routine. Do the same thing every night before going to sleep. For example, take a warm bath and then read for 10 minutes every night before going to bed. Soon you'll connect these activities with sleeping, and doing them will help make you sleepy.
• Make sure your bedroom is quiet and dark. If noise is a problem, use a fan to mask the noise or use ear plugs. If you must sleep during the day, hang dark blinds over the windows or wear an eye mask.