Health Notes

It is that time of year again! I love and hate Fall. I love the cooler weather and the pictures of colored leaves that everyone posts on their Facebook. Not that we in Florida see too many colored leaves, but...

I hate the nasty colds that everyone seems to have and that I keep catching, over and over and over.

My health notes tip so far for this season is simple: SLEEP!!!!

I have not been sick literally in years, with the exception of an occasional scratchy throat, which I can knock out with one day of extra supplements. Since we adopted baby, I have had four colds, two really, really nasty ones. Ones that take days and days to get over and hand fulls and hand fulls of supplements and multiple trips to the chiropractor. This tells me that my immune system is way, way down and can not withstand the junk I come in contact with.

It is no secret that I do not exercise regularly. Unless you count the twenty-something pound weight that I carry with me everywhere I go. I should exercise, I know it is important, but it has been years since I have done it regularly. I go in spurts. A couple of weeks of boot camp, a couple of weeks of daily walking, an occasional wild hair to actually run. Anyway, even though I know exercise is good, I also know that it has not been a huge factor in my lack of colds over the past few years.

Therefore, the only thing that has changed is the amount of hours I sleep. I normally need eight to nine hours per night and I have gotten those consistently for at least the past five or six years. In the past six and a half months I have not slept through the night. Please don't hear me complaining, I would do it all over again - and I will when Stan decides we can adopt another baby. However, I'm just saying that apparently sleep is truly important in immune response.

I have concluded my own personal sleep for immune boosting study and you are the first ones to be privy to the results.

Here it is: Conclusion: Sleep is extremely important for a healthy immune system that is able to fight off the common and not so common cold and other viral and bacterial infections. Get your rest!!