Domestic Geek

Millions of Americans deprive themselves of one essential thing needed for a healthy lifestyle on an almost daily basis: sleep.

Between our inability to deal with stress, poor eating habits, not enough physical activity, over packed schedules, allergies, sleep apnea, traffic noise...I could go on, but I think you get where I'm going with people not getting enough quality sleep.

We're supposed to get at least 8 hours a day. I can't remember the last time I actually slept more than 6 hours all in a row.

Sleep is when our bodies recharge, rebuild damaged tissue and archive our memories.

Sleep deprivation causes moodiness, lack of concentration, shortened attention spans and lower immunity. It can even stunt the growth of young children. Is it any wonder we have such a horrible road rage problem on our American Highways.

Speaking of sleep...one hour to go and I can get some. My eyes are starting to cross.

One hour and 15 minutes left and I'm nodding off in my chair.

You can do everything right and live the most healthiest lifestyle possible and still end up developing cancer.

Early detection is a must to get the highest chance of survival once diagnosed. As a woman, I'm only familiar with the types of tests I need, but if there are any questions or concerns (man or woman), please consult your physician right away!

First, every woman should get an annual exam done at every year. In addition, you should be doing monthly self-breast exams. Once you turn 40 (or earlier if there is a history of breast cancer in your family), you need to start getting mammograms. I'll be getting my first one this year.

My friend Deb has some helpful links on her site:
Breast Cancer Resource Links
National Breast Cancer Foundation video called Beyond the Shock

As I've pointed out these last 22 hours or so, living a healthy lifestyle in our current social climate takes a bit of work. There's no easy button or magic pill that will make you suddenly healthy, especially if you've been abusing your body with lack of exercise and processed junk foods for a long time.

Fad diets, diet products, sudden weight changes...they all ultimately result in the failure of one's health goals. Eat right and exercise. That's it. That;s the magaic formula.

Amy stresses the importance of ridding your environment of molds and allergens. I can definitely relate to this piece of advice. When I worked at the pizza place, the water would seep under the tiles into the wooden subfloor below. You should've seen the black mold that was growing there. It was freaking disgusting. There was also a crawl space under building that had all kinds of crud growing in it.

I always felt sick working there. I knew it was the physical space because if I took any time off at all, I felt a lot better.

I had planned to do this post about the dangers of artificial sweeteners such as Nutrasweet and Equal, but I am finding opinions, not facts. From my own personal experience, anything with "fake" sweeteners gives me a pounding headache.

If you really want to be healthy, you need to stop putting artificial and chemically modified substances in your body.

Along the same lines of putting your needs first, find a hobby that interests you and really take time to enjoy it. Better yet, make sure it's something that your spouse or SO (significant other) is NOT interested in. Everyone needs private "me time" and sharing all the same interests as your partner is not healthy.

When you're doing your hobby, though, don't get hung up with perfectionism. This is supposed to be something fun, not another chore that will add more stress to your life. Life is too short to just work and live up to your responsibilities. This should be an activity that will blow off some steam and make life worth living.

I totally would not have thought about this topic, but Marisa reminded me of how having toxic people and toxic relationships in our lives can be extremely detrimental to our physical and mental wellbeing. It makes sense since I already wrote about how stress negatively affects our health.

Just like the Dementors in the Harry Potter series, negative/angry people suck the life right out of you. They are miserable so they do everything in their power to bring everyone else down with them. If you're really set on living a healthy life, keep these type of people out of your life.

*Only 4 more hours and I can crawl into bed. Yay!!!!