Getting Your Beauty Sleep

"Beauty sleep" is what happens at night when your muscles and digestive system rest and your blood cells do a better job of supplying nutrients to skin cells. But not everyone finds it easy to get off to the land of Nod, so sleep expert Dr. Gary Zammit has a few suggestions if counting sheep doesn't work.

First, says Dr. Zammit, of the Sleep Disorders Institute at New York's St. Luke's-Roosevelt hospital, "exercise every day," because even 20 minutes of walking can help break the stress hormones that can interfere with sleep. Also, he advises, "use the bed only for what it was intended -- don't read, watch television or work in bed."

He says it is important to go to bed and get up at the same time each day -- and that includes weekends, because "sleeping in" interferes with the body's natural rhythms and leads to that Monday "can't-get-out-of-bed feeling." And keep your bedroom well ventilated and comfortably cool, about 68 F or so.

If you are having trouble getting to sleep, Dr. Zammit says, "don't lie in bed awake for more than half an hour. If you can't sleep, get up and do something monotonous, then return to bed when you are sleepy."

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