Maintaining your Health

school-age children

at least 10 hours

respiratory system lungs, blood vessels

breathe harder. can cause hyperventilation or rapid breathing

cardiovascular system heart, blood vessels, arteries

can lead to an increased heart rate. can increase a person's risk of long-term heart problems

preschool-aged children

11-12 hours

newborns

16-18 hours

adults

7-8

teens

9-10

Your bedtime routine plays a large role in the quality and length of your sleep. Some behaviors help you to sleep more soundly and get the amount of rest your body needs. Other behaviors hinder your sleep. To achieve optimal sleep, follow these guidelines:

Establish a regular bedtime. Even when you don't have work or school the next morning, go to bed at the same time each day. Exercise with good sleep in mind. Perform vigorous exercise, such as jogging, early in the day. Before bed, perform only relaxing exercise, such as yoga. Avoid eating large meals close to bedtime. Also avoid foods that are spicy or have caffeine, which can keep you awake.

Here are some tips for healthy stress management:

Get adequate sleep. A decline in the amount and quality of your sleep can have a significant negative effect on your mental and emotional state. When you're stressed, it's especially important not to skimp on sleep. Eat a healthy diet. Avoid foods with caffeine and excess sugar. Be active. Exercise acts as a stress reliever. It helps release endorphins. An endorphin is a chemical in the brain that helps people feel happy. Practice deep breathing. Taking slow, deep breaths for 20 minutes a day can help you relax. Talk to someone. Whether it's a friend, family member, or coworker, find someone you can talk to about what is making you feel stressed.

Do you get enough sleep? To find out the answer to this question, consider whether any of the following statements are true for you:

I often have a hard time remembering or recalling information. I have a hard time remaining focused. I often get sick. I have an increased appetite, and I crave sugary foods. I sometimes have trouble explaining my thoughts clearly. I have to fight to stay awake during daytime hours.

Although there are many healthy ways to manage stress, sometimes people cope with stress by making unhealthy choices. Common examples include smoking, drinking, and illegal drug use. While these things may bring temporary relief from stress, in the long run, they are both unhealthy and ineffective at relieving stress.

In fact, these choices can actually increase stress. The woman on the left has begun to rely on both cigarettes and alcohol, but she still feels stressed and anxious. The best course of action is to find healthy stress management techniques that work for you. You can then encourage others to join you in effectively managing stress.

Stress is the body's response to the demands of daily life. The body is wired to respond to stress both physically and psychologically. When you encounter a stressful situation, your body goes into "fight-or-flight" mode, which puts you in a state of high alert. Although this is helpful during true emergencies, such as running for cover during a severe storm, being overly stressed on a daily basis can lead to chronic health problems.

Learning to manage stress will help you reduce your risk of illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and even obesity. Stress can be a good thing. It prepares the body to deal with difficult situations and helps keep you from danger. Too much stress for long periods of time, however, can be harmful to the mind and body. Review the chart below to learn how stress affects specific parts of the body.

Digestive system

Sleep deprivation can cause blood sugar levels to increase rapidly, or "spike," which causes the body's metabolism to slow down. Slower metabolism is directly linked to obesity and diabetes. Lack of sleep may also be linked to poor digestive health and ailments such as irritable bowel syndrome and constipation.

Cardiovascular system

Sleep deprivation causes the body to remain in a high state of alert. When the body is in a high state of alert, it produces more stress hormones, which cause blood pressure to rise. High blood pressure can increase a person's risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.

Research suggests that the average teenager needs 9 to 10 hours of sleep each day. This amount of sleep allows the body to heal itself, gives the mind necessary "downtime," and helps regulate metabolism. Sleep is important in building memory.

Things you learn during the day often become more permanent memories during sleep. You can also more effectively handle physical and emotional stress if your body and mind are properly rested, which is another benefit of sleep.

Immune system

While sleeping, the body releases proteins known as cytokines. Cytokines are needed to fight infection and disease and are elevated and replenished during sleep. Without proper sleep, the amount of cytokines decreases, making a person more susceptible to disease and infection. Health care workers who don't get enough sleep (or who don't have quality sleep) are more likely to get sick than those who sleep the recommended 8 to 10 hours per night. In other words, they have a weaker immune system. In a health care environment, where there are often a greater number of sick and contagious people, this weakness leads to significant risks.

musculoskeletal system muscles, joints, tendons

the body naturally tenses up as a defense mechanism. continued tensing of the muscles, joints, and tendons can lead to chronic neck and back pain