Your mom was right.  When she hollered at you to turn the tv off and go to sleep she was totally right.   Getting a full night’s rest is essential to not only a productive next day but very much to health and longevity.  As adults we still seem to forget this basic tenet of wellness.  We scroll through the phone, watch the inevitable late west coast college football game, or binge an entire season of Game of Thrones, knowing full well the responsibilities of the next morning are soon to come.

Did you know that for every hour of sleep lost your risk of viral infection increases by 12 percent?  Heart attacks the day after daylight savings time change in the spring increase by a whopping 24 percent!   As well, sleep deprivation decreases the effectiveness of a vaccine given the next day by nearly 30 percent.  In many ways, lack of sleep, or disrupted sleep, has more profound health effects than short term lack of food or water.   And of course the detriment to health carry forward into long term issues as well.  

So turn your phone off, pick up a book and read yourself to sleep.    Prioritize those 8 hours when your body repairs and rejuvenates itself for the next day.   You will thank yourself, and your mom, later.