Sleep

The next step in the 20 Years Younger plan is sleep. Seven to nine hours per night to be exact. Bob explained that getting a good night's sleep is powerful preventative medicine. While you sleep, your body restores bone and muscle, repairs and processes proteins critical to every part of the body, regenerates connections in the brain and consolidates memories and emotions. The bottom line: If you want to stay healthy and youthful, you have to get some good-quality shut-eye.

This topic makes me feel a little spoiled. I do sleep really well and am rarely tired during the day because I make sure I get around 8-9 hours of sleep per night. I have a little one that likes her sleep too - she sleeps anywhere from 11-12 hours per night in her room which gives me "me time" at night and then we get up around the same time in the morning.

Besides having a baby that sleeps well, I think my top contributors for a good night sleep are:

• Darkness - We like our room very dark. I even lay the alarm clock face down so it doesn't give off any light.
• Temperature - Our room is always cool. We turn the air down and turn on a ceiling fan.
• No stimulants - I read before going to bed. No TV or computers about an hour before. We don't even have a TV in our room anymore. This is probably the thing that made the biggest difference. My husband stays up late and watches TV in the family room. This way he can eat and make noise without waking me (he doesn't love sleep like I do). Also, I try not to drink anything about 1-2 hours before bed.
• Tempur-Pedic Cloud Supreme - This should be at the top of the list because since getting this bed I have slept even better. It is so comfortable and I am so in love with this bed (if loving a bed is wrong, I don't want to be right).
• Bedding - I think bedding is a very important factor. I believe I sleep better in a bed that has been made. Also, I think the actual bedding is a huge part as well - we have 600 thread count cotton sheets, an alternative down blanket, and down feather pillows. No comforter and no throw pillows or other puffy stuff to get in the way. It's sleeping bliss.

Bob did recommend Tempur-Pedic beds to Oprah's audience. While shopping around for a new bed, I can tell you we laid on so many to test them out to try to find the perfect one. We knew the few top choices were expensive, so we needed to make the right decision... and we did. Did I mention I love my bed? I really do. And I love having a king-size.

Can you tell I am a bit of a sleep snob? I just think it's really important. It really is good for your health and your looks - that's why they call it beauty sleep.

I will post about the last topic, skin care, coming up (and then I promise to step down from my soap box).