Sleep is what most of us look forward to at the end of a long day, and something many of us feel we don’t get enough of. While there’s still a lot to learn about sleep and why we need it, we're now beginning to understand that sleep greatly impacts the health and destiny of our brains.

Aside from impacting your energy level, sleep seems to play a unique role in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Whether or not you get enough quality sleep on a daily basis can dramatically increase or decrease your risk for Alzheimer’s. This is a major reason why it’s so important to do everything you can to get the best sleep possible, as frequently as possible.

In addition to impacting your Alzheimer’s risk, sleep has the power to influence how hungry you feel and how much you eat, how fast your metabolism runs, whether you become overweight or stay slender, whether you can fight off infection, how creative you might be, how insightful you might be, and even how compassionate you can become.

With the hectic pace of modern day life, sleep might feel like a luxury you can't afford. However, from a medical perspective, it's absolutely essential to get good sleep if you want to keep your body and brain healthy.

Experts explain poor quality sleep is linked to Alzheimer's disease, so it's important to understand specific ways you can achieve better quality sleep. Here are 10 simple steps you can take to improve your sleep starting today:

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With diary and lactose intolerances on the rise in recent years, as well as consumers turning to more eco-friendly diets such as veganism, it's no wonder that milk alternatives are more popular than ever before. Made from nuts, seeds and grains, there are a variety of plant-based milk options for consumers no matter their dietary needs or restrictions that provide both great flavor and great nutrition. 

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One of the most common but least understood triggers for autoimmunity is molecular mimicry, also called cross-reactivity. 

This post will serve as a basic primer on cross-reactivity so you understand how important it is.

When your immune system reacts to a hostile invader, whether it's a virus or an inflammatory food, it tags the antigen with antibodies so it can more quickly recognize it in the future.

Cross-reactivity happens when the immune system confuses tissue in the body with the tagged antigen because they are similar in structure. As a result, it attacks and destroys that tissue as well. This self-attack is called autoimmunity.

For example, if you are sensitive to gluten, your immune system has created antibodies to gluten. These antibodies tag gluten to alert the immune system to destroy it every time you eat it — even if you ingest a tiny amount. This is an inflammatory response.

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No matter how stressful your day has been, and in spite of whatever personal issues you may be going through, it is still important to take the time to pay attention to and take care of yourself, both mentally and physically. Far from a demonstration of weakness, making time for self-care — which is especially important for people in high-stress jobs or the military — is one of the best decisions you can make. Self-care can allow you to feel better about yourself while being able to get more work done and generally make the most of your time.

Below are some helpful self-care strategies to help you get started.

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For those going through recovery, overall health and well-being are crucial. Balance is the key to successful recovery. There are many factors that can affect sobriety. The acronym HALT, for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired, is a well-known tool for understanding what outside forces and internal feelings increase vulnerability during recovery. Part of balance involves not only avoiding using but also ensuring that your body and mind are well.

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NUTRITIONAL ASSAULT AGAIN  - MULTIVITAMINS - HELP OR HARM?

A recent report by Johns Hopkins researchers purports to show there is no proof of benefit, but there is evidence of possible harm from high doses of certain vitamin supplements.  Take a look at this summary article from Technology Networks. It hits all the highlights without being too technical. After you read this summary, be sure to consider the viewpoint I put forth that you typically will not find promoted by the major news feeds.

While I agree that there can be harm regarding some forms and doses of vitamins, I think the idiom, "the pot is calling the kettle black", applies  here. The medical/pharmaceutical alliance is very harmful to human health based on many statistics. [1] But still, I do blame many supplement companies for the poor product quality promoted by multi-million dollar ad campaigns. Additionally, we should all strive to make high quality food (and a wide variety) our primary medicine and supplements should fill in gaps based on our unique makeup (genetic SNP's, food sensitivities/allergies, etc.), environment and physical activity levels.

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TSH: What Your Doctor Should Know

Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is the hormone produced by your pituitary gland to control the function of your thyroid gland. A high TSH means your pituitary senses that your thyroid is underactive.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III)  demonstrated that the mean TSH in apparently normal, healthy participants is 1.4 uIU/mL.

Based upon the results of NHANES III, The National Academy for Clinical Biochemistry has recommended since 2002 that a serum TSH level between 0.5-2.0 uIU/mL be considered the optimal therapeutic target for replacement treatment of hypothyroidism. 

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