14 Simple Ways to Turn Your Health Around

Every Night

About a quarter of women get fewer than six hours of sleep a night (most of us need seven to eight hours). Recent studies link chronic deprivation to a weak immune system and an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, among other dangers.

Our best advice: "Refrain from taking a hot bath or shower within an hour of bedtime, since falling body temperatures can assist in the onset of sleep," says Nancy Collop, MD, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Sleep Disorders Center in Baltimore. And even though working out improves sleep quality, you shouldn't exercise within two hours of turning in. If you have insomnia, get out of bed rather than toss and turn, but whatever you do to relax, stay away from the computer -- the blue light is stimulating and will wake you up even more.