Z-Rx

Coming this weekend, for a limited time only, while supplies last.

Increase growth hormone, blast fat, rev the immune system, extinguish inflammation, focus-in mental acuity, stave off emotional collapse, and increase your day by 4.1%!

No side effects!
Any one product or service that promises everything-and-the-kitchen-sink is probably pretty worthless. That's usually a good rule of thumb.

But not Z-Rx. Z-Rx is not a sleep aid, but sleep, clinically tested and proven in the kitchen sink, and more. And for a limited time this weekend, it's FREE.

Behold DAYLIGHT SAVINGS DAY, where 60 minutes magically appear from thin air. It's the one day of the year when nobody can throw up their hands saying, "if only there were more than 24 hours in a day." It's the one gift you will receive while unconscious at 2:00 a.m.

You will be sleeping, right? You can't afford to administer this gift any other way.

Seriously. Just go to bed.

When it comes to improving health and fitness, people spend hours planning and implementing exercise routines, nit-picking their diet, and searching (and shelling out for) the next big performance-boosting supplement. This can paradoxically serve to take them further from what's needed most: time to chill.

Do you imagine it's healthier to discipline yourself to chill or to wash down your gingko and vitamin B pills with another shot of 5-Hour Energy?

If what the National Sleep Foundation has to say is even the least bit accurate, most of us could use nothing more than some restful quiet. I would like to think we should pay more respect to sleep.

Before we diet hard.
Before we consider pretty much any supplement.
Before we start getting up at 4:30 a.m. in order to fit in a morning workout.
Before we start making major overhauls aimed at increasing creativity and productivity at work.
Before we stay up reading blogs of questionable content and quality.

It would take many moons to sight reference upon reference dealing with the ill effects of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprived athletes show decreased measures of mental and physical performance. High cortisol interferes with optimal repair, recovery, and growth from a number of angles. Even a single night of deprived sleep has people feeling hungrier and actually eating significantly more than those coming off eight good hours of rest.

Researchers suggest that changes in insulin resistance, as well as the hormones ghrelin and leptin, explain why higher rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure occur in chronically sleepy folks.

You don't exactly feel up to the task of working hard when you're mentally exhausted. And it's difficult to be like Jesus when you're staggering around like a tired and irritable zombie bundle of hell because you were up all night goofing off on your bike.

What?

Clinical sleep disorders are complex and really do have a wide grip on our health. But there are many who need to JUST GO TO BED. For those of us who stay up too late reading and typing and watching re-runs of House, fine, we've made our decision. But there's no room for complaining and puzzled looks when we're sick and crabby and making little progress toward our fitness goals.

This weekend really is the most wonderful time of the year, especially for parents with pre-school aged kids who love a good 6 a.m. cry fest right in their siblings ear.

Merry Day Light Savings Day to all, and to all a good, 60-minute longer night. 

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