Are you getting enough sleep?

According to the December 2007 Harvard Medical School newsletter, there is plenty of research to show that getting enough sleep is one of the pillars of health.

Along with exercise, eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, and staying slim in general, proper sleep is a key to health.

Doctors have discovered that short and/or poor sleep may be a factor in diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure. So make sleep a priority. It is an easy way to improve your health. Between seven to nine hours nightly is considered enough.

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I was walking outside on a rather cold day recently, and I ran into another retiree from my home state of Pennsylvania. We started talking about how the television has been keeping us informed about all the cold weather and snow the Northeast is enjoying (?) lately.

When I see the school buses depositing the neighborhood kids every half block, I recall the long, cold walk to school in the winters of my girlhood.

In those days, children were of course not driven to school, no matter what the weather.

In my day, my dress was considered a model of girlhood propriety. I dressed in a knee-length wool skirt and knee-high wool socks, with a twin sweater set and green leather jacket, and the outfit fashionably topped off with a French beret.

Of course, my bare knees were freezing outdoors, but once inside the warm school those wool socks began to itch furiously inside my mocassins. But after school, standing outside watching the football team practice, I never seemed to mind the cold. Who notices freezing knees when their favorite quarterback is playing?

I sure don't miss those scratchy wool knee socks, but I sometimes wonder where that quarterback got to. I bet he's not playing football this year.

*****

Two old guys are pushing their carts around Wal-Mart when they

collide. The first old guy says to the second, "Sorry about that. I'm looking for my wife, and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

The second old guy says, "That's a coincidence. I'm looking for my wife, too. I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate."

The first old guy says, "Well, maybe I can help you find her. What does she look like?"

The second old guy says: "Well, she is 27 years old, tall, with red hair, blue eyes, long legs, and is wearing short shorts. What does you wife look like?"

The first old guy answers, "Doesn't matter --- let's look for yours."

*****

As New Year's approaches, most of us seniors think back on other New Year's we have known, some good, some not so good. There were years when we celebrated with lots of fun and parties and others that took place during World Wars and the Depression.

Let's hope we have made it through all of them stronger, wiser, and kinder, and that we will be happily looking forward to another good year for all.

I wish all of my readers the best and brightest of all this year. Happy New Year, and see you next week!