B. F. Skinner kinda had it right when he said we are just a bunch of behaviours, not good or bad, but a bunch of habits…

Okay, one mistake is to go without sleep, the human body needs about 7 or 8 hours for the average adult and anything less, bad things begin to happen to us all.

Mother nature left it up to us to regulate our sleep, I can sleep anyway I am willing to sleep, that doesn’t mean I will pick the healthiest way, but it is up to me.

The habit of sleep is arguably the most important habit I can form. It would be a mistake to say otherwise.

Think of the human body as a vessel. Throw in salt, a banana, pinch of dirt, a piece of raw fish, water, garden salad. Maybe some pepper and a small piece of plastic from the wrapper on the fish that I bought. What do you have besides my supper?

Yes, it is probably a mistake to have eaten that plastic. Micro particles will get in my bloodstream and gawd knows what kind of mistake that will do to my body and therefore the quality of my sleep tonight.

So the body mixes up all these foods and breaks them down into smaller and smaller bits that are used for nutrients, chemicals and other stuff in the ways of the universe to fuel my body processes.

There is a lot of room for mistakes there, because the body does all sorts of things we do not understand. Bottom line, millions of years of evolution has worked out most of the kinks, the plastic will probably be eliminated through the bowels, mostly the way we made it.

We are what we eat, mostly true, and the above meal is a pretty good supper. So, as long as I don’t make too many more mistakes, I will mostly have a pretty good sleep tonight.

A big sleep mistake is not to follow my sleep routine. I go to bed about the same time every night and wake up about the same time too. I sleep in a cool room and that has been proven to work better than a hot room or other. I sleep in the dark, that is also essential. I keep a blanket handy, if I wake up from the cold. That helps. And I don’t eat too close to betime or do anything else to disrupt my sleep routine: hygiene is good. You know clean sheets, sleep nude or with pajamas, low noise level, I already said ‘dark’, same thing everynight.

Sleeping pills are generally a mistake too.

Drinking is generally a mistake too.

So, unless our parents taught us good habits when we were kids, it takes time to figure all this out.

Human health depends on exercise, nutrition, good habits and sleep.

Our health, if disrupted by our genitics, environment or poor choices will also affect our sleep. This can become a slippery slope. Ask anyone who has had some cold or flu. Therefore, it pays to keep a strong immune system to fight off whatever mother nature throws our way.

Epigenetics are also pretty important too.

So any novice statistical analysis can show there is room for improvement for anyone who wants to make their sleep better.

What about the human microbiome? Yup, that could help with a good night sleep.

So, taking some responsibility for a good sleep and a long healthy life is partially up to you.

Maybe sleep hypnosis can help?

The list is long and the mistakes are even more numerous.

Sleep well and prosper.