The Dude's guide to health recovery: Lesson #1 (Sleep)

So you thought you had to be Lance Armstrong to get in shape or even get up the stairs.  Take heart.  There's a better way.  Think of the Dude.  Do the least amount possible for the maximum result.  It can be done and why kill yourself to live? Right?

I'm going to discuss several rules that can be broken and yet done with a minimum and still give you energy and stamina-even if you just want to sit there and think about your life.  Whatever.

So with the Dude in mind, here are some I think would be his favorites.

1.  Sleep

Everyone says you need 8 hours a night.  Rubish.  Who has time for that?  There's video games, pizza, late night TV and reading this kind of stuff.  Time gets away from you.  So how about 6.5 or 7?  You might feel a little less peppy, but then the Dude is not exactly peppy. 

Why even do that much?  Research is linking inadequate sleep and heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and obesity.  A study from Case Western University of about 70,000 women found that those who slept 5 or fewer hours were 32 percent more likely to experience major weight gain and 15 percent more likely to become obese than those who slept an average of 7 hours.

Sleeping less than 6 hours even a few times a week is linked to poor decision making and reduced alertness.  Keep it up and diabetes and depression increase too.

Can't sleep?  Then turn off the TV, stop playing video games several hours before you go to bed, keep the room cool, turn your alarm away from you and cover the windows to make it dark.  Don't drink caffeine up to 8 hours before bed, or at least a couple if you can't do that.  Anything is good. Try to go to sleep at the same time each night and wake at a similar time.  Practice chilling out too.  It makes a difference.