Matthew Walker’s new TED Talk, Sleep is your superpower (below), is another in a long line of research-backed publications highlighting the life-altering benefits of sufficient sleep. It still seems strange to me that it has taken so long for the points outlined by Walker and other sleep experts to become embraced and supported in a widespread manner. Instead it seems that we still highlight the grit of someone who can burn the candle at both ends and still seemingly function at a high level. We still poke fun at the person who goes to bed early and can’t keep up with the latest on Game of Thrones or whatever the latest must-watch primetime series might be.

The highlights of Walker’s TED Talk were outlined in a recent Wired article titled You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep—and It’s Killing You. While I recommend watching the video above and/or reading the entire article, here are a few takeaways from the article:

“The decimation of sleep throughout industrialized nations is having a catastrophic impact on our health, our wellness, even the safety and education of our children. It’s a silent sleep loss epidemic. It’s fast becoming one of the greatest challenges we face in the 21st century” 

“…all the ways in which sleep deprivation hurts people: it makes you dumber, more forgetful, unable to learn new things, more vulnerable to dementia, more likely to die of a heart attack, less able to fend off sickness with a strong immune system, more likely to get cancer, and it makes your body literally hurt more. Lack of sleep distorts your genes, and increases your risk of death generally…”

“Don’t drink caffeine or alcohol. Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning (even on the weekends). Sleep in a cool room.“

This post originally appeared on the CrossFit 133 Blog

A new week provides a new opportunity to start on a course of constructive habits. Stringing together a few days gives us the opportunity to string together weeks… Stringing together weeks gives us the opportunity to string together months… Then you have a habit. There is no magic solution, recipe or guru that can do this for you. You just need to begin.

Pick an area to start a new habit this week

• Get to the gym a certain number of days (schedule it now)
• Get more sleep (7 hours or more)
• Cut back on sugar 
• Cut back on your social media time 
• Show more gratitude
• Spend more time on mobility
• Drink more water

The choice is yours, so pick an area to work on and start making positive progress. The most important thing is that if you miss your goal then just begin again. Many people miss their mark and then allow the negative voice in their head to take control. Forget the negative self-talk and just start a new streak the next day. The truth is that you can clean the slate whenever you want. You are in control.

Have a great week!