Amino acids = less wrinkles?

Although many studies affirm that with years we need less sleep and function perfectly well on fewer hours, try convincing one of the many over fifties that this is true. A good night’s sleep is hard for all too many to get.

One of the little spoken truths about health issues for those of us wondering how to keep wrinkles at bay and trying to keep our energy at an optimum level is how hard it is to get a good night’s sleep. There are many reasons for this including physical ones. For women, one of the most trying symptoms of menopause are the hot flashes and mood swings that often accompany this normal life stage change. This issue is so well known that comedy routines are made of such stuff. What few people realize is that with menopause and sometimes forever after, sleep cycles are never the same. Men also often start to sleep less. One of the major causes for their need for daily “cat naps” is the reality that as prostates enlarge, the more often a guy has to go to the bathroom. Add an extra dose of stress for either sex, and “bingo” - we’ve got a nation of otherwise hip F&F’s who are sleepy - and often snappy by day and restless tossers by night.

A little known sleep aid used for reducing stress and helping people get into healing deep (alpha wave) sleep, is an over-the-counter amino acid called L-Theanine. This is the same amino acid found in green tea and other products easily found on your local store shelves. L-Theanine may not work for everyone, but it sure works for many.

So, before you start popping all those prescription (and often costly) pills to help you sleep, why not try one of those helpers that are produced naturally by your own body? I can’t promise you FDA approved scientific research, nor can I promise it will work for you, but does it work for many? Absolutely! One word of caution though. If you are on other medications, check with health care professionals and read labels with care. Some drugs and natural substances are known to negatively interact with each other.

Sleepless in Seattle or Chicago or DC? Wake up and try something new. A good night’s sleep is one of the four major ways of staying energetic, happy and healthy. Keep reading this Blog to learn other ways to get a good night’s sleep and as an added bonus, to find out the other three best ways to ease those wrinkles without surgery.

NOT PC in DC

The other evening my husband and I went to the final performance of Avenue Q which was playing at the National Theater in Washington, DC. I grew up with the Howdy Doody, then came Bert and Ernie, and the Muppets entered our family and so did everything that wasn’t politically correct. This long term Broadway musical won many well-deserved awards. It’s a fun show that takes on every stereotype imaginable while not losing the heart and soul of where people live. Each song and scene drew audience laughter. Which implies that the friendly swipes were understood by those watching and touched their insides. Somewhere in the midst of the audience's warm response, I wondered why our politicians didn’t better understand that not being PC is really the way that most people live.

What if politicians stopped being so politically correct, added a bit of humor and reality to their “shtick”? I don’t know if it would help them win or lose. But it would certainly make them more real, more fun and ultimately, more believable. Maybe Dennis Kucinich knows more about politics than most of us seem to give him credit for? He certainly seems to be having the most fun of all the candidates running. And he appears happy. I’m not out and about raising money for him. But he seems far less foolish to me than he is usually portrayed.

DC can be very proper and uptight. Avenue Q reminds us that underneath all the political rhetoric, real people have real thoughts that aren’t always so really nice.