#raised in the only place that gets nine whole minutes of sun exposure on the darkest day of the year

[seracross]

Heart of Fire - Chapter Thirteen: Cured

Summary: “A dragon without fire is nothing but a liability.” Nine years ago, Syra was thrust into a war: a hide-and-seek battle for control of five powerful crystals, hidden by a secret organization 200 years prior. Taking human-form, Syra searches the dragon-hating city of Altaira for clues on their location. But when her secret is revealed, fickle hearts are quick to change. And when an old enemy raises his scaly head, who will be there to turn to? Her estranged siblings? An ex-fiancé? Or a temperamental pixie the size of a duckling? In a race against her father’s murderer, Syra must traverse the five kingdoms to halt his efforts to rebuild a powerful relic that should never have been created. Are the bonds of love and family strong enough to survive the horrors of secrets and betrayal? And how do you fight an elder dragon bent on revenge when you’re a wyrmling who can’t even breathe fire?

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Drama

Rating: PG-17 (Strong Language & Violence)

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The ceiling glittered like stars when they returned to the lab, and the siblings were a symphony of angry stomachs.

“Did you find anything?” Aidan asked as they entered.

“Yes,” Syra said, setting her things down, “It turns out we only need one thing.”

“Great! What?”

“A bug.”

“A…bug?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of bug?”

“This kind.” She pulled out a scroll with a sketch of a flying insect.

“That’s the Marsh Fly,” said Lanis. “They give you a nasty fever if you get bit, so we try to stay away from them.”

“Can you get one?” Syra asked.

“They’re normal only out in the summer, but breeding season’s coming up so you might be able to find a few.”

“Good,” she said, rolling up the scroll, “Apparently, while they can give you a fever, their bite can also cure certain other illnesses without the use of mana. Once the infection is gone, we can treat the fever.”

“And how do we know if it’s gone?” asked Ristau.

Syra paused, “I haven’t figured that part out yet.”

Lanis patted her on the back and went to leave, “You and Sulaer can work on that while Ristau and I go get the fly. Aidan, you keep working on that poison.”

“But you could get bit!” Syra called out.

“It’s not like there isn’t a cure.”

The next night, Tahlu led them to the infirmary in Mirna. Precautions had been made to limit any accidental exposure and they were given a room to themselves. Lanis sat, disrobed, on a cot, awaiting the start of the treatment.

“As Omei’s king,” he had said, “it’s my duty to risk my life before I risk theirs.”

“How do we make sure no mana can get to him?” Aidan asked.

“By using this,” Tahlu wheeled out a casket made of solid iron. “We normally use it on convicts to keep their mana inside. I never expected to use it to keep it out.”

“We ready?” Aidan asked, gripping a vial of dark liquid.

Syra looked around at the team surrounding the casket, all looking to her for the go-ahead. She glanced over to Sulaer, who nodded and held the jar containing the small fly.

“As we’ll ever be.”

With that, Tahlu helped Lanis into the casket and they gripped at each other in a tight embrace, hoping for the best. Syra waited for them to finish before giving Aidan permission to proceed.

“I’d like to tell you it won’t, but this is going to hurt.”

He drew a needle from the vial and plunged it deep into Lanis’ shoulder. Lanis winced at the insertion, but as the toxin began to spread, he began to twitch and groan. Sulaer held Tahlu’s hand as he watched his brother pale and scream against the burning in his body, and Syra remembered how horrible it felt to just inhale its fumes.

After some time his breathing became shallow and he convulsed every so often.

“How long does this take?” Tahlu asked, pacing.

“Until he’s too weak to move”, said Aidan, “As long as he’s still breathing, we continue.”

The moon was setting before Lanis settled down into shallow, but steady breaths.

Syra, Sulaer, and Ristau all checked him over through the small glass window on the casket’s lid before nodding in approval.

Sulaer gave Syra the jar with the fly flitting about inside and stepped away. Syra unlatched the small door in the side of the casket and loosened the jar’s lid.

“Wait,” Tahlu said, asking for the jar, “Let me do it. If he dies, it should be me that gave it to him.”

Syra handed over the jar and stood by Aidan. Tahlu unhitched the lid and dumped the bug into the casket, latching the door closed. Through the window they could see it jump and flutter around before landing on Lanis’ chest. Then they saw his body flinch.

“It’s done,” Syra said, “He’s been bit.”

“Now what?” asked Cassius, who was a nervous wreck from all the worrying around him.

“Now, we wait.”

An hour or so passed and Lanis began to sweat. His breathing quickened but remained shallow, and grew steadily paler. Soon, he was drenched and mumbling as the fever took hold, his fluffy hair weighted down like a chicken caught in a downpour.

Being locked outside the casket, Syra had no way of monitoring his temperature or his pulse. She began pacing herself, up and down alongside the metal casing she prayed would not become his coffin. Every minute felt like an hour, and she looked through the tiny window at every passing until Aidan pulled her aside.

“You need to calm down,” he whispered. “Tahlu is already white as a sheet just being here. If he sees you worried, it’ll only make it worse for him.”

Syra took a deep breath and nodded, resigning herself to the windowsill. How much longer will this take? The sun is already rising and Ristau and Leimia are still here. The Lower Tal couldn’t travel during the day without the risk of burns, but she knew they would never leave Lanis’ side.

Despite the three mages’ constant surveillance, it was Cassius who caught Lanis’ dire state.

“Something’s wrong,” he said, rushing to casket to look through the window.

“What? What is it?” Syra hurried to his side, followed by Sulaer and Ristau.

“I don’t know, it…it just feels like I’m losing him. Like he’s barely there at all.”

“What do you mean, feels like?” Aidan asked. “He’s in a metal tank.”

“He’s an Empath, you daft jellyworm!” Petra yelled, “Now bring us that potion before Lanis croaks!”

Tahlu threw open the casket and grabbed Lanis around the shoulders, holding him upright, “Bring it over here, quick!”

Aidan grabbed a jar of clear liquid and handed it to Tahlu who drained it down Lanis’ throat.

“Come on, come on, that’s it. You can do it, little brother,” Tahlu cooed, holding onto him.

Syra watched as Tahlu fretted over Lanis, with his brow nearly as wet from worry. She placed a hand over Cassius’ and gripping it tight. He looked down in surprise, but smiled at her proud face and squeezed back.

“How is he?” Tahlu asked Cassius, “Can you tell? Will he be alright?”

“Easy now,” Cassius hushed. He put his free hand to Lanis’ chest and closed his eyes, “There’s still a heartbeat, so he’s alive…and he’s stop fading.” He looked over Tahlu with relief, “He’s weak, but still here.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Tahlu pulled his brother to his chest and began to weep, rocking back and forth.

The whole group breathed a sigh of relief and Aidan had to take a seat.

“We still don’t know if it worked,” said Ristau, hiding in a shaded corner away from the encroaching sunlight.

“At least we know it doesn’t kill you,” Petra said.

“How are we going to know if the infection is gone?” Ristau asked Syra.

She was speechless at first. She and Sulaer had wracked their brains trying to invent some kind of test, but came up with nothing. But then she looked at Ristau and Leimia, and saw how they shrank from the pool of light growing on the floor.

“Sunlight,” she said, “If Lanis can stand sunlight, then it must mean the infection is gone.”

“It’s worth a shot,” said Sulaer, looking to Ristau.

He nodded and motioned for Leimia to follow him, “Better let him rest up before you do, just in case. I’ll take Leimia to the Recovery Room, come fetch us when he’s up and about.”

Even with both Syra and Sulaer aiding his healing, it was nearly sunset before Lanis was up and standing.

“Are you sure you want to do this today?” Tahlu asked, fussing over him. “The sun will be back tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Lanis said through pants as his brother helped him walk to the balcony, “I need to know if it worked. I need to know if my people can be saved.”

Long shadows covered the streets of the city, but the infirmary balcony still caught the last rays of light. Lanis squinted against its brightness, but stepped out with eager footing.

This is it, Syra thought as she watch the Brother Kings walk out, We either tortured a man for nothing, or we saved an entire city.

“How is it?” Tahlu asked, looking him over for the beginnings of redness and blistering, “Does it burn?”

“It’s…it’s warm,” Lanis laughed as he felt the light’s warmth flow over him, a warmth he had almost forgotten after decades of life underground.

“Did it work?” Sulaer called from behind them.

Tahlu beamed and scooted Lanis around to face them, “So far, so good!”

Tears welled and fell from Sulaer’s eyes and she hid her face with her hands, but she couldn’t hide the giant smile that took up half her face.

“We did it,” she said, looking over to Syra, her fair cheeks now red. “We finally did it!”

Syra was taken aback by Sulaer’s arms being thrown around her, “Yeah...we, we actually did!” Syra hugged her back and, for the first time, noticed how short Sulaer was for a Tal.

“Did it work?” A voice came from the doorway, and Sulaer bolted towards it.

“Wyn!” She careened into him, leaping into his arms and was completely bawling at this point. “Yes! Yes, it worked! Look, go see! He has no blisters!”

Wyn and the others joined the brothers on the balcony and saw for themselves that there were, indeed, no blisters. No swelling or redness at all. Just clean, fair skin.

“Thank you,” Lanis said, looking to Syra and the others, tears now streaming from his face. “This…I can’t…” he choked on both sobs and laughs, “This is a marvelous day, indeed!”

“It might be marvelous, but you’re still recovering!” called Ristau from the shadows with Leimia in tears at his side, “Now get your royal butt back into bed before I give it blisters!”

Tahlu and Lanis hobbled away back to the room, but Ristau stopped Syra and the others before they could follow.

“I believe a ‘good job’ is in order,” he said, smiling.

“It wasn’t just us, sir,” Aidan said, glancing over to Sulaer who was being coddled by Wyn.

Syra thought she caught a glimpse of sadness on his face, but he pushed it away and she nodded, too.

“It really wasn’t. I could barely even read Talian before Sulaer helped me. She…she really made this whole thing possible.”

Ristau and Cassius both had proud looks on their faces, and Cassius patted her on the head, ruffling her hair that desperately needed washing.

“In any case,” Ristau continued, “I believe we owe you a debt.”

Syra’s eyes went wide as she watched him pull a small box from his pocket.

“This, now belongs to you.” He opened the box to show her the glittering shard that sat inside.

“Th-thank you…thank you!” she said, taking the box in shaking hands. Finally. Finally, they had a shard after all the travelling and fighting and studying.

“This is only but the first, remember,” Ristau said. “But I sincerely hope the other four aren’t as difficult to come by.”

“Oh, good Lord, me too!” Petra wailed, causing the other to laugh.

“Now, you can’t just carry that around like some regular old trinket,” he said, taking the shard from the box, “It’s much too valuable and far more dangerous. May I?”

He held out a hand for Syra to take, which she did. Turning her hand over, he pointed to the tiny stone set in her ring.

“This is no ordinary stone, you see. It’s a morakii. And morakii are the best conduits of mana, able to hold on to immense amounts of energy. So, the best way to keep track of the shards”—He tapped the tip of the shard to the stone, and brilliant light shone from both. It glowed, and wavered, and condensed, until all the light had been absorbed into the ring—“is to keep it hidden.”

“That, was amazing,” Petra said, starstruck.

Ristau laughed and clapped his hands together, “Now, with all of that taken care of, who’s hungry?”

The next day, after they were bathed and rested, Tahlu gathered everyone in his meeting chamber to update Valen on their accomplishments and to discuss their next moves.

"Well, I am impressed," said Valen's reflection in Tahlu's looking glass, "I never even thought about mana being the true culprit. Splendid job, all of you!"

"Thank you, Valen, but it was Syra who realized our error and devised the plan to fix it," Sulaer said, giving Syra a grateful nod.

"So, I've been told." Valen grinned ear to ear, his brick-brown eyes swollen with pride at his little apprentice, "I had high expectations sending you off, but you have outdone yourself."

Syra flushed, hot from the eyes of those around her and from the pride she found in herself, "I'm just glad it worked."

"As am I," laughed Lanis from his seat by the door. His color had returned, but was still easily winded. Ristau had insisted he stay in bed another day, but Lanis reminded him that only Tahlu was allowed to tell him what to do, and refused to miss Syra's sendoff. So, he sat propped in a chair with Wyn charged as his keeper. "As are my people. This will not be easily forgotten, I assure you."

"How are the plans coming to cure the city, by the way?" asked Valen. "There are many Tal who need treatment."

"Ristau and Leimia are working on that now. Once the procedure is solidified, we'll have medics from both Omei and Mirna start taking patients."

"And how quickly do you expect them to recover?"

"Depending on their age and health, one to two weeks would be fair. Even sooner if our mages can rejuvenate them."

"I'll contact Vesna. She might allow them into her spring under these circumstances." Valen flipped through several rolled letters at his desk, "It seems we'll need the extra man-power."

"I take it the Black Thorn is still growing?" asked Tahlu, crossing his arms and rubbing his sleeve with absent-minded fingers.

Valen nodded, "A small group is confirmed to be in Dairos, and there are several reports of them taking Rozenfall as their current headquarters."

 "That's certainly a good place to start," Aidan said, biting a nail in thought.

"Why?" asked Petra, "If their problem is with how things are being run, why don't they start with Altaira? Isn't that your capital? Just cut off the beast's head and the rest will fall."

"It is the capital," said Valen, "but it is just one city of many. There's no doubt there are minions scurrying about, but Altaira has the largest army and plenty of battle mages at their disposal. They know it would be suicide to attack with only a small rebellion of blacksmiths and farmhands."

"And that's why Rozenfall is such an asset," added Aidan. "It's built in a mana desert and filled with people who make a living fighting the magical. If they want any chance at breaking Altaira's defense, Rozenfall's a necessity."

"So, let's say they convince Rozenfall to fight," Cassius said, "what kind of damage are we looking at?"

"For humans, not much, outside of normal battle wounds. But for you?" Aidan looked over at the siblings, "I'll just tell you that Altaira's entire supply of Arrun oil comes from there, and that's just one of their commodities."

Not one peep was uttered as a grave realization washed over Syra. She wouldn't be just fighting Marrak. If he was indeed the Black Thorn leader, she would be fighting people, too, and an army of them at the rate it was going. People who had had nine years to invent and perfect ways of protecting themselves from magical kind—her kind.

"Aidan's right," Valen said. A grim expression peeked out from under loose strands put there by sleepless nights, "Rozenfall is a deadzone for the magical, even I can't go there without feeling drained. Avoid it, if at all possible."

"But for now," Tahlu said, standing and giving the party a reassuring eye, "stay to the woodland trails west of the mountains. You'll have to stop in Misty Hollow for supplies, but after that the path to Morai should be safe. Most of it lies within Kiithran territory, and they don't take kindly to uninvited guests."

"Morai?" asked Syra.

"As in the Morai Mountains? The floating ones?" asked Aidan. His voice wavered and Syra saw him tense from the corner of her eye.

Valen nodded, "The shards were originally divided between each realm, where their leaders were charged with protecting them. You now have the shard given to the Tal,"—he motioned to Tahlu—"You will find the second shard belongs to Dürgah, the leader of the Kiithrani who reside in the Morai Mountains."

"But Morai is nearly at the coast. We'll never get there in time," Aidan said.

"Not if you're walking," Tahlu said with a slight grin.

Tahlu led the party outside to the Southern Gate where their rides had been prepared. Aidan looked on in silent confusion, but Petra cackled at the long, fuzzy faces that blinked down at them.

Instead of horses, they were brought mero, for the Tal did not ride horses. They stood about the size as a horse, but were much more limber—-dainty even—-and of cloven hoof; perfect for scaling the rocky ledges of the mountains. And their hair was fluffy, particularly around the neck, with two small horns poking out between their ears.

"Not what you were expecting?" Tahlu asked Aidan in jest as he scratched the creature behind its ears. "Just think of them as horses of the mountains. There are many steep trails where you're going, and mero make a rock wall look like a staircase."

The mero bleated and stomped a hoof as Tahlu found its favorite scratching spot, and its leg muscles rippled under its fur.

"They're also quite fast when you get them going."

They bid their farewells and Sulaer made sure to hug each one of them before they mounted up.

“Please, be careful,” she said. “The mountains may be old and beautiful, but they can also be dangerous. Just because a rock looks sturdy, doesn’t mean it is.”

“We’re well aware,” said Petra.

“Oh, right. You would be, wouldn’t you?” Sulaer said, recalling their montane origin. “Well, I still packed you some medical supplies, just in case. There’s salve, bandages, some more amec crystals for you, Syra…some herbs if you can’t find any, and—”

“I’m sure we’ll have everything we’ll need,” Syra said, giving her pack a confident pat.

“Thank you, Sulaer,” Aidan said.

“Of course!” Warmth bubbled from her grin and he gazed on like one soaking up the last rays of sun before winter. “Oh, almost forgot! Tahlu, didn’t you have something for him?”

“Oh, yes, thank you.” Tahlu unstrapped the sword from his belt and handed it up to Aidan.

“But I already have one,” Aidan said, taking it by the hilt.

“Not one like this.” Tahlu pulled off the sheath and silver-blue metal shone brilliant in the sunlight.

Both Aidan and Syra’s eyes widened as Tahlu and Sulaer chuckled to themselves.

“Is this…austram?” Aidan asked Tahlu, rotating the blade, mesmerized by its velvety luster.

“Indeed, it is. One of the last ones made.”

Aidan twirled it with a quick hand, feeling its light weight and how it cut the air with little resistance.

“I can see why people call it, blue steel.” Syra said.

“I know you have your own sword, and that it probably means a great deal to you,” Tahlu said, “but I’m sure you’re aware that no ordinary sword can fell a dragon…”

Aidan’s twirling ceased and he laid the blade across his lap.

“Especially not one with hide as thick as Marrak’s.”

Aidan looked from the blade to the sword hung from his waist. He unclipped it and held it tight in his hands.

“This was my brother’s,” he said, eyes staring down at the finely crafted scabbard and into the misty memories it held. “My father gave it to me when I became a soldier, and it’s been watching over me ever since.” His thumb massaged the small scuffs along the sheath before handing it down to Tahlu, “Please, take care of it.”

Tahlu accepted the sword with a bowed head and sympathetic eyes, “Until you return for it. For now, what may I call it?”

“Its name is,” Aidan paused, giving a hesitant glance over to the siblings, “Drahgrashi.”

Syra’s ears screamed as her own language fell from his lips, the word for ‘dragonslayer’ Aidan’s own poison-tipped arrows that hit her and the twins in their throats.

Syra didn’t need to be an Empath to feel another wall shoot up around Petra, and Cassius just turned his face away, no doubt just as hurt by the sentiment.

“I’m leaving,” said Petra, giving her mero a tap with her heels.

“Same,” Cassius said and followed her.

That left Syra sitting atop her giant goat with mouth caught open and no words.

“I named it for Ethan,” Aidan explained, keeping his eyes averted. “I thought, if I slayed the dragon that took him me, I could look it in the eye and let that be the last word it ever heard. That somehow, it might bring my brother some peace.”

“You said you named it that when you became soldier?” Syra asked, strained and barely audible.

“Yes.”

“So, just days after taking me?” Her voice cracked.

That night had been one of her happiest, one she remembered fondly even now. How could he? she asked herself, anger churning in her gut. Of all available suitors, she had chosen him--an act no dragon took lightly--yet he found solace in the murder of her kind. He didn't know, came the small voice in her head that chided her whenever she was being stupid, You made sure of that. You have no one to blame but yourself.

Aidan met her gaze with genuine remorse. He knew how much the sentiment hurt her, even without seeing how her face contorted from the shock. But that had been years ago, when grief and rage fueled his mission to protect his city. Syra had been his one reprieve from the nightmares and anti-magic projects that threatened to become an obsession. And despite their time and experiences together, a tickle of unease still cropped up whenever he was alone with Petra or Cassius.

He wanted to forget it all, to just enjoy their company and charge through the journey together. But he couldn't. He couldn't forget the stench of burnt flesh as his brother lie dying, or the shrieks of fear from the city streets as the shadows flew overhead, or how his gut shiezed when Syra's voice boomed from a scaly beast.

She had been honest in her explanation—he knew Syra well enough to know she hated to lose anyone—but resentment still festered and a sliver of him remained callous to her cries.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said, letting the words drip from his tongue and burn into her ears.

[jakehglover]

Get Proper Sleep Nightly

30 Tips in 30 Days Designed to Help You Take Control of Your Health

This article is part of the 30 Day Resolution Guide series. Each day a new tip will be added designed to help you take control of your health. For a complete list of the tips click HERE

By Dr. Mercola

Lack of sleep has been scientifically linked to a wide array of health problems and is so common, it’s been identified as a public health epidemic by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A review of hundreds of sleep studies concluded that, as a general rule, most adults need somewhere between seven and nine hours — or right around eight hours — of sleep per night to maintain good health.

Your body, indeed every organ and even individual cells, contains biological “clocks” that regulate everything from metabolism to psychological functioning. Even half your genes have been shown to be under circadian control, turning on and off in cyclical waves.

All of these body clocks are synchronized to your master circadian clock, situated in your brain, which in turn is synchronized to the rising and setting of the sun, provided you don’t confuse it with artificial lighting at night and/or insufficient sunlight during the day, that is. Over the long term, skimping on sleep — which is a surefire way to dysregulate your circadian body clock — can contribute to a whole host of chronic health problems.

Lack of Sleep Puts Your Health at Risk

Research has shown that insufficient sleep and/or poor quality sleep can increase your risk for:

Accidents at work and on the road

Getting less than six hours of sleep leaves you cognitively impaired. In 2013, drowsy drivers caused 72,000 car accidents in which 800 Americans were killed and 44,000 were injured.1 Even a single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your ability to think clearly the next day.

Weight gain

Getting less than seven hours of sleep per night has been shown to raise your risk of weight gain by increasing levels of appetite-inducing hormones.2

Diabetes

One 2015 study3 linked "excessive daytime sleepiness" with a 56 percent increased risk for Type 2 diabetes.

Depression

More than half of people diagnosed with depression also struggle with insomnia. While it was long thought that insomnia was a symptom of depression, it now seems that insomnia may precede depression in some cases.4 About 70 percent of those with sleep apnea, whose sleep is repeatedly disrupted throughout the night, also tend to suffer from symptoms of depression.5

Impaired memory formation and increased risk of memory loss6

Sleep is essential not just for cementing events into long-term memory but also for making sense of your life. During sleep, your brain pulls together and extracts meaning, while discarding unimportant details. In fact, sleep increases your ability to gain insights that would otherwise remain elusive by about 250 percent.

So, during sleep, part of your brain is busy stabilizing, enhancing and integrating new memories. It’s also extracting rules, and the “gist” of what’s happening in your life. Reduced productivity at work and poor grades in school are other associated side effects of insufficient sleep. Creativity is also diminished.

Impaired sexual function7

Chronic diseases

Sleep deprivation decreases your immune function,8 which can have a snowball effect, raising your risk for cardiovascular disease,9,10Alzheimer’s11 and cancer, just to name a few. In the case of cancer, another critical mechanism involved is disrupted melatonin production. Melatonin is a hormone with antioxidant and anticancer activity.

It both inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells and triggers cancer cell apoptosis (self-destruction). Melatonin also interferes with the new blood supply tumors required for their rapid growth (angiogenesis). A number of studies have shown that night shift workers are at heightened risk of cancer for this reason.

Are You Sleep Deprived?

Daytime sleepiness is typically a tipoff that you’re not getting enough sleep, but sometimes signs of sleep deprivation may be less obvious. The late Nathaniel Kleitman, Ph.D., professor emeritus in physiology at the University of Chicago and a well-recognized pioneer in sleep research,12 developed a “sleep onset latency test,” to determine if you're sleep deprived. Here's how it works:13

1. In the early afternoon, grab a spoon and head off to your darkened bedroom to take a nap. Place a metal tray on the floor beside your bed and hold the spoon over the tray as you attempt to fall asleep. Be sure to check the time as you lay down. (If you don't have a spoon and metal tray handy, you can still take this test by setting an alarm for 15 minutes to see if you fall asleep before it goes off.)

2. When you fall asleep and the spoon crashes down onto the tray, waking you up, immediately check the time again and note how much time has passed.

◦ If you fell asleep within five minutes, it means you're severely sleep deprived.

◦ If it took you 10 minutes to fall asleep, you could still use more sleep.

◦ If you managed to stay awake for 15 minutes or more before falling asleep, you're probably well rested.

Improve Your Sleep and Health by Adopting a Neutral Sleeping Position

While sleep problems can be caused or exacerbated by a number of different factors, many of which are covered in “Want a Good Night’s Sleep? Then Never Do These Things Before Bed,” three of particular importance — primarily because they’re so frequently overlooked — are your sleep position, light pollution and exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF).

In the video above, chiropractor and exercise physiologist Dr. Peter Martone discusses the benefits of adopting a neutral sleeping position. If you’re a side- or stomach sleeper and find yourself frequently tossing and turning at night and/or wake up with aches and pains, your sleeping position may be a primary culprit. As noted by Martone, for sound, healthy sleep, you need to sleep on your back, with your neck and spine in a neutral position.

The key to achieving this is to prop a pillow under your neck, not your head, as this allows you to maintain a proper spinal curve. For a demonstration on how to use your pillow to support your neck rather than simply elevating your head, please see the video.

If you’re unaccustomed to sleeping on your back, this change will take some getting used to. So, go slow, and give yourself ample time to adjust. In the beginning, you may only be able to remain on your back for a few minutes at a time. You may even experience more pain rather than less when you first start out.

This is my preferred sleep position ever since Peter taught it to me. I also tape my mouth shut with paper tape before I go to sleep to prevent myself from breathing through my mouth. Mouth breathing is something you’ll want to avoid, but it’s hard to do when you are unconscious.

In Martone’s experience, it takes an average of three to four months to convert from a side sleeper to a back sleeper, and even longer if you’re used to sleeping on your stomach. In addition to the video above, you can also find a number of helpful techniques on his website, www.AtlantisWellness.com/sleep.

I converted to sleeping exclusively on my back several months ago and really enjoy it. It’s certainly not the only way to improve your sleep (and health), but it may be worth considering if frequent tossing and turning is disrupting your sleep. 

Conquer Light Pollution to Improve Sleep

Light pollution is another major contributor to poor sleep quality. By disrupting your circadian clock and impairing melatonin secretion, light exposure at night will affect the length, depth and overall quality of your sleep. Electronic screens are major sleep thieves, robbing you of the ability to fall asleep quickly.

Research has shown that the more time you spend on electronic devices during the day, and especially at night, the longer it takes to fall asleep and the less sleep you get overall.14,15 Teenagers who used electronic devices such as MP3 players, video games, tablets, smartphones and/or computers for more than five hours a day were 3.5 times more likely to get fewer than five hours of sleep per night. They were also 49 percent more likely to need more than an hour to actually fall asleep.

Aside from electronic screens, LEDs and fluorescent lights are particularly troublesome as they emit blue light that is not balanced by red and near infrared frequencies.16 Importantly, LEDs may promote age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness. To learn more about this, please see my interview with Dr. Alexander Wunsch, a world class expert on photobiology.

Incandescent lights emit red and near infrared wavelengths and very little in the blue wavelengths, making them a far healthier type of lighting. Just beware of the light intensity, as too bright a light can cause problems even if it’s well-balanced. Once the sun has set, the lower the light in your home the better. Candlelight is ideal. Salt lamps are another option that will not have an adverse impact on your health and sleep quality.

If you choose to watch TV after sunset, then you must be particularly cautious as most new TVs are “smart,” meaning they communicate wirelessly by Wi-Fi and it is impossible to turn off. Fortunately, there is a simple solution. You can use a computer monitor for your screen, which does not have a Wi-Fi signal.

Even better would be to watch TV through a computer that is hooked up with a wired Ethernet and is in airplane mode. The advantage of doing this is that you can use a blue light screen blocker. Iris is the absolute best one and I have used it for many years.

If you use Iris at night, you won’t need blue blocking glasses. If you are unable to hook your monitor to a TV, then you will need to use the glasses. While blue light blockers work, glasses with red lenses actually work even better, as they not only block blue light but also yellow and green.

Avoid Nighttime EMF to Bolster Sleep Quality and Health

Download Interview Transcript

Another factor that can have a significant impact on your sleep quality and health is EMFs emitted from wiring and electronic devices. This is true regardless of the time of your exposure, but it’s particularly problematic at night:

There’s evidence showing EMF exposure reduces melatonin production,17 making it particularly important to eliminate EMFs in your bedroom. As mentioned, melatonin not only regulates your sleep-waking cycle; it’s also a powerful antioxidant, and low levels have been repeatedly linked to an increased risk of cancer.18

Sleep is the most important time for your brain, as its detoxification processes occur only during deep sleep. During deep sleep, your brain's glymphatic system is activated, allowing it to detoxify and eliminate accumulated waste products, including amyloid-beta proteins, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. EMF exposure has also been linked to neuronal changes that affect memory and your ability to learn.19

EMFs harm your body’s mitochondria by producing excessive oxidative damage, so “marinating” in EMFs all night, every night, can cause or contribute to virtually any chronic ailment, including premature aging.

One of the easiest ways to avoid or radically limit your nighttime electric field exposure from the wiring in your room is to pull the circuit breaker to your bedroom before going to bed. You can have an electrician install a remote breaker for convenience, which is what I have done. This will virtually eliminate electric fields in your bedroom, unless you have adjacent rooms with wiring in them, in which case you will need to measure the electric fields with a meter after you shut off the power to see if it goes into the lowest range.  

If your building code requires electrical wiring to be in a conduit, you’re in luck, as this means all you need to do to eliminate this radiation is to unplug any electronic equipment or lighting.

Another really important step is to turn off your Wi-Fi at night. It would be best to hard wire your home so you have no Wi-Fi 24/7 in your home, but I realize many are unwilling or unable to take this step. Please, don’t justify that it doesn’t make a difference because your neighbor has their Wi-Fi on all the time.

It’s important to realize that the Wi-Fi in your home is nearly always more of a danger to you than what’s coming from outside your home. You can confirm this by measuring the microwave signals with a meter, and see what your exposure is.

Emergency Sleep Remedies

If you’re currently not sleeping enough, or getting poor quality sleep, your chief aim would be to a) make sure you’re getting sufficient amounts of sleep each night by going to bed earlier, and b) addressing any and all factors that prevent you from falling asleep quickly and staying asleep throughout the night, including your sleep position, light pollution and EMF exposure discussed above.

For even more tips on how to improve your sleep quality, see “Nobel Prize-Winning Science Highlights Importance of Good Sleep for Health.” In the short term, you could try a gentle sleep aid while implementing more permanent lifestyle and/or environmental changes. Natural sleep remedies that may help you get a good night’s sleep include:

Melatonin. Start with as little as 0.25 milligrams (mg) and work your way up in quarter-gram increments from there until you get the desired effect.

Valerian root. Studies have found valerian root helps improve the speed at which you fall asleep, depth of sleep (achieving deep sleep 36 percent faster20) and overall quality of sleep.21 Start with a minimal dose and use the lowest dose needed to achieve the desired effect, as higher dosages can have an energizing effect in some people. Typical dosages used in studies range between 400 mg and 900 mg, taken anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours before bed.

Chamomile. This herb is typically used in the form of infusions, teas, liquid extracts or essential oils made from the plant's fresh or dried flower heads. It has sedative effects that may help with sleep, which is why chamomile tea is often sipped before bed.

5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). The chemical 5-HTP promotes production of serotonin, thereby giving mood a boost and enhancing sleep. In one study, an amino acid preparation containing both GABA (a calming neurotransmitter) and 5-HTP reduced time to fall asleep, increased the duration of sleep and improved sleep quality.22

Take Control of Your Health by Making Sleep a Priority

In a world where technology facilitates and even encourages around-the-clock activity and connectivity, it becomes an individual responsibility to protect your health by setting boundaries and creating your own rules for when and how you’re going to be “connected.” Sleep is one of the foundation pillars of optimal health; you sacrifice it at great risk to your mental, emotional and physical well-being. So, if you’re not getting enough quality sleep, start by addressing the basics:

• Make sure you go to bed early enough.

• Expose yourself to bright sunlight in the morning and/or around solar noon to “set” your master clock, and to avoid blue light exposure after sunset for the same reason.23Blue-blocking glasses can be used to counteract artificial lighting and electronic screens.

• Sleep in complete darkness (use blackout shades or an eye mask). Research24 reveals even dim light exposure during sleep can affect your cognition the next day.

• Find your ideal temperature for sleeping. Studies suggest the optimal temperature for sleep is quite a bit cooler than many realize — between 60 and 68 degrees F. Temperatures above or below this tend to increase restlessness. Something as simple as sleeping naked may do the trick if you don’t want to crank down the temperature on your air conditioning. One of the established benefits of sleeping in the buff is improved sleep quality, in part by preventing overheating.

One study showed a surface skin temperature difference of as little as 0.08 degrees F (or 0.4 degrees C) led to sounder sleep.25,26,27 Studies have also found sleeping in the nude has several other health benefits, including improved metabolism and blood circulation.

• Make your bedroom an EMF-free zone to optimize nighttime brain detoxification and protect your mitochondrial health.

Tip #17Guide for Timing of Supplements

from HealthyLife via Jake Glover on Inoreader https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/01/18/good-night-sleep.aspx

[sherristockman]

Get Proper Sleep Nightly Dr. Mercola 30 Tips in 30 Days Designed to Help You Take Control of Your Health This article is part of the 30 Day Resolution Guide series. Each day a new tip will be added designed to help you take control of your health. For a complete list of the tips click HERE By Dr. Mercola Lack of sleep has been scientifically linked to a wide array of health problems and is so common, it’s been identified as a public health epidemic by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A review of hundreds of sleep studies concluded that, as a general rule, most adults need somewhere between seven and nine hours — or right around eight hours — of sleep per night to maintain good health. Your body, indeed every organ and even individual cells, contains biological “clocks” that regulate everything from metabolism to psychological functioning. Even half your genes have been shown to be under circadian control, turning on and off in cyclical waves. All of these body clocks are synchronized to your master circadian clock, situated in your brain, which in turn is synchronized to the rising and setting of the sun, provided you don’t confuse it with artificial lighting at night and/or insufficient sunlight during the day, that is. Over the long term, skimping on sleep — which is a surefire way to dysregulate your circadian body clock — can contribute to a whole host of chronic health problems. Lack of Sleep Puts Your Health at Risk Research has shown that insufficient sleep and/or poor quality sleep can increase your risk for: Accidents at work and on the road Getting less than six hours of sleep leaves you cognitively impaired. In 2013, drowsy drivers caused 72,000 car accidents in which 800 Americans were killed and 44,000 were injured.1 Even a single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your ability to think clearly the next day. Weight gain Getting less than seven hours of sleep per night has been shown to raise your risk of weight gain by increasing levels of appetite-inducing hormones.2 Diabetes One 2015 study3 linked "excessive daytime sleepiness" with a 56 percent increased risk for Type 2 diabetes. Depression More than half of people diagnosed with depression also struggle with insomnia. While it was long thought that insomnia was a symptom of depression, it now seems that insomnia may precede depression in some cases.4 About 70 percent of those with sleep apnea, whose sleep is repeatedly disrupted throughout the night, also tend to suffer from symptoms of depression.5 Impaired memory formation and increased risk of memory loss6 Sleep is essential not just for cementing events into long-term memory but also for making sense of your life. During sleep, your brain pulls together and extracts meaning, while discarding unimportant details. In fact, sleep increases your ability to gain insights that would otherwise remain elusive by about 250 percent. So, during sleep, part of your brain is busy stabilizing, enhancing and integrating new memories. It’s also extracting rules, and the “gist” of what’s happening in your life. Reduced productivity at work and poor grades in school are other associated side effects of insufficient sleep. Creativity is also diminished. Impaired sexual function7 Chronic diseases Sleep deprivation decreases your immune function,8 which can have a snowball effect, raising your risk for cardiovascular disease,9,10 Alzheimer’s11 and cancer, just to name a few. In the case of cancer, another critical mechanism involved is disrupted melatonin production. Melatonin is a hormone with antioxidant and anticancer activity. It both inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells and triggers cancer cell apoptosis (self-destruction). Melatonin also interferes with the new blood supply tumors required for their rapid growth (angiogenesis). A number of studies have shown that night shift workers are at heightened risk of cancer for this reason. Are You Sleep Deprived? Daytime sleepiness is typically a tipoff that you’re not getting enough sleep, but sometimes signs of sleep deprivation may be less obvious. The late Nathaniel Kleitman, Ph.D., professor emeritus in physiology at the University of Chicago and a well-recognized pioneer in sleep research,12 developed a “sleep onset latency test,” to determine if you're sleep deprived. Here's how it works:13 1. In the early afternoon, grab a spoon and head off to your darkened bedroom to take a nap. Place a metal tray on the floor beside your bed and hold the spoon over the tray as you attempt to fall asleep. Be sure to check the time as you lay down. (If you don't have a spoon and metal tray handy, you can still take this test by setting an alarm for 15 minutes to see if you fall asleep before it goes off.) 2. When you fall asleep and the spoon crashes down onto the tray, waking you up, immediately check the time again and note how much time has passed. ◦ If you fell asleep within five minutes, it means you're severely sleep deprived. ◦ If it took you 10 minutes to fall asleep, you could still use more sleep. ◦ If you managed to stay awake for 15 minutes or more before falling asleep, you're probably well rested. Improve Your Sleep and Health by Adopting a Neutral Sleeping Position While sleep problems can be caused or exacerbated by a number of different factors, many of which are covered in “Want a Good Night’s Sleep? Then Never Do These Things Before Bed,” three of particular importance — primarily because they’re so frequently overlooked — are your sleep position, light pollution and exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF). In the video above, chiropractor and exercise physiologist Dr. Peter Martone discusses the benefits of adopting a neutral sleeping position. If you’re a side- or stomach sleeper and find yourself frequently tossing and turning at night and/or wake up with aches and pains, your sleeping position may be a primary culprit. As noted by Martone, for sound, healthy sleep, you need to sleep on your back, with your neck and spine in a neutral position. The key to achieving this is to prop a pillow under your neck, not your head, as this allows you to maintain a proper spinal curve. For a demonstration on how to use your pillow to support your neck rather than simply elevating your head, please see the video. If you’re unaccustomed to sleeping on your back, this change will take some getting used to. So, go slow, and give yourself ample time to adjust. In the beginning, you may only be able to remain on your back for a few minutes at a time. You may even experience more pain rather than less when you first start out. This is my preferred sleep position ever since Peter taught it to me. I also tape my mouth shut with paper tape before I go to sleep to prevent myself from breathing through my mouth. Mouth breathing is something you’ll want to avoid, but it’s hard to do when you are unconscious. In Martone’s experience, it takes an average of three to four months to convert from a side sleeper to a back sleeper, and even longer if you’re used to sleeping on your stomach. In addition to the video above, you can also find a number of helpful techniques on his website, http://ift.tt/2g47Y9E. I converted to sleeping exclusively on my back several months ago and really enjoy it. It’s certainly not the only way to improve your sleep (and health), but it may be worth considering if frequent tossing and turning is disrupting your sleep. Conquer Light Pollution to Improve Sleep Light pollution is another major contributor to poor sleep quality. By disrupting your circadian clock and impairing melatonin secretion, light exposure at night will affect the length, depth and overall quality of your sleep. Electronic screens are major sleep thieves, robbing you of the ability to fall asleep quickly. Research has shown that the more time you spend on electronic devices during the day, and especially at night, the longer it takes to fall asleep and the less sleep you get overall.14,15 Teenagers who used electronic devices such as MP3 players, video games, tablets, smartphones and/or computers for more than five hours a day were 3.5 times more likely to get fewer than five hours of sleep per night. They were also 49 percent more likely to need more than an hour to actually fall asleep. Aside from electronic screens, LEDs and fluorescent lights are particularly troublesome as they emit blue light that is not balanced by red and near infrared frequencies.16 Importantly, LEDs may promote age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness. To learn more about this, please see my interview with Dr. Alexander Wunsch, a world class expert on photobiology. Incandescent lights emit red and near infrared wavelengths and very little in the blue wavelengths, making them a far healthier type of lighting. Just beware of the light intensity, as too bright a light can cause problems even if it’s well-balanced. Once the sun has set, the lower the light in your home the better. Candlelight is ideal. Salt lamps are another option that will not have an adverse impact on your health and sleep quality. If you choose to watch TV after sunset, then you must be particularly cautious as most new TVs are “smart,” meaning they communicate wirelessly by Wi-Fi and it is impossible to turn off. Fortunately, there is a simple solution. You can use a computer monitor for your screen, which does not have a Wi-Fi signal. Even better would be to watch TV through a computer that is hooked up with a wired Ethernet and is in airplane mode. The advantage of doing this is that you can use a blue light screen blocker. Iris is the absolute best one and I have used it for many years. If you use Iris at night, you won’t need blue blocking glasses. If you are unable to hook your monitor to a TV, then you will need to use the glasses. While blue light blockers work, glasses with red lenses actually work even better, as they not only block blue light but also yellow and green. Avoid Nighttime EMF to Bolster Sleep Quality and Health Download Interview Transcript Another factor that can have a significant impact on your sleep quality and health is EMFs emitted from wiring and electronic devices. This is true regardless of the time of your exposure, but it’s particularly problematic at night: There’s evidence showing EMF exposure reduces melatonin production,17 making it particularly important to eliminate EMFs in your bedroom. As mentioned, melatonin not only regulates your sleep-waking cycle; it’s also a powerful antioxidant, and low levels have been repeatedly linked to an increased risk of cancer.18 Sleep is the most important time for your brain, as its detoxification processes occur only during deep sleep. During deep sleep, your brain's glymphatic system is activated, allowing it to detoxify and eliminate accumulated waste products, including amyloid-beta proteins, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. EMF exposure has also been linked to neuronal changes that affect memory and your ability to learn.19 EMFs harm your body’s mitochondria by producing excessive oxidative damage, so “marinating” in EMFs all night, every night, can cause or contribute to virtually any chronic ailment, including premature aging. One of the easiest ways to avoid or radically limit your nighttime electric field exposure from the wiring in your room is to pull the circuit breaker to your bedroom before going to bed. You can have an electrician install a remote breaker for convenience, which is what I have done. This will virtually eliminate electric fields in your bedroom, unless you have adjacent rooms with wiring in them, in which case you will need to measure the electric fields with a meter after you shut off the power to see if it goes into the lowest range. If your building code requires electrical wiring to be in a conduit, you’re in luck, as this means all you need to do to eliminate this radiation is to unplug any electronic equipment or lighting. Another really important step is to turn off your Wi-Fi at night. It would be best to hard wire your home so you have no Wi-Fi 24/7 in your home, but I realize many are unwilling or unable to take this step. Please, don’t justify that it doesn’t make a difference because your neighbor has their Wi-Fi on all the time. It’s important to realize that the Wi-Fi in your home is nearly always more of a danger to you than what’s coming from outside your home. You can confirm this by measuring the microwave signals with a meter, and see what your exposure is. Emergency Sleep Remedies If you’re currently not sleeping enough, or getting poor quality sleep, your chief aim would be to a) make sure you’re getting sufficient amounts of sleep each night by going to bed earlier, and b) addressing any and all factors that prevent you from falling asleep quickly and staying asleep throughout the night, including your sleep position, light pollution and EMF exposure discussed above. For even more tips on how to improve your sleep quality, see “Nobel Prize-Winning Science Highlights Importance of Good Sleep for Health.” In the short term, you could try a gentle sleep aid while implementing more permanent lifestyle and/or environmental changes. Natural sleep remedies that may help you get a good night’s sleep include: Melatonin. Start with as little as 0.25 milligrams (mg) and work your way up in quarter-gram increments from there until you get the desired effect. Valerian root. Studies have found valerian root helps improve the speed at which you fall asleep, depth of sleep (achieving deep sleep 36 percent faster20) and overall quality of sleep.21 Start with a minimal dose and use the lowest dose needed to achieve the desired effect, as higher dosages can have an energizing effect in some people. Typical dosages used in studies range between 400 mg and 900 mg, taken anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours before bed. Chamomile. This herb is typically used in the form of infusions, teas, liquid extracts or essential oils made from the plant's fresh or dried flower heads. It has sedative effects that may help with sleep, which is why chamomile tea is often sipped before bed. 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). The chemical 5-HTP promotes production of serotonin, thereby giving mood a boost and enhancing sleep. In one study, an amino acid preparation containing both GABA (a calming neurotransmitter) and 5-HTP reduced time to fall asleep, increased the duration of sleep and improved sleep quality.22 Take Control of Your Health by Making Sleep a Priority In a world where technology facilitates and even encourages around-the-clock activity and connectivity, it becomes an individual responsibility to protect your health by setting boundaries and creating your own rules for when and how you’re going to be “connected.” Sleep is one of the foundation pillars of optimal health; you sacrifice it at great risk to your mental, emotional and physical well-being. So, if you’re not getting enough quality sleep, start by addressing the basics: • Make sure you go to bed early enough. • Expose yourself to bright sunlight in the morning and/or around solar noon to “set” your master clock, and to avoid blue light exposure after sunset for the same reason.23 Blue-blocking glasses can be used to counteract artificial lighting and electronic screens. • Sleep in complete darkness (use blackout shades or an eye mask). Research24 reveals even dim light exposure during sleep can affect your cognition the next day. • Find your ideal temperature for sleeping. Studies suggest the optimal temperature for sleep is quite a bit cooler than many realize — between 60 and 68 degrees F. Temperatures above or below this tend to increase restlessness. Something as simple as sleeping naked may do the trick if you don’t want to crank down the temperature on your air conditioning. One of the established benefits of sleeping in the buff is improved sleep quality, in part by preventing overheating. One study showed a surface skin temperature difference of as little as 0.08 degrees F (or 0.4 degrees C) led to sounder sleep.25,26,27 Studies have also found sleeping in the nude has several other health benefits, including improved metabolism and blood circulation. • Make your bedroom an EMF-free zone to optimize nighttime brain detoxification and protect your mitochondrial health. Tip #17Guide for Timing of Supplements