The Easiest Way to Get Healthier Tonight

Don't answer that e-mail. Doctor's orders! See, your body doesn't respond as well as you think it might to the "get ahead now, sleep when you're retired" philosophy. A group of 32- to 59-year-olds who got fewer than 5 hours of sleep a night for several years were twice as likely to develop high blood pressure as those who got a healthy 7 to 8 hours each night.

If you've shorted your sleep in favor of peeking at your inbox one more time or searching for the ultimate Spider-Man costume for your kids, you're like most people over age 30 who are getting historically low levels of sleep. Blood pressure is on the rise in this young age group, too, and is related to lack of sleep. Here's how it works:

• When you snooze, your body goes into a lower blood pressure mode. Too little time in this low-key state can lead to consistently high blood pressure.
• Less sleep means you spend more time dealing with stress instead of resting.

Cutting back on a full night's sleep again and again also adds to your desire to eat. That's because lack of sleep leads to a lack of the feel-good brain chemical dopamine. Your brain receptors crave dopamine, so they trigger sugar cravings in your body because sugar also releases dopamine -- but constantly overdoing sugary foods increases your weight and your high blood pressure risk.

If getting enough shuteye is a challenge, consider this: Whatever's tempting you to stay up late will still be there tomorrow. But with rest, you'll do those tasks better -- and probably faster.