Time is precious in our high speed, high-pressure world. We want to achieve more for ourselves, our families, and maybe for our communities. In order to do so, we need time, and we need to look for ways to maximize that scarce modern commodity: time.

We often try to beat time by spending less time resting. We eke out one more hour of watching a late night show or using social media. We fuel our tired selves with caffeine.

Such a lifestyle, though, hurts us in both the short and long terms. Less rest has been linked to Alzheimer's disease and decreased longevity. Studies show that losing as little as three hours of sleep in a night can halve the effectiveness of the immune system!

Too little rest affects our minds as well as our bodies. It can result in depression, paranoia, and even hallucinations. What's more, we become irritable with those we love and work with. We lose focus. Creativity becomes just too big a hill to climb, subtracting from our joy in life and work.

Let's think about the flip side of this issue. What results do you want in your body and wellbeing? My wife, Shelley, is a professional health coach and she often talks about what she calls her five non-negotiable health results: brainpower, energy, motivation, calmness, sex drive. Who wouldn't want their life to be full of these five outcomes? Shelley goes to great lengths to help her clients understand that a lifestyle of appropriate rest is foundational to every one of these health results.

Let's start by talking about sleep. Research has shown that seven and preferably eight hours of sleep per night are optimal. Are you getting enough?

Reset, Rewire, and Refresh

During sleep, the body heals. It absorbs natural, soothing forces that energize it after the daily grind of use and abuse. It is similar to bodybuilding. Muscles are built after they are torn during the workout process. They repair and rebuild during rest. Similarly, we grow stronger through rest after the work of the day. Our bodies are revived, rebuilt, and strengthened at night.

A day's work expends a lot of energy, and that energy has to be replenished through rest. Your body recalibrates its systems for a new day. (Weight loss tip: we actually release body fat when we sleep!).

Our minds rejuvenate during sleep too. We dream out a lot of mind overload during sleep. It is similar to unplugging all electronic devices and letting them rest for a few minutes before plugging them back in. This clears up any signal jams. Good rest "unplugs" your mind and lets it reset, rewire, and refresh.

For maximum vitality and clear-headedness, rest is essential.

Ways to Get More Rest

• Try the app "Sleep Cycle".

This app tracks and assesses your movements during sleep. It will give you a baseline of your sleep percentage (deep, moderate, and light).

Don't stress if you don't sleep pristinely according to this app! Just use it to get a rough idea of your rest levels and to measure improvement.

• Use herbals.

Many mature men suffer from an enlarged prostate, which causes them to make several bathroom trips per night, a big sleep disrupter. Taking Saw Palmetto (readily available wherever vitamins are sold) helps balance hormones and promotes prostate health.

Drink few or no liquids after 6 p.m., and finish a light supper three hours before bed to prevent sleep-interrupting bathroom visits.

Other helpful herbals are:

• Organic, raw apple cider vinegar. Take a couple of tablespoons in a little warm water with a bit of raw honey just before bed. This stabilizes blood sugar and heals your gut while you sleep. Thanks to Tim Ferriss, Tools of Titans, we know that this makes the body more alkaline and rejuvenates hormones.

• 200-400 mg of L-Theanine before bed is very relaxing. L-theanine is an amino acid found in green and black tea as well as Bay Bolete mushrooms. It's also available in pill or tablet form at many drugstores.

• Ashwagandha root has been used for about 3,000 years as a natural stress-reliever; several studies show it lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol. 500-1000 mg during the day helps balance cortisol and encourages sleep at night. It also supports energy levels, which in turn helps reduce stress and improve immune health.

• Seriphos or Phosphorylated Serine can be incredibly useful in cases of insomnia caused by elevated nighttime cortisol levels. If you have trouble falling asleep, get a second wind late at night, or wake up between 1 a.m.- 4 a.m. and can't get back to sleep, a cortisol imbalance may be the reason. One way to find out for sure is to get a cortisol test that will give you a snapshot of cortisol levels over 24 hours.

• Seriphos, an amino acid, acts to rebalance cortisol levels. Taking 1000 mg just before dinner and another 2000 mg by 10 p.m. on a regular basis is ideal. If you take it after 10 p.m., it may interfere with the morning cortisol spike that is your body's wake up call.

• Lavender essential oil, rubbed on the bottoms of the feet, will help you fall back asleep if you wake up in the night.

Four Facilitating Factors for a Good Night's Sleep

TIME

As breathing and heartbeat indicate, the body thrives on rhythm! Circadian rhythms are your daily bodily rhythms or your body clock. If they are thrown off, say by an international trip or a sleepless night, you may have a headache the next day or remain sluggish for hours.

People need deep sleep, known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, to repair body and mind. To make sure you get enough:

• Be in bed by ten p.m. or earlier.
• Avoid caffeine or at least cut it back after 12 noon. Caffeine wreaks havoc with your body clock!

LIGHT STATE

• Sleep in a dark room.
• Make sure there are no green or blue lights visible in the bedroom.
• Use light-blocking bedroom shades or a sleep mask.
• Shut off all electronic screens one hour before bed.
• Read a paper book before bed.
• Don't turn on screens if you wake in the night.
• Dim lights in the evening.
• Wear blue-light-blocking glasses in the evening.

NOISE

Noise bring us out of deep sleep or keep us from going into deep sleep. So monitor both sound noise and "electronic noise". A white noise machine can neutralize night sounds. Earplugs help too.

• Earplugs are especially handy if your bed partner or pet snores. Silicone ones work well. Pull the upper ear back and up to insert. If worn properly, you won't even hear the snap of fingers.

• Turn off your WiFi to reduce electronic noise. Four or five years ago, the University of Melbourne completed an extensive study on how electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation from WiFi networks affects the quality of our sleep. Our bodies sense EMF radiation as if it were light. Then the pineal gland reacts and slows down melatonin production, the hormone that regulates our sleep and circadian rhythms.

• Put your phone on airplane mode, unless loved ones may need to call. In that case, keep the phone 8 - 10 feet across the room to cut down on this electronic "noise".

STATE OF BODY and MIND

• Put your legs up the wall and/or do stretching yoga poses before bed.

• Exercise outside, even on cloudy days, to stimulate the neurotransmitter serotonin, which then makes more melatonin at night.

• To fall asleep or back asleep, take slow, deep breaths (4-5 count inhale, equal count hold, 4-5 count exhale, equal count hold, and so on).

Try one method at a time for a week or so and see what works best for you.

Rest without Sleeping

Sleep is the foundational daily system for rest. However, other avenues of rest are important too.

Daily Rest

Even a minute of rest here or there helps. You needn't go to sleep; you just need to go into a restful mode.

• Meditation and/or prayer in the morning can be vital to starting the day with a clear and calm mind.
• Go for a nature walk instead of taking a coffee break.
• Close your eyes for a moment or two and visualize a beautiful natural scene or revisit happy memories.
• Just breathe. Close your eyes and breathe deeply.

Weekly Rest

For one day a week, I stop doing things that I normally do to make money or accomplish things. Ceasing my own striving to succeed develops a trustful attitude and a sustainable lifestyle.

• Pursuing spiritual activities is a great rest from the hustle and bustle of the world. Take a weekly rest day and spend it doing soul-nourishing activities.

• Nurturing relationships with God and other people is restful and restorative. Good relationships are an important part of happiness and health; serving others results in a "helper's high" and the reinforcement of belonging. It even affects longevity!

• Reading things to edify the spirit is important instead of reading potentially stressful news items. I spend time reading Psalms, Proverbs, and the rest of the Bible. I also read self-help books. I find these books realigning and refreshing for my inner self.

• Take the time to exercise more on a weekly rest day. I know exercising more on your rest day sounds like an oxymoron but for most of us who live a fairly sedentary life during the week, this can be one of the most rejuvenating things for your body and soul. Your rest day is a good day for a nature hike or other outdoor activities.

• Enjoy the process of making a healthy, gourmet meal and eating it in a leisurely way.

Monthly Rest

Have you ever had the electricity go out for a day or so and found yourself feeling deeply rested and peaceful inside?

• Once a month, take a media break or fast for a day or two. This will give you deep, internal rest from the constant signals and stimulation of the electronic age.

Yearly Rest

• Be sure to take that annual vacation!
• Don't cram it so full of activities that you don't have time to get bored and laze around.

Vitamin N

We are part of nature; thus, nature gives profound rest to our bodies and spirits. We spend most of our week inside, in front of computer screens. We rarely get a chance to get out and see the sun or feel the wind.

Research shows that spending time in nature reduces stress and improves health. You will know by the sense of relief and liberation you feel once you are under that blue sky! So get some Vitamin N into your system!

• Go for walks or hikes.
• Cultivate a garden.
• Develop an interest in different kinds of trees, plants, flowers or animals.

Nature is deeply restorative.

Dr. Oz is more than a TV personality; he is vice chairman of the surgery department at Columbia University's medical school. He says, "When we put patients into nature after [surgical] procedures, they actually recover faster."

Rhythms of Rest

Never think that it is counter-productive to set aside significant chunks of time to rest the body, mind, and spirit. Medical science can track the benefits of doing this. Sufficient quantity and quality of rest pay dividends in better memory, healthier immune function, healthier weight, relief for depression, stress management, improved energy, longevity, and curbing inflammation that is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and arthritis.

Develop your own system for success in creating the rhythms of rest that will give you the health results you want. Make a list of a few things you're going to change, starting tonight. Enlist someone who will encourage you on your journey.

None of this is time wasted. When the body, mind, and spirit are rejuvenated, we are more effective. Some of the world's greatest discoveries have been made when someone took a rest! Rest was when it all gelled in the mind and the person had a Eureka moment. Rest reveals fresh perspectives. We are more productive when we are well rested!

Rest well to live optimally. More rest = more success!