2.When you get enough sleep you replenish your energy stores and your hormones stay in check. When you are sleep deprived hormone cortisol rises in your body, indicating stress. When cortisol remains high it stimulates your appetite for high sugar foods and it also causes body to store more fat in abdominal area. Lack of sleep can lead to weight gain!

Consider following:

*What time do you get up? Go to bed? *How many hours of sleep do you average? *How many hours of sleep do you need? *Based on hours of sleep you need, what time is ideal for you to go to bed? To get up?

You might notice some changes need to be made. While you may not be able to reach your ideal habits right now, making small changes in sleeping habits can help, especially during crazy schedules holidays bring.

Some evidence even shows that high levels of stress may shrink part of brain that governs learning and memory. Scientists who studied brains of people with severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder found that one part of brain, called "hippocampus", actually became smaller when high-level stress kicked in. Some researchers speculate that shrinkage could result from raised levels of stress hormones called "glucocorticords".

When stress declines, you are more likely to stretch your physical and mental boundaries, suggests Phil Nuernberger, Ph.D., president of Mind Resources Technologies in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.