Is Everything You Read Online Going to Help You?

Yesterday, I gave you some sleep tips:

-Get eight hours of sleep (it's actually between 6.5-7.4, depending on your age).

-Don't use any device with a screen, eat, or exercise three hours before bed.

-Keep the same bed time no matter what day it is.

Nothing new there, right?

Here's some more you might have heard:

-Set your room to 60-68 degrees to fall asleep faster.

-Don't use Melatonin, or other sleep aids, without first speaking to a medical professional.

-Don't take naps, and if you do, no nap should be longer than 45 minutes.

-Get more sunlight before noon.

-If the sun is setting, go see the sunset. Not only is it beautiful, but it also sends a signal to your brain to start winding down.

-No caffeine after 2pm.

-Get up earlier in the day.

-Read fiction before bed, and exercise in the morning,

All of this advice comes from doctors.

If someone doesn't have an M.D. or a Ph.D. next to their name, and they're giving you health advice?

You should run as fast as you can in the other direction.

Managing Disinformation & Misinformation: What's True FOR YOU Might Not Be True For Others

I've always had heart issues. One of them involves sleep. Basically, I'm fine during the day, but when I'm trying to sleep, that's when my heart acts up.

So all the advice I just gave you? I do it. But it doesn't always work.

Why? Because it's rare that you'll read, or hear advice that works for you as much as it works for someone else.

You may not have heart issues, for example.

But the odds are good you have something specific in your life that disrupts your sleep, whether it's that you experience anxiety about your lack of sleep (which thus makes it harder to actually sleep), or that you have diagnosed sleep apnea, or you're taking medication that makes it harder to sleep ...

You get the point.

I do all of the sleep advice I mentioned anyway because I deal in probabilities.

The probability for me falling asleep at night is higher when I do these things, as opposed to not doing them at all.

So why am I telling you this?

Because this is our first post about misinformation and disinformation on the Internet.

And I want to make a point: Don't assume you have a condition — like say insomnia or sleep anxiety — just because you heard something about it online, and think you have all the symptoms.

You might have it!

But you also might not!

The key is to always, always, always consult with a professional.

Yes. I know. The Federal government is making it hard for people to access quality medical care.

The cost of health insurance, in general, is also further and further out of reach for most.

And those health insurance companies make money by denying you care, not by providing it.

For example, an option sleep experts agree on is that, because everyone is different, visiting a sleep clinic is the best option to figuring out what you specifically need to do in order to get more sleep.

But not everyone can afford to go to a clinic.

And not everyone has insurance that will cover such a visit.

When it comes to the health insurance situation in America, this is not your fault.

And we can fix it.

Specifically through organizing, advocacy, and yes, protesting too. Those are all things we'll talk about later.

For now, let's focus: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Especially when it comes to medical advice.

Whenever someone does give you advice, you should always check out who they are, and what their qualifications are.

I know this sounds basic, but we consume information so quickly, that it's easy not to stop and say, "Where is this coming from?"

Getting people to stop and ask that question is easier said than done.

So the basics matter.

-BJ