What things to avoid for a healthy night sleep

Can’t imagine why the sleep gods had it in for you? Think about what you ate the night before. Any of the following–much less a combo platter–can leave your body on uneasy street for hours.

1. Spicy Foods Garlic, chilies, cayenne, and other intense spices are yummy going down but can keep you up with heartburn or indigestion. Avoid MSG too, as it can trigger dreams that are a bit too vivid. At some point or another, it happens to everyone: You can’t sleep. When you finally drop off, the alarm buzzes a microsecond later. Then you can’t get up. And then it gets worse: When you finally drag yourself out of bed, you look like you-know-what.

2. A Big Dinner An overtaxed digestive system takes hours to settle down and there’s nothing restful about that. When sleep’s critical, make lunch your largest meal and enjoy a light 500-calorie dinner early in the evening.

3. Raucous Veggies Eat those good-for-you-but-gassy foods–beans, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts–in the middle of the day. A tankful of gas can keep anyone up at night.

4. Speed Eating Relax and enjoy meals to avoid swallowing air, another common cause of midnight tummy trouble.

5. Nightcaps Alcohol may make you drowsy at first but later on it disturbs sleep patterns and leads to awakenings and restlessness. A 4-ounce glass of wine with dinner won’t hurt, as long as it’s not within two hours of bedtime.

6. Coffee after breakfast Caffeine can linger in your body for as long as 12 hours. So if you’re often wide-eyed at bedtime, make sure you’re caffeine-clean for at least 12 hours. (Skip tea, chocolate, cola, or other caffeine culprits too.) Still watching the clock at 2 a.m.? Wean yourself off even morning java, then stay caffeine-free for two weeks. If you definitely sleep better, you have your answer: Caffeine is not your friend. If the results are mixed then try adding back a cup or two of coffee or tea in the morning and watch what happens, but if sleeplessness comes back, cut it out.

Getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night doesn’t just make your eyes bright, your skin happy, and your mind sharp, it can also make you look 5 years younger.

Pau Gasol now a Laker

The Los Angeles Lakers bolstered their banged-up frontline Friday with a key acquisition — 7-footer Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies.

“It shows a great deal of commitment from the organization,” All-Star Kobe Bryant said before the Lakers‘ game at Toronto. “It’s a great step.

“It’s a matter of us just gelling now and putting it together,” added Bryant, who urged management to improve the team over the summer. “We’ve got a great bench. We have a lot of length, a lot of versatility. Now it’s time to walk the walk.”

The Lakers gave up Kwame Brown, rookie Javaris Crittenton and two first-round draft picks for Gasol. The Spaniard is certain to help a Lakers team reeling from recent injuries to inside players, including blossoming center Andrew Bynum.

“We need a little scoring inside without Andrew Bynum,” coach Phil Jackson said. “It gives us a post-up threat right now, and he’s a good passer. We like that.”

Jackson said Gasol could make his debut when the Lakers visit Washington on Sunday.

“I gave up playing GM this summer,” Bryant said.

This time a year ago, Bryant begged the Lakers to give up on Bynum for Kidd. The Lakers wouldn’t have won a title with Bryant and Kidd, just been a fabulous show too slight, too small, for a championship. Just one year later, Bynum, 20, who is out with a knee injury until mid-March, had showed that he wasn’t just a better bet for the long run, but for this year, too. Size matters in the West, and Bynum and Gasol are a frontline of power and grace promising to be a monster.

Over the summer, Kupchak didn’t give up a package for a broken down O’Neal that would’ve included the No. 1 picks they ultimately needed to ship to Memphis for Gasol. Every GM makes mistakes and Kupchak had to live with trading a burgeoning All-Star, Caron Butler, to the Wizards for all-time draft bust Kwame Brown. The Lakers GM turned Brown’s expiring contract into the 7-foot Gasol and, instantly, the NBA’s most important franchise had the parts to return itself to glory.