35 EVERYDAY MISTAKES

Some daily habits could harm your health and happiness. Here’s what they are and how to fix them.

RISE AND SHINE

1 Setting your alarm for the middle of a REM cycle. Humans sleep in five-stage cycles. Waking up in the middle of a REM stage (when you sleep deepest) leaves you groggy and grumpy. However, if you wake up during one of your light-sleep stages, you’ll rise feeling refreshed and alert. Find your perfect bedtime with a free site such as sleepyti.me, which gives you four optimal bedtimes based on when you need to get up, or a sleeptracker app such as SleepBot, that

uses motion and sound sensors to wake you from the lightest phase of your cycle.

2 Wrinkling your face with a cotton pillowcase. “Persistently pressing your face into a pillowcase causes trauma to the skin,” says dermatologist Dennis Gross. “Over time, this trauma, aggravated by the friction of cotton, can cause permanent creases as our collagen breaks down.” Instead, switch to silk or satin cases as they allow the skin to slide, so it doesn’t pull or tug. This helps reduce crease lines.