b'Living BetterAPPRECIATING THE VALUE OF GOOD SLEEPAmid an epidemic of prescription drug addiction, doctors are moving away from over-prescribing narcotics for sleep problems and muscular pain, and are instead recommending the very best therapy: good sleep!Clarissa and Justin Trevino are typical of young couples in the Coastal Bendthey are each working over 40 hours a week in order to provide the best life they can for their kids. The Trevinos two boys, Anthony, 5, and Oscar, 3, are themselves full-time jobs, and between it all, free time equates to little more than sleep time.The couples occupations, each physically challenging in their own way, lead to dif-ferent varieties of muscular pain and fatigue, as well as opposite needs for good rest and recovery. Clarissa works as a dental technicianshe is on her feet all day and is required to maintain steady balance in awkward standing positions in order to treat patients and assist the dentist. While she works indoors and avoids the summer heat, her office environment is quite coolmost say its cold in there!Justin Trevino started work at a local refinery shortly after earning a welding certifica-tion from Del Mar College West Campus, and is now, at age 32, a welding supervisor for a refinery construction company. He is up and down stairs and ladders all day, outdoors in the scorching South Texas sun, superheated inside the refinery.Justin and Clarissa were thrilled to have pur-chased a high-quality, king-sized mattress five years ago, but recently began to look for ways to get better sleepin the same bedas they found themselves feeling sluggish and slow to start their day, even after getting a full nights sleep. Clarissa recently learned from a co-worker that doctors are prescribing sleep as the solution for much that ails us.Harvard Medical School recently published a re-port declaring that sleep has a direct, immediate and noticeable impact on how well our brains work, including learning and memory, as well as metabolism and weightit seems that the less good sleep you get, the harder it is to lose weight. Anyone with kids can tell you that sleep affects mood, and the same is true for adultsbut poor sleep also puts your safety at risk, as well as for those who rely on you. Poor sleep can also contribute to poor heart health, as well your bodys ability to fight sickness as simple as the common cold or flu.Justin and Clarissa took time to shop around and found bedding experts who intro-duced them to the amazing advances in sleep technology of recent years. Mattresses these days offer temperature control, firmness and position adjustments for both sides of the bed, and even snoring control technologywith new features arriving regularly. They also found options for temperature control that were surprisingly af-fordable, especially advanced, cooling mattress covers.The Trevinos are now jumping out of bed most mornings instead of rolling, and they are enduring long days with less pain and more energy!64 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEFall 2019 TheCoastalBend.com'