Welcome to Sleep Diaries, where interesting people share a week’s worth of late-night habits. This week we have Darnell Cox, founder of the popular YouTube channel and blog Live Young Lifestyle.

There are serious health risks involved with sleep deprivation. Health advocates can talk until they are blue in the face, scream their latest research results from the highest mountaintops, or plaster their statistics on billboards across the country, yet most of us still don’t take the topic seriously. “I can sleep when I’m dead,” I’ve heard people say. Well that, my friends, may be sooner than you think if you are sleeping less than 7 hours per night. And if that dire—but authentic—assessment did not get your attention, let me appeal to your more immediate priorities: Sleeping less than 7 hours every night accelerates the aging of your skin and makes you gain weight! Yep! So, here’s my sleep tip-for-the day (or night!) to make sure you get quality shut-eye.

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