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4. WATER MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER Here's Mom's best advice ever: If you're hungry, drink some water. If you're tired, drink some water. If you're sleepy, drink some water. If you're in a bad mood, drink some water. If you have a headache, drink some water. Just because you're not thirsty does not mean you aren't dehydrated. It's easy to become dehydrated, especially in the warm, humid atmosphere in which many massage therapists work. Even slight dehydration can leave you tired and lethargic. The answer is, of course, to drink plenty of water. If the taste of plain water doesn't excite you, consider some of the flavored varieties, keeping in mind that loads of extra sugar should be avoided. One increasingly popular healthy hydration alternative is coconut water, which studies suggest may hydrate more quickly than plain H2O and which contains more potassium and less sodium than other energy drinks. "Potassium helps with muscle cramping," says Laura Sauls, spokeswoman for Zico, one of the leaders in the coconut water field. "Someone who works on muscles will understand why that's important." Fauls points out that coconut water is so pure it has been administered intravenously as a natural saline drip to save the lives of soldiers in wartime. 5. THE SWEET SMELL OF ENERGY Certain scents are able to fight fatigue. Queen among them is peppermint. "That's the all-time number one," says Dianna Dapkins, owner of Pure Pro Massage Products of Greenfield, Massachusetts, and an expert on aromatherapy. "It's extremely stimulating, and great for increasing mental alertness and invigorating us in general." Other lethargy busters include eucalyptus, citrus, cardamom, and even cinnamon and black pepper. Dapkins recommends massage therapists mix up a little jar of scented essential oils, then either use a diffuser to disperse the scent into the air, or else dilute and apply topically. "A lot of therapists will just mix it up in the bottle, then open the bottle and inhale deeply for a couple of minutes." Her recipe for a scented pick-me-up is simple: Start with 17 drops of lemon essential oil. Add to that 3 drops of eucalyptus oil and 4 drops of peppermint oil. Tighten cap, shake, and then inhale. For a more super-charged brew, add 4 drops of geranium and 5 drops of rosemary. 6. MAKE SLEEP A PRIORITY The number one myth about sleep is that you can get by on six hours a night. No such thing, says Pete Bils, vice president of sleep innovation and clinical research for Select Comfort, makers of the Sleep Number and for many people that's no easy feat. Caffeine is often the culprit. Caffeine is a great pick-me-up first thing in the morning, but it has a six- to seven- bed. "Medically, that's as ill-advised as saying you can learn to get by being 40 pounds overweight," he says. "In fact, they're almost medically equivalent." Bils says the further away you deviate from getting seven-and-a- half to eight hours sleep a night— and some people get too much, not too little—the greater the risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, obesity, and a host of other maladies. Bils advice to massage therapists who do everything else right but scrimp on sleep: Make sleep a priority. Get on a regular schedule, stick to it, and stop allotting to sleep only whatever time is left over after everything else gets accomplished. 7. BATTLING INSOMNIA Setting aside the time to sleep is only half the battle. Once you've gone to bed, you have to actually go to sleep, tune in to your practice at ABMPtv 83