If you’re not sleeping at night, it’s high time you ask yourself why.

We all know how a lack of sleep can impair our ability to function, no matter how many extra cups of coffee we drink. 

But two new studies show the problems of chronic sleeplessness can run far deeper, as insomniacs are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure and have increased thoughts of suicide.

The first study, published in the journal Sleep, found a direct connection between a lack of sleep and an increased risk of hypertension.

The study on 1,741 men and women found that people who have insomnia for a year or more and who get less than five hours of sleep per night were five times more likely to have high blood pressure as people who slept more than six hours per night.

The same study also found that insomniacs who slept between five and six hours per night were 3.5 times more likely to have high blood pressure.

The second recent study on sleeplessness, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, found a link between insomnia and increased suicidal thoughts and behavior.

The researchers found 7.9 percent of people who reported difficulty falling asleep had suicidal thoughts, 2.8 percent of them planned a suicide attempt and 1.8 percent actually tried to kill themselves.

That’s as opposed to 1.6 percent, 0.3 percent and 0.2, percent, respectively, in folks who had no problems falling asleep. 

What made the findings in this study especially disturbing is that these suicidal thoughts appeared to take place independent of any preexisting depression or anxiety.

So if you’re not getting enough sleep, try to get at the cause. Chronic sleeplessness is never normal, and the longer it goes on, the greater risks you face.

I always suggest starting out with a 24-hour urine test to determine whether your body is getting all the nutrients it needs to function normally. You’d be surprised at how many problems can be corrected by simply giving yourself the nutrients your body lacks.

In other cases you’ll need to dig deeper to find out what’s keeping you up. It could be your diet, your lifestyle, or any number of other factors.

But get to the bottom of it – and then get some rest.

Most of us know how important it is to watch our weight, even if we sometimes let the belt buckle slip a notch too far.

We’re also concerned about our cholesterol levels. In fact, if the sales of those unnecessary drugs so many people take to control their cholesterol are any indication, it’s a national obsession.

But how about our triglyceride levels?

Those fatty particles found in our blood are every bit as important – but it seems we’re paying them no attention. A new study shows that a third of all Americans have elevated levels of triglycerides.

The study, published recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at 5,610 people over 20 years old. It found that 33.1 percent of them had triglyceride levels considered borderline high or worse. It also found 17.9 percent of them had levels that were just plain high.

It’s important to keep an eye on these levels because along with cholesterol, triglycerides are a good indicator for heart disease and other problems.

And like those cholesterol levels, what you eat has a direct impact on the amount of triglycerides floating around in your blood. It happens while your body is converting carbs to fat. The more carbs you eat, the more your body has to work with. So you get fatter and, at the same time, you end up with more triglycerides in your bloodstream.

It’s a result of what I call the Torture Chamber Diet that has us all loading up on low-fat, high-carb foods and, as our national health proves, is killing too many of us too early. 

Now, let’s say you show up for your physical, get your bloodwork done and your doc notices that your triglycerides are elevated. Chances are, the first thing he’ll tell you to do is go on a low-fat diet, and offer you some eating tips.

That’s your ticket into the Torture Chamber.

As we’ve just seen, the very diet he’ll tell you is good for you is also the same lifestyle that will lead to more fat in your body and more triglycerides in your bloodstream, because the Torture Chamber Diet is based on carbs.

By the time your next physical rolls around, you’ll be even worse off – even if you’ve done exactly what he told you to.

The secret to good dieting is understanding the very basic principle that eating fat doesn’t make you fat any more than eating a banana will turn you into a banana. You need a certain amount of healthy fat in your meals, and any diet that tells you otherwise is just plain wrong.

The key to a good diet is balance. Ease off the carbs, enjoy good proteins and a small amount of healthy fat (especially those that provide omega-3 fatty acids) and you’ll do more than get your triglycerides under control – you’ll be on the road to overall good health.

The best part of all is you’ll get to stay out of the torture chamber for good.

We all know that two of the biggest problems with health insurance have been affordability and availability.

Folks who are sick or have been sick find out the hard way that even when insurance is available, the price is so high it’s just plain unaffordable.

But now that the cattle prod of legislation is poking the industry in the rear end, the insurers are offering to change that. They’re worried sick that these new winds of change we keep hearing about are going to blow them right off the map.

I say good riddance.

So now the industry is proposing to end variable pricing based on an individual’s health if everyone in America is required to get insurance. Of course, they’ve left themselves enough wiggle room for a herd of buffalo to march through.

Their plan, which they spelled out in a letter to several U.S. senators, would still allow them to offer variable rates based on factors other than health. Age, where you live, and the size of your family could all play an unfair role in determining your rate. And who knows what that rate would be, anyway. Chances are, plenty of us still wouldn’t be able to afford it.

And this doesn’t even begin to address the single biggest problem of all in modern medicine: The insurance companies, and not your doctor, would still be responsible for your health care.

I trust Big Insurance with my health about as much as I’d trust a bobcat with chickens. Insurers force their patients into decisions that are entirely about saving money, and that’s why I often choose not to work with them. I just can’t accept that some bureaucrat in a faraway office building with limited clinical experience knows what my patients need better than I do, without even looking at them.

Yet that’s how their approval process works. Someone other than you and your doctor gets to decide what kind of care you get.

It’s an entire industry that exists to serve not doctors or patients, but – first and foremost – itself and its shareholders.

Here’s how I work: I provide a service, and accept a fair payment for it. There are no insurance codes, and the approval process is easy. I tell you what I think you need, give you the information to help you make your decision, and you get to approve it.

It’s really quite simple – and how just about every other industry in America works. It’s how doctors used to work, too, until these insurance monsters came along.

They must be joking.

That’s the only possible explanation for this one, friends. Either that, or maybe the folks in Washington just don’t read the newspapers.

The FDA has just approved the antidepressant Lexapro for use in kids. Just weeks before that, federal prosecutors accused its maker, Forest Laboratories, of illegally marketing that same drug, along with one other antidepressant, to kids.

The manufacturer was also accused of giving pediatricians kickbacks to get kids on these drugs. And now, the FDA essentially rewards this behavior.

If you can see any logic in that, please drop me a line because I just can’t figure it out. To me, it’s like a gang of bank robbers getting caught in the vault. And instead of being locked up, they’re given the keys.

Lexapro already enjoys $2 billion more in annual sales – just how many more times are we going to let that cash register ring before someone notices this company isn’t playing by the rules?

This wasn’t some spontaneous act by the Justice Department in response to a one-time slip-up. Their accusations came after a five-year probe of how Forest marketed Lexapro and another antidepressant, Celexa. Five years!

They found the company was offering pediatricians everything from tickets to sporting events and Broadway shows to fishing trips and spa visits in exchange for giving these drugs to kids. They also found that the company had ordered its sales force to push a positive study on Celexa and ignore one that showed it was ineffective for children.

Let’s keep in mind that antidepressants are potentially dangerous drugs that sometimes cause nasty side effects. Many come with black-box warnings because they’ve been linked to increased suicide and suicidal behavior in youths.

If any drugs should be kept away from kids, it’s these.

Antidepressants exist purely for symptom control. They won’t cure depression or cause the body to create the additional serotonin it needs. They just manipulate the serotonin you already have.

Often times, there are much better ways, not just for kids, but for everyone to treat their depression. Everything from tryptophan to vitamin B to exercise can be just as effective as drugs like Lexapro, if not more so.

To me, the behavior of the company tells you everything you need to know about what they’re selling. When a business has to resort to shady and manipulative behavior to sell its product, then it’s probably not a product you want to use, much less give to your children.