Americans are notoriously sleep-deprived. According to the National Health Interview Survey, nearly a third of U.S. adults say they get six hours or less of sleep each night. Experts recommend 7-8 hours for adults, 9-10 for teens and at least 10 for school-age children.

Carbohydrate-rich foods like bread, cereal, potatoes, bananas, eggs and warm milk are all supposed to help promote sleepiness. Whether they do or not is a matter of debate and probably individual response.

On the flip side, there are foods that probably shouldn't be consumed close (within four hours) to bedtime. According to WebMD, here are some consumables to avoid: high-fat dishes, which rev up the digestive system and keep it working into the wee hours; foods and beverages containing caffeine (skip the hot cocoa); alcohol; spicy foods; meat (protein is harder to digest); and nicotine (it's a stimulant).

BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

Fingernails grow at 0.02 inches per week, four times faster than toenails. This translates to 0.0028 inches in a day or 0.000119 inches per hour. The middle fingernail grows fastest; the thumb slowest.

GET ME THAT. STAT!

Forty percent of new cases of anorexia are in girls between 15 and 19, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

NUMBER CRUNCHER

A Dunkin' Donuts chicken bacon ranch sandwich (100 grams) contains 660 calories, 243 from fat. It has 27 grams of total fat, or 42 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet.

It also contains 65 milligrams of cholesterol (22 percent); 1,620 milligrams of sodium (68 percent); 69 grams of total carbohydrates (23 percent); 3 grams of dietary fiber (12 percent); 6 grams of sugar; and 34 grams of protein.

COUNTS

1,800 — Approximate number of lung transplants performed annually in the United States

Source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

MANIA OF THE WEEK

Aboulomania — pathological indecisiveness

NEVER SAY DIET

The Major League Eating speed-eating record for sweet potato casserole is 8.62 pounds in 11 minutes, held by Sonya Thomas. There is no truth to the rumor that Thomas needed to be casser-rolled out of the building after her sweet potato victory.

OBSERVATION

"A hearty laugh is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors." — Norman Cousins

LAST WORDS

"Nothing but death." — British author Jane Austen (1775-1817), when asked by her sister Cassandra if there was anything she wanted. Austen had been suffering from a debilitating illness for months. The cause of her death has been attributed to Addison's disease, Hodgkin's lymphoma, bovine tuberculosis and Brill-Zinsser disease, a form of typhus.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.