The two-word phrase bit into my brain like the teeth of a bear trap. Like a snared bear, my thoughts couldn't break free.

Not because the phrase was questionable, controversial, or even outrageous. Not because it made the cryptic crystal clear. But because of the leap it allowed my brain to make.As a result, I now have an all-encompassing comeback if you claim to lack the time needed to eat right, sleep right, or exercise. The response: There's some time, some place in your daily schedule for everything you need to do to be healthy because much of your daily schedule is "potentially modifiable."But enough with the obscure (yet engaging?) introduction. If I want you to agree with me, you need to look (at the quoted phrase in the original study) before you (also make the same mental ) leap.Dr. Gerda Pot led the meta-analysis of 11 prior sleep studies performed at the Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences Division at King's College London and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition last November. That number crunching determined that sleep-deprived people consumed an average of 385 calories per day more than those who got sufficient rest.In response, Pot said, "Reduced sleep is one of the most common and potentially modifiable health risks in today's society in which chronic sleep loss is becoming more common."At first, I read "potentially modifiable" and my brain felt like a fly in molasses - but suddenly it took flight again, and I asked myself, "What aspect of your life isn't exactly that?"Your work hours? Probably. But more and more businesses allow some degree of flexibility and more and more jobs are done via the internet.Certain family responsibilities? Possibly. But aren't the time and the place for these negotiable? How often are they truly set in stone?It sounds too simple to say, but if most of the factors that keep you from eating better, sleeping more, and exercising regularly are actually potentially modifiable, you have the ability to change them. So why haven't you then?The most likely answer: You are a slave of convention, a creature of comfort and habit, which makes changing potentiality into actuality more difficult than it seems."Aye, there's the rub."It makes sense to borrow a line from the Shakespeare's "To be or not to be" soliloquy because that really is the question anytime you contemplate a significant health or lifestyle change.To keep things concrete, let's say you're well aware of the previously mentioned sleep study and that you spend too many days sleep-deprived. You know you eat extra because of it and are really bothered by your expanding waistline.Because of all this, you resolve to go to bed an hour earlier? But will your potentially modifiable bedtime actually get modified?Or when the earlier bedtime comes around will you realize that you never folded the wash, checked your email, or watched favorite television show you taped on DVR and do those things instead?If you're not sure how you would handle the aforementioned hypothetical situation, don't despair. Don't even despair if you can't imagine giving up late-night viewings of "The Walking Dead" - even though it makes you an early morning zombie.The purpose of this article is not necessarily to change behavior but to make you contemplate the possibility of it, which is a needed step for many people or the change doesn't last long term.At least I know that's how it works me.In the past, I've written about a bad habit I have: eating too much too close to bedtime. I've done so most of my adult life, and I throughly enjoy savoring a snack as I wind down from my rather active days. But recently I've cut back the snack.I had to.I love waking up feeling rested and refreshed and ready for the new day, but for about a month months ago, acid reflux became more common than a good night's rest.The cut back has been in effect for about two months, and I haven't had a single bit of acid reflux during that time. But equally as important is how my thinking has changed.You see, I had contemplated eating less late in the night for years. I figured as I aged it would cause me to gain unwanted weight, so eventually I would have to make a change.Yet I hesitated, because as I have previously mentioned, I really enjoy late-night snacking as I reflect, relax, and ready myself for bed. But it was that prior mental process, the thinking and realizing, that allowed me not only to make the change quickly but also to make it permanently.Years ago, I couldn't imagine not having a snack of significantly more calories than my supper 90 minutes after it. Now I can't imagine going back to that.