It’s no surprise that your little one doesn’t like the taste of medicine – you hated it when you were young, too! Apart from the not-so-appealing taste of most medications, anyone who’s feeling sick simply don’t have the taste buds or appetite for just about anything.
But sick children do need to take their doctor-recommended medicines to get better, so here are some effective tips and tricks to successfully give your child medicine:
Provide choices
Young ones tend to lose their self-control especially when they don’t feel well, that’s why it’s extremely helpful to guide them and provide them choices in every step towards recovery.
When it’s time for medicine, present them with different options that will make them feel they’re in control – how they take it (from a cup or syringe, with your help or by themselves), when they take it (before or after their sponge bath) and where they it (sitting in bed, on the couch while watching TV or at the play room).
Just be sure to supervise them if they choose to take it themselves!
Give it the right way
Oftentimes, children hate taking medicine because of the taste but sometimes the way it’s given to them is also a major reason. They tend to choke or gag, so be sure the medication is given in quantities that the child can swallow properly (divide larger doses, especially medicine with thick consistency, into smaller parts).
For babies, do not squirt the medicine directly to the throat. Squirt it into the lower cheek instead, waiting for them to swallow before squirting more. Always give medicine in a seated or upright position!
Always have a positive approach
A child needs to understand that taking medicine is not a punishment, so always approach with a positive attitude. Don’t forget to give praise if she took it without a struggle!
Give rewards
If you are really struggling to give medication to your little one, prepare a box of little goodies (small toys, stickers etc.) where he can pick out anything he likes after taking medicine. Young children are motivated by rewards and incentives, plus your sick little one deserves some fun!
Explain why it’s important
Younger children won’t understand, but you can explain why taking medication is important to school-age children. Let them know that the sooner they take it, the sooner they’ll get better and be able to play!
Try these stress-free tips to successfully give your child medicine!
Angela Kidd is an author and illustrator, a wife and a mother to 3 beautiful kids. In her spare time, she would personally create storybooks and coloring books for her children for fun and they loved it.. And so did she. Angela quit her job and created her own line of educational activity books for children of various ages, with the main goal of making learning fun! You can check out some of Angela’s amazing books
Nearly every problem you face is temporary.
But these temporary problems cause immediate pain. And we often let this pain drive our choices and actions.
For example…
…and so on.
This is how you make choices you wouldn’t normally make. When you let the problem drive your decisions, you make exceptions and “just this once” choices to resolve the pain, annoyance, or uncertainty that you’re feeling in the moment.
How can we avoid this pitfall and make better long-term choices while still resolving short-term pain?
Here’s an approach I’ve been trying recently. See if it works for you…
One of the solutions I’ve been trying out is to let my values drive my choices. That doesn’t mean I ignore other aspects of my decision-making process. I simply add my core values into the mix.
For example, if I’m working on a problem in my business, rather than just asking, “Will this make money?”
I can ask, “Is this in alignment with my values?” And then, “Will this make money?”
If I say no to either, then I look for another option.
The idea behind this method is that if we live and work in alignment with our values, then we’re more likely to live a life we are proud of rather than one we regret.
Every decision is made within some type of constraint. Maybe it’s how much knowledge you have. Maybe it’s how much money you have. Maybe it’s how many resources you have. Why not what values you have?
Making better choices is often a matter of choosing better constraints. By limiting your options to those that fit your values, you are taking an important step to ensuring that your behavior matches your beliefs. (Plus, constraints will boost your creativity.)
Know your principles and you can choose your methods.
Most people never take the time to think about their values, write them down, and clarify them. Maybe it sounds too simple or unnecessary.
For what it’s worth, my 2014 Integrity Report was the first time that I sat down to clarify my values and tie them directly to my work.
You are welcome to use that report as a template for discovering your own values and aligning them with your work and life.
If you never sit down to think about your values, then you’ll be more likely to make decisions based on whatever information is in front of you at the time. That can be a recipe for regret down the road.
Life is complex and we are all faced with moments in our personal and professional lives that require us to make a choice without as much information as we need. The default assumption is that we need more knowledge or research in these situations, but often we just need a clear understanding of our values.
He that always gives way to others will end in having no principles of his own.
—Aesop
If you don’t know what you stand for and where you’re headed, then it’s far too easy to get off course, to waste your time doing something you don’t need to be doing, or to make an exception (“just this once”) that leads you down a dangerous path. There are brilliant men and women with decent hearts and families they care dearly about spending a long time in jail right now because they made business decisions that were based on the pain they felt and not the values they believed in.
Let your values drive your decisions.
You might assume that humans buy products because of what they are, but the truth is that we often buy things because of where they are. For example, items on store shelves that are at eye level tend to be purchased more than items on less visible shelves.
In the best-selling book Nudge (Kindle | Audiobook), authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein explain a variety of ways that our everyday decisions are shaped by the world around us. The effect that eye-level shelves have on our purchase habits is just one example.
Here’s another:
The ends of aisles are money-making machines for retailers. According to data cited by the New York Times, 45 percent of Coca-Cola sales come specifically from end-of-the-aisle racks.
Here’s why this is important:
Something has to go on the shelf at eye level. Something has to be placed on the rack at the end of the aisle. Something must be the default choice. Something must be the option with the most visibility and prominence. This is true not just in stores, but in nearly every area of our lives. There are default choices in your office and in your car, in your kitchen and in your living room.
My argument is this:
If you design for default in your life, rather than accepting whatever is handed to you, then it will be easier to live a better life.
Let’s talk about how to do that right now.
Although most of us have the freedom to make a wide range of choices at any given moment, we often make decisions based on the environment we find ourselves in.
For example, if I wanted to do so, I could drink a beer as I write this article. However, I am currently sitting at my desk with a glass of water next to me. There are no beers in sight. Although I possess the capability to get up, walk to my car, drive to the store, and buy a beer, I probably won’t because I surrounded by easier alternatives—namely, drinking water. In this case, taking a sip of water is the default decision, the easy decision.
Consider how your default decisions are designed throughout your personal and professional life. For example:
Of course, defaults can be positive as well.
Researchers have referred to the impact that environmental defaults can have on our decision making as choice architecture. It is important to realize that you can be the architect of your choices. You can design for default.
Here are a few strategies I have found useful when trying to design for default in my life:
Simplicity. It is hard to focus on the signal when you’re constantly surrounded by noise. It is more difficult to eat healthy when your kitchen is filled with junk food. It is more difficult to focus on reading a blog post when you have 10 tabs open in your browser. It is more difficult to accomplish your most important task when you fall into the myth of multitasking. When in doubt, eliminate options.
Visual Cues. In the supermarket, placing items on shelves at eye level makes them more visual and more likely to be purchased. Outside of the supermarket, you can use visual cues like the Paper Clip Method or the Seinfeld Strategy to create an environment that visually nudges your actions in the right direction.
Opt-Out vs. Opt-In. There is a famous organ donation study that revealed how multiple European countries skyrocketed their organ donation rates: they required citizens to opt-out of donating rather than opt-in to donating. You can do something similar in your life by opting your future self into better habits ahead of time. For example, you could schedule your yoga session for next week while you are feeling motivated today. When your workout rolls around, you have to justify opting-out rather than motivating yourself to opt-in.
Designing for default comes down to a very simple premise: shift your environment so that the good behaviors are easier and the bad behaviors are harder.
Default choices are not inherently bad, but the entire world was not designed with your goals in mind. In fact, many companies have goals that directly compete with yours (a food company may want you to buy their bag of chips, while you want to lose weight). For this reason, you should be wary of accepting every default as if it is supposed to be the optimal choice.
I have found more success by living a life that I design rather than accepting the standard one that has been handed to me. Question everything. You need to alter, tweak, and shift your environment until it matches what you want out of life.
Yes, the world around you shapes your habits and choices, but there is something important to realize: someone had to shape that world in the first place. Now, that someone can be you.
If you want more practical ideas for breaking bad habits and creating good habits, check out my book Atomic Habits, which will show you how small changes in habits can lead to remarkable results.
There are approximately 87.9 million pet dogs in the USA, according to some estimates. Many of these dog owners would like to improve their fury friends behavior. There are some simple things you can do to improve your their behavior. Lets consider some common dog behavior problems many owners are confronted with and how to solve them.
One of the most common problems is excessive barking. To solve this problem it is important to understand why dogs bark. There are a number of reasons: to initiate play, warn of danger, threaten intruders, discipline their your or because they are curious about something. All of these are normal reactions and to be expected. To train him to stop barking for the wrong reasons, you could praise him when stops barking and give him a treat. Keep repeating this process until he only barks when you tell him to “speak”. Your dog will soon catch on that being quite gives him a treat.
Another problem is begging at the dinner table. To stop this behavior you have to discourage him from doing this. One way to do this is to put some of your food into his dog bowl. This will keep him away from the dinner table and help your dog to understand he should only be eating from his bowl. Only give him scrapes that are healthy for him. Your fury friend must be conditioned to eat from his bowl and understand that this is the best place to find food.
Many dogs pull on their owners lease when going for a walk. It is important to take your dog for a walk at least once a day, but their constant pulling on the lease can be very annoying. They often pull in a certain direction because they see something that makes them curious, like another dog. To help solve this problem be aware of other dogs and shorten up his lease when he becomes aware of other dogs. Some owners will always keep their dog on a short lease. I don’t agree with this. Take your dog for a walk using a retractable lease. It is import to stop and let him smell things that interest him. It is very important that he knows he can do this, after all it is time out of the house.
Improving your dogs behavior takes patients. However it is worth it. But remember much of their behavior is normal and should not be discouraged. It is important that we understand why they are behaving in a certain way, after all we’re suppose to be the more intelligent one.
Intro text we refine our methods of responsive web design, we’ve increasingly focused on measure and its relationship to how people read.
A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.
On the topic of alignment, it should be noted that users can choose from the options of None, Left, Right, and Center. In addition, they also get the options of Thumbnail, Medium, Large & Fullsize.
And if she hasn’t been rewritten, then they are still using her. Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia.
A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul
On her way she met a copy. The copy warned the Little Blind Text, that where it came from it would have been rewritten a thousand times and everything that was left from its origin would be the word “and” and the Little Blind Text should turn around and return to its own, safe country.A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents.
But nothing the copy said could convince her and so it didn’t take long until a few insidious Copy Writers ambushed her, made her drunk with Longe and Parole and dragged her into their agency, where they abused her for their projects again and again.
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Walk down the Uluwatu beach
A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.
Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad. “How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense”, he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn’t get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was.
One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked. “What’s happened to me? ” he thought. It wasn’t a dream.
His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame.
Before you get started, please be sure to always search this Documentation, and also watch our Video Tutorials. If you have further questions beyond the scope of this Documentation, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll do our very best to reply as promptly as possible.
Lonely girl waiting for a loved one on the beach
It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment.
It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer. Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad.
Long distance relationships can be filled with challenges that couples around the block from each other never face. On the other hand, the creative ways that you find to stay connected while you are living apart will increase your creativity when you are living together.
It’s incredibly easy to take another person for granted. You take for granted that they will always be there or will always love you… just because they always have. But when you live apart for a long period of time, you can draw on those memories to bring you closer together when you finally do live together. This is a bonus that other couples only experience if they purposefully take the time to be creative about connecting.
So, while it is a challenge to stay connected, learning these skills now makes your relationship better later.
While you’re apart take the time and make the effort to communicate at least once a day, more often if you can. You can maintain an emotional connection with communication that is brief and frequent. They don’t have to be long, in-depth heart-to-heart conversations but can be short text messages about your day, asking advice or just telling your partner that you are thinking about them.
Let’s not be stalkish or smothering about it though. Calling or texting every hour, waking them up before the alarm clock or ordering pizza to be sent to their place for dinner at night is a bit much. Instead, aim for substantial and detailed communications about your thoughts, asking questions, asking advice or telling about what happened to you that day.
But, let’s face it. After a bit, text messages and phone calls can get tedious. So break the mold and make a video for your partner. Use your phone to tape yourself driving to work, while the phone is in the passenger seat aimed at you. Chat with the phone like your partner is sitting in the seat next to you.
Write a love letter. The art of snail mail is failing in our society today. And yet, there is something so much more personal and loving about a piece of paper held in your hand. Write a thank you note to your partner for listening to you while you ranted about your boss. Or write an invitation to your next rendezvous.
Try to visit each other as often as possible. Long distance can mean a 30 minute trip or a 10 hour trip. Online dating has made meeting people from across the country easier than ever. Before this you had to actually get in the car and drive somewhere to see the Rocky Mountains and meet a cowboy! Schedule as much time together as you can and spend it with other people. We live in community and when you spend it together with other people, you actually get to know each other better.
Alternate who does the traveling. It might be easier for one of you to travel than the other, but it’s important that you both put in the effort to see each other. Otherwise the one doing all the traveling may grow to resent the one not traveling. If you can both get away, try meeting somewhere in the middle occasionally. You won’t be able to spend time with friends, but it’s a nice way to disconnect from everyday life and connect with your partner. Just don’t let it be the only way you meet, or your understanding of life together will be seen through rose colored glasses.
Celebrate the ability to talking about the ‘boring’ everyday parts of your everyday. Mundane parts of your day are just normal for everyone. Celebrate your ability to share that with your partner and make them an interrelated part of every day life. During these times be sure to support your partner in their decisions or when they are stressed or hurt. Make sure you are available to them when things go haywire in their life away from you. Not only do they feel loved and connected when they know you are available to them, but it deepens your relationship, and isn’t that what you’re after?
Suicide is preventable. Yes, if detected early. If people around knew something’s wrong with someone. And willing to do something about it, not ignoring or brushing the issue off.
World Suicide Prevention Day is September 10, and according to World Health Organization, one person kills self every 40 seconds.
However, prior to such a tragedy, something must have happened: bullying. Just like this one from an introduction of a book: The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander by Barbara Coloroso.
I shall remember forever and will never forget
Monday: my money was taken.
Tuesday: names called.
Wednesday: my uniform torn.
Thursday: my body pouring with blood.
Friday: it’s ended.
Saturday: freedom.
–Neil Marr and Tim Field,
Bullycide, Death and Playtime: An expose of Child Suicide Caused by Bullying.
Good thing, while I was looking for possible resource person for this topic, there’s something which caught my attention.
“I survived bullying that’s why I will fight for my advocacy as long as I live.” An fb profile statement says. Offered an interview, he instantly agreed and here’s said Q@A:
For me bullying is a serious topic which can kill an individual through depression.
For me bullies are those people who always make fun of a person, laughing every time they see mistakes on them, even to the extent that they resort to physically assault their victim. It’s very alarming nowadays because a lot of people especially millennials commit suicide because they experienced too much depressions with different types of bullying. Last year, more than 10 individuals committed suicide in our hometown.
Those are the memories that I won’t forget for the rest of my life, but instead of getting distracted of those experiences, I use them as my inspiration to strive more, and reach for my dreams, sino makakapagsabi na ang isang batang tahimik, dati na tinatawag na bobo, pero maraming achievements ngayon. For me, my list of achievements is my sweet revenge to those who bullied me before.
5. Can you consider bullying as mental illness? Explain your answer.
For me, YES, because some of the bullies been experiencing insecurities. That’s why they bully a certain person, as cover up, sometimes they even hit or punch a person without a reason. Not only the victim needs to talk to a psychiatrist but also the bully so that he/she will learn that such actions towards other are not normal.
6. Bullying has physical, mental, or spiritual impact on victims, right? So how do we control, if totally stop bullying?
In schools, teachers have a big part to stop bullying. They should give time– at least 20 minutes a day– to tackle bullying, and how to deal with depression caused by bullying, and what are the things to do when one is being bullied.
7. Bullies need guidance or attention, too. They lack “human touch” etc. Do you agree with that? Why?
Yes, I agree on that bullies need attentions, why? Because one of the reasons why they are bullying a person is that they lack attention maybe in school, or even at home. We should also listen to their stories as well, and not judge them hastily.
8. What achievements, so far, do you have as a bully survivor?
As dancer/choreographer, I formed a group EONIAN DREAM TALENTS in the year 2010, and we joined many TV competitions such as It’s Showtime, PGT, Talendong Pinoy, to mention a few. We won top prize of each dance competitions in nearby provinces. Currently, I do choreograph work in different schools, both in elementary and high school, in our town, and other places.
9. Aside from your advocacy, what are other things you’ve been busy with?
As of now, aside from doing runway shows, photoshoot and tapings, I am busy as a dance choreographer, and I use my job in spreading my advocacy. For example, we would start the practice with some nuggets of wisdom about my advocacy, that they should not bully their classmates because nobody is perfect, even you’re the prettiest, smartest in the classroom— you still have flaws.
10. Words of wisdom.
Success is the sweetest kind of revenge.
Well said, Frank. With your passion and compassion, you and your advocacy will surely soar high. Stay humble. Cheers!
Frank Castillo Salmo is a pure Ilocano, from Camiling, Tarlac, Philippines. A dancer, choreographer, freelance model, indie actor, vlogger, and a certified TIKTOKER! He’s a graduate of Camiling Colleges with Bachelor of Secondary Education, major in English.
Title Holder/Special Awardee:
#Mr. Pogi Quest 2009 (Paniqui, Tarlac) Best in Talent and Best in Ramp Modelling;
#Ginoong Urdaneta 2012 (Pangasinan) Ginoong Kalikasan;
#Mr. MART ONE 2013 (Laoag, Ilocos Norte) First Runner Up/Mr. Cindys /Best in Talent/Mr. PHOTOGENI/Best in Formal Wear;
#Bikini Open 2013 (Alaminos City) First Runner Up @Modelling Contest
#EAC MEDIA MODELO Cycle 2 First Prince;
#Casa de Moda by James Paul/Brand Ambassador;
#BATTLE TO THE TOP Season 3 Grand Champion –got the chance to be the cover of an online magazine: GIRLFRIEND PHILIPPINES, February issue;
#Lenox Next Top Model Cycle 9 Photoshoot Challenge WINNER; @ACTOR
#Jose Bartolome, Ang Guro as Mr. PANYA.
Larry Icabandi Nabiong
Teacher, Article Writer, MOOCer, E- Teacher Alumnus, United States Department of State
On February 13, 1972, Michel Siffre climbed into a cave in southwest Texas. It would be six months before he saw daylight again.
Siffre was a French scientist and a pioneer in chronobiology, which is the study of biological rhythms. The most well-known of these biological rhythms is the circadian rhythm, which controls the human sleep-wake cycle, and Siffre was on a mission to learn how, exactly, it worked.
Siffre’s life in the cave was spartan at best. He lived in a tent that sat on a small wooden platform with a bed, a table, a chair, and a phone that he could use to call his research team above ground. His underground home was equipped with a single lightbulb, which provided a soft glow to the piles of frozen food and 800 gallons of water nearby. There were no clocks or calendars, no way for him to discover what time it was or whether it was day or night. And this was how he lived, alone, for six months.
Within a few days, Siffre’s biological clock began to take over. He would later recall his experiments by writing, “My sleep was perfect! My body chose by itself when to sleep and when to eat. That’s very important. We showed that my sleep-wake cycle was not twenty-four hours, like people have on the surface of the earth, but slightly longer—about twenty-four hours and thirty minutes.” On several occasions, Siffre’s body transitioned to a 48-hour sleep-wake cycle where he would stay awake naturally for 36 hours and then sleep for 12 hours.
Siffre’s work, along with the experiments of a handful of other researchers, helped kickstart a scientific interest in sleep that has resulted in sleep performance centers at major universities like Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Given that we spend almost 1/3 of our lives sleeping, it’s hard to believe the topic has only gained a large scientific following in recent years.
In this article, I’ll share the science of sleep and how it works, discuss why many people suffer from sleep deprivation without knowing it, and offer practical tips for getting better sleep, falling asleep fast, and having more energy.
How much sleep do you really need? To answer that question, let’s consider an experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Washington State University.
The researchers began the experiment by gathering 48 healthy men and women who had been averaging seven to eight hours of sleep per night. Then, they split these subjects into four groups. The first group drew the short straw. They had to stay up for 3 days straight without sleeping. The second group slept for 4 hours per night. The third group slept for 6 hours per night. And the fourth group slept for 8 hours per night. In these final three groups — 4, 6, and 8 hours of sleep — the subjects were held to these sleep patterns for two weeks straight. Throughout the experiment the subjects were tested on their physical and mental performance.
Here’s what happened…
The subjects who were allowed a full 8 hours of sleep displayed no cognitive decreases, attention lapses, or motor skill declines during the 14-day study. Meanwhile, the groups who received 4 hours and 6 hours of sleep steadily declined with each passing day. The four-hour group performed worst, but the six-hour group didn’t fare much better. In particular, there were two notable findings.
First, sleep debt is a cumulative issue. In the words of the researchers, sleep debt “has a neurobiological cost which accumulates over time.” After one week, 25 percent of the six-hour group was falling asleep at random times throughout the day. After two weeks, the six-hour group had performance deficits that were the same as if they had stayed up for two days straight. Let me repeat that: if you get 6 hours of sleep per night for two weeks straight, your mental and physical performance declines to the same level as if you had stayed awake for 48 hours straight.
Second, participants didn’t notice their own performance declines. When participants graded themselves, they believed that their performance declined for a few days and then tapered off. In reality, they were continuing to get worse with each day. In other words, we are poor judges of our own performance decreases even as we are going through them. In the real world, well-lit office spaces, social conversations, caffeine, and a variety of other factors can make you feel fully awake even though your actual performance is sub-optimal. You might think that your performance is staying the same even on low amounts of sleep, but it’s not. And even if you are happy with your sleep-deprived performance levels, you’re not performing optimally.
The irony of it all is that many of us are suffering from sleep deprivation so that we can work more, but the drop in performance ruins any potential benefits of working additional hours.
In the United States alone, studies have estimated that sleep deprivation is costing businesses over $100 BILLION each year in lost efficiency and performance.
As Gregory Belenky, Director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University puts it: “Unless you’re doing work that doesn’t require much thought, you are trading time awake at the expense of performance.”
And this brings us to the important question: At what point does sleep debt start accumulating? When do performance declines start adding up? According to a wide range of studies, the tipping point is usually around the 7 or 7.5 hour mark. Generally speaking, experts agree that 95 percent of adults need to sleep 7 to 9 hours each night to function optimally.
Here’s another way to say it: 95 percent of adults who get less than 7 hours of sleep on a routine basis will experience decreased mental and physical performance. According to Harvard Medical School, “The average length of time Americans spend sleeping has dropped from about nine hours a night in 1910 to about seven hours today.” And according to Dr. Lawrence Epstein at Harvard Medical School, 20 percent of Americans (1 in 5) get less than six hours of sleep per night.
Most adults should be aiming for eight hours per night. Children, teenagers, and older adults typically need even more.
The quality of your sleep is determined by a process called the sleep-wake cycle.
There are two important parts of the sleep-wake cycle:
During slow wave sleep the body relaxes, breathing becomes more regular, blood pressure falls, and the brain becomes less responsive to external stimuli, which makes it more difficult to wake up. This phase is critical for renewal and repair of the body. During slow wave sleep, the pituitary gland releases growth hormone, which stimulates tissue growth and muscle repair. Researchers also believe that the body’s immune system is repaired during this stage. Slow wave sleep is particularly critical if you’re an athlete. You’ll often hear about professional athletes like Roger Federer or LeBron James sleeping 11 or 12 hours per night.
As one example of the impact of sleep on physical performance, consider a study researchers conducted on the Stanford basketball players. During this study, the players slept for at least ten hours per night (compared to their typical eight hours). During five weeks of extended sleep, the researchers measured the basketball players accuracy and speed compared to their previous levels. Free throw shooting percentage increased by 9 percent. Three point shooting percentage increased by 9.2 percent. And the players were 0.6 seconds faster when sprinting 80 meters. If you place heavy physical demands on your body, slow wave sleep is what helps you recover.
REM sleep is to the mind what slow wave sleep is to the body. The brain is relatively quiet during most sleep phases, but during REM your brain comes to life. REM sleep is when your brain dreams and re-organizes information. During this phase your brain clears out irrelevant information, boosts your memory by connecting the experiences of the last 24 hours to your previous experiences, and facilitates learning and neural growth. Your body temperature rises, your blood pressure increases, and your heart rate speeds up. Despite all of this activity, your body hardly moves. Typically, the REM phase occurs in short bursts about 3 to 5 times per night.
Without the slow wave sleep and REM sleep phases, the body literally starts to die. If you starve yourself of sleep, you can’t recover physically, your immune system weakens, and your brain becomes foggy. Or, as the researchers put it, sleep deprived individuals experience increased risk of viral infections, weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, mental illness, and mortality.
To summarize: slow wave sleep helps you recover physically while REM sleep helps you recover mentally. The amount of time you spend in these phases tends to decrease with age, which means the quality of your sleep and your body’s ability to recover also decrease with age.
According to Harvard Medical School researchers, “As people age, it takes longer to fall asleep, a phenomenon called increased sleep latency. And sleep efficiency–the percentage of time spent asleep while in bed–decreases as well.”
Based on my calculations of the above data, the average 80-year-old gets a whopping 62 percent less slow wave sleep than the average 20-year-old (20 percent of the average sleep cycle versus 7.5 percent). There are many factors that impact the aging of body tissues and cells, but it stands to reason that if your body gets less slow wave sleep to restore itself each night, then the aging process will accelerate as a result.
In other words, it seems reasonable to say that getting good sleep is one of your best defenses against aging quickly.
“At any age, most adults need seven and a half to eight hours of sleep to function at their best. Since older people often have trouble attaining this much sleep at night, they frequently supplement nighttime sleep with daytime naps. This can be a successful strategy for accumulating sufficient total sleep over a 24-hour period. However, if you find that you need a nap, it’s best to take one midday nap, rather than several brief ones scattered throughout the day and evening.”
— Harvard Medical School
As it turns out, the body is incredibly adept at making up for a short-term lack of sleep. In fact, even if you got a brutal 2 or 4 hours of sleep last night, your body can usually recover fully if you get a solid 9 or 10 hours of sleep tonight. Your body will simply spend more time in REM and slow wave sleep cycles the second night to make up for the first. In other words, the two main sleep cycles are largely influenced by the amount and type of sleep you had during the previous night.
There is no need to worry about optimizing how much REM or slow wave sleep you get. Your body is smarter than you are and because it makes adjustments based on previous sleep cycles, you can’t really force yourself to get more REM sleep, for example, during a particular sleep session. All you can do is make sure you get enough sleep and then let your body do the rest. This is particularly important as you age because the percentage of time spent in REM and slow wave sleep decreases as you get older. As an example, a 60-year-old may need to sleep for 10 hours to get the same about of REM sleep that a 20-year-old can get in 7 hours. To put it simply: there is no substitute for sleeping.
There is a limit on this recovery process, of course. Your body will do the best it can, but it will never be able to turn a deficit into a surplus. If you want to recover from a night of little sleep, you need to follow it with more sleep than usual.
What is your sleep-wake cycle dictated by?
Answer: the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is a biological cycle of different processes that happen over a time span of about 24 hours.
Here are some key points in the typical 24-hour cycle:
Obviously, these times are not exact and merely display the general pattern of the circadian rhythm. The exact times of your circadian rhythm will vary based on daylight, your habits, and other factors.
The circadian rhythm is impacted by three main factors: light, time, and melatonin.
Light. Light probably the most significant pace setter of the circadian rhythm. Staring into a bright light for 30 minutes or so can often reset your circadian rhythm regardless of what time of day it is. More commonly, the rising of the sun and light striking your eyes triggers the transition to a new cycle.
Time. The time of day, your daily schedule, and the order in which you perform tasks can all impact your sleep-wake cycle.
Melatonin. This is the hormone that causes drowsiness and controls body temperature. Melatonin is produced in a predictable daily rhythm, increasing after dark and decreasing before dawn. Researchers believe that the melatonin production cycle help keep the sleep-wake cycle on track.
Now that we understand how sleep works, let’s talk about some practical strategies for getting better sleep.
Avoid caffeine. If you’re having trouble falling asleep, eliminating caffeine from your diet is a quick win. If you can’t go without your morning cup of coffee, then a good rule of thumb to keep in mind is “No coffee after noon.” This gives caffeine enough time to wear off before bed time.
Stop smoking or chewing tobacco. Tobacco use has been linked to a long line of health issues and poor sleep is another one on the list. I don’t have any personal experience with tobacco use, but I have heard from friends who have quit successfully that Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking book is the best resource on the topic.
Use the bedroom for sleep and sex only. Is your bedroom designed to promote good sleep? The ideal sleeping environment is dark, cool, and quiet. Don’t make your bedroom a multi-purpose room. Eliminate TVs, laptops, electronics, and clutter. These are simple ways to improve the choice architecture of your bedroom, so that sleep is easier and distraction is harder. When you go to the bedroom, go there to sleep.
If you want even more strategies for how to sleep better, check out my article 3 Ways to Improve Your Sleep.
Exercise. There are too many benefits to exercise to list them all here. When it comes to sleep, exercise will make it easier for your brain and body to power down at night. Furthermore, obesity can wreak havoc on your sleep patterns. The role of exercise only becomes more important with age. Fit middle-aged adults sleep significantly better than their overweight peers. One caveat: avoid exercising two to three hours before bedtime as the mental and physical stimulation can leave your nervous system feeling wired and make it difficult to calm down at night.
Temperature. Most people sleep best in a cool room. The ideal range is usually between 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (18 to 21 degrees Celsius).
Sound. A quiet space is key for good sleep. If peace and quiet is hard to come by, try controlling the bedroom noise by creating “white noise” with a fan. Or, use earplugs (here’s a good pair).
Alcohol. This one is a slippery slope. It is true that having a drink before bed — a “night cap” — often does help people fall asleep fast. However, while it makes it easier to fall asleep, it actually reduces the quality of your sleep and delays the REM cycle. So you fall asleep faster, but it’s possible that you’ll wake up without feeling rested. It’s probably best to improve your sleep through other methods before resorting to alcohol to do the job.
Stick to a regular schedule. The body loves ritual. The entire circadian rhythm we laid out earlier is one big, daily routine. Go to bed and wake up around the same time each day.
Develop a “power down” ritual before bed. The light from computer screens, televisions, and phones can hinder the production of melatonin, which means your body isn’t preparing the hormones it needs to enter the sleep phase. Specifically, it is the blue wavelength of light that seems to decrease melatonin production. Developing a “power down” routine where you shut off all electronics an hour or two before sleep can be a big help. Additionally, working late at night can keep your mind racing and your stress levels high, which also prevents the body from calming down for sleep. Turn off the screens and read a book instead. It’s the perfect way to learn something useful and power down before bed. (Another option is to download an app called f.lux, which reduces the brightness of your screen closer to bedtime.)
Use relaxation techniques. Researchers believe that at least 50 percent of insomnia cases are emotion or stress related. Find outlets to reduce your stress and you’ll often find that better sleep comes as a result. Proven methods include daily journaling, deep breathing exercises, meditation, exercise, and keeping a gratitude journal (write down something you are thankful for each day).
Use strategic naps. Generally speaking, one nap in the early afternoon is the best way to add napping to your sleep cycle. This is particularly useful if you aren’t getting enough sleep each night as your body may be able to make up the deficit during your nap.
The best way to have more energy is to get enough sleep, but you can also…
Drink a large glass of water in the morning. Your body just went 6 to 8 hours without any liquid. If you are feeling lethargic and groggy in the morning, you may often be slightly dehydrated. The first thing I do when I wake up is drink a large, cold glass of water.
Start the day in the sunlight. Sunshine is the new coffee. Getting sunlight in your morning routine is critical for establishing your circadian rhythm and waking your brain and body for the day. This is why, in the words of my friend Ben Greenfield, “You may find you need none or very little coffee in the summer or in times of high sun exposure, but you’re a complete monster if you don’t get your morning cup of coffee in the grey winter months.”
Cumulative sleep debt is robbing companies of billions of dollars in revenue. It’s robbing individuals of sharper mental performance. It’s preventing athletes from performing at their best. And it’s a barrier between you and optimal performance.
The answer is simple, but remarkably underrated in our productivity-obsessed culture: get more sleep.
The ideas in this article offer a variety approaches on how to get better sleep. If you’re looking for more practical strategies on how to create better sleep habits (or better habits in general), then read my book Atomic Habits or browse my best articles on behavior change and habit formation.
You owe it to yourself to develop better sleep habits. Your body and mind will thank you for it.
Intro text we refine our methods of responsive web design, we’ve increasingly focused on measure and its relationship to how people read.
A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.
On the topic of alignment, it should be noted that users can choose from the options of None, Left, Right, and Center. In addition, they also get the options of Thumbnail, Medium, Large & Fullsize.
And if she hasn’t been rewritten, then they are still using her. Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia.
A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul
On her way she met a copy. The copy warned the Little Blind Text, that where it came from it would have been rewritten a thousand times and everything that was left from its origin would be the word “and” and the Little Blind Text should turn around and return to its own, safe country.A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents.
But nothing the copy said could convince her and so it didn’t take long until a few insidious Copy Writers ambushed her, made her drunk with Longe and Parole and dragged her into their agency, where they abused her for their projects again and again.
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Walk down the Uluwatu beach
A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.
Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad. “How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense”, he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn’t get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was.
One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked. “What’s happened to me? ” he thought. It wasn’t a dream.
His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame.
Before you get started, please be sure to always search this Documentation, and also watch our Video Tutorials. If you have further questions beyond the scope of this Documentation, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll do our very best to reply as promptly as possible.
Lonely girl waiting for a loved one on the beach
It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment.
It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer. Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad.
SASA School of Performing Arts was founded by Phoebe Shergold-Willis in 2015 at the age of 18. It provides incredible and exciting acting, dance, singing and musical theatre classes, alongside workshops, showcases and monthly masterclasses to young people aged 5-21 in St Albans.
Led by a professional, talented and in-industry young teaching team, SASA aims to inspire young people to grow in confidence and talent in an energetic and vibrant environment where they can express themselves and achieve their dreams.
Students at SASA have the opportunity to take part in weekly term-time classes in acting, street dance, contemporary dance, singing and musical theatre. SASA runs annual Easter, Summer and Christmas variety showcase weeks with professional performances, as well as end of term showings. In addition SASA puts on termly masterclasses with West-End and National Theatre industry professionals in all areas of the performing arts.
Students who attend our classes can audition and be considered for SASA’s Youth Acting Company to be able to take part in Festivals and events. Or students can audition for our Award Winning Street Dance Crews and take part in dance competitions.
SASA’s students have been a part of many big events across the UK including; performing at Windsor Castle for HRH Earl of Wessex – Prince Edward for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, performing on stage at the SSE Wembley Arena for WE-Day, and we had many students perform a Zombie Flashmob for famous YouTuber Elle Mills.
In 2017 Phoebe was awarded “Role Model of the Year” by The Herts Advertiser Community Awards for her contribution to local charities including Age Concern St Albans and Mind Hertfordshire, as well as being a passionate and motivated role model to the younger generation.
