Because learning about your brain and sleep can be fun . . .
No matter where the facility is located, falling is one of the most common problems patients have when coming into the emergency department. Falls can be serious. You fall off of a ladder, fall down some stairs, or “fall” in prison (that’s what the inmates say when they’re attacked and don’t want to rat out…
The road was icy in places. The clouds gathered, dark and menacing. The winds whipped past the SUV making its way down the highway. The clouds offered what’s called a “wintry mix” and the schoolteacher steering the car struggled to stay awake. This experience isn’t unusual for the residents of West Texas. Living remotely, and…
Lotioning your face and hands before going to bed is a good idea for everyone, man or woman. If you’re well-hydrated, you’re going to look better. Putting lotion on and letting it soak in helps you do this. If you live in a dry climate, the difference it makes is noticible. The skin is the…
You forgot something. How are you going to get it back? What are you going to do about it? It’s a classic dream with many variations that many people have from time to time or over and over. It could be that you find yourself at a party of some sort and you realize that…
Does journaling your dreams sound interesting and useful, but there’s no free time in your action-packed day? Just two to five minutes: Dream journaling can take as little as two minutes after you wake up. You don’t have to fully journal every single dream to benefit from dream journaling. Journal the big ones. The intriguing…
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is a sleep-inducing technique that deserves to be in your toolbox. Keep it handy, ready to use on nights when your brain doesn’t want to shut down. It’s at least as effective as a sleeping pill, and the best answer to sleeplessness when you have a churning mind. Why PMR works…
It’s understandable why someone would want to take some kind of dream analysis shortcut. Quicker is usually better. It’s “efficient.” But not in this case. People wake up in the morning. There’s a rush to get everything done. Get breakfast. Get to work. Sometimes they’ve made a promise to themselves to go to the gym…
Your intestines are an actual environment where things live. Namely, these living things are bacteria. Bacteria are occasionally harmful, but they’re often helpful. Antibiotics don’t discriminate between the harmful and helpful. They knock out both. This causes problems, from diarrhea to sleep. Antibiotics affect metabolites, namely short-chain fatty acids. Metabolites are necessary for certain metabolic…
When you’re faced with a tough dilemma, it’s easy to go back and forth, hemming and hawing, perplexed. Both sides of the issue can make sense. Both sides look pretty good—or are equally repellent. Positives and negatives? Well, they weigh out almost the same. You can see the sense of both options (or, in some…
10-3-2-1 sounds like something a quarterback might say when calling a play during a football game. Or something Mission Control might say before sending a spacecraft into orbit. And it is kind of like that. Instead of the endzone, the quarterback, or Mission Control, 10-3-2-1-0 is a countdown to Dreamland. It’s a reminder. Like PACTREPS, …
Nobody, I mean nobody, wants to be around an obnoxious person. There’s nothing to recommend hanging out with them. They’re loud or seem that way. They’re out for themselves. They don’t listen. They don’t even really see you as another person. You’re a means to an end. Unless there’s another compelling reason to have them…
Staying in bed all day: not going anywhere, doing nothing—some have called it “bed rotting.” Rotting away is a very apt way to describe it. Bed rotting is a good way to make your health rotten. It’s a good way to ruin your sleep. The name is too cutesy for something so easy to avoid,…
Even though they happen in our heads, the sights and sounds of dreams are usually conveyed by the two main senses: seeing and hearing.  Dream scenes consist of seeing something happen in your mind. In dreams, people can speak and music can play. Dreams that rely on the other three senses—taste, touch, and smell—aren’t completely…