Because learning about your brain and sleep can be fun . . .
Help others become more aware of the importance of sleep! World Sleep Day, observed on the Friday preceding the Spring Equinox (in 2025, March 14), is a platform for raising awareness about the importance of quality sleep and its impact on health and well-being. Initiated by the World Sleep Society (WSS), it highlights issues related…
Dreamwork, what they call working with your dreams, can be tricky. You can go for a period where you think you’re not having any dreams. When that happens, dreamwork is hard. If you’re not having any dreams, you’re not able to work with anything. Yet you are. EEGs and the techs at a sleep lab…
You spend about 1/3 of your day asleep in your bed in your bedroom. Then, most jobs—even the ones where you work from home—account for another 1/3 of the day, a total of 16 hours. Many people have a toilet, shower, and sink near or adjacent to the bedroom. You’re going to shower…
If you don’t try to remember, journal, and understand your dreams, you’ll never know what insights you’re missing. What you miss out on is a nightly chance to understand the world and yourself better. Most people don’t take any steps to make use of the time that they’re asleep to more fully experience and understand…
Ideas don’t have to be complex to be powerful. Rather, they have to be acted upon. They must be tried. The idea has got to be taken from the page into practice. Product of your environment Do you know anyone who has beat the odds growing up? They come from the kind of place where…
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…