Were we meant to sleep in two chunks?
ger Ekrich noticed many old books, including Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", referenced two periods of sleep being the norm in their era. Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep: ...Ekirch somehow rediscovered a fact of life that was once as common as eating breakfast. Every night, people fell asleep not long after the sun went down and stayed that way until sometime after midnight. This was the first sleep that kept popping up in the old tales. Once…
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6 Secrets To A Better Night’s Sleep According To Research
bsp; 1) Exercise during the day promotes good sleep at night Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep: ...those who exercised reported a better quality of sleep than those who remained sedentary. 2) Mattress quality doesn't matter The only factor that was relevant with regard to beds was when traveling, people sleep best on a mattress similar to the one they have at home. 3) Keep it cold Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of…
2 minutes
Research Says You Can Beat Your Cravings With These Two Words
en deciding whether to eat something that isn't necessarily nutritious, use the words "I don't" instead of "I can't." You're 8x more likely to be successful. Via LA Times: ...try a reframing exercise that seems to work for all sorts of yearnings. It's actually pretty easy: When deciding whether to eat something that isn't necessarily nutritious, use the words "I don't" instead of "I can't." What's the difference? "With 'I don't' you're choosing words that signal empowerment and determination rather…
1 min read
Is a smile as pleasurable as 2000 bars of chocolate? Or $25,000?
iling gives the brain as much pleasure as 2000 bars of chocolate, or $25,000. Via Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act (TED Books): Abundant research on facial feedback shows that smiling feels great. A group of researchers in the UK working with Hewlett-Packard Development Company, tried to quantify and make sense of what all this brain activity meant. They used an electromagnetic brain scan machine and heart rate monitor to establish “mood-boosting values” for various brain stimuli. They…
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Here’s The Secret To Loving Your Job, According To Research
ople whose jobs allowed them to use their signature strengths -- those qualities they were uniquely best at, the talents that set them apart from others -- were consistently happier: We hypothesized that the amount of positive experiences at work (job satisfaction, pleasure, engagement, meaning) is a function of the extent to which the situational circumstances at the workplace allow for the application of an individual’s signature character strengths. For the description of the individual a reliable and valid instrument…
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How A Night Owl Can Learn To Be An Early Bird
ink Christmas morning: when there's something we're excited about, it's easy to get out of bed early. Via What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings--and Life: Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage and a self-proclaimed night owl, trained himself to become a morning person by creating rituals that make him excited to get out of bed. He starts the day by writing down things he’s thankful for. “The reason we…
1 min read
3 Secrets To Living Life Without Regret – Backed By Research
rst, what do we regret the most? You're more likely to regret the things you didn't do than the things you did. (The split is about 75/25.) Education was the biggest inducer of regret, followed by career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure. You're more likely to regret purchasing things. You're more likely to regret not purchasing experiences. And for the big picture: what do people regret the most before they die? 1. "I wish I'd had the courage to…
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This question can predict whether you will be alive and happy at age 80
s there someone in your life whom you would feel comfortable phoning at four in the morning to tell your troubles to?" Via Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being: Is there someone in your life whom you would feel comfortable phoning at four in the morning to tell your troubles to? If your answer is yes, you will likely live longer than someone whose answer is no. For George Vaillant, the Harvard psychiatrist who discovered this fact,…
1 min read
