It’s not just been the pandemic or my (almost) year-long illness. No, it’s been the TSA and the airlines who have destroyed air travel. Getting to the airport 2 hours early to twiddle one’s thumbs waiting for a plane that is way too often delayed, seats that have shrunk in size and stuffed together in narrower aisles- with terrible service to boot.
Continue reading Minimize Jet Lag
You know how we read all these great articles telling us we need 7 hours of sleep- minimum. (35% of us don’t meet this standard, by the way.) Or, those other articles that claim we can’t multitask (or, as I call it, timeslice)?
Circadian rhythm. The 24 (OK, closer to 24.8) hour cycle that governs our lives. It always intrigued me. Mostly because I don’t sleep the “required” number of hours- and wondered if my cycle was off.
Continue reading Another Physics Rule Bites the Dust
Here we go again. Talking about sleep. Like we really know about what we talk.
Sure, you hear over and over again that we need 8 hours of sleep. How do we know that? From correlations- at best- and not from direct data.
Continue reading Please turn on your magic beam?
You know it. You’ve been told that you should turn off your electronic equipment 30 minutes (at least) before you go to sleep. To help your brain get ready for sleep.
Our biological clocks, the one that sets our circadian rhythm is found in the SCN (suprachiasmatic nucleus) of the brain, contiguous to the hypothalamus. And, our circadian rhythm sets up our ability to be alert and when we feel sleepy.
True Confessions? My oldest daughter still holds it against me that I would not impress a bedtime for my children, once they reached four years old. My policy was you could stay up as late as you want- but you had to get up the next morning when required. If it were a school day, that meant 7:15; Saturday meant 8:30, and Sunday- whenever.
Continue reading Consistency is the key…
