02.22.2010 - An afternoon nap markedly boosts the brain’s learning capacity If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don’t roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour’s nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter. Students who napped (green column) did markedly better in memorizing tests than their no-nap counterparts. (Courtesy of Matthew Walker) Conversely, the more hours we spend awake, the more sluggish our minds become, according to the findings. “Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap,” said Matthew Walker, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the lead investigator of these studies. In the recent UC Berkeley sleep study, 39 healthy young adults were divided into two groups — nap and no-nap.
Holiday Fat Hack: How to Eat Like a Santa and Not Turn Into One How to be Insanely Productive and Still Keep Smiling | zen habits Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Mary Jaksch of Goodlife ZEN. Do you want to be more productive? Maybe you do, but I’m sure you don’t want to feel stressed, overwhelmed, or unhappy – which happens to many super-productive people. But there is good news: You can be insanely productive – and still smell the freesias, savor a Pinot Noir, or enjoy a languid hug. A few weeks ago Leo Babauta said to me, “Mary – you’re one of the most productive people I know. Most stuff I’ve read about productivity is about doing things differently. High productivity isn’t about doing, it’s about being. If you want to be highly productive – and still enjoy life – you need to look at how you live, and how you use your mind. Make peace within. Finally, a key question you need to ask … If you want to be productive and still enjoy life, there is a key question you need to answer: why be productive? I mean, why not just chill out on the couch, eat potato crisps, and watch TV reruns?
Recipe Chimp How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Really Need? I took a class taught by the Penn PI cited in this article, Dr. David Dinges, called "Human Chronobiology and Sleep". I also worked part-time for a company for which he was a consultant while I was a student. One thing he emphasized in his class that really stood out for me is the inverse relationship between exposure to light (especially short-wave/blue light around 470nm) and melatonin production. EDIT: If anyone's interested, here's the syllabus for the course I mentioned: [www.sas.upenn.edu]
Sleeping Tricks - Effective Techniques For Falling Asleep Stop Firefox from Automatically Entering "Work Offline" Mode href="#c5714707">Entonces loves BACON: Yes, but mathematically speaking, it's NOT. That's jut the spin, and you can choose either one, but any Hillary responds: 1. Even WITH Florida and Michigan included, he is still ahead in the popular vote. 2. What swing states are you referring to? Also, recall that a lot of Clinton's big wins were early in the election. 3. Actually, they indicate the level of organization in a candidate's campaign. Frankly, if none of things were true, I'd be like, whatever, he's not my guy, but he's obviously a really viable candidate so, get on board. But they aren't true. Instead, what I know is he's a very, very week candidate in the GE on swing states that have been a problem for us, and I just hope that he can turn VA. You also have to remember that democratic primary =/= general election.
Organizing from the Inside Out: Form a Plan of Attack for Lifelong Organization There are a few things I use to keep myself organized across three computers (XP netbook, Vista desktop my tech-illiterate husband uses, and 7 desktop that is in my (away from home) office). The first one is XMarks, which keeps track of all of my bookmarks and passwords for me. I also have a copy of this in a text file in Dropbox and a physical, written on paper version for account information I absolutely must not lose. Then there is Dropbox. For web clipping, I use the Zotero add-on for Firefox and OneNote. Flash drives are easy! To keep track of applications on my systems, I use Aston menu, and built a custom "My Menu" file for it that groups all of my apps according to purpose (writing, graphics, audio, video, computer utilities, etc.) and launches them with a single click. The trick across all of these systems is to build strong and easy to use hierarchies. I take the same approach with hard drives. You will note that I don't mention CDs and DVDs.
Glenn Close can say incest, vagina and bipolar Actress Glenn Close is working to take the stigma out of mental illness. Actress Glenn Close says some words have power and not all of it for goodShe couldn't freely speak about incest until she did a movie about it She wants more discussion of mental illness to erase shame and stigma Her sister suffers from bipolar disorder, her nephew from schizo-affective disorder (OPRAH.com) -- As an actress, I have always loved words. I believe in their power. The first time I confronted an unspeakable word was in 1984, when I was in "Something About Amelia", a TV movie that dealt with incest. Then came Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues". My aha moment hit me several years ago, when I realized that three deeply frightening words had power over me: schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar. Oprah.com: 19 things you can stop worrying about right now Calen is a hugely gifted artist who got sick when he was 19 and has endured great suffering. And my aha moment is beginning to have repercussions.