<ul>
<li>Many people have trouble sleeping and need to set a path toward better sleep.</li>
<li>The first step to the path is to wake up at the same time every day, including weekends.</li>
<li>It does not matter what time you decide to wake up, as different people have different lifestyles and sleeping patterns.</li>
</ul>

How To Sleep Better

Our bodies follow a certain circadian rhythm that relies on us following a consistent sleeping time. 
One can use the morning sunrise as an anchor to your wake time. Having a fixed time also builds a sleep drive gradually, as the body gets in the habit of falling asleep at the same time at night.

The Science Behind A Consistent Waking Up Time

<ol>
<li>Less sleep inertia and an easier transition from sleep.</li>
<li>Easier to fall asleep, with less sleep depravity or need for naps.</li>
<li>Less need for coffee, and a cheery mood.</li>
<li>An alert mind, sharper focus, and improved short-term memory.</li>
<li>More healing of the body.</li>
<li>Less irritation during the day.</li>
<li>Better immune system functioning.</li>
<li>Better working and driving ability.</li>
</ol>

Benefits Of A Fixed Wake Time

We should follow the alarm that is set, and get up at the time. If it is slightly difficult, you can set up multiple alarms in the initial mornings, but do not hit the snooze button while half asleep. That’s cheating.
If you have trouble sleeping due to sleep apnea or are showing signs of insomnia, do consult a sleep specialist.

Don't Push The Snooze Button

Why is it important to wake up at the same time every day? Discover the role of circadian rhythms, sleep drive, and how sleeping in causes insomnia.

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Personal Development

health

Health

habits

Habits

Rise and Shine! Sleep Better and Wake Up at the Same Time Every Day

Meditation or mindfulness is not a uniform, unchanging process, but a highly subjective one, having unique effects on different individuals.
New experiments using machine learning dive deep into the brain, breath and body states during the various stages of meditation, helping the machine learning program recognize internal attention brain networks during breath attention, mind wandering, or thinking about the past.

Mindfulness And Our Brains

Extensive experimentation recording more than 2000 brain patterns per person led to certain insights which were not possible before.
<ol>
<li>Meditators had the maximum amount of time paying attention to their breath.</li>
<li>A feeling or even the warmth of the heart can be the center of focus during meditation, instead of repeating words or phrases, which are just instrumental for distracting us from our own thoughts.</li>
<li>The moments of meditation are not static, but an ever-changing kaleidoscope of experiences, feelings and mind-states.</li>
</ol>

Reading The Mind During Mindfulness Meditation

Research shows the unique impact meditation has on each brain and the benefits of meditation in boosting the human brain.

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Mindfulness

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Meditation

This Neuroscientist Decoded the Brain Patterns of Meditators - Mindful

Self-affirmations are a reflection of who you are. It is a way of thinking and writing about yourself, moreover, the things you stand for like your values in life. They are positive statements that we use to surmount the negative thinking. They do not rely on fake confidence or creating a fake reality.
They do have a bad reputation. So you have to do it in a way that doesn’t make you cringe.

Self-Affirmations

It is better to create your own self-affirmations if you do not reverberate with the whole "I radiate beauty and grace". If you don't know how, here are some self-affirmations that inspire me: 
<ol>
<li>You've done it in the past, you can do it again.</li>
<li>Do it today, not tomorrow.</li>
<li>Learn to love the difficult.</li>
<li>Just get done with it and move on!</li>
<li>So what!? Stop taking everything so seriously.</li>
<li>Stop overthinking and let's go!</li>
<li>I am a finisher. I am almost there!</li>
</ol>
Remember, self-affirmations are your core values.

Positive Self-Affirmation Ideas

I used to think that positive affirmations were nonsense. I’m not alone. Most of my friends truly can’t stand them. But they actually work!

timemanagement

Time Management

Positive Affirmations For People Who Don't Like Affirmations - Darius Foroux

It is a biological cycle that lasts less than a day and happens in alternating periods of high and low frequencies of brain activity. Some researchers argue that it involves the balance of sodium/potassium in our system. 
The brain works harder than any other organ and when we work harder than the usual what and tends to happen is that there will be a disruption to the balance of sodium/potassium and makes your brain call for a break. We also lose the ability to focus and concentrate when tired.

The Ultradian Rhythm

The more you ignore your body's natural cycles the more it will trigger its responses towards stress, the fight-or-flight response. We then become less active in hearing out ideas, unable to respond rationally, remain hyper-vigilant and anxious. 
So many workers are generally stressed out on a daily basis and although not all workplace environments are stressors, it is important that everyone gets to relax and recharge whenever then can to improve productivity and overall well-being.

Stop Ignoring Your Natural Cycles

When you start losing focus or are unable to concentrate on the littlest tasks, do these to recharge: 
<ul>
<li>Take a 10-20 mins break, nap, or breather</li>
<li>Take up less demanding tasks </li>
<li>Walk around the office while listening to something that relaxes you</li>
<li>Wind down with a snack </li>
<li>Look away from the screen because your eyes need resting to</li>
</ul>

Knowing When To Take A Break: Pay Attention To Your Body

Your body and job are both better off if you step away from what you're doing and rest at regular intervals during the day.

productivity

Productivity

Why Working in 90-Minute Intervals Is Powerful for Your Body and Job, According to Science

When psychology developed as a science that was separate from biology and philosophy, they did not know how to describe the human mind and behaviour.
Different schools of psychology emerged that represent major theories within psychology. At first, psychologists identified with only one school of thought, but today, most psychologists draw on ideas and theories from various schools.

When Psychology Became A Separate Scientific Discipline

<ul>
<li>Structuralism was the first school of thought and focused on breaking down mental processes into their most basic elements using techniques such as introspection. Major thinkers are Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener.</li>
<li>Functionalism formed as a reaction to the theories of structuralism and focused on the role that the mental processes play instead of the mental processes themselves. Thinkers associated with this outlook include John Dewey, James Rowland Angell, and Harvey Carr.</li>
</ul>

Psychology: Early Schools of Thought

<ul>
<li>This school of psychology is based on the idea that we experience things as unified wholes. </li>
<li>The approach started in the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism.</li>
<li>Instead of breaking down thoughts and behaviour to their smallest parts, the gestalt psychologists believed you should view the whole of experience.</li>
</ul>

Gestalt Psychology

<ul>
<li>Behaviourism suggests that all behaviours can be explained by environmental causes. It includes classical conditioning and operant conditioning.</li>
<li>This school of thought became dominant in the 1950s and had a significant influence on the course of psychology. </li>
<li>It is still widely used today, such as behavioural training, token economies, aversion therapy, and behaviour modification programs.</li>
<li>Prominent thinkers are John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner.</li>
</ul>

The Behaviourist School of Thought

Psychoanalysis emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour. Sigmund Freud found this school of thought. He believed that the mind was composed of three elements that interacted to create complex human behaviours:
<ul>
<li>Id consists of primal urges.</li>
<li>Ego is the part of personality that deals with reality.</li>
<li>Superego is the component that holds all of the ideals and values we internalise from our parents and culture.</li>
</ul>
Major thinkers include Anna Freud, Carl Jung, and Erik Erickson.

The Psychoanalytic School of Thought

<ul>
<li>Humanistic psychology is a response to psychoanalysis and behaviourism and focuses on individual free will, personal growth, and self-actualisation. </li>
<li>This school of thought is focused on helping people achieve and fulfil their potential. It had a huge influence on positive psychology that centres on helping people live happier and more fulfilling lives.</li>
<li>Major humanist thinkers include Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.</li>
</ul>

The Humanistic School of Thought

<ul>
<li>Cognitive psychology studies mental processes, including how people think, perceive, remember, and learn. It is related to other disciplines such as neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics.</li>
<li>This branch of psychology emerged during the 1950s as a response to behaviourism that failed to account for how internal processes impacted behaviour. Research topics include information processing, language, memory, and perception.</li>
<li>Jean Piaget proposed the stages of cognitive development theory.</li>
</ul>

Cognitive School of Psychology

Learn about the seven major schools of thought that have influenced the history of the field of psychology.

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

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Mental Health

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Problem Solving

The 7 Major Schools of Thought in Psychology

People that have acrophobia have an irrational fear of heights. Many symptoms of acrophobia are shared with other anxiety disorders, such as shaking, sweating, a racing heart, difficult breathing, nausea, and a dry mouth. Symptoms unique to acrophobia include vertigo and the desire to drop to the knees or clutch on to something.
If your fear of heights starts to interfere with your daily life, then you might want to try to do something to reduce it.

Suffering from the fear of heights

<ul>
<li>A traumatic or frightening event, such as falling off a ladder could cause a fear of heights because the distressing experience gets paired with heights in the person's memories.</li>
<li>However, many people can't link their fear to a particular experience.</li>
<li>Some people that fear heights did not have repeated safe exposure to heights.</li>
<li>Finally, people with height phobia show subtle differences in their ability to maintain their balance, partly because they have more difficulty integrating perceptual information from their visual system.</li>
</ul>

The cause of acrophobia

Anxiety is a healthy response. When we detect a threat, our bodies respond with a fight-or-flight response to protect us. Our heart beats faster, and we breathe more quickly to get more oxygen to our muscles. We get a dry mouth, and our stomach turns.
Misinterpretation of these bodily sensations is common in many anxiety disorders. Try to see your symptoms for what they are: nothing more than your body’s natural fight-or-flight response.

Recognize the symptoms of anxiety

Gradually expose yourself to your fear, starting small and slowly working up to more challenging situations. Practice a step until your anxiety subsides, then move on to a more challenging situation. It will help you to create new memories without feeling anxious.
Practise relaxation exercises before, during, and after exposure.

Dealing with your fears: Gradually build your tolerance

People with height phobias think something bad will happen when they are up high. But you are safer than you think and your feared outcome about heights won't really happen. Ask yourself:
<ul>
<li>What do you believe will happen when you expose yourself to your fear?</li>
<li>How likely do you think it is that this would happen?</li>
<li>What would be the outcome of it happening? (you might believe a tall building will collapse.)</li>
</ul>
Once you've answered the questions, start small with the thing you fear and see that the worst doesn't actually happen, or that it is not as bad as you feared.

Challenge your beliefs about heights

Identify any safety behaviours you resort to because you think they help to keep you safe. 
The most common safety behaviour is avoidance. More subtle examples include closing your eyes, not looking down or over the edges, or tightly holding on to something. Once you've identified your defences, repeat the behavioural experiment without using them.

Safety behaviours you use

Humans are wired to avoid vertiginous places, but if this fear gets in the way of life then exposure therapy can help

How to overcome a fear of heights | Psyche Guides

"It doesn’t really matter what we expected from life, but what life expected from us."

Logotherapy originated in the 1930s as a counter-response to the prevalent theories of the time, and examines the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of individuals. .
Its premise is that the strongest motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life and it was devised by Prof Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist.

The Meaning Of Life Using Logotherapy

Humans normally function on primal reactions like negative self-talk, emotional outbursts and irrational actions based on outside events and circumstances. The lost ‘spiritual’ dimension of meaning is brought forward by Logotherapy.

The Spiritual Dimension of Meaning

<ul>
<li>Freedom Of Will: Human beings can freely choose their response to the outward circumstance.</li>
<li>Will To Meaning: Human beings are completely free to achieve their goals and purposes in life, with the search for meaning being the primary motive, even forsaking pleasure for pain in the process.</li>
<li>Meaning In Life: Meaning is an objective reality, and is not an illusion or a personal perception. Humans have the responsibility to be at their best possible selves by extracting meaning from every moment.</li>
</ul>

The Basic Tenets Of Logotherapy

Logotherapy looks at all the three dimensions of an individual:
<ul>
<li>Psychological: Using paradoxical intention and de-reflection techniques to handle phobias, anxiety and compulsive disorders</li>
<li>Physiological: Coping with suffering and physical pain or loss.</li>
<li>Spiritual: Answer to people with an existential vacuum, manifested in boredom, emptiness and depression.</li>
</ul>
It is an effective therapy for PTSD, acute stress, alcohol and drug treatment, anxiety, depression and group behaviour/dynamics.

Logotherapy: A Tri-Dimensional Ontology

<ul>
<li>De-reflection: Individuals distance themselves from the negative aspects, obstacles and problems, and shift their focus onto something positive.</li>
<li>Paradoxical Intention: Eradication or reduction in fear using humor, ridicule, and imagination.</li>
<li>Socratic Dialogue: Often used in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), this technique breaks down the thoughts, going into the root cause, and the primal fear, pointing towards solutions already present.</li>
</ul>

The Techniques Of Logotherapy

We do not create meaning, rather we discover it, often when we are suffering. Learn about Logotherapy, Viktor Frankl's theory of man's search for meaning.

Logotherapy: Viktor Frankl's Theory of Meaning

Emotional eating occurs in response to stress, and in people who restrict their food intake.
Eating sweet and fatty foods may improve mood temporarily by making us feel more energetic and happier, but when comfort food becomes a habit, it comes at a cost, such as weight gain.

Emotional eating

Poverty is associated with psychological distress, including depression and lower mental well-being. 
Employment insecurity, financial difficulty, and hardship due to a global crisis are more likely to turn people to emotional eating as a way of coping.

Emotional distress causes overeating

The theme of baking has become strong on social media with hashtags such as #QuarantineBaking.
Research suggests there are benefits from baking, including boosts in socialisation, self-esteem, quality of life, and mood. Cooking alongside children may also promote healthy diets.

When baking becomes a trend

Gathering supplies and indulging in sweet baked treats can make us feel better temporarily. Why do we seek out certain foods in times of stress and should we give in to cravings?

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Food

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Communication

The psychology of comfort food - why we look to carbs for solace

Right after Thanksgiving, the sights and sounds around us morph into a familiar holiday cheer, with twinkling lights, christmas carols and classics on TV channels. It can be the best feeling in the world, but also can be an oppressive feeling for some, who are so lonely that they feel ‘mocked’ by the ongoing holiday splurge going around, with family get togethers and gifts.
The holiday times are cheery but stressful, and can be a harrowing experience for those who already struggle with loneliness or depression.

Loneliness Around The Holidays

Much of the childhood holiday magic we remember was a sacrifice for most adults who wanted the time to be special for kids. True holiday spirit is a mix of pleasure, sacrifice and pain, a mix of emotions where our own sense of joy is hardly felt.
The holidays amplify the loneliness and sacrifice, due to the pandemic, global remoteness, joblessness, personal loss and the many unspoken feelings that become evident at this time.

Holiday Memories And Sacrifices

<ol>
<li>Call up your friends, or do virtual meetings.</li>
<li>Adopt a dog.</li>
<li>Start gardening.</li>
<li>Cook with friends on a Facetime/Zoom call.</li>
<li>Join virtual communities of your interest.</li>
<li>Volunteer.</li>
<li>Go to a nursing home and interact if possible.</li>
<li>Join a virtual exercise session.</li>
</ol>

Holiday Loneliness: Reaching Out To Others

<ul>
<li>Wake up early, preferably after a good sleep.</li>
<li>Make your bed in the morning.</li>
<li>Exercise for at least one hour, or even just basic breathing exercises.</li>
<li>Go out for a walk in the sun.</li>
<li>Have a light and healthy breakfast.</li>
<li>Be decisive, compassionate and focused.</li>
<li>Meditate.</li>
<li>Say ‘I love you’ to your family members, near and far.</li>
<li>Be grateful.</li>
<li>Don’t use your smartphone or iPad before bed.</li>
</ul>

How To Deal With Holiday Loneliness: Self Care

<ul>
<li>Eat chocolate.</li>
<li>Take warm showers.</li>
<li>Wear warm socks.</li>
<li>Laugh as hard as you can.</li>
<li>Read the comics.</li>
<li>Play your favourite Christmas movies.</li>
<li>Try new recipes.</li>
<li>Look at old pictures and read old letters.</li>
<li>Write down whatever is good in your life.</li>
<li>Listen to music.</li>
<li>Paint, sew and design stuff.</li>
</ul>

Holiday Loneliness: Indulge Yourself

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Love & Relationships

Coping With Loneliness Around The Holidays

Formal volunteering, monetary donations and random acts of everyday kindness promote wellbeing and longevity.
<ul>
<li>Studies show that volunteering correlates with a 24% lower risk of early death, a lower risk of high blood glucose, and a lower risk of inflammation levels connected to heart disease.</li>
<li>In one study, participants who showed simple acts of kindness, such as buying coffee for a stranger, had lower activity of leukocyte genes related to inflammation.</li>
<li>Participants who showed acts of kindness became more pain-resistant.</li>
<li>Grandparents who regularly babysit their grandchildren have a 37% lower mortality risk than those who don't provide such childcare. That is a larger effect than may be achieved from regular exercise.</li>
</ul>

Altruistic behaviours promote wellbeing

It is not surprising that kindness and altruism should impact our physical wellbeing. People are immensely social. When we are interconnected and are truly useful to others, it influences our wellbeing.
During the first half of 2020, Britons donated £800m more to charity, half of Americans have recently checked on their elderly or sick neighbours. Americans and Australians left teddybears in their windows to cheer up children. A French florist placed 400 bouquets on cars of hospital staff.

Focusing on others is really good for you

A third of how empathetic we are is down to our genes. But it does not mean people born with low empathy are lost.
No matter where we start, we can all improve in empathy.
<ul>
<li>Try to look at the world from another person's perspective for a moment each day.</li>
<li>Practice mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation.</li>
<li>During lockdown, take care of pets or read emotionally-charged books.</li>
</ul>

When empathy doesn’t come naturally to you

While we might all enjoy the warm glow of helping out others or giving up a little of our time for charity, it could be doing us some physical good too.

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Parenting

Why being kind to others is good for your health

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