Eating well means concentrating on a proper diet and on the time you eat. The foods you consume on a day-to-day basis will have a knock-on effect on your overall health. A balanced plate should include a handful of carbs, an outstretched handful of protein, two handfuls of veg and a thumb-sized portion of fat (olive oil). The current NHS guideline that you should eat small meals often throughout the day is completely disproven. Snacking is generally bad because it produces extra sugar and fat peaks, leading to sugar dips and more hunger. However, snacking can be helpful for some.

There’s more to eating than what’s on our plates

You should stop eating around two hours before bed; otherwise, the digestive tract is working at metabolising your food and absorbing nutrients instead of secreting and absorbing the sleep hormone melatonin. However, if you get home late and don't have that two-hour window before bed, a smaller, lighter dinner is recommended.

The gap between your last bite and going to sleep

Eating well doesn’t necessarily just mean concentrating on the right diet – the time you eat (or don’t) can also make a big difference to your wellbeing

Stashed ideas

How timing your meals right can benefit your health

Whereas a career path tends to be a singular pursuit (climb the ladder in one direction and focus on what is straight ahead), a career portfolio is a never-ending source of discovery and fulfillment. It represents your vast and diverse professional journey, including the various twists and turns, whether made by choice or by circumstance.
Especially for those just starting their careers, it’s important to know that you’re not going to have everything “figured out.” The ability to navigate ambiguity and “not knowing” are in fact among the most valuable skills.

The career portfolio

You already have one — even if you don’t realize it, even if you’ve never had a paid job. The place to start is to identify what’s in it.While your portfolio can include traditional paid jobs, don’t limit it to that. Think bigger. Your portfolio is created by you, rather than determined for you by someone else (like a bunch of hiring managers). It reflects your professional identity and potential. It includes your unique combination of skills, experiences, and talents that can be mixed, matched, and blended in different ways.

Building a career portfolio

A career portfolio typically leads to greater ownership of your career. It also gives you a unique professional identity that evolves alongside you. It’s naturally aligned with lifelong learning and meant to help you expand your professional community and access to leadership opportunities. Over time, the value of your portfolio will increase by your ability to combine and weave together skills from your different experiences in order to gain new insights, tackle new problems, diversify income sources, and serve in new ways.

The benefits of a career portfolio

A “career portfolio” is a new way to think about, talk about, and craft your professional future.

Why You Should Build a “Career Portfolio”

A growth mindset is a belief that your abilities can be developed over time by learning to embrace failures, facing difficult situations with resilience, and seeking help along the way.
To build a growth mindset, remind yourself that your failure is not a sign of incompetence, Rather, it’s an opportunity to learn what not to do.

Growth Mindset

Try practicing these three things:<ul><li>Don’t blame circumstances for your mistakes. Instead, use them as an opportunity to learn about yourself.</li><li>When faced with an unfamiliar situation, don’t run or hide. Try to tackle it to the best of your abilities.</li><li>Don’t be hesitant about asking for help. No one comes with all the expertise, so ask for help when you need it. The best way through an unknown situation is going through it, rather than avoiding it or feeling let down by it.</li></ul>

Developing A Growth Mindset

Personalizing your current job in a way that feels energizing and helps you stay relevant. How to use this: “I’ve been job crafting by taking on a more creative branding project in addition to just crunching data as an analyst.” To bring your superpowers into your job, focus on these three questions:<ol><li>How do I use my strengths to bring more of myself into the work?</li><li>How can I improve my relationships at work so they are more inspiring?</li><li>What story do I tell myself about why I do my work, and can I make the narrative more inspiring?</li></ol>

Job Crafting

Divergent Thinking is a method of thinking that allows us to consider various solutions to a problem and discover new points of view. It is also known as thinking “outside of the box.” How to use this: “I was able to do some divergent thinking after journaling this morning. I came up with five new ideas!”

Divergent Thinking

Take two or three mundane office or household items (like a sock, a paperclip, or a pencil) and brainstorm as many alternative uses as you can for each. For example, a sock can be used as a washcloth, a paperclip as a keychain, and a pencil as a hair curler.

How To Think Differently

It is the tendency to seek out information that affirms your beliefs and ignore information that opposes your beliefs.How to use this: “It’s been so hard to try and change his mind about this project. I think confirmation bias is really impacting his decision-making.”

Confirmation Bias

How often do you search Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram before meeting someone new? All the time, right? Everyone is checking you out online, too. The “first” impression of you isn’t when you actually make contact, it’s when someone pulls up your profiles and makes snap judgments based on what they see. From there, once you actually do meet, they’ll likely be looking for signs to confirm the assumptions they’ve made about you. The same thing happens in your career, especially from your LinkedIn profile

Everyone Is Checking You Out

It is the ability to inspire confidence in others to believe in and follow you. To build executive presence, become aware of your communication style, actively seek feedback, make small changes to your behaviour that feel authentic, and be mentally present during conversations.

Executive Presence

5 Office Buzzwords You Should Know About

The first commonly available convenience foods were canned goods, which were developed in the 19th century for military purposes. The little tins made it easy to store, transport and prepare food on the battlefield.The use of canned food escalated during second world war, when soldiers’ rations contained tins of meat and stew to keep them going

Ready meals: Military beginnings

<ul><li>The first home ready meals were actually created to use up surplus meat. US food company Swanson had a disappointing Thanksgiving period in 1953 and found themselves with huge stocks of leftover turkey.</li><li>Bosses challenged their staff to find a creative solution, and salesman Gerald Thomas designed his own version as a ready meal tray. It had three compartments to hold meat, potatoes and vegetables.</li><li>Swanson named their new idea a TV dinner, marketing it as a convenience food you could eat while watching television. And their popularity was staggering: Americans bought 10 million TV dinners in the first year alone!</li></ul>

1950s: TV dinners

<ul><li>Ready meals didn’t take off until the 1970s, when more homes had domestic freezers. Brands launched products specifically for these new kitchen gadgets.</li><li>Birdseye Fish Fingers and Findus Crispy Pancakes became mealtime staples, finished off with frozen desserts like Viennetta, Arctic Roll and Black Forest Gateau.</li><li>The biggest attraction of frozen food was timesaving – everything was pre-prepared and quick to cook. By the 1980s family life was changing, with an ever-rising number of working women. More and more families turned to frozen ready meals for a hot, tasty dinner you could cook in just three minutes.</li></ul>

1970s: Microwave meals

By the 1990s, diets were getting more adventurous and ready meals makers strived to match this.&nbsp;Cuisines like Thai and Mexican were introduced and producers often recreated food that diners enjoyed in restaurants, but didn’t know how to prepare at home.

1990s: New flavours

Since the first ready meal was invented in 1953, convenience food has reshaped the way we eat. What's the attraction of ready-made meals? Read our article.

Health

The rise of ready meals

<ul><li>Migraine is a neurological condition that can cause multiple symptoms. It’s frequently characterized by intense, debilitating headaches. </li><li>Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, difficulty speaking, numbness or tingling, and sensitivity to light and sound. </li><li>Migraines often run in families and affect all ages. Migraines can begin in childhood or may not occur until early adulthood. Women are more likely than men to have migraines.&nbsp;</li><li>Family history is one of the most common risk factors for having migraines.</li><li>Migraines are different from other headaches.</li></ul>

What is a migraine?

<ul><li>The prodrome stage (one to two days before the headache itself): food cravings, depression, fatigue or low energy, frequent yawning, hyperactivity, irritability, neck stiffness.</li><li>In migraine with aura: during an aura, you may have problems with your vision, sensation, movement, and speech.&nbsp;</li><li>The attack phase. This is the most acute or severe of the phases when the actual migraine pain occurs: sensitivity to light and sound, nausea, dizziness or feeling faint, pain on one side of your head, pulsing and throbbing head pain, vomiting.&nbsp;</li><li>The postdrome phase. During this phase, there are usually changes in mood and feelings. A mild, dull headache may persist.</li></ul>

Migraine symptoms


Researchers haven’t identified a definitive cause for migraines. However, they have found some contributing factors that can trigger the condition.&nbsp;<ul><li>This includes changes in brain chemicals, such as a decrease in levels of the brain chemical <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/serotonin" target="_self">serotonin</a>.</li><li>Other factors that may trigger a migraine include bright lights, severe heat, or other extremes in weather, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/dehydration-headache" target="_self">dehydration</a>, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/hormonal-headaches" target="_self">hormone changes</a>, excess stress, loud sounds, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine/exercise-induced-migraines" target="_self">intense physical activity</a>, skipping meals, changes in sleep patterns, use of certain medications, smoking, alcohol use, etc.</li></ul>

What causes migraines?

<h2>Migraines can’t be cured, but your doctor can help you <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/headache-management" target="_self">manage them</a> so you get them less often and treat symptoms when they occur.</h2><h2>A treatment plan may include a combination of self-care <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/natural-ways-to-reduce-migraines" target="_self">migraine remedies</a>, lifestyle adjustments, including <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/stress-management" target="_self">stress management</a> and <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine-triggers-and-how-to-avoid-them" target="_self">avoiding migraine triggers</a>, OTC pain or migraine medications, prescription <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine-drugs" target="_self">migraine medications</a>, prescription medications to help with nausea or vomiting, hormone therapy if migraines seem to occur <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine/migraine-during-period" target="_self">in relation to your menstrual cycle</a>, counseling and alternative care, which may include <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/biofeedback" target="_self">biofeedback</a>, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/types-of-meditation" target="_self">meditation</a>, acupressure, or <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/acupuncture-for-headaches" target="_self">acupuncture</a>.</h2>

Migraine treatment

Here’s what you need to know about migraine types, symptoms, triggers, and treatments as well as how they’re different from regular headaches.

Everything You Want to Know About Migraine

Hormones regulate various biological activities, for example, growth, development, reproduction, energy use and storage, water and electrolyte balance.
Hormones are molecules that function as chemical messengers in the body's endocrine system. Specific organs and glands produce them, and then they are secreted into the blood and other bodily fluids.

The function of hormones

While hormones in the blood come in contact with a number of cells, they influence only the cells which have receptors for each specific hormone.
<ul>
<li>Endocrine signalling is when the hormones influence specific cells from a distance. For example, the pituitary gland near the brain secretes growth hormones affecting the body all over.</li>
<li>Paracrine signalling is when hormones influence the neighbouring cells.</li>
<li>In autocrine signalling, the hormones cause changes within the cell that releases them.</li>
</ul>

Hormone signalling

Hormones are classified into two main types:
<ol>
<li>Peptide hormones (e.g. human growth hormone): These protein hormones are made up of amino acids and are water-soluble. They cannot pass through a cell membrane. They bind to receptors on the cell's surface and cause changes within the cell. </li>
<li>Steroid hormones (e.g. sex hormones - androgens, estrogens, and progesterone): These hormones are lipid-soluble and can pass through the cell membrane to another cell. Steroid hormones cause specific genes to be expressed or suppressed by influencing gene transcription in a cell.</li>
</ol>

Types of hormones

Hormones are regulated by other hormones, glands and organs, and by a negative feedback mechanism.
<ul>
<li>Tropic hormones regulate the release of other hormones. The anterior pituitary in the brain, the hypothalamus, and the thyroid gland secrete tropic hormones.</li>
<li>Organs and glands help hormonal regulation by monitoring blood content. E.g. the pancreas will secrete the hormone glucagon if glucose levels are too low and insulin if glucose levels are too high.</li>
<li>In negative feedback regulation, the initial stimulus is reduced by the response it provokes. E.g. the regulation of red blood cell production.</li>
</ul>

Hormone regulation

Hormones are specific molecules that act as chemical messengers in the body. Hormones regulate various activities, including growth and reproduction.

Types of Hormones in the Body and How They Work

Tech addiction may be real in some cases but is mostly fear-mongering.
Many studies linking technology addiction with mental health problems may be setting a false narrative and blaming technology for unrelated psychological problems.

Technology Addiction: Myth Vs Reality

Many studies link tech addiction (like playing video games) to cocaine, or methamphetamine usage, as it stimulates the same pleasure centres of the brain. 
The dopamine release is blamed for the addiction, but research shows that video games release far less dopamine than drugs, approximately the same as having food.

Technology Is Not A Drug

Only about 3 percent of gamers develop problematic behaviours leading to bad grades. A vast majority of the problems are mild. 
Kids who use smartphones aren’t all addicted, and having a smartphone won’t cause major interference in work or social relationships.

Tech Addiction Isn’t As Common As Perceived

The addiction to games or gaming disorder has been classified as a disease, but it could only be a symptom of other mental health issues like chronic anxiety and depression. 
The truth is that most cases are mild and easily cured.

Tech Addiction Isn’t A Mental Illness

If a person is depressed, chronically anxious, or having attention problems, he or she may be showing abnormal behaviour and symptoms, and one of those symptoms may be to use technology in a disproportionate way and be affected by it.
If such a person starts to sleep all day, one doesn’t blame the bed and think that it is a ‘bed addiction’. The mistake is that a symptom is being treated with the real problem being neglected.

Tech Addiction Is Not Caused By Technology

Apart from using technology, many people indulge in a wide range of activities disproportionately, like exercise, eating, sex or shopping. 
The activity isn’t the problem in these cases, but the person’ underlying mental health needs to be diagnosed.

Tech Addiction Isn’t Unique

Though the World Health Organization has declared "gaming disorder" an addiction, its – and others' – concerns about technology use and alleged addiction don't hold up to scholarly scrutiny.

Debunking the 6 biggest myths about 'technology addiction'

Sleep is one of the three pillars of health, along with exercise and nutrition.
The need to sleep better is topping the charts, as app makers and manufacturers struggle to meet the demand for services and products designed for better sleep, like live sleep sessions, weighted blankets, sleep masks, and high-tech mattresses.

Sleep Demand Is On An All-Time High

<ul>
<li>According to 2019 research, the amount of money spent on sleep products like mattresses, pillows, tracking devices and lamps globally tops USD 400 billion.</li>
<li>Social media, E-commerce websites and even online magazines have jumped on the snooze bandwagon, with pictures, ideas, mantras and articles about sleep. </li>
<li>Pinterest has put ‘Sleep Care’ as its 2021 trend, with a surge in keywords like Sleep Yoga, or Night Affirmations Sleep.</li>
</ul>

The Global Sleep Economy

The pandemic and the resulting lockdowns have changed our work patterns and made us more sedentary. 
Sleep was always neglected but apart from insomniacs and people having sleep disorders, not many talked about getting better sleep earlier, as it was considered a necessary activity constantly disturbing their life (partying, watching Netflix etc.)

Sleep Has Always Been Neglected

Apart from a few herbs, exercise, and nutritional changes, most sleep-related products are not backed by scientific research. Many people who cannot sleep become dysfunctional as their body triggers alarms, and start to panic. They become gullible to buy anything that the market offers promising better sleep.
Going to bed early without engaging with the phone or TV screens at night, for example, is an effective measure to ensure quality sleep, then buying cooling mattress pads or humidifiers.

Sleep Products: Scammers Delight

Humans didn’t need lotions, apps or even mattresses for millions of years, and yet they slept naturally. Nutrition and exercise, the two other pillars of health, are also milked by capitalism into billion-dollar industries for stuff we can do by ourselves naturally and with zero investment.
We need to treat the underlying causes of non-sleep and make our body and our environment conducive to it. The sleeping area should be quiet, dark, cool and comfortable. The mind should be quiet and the body relaxed.

Sleep Problems: Treating The Underlying Cause

With a good night’s rest seemingly more elusive than ever, products that promise better sleep are an increasingly big business. Can they help us finally get some rest?

Can you buy a better night’s sleep?

Paying attention to when you eat is as important as what you're eating. Intermittent fasting is a simple way to start experimenting with a diet. It requires you to abstain from food, or at least most food, for specific periods.
Diets based on intermittent fasting shows a huge list of benefits, such as weight loss, balancing out one's blood sugar, and mental clarity.

Intermittent fasting

There are three approaches to take:
<ul>
<li>Alternate day fasting: Eat whatever you want on off days, but limit calories to around 500 on fasting days.</li>
<li>The 5:2 diet, which involves fasting during the week and making eating what you want on weekends.</li>
<li>Time-restricted eating. Eating is limited to an eight-hour window each day. Most people make it from noon to 8 p.m.</li>
</ul>
The diet doesn't specify what you should be eating, only when.

The specifics of intermittent fasting

Typical Western diets consist of simple carbohydrates, such as pizza or sandwiches. These food items provide the glucose your body uses as fuel. Spiking glucose increases insulin levels, which the body uses to process blood sugars.
<ul>
<li>Fasting for 16 hours evens these spikes out and recalibrates the body.</li>
<li>A longer fast leads to lower blood pressure.</li>
<li>Time-restricted eating is associated with better cardiovascular health because the body starts to burn fat, and as the body releases more fat, the level of insulin drops.</li>
</ul>

Why eating less means more

A 12-week randomized trial found that overweight adults who started time-restricted eating lost about the same weight as a control group, and most of the weight lost was lean muscle mass, not fat.
But the take on time-restricted eating is still open because so few studies exist that examine its effects.

Time-restricted eating does not help with weight loss

It's the hottest diet around right now—but know the science behind it isn't a slam dunk.

How to Overhaul Your Diet With Intermittent Fasting

<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.

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Laila
@llai

How timing your meals right can benefit your health

Why You Should Build a “Career Portfolio”

5 Office Buzzwords You Should Know About

The rise of ready meals

Everything You Want to Know About Migraine

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

Laila @llai

How timing your meals right can benefit your health

Why You Should Build a “Career Portfolio”

5 Office Buzzwords You Should Know About

The rise of ready meals

Everything You Want to Know About Migraine

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Laila
@llai