The Power of Power Naps!

I've never been a big believer in power naps until yesterday. I always thought that power naps would just make your more sleepy, or not at all help you rejuvenate. WRONG!!

I discovered the power of power naps yesterday while attempting to read the oh, not-so-interesting novel, Huckleberry Finn. (sorry to all those fans out there.) It was 9 pm, you know, way past my bedtime, and I couldn't stop yawning. So I decided to take a 15 minute power nap. It's funny how deep of a slumber you can fall into for just 15 minutes. And when I woke up, voila! I'm fresh and alert.

I usually take 1 hour or 2 hour naps after school if I'm exhausted from the day. But often I find that I wake up feeling even more drowsy. I've asked around, and this seems to be the case with a lot of people. I'm interested in the science behind it.

My advice is to try a power nap! These REALLY work! If you are/were a skeptic like me, just try it.

15 minutes minimum, 25 minutes maximum, up to three times during your homework time could really improve your efficiency!
That's it for now, folks!


photo credit: prevention magazine

Inhale, Exhale

Recently, I've had this problem where I'm running short of breath. This happens even if I'm just talking casually, studying, or even while watching TV. It's made me focus my attention a lot on my breathing, and I made an eerie discovery: we hardly breathe.

I noticed that when we take breaths, they're very shallow. Our chest hardly rises, whereas our chest and our stomach area should expand (if you fill most of your lungs with air.)
Going about our daily business we dont pay much attention to our breathing.

Next time you're fortunate enough to spend time with a baby, watch him/her sleep. Notice that babies take deep, slow, breaths and that their entire body expands with each inhalation. As we grow older, we get distracted by more "important" things and forget to focus on the very basic necessity of breathing.

Take a few moments right now to notice your breath. Are you breathing deeply, or just superficially?

I urge you guys to take notice of your breathing. Every once in a while, check up on yourself. Improving the way you inhale and exhale is a simple way to improving your health.

That's it for now, folks.

SAD

Seasonal Affective Disorder. I'm 99% sure I have it.
Symptoms (during cold, gloomy weather):
- Feel sad, grumpy, moody, or anxious (CHECK!)
- Lose interest in your usual activities (CHECK!)
- Eat more and crave carbs (CHECK)
- Gain weight (CHECK!)
- Sleep more and feel drowsy during the day time (CHECK CHECK!)

It's really unfortunate that weather controls me like this. According to the article I got this information from, SAD is caused by a lack of sunlight. But isn't everyone deprived of sunlight during the winter? So why do only a few people get affected so much?

Anyways, if I have this so called disorder, I just have to learn to cope with it. If you have it too, here are some tips!

-Listen to music that's fast paced. Even if you aren't a fan of fast paced songs, it will make you feel more energized.
-EXERCISE. Definitely gives you more energy and gets produces happy hormones, or endorphins. :)
- Try especially hard not to procrastinate so you can get more time with friends and family.
- Before you go to sleep, spend 5 minutes taking deep, long, breaths.
-Come up with a mantra, no matter how cheesy it sounds, and repeat it to yourself once at night and once when you wake up.
-Take 20 minutes out of your day to read a book that you like.

I know its sunny and hot out right now, but if we have a rainy spell coming up soon, try these tricks out!

That's it for now folks.

20/20 anyone?

How many of you wear contacts or glasses? It feels like hardly anyone these days has perfect vision. We all blame it on pollution, or the excessive amount of hours spent before a computer screen. But unfortunately, we can't change that. What we can change, is the way we take care of our eyes. Check this article out.

I love the sunglasses tip! It's an excuse for a great fashion accessory.

What I found SUPER surprising though was the fact that carrots aren't as good for your eyes as leafy greens like kale and spinach! I guess bunnies' eyes aren't as sharp as we thought they were.

As I mentioned before, it's crucial that we take care of our eyes now. Sure, we poke in our contacts in the morning and we can't feel a thing all day. But we can't afford to abuse our eyes now; the repercussions are dangerous and terrifying.

A tip: when you're studying or doing homework, take a break to "stretch your eyes". Look to a point far in the distance, then shift your focus to something nearer; alternate between the two, roll your eyes around, and then go back to studying. Exercising your eye muscles is a great way to "keep them in shape"

That's it for now, folks.

Tell The Truth

so you don't have to remember anything. I think this proverb is incredibly powerful; partly because it is not such a hackneyed expression, but mostly because the expression is there for your protection rather than to dictate how you should live your life.

It came to my mind today while we were discussing Huckleberry Finn, the oh so repetitive satire by Mark Twain. Huck lies continuously, and always forgets what he has lied about. He eventually realizes the difficulty in lying, and reaches an epiphany where he resolves only to tell white lies.

But enough of the lit analysis. What I mean to convey is that adhering to this piece of advice will radically change your life. We all lie, its human nature. Telling the truth 24/7 is incredibly difficult. But imagine if all of us tried. The world would become a much safer place for our emotions.

(This post was for 3/17 -- it didnt post for some reason)

That's it for now folks.

Olive Oil -

This is an extra post, to make up for Friday, March 13th, because I was sick. (Ha! How ironic!)

Anyways, about a month ago a family friend from New York was visiting. I sat on the bed chattering away, complaining about high school pressure and drama etc., when I noticed that she only had a toothbrush, toothpaste, hair supplies, and a bar of Neutrogena soap in her vanity case. No moisturizer, I thought? When I asked her about it, she said that she likes to limit her use of commercial products and replace them with natural substances as much as possible. Her replacement moisturizer? Olive Oil.

Shocking, huh! Most of us would automatically assume that any type of oil used as a moisturizer would cause us to break out. Not true! The family friend I mentioned earlier has acne prone skin, yet she has no breakouts with regular use of olive oil.

I took a risk of following her advice about 3 weeks ago, and now I'm completely addicted to it. Just a drop or two massaged into the face at night keeps your skin soft and clear.

Now that I think about it, it's funny how all these commercial products claim to use natural ingredients like shea butter, and coconut oil, etc. Why don't we just use the actual natural stuff and skip over all the chemicals?

Guilt-Free Snacking?

I saw this article on msn health today. The tips are great, but the title is misleading. These aren't snacks. Most people would consider snacks to be, well, at the very least, palatable. The so called "snacks" listed in this article aren't exactly what I'd call scrumptious. And the one thing I do find yummy on the list, dark chocolate, is limited to 1-2 ounces. Yay.

Unfortunately, in our hectic world where a Special K bar has replaced a proper breakfast and Drive-Thru Taco Bell has replaced both lunch and dinner, advice such as this is necessary. Almost once a week on msn I come across health articles with new tips on how to make healthy foods quickly. Emphasis on the quickly. The majority of people don't have time to cook their own meals, so naturally they opt for fast-foods and finger-foods.
Our fast paced world takes control of every aspect of our health: physical, mental, and perhaps even social?

Perhaps if we stopped compromising our health, we could be more successful.

That's it for now, folks.