Do the same sleep ritual every time.

There is still much left to understand about the human brain, but scientists pointed out that it prefers working after the same general scheme. Any significant change in the scenario turns into a minor brain alarm that sends out stress signals throughout the body, possibly leading to insomnia. Do the same thing on weekends too.

Go to sleep and wake up at approximately the same time

Of course, the odds are life will put out obstacles in your way and it won’t allow you to stick to your program on some days. The point is not to lose your balance and keep going with your waking hour. Also, when you go to bed, don’t try to force yourself to sleep.

Make the right conditions in the bedroom.

Each of us have our own preferences when it comes to our room. If your a very tidy person having a cluttered room may be keeping you from going to sleep, despite the fact that you may not even realize this. But for most people, having your room clean is not a must. The colour of your walls does have a big impact on you. While having a bright orange will help your creativity, it won’t be so good when trying to sleep, so you really should use some soothing colours such as a light blue or sage green. Your bedroom should be anything but hot, and it should also be quiet and dark. Your bed and pillow should be very comfortable and large enough for you. Also, according to some recent studies, if you do errands on the bed (such as writing or studying), your brain associates it with something else than rest, and you may have problems going to sleep. The room has to be ventilated properly.

Don’t ignore the morning routine.

I’ve written a whole lot about this topic here, you really should check it out.

Don’t eat or drink large amounts before sleeping.

If you have a light dinner, it can be up to 2-3 hours before going to bed. However, if you eat more at dinner (which is not a good thing in itself) it should be 4 hours earlier. You should also be careful what you eat, don’t make it something that will upset your stomach.

Give up unhealthy habits.

Drinking coffee or soda or alcoholic beverages. The drinks are all stimulants (even alcohol) and they require quite a while to get out of your system; and about smoking… I’m not even gonna go into that. Quit smoking!! It’s really not that hard.

Exercise.

Exercising does wonders for you in a whole number of ways, and let’s be honest, it’s not that hard to do. Whether you go to your local gym, go out for a jog or a swim, a few hours a week is a small price to pay when it comes down to your health. It also makes your sleep more restful but you have to be careful not to exercise for three hours (some say six hours) before going to bed, otherwise it could mess with your body.

Short naps are good, long ones are not.

We did a more detailed post about napping here, so check out the details there, but keep in mind that if you sleep a lot during the day, you’ll find it harder and harder to sleep early at night.

Use pills only as a last resort.

Unfortunately, it’s getting easier and easier to get some sleeping pills, and many people abuse that. If you find it hard to sleep, you first need to think positive, and don’t get the ‘I have insomnia’ idea in your head, because it will be hard to take out from there. If you can’t sleep for more than half an hour, you become pretty stressed about not being able to sleep so it’s better if you do something relaxing, read or listen to some calm music. Think positive thoughts; you’ve worked for a whole day and still have energy and can’t go to sleep, I’ll just compensate tomorrow and stick to a schedule.

Let go of your stress and worries.

I have my own ritual: almost everytime I go to sleep, I ponder of the day that has passed, with the good and the bad, thinking what I could have done differently, understand how I can do better, but I don’t let it affect me. After I do that, it’s much easier to go to sleep, having found peace with myself and letting go of all the stress. Find your inner balance and let go of your thoughts after that.

I can’t stress the issue of proper sleep enough, but hopefully by now, you’re beginning to understand just what a big mistake neglecting it is and the major consequences it can have. Just following these small steps can have a huge benefic impact on you, and they require a minimum of effort, if any at all.

Photo credits: 1,2, 3, 4

When our mind keeps wandering and when nothing seems to get in our head there is only one thing that can get worse: to find out that you forgot everything that you have learned. Why does this happen ? Is the time spent lost and is this a natural thing to happen ? Let’s find out.

A frequent problem that arises for those that study is that after the first read of the material they don’t recall anything of it. Panic installs itself, but let’s stop for a minute and think about it. There’s no way to forget what they previously learned. They forgot, that’s normal, but after correctly repeating the material they would see that the situation wasn’t as hopeless as they thought it was.

If this ever happens to you, don’t get discouraged and think about the lost time. Remember that if the material is unfamiliar to you, it may take longer for it to settle in, so to speak, rather than the case if it was known to you, like if you have studied it sometime in the past.

But what’s happening ? Let’s call it “study shock”, meaning a general confusion and resistance towards learning. But don’t worry, this will go away as the material and ideas get more and more familiar for you. Forgetting something after reading it for the first time is a natural reaction of the memory, because it is stressed too much. But still, repeating the material will show you that you have learned many things from it, being the main points and important details of the said material.

How to prevent forgetting something we are interested in ? You can firstly focus on the main ideas rather than details. These are what need to remain in your memory no matter what happens and will act as a foundation for the latter readings. So don’t rush after this stage and focus on the main ideas.

Another thing is that the sheer volume is way too big to learn on one go. You can’t do this, because you will have the tendency to try to learn everything instead of learning the right way. So try learning a little bit at the beginning, but right, on the line of two or three pages per day. This is just the beginning, because you will need subsequent readings of the material, after which new links will be formed and the knowledge will last more.

Some other tips are to put yourself in complex situations regarding the material. Ask yourself questions like “why”, “how”. Look for clues, arguments or even try modifying the data of an issue (facts, numbers, etc) and work on it.

But there’s no bigger tip for me to give you than to think of the material as something that will benefit you beyond graduation, no matter what you will be studying. Think of it as in investment in yourself and your future so that you will have an edge over the competition.

There are people that in the same time frame seem to learn more than others, even double the ammount. They can have a high memory capacity, are better organized, etc. But that’s not all, there is one especially important action you must undertake to make sure you are successful and that’s by planning your actions until the desired outcome is achieved.

No matter where you stand in your exam or thesis preparation, you will have to do some number crunching to see what time frame you have left to prepare. Experience will help you, but better go with numbers.

Let’s take an example. You have to learn 80 pages and you think that in about five days you will be able to cut through them twice. This is where the numbers come in. The subject for which you study is a hard one and you can’t study more than two pages per day. So that’s 40 hours. You need half of that to repeat the lessons and to sum things up you will need about 12-15 hours. So we have a grand total of 72-75 hours. If you’d learn ten hours each day for that subject, you will finish in about eight days. If time is an issue, take a look at places where you can reduce the learning time (not the quality). Maybe a quarter of the subject is easier to understand or is based on things you already know.

Your planning must have a fixed number of hours for study but it also must take into account unforseen events like a sudden trip, a party, etc. Make sure to have some time at hand for other activities so that you won’t be working against the clock in stress.

A starting point can be the exam difficulty, your knowledge level and the type of exam: is it a thesis, a test paper, etc. But no matter what you are preparing for, it’s almost the same thing: what number of subjects you are learning for, how much you need to know after which get to the number crunching for each subject.

A good program will let you make adjustments here and there without affecting the study plan. You planned to study in the morning but something came up and you reschedule the study session in the evening. No problem.

Never begin without some kind of plan and make sure it’s not overkill. Better start slow and steady and work from there. But once you decide on a study plan, stick to it and follow it by the letter. Track your progress and slowly but surely, you will begin to achieve your desired goal.

Try to make as little noise as possible. Of course, during an intense series of exercises you can grunt to some extent and that’s fine, but screaming is a totally different matter. Not only is it distracting, but it can make the person screaming seem like it’s bragging about it’s performance.

Mind your sweat by carrying a towel and wiping the sweat off the machines, benches and such. If a towel is unavailable, try to use paper towels from the gym, if they are available.

Whatever weights you may use, make sure that you return them back to the rack and don’t leave them spread on the floor in the gym. Always leave the equipment as you would like to find it. Put the plates back on the plate holders etc. Don’t forget that the equipment is for everyone and if you are not using a piece of equipment, let the other members use it.

In a gym it’s normal that a level of noise is present, aside from the plates, grunting and other noises from inside the gym. There may be noise coming from the traffic, doors, etc. Don’t let such noises bother you and disrupt your councentration while training.

Talking while exercising should be limited to calling for help, encouragement and asking if someone needs a spotter. Between sets keep the conversations short and to the point.

While in the gym, try to turn your mobile phone off so that it won’t disturb you if it rings. Try to leave all your personal thoughts outside the gym for the duration of your training.

If you take a break, stay out of the way of other trainees so that the flow of traffic wouldn’t be disturbed. Don’t sit on a bench or machine if the gym is crowded, it may be used by someone soon.

Some people try giving advice to others, even if they don’t have much experience and so many members would be annoyed by this especially if you are new and don’t know what you are talking about yourself. Try to avoid providing any advice until you get some experience.

Suppose you want to train on a bench and someone is already doing a set. Don’t stay near the person unless you want to assist, but rather keep your distance while making sure others know that you will be the next person to train there.

At the end of the workout, take great care while changing in the locker room. Don’t leave stains or dirt in there. Treat the locker room as you would like to find it when you first come in the gym.

A good idea is always to know beforehand what training routine you will do there so that you won’t have to think about it on the premisis. Choose for example a bodypart that consists of large groups of muscles like the chest, back or legs and focus on a handful of good, basic exercises.

There are two main instances when you will go training. If you go alone on your trial workout, don’t hesitate to talk to the gym staff or other members for help (like when you need a spotter or some training tips). Of course, you can go with a friend and this is especially useful if the person already trains there and you can direct all your questions to that person. Not to mention that you have a spotter ready at hand. Also, if possible, try to follow the same routine for ease of training and spotting.

For your trial workout it is best to go at a quieter time so you can get used to the atmosphere. Good times are late morning or early afternoon. You can also ask the gym staff of such times as they can differ from gym to gym.

Take a look at the clothes that you will be wearing during the training session. If the gym is nearby you can go in your training clothes, but if it is far or the weather is hot, better bring a change of clothes and put the training gear on in the locker room. Focus on practical clothes rather than the bling, you surely don’t need that in the gym.

During the workout be focused and don’t let others distract you while training. The ideal thing is to enter a training mood and concentrate solely on what you are doing, but that comes with time and practice. At the moment, try focusing on the training and not on the music, etc. Also, don’t forget that you are there to train and get in shape, not to socialize. Leave the discussions for the end of the training session or the breaks between sets if the subject is short.

While in the gym, don’t totally ignore the other trainees in the sense that you can talk with them about training, equipment and so on. Most of them are friendly and while they can be busy with their own training routines, they can be a source of information.

After the training finishes, think about the time you spent in the gym and if all the positives are there, you can sign up.

Concerning doors, most don’t even deserve the name as a hole can quickly be made in them. Avoid hollow doors and most wooden ones (except made from solid and thick wood), doors with windows (or if you must have windows, make them very small, covered with curtains and high enough so that if someone breaks the glass the lock won’t be accessible), doors whose hinge pins are outside.

Your best bet is a door made of steel, but whatever door you choose, make sure it has a peephole capable of offering at least a 180 degree view.

The biggest weakness of a door is the door jamb. If your door only has one lock, quickly install a secondary lock and put an anti-shim plate at the knoblock, but know that this is only a temporary solution and is no match against a well equipped burglar.

Choose good quality, pick-proof locks. Companies from which you can get such locks are Medeco, Fichet or Schlage. Make sure the lock is case hardened (to be drill and smash resistant). Absolutely avoid the spring latch and the key-in-knob type as these can be easily opened with only a credit card, as seen in the movies.

Having double-sided deadbolts installed is a good idea, but a better one is to install a morticed lock, meaning that nothing will be outside the door for the burglar to grab with pliers or whatever tools he may use. And also use a simple guard plate to cover all of the lock except the keyhole. But you must understand that no matter how good a lock is, it can still be opened if the person can tinker with it for enough time. The idea is to make the burglar give up and try to get entry into an easier target.

But what if you have sliding doors ? Always use the safety pin at the top and put a bar to prevent the door from opening. This will make most burglars have a hard time getting past it. Try putting the bar in the middle, wedget halfway down between the sliding door and the wall. If you don’t have one readily available, you can surely get one from a locksmith shop.

“Mens sana in corpore sano” – a healthy mind in a healthy body

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As you learn more and more things, it’s always important to take care of your body. That divides into two parts: what you eat, and how you work out/play games/swim/etc – we’ll be focusing on the 2nd thing for the moment. Working out is getting more and more popular, especially training in a gym, because most of the times it’s impractical to have all that gear at home and it’s not very expensive. But where to begin, and most importantly, what to look after when choosing a gym ? It’s more important than you would think at a first glance.

First thing: location, location, location. Take a look at your Yellow Pages. Chances are that some gyms will be near your present location. If not, they should be within walking distance or a couple of minutes drive. For those gyms that don’t have a website, call them and ask about prices, equipment and hours. This can be a good way to eliminate right from the start the gyms that are too expensive or have a schedule that is inconvenient for you. Also, asking some friends could just work for you, especially in avoiding those gyms you just don’t want to be in.

The next step is paying a visit to the gyms and especially around the time you would normally train and if you go in, don’t make a subscription. You must see all the areas in the gym, not only the training grounds, but also the bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities the gym may provide. Don’t be pushed into signing up. When in the gym, try to answer the following questions in order to rate the gym:

But the main thing you have to understand is that you should find the gym in which working out is the most comfortable for you. It’s “me time”, and if you’re like the most of us, it’s perhaps one of the only places you’ll get that kind of time, so which ever seems right, that’s the right place to do. It’s also something which you’ll have to do for a long time, which makes being comfortable much more important. This is an activity in which your mind will play a very important role, and it has to work hand in hand with the body to achieve your objective.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions to find out if the gym is for you. Try to get the most value for your money and think ahead of what you might want from a gym. When you found a good gym, go for a trial workout and if nothing’s wrong, sign up for a month. Don’t forget to read the membership contract, especially the small print.

Nowadays, violence is more and more common and I thought a series of articles regarding how to spot signs of trouble is a welcome addition.

The first step is avoidance, a very simple, yet often neglected one. Above all else, it means controlling your emotions and, most importantly, your EGO as to not get carried away by negative emotions and start a conflict with someone. A conflict you could have avoided.

You should make yourself a hard target, something robbers and other thugs don’t like. You can use a color coding system to evaluate potentially dangerous situations. Code White means that you are unaware of what’s going on around you, and this is exactly what thugs look for. Code Yellow signifies awareness and observance. You are aware of secluded doorways or entries, comment in your mind what is going on around you. For example, people enter Code Yellow when crossing a busy street.

Code Orange is a rising threat. You may see across the road some suspicious individuals and if they suddenly cross the road towards you, the code will alert you and help you assess the situation.
Code Red is the last stage, when the previous situation becomes a real threat and you must either run (recommended) or defend yourself. If there is no danger, simply drop to Code Orange or Yellow.

Of course, the premise is that you always are “switched” to Code Yellow. NEVER allow yourself to stay in Code White, ever again.

Others tactics are avoiding known trouble spots. Never go to bars or clubs that attract suspicious people. You may avoid having to “defend” your seat if someone searches for trouble.
While driving, don’t get mad on the other motorists, stay calm and continue driving. There’s no meaning to getting into a fight over such a trivial matter. Don’t take it personally, some people need to blow off their steam.

When we think about it, why let our ego take control over us and step into a situation we might later regret ? No matter where you are, be aware and try spot and avoid possible signs of danger. Don’t think about peer pressure or what your girlfriend might think of you if you choose to avoid the bad guys mentioned in the beginning of the article. Actually, she might even congratulate you for avoiding them and not trying to act like a touch guy.

Practice these tactics until they become everyday habits, something so natural to you like putting your seat belt on and some day, who knows, just like a seat belt, they may save your life.

• Carry a handkerchief with you all the time, especially if you know that you have the habbit of sweating in important moments. Another option can be a small towel, when the occasion allows it or baby wipes.

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  Avoid coffee because it rises your metabolic rate and thus you will sweat. Try drinking tea or water instead.

• Whenever you’re feeling dehydrated, replentish the water because you will then replentish whatever you loose by sweating, be it water and/or minerals. Drink at least 6-8 big glasses (the minimum recommended ammount of water is 2l).

• Avoid staying in the heat. Although it seems like a no-brainer, many of us simply ignore this and suffer the consequences like heat strokes and excessive sweating. If the heat is too much for you, go under a tree and stay there a couple of minutes. The shade will give your sweat glands the chance to stop sweating.

• Spicy foods can make some people sweat because it rises their metabolic rates and making them hotter (and I don’t mean Jessica-Alba-hot). If this applies to you, better avoid them until you get home or until you’re alone.

• Many people in the summer go for a swim and that’s exacly what you should do. Of course, if the situation allows it. Other than that, a fountain can do wonders, but try not to dive in it when there are a lot of guards around.

Let’s talk about clothing for a bit. Try to avoid clothes that are tight on the body like a second skin. With time large stains will appear on them and the image won’t be pretty. Wearing loose clothing will not only stop excessive sweating, but also keep you ventilated. But if you can’t avoid wearing such tight clothes, consider wearing a white t-shirt beneath the shirt or whatever. This will at least stop the sweat from getting to the outer clothes.

Also, try wearing clothes with colors that reflect heat instead of attracting it. There’s a big difference between wearing black in the middle of the summer and wearing white. Of course, some people find it difficult to wear something other than their favourite color, but this is another matter. Don’t neglect accessories like hats either.

Following the tips in this article you can reduce the ammount of sweat by a signifficant ammount, but it’s important to know that these are only meant to be quick fixes, as some people can have certain conditions which require more advanced methods. Also, it helps if you’re not overweight, so try when possible to work out, eat healthy, and have a general healthy life (no brainers rule). If you’re really sweating a lot, you should perhaps check it with your physician.

The past keeps haunting us whether we like it or not and we come across things that happened years and years ago in our grandparents’ stories, in more or less interesting history lessons or in our own memories. Sometimes we all feel that some things would have better been forgotten especially when we are criticized but some other times we find many good examples while looking back.

So, does history always tend to repeat or it just teaches us some lessons, and if it’s so what is it that we should learn?

1. Family life

In the past (more or less distant) children were supposed to obey their parents totally, many times because of fear and over-imposed respect. They had the main decisional role in their life until they got married and even after that. Parents were many times the ones to decide who their children were going to marry, and their word was more important than the bride’s or the groom’s.

Does it look grim? Indeed, we could find some of these not quite acceptable now. However, there are a lot of things that today’s family has lost. Even though relations between children and parents are no longer based on a nearly-religious fear they are tensed because the notion of respect has solely remained a notion. And how about the family itself? How long is it since you’ve seen your uncle, cousins or grandparents? If you’re among the lucky ones it’s been a few days or maybe weeks, but in many cases years pass before relatives see each other. Families don’t even eat together now.

What to learn?

What we have now is more ways of communication. This should allow us to return at least a bit to the extended family that used to exist in the past. The modern man needs affection maybe more than before because of the fast-pacing life we have now and keeping relatives at distance will surely bring many disadvantages. So grab your phone at birthdays or on the holidays period or at least send a few e-cards!

We have the possibility of making our own decisions now. But are we doing this correctly? Many of us refuse any kind of advice or warning related to our personal life, friends, money or education, many times leading to unpleasant repercussions. Listening to advice was something the young people in the past used to do much more than we do, this also being a proof of respect. Don’t you think we need more of that now?

What we all should know is that no matter how much we evolve and what new inventions we come up with, family will remain a centre around which we gravitate and we should never forget who we are and were we come from.

1. Work

Work has changed a great deal in the last years as machines have replaced handwork and computers have become almost impossible to live without. Work used to be quite unpleasant in the past as there were endless work hours every week without help and usually in harsh conditions. Education was accessible to only the privileged so the others had few chances of reaching far. Many of us would certainly have trouble adjusting to such conditions.

So, is there anything to learn from these spine-chilling descriptions of work in the past?

The answer is yes.

At that time people could not afford to waste time doing nothing or just gossiping. Work was hard, families had to be fed, so they were rather more interested in making their work easier.

So you should be at least a bit thankful for the work you do now even if you could do better. Stop listening to all nonsense and little office conspiracies. It would be absolutely great if people used their energy in order to create and no to destroy.

Life is much more than the new convertible your boss bought or the fur coat you saw yesterday (they do terrible things to animals to make that coat anyway so it would be better if it stayed in the shop). Learn to enjoy what you have, to set a goal, to be kinder to your workmates and count your blessings at least from time to time.

1. Spirituality

Our ancestors used to go to church every holiday and all their life was practically based on their religion on a way or another. Wars were started, rulers were born, lives were taken, all starting from people’s beliefs. Everything was a sign, obedience was demanded.

Since the deeply-religious times the world has changed and science has begun to be more and more important and less regarded as a blasphemy. Religion is still highly-priced and most of the planet embraces a religion in a way or another. But have we lost our peace?

What to do?

Nowadays everyone has a choice: whether or not to believe and if the answer is yes how much to involve. Even though we see religion taken way too far every day we turn on the TV, prayers or some kind of spiritual activity is known to have a positive effect on one’s mental health and stress level.

Even though our ancestors would not ask many questions and even created the Inquisition, they had some very good values which governed their conduct.

Many of those tend to fade nowadays, so a little meditation and check on our behavior would do nothing but good.

Believer or not, everyone needs some time to ask themselves some questions and to set a goal, other than buying a new house or seeing the boss fired.

So, the past can definitely teach us how not to repeat some mistakes and how to use what we have now as best as we can. Making a new mistake will teach us more than repeating the old ones.