Sleep Mistakes and how the human body regulates itself

B. F. Skinner kinda had it right when he said we are just a bunch of behaviours, not good or bad, but a bunch of habits…

Okay, one mistake is to go without sleep, the human body needs about 7 or 8 hours for the average adult and anything less, bad things begin to happen to us all.

Mother nature left it up to us to regulate our sleep, I can sleep anyway I am willing to sleep, that doesn’t mean I will pick the healthiest way, but it is up to me.

The habit of sleep is arguably the most important habit I can form. It would be a mistake to say otherwise.

Think of the human body as a vessel. Throw in salt, a banana, pinch of dirt, a piece of raw fish, water, garden salad. Maybe some pepper and a small piece of plastic from the wrapper on the fish that I bought. What do you have besides my supper?

Yes, it is probably a mistake to have eaten that plastic. Micro particles will get in my bloodstream and gawd knows what kind of mistake that will do to my body and therefore the quality of my sleep tonight.

So the body mixes up all these foods and breaks them down into smaller and smaller bits that are used for nutrients, chemicals and other stuff in the ways of the universe to fuel my body processes.

There is a lot of room for mistakes there, because the body does all sorts of things we do not understand. Bottom line, millions of years of evolution has worked out most of the kinks, the plastic will probably be eliminated through the bowels, mostly the way we made it.

We are what we eat, mostly true, and the above meal is a pretty good supper. So, as long as I don’t make too many more mistakes, I will mostly have a pretty good sleep tonight.

A big sleep mistake is not to follow my sleep routine. I go to bed about the same time every night and wake up about the same time too. I sleep in a cool room and that has been proven to work better than a hot room or other. I sleep in the dark, that is also essential. I keep a blanket handy, if I wake up from the cold. That helps. And I don’t eat too close to betime or do anything else to disrupt my sleep routine: hygiene is good. You know clean sheets, sleep nude or with pajamas, low noise level, I already said ‘dark’, same thing everynight.

Sleeping pills are generally a mistake too.

Drinking is generally a mistake too.

So, unless our parents taught us good habits when we were kids, it takes time to figure all this out.

Human health depends on exercise, nutrition, good habits and sleep.

Our health, if disrupted by our genitics, environment or poor choices will also affect our sleep. This can become a slippery slope. Ask anyone who has had some cold or flu. Therefore, it pays to keep a strong immune system to fight off whatever mother nature throws our way.

Epigenetics are also pretty important too.

So any novice statistical analysis can show there is room for improvement for anyone who wants to make their sleep better.

What about the human microbiome? Yup, that could help with a good night sleep.

So, taking some responsibility for a good sleep and a long healthy life is partially up to you.

Maybe sleep hypnosis can help?

The list is long and the mistakes are even more numerous.

Sleep well and prosper.

Coughing Jag

Uncomfortable and uncontrollable,

Outcomes: watery eyes and runny nose,

Limitations: need to drop everything to do maintenance,

Oh, the ups and downs of flu and cold season.

You are not alone!

Socrates Vs. The Student: God’s Messenger

God’s Messenger is implicit in this dialogue about pride and reason. The real question is hidden from view. But the most important question is whether reason is enough to motivate one into a good practice or the ‘good life’. There is some askance as to the purpose of an authority, a pride in the work and the work itself. All is to be revealed through the ungainly providence and mystery of virtue and vice.

Socrates: I do not ask just a question. I do not just define terms. What I do is not important in any formal sense. I am asking you.

Student: Are you inferring that I think about the true meaning of this mystery, nature or Devine being? I can not call on nature or the Devine in a haphazard way.

Soc: Perhaps, you can call on reason with that question. Is reason the final, the absolute way of being? Does reason have a place in nature? Is the cosmos reasonable?

Stud: I can not say anything about reason, except that I use it. And I wish to learn from you to use it well.

Soc: Then listen to my question. What is the nature of reason? If there is a god, would it behoove him to be reasonable?

Stud: I have listened and thought what my great teacher has told me. He thinks you are good. He thinks you are speaking that way because God speaks through you. My teacher did continue by saying God also speaks through a raven. Lastly, he said, “He gives His sign through a most noble messenger.” He, my teacher, I mean Epictetus, believes in the proper use of impressions.

Soc: Your teacher talks too much or perhaps this is too difficult a topic to resolve. But let me speak plainer. A philosopher is like a messenger of God. He listens to all people. He listens especially to himself. He believes in using the proper use of impressions, mostly. He believes in using them mostly to acquire the reason to ‘decide’ what to be in this life. So, let me be blunt, what do you want to be?

Stud: I want to wake up from this dream and be the best student and best teacher that Epictetus has ever laid his immense faculty of reason on, in all his days.

Soc: I’m willing to comment on the faculty of reason and the pride you feel. Reason is the greatest faculty we have in our being. It is foolish to hold pride about its fashion or use. Yet, I am not willing to say pride or reason is an answer to all things Devine. If pride is to be used, it must be set aside in favour of more reason. Do you understand?

Stud: I will awake and use my reason to govern my impulse, to use the proper use of impressions. If a little pride escapes me in the process, so be it.

Soc: Sounds good, Am I just a dream?

Stud: I’m really dreaming or I’m going a little crazy. Time to get up and get on with the day.

Ms. Scrooge

Why are the homeless creating all this trouble ?

Time is going too fast.

Look the weekend is almost over,

I guess you are going to work on Monday.

Price of food is going through the roof.

I don’t have to pay service fees.

The bank only gave me 3 cents interest on my savings account.

Christmas is here in a couple of months, I have lots of time to work out my problem if there is a postal strike.

Since she is mad at me, I won’t buy her children any presents either.

Christmas is becoming so commercial.

Happy April Fools Day Everybody

Are you a victim of some hoax or practical joke?

What fake news story is plastered across the newsfeed today?

No sense worrying about your sense of humor, but be prepared to duck the proverbial ‘pie in the face’ comment or insult.

Perhaps, you will find yourself wearing a tired smile or smirk.

Hey, it’s just once a year.

Get out there and be one of the perpetrators, have the last laugh, join the party!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day?wprov=sfti1

Existential Poop

Sometimes, the best laid plans go astray…

I read a little about the East-West Conversation on the American Renaissance.

Because, when I left the house with a big bag of garbage…  I had to come back to pick up a library item I need to return today.

I had planned to go out for a healthy 1.5 hour hike.

Unbeknownst to me, I had left my ‘travel wallet’ on the floor beside the toilet.

I decided to do my dishes early and skip the hike because I needed to have a coffee, slow down to be calm, I needed to do my chores!  To clear and clean up my workspace to write.  And I needed to continue the poop (I thought I was done with this personal chore).

Anyway, besides finding my ‘travel wallet’, I am reading and writing about truth in the west.

If I can paraphrase Walt Whitman, poets understand human potential as limitless and bring light to the bonds of life that unite all humanity.

Here in the west we continue the dialogue or conversation with the east to eclipse our forefather’s wisdom to help unite a now global community.

 

Cremation

Why is everybody burning themselves up?

The final resting place seem less than a tomb or a mausoleum and more like a ‘final decision ‘ based on a distraction or mobility issue.

My father’s ashes were spread over the water while a group of family and friends stood by and mourned or participated as best they could.

I, on the other hand, plan to leave a passport, with a list of all the things I wish done and to accompany me on this final voyage.  If I could, I would leave a kind of time capsule (for when I wake up?).

Rational, passionate…a wake or a funeral, it is part of life, thinking about our death.

Cremation seems to be the tried and true method:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a18923323/cremation/