Just One Tip to Improve Your Quality of Sleep

By Preety Gurditta

You may be expecting to read a few health tips in this article to alter your diet that may enhance your quality of sleep. Relax, none of that is going to happen in the next twelve minutes of your life. By the time you are done going through this piece of writing, you may want to implement just one change in your daily routine to have a better life.

Sleep is something that comes naturally to us, but we like to deprive ourselves of it for countless reasons. Can you recall when you were a teenager, you would never mind sacrificing a siesta if you felt something was more important than just sleeping? All the same, it was never just Sleep. Many of us would never realize the importance of taking a nap at least until the age of 25. As soon as we come close to our thirties, we begin appreciating the need to be dead to the world for minimum six to eight hours daily. And we do not want to compromise on that, no matter how much fun a party is.

Is it imperative to sleep?

Can you answer this question in No? Of course, you cannot. Insomnia- the word was coined not without any reason. People do understand what havoc their body may undergo if they are not able to slumber for any reason even for a night. For an extreme example of an insomniac person, you can watch the movie, The Machinist. The simple, yet profound movie will give you a picture perfect idea of what all can happen to your mind and body if you do not sleep for a long time.

Not sleeping at all is, of course, a severe situation. Still, many of us do not even notice that we are not able to sleep properly throughout our lives. You may have noticed that one person in your office who feels dizzy all the time. Or that one guy in your class who yawns every time you see him. That obese girl in your school, who you make fun of, may be overweight just because she does not sleep well. Among dozens of side-effects of tossing and turning through the night, the most important one is that you forget your sense of being and start feeling downbeat about life.

It is strange, but common that we accept the substandard quality of sleep just for the sake of it. Even when we know that we need to have a deep sleep every night, we come to terms with all the disturbances in our body just because we feel there is no solution to it. Don't worry. The solution is right there with you, and you do not need to visit a dietician or physician for it.

What is the way out of sleeplessness?

Have you heard of a thing called Smartphone? Yes, it is right there; maybe in your hand right now. The laptops, Smartphones, Kindle, Tablets, and TV- all these electronic gadgets have made your life easier without a doubt. You may feel much more informed than ever just because you can afford the luxury of a Smartphone and the Internet. Maybe you do realize that you should spend a little less time on your mobile phone than you do at present. Still, it may be hard for you to ditch it.

No one is asking you to get rid of your mobile phone forever. You do need it in your life for better reasons than anyone can judge. However, a Smartphone is something that has improved as well as worsened our life at the same time. We cannot think of our life without this small gadget in our hand at all times. Still, you need to identify with the fact that it does interfere with your sleep.

What is the reason to keep your mobile away?

While sleeping, all of us have a habit of checking the messages that may have arrived on WhatsApp. We feel the obligation to reply to those messages. After all, it is our duty to respond to our loved ones, right? Yes, indeed. Then, after we are done with WhatsApp, we open Facebook; then is the turn of Instagram, and maybe Snapchat at last. So this is the never-ending cycle that repeats roughly every night. Perhaps, you might not indulge in this habit when you are exhausted. Still, you do keep your mobile by your side when you doze off, right? Keeping your phone away while you sleep is the only thing this entire ordeal is about.

In addition to making mistakes in our diet and routine, we just make one simple blooper of placing our cell phone at the bedside or even under the pillow while sleeping. Life already is tough these days. The last thing we would want to think about in our sleep is the worries that we face during the day. When you are about to sleep, you visit the entire world in just an hour or two over the social media. However, you must have noticed that when you are sleeping with your mobile at your arm's length, your hand automatically starts searching for it as soon as your sleep is interrupted.

You may feel thirsty at night, for instance, but instead of reaching for water at first, you would like to look for a message from your beloved that may flash on your screen. But how would you feel if that one message is something you didn't want to see? It may become a cause of anxiety for you for the rest of the night. You may not be able to do something about such things at 3 am, but you will lose your sleep over it. Similarly, you may want to go to the washroom late at night. You reach for your phone to see the time, but you do not realize that the light of the screen is harmful to your eyes. If you have sensitive eyes, you should not look at your phone during your sleep at all.

How to sleep without your mobile?

You may think what kind of ridiculous idea is that? How would you wake up in the morning without your alarm clock in the phone? The answer is Alarm Clock! That cute little piece of a clock on your table that you dumped away years ago is the only thing that you need on your table rather than your mobile phone for the entire night. Those little notification alerts keep you disturbed all night. Even if you keep your phone on the Silent mode, the curiosity to check your phone at every possible minute will not go away.

It may seem difficult to sleep without your phone at first, but it is an achievable feat. You would feel uncomfortable for a couple of days and miss your phone. In spite of this, after a week or so, you would definitely feel the difference in your quality of sleep. You will start having a deep sleep and wake up fresher than earlier.

The idea is to keep your phone in your cupboard or such a place where you cannot reach it with ease. When you are in a deep sleep, making efforts to reach for your phone is the last thing you would want to do. When it becomes difficult for you to pick up the cell phone, you would just come to your bed and enjoy your sleep. Yes, taking forty winks becomes much more enjoyable when you do not have any interruptions around you. Do not rely on any mobile applications that claim to evaluate your quality of sleep. For such applications to work, you have to keep your phone very close to you, which is not a good idea at all. Just notice the way your body feels when you wake up in the morning. Your own body is the biggest evaluator of everything that affects it, positively or negatively.

Isn't it worth your health to give it a try? Try keeping your mobile phone away from you tonight and notice how you feel the next morning. If you feel good, you can add value to your living just with one simple idea. Little things like these do make life more pleasant. Take a crack at them.

Source

High Performance Habits in 5 Minutes

There are habits and there are SUCCESS habits... Great support from Brendon once again!

Where To Begin On Your Fitness and Health Journey

By CA Flemming

Going back and forth with where to start on your new healthy adventure can be very frustrating and confusing to the point where a lot of people give up after a week of trying new and different things. My best advice while starting this new adventure is to get in the mind set that everything works differently for everyone! Not every diet will work the same for each person. For example my best friend can only have half the carbohydrates a day than I can because my body can process them faster and distribute it evenly throughout my body. So don't get frustrated from the beginning because everyone starts out in the same place you are now.

Here I have listed a checklist of things you should consider while starting off on your new adventure of being fit healthy and happy!

Throw out more than half of the junk food in your house, if not all of it. 

They are only temptations that we don't need. Yes you can eat them occasionally but having them linger around gives us more incentive to give into the temptations.

Write a list of your fitness goals. 

Start off with writing down your morning weight and date it. Then write down where you want to see yourselves and the time frame you are giving yourself.

Start thinking about meal prep. 

Meal prep is all about making meals for your week to get you started on a healthy week because the moment you open that fridge you can grab anything but if you know you already have meals that you prepared you are more willing to go for those and that is always the healthier option.

Go shopping for healthy food options. 

You can check out anywhere on the internet for recipes and grocery lists for healthy food options.

Get a gym membership 

I know not all of us have a lot of money to spend on expensive over the top gym memberships but there are some gyms like XSport or Planet Fitness that offer $10 memberships and the moment you know you are paying for something you will tend to use it way more often. If this really isn't a viable option then do at home workouts, take daily walks, start up running or biking riding as a new hobby. It is all about starting off with small changes.

Drink more water. 

Your daily water intake should be at least 8 glasses of water a day. This will help with your skin, hair, and overall hunger that we tend to get when we start a diet.

Think of this as a lifestyle change for the better. 

The moment we stop calling it a diet is the moment we keep trying for this end goal and we keep up with what we started off doing in the first place.

HAVE FUN!

Source

10 Ways to Get a Better Night's Sleep

By Steve Lockwood

Whether you have a physically demanding job, lead a hectic lifestyle or spend all day anchored to a chair at an office desk, we all understand the importance of getting a good night's sleep. Rest replenishes our minds and our bodies and is necessary for healthy functioning. It helps to regulate our mood, improves our memory and strengthens our learning capabilities.

However, for a lot of us, getting a good night's sleep is often easier said than done, as our daily lifestyles don't always allow us the time needed to have an optimal rest. For this reason, we've developed a quick and easy guide to help everyone enjoy a more adequate bedtime slumber.

Delving into the science behind sleep reveals that it is largely controlled by biological rhythms, known as circadian rhythms, which play an important role in determining our sleep patterns. These rhythms are in turn governed by our body's master clock which is responsible for producing melatonin, a hormone that makes us feel drowsy and helps to lower our body temperature.

Understanding the mechanics behind sleep has enabled us to create a list of things we can all do on a daily basis to help encourage a more effective sleep:

1. Do some exercise at the beginning of your day - this helps to fortify your body's cortisol rhythm, which is greater during early mornings. Cortisol is an important hormone that activates the body's anti-stress and anti-inflammatory functions
2. Expose yourself to some sunlight - our skin contains photoreceptors that help balance the levels of serotonin and melatonin in our bodies
3. Adjust smartphone brightness levels - engage the night time settings on your smartphone which decrease screen brightness levels at night
4. Install the f.lux application f.lux application (https://justgetflux.com/) - the screens that are found in all modern day electronic devices such as televisions, computers, tablets and smartphones emit blue light, which creates melatonin deficiencies that inhibit your body's capacity for REM sleep (the stage in which we dream)
5. Food and alcohol consumption - before going to bed, stay away from all snacks and beverages that raise your blood glucose levels. This means no sugar and no alcohol
6. Have a regular nightly routine - if you have young children, you'll understand how crucial it is for them to have a set routine to help them get to sleep at night. Grown-ups are the same. If possible, be in bed by 10 o'clock. Put on some soothing music, read a novel, or indulge in some other relaxing activity that helps prepare you for nap time
7. Ensure your room isn't too hot or too cold - a room's temperature affects your ability to sleep. For most, an optimal bedroom temperature is between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius. Those who choose to set the temperature outside of these suggested limits using a thermostat, risk hindering their sleep, especially REM sleep
8. Use a foam roller or therapeutic pillow - foam rollers are a great way to massage your body before going to bed, while therapeutic pillows provide a host of benefits including increased comfort, enhanced breathing, circulation, improved spinal alignment and more
9. Use window blinds - aside from having a pleasant ambient temperature when you're about to nod off, your bedroom should also be suitably dark. Window blinds or even sleeping masks are a good idea, especially for those who work night shifts and need to sleep during the daytime
10. Sleep in the nude - going to sleep unclothed or with loose fitting sleepwear helps with lymphatic drainage, a process that can help to reduce headaches, swelling and soreness and can also promote healing in post-operative or post-injury body tissue. Additionally, lymphatic drainage also helps the body to relax

Source

Forget Excuses - Remember Self Motivation

By Darren Russell

The internet is a wonderful thing and since its introduction to the world it has created an abundance of money making opportunities for anyone looking to make an income from home.

A lot of individuals who have gone on to make substantial incomes from online businesses started with zero or limited knowledge of how to do so.

Today more than ever there are a good number of internet entrepreneurs and businesses offering genuine online business opportunities.

So with all these opportunities available why do only a handful of people succeed while the majority either give up or just move from opportunity to opportunity without ever getting close to success?

The reason most people fail is down to personal development, the need to identify and set goals, then be able to systemically carry them through to conclusion.

Add to this the ability to keep yourself motivated when things don't always go the way you planned and you find a cocktail of characteristics that the majority of us have to work hard to maintain.

Everyday when you wake, you have a very important choice to make...

You have to choose what to do with your time and the choice you make will determine whether by the end of the day you will be closer to where you want, or at the same point you where when you woke up that morning.

Too many people say they want to change their lives for the better, some even set goals and maybe have a small idea of what they need to do, but sadly the choice they make when they wake in the morning is the same one they have been making every day up to that point...

The point is your life will not change unless you take action...

None of your goals will be achieved unless you do something about them...

When I speak to people, I hear all kinds of excuses but the most common one by far is,..

I don't have the time!

I don't have the time... these five little words are by far the favourite excuse for many people to hide behind.

However, when I dig a little deeper and start asking some questions, I find that in the majority of cases a little lifestyle change here and there and a small sacrifice or two can free up the valuable hours you need to start making a difference to your lives.

It may come as no surprise that one of the biggest consumers of our time is television.

Latest stats tell us that the average Brit watches 24 hours of TV a week and the average American 30 hours a week!

24-30 hours A WEEK!

That's almost a full time job, even if you reduced your time watching TV by half that would free up 15 hours a week that could be better spent working on your goals and ambitions.

It's not just TV either plenty of time is wasted away on other activities, things like spending hours at the mall, going to pubs and bars, going to ball games/events, playing video games, reading newspapers/magazines, social media, procrastinating, browsing the internet for nothing in particular the list goes on.

None of the things on this list are vital to our everyday lives yet so many people are unwilling to give them up, even though they say they want to change their lives and their circumstances.

I'm not saying cut everything you enjoy out of your life...

I'm just saying if you really do want to make changes sometimes you have to make short term sacrifices in order to manage your time better and maybe even (for now) stop doing some of the things you would normally do in order to free up the time you need to make long term gains.

So lets assume you have decided to make some changes and you have managed to free up some extra hours during the week.

What do you do next?

After all you have just potentially given something up you really enjoy, something you have been doing for years.

How are you supposed to keep yourself moving forward and not revert back to the comfortable, TV watching procrastinator you were before we decided to make these changes?

Well the one thing you must have if you want to succeed is a daily shot of motivation, this is essential because if you are not motivated then it is very easy to slide back into the rut you have just pulled yourself out of.

It is especially important at the start that you get this daily shot until you build up the belief that what you are doing is working, until you can see everyday that you are getting closer to your goal and until the motivation comes without you having to search for it.

When you get to that point you will have a drive and determination that will be burning so deep inside you that you will not be able to ignore it, it will get to the stage where any obstacle that is put in your way will just be taken in your stride and you will feel like nothing can stop you from achieving what you set out to do.

So how do you get to that point? what do you need to do?

The first thing is have your goals written out in as much detail as possible and read these goals every morning as you wake and every evening before you retire, this will remind you of why you are making these changes to your life and instil some of the motivation you need to keep going.

The second thing is to make a mood board - A mood board is a visual representation of where you want to be in your life and is usually made up of images and text representing your ambitions and goals.

As with your goals make sure you look at this everyday and imagine yourself in as much detail as possible living the life your goals and mood board show.

The final thing is a daily affirmation, this is something you need to do by yourself.

Put aside 10 minutes during the day, turn off your mobile phone, the radio and the TV find yourself a quiet spot in a dimly lit or darkened room, sit down in a comfortable chair and relax.

Next repeat the following to yourself:

"I awake everyday feeling an insatiable drive and determination to succeed, I find it easy to motivate myself and I look forward with excitement to the things I will achieve during the coming day."

Close your eyes and clear your mind of any distracting thoughts, don't try to think of anything just let yourself relax for a minute or two, relax your body and let the tension drain away from your muscles.

It is not easy to do this at first so you may find it easier to concentrate on each individual body part, starting at your toes and working up until your whole body is relaxed.

With practice you will find this comes easier until you can almost do it without thinking.

Next start to count slowly in your head until you reach 20. When you do you should feel totally relaxed, almost trance-like. If any other distracting thoughts should pop into your head as you count, don't worry, clear your mind and start over.

When you are in this relaxed state concentrate on the statement you have just read, don't worry about knowing it all off by heart just repeat the key words to yourself.

Slowly return to your fully conscious state thinking as you do that you are feeling more relaxed more alert and more motivated than you were before.

The subconscious mind is a powerful thing and the whole point of this exercise is to instill these thoughts into your subconscious mind until they are accepted as fact and in doing so will become second nature to you.

You will notice that if you repeat this exercise on a regular daily basis you will start to see the results in no time at all. You will probably find that at first it is hard to get to the right level of deep relaxation but once you do start to master this consistently then the speed with which you achieve your desired effect will increase.

Source

Why This Simple Daily Habit Will Make You Become a Better Person

By Tony Fakhry

Journaling.

Yes, this simple daily habit will make you become a better person, because the simplest habits are ones that produce the greatest results.

It is the compound effect journaling offers that often goes unnoticed.

Journaling has many unexpected benefits, one of which is improved mental and emotional wellbeing.

Many people ruminate on problems that gnaw at them, sometimes for decades.

Brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor suggests that the average lifespan of an emotion to move through the nervous system is one and a half minutes. This releases the burden of clinging to our emotional attachments longer than required.

This daily habit helps you to make peace with toxic emotions and transform them into healthy ones. Otherwise, they remain 'stuck' in your nervous system instead of moving through you.

The simple act of writing in your journal on a daily basis helps you to be mindful of the present moment, instead of being caught up in the past or future.

"All clutter and stress seem to be found on the surface, on the level of thinking and emotions," affirms Peter Francis Dziuban in: Simply Notice: Clear Awareness Is the Key To Happiness, Love and Freedom.

Mindfulness is a way to attain clarity as to what really matters. You become attuned to your emotions instead of allowing them to control you.

I recall listening to the spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle state that anytime you are emotionally agitated for no reason, you are recollecting unresolved memories and creating a Pain body experience.

Similarly, Colette Baron Reid writes in Uncharted: The Journey Through Uncertainty to Infinite Possibility: "Memories are emotions intertwined with thoughts, and those can become lodged not just in your brain but in your body too."

Journaling is the act of making sense of those memories by transferring them onto paper, otherwise they lead to conditions such as T.M.S. (Tension Myositis Syndrome), according to Dr. John Sarno.

Repressed emotions resulting from psychological stress are stored in the body and may inhibit muscle and/or organ function if left untreated.

Writing your thoughts on paper is a form of emotional freedom. There are moments in our lives where we must bite our tongue with family, friends and co-workers for obvious reasons.

We cannot express our feelings, so we stow them away hoping they don't resurface down the road. This is the psychological pain point many people experience later in life.

The key is to allow your emotions to move through you using a method Dr. Daniel Siegel outlines in his book Mindsight. He suggests you name and tame the emotions you experience rather than be overwhelmed by them.

Journaling helps identify the troubling emotions by writing them as "I feel angry" instead of "I am angry." The latter is a limited self-definition since, "I feel angry" implies the ability to acknowledge a feeling, without being overwhelmed by it.

"Just by bringing greater attention to the part of your body where strong emotions or physical pain linger, you are loosening each layer of cellular memory to assist in another moment of healing," affirms Matt Kahn.

I suggest exploring your thoughts on paper as the last thing at night after a complete day. In Zen teaching, meditation is thought to help wipe away the day's stressors by witnessing our thoughts through the eyes of equanimity.

Journaling purges you of mental stressors. It is the process of becoming intimate with your thoughts instead of allowing them to occupy space in your mind.

You become attentive to your mental landscape instead of letting runaway thoughts impose on your freedom.

This simple daily habit will make you become a better person, because you are aware of your thoughts and won't be overcome by them.

Committing your thoughts to paper invites you to calmly witness them with a clear awareness rather than an agitated mind.

Tibetan meditation master Orgyen Chowang explains in Our Pristine Mind: A Practical Guide to Unconditional Happiness: "You must first relax the mind and then observe it with patience and perseverance. It is that simple."

Journaling is the act of coming home to yourself and loving the person whose thoughts appear on the page.

What we see and perceive in our waking life results from the mind adding judgement and commentary, like morning fog.

Writing your thoughts downloads them onto paper and liberates you of the need to process them any more than you need to.

Source

Raise Your Standards & Change Your Rituals

Just a couple of rituals changed and you'll find your standards start to increase. Amazingly simple lessons from Tony Robbins!!