Because learning about your brain and sleep can be fun . . .
You need to shower: but when? What’s the best time? Do you really even need to shower? Let’s state this right up front. There are good reasons to take a shower. There’s a question of avoiding distracting smells, the process of washing away dirt and bacteria, and the simple fact showering feels good. If you…
Should you set the alarm or wake up naturally? When someone sets an alarm clock, there’s fear at work: fear of missing work, school, or whatever. The fear may be warranted. If you go to bed too late, you’ll be tired in the morning. Do that every day and you’ll set yourself up for long-term…
Not all of the reasons are related to sleep, but improved sleep is one big reason Wouldn’t it be great if living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms straightened out themselves? Rooms never do that outside of the old Bewitched TV show or other ones with characters that are witches. That’s kind of what people are going…
Cancer is a devastating disease that creates a lot of fear and confusion, not just for those diagnosed but also for their family members. It’s a disease featuring the unchecked growth of a tumor or cancer cells in a part of the body. The effects of the tumor or tumors soak up a great deal…
Short sleep duration seems to burn out hormone-releasing systems in the body—but does it play a role in erectile dysfunction? Scientists made progress in understanding how short sleep duration affects the ability of men to have and maintain an erection in 2022, a literature review maintains. The picture, however, is still far from completely clear.…
By the time you reach middle age, you surely have been around when a friend or coworker got sick and threw up everywhere. Or maybe it happened one time in school (and it’s a story that even might come up at the class reunion). Whenever it happens, the scene can be hard to get out…
Flu season is raging. This year it’s type A, at least in Arizona where I work full-time in an emergency department. Whether type A, type B, COVID, or the plain old common cold, homemade chicken soup is good for recovering from sickness. It’s one of the foods that fight viral infections. Just like sleep, chicken…
Years ago, before I heard of light therapy lamps, I had been living in northern California during the winter. It was a place that was very different from where I had grown up. Fog blanketed the land in the mornings, and it was always cloudy in the afternoon. Some mornings I’d have to drive 35…
If you’re a certain type of person, you should keep an acupressure mat on hand to use along one with more traditional forms of pain relief, like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Acupressure mats are not for most people despite the glowing consumer testimonials. They’re a self-selected group: those who’ve purchased one. Pain, even just a touch…
Since the human body makes it for itself, everyone should always have enough vitamin D. Reaching a level of 20-50 ng/ml shouldn’t ever be a problem. Yet sometimes it is. When you don’t have enough of that particular vitamin, you get profoundly tired. It doesn’t even matter if you’ve slept enough hours. When the sun…