Schedules are important for keeping projects on task and keeping you moving forward throughout the day. What about after work is done? Having an evening schedule can help you keep that momentum going while ensuring you’re making the most out of your home time. This isn’t about scheduling appointments or events after work, but rather creating a routine or schedule for that quiet time before bed. Do you have an evening ritual? If not, here are a few ideas to include to help you power down, decompress, and prepare for the next day as best you can.

 

Get Your Thoughts Down

A personal debriefing of the day can help you clear your head before you hop onto your smart mattress and can often keep your mind from running all night (or at least slow it down). There are a few ways to do this, but most find it useful to journal or jot down some of their stray thoughts on paper. Whether it’s getting your stresses of the day out of your head or writing down a quick idea so you can pick it up in the morning, get it all out and go to bed with a clear mind.

Shut Everything Off Early

Technology has helped us become more connected than ever before, but there are some flaws that come with it. One of the biggest problems is that it’s hard for many of us to truly shut down at the end of the night and forget about work, social media, or what’s going on in the world. Staying in the loop is key for being a high-performance person, but there’s a time and place for it. Lately, some companies are taking an extra step, limiting emails at night and banning weekend work.

If you’re self-employed or just know that you could work a little bit less, give yourself permission to shut down for the evening. You’ll do better work when you’re well-rested and most of the time, that email can wait anyway. Also, limiting your exposure to the blue lights from screens can help preserve your natural circadian rhythm so you can fall asleep more easily at the end of the night. But that said, if the email can’t wait, at least put on a pair of glasses that block the blue light waves from screens while you’re executing your response.

Get to Bed Early

Finally, if you want to get a better night’s rest and avoid lying awake with night sweats, you need to make time for proper sleep and invest in the right tools. Even though you have no shortage of things to carry out, getting to bed even just 30 minutes early can help. Also, the Pod from Eight Sleep is an excellent choice for those that like new tech, as the bed will keep you cool all-night long and track your sleep patterns so you can improve your sleep fitness in as little as 30 days.

About Eight Sleep

With better sleep, you'll be a more effective person, ready to tackle any and all of the challenges the next day presents. Eight Sleep is a sleep fitness company dedicated to helping you get the most out of your sleep every night. The Pod is their latest product, and it's a smart bed like no other in the category. This cooling bed uses cutting-edge technology to keep you cool throughout the night and adjusts the surface temperature on both sides of the bed automatically. The Pod also features a sensor network to track specific sleep fitness metrics so you can see how well you slept the next morning and take steps to improve your sleep fitness via the Sleep Coach feature in Eight Sleep’s app. Eight Sleep wants to change the way you think about sleep, and they offer a 100-night risk-free trial so you can experience the Pod for yourself.

Learn more about the Pod and Eight Sleep’s other sleep innovations at Eightsleep.com

 

Original Source: https://bit.ly/2YgHiKS

Sleep is everything, and despite what some entrepreneurs might tell you, you can't go without sleep altogether. Sure, some people need less sleep than others, but to be fully-optimized and at your best for the next day, you need to catch those Z’s.

 

Just because you physically got into bed at 9 p.m. doesn’t mean that you got to bed early. How long did you spend scrolling through emails, social media, watching the game, or staring at the ceiling before you actually fell asleep? If you’re like most, probably far too long.

Just being in bed isn’t good enough, and even just being asleep isn’t good enough in most cases either. If you want to optimize your performance for tomorrow, it all starts with getting superior-quality sleep tonight. And better sleep tonight starts today—as your habits through the day can impact your sleep.

Control Your Light Exposure to Improve Your Sleep

Bright lights mean it’s time to be alert and active, low lights mean it’s time for bed—sounds simple enough right? Controlling your light exposure throughout the day is crucial for optimal sleep. Light—especially blue light—will often trick your brain into thinking you’re either more alert (or in some cases, sleepier) than you really are.

Throughout the day, make sure that you’re getting enough sunlight, either through the window in your office or by spending as much time as possible outdoors. This serves to tell your brain that now is the time to get some work done. When the evening hours approach, you want to do the opposite and cut back on your screen time as well.

The light from your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or TV isn’t doing your sleep any favors. It can disrupt your circadian rhythm, and if you have a hard time getting to sleep at night, it could be the culprit. Screens emit blue light, which is the type of light that helps control your circadian rhythm.

Those emails can wait until the morning even if it doesn't seem like it. If you absolutely must get work done when the sun is down, consider using special glasses that block the harmful blue light waves. With a well-rested mind in the morning, you'll be more prepared to answer them anyway.

Cut the Clutter on Your Bed

If you’re a person who sleeps with several pillows and layers of blankets, you’re not sleeping as comfortably as you might think. Especially during the warmer months, those extra blankets—no matter how soft they are—trap in your body heat, causing overheating and the dreaded night sweats. Get rid of any of the blankets that you don't need and crack a window, adjust the thermostat, or turn on a fan to help keep you cool. This often works in the short-term, but if you want real sleep fitness results, investing in the right equipment is a must, like a smart mattress that actively keeps you cool.

It Takes Time to Build Good Sleep Habits

Building the habit of becoming sleep fit takes time and isn’t a change that can happen overnight. To keep yourself on track and to speed up the process, investing in a smart cooling mattress that automatically changes your sleeping temperature and monitors your sleep is a wise choice. The Pod from Eight Sleep offers an innovative approach to sleep cooling, with thermoregulation built right into the surface of the mattress to help you fall asleep faster and enjoy deeper sleep every night. With the best sleep every night, how much more could you get done in the day?

About Eight Sleep

When you improve your sleep fitness, many other areas of your life will start to change. Eight Sleep is dedicated to developing and bringing advanced sleep products to bedrooms around the world. Their most recent product, the Pod, is a smart cooling bed that uses cutting-edge technology to adjust the surface temperature of the mattress while you sleep. These automatic adjustments are powered by AI that tracks your sleep and adjusts to your specifications and preferences. The bed works in conjunction with your smart home, and the accompanying sleep coaching tool will help you become more sleep fit in just 30 days. Try it out for 100 days, and if you aren’t happy with it, Eight Sleep will give you a full refund.

Learn more about Eight Sleep’s innovative sleep solutions at Eightsleep.com

 

Original Source: https://bit.ly/2ZBBcSi

Whether you're travelling for work or fun, one thing is for certain: Jumping time zones can wreak havoc on your sleep schedule if you aren't careful. Sleep schedules are fairly sensitive for many people and shifting your sleep times by even just a few hours can take a few days to adjust. While you're going to notice a little bit of disruption if you are travelling overseas, you can keep it to a minimum and fight off the dreaded jet lag if you're proactive and strategic.

So, if you want to avoid waking up with night sweats several days after you return, here are a few tips to keep your circadian rhythm in check and stay as sleep fit as possible while traveling.

How Long Are You Staying?

How long you'll be staying at your destination can significantly impact what you should and shouldn't do to stay sleep fit. In general, it takes around two days to adjust your sleep schedule to a new time zone fully. So, if you're only there for a day, then it's not quite worth readjusting and you should generally stick to the sleep schedule you’re used to and adjust as needed to fit the needs of your trip. If that’s the case, if possible, try and schedule meetings or other obligations during your home time's equivalent waking hours.

Do the Prep Work

If you’re going to be at your destination for a bit, then the best way to adapt to the local time is to start while you’re at home from the comfort of your smart cooling bed. To help adjust, three days before your departure date, start going to bed an hour earlier/later than usual and wake up an hour earlier/later the next day. It’ll take some time your sleep cycles to adjust, and while waking up 6 hours earlier may not be feasible before you’re heading overseas, adjusting your cycle three days beforehand should at least ease the abrupt time difference.

When in Rome (or Wherever You Are)…

If you'll be staying at your destination for more than two days, then your best option for adapting to the local time (in addition to prepping ahead) is to just go with the flow. If you're landing at night, stay awake on the plane so you can hit the hay as soon as you check in. If you're landing in the morning, then do the opposite. Although it might be a struggle at first, it'll help you adjust more quickly and make the most out of your time there.

Don’t Let Yourself Go

If sleep fitness is a priority for you at home, don’t use this work trip or vacation as an excuse to let yourself go and hurt your progress. While you might want to continue watching what you eat and getting as much exercise as the hotel gym allows, you should also keep your bedtime routine intact. Everyone is different, but some best practices include avoiding electronics or screens an hour before bed, using your blue light wave-blocking glasses as needed, and not consuming caffeine in the late afternoon or evening, etc. By sticking to your sleep fitness routine, when you get home, you’ll have an easier time getting back in the swing of things and resting soundly.

About Eight Sleep

Eight Sleep is on a mission to promote the long-term health benefits of getting a great night's rest and to improve your sleep fitness so you can be more productive and feel more awake during the day. The Pod is their latest product, a cooling smart bed that will help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer all while it coaches you to become more sleep fit every night. Eight Sleep employed cutting-edge technology when creating the Pod and leveraged sleep data from people across the world to develop sleep solutions that provide real results. Whether you struggle to sleep or just want to optimize your waking hours, Eight Sleep has the solution for you.

Learn more about their advanced smart bed, the Pod, at Eightsleep.com

 

 

Original Source: http://bit.ly/2XxZsUo

Night Sweats - Tom Cardamone I wanted to rate this collection higher. The author has an imagination that is corrupt, furious, gorgeous, and fertile. The best of the stories reflect this talent in droves: unexpected images and sudden madness; tropes far from literary fiction (superheroes); very tight almost painful depictions of adolescent desire. I am no fan of superhero fiction or other near-fan-fiction, but cardamom pulls these tropes off with aplomb. What u
It ate
Y sunk it for me was a lack of control over the fertile imagination; as a result, several (even many) of the later stories fell flat. Lots of invention but not so much storytelling technique. Cardamoms has a huge amount of talent and imagination. No doubt he's got a bright writing future.

So, I've completed another month in my Year of Reading Suggestions. The theme for July was reading from a book social networking site:

 

In July, read a book you found on NoveList or Fiction Connection (or GoodReads or LibraryThing).
Log in and see what new book you can discover using these valuable reading tools.

 

I read off my long Goodreads "To-Read" list this month, and while I didn't really make a dent in it, I did get to move these books from "want-to-read" to "read":

 

The Longest Date: Life as a Wife by Cindy Chupack - I got this book through Bookmooch, and when it arrived, I couldn't remember where I found out about it. When I visited my Goodreads list for this month's challenge, I saw it there, and the lightbulb went on. I found out about this book on Goodreads! This book managed to get four stars out of me despite the fact that I didn't really like the "characters."

 

Encounters with the Strange and Unexplained by Matt Hoyle - Learned about this book through a friend's review, and gave it a similar lackluster review to him. (Sometimes, you just need to learn a book isn't great for yourself.)

 

Living with a Wild God by Barbara Ehrenreich - I was really excited to read this one, then found myself a little underwhelmed for the first 3/4 of the book, then captivated by the end.

 

The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (editor) - I really wanted to read this book when I first learned about it (through Goodreads), but none of my local libraries had it for ages. Then I moved and the library in my new home had it, but by then my fervor to read it had cooled. When I finally did read it, I wished that a) I remembered the Hunger Games trilogy better; and b) that more of *my* favorite authors actually *were* featured -- only a couple of them were immediately recognizable to me,and none could be considered amongst my faves.

 

Night Sweats: An Unexpected Pregnancy by Laura Crossett - Probably the book I was most looking forward to, and while it didn't blow me away, it also didn't disappoint.

 

Undine by Friederich de la Motte Fouque - This is one of the July/August "group reads" for the Into the Forest Goodreads group, so it squeezed in under this theme nicely.

 

So, what's up for August?

 

In August, read a genre or format you don’t usually read.
Do you avoid graphic novels, audio books, or any genre, like the plague? Pick up a book that is completely different from what you normally read and find out if it is worse (or better!) than you thought.

 

In August I plan to read graphic novels, poetry, Westerns, and/or short stories, but I'm a little worried about my ability to get to them, since I'm currently reading another Into the Forest Groupread (Rusalka) that is quite a bit longer than the first. I guess I'll be back in a month to share my results!