It was said that you easily forget things that do not really matter. So, I guess having less-than-good eyesight and misplacing my reading glasses are not important. Ha!
Above all of the things we lose memory of, there is one thing I wish – that we forget the heartbreak given to us by this Coronavirus pandemic!
Louise Hart said: Self-esteem is as important to our well-being as legs are to a table. It is essential for physical and mental health and for happiness.
Self-esteem is as important to our well-being as legs are to a table. It is essential for physical and mental health and for happiness.
May 12th is International Nurses Day or World Nurses Day, annual celebration of our medical care takers and life savers. This day ends Nurses Week that starts on May 6th.
International Nurses Day 2017 by Sydney Health, on YouTube
May 11th is Eat What You Want Day, an annual celebration created by the couple, Thomas and Ruth Roy, particularly for those who feel frustrated about their diet. At least, for one day, one can take a break from a meager meal and indulge something more sumptuous without guilt.
Enjoy the honey dew of slumber. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, quote
The benefits of a good night’s sleep – Shai Marcu by TED-Ed, on YouTube
The average amount of sleep we need is 8 hours; that is, one third in a 24-hour period. But most of us, including me, push the limit of waking hours depriving us of that good-health-promoting slumber time.
It’s so ironic for me to think that I am freely given one third of that daily 24-hour period to doze off and yet, I lie wide awake on bed worrying… Why do you think bears hibernate – just to dream of honey fields??! Get to your cave and recharge . . . please! But, of course, you’ll say, “we’ll I’m not a bear.”
Why do we sleep?
Neuroscientist Russell Foster cited three reasons why via TED:
Restoration
Energy conservation
Brain processing and memory consolidation
Why Do We Sleep? by Russell Foster, on TED
Restoration
After a whole day of activities, sleep is your avenue to restore used up energy. Some parts of the brain, including specific genes, are more active when sleeping.
Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together. Thomas Dekker quote
Energy conservation
We turn off our tv, computer and other electronic gadgets to conserve energy. Similarly, we turn off our thoughts by hitting the sack. Foster shared that about 110 calories per night is saved.
Never waste any time you can spend sleeping. Frank H. Knight quote
Brain processing and memory consolidation
Studies suggest that blood circulation is regulated and long-term memory is consolidated through the last two stages of sleep…
The Non-REM (or No Rapid Eye Movement stage of) sleep is believed to be associated with transferring your declarative memory from short-term to long-term memory storage in the cortex. This happens about 3 hours after you drifted into sleep.
REM sleep, the final stage on the other hand, helps in consolidating your procedural memory. (1)
In other words, depending on what was learned and when you slept, sleep aids in stabilizing that memory – promoting both quantitative and qualitative changes in brain activity. (2) While slow wave sleep or SWS consolidates your newly acquired math equation even within 2 hours of dozing off, deep REM sleep will make you remember your piano scale when you wake up the next day. (3)
Quoting Foster: “After you try to learn a task, and you sleep-deprive individuals, the ability to learn that task is smashed… Our ability to come up with novel solutions to complex problems is hugely enhanced by night of sleep.” (4)
Synapse is the passing of information between neurons in our brain. The changes in connection caused by synapses is called synaptic plasticity.
Synaptic plasticity, which is particularly important to memory and learning, is boosted during sleep. (5) Studies have shown that sleep establishes active consolidation of memories – “stimulating the idea that forming long-term memories represents a general function of sleep.” (6)
Sleep deprivation
If you’re going to do something tonight that you’ll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late. Henny Youngman
Youngman, above, has hinted us that there will be ill effects for not going to bed at the right time. I so agree because it makes me feel hungry that I end up raiding my fridge. Plus, knowing that I didn’t hop onto my “sleep train” right away, I get stressed thinking what time it’s coming back to pick me up. It usually comes around past midnight or somewhere close to dawn. (pitiful sigh)
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, PhD
Studies also suggest “that sleep and mental illness aren’t simply associated, they are physically linked.” Sleep disruption could be an early warning sign of schizophrenia (as schizophrenic patients seem confused between the right timing for sleep and wakefulness). Sleep then becomes the doorway to begin therapy before the real onset of such mental illness. (7)
Now, let me end this article the way Foster cleverly ended his TED talk – by quoting…
May 6th is National Nurses Day, celebrated annually since 1978 and formally recognized in 1982 by the American Nurses Association Board of Directors and President Reagan.
May 6th is National Nurses Day, a yearly celebration since New Jersey Governor Brendon Byrne declared it in 1978. Red Bank resident, Edward Scanlan, recognized and promoted this event by adding it to Chase’s calendar of annual events.
In 1982, the American Nurses Association (ANA) Board of Directors and United States Congress formally acknowledged May 6th as National Recognition Day for Nurses. President Ronald Reagan signed its proclamation.
The ANA Board of Directors also recognized National Nurses Day as the beginning of National Nurses Week ending in May 12th – this end-day being International Nurses Day and birthday of Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing.
On a Wednesday, within the nurse-day week, National Student Nurses Day is also celebrated annually.
Glenn Close said: What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation about illnesses that affect not only individuals, but their families as well.
What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation about illnesses that affect not only individuals, but their families as well.
Glenn Close, Mental Illness: The Stigma of Silence
Did you know that 1 in 5 Americans experience a Mental Health Condition. Every American is affected and or impacted through their friends & family. YOU can do something to help!
First things first…STOP THE STIGMA! Mental Illnesses come in many different forms. Allow the person to be seen for who they really are & NOT the illness.
This topic in particular hits very close to home. I am passionate about being an advocate for those who feel they don’t have a voice by bringing awareness & tearing down the walls that stigma creates.
I hope you’ll join me in becoming an advocate for Mental Health. Let’s replace the Stigma with Hope. 💚 #gogreenformentalhealth #mayismentalhealthawarenessmonth
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, where not only does the populace look at how severe mental illness impacts the population, but also how they can improve their own mental health.
As one knows, exercise can help improve your mental health. Mental and physical health are connected, with you feeling great after a good workout. There are many exercises you can do to improve your physical health, but there are some exercises that focus on your mental health as well. These come in the form of actual physical exercises, and sometimes they’re more mental ones.
Let’s look at a few of them…
Jogging or Running
If you are physically unfit, it can take a bit for you to build up your ability to go on a nice jog, but the more you do it, the better you become, and eventually, you can run for hours. Running is therapeutic for…
These 8 great tips to improve mental health is suitable for those with mild depression. Per original author, Renard’s World, these may uplift their spirits. However, if you have severe depression, please seek help from a mental health professional.
These are great tips! Although I try to avoid coffee ☕️ for the meantime. I understand its health benefits. It sure is great to get out in the sun and then reconnect with someone. 🍻
Sugar, especially refined white sugar which has been processed, inflates waistlines and contributes to obesity. But, while some studies have shown that sugar may have a detrimental effect on the mood, not a whole lot of research has been done on sugar’s effects on mental health.
The addictive properties of sugar have been studied in recent years, though the research is still controversial. But anyone who’s craving a chocolate fix can understand how additive sugar is. Sugar and actual drugs both flood the brain with dopamine, a feel-good…
10 Things You May Not Know About Smell by geobeats, on YouTube
The sense of smell is the first second to develop (contrary to geobeats) along with taste. While still inside the mother’s womb, a baby can already feel by touch around 8 weeks of gestation. By 14 weeks, taste and smell begin to develop. Notice how they are drawn to the scent of their mother and her breast milk during birth. (1)
If this is the first to develop, it is also the first to deteriorate. Researchers believe that a diminished smelling ability may mean imminent death.
Cockroaches clean their antennas every time in order to stay sharp at sniffing.
“Our noses can pinpoint smell in outer space” – which smell like gun powder.
Women are said to smell better than men.
“Dreams can be aromatic.” It is said that our olfactory bulbs are highly developed during sleep.
Babies and toddlers are more smell-adventurous.
An elephant’s truck is 5 times more powerful than dogs, rats and humans.
Humans can sense a trillion different scents.
“The smell of new born babies is like a drug.” It “triggers the same reward centers as drugs.”
Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off; it enters into us like breath into our lungs; it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.