{"id":1540,"date":"2012-02-15T12:40:02","date_gmt":"2012-02-15T16:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hnetalk.com\/?p=1540"},"modified":"2012-02-15T12:40:02","modified_gmt":"2012-02-15T16:40:02","slug":"how-to-be-a-brainiac-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/2012\/02\/15\/how-to-be-a-brainiac-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"How to be a Brainiac \u2013 Part Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can sleep on it!\u00a0 Thank goodness, right?\u00a0 That\u2019s easy and so<\/em> perfect for lazy people like me!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Did you know that as a rule, 1 hour of sleep is required for 2 hours of being awake?\u00a0 As we get older, that ratio becomes closer to 45 minutes of sleep for each 2 hours awake.\u00a0 And although, there is no question that sleep changes as you get older, you can improve your chances of a good night\u2019s sleep by developing a sleep routine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How do you do that?\u00a0 Well, you have to give bedtime the same attention and importance as the start of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, establish regular time for going to sleep and waking up. \u00a0Even on the weekends.\u00a0 Difficult, I know.<\/p>\n

Second, develop a relaxing ritual.\u00a0 A bath, a meditation session, some stretching exercises, a cup of chamomile tea\u2026the key word is relaxing<\/em>.\u00a0 So don\u2019t call your drama queen sister and allow her to take every bit of tolerance you possess in your body and make you\u00a0crazy with her stupidity and all the things she brings upon herself and\u2026.oh\u2026um\u2026sorry.\u00a0 You can ignore all that.\u00a0 Unless you know what I\u2019m talking about and then you shouldn\u2019t do that. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Third, create an ideal sleep environment.\u00a0 No clutter, clean bedding, soft lighting, a cool room (less than 65 degrees is considered ideal), and no electronics. Yes, no<\/strong> electronics.\u00a0 That means televisions, laptops, computers, or any iThings. Say no to Leno, Letterman, Conan or Kimmel.\u00a0 (Sorry Jimmy.\u00a0 I love you!)<\/p>\n

Third, if you opt for a drink, it shouldn\u2019t contain alcohol or caffeine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fourth, exercise routinely.\u00a0 That will flush out your stress hormones.\u00a0 Pick an activity that works your heart like walking, jogging, and swimming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fifth, clear your head at night.\u00a0 Keep a journal, perhaps.\u00a0 Putting your thoughts down on paper will help you avoid taking them into bed with you.\u00a0 I hate it when my night is ruined by obsessing over things.\u00a0\u00a0Some weird morphing happens and problems that\u00a0I can logically deal with\u00a0during the day, turn into\u00a0life\u00a0altering, overwhelming issues\u00a0that cause me to toss and turn!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sixth, don\u2019t eat right before bed.\u00a0 For you to get a good nights\u2019 sleep, your metabolism is supposed to slow down.\u00a0 By eating, you\u2019re doing just the opposite.<\/p>\n

Seven, don\u2019t nap.\u00a0 It will throw off your body\u2019s natural rhythms.<\/p>\n

Eight, keep your bed for sleep and sex.\u00a0 That means don\u2019t settle onto your bed for homework, \u00a0Facebooking, online poker, and eating.\u00a0 You get the picture.<\/p>\n

Got it?\u00a0 See you tomorrow for \u201cHow to be a Brainiac – Part Four!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can sleep on it!\u00a0 Thank goodness, right?\u00a0 That\u2019s easy and so perfect for lazy people like me! Did you know that as a rule, 1 hour of sleep is required for 2 hours of being awake?\u00a0 As we get older, that ratio becomes closer to 45 minutes of sleep for each 2 hours awake.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,19,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-health-care-educational-series","category-mind-body-and-spirit","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZxW-oQ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hnetalk.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}