Random musings

Thursday - "Finally Understand How to Keep a Bullet Journal #TBT" This is a really interesting post on using a bullet journal. "Here are a few features that make the Bullet Journal unique among other journaling systems"

Interesting days

Today - National Dress Up Your Pet Day, International Kite Day, National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day and National Organize Your Home Day

Tomorrow - National Hat Day, National Bagel Day, National Strawberry Ice Cream Day and National Pothole Day

Next Friday - Hugging Day, Playdate Day, International Sweatpants Day, Granola Bar Day and Squirrel Appreciation Day

Week long celebrations:

Jan 17 - 21: Family Mediation Week

February 14 - Valentine's Day, Ferris Wheel Day, Donor Day, Cream-Filled Chocolates Day, International Book Giving Day and Pet Theft Awareness Day

Thursday, January 13, 2022

Finally Understand How to Keep a Bullet Journal #TBT

Today's blog post was originally published two years ago:

Today's blog post is from an article in The Art of Manliness. I wrote about bullet journaling a couple of weeks ago.

Do you have aspirations of journaling more? Me too. Of getting more organized and being able to cross more to-dos off your list? Ditto.

While finding just the right journal or system isn’t always the answer, sometimes it can give you the nudge you need.

That’s where the Bullet Journal comes in. If you’re a web surfer in any regard, you’ve likely seen that term pop up now and again as a new method of journaling that combines a traditional diary with calendaring, to-dos, capturing ideas, etc. While you can buy an official branded Bullet Journal, you can also create the template yourself using just about any notebook. Many people prefer a dot grid layout to lined (for doodling and adding more creative flare), but it’s certainly not a requirement.

While there’s an entire book on how to “properly” use the Bullet Journal methodology, it’s an easy system to learn with just a few pointers.

Below you’ll find why I enjoy it and some fundamental tips that make the Bullet Journal a uniquely useful tool.

As I said before, I'm just using an 89 cent spiral bound notebook.

So, what is a bullet journal? (This is AoM's take on the subject).

Here are a few features that make the Bullet Journal unique among other journaling systems (plenty more on all of these below):

Starts with an index. At the very start of the journal is a detailed index with page numbers so that everything in the journal is easily findable.
Includes monthly/daily logs for planning, productivity, note-taking, and journaling.
Makes use of various bullet points within those logs in order to signify tasks (and if those tasks are done, delegated, incomplete, etc.), events, ideas, and more. Hence the name “Bullet Journal.”
Includes any number of “Collections” — pages that center on various subjects and which function for any purpose you’d like, from book lists to workout/food tracking to idea capture and more.

That’s a rough idea of what comprises a Bullet Journal. Next, a few reasons why I and many others utilize this system.

I also wrote about how to use BuJo specifically for journaling here.

Here are some benefits of bullet journaling:

Works with other journaling/to-do systems.
Combines lists/notebooks into a single “file.”
Organizes your jottings.
Totally customizable.

AoM then goes into the above items in much more detail. I highly recommend that you read the article here.

I know this may seem like a lot of organizational ideas thrown your way at once, so here’s a quick recap:

Put an index at the start of your notebook or journal which captures the page numbers for everything being written down.
Create a monthly log to get a broad overview of the big events/to-dos/goals for each month.
Create a daily log to do the same thing on a smaller scale.
Use the various bullets and signifiers to jot down to-dos, events, notes, etc.
Use short daily planning and review sessions to migrate notes, to-dos, and ideas so that they don’t get lost in the jungle of a well-filled notebook.

One thing that I noticed that isn't included in this article are future logs. The video in my blog post shows how to use them.

Go ahead and check it out.

Interesting days

Today - National Sticker Day, National Rubber Duckie Day, Public Radio Broadcasting Day, Make Your Dream Come True Day, World Skeptics Day and National Peach Melba Day

Tomorrow - National Dress Up Your Pet Day, International Kite Day, National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day and National Organize Your Home Day

Next Thursday - Disc Jockey Day, Cheese Lovers Day, Camcorder Day, Day of Acceptance, Buttercrunch Day and Penguin Awareness Day

Week long celebrations:

Jan 17 - 21: Family Mediation Week

February 13 - Radio Day, Tortellini Day, Madly In Love With Me Day, Employee Legal Awareness Day and Get A Different Name Day

Week long celebrations:

February 9 - 15: Kraut and Frankfurter Week

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

More on habits

Here's a lot more information about habits and their neurochemistry. The first two videos are from Andrew Huberman. I discovered him just a few weeks ago. The videos are very informative but they each last about 90 minutes. The first one has some good habit building techniques and the second one goes more in depth about dopamine.

And here's a much shorter video that talks about the relationship between dopamine and serotonin:

Check out last week's blog post for more on habits.

Interesting days

Today - Kiss a Ginger Day, National Marzipan Day and National Pharmacist Day

Tomorrow - National Sticker Day, National Rubber Duckie Day, Public Radio Broadcasting Day, Make Your Dream Come True Day, World Skeptics Day and National Peach Melba Day

Next Wednesday - National Popcorn Day, National Tin Can Day and Museum Selfie Day

February 12 - Darwin Day, National Lost Penny Day and National Plum Pudding Day

Week long celebrations:

Feb 6 - Feb 12: National Secondhand Wardrobe Week

Feb 6 - Feb 12: Boy Scouts Anniversary Week

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Your weekend guide to interesting days - January 8, 2022

Week long celebrations:

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Cheerleading Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Patient Recognition Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: School Counseling Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Solo Diners Eat Out Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: African Heritage and Health Week

Feb 6 - Feb 12: National Secondhand Wardrobe Week

Feb 6 - Feb 12: Boy Scouts Anniversary Week

Feb 7 - Feb 11: Pride In Foodservice Week

Friday, January 7, 2022

The week in review - January 7, 2022

Monday - "All the ways to win - updated" As it looks right now, the updated part will end tonight. "You get one entry for each session you watch at www.CryptoFreeTrial.com, there is no need to pre-register,"

Tuesday - "The Tiny Habits That Change Everything" From The Art pf Manliness. "This is always a good time of year to talk about habits...whether creating new ones or eliminating old ones!"

Wednesday - "The Rationality of Emotions" Can emotions be rational? "Next week I'll talk about the chemistry of emotions, and the roles that dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine play in emotions and motivation and how they tie back into habits."

Thursday - "No #TBT today" Oops "The pickings were very sparse for this date and there was nothing relevant."

Interesting days

Today - Tempura Day, Bobblehead Day, Harlem Globetrotter’s Day, I’m Not Going To Take It Anymore Day and Old Rock Day

Tomorrow - Bubble Bath Day, Joy Germ Day, Show & Tell At Work Day, Argyle Day and Earth’s Rotation Day

Next Friday - National Dress Up Your Pet Day, International Kite Day, National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day and National Organize Your Home Day

February 7 - Play More Cards Day, National Send a Card to a Friend Day and World Ballet Day

Week long celebrations:

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Cheerleading Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Patient Recognition Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: School Counseling Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Solo Diners Eat Out Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: African Heritage and Health Week

Feb 6 - Feb 12: National Secondhand Wardrobe Week

Feb 6 - Feb 12: Boy Scouts Anniversary Week

Thursday, January 6, 2022

No #TBT today

The pickings were very sparse for this date and there was nothing relevant.

Interesting days

Today - Cuddle Up Day, Bean Day, Apple Tree Day, Shortbread Day and Three Kings Day

Tomorrow - Tempura Day, Bobblehead Day, Harlem Globetrotter’s Day, I’m Not Going To Take It Anymore Day and Old Rock Day

Next Thursday - National Sticker Day, National Rubber Duckie Day, Public Radio Broadcasting Day, Make Your Dream Come True Day, World Skeptics Day and National Peach Melba Day

February 6 - National Yorkshire Pudding Day, Dump Your Significant Jerk Day, National Frozen Yogurt Day and Lame Duck Day

Week long celebrations:

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Cheerleading Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Patient Recognition Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: School Counseling Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Solo Diners Eat Out Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: African Heritage and Health Week

Feb 6 - Feb 12: National Secondhand Wardrobe Week

Feb 6 - Feb 12: Boy Scouts Anniversary Week

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

The Rationality of Emotions

Another one from The Art of Manliness. The plan is to tie yesterday's blog post and the next few together. Today's post is kind of a stepping stone.

Emotions have gotten a bad rap these days. We’re frequently told we should mistrust them, ignore them, even f**k them. It may seem that humanity, especially the male segment of it, has always evinced this level of skepticism towards our feelings, viewing them as unreliable guides — womanly disrupters of our happiness and tranquility.

But the role of emotions in the lives of men and women alike has not always been viewed so dubiously by everyone, in every time; instead, distrust in feelings waxes and wanes according to the level of uncertainty in society. When life is unpredictable, chaotic, and troubling, people retreat inwardly, batten down the hatches, seek to turn themselves into stone. It seems too risky to expose one’s true feelings, to let anything but cold hard logic dictate one’s decisions. Because, the thinking goes, emotions are essentially irrational.

Yet there have been periods and philosophies that have seen emotions and reason not as contradictory but complementary. Thinkers as different in outlook and era as Aristotle, Nietzsche, and C.S. Lewis all argued that feelings have their own intelligence and wisdom, are necessary in order to participate in the human experience at its most dynamic and incandescent, and must be intertwined with our rational faculties in order to achieve the good life.

Today we’ll unpack the premises of this perspective, and how emotions can be rational, in that they have rationality in themselves, can align with rationality, and can be harnessed towards rational purposes.

From other articles that I've read, the ideas of emotions and feelings are distinct. Emotions are physical responses to stimuli, either internal or external, while feelings are the attributes that we assign to those emotions. Here's an excerpt from Six Seconds;

Emotions come first, then feelings come after as the emotion chemicals go to work in our bodies. Then moods develop from a combination of feelings.

Emotions are chemicals released in response to our interpretation of a specific trigger. It takes our brains about 1/4 second to identify the trigger, and about another 1/4 second to produce the chemicals. By the way, emotion chemicals are released throughout our bodies, not just in our brains, and they form a kind of feedback loop between our brains & bodies. They last for about six seconds – hence the name of our organization.

Feelings happen as we begin to integrate the emotion, to think about it, to “let it soak in.” In English, we use “feel” for both physical and emotional sensation — we can say we physically feel cold, but we can also emotionally feel cold. This is a clue to the meaning of “feeling,” it’s something we sense. Feelings are more “cognitively saturated” as the emotion chemicals are processed in our brains & bodies. Feelings are often fueled by a mix of emotions, and last for longer than emotions.

Moods are more generalized. They’re not tied to a specific incident, but a collection of inputs. Mood is heavily influenced by several factors: the environment(weather, lighting, people around us), physiology (what we’ve been eating, how we’ve been exercising, how healthy we are), and finally our mental state (where we’re focusing attention and our current emotions). Moods can last minutes, hours, probably even days.

The AoM article is too long to present the entire thing o I'll list the subsections. You can read the article if you'd like to learn more.

Emotions Are Meaningful Judgements

Emotions Discern Value

Emotions Are Trainable

Emotions Are the Engines of Action

I've read that emotion can be thought of as energy in motion.

Emotions Are Strategic

Emotions Create Meaning

If emotions are rational to the extent that they further our ultimate ends, and nearly everyone desires a life of great meaning, then choosing to embrace your emotions — even, ironically, those of an intensity that leans to the “irrational” — can be the most rational decision you could possibly make.

Next week I'll talk about the chemistry of emotions, and the roles that dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine play in emotions and motivation and how they tie back into habits.

Interesting days

Today - Whipped Cream Day and Bird Day

Tomorrow - Cuddle Up Day, Bean Day, Apple Tree Day, Shortbread Day and Three Kings Day

Next Wednesday - Kiss a Ginger Day, National Marzipan Day and National Pharmacist Day

Week long celebrations:

Jan 29 - Feb 5: Cordova Iceworm Festival Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Cheerleading Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Patient Recognition Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: School Counseling Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Solo Diners Eat Out Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: African Heritage and Health Week

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

The Tiny Habits That Change Everything

This is always a good time of year to talk about habits...whether creating new ones or eliminating old ones! Today's blog post is based on a podcast from The Art of Manliness:

We’re a month into the new year now. How are you doing on your resolutions? Have you already fallen off the wagon? Maybe the goal you set for yourself was just too big to successfully tackle. You need to think smaller. Tiny, even.

That’s the argument my guest makes. His name is Dr. BJ Fogg, and he’s the founder and director of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab, as well as the author of the new book Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Today on the show, BJ walks us through the three components that drive our behavior, including the simple yet overlooked relationship between motivation and ability. He then explains how to build habits that feel easier and require lower levels of motivation by picking behaviors that are good matches for you and breaking them down into smaller parts. We also talk about the need to tie your habits to turnkey prompts, the importance of celebrating your successes, no matter how small, and the way tiny habits can lead to bigger changes. We end our conversation with why you should think about the process of getting rid of your bad habits as untangling them rather than breaking them.

I've talked about habits before and also about motivation and ability.

No wonder this podcast seemed familiar! I actually wrote about it before...you can access it at the link for motivation and ability above. I go into more detail in that post, so why don't you go ahead and check it out.

Interesting days

Today - Trivia Day, World Braille Day, Spaghetti Day, Pop Music Chart Day and Hypnotism Day

Tomorrow - Whipped Cream Day and Bird Day

Next Tuesday - National Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day, Heritage Treasures Day, World Sketchnote Day, Poetry at Work Day, National Milk Day, National Learn Your Name In Morse Code Day and National Hot Toddy Day

Week long celebrations:

Jan 29 - Feb 5: Cordova Iceworm Festival Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Cheerleading Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Patient Recognition Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: School Counseling Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Solo Diners Eat Out Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: African Heritage and Health Week

Monday, January 3, 2022

All the ways to win - updated

The original version of this post was published last week:

You may have caught my Facebook Live yesterday where I talked about the new $25 and $100 American Express gift card giveaways. If not, now you will.

But first I'm going to talk about all the ways you can get entries into the brownie giveaway:

The first way, and most of you have already done this is to watch an 11 minute video, what you may not have noticed was an invitation to join a Facebook group. Both of those activities are worth 1 entry each. Plus, if you share the video (which I know some of you have done), the person who you shared with gets an entry for watching the video and another for joining the FB group. And you get an additional entry to match each of theirs!

The next way is a biggie...you get 5 entries for watching a live IM Academy presentation. These presentations last about 20 - 30 minutes. There are 3 opportunities a day - at noon, 5:00 and 8:00 PST every Monday - Friday. And everybody who watches gets 5 entries (and so do you). So, make some popcorn and sit down with your spouse...you'll get 5 entries for watching, your spouse will get 5 entries and you'll get 5 more entries because your spouse watched. Be sure to share with your parents, siblings, adult kids, friends and neighbors. Here's the link...the password is IM. It may just ask for your email address. Don't worry...they won't spam you. These presentations will be going on for the foreseeable future.

If you can't make one of the live presentations (or even if you can), you can watch a recorded version of a presentation. This is worth 3 entries in the drawing. And yes, you can watch both a live presentation and the recorded version.

So, by yourself you can get up to 10 entries in the drawing, plus you can double, triple or quadruple the number of entries. You're saying to yourself that the brownies are good, but they're really not worth that much effort. That' where the gift cards come in. On the first Saturday of every month, starting this Saturday, I'll be putting the names of all of the brownie winners into a bowl and drawing at least one name to win a $25 AmEx gift card. And on the first Saturday of a new quarter (starting in April), the winners of the $25 gift cards will be placed in a bowl and at least one person will win a $100 gift card.

But wait! What if I don't win brownies? Does that mean I'm out of luck for the gift card drawings? Absolutely not! There are ways to get entries directly into the gift card drawings.

First, to get entered into the $25 monthly drawing, you can do a 3 way Zoom with me and my mentor, Darla DiGrandi-Aguilera. She's much better at explaining all of this than I am! But please, only do this if you're willing to learn more about the academy. Darla's time, and your time, is too valuable to waste if you're not the least bit curious. You'll get one entry into the $25 AmEx gift card drawing when you do this. Again, if your friends and family are interested they can get an entry and you can get additional ones. But again, only if they're interested in learning more.

And how about the $100 drawing? Become an IM Academy student. For every month that you're a student, you'll get an entry into the drawing. And between now and the end of the year, you can get a $50 rebate! You DO NOT get additional entries when other people sign up but there are other benefits offered directly form the academy. Want to learn more? Book a Zoom with Darla and me...just reach out to me and I'll set it up.

And I did a FB Live yesterday discussing a way to earn up to 5 more entries:

You get one entry for each session you watch at www.CryptoFreeTrial.com, there is no need to pre-register,

Remember, I have no way of knowing when you did any of these activities, so be sure to let me know when you have completed them.

Also, the $50 rebate mentioned above has expired,

Interesting days

Today - Weigh-In Day, Festival Of Sleep Day, Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day and Drinking Straw Day

Tomorrow - Trivia Day, World Braille Day, Spaghetti Day, Pop Music Chart Day and Hypnotism Day

Next Monday - Cut Your Energy Costs Day, Houseplant Appreciation Day, Bittersweet Chocolate Day and Peculiar People Day

February 3 - Optimist Day, World Read Aloud Day, Carrot Cake Day and Golden Retriever Day

Week long celebrations:

Jan 29 - Feb 5: Cordova Iceworm Festival Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Cheerleading Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Patient Recognition Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: School Counseling Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Solo Diners Eat Out Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: African Heritage and Health Week

Your weekend guide to interesting days - January 1, 2022

This week

Sunday - Candy Cane Day and Thank You Note Day

Monday - Make Cut-out Snowflakes Day, Fruitcake Day and Visit The Zoo Day

Tuesday - Card Playing Day

Wednesday - Tick Tock Day and Pepper Pot Day

Thursday - Bacon Day and Bicarbonate of Soda Day

Yesterday - New Year's Eve, No Interruptions Day, Champagne Day and Make Up Your Mind Day

January will be Veganuary Month, Hobby Month, Get A Balanced Life Month, Clean Up Your Computer Month, Get Organized Month, Creativity Month, Celebration Of Life Month, Brainteaser Month, Oatmeal Month, Be Kind To Food Servers Month, Hot Tea Month, Soup Month and Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Today - New Year's Day, Ring a Bell Day, Copyright Law Day, Euro Day, Commitment Day, Polar Bear Swim Day, Bloody Mary Day and Z Day

Month long celebrations:

Nov 26 - Dec 31: A Blue Christmas

Next week

Tomorrow - Science Fiction Day, World Introvert Day, Creampuff Day, 55 mph Speed Limit Day, Fruitcake Toss Day, Happy Mew Year Day For Cats, Personal Trainer Awareness Day, Motivation and Inspiration Day and Buffet Day

Monday - Weigh-In Day, Festival Of Sleep Day, Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day and Drinking Straw Day

Tuesday - Trivia Day, World Braille Day, Spaghetti Day, Pop Music Chart Day and Hypnotism Day

Wednesday - Whipped Cream Day and Bird Day

Thursday - Cuddle Up Day, Bean Day, Apple Tree Day, Shortbread Day and Three Kings Day

Friday - Tempura Day, Bobblehead Day, Harlem Globetrotter’s Day, I’m Not Going To Take It Anymore Day and Old Rock Day

Saturday - Bubble Bath Day, Joy Germ Day, Show & Tell At Work Day, Argyle Day and Earth’s Rotation Day

Next month

January 26 - Spouse’s Day, Peanut Brittle Day, Seed Swap Day, Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day and Australia Day

January 27 - Chocolate Cake Day, World Breast Pumping Day and National Geographic Day

January 28 - International Lego Day, Data Privacy Day, Blueberry Pancake Day, Kazoo Day and Global Community Engagement Day

January 29 - Fun At Work Day, Puzzle Day, Curmudgeons Day, Cornchip Day and Freethinkers Day

January 30 - Inane Answering Message Day, Seed Swap Day and Croissant Day

January 31 - Backward Day, Gorilla Suit Day and Inspire Your Heart With Art Day

February will be February will be Black History Month, Vegan Cuisine Month, North American Inclusion Month, Cherry Month, Bake For Family Fun Month, Bird-Feeding Month, Hot Breakfast Month and Library Lovers’ Month

February 1 - Baked Alaska Day, World Read Aloud Day, Serpent Day, Decorating With Candy Day, Car Insurance Day and Ice Cream For Breakfast Day

Week long celebrations:

Jan 30 - Feb 6: Cordova Iceworm Festival Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Cheerleading Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Patient Recognition Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: School Counseling Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Pride in Food Service Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: Solo Diners Eat Out Week

Feb 1 - Feb 7: African Heritage and Health Week

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

All the ways to win

You may have caught my Facebook Live yesterday where I talked about the new $25 and $100 American Express gift card giveaways. If not, now you will.

But first I'm going to talk about all the ways you can get entries into the brownie giveaway:

But wait! What if I don't win brownies? Does that mean I'm out of luck for the gift card drawings? Absolutely not! There are ways to get entries directly into the gift card drawings.

First, to get entered into the $25 monthly drawing, you can do a 3 way Zoom with me and my mentor, Darla DiGrandi-Aguilera. She's much better at explaining all of this than I am! But please, only do this if you're willing to learn more about the academy. Darla's time, and your time, is too valuable to waste if you're not the least bit curious. You'll get one entry into the $25 AmEx gift card drawing when you do this. Again, if your friends and family are interested they can get an entry and you can get affectional ones. But again, only if they're interested in learning more.

Thursday, October 28, 2021

What is the Vitality Movement?

The Vitality Movement is a program offered by Blue 42 for Life and consists of 3 parts:

Listen to your body! What does it need?
Use our four pillar assessment to determine what your body needs.
Review the package that your assessment built just for you.

1. What is your body telling you it needs so you can feel your healthiest?

You might be looking for more energy or to have a more active lifestyle.

• Or maybe you want deeper sleep and better rest so you can perform at a higher level daily.
• Or perhaps you want to work on your body and metabolism so you can feel better.
• You might want to boost your immune system so you can fight off illnesses.
• Or maybe you‘re looking for all of the above and want to feel better overall?

2. Take The Assessment

Use our four pillar system to take a quick assessment. Through the prompts below, we guide you through determining what your body needs, just click on the section that best suits what your body needs.

3. Review the package that your assessment built just for you.

After you take the assessment you will be taken to the shopping page to purchase the products you selected during the assessment where you can add or remove items before purchase. On this page you can download the daily tracker, which is featured in the video below.

You can access the daily tracker here.

It's almost time for New Year's resolutions and if yours include getting healthier then check out the Vitality Movement.

Interesting days

Today - Black Cat Day, Cranky Co-Workers Day and Navy Day

Tomorrow - Plush Animal Lover’s Day and Animation Day

Next Wednesday - Smart Home Day, Sandwich Day. Housewife’s Day, Cliché Day, Jellyfish Day, Stress Awareness Day and Wobbly Wednesday

Week long celebrations:

Nov 1 - Nov 7: Marzipan Week

November 27 - Bavarian Cream Pie Day, Pins And Needles Day, Craft Jerky Day and Small Business Saturday (US)

Month long celebrations:

Nov 26 - Dec 31: A Blue Christmas

Monday, October 25, 2021

How To Prepare Your Sleep For The End Of Daylight Savings Time

Today's blog post is from a blog post by Dr. Michael Breus:

When you think about daylight savings time, do you immediately think about getting more sleep or less? For some people, the time change is no big deal. But for a lot of people, daylight savings time means daytime sleepiness, sluggishness, and exhaustion.

Thankfully though, all this can be avoided with a few easy changes to your routine in the week leading up to the time change. Before we get into how to adjust to daylight savings time, let’s take a brief look at its history, and why you may feel so tired after the change.

The article then talks about why we have DST and the history of it. If you want to find out more, click the link at the top of this page.

Why Do You Feel Tired After Daylight Savings Time?

Daylight savings time may be intended to save energy, but it can have the opposite effect on your own body! This is because your circadian rhythm may fall out of alignment after the clock change.

Your circadian rhythm helps regulate your sleep cycle, and because it’s influenced by light exposure, the combination of the time change and changed light outside can cause circadian misalignment.

Are you a morning lark or a night owl? Each may react differently to the change in time. Check out the article for more info on the different chronotypes.

How to Get Great Sleep as Daylight Savings Time Begins or Ends

Whether you are preparing to lose an hour as you transition into daylight savings time or gain one as you return to standard time, the time shift can be disorienting and rough on your sleep.

To avoid any post-daylight savings time sleep problems, all you need to do is make some easy changes to your sleep hygiene and bedtime routine. These can help you sleep better whether you’re waking up to sunshine, or to darkness.

These tips aren’t just for adults— teens and kids of all ages will benefit too! Just be sure to incorporate these suggestions into your child’s bedtime routine as you would your own.

1. Follow a Consistent Sleep Schedule— Preferably According to Your Chronotype

2. Eliminate Blue Light at Night

3. Bring on the Morning Light!

4. Listen to Some Music

5. Take a Cool— Not Cold— Shower In the Morning

6. Eat The Right Breakfast

If you don't know your chronotype, now would be a good time to go to the article and take the quiz (I'm a dolphin).

How Daylight Savings Time Affects Each Chronotype

Remember how I said that daylight savings time affects the chronotypes differently? Here’s how the time change tends to affect people according to their chronotype.

When Daylight Savings Time Ends

Lions

When daylight savings time ends, you won’t need the extra hour of sleep— for you lions, it’s generally not in your nature to sleep in any way. If you’re a lion, Daylight Savings Time actually has a tendency to affect you negatively. Why? Because on this particular day, your internal clock will likely be going off at your normal time— 5:00 AM, which will now be 4:00 AM— and you’re not going to need to sleep in.

I recommend you try and stick to your normal schedule— plan a quiet activity like reading, extra meditation, or write and respond to emails. In about a day, your waking pattern should be adjusted. It’s best if you go into another area of your home and turn on all the lights. You won’t need melatonin production at that hour because you’re already up and starting your day.

Wolves

You’ll be very happy with your extra hour of sleep because wolves are generally affected positively. Why? Because you are always sleep-deprived!

Daylight saving time means you’re getting an extra hour of much-needed rest. However, I encourage you not to stay up later the night before. You’ll naturally want to stay up later knowing you’ll get the extra “free” hour, but it will eliminate any benefit you’ll receive from the catch-up sleep.

Dolphins

Now is the time to lower your anxiety and sleep in. Most Dolphins tell me they sleep best from 4:00-6:00 AM, so enjoy the extra hour! Just remember to get a glass of water to rehydrate when you wake and if you REALLY want to start your morning right, have sex. For you dolphins, sex makes a lot of sense from a chronotype and hormone perspective.

Bears

As you may have already guessed, if you’re a bear, daylight saving time will hardly have any effect on you. You can sleep in if you like. It will provide you with a little more rest, so enjoy the extra time if you’re so inclined. You’ve earned it!

The article then goes on to talk about what to do when DST begins...we'll revisit that in six months.

A few other guidelines I recommend you follow include:

If possible, avoid alcohol during the weekend of the time change.
For better sleep quality, keep up your exercise routine during the week. Maybe throw in an extra workout that weekend too.
On the morning of the time change, make sure you get sunlight to help reset your body clock.

Don’t Lose Sleep Over Daylight Savings Time!

The time change from daylight savings time can wreak havoc on your internal clock, but it doesn’t have to. You can get good sleep even as your body adjusts to the clock change. Give some of these tips a try and you can keep getting the restful sleep you need even as the daylight hours change.

Interesting days

Today - International Artists Day, Sourest Day, World Pasta Day, Punk for a Day Day and Greasy Food Day

Tomorrow - Microneedling Day, Mule Day, Pumpkin Day, Howl At The Moon Day and Mincemeat Day

November will be World Vegan Month, Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month, Pomegranate Month, Epilepsy Awareness Month, Movember, Adoption Month, Novel Writing Month, Manatee Awareness Month and Native American Heritage Month

Next Monday - Benjamin Banneker Week, Job Action Day, Broadcast Traffic Professionals Day, World Vegan Day, French Fried Clam Day, Vinegar Day, Author's Day, Extra Mile Day, Go Cook For Your Pets Day and Scented Candle Day

Week long celebrations:

Nov 1 - Nov 7: Marzipan Week

November 25 - Shopping Reminder Day, Parfait Day, Blase’ Day, Thanksgiving, Turkey Free Thanksgiving and Day of Mourning

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Thursday, January 20, 2022

This week

Next week

Next month

Monday, January 17, 2022

Friday, January 14, 2022

Interesting days

Thursday, January 13, 2022

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Wednesday, January 12, 2022

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Tuesday, January 11, 2022

This week

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Friday, January 7, 2022

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Thursday, January 6, 2022

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Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Emotions Are Meaningful Judgements

Emotions Discern Value

Emotions Are Trainable

Emotions Are the Engines of Action

Emotions Are Strategic

Emotions Create Meaning

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Tuesday, January 4, 2022

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Monday, January 3, 2022

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This week

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Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Thursday, October 28, 2021

1. What is your body telling you it needs so you can feel your healthiest?

2. Take The Assessment

3. Review the package that your assessment built just for you.

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Monday, October 25, 2021

How Daylight Savings Time Affects Each Chronotype

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