Science of Sleeping - The Tip of the Iceberg

Feel free to say "Duh!", but the best way to eliminate unwanted chatter in the mind, improve focus and concentration, banish anxiety and nervousness of an origin you can't work out, reduce the disabling effects of feeling overly self-conscious and over-analysis of everything which leads to you limiting yourself, improve the clarity and quality of your thoughts, increase your conviction and confidence in any decisions that you make, reduce the rattling bodily tensions and tightness in the chest which has no obvious psychological reason to be there, improve the quality of spontaneous ideas which just come to you without having to try, increase your willingness to accept and respond in the moment to the chaotic randomness of daily life...etc etc etc...

The best way to achieve all this in one fell swoop, for FREE TOO! - is by getting 8 hours of blissful deep sleep. I know. Duh!!!

Whenever I'm fortunate enough to have such a rejuvenating gift bestowed upon me I praise and give thanks to Hypnos as soon as I arise - The God of Sleep. Mate! You da real MVP!!!

But in addition to my belief that a fictitious Greek deity is responsible for my peaceful slumber, there must be a science, or at least, concrete measures I can take to maximise the chances of sleeping well. 3 things that were different about last night's sleep which I'll be trying again tonight to see if it wasn't just a fluke were:

1. Using a sleeping mask to block out all light. I don't want the sun to wake me "naturally" thanks. I'd rather have some more quality Zzzzzzzzz... instead. The actual truth which led to this revelation that everyone apart from me already knows was that I fell asleep with my virtual reality headset on again. This is something I unintentionally do often, and friends who have photographed me in this dystopian state have been compelled to create albums with these images because it looks so weird.

2. Bed is set at a slight decline to utilise gravity. Two notches of wood of around 1/2 inch were placed underneath the legs connected to the headboard. Not noticeable enough to feel like I was kipping on a slope, but enough to encourage bodily fluids to continue on their natural paths and not to remain stagnant as they normally would do on a perfectly horizontal mattress.

3. Pillow height and shape was fashioned to fit the space in between my shoulder and head perfectly, so that both head, but more importantly, my neck, felt wonderfully cradled when sleeping on my side.

Again, these mundane insights are probably what many people do anyway, but I think there are also a lot of people who just jump into bed and hope for the best, who see sleep as a game of Russian Roulette for their mind and body. Sleep is where your day starts before it starts so it's crucial this period is as high a quality as you can make it. I feel the same way about the importance of comfortable footwear and the use of insoles to correct one's gait, but can't be arsed going into that right now.

Choosing to use emojis to react to emotional stories we see in our news feeds because we find it difficult to articulate ourselves as we would like, is degrading our ability to communicate effectively, which in turn is affecting our mental health and sense of personal autonomy

If you happen to read something in your news feed which leaves you feeling angry or upset and are compelled to say something in the comments, but then worry about saying it right or upsetting someone, or people misunderstanding what you mean and then attacking you - don't trade all of the anxiety in wanting to speak your truth for a convenient emoji instead - because soon enough you'll have forgotten how it feels to articulate your grievances through words to any satisfying degree at all - and the next time your emotions are stirred by injustices taking place in the world it will be even more difficult to muster the confidence to say what you really want to say, making it more likely you will choose the easy way out once more - taking the entirety of your feelings and emotions in that moment and replacing them with 1 of only 6 possible options - I agree - I love - I'm amazed - I hate - I'm sad - I'm angry

We're much more complex than emojis allow us to express, and deep down we know it. It seems as though the continued denial and inaction to improve our capacity to describe our reality is becoming yet another increasing source of frustration for us. And if a backlash to the inherent lack of precision of emojis does eventually become a source of collective distress, I would not be surprised at all if companies like Facebook responded to the outcry by introducing yet more refined emojis capable of allowing us to 'articulate' ourselves with greater 'nuance'.  

Not being able to express our sentiments exactly how we experience them, or not feeling free enough to talk openly about sensitive topics that may require us to be generous and kind to each other - isn't good for our collective mental health going forward. The system itself in which we communicate (Facebook) encourages us to be less nuanced in our thoughts through the crude alternative of emojis.  

Emojis are to language what McDonald's is to food. They never fully satisfy, but they do at the time.  

We can only be as expressive as the tools that we use will allow, and being able to crystallise in words precisely how we feel at a certain point in time truly is one of the best ways to externalise and then look squarely at, whatever it is that might be troubling or exciting us inside.

So down with emojis and alphabets FTW!!! :D :D :D  

I'm troubled by the culture of fear I see growing around me, when I look at my friends and read their concerns over consequences of them expressing themselves honestly online. I worry about the long-term conditioning and self-limiting effects this will have on them. From what I can see, a lot more people are choosing to self-censor in order to minimise the chances of anxiety inducing responses from others, and for some, even the idea of getting into a debate online these days is leading some to become filled with anxiety. If having a debate online in front of an audience feels like a battle, then the ability to articulate yourself as you would like surely is a great weapon to have in your arsenal.  

Reflecting on this last point a little further it seems as though one of the precursory factors which causes people to avoid engaging in online discussions stems precisely from them perceiving online debates as battles. If you use war analogies and metaphors as the lenses to help you make sense of discussions then you've already admitted to yourself that conflict of some sort is to be expected. But if you choose to see discussions as group problem solving exercises, where everyone present is a free participant able to contribute an idea or (just as important) counter an idea in order for the collective train of thought to eventually arrive at the truth, then it may help us see others more favourably and with less preconceived judgments.

Dont Allow Others To Determine Your Mental Health

With today being world mental health day (Oct 10th), I'm reminded by how much of a colossal struggle just finding the right path towards a healthy mind can be.

School can be an absolutely brutal place. Witnessing the naive and often unjust ways alpha girls and boys would exercise their power on the more vulnerable kids in the playground was a constant reminder that school was first and foremost a place you had to survive in order to then learn.

As the only black kid throughout junior school, and one of perhaps three in secondary, it was important for me not to become fixated upon how I differed from other kids, and instead, look for the things we had in common and could enjoy together. I figured that having friends in various different playground cliques meant there should be less chance of me being seen as an outsider who couldn't fit in, and so kids should have less of a reason to find beef with me.

The more I was accepted into peer groups, the more it confirmed that I was similar to them after all, which led to a sense of belonging and safety, a feeling that seemed important to have in order to get the most out of being in a learning environment. Acceptance from fellow pupils became a source of validation and self-esteem, which in turn led to having more confidence and a general contentedness.

As I grew older and my sense of who I was became more defined, problems started arising. Particular groups I wanted be a part of, and thought had things in common with, wouldn't allow me to join and often gave no reason why. The decision to yay or nay my requests resting in the hands of the more domineering kids in the group for whom passing judgement in this way was fun, but for those unfairly condemned it could be a soul crushing experience.

There was an obvious flaw in the soundness of my high school survival strategy. Was it wise for my sense of well-being and self-worth to be at the mercy and whims of the other kids? My mental health felt like a commodity on the stock market whose value rose and fell with each acceptance or rejection, reinforcing a hunch the world was just this indifferent and cold arena that rewarded the strong and dominant with the most freedoms.

Why should membership to desirable peer groups have such a powerful impact on my mental health?

I remember being 18, standing awkwardly in the garden of my friend's parents one bonfire evening. One of 10 blokes who, without any prior conferring, had assembled into a perfect man circle on the lawn; the work colleagues of my friend's dad, plus myself. I was shooting the breeze with real men of the world. We were getting to know each other through the mutual exchange of our vast life experience as we flaunted our checked shirts, held cans of Fosters to our chests like they were trophies, occasionally glancing behind to scoff at the poor excuse for a fire while we shooed away any giddy child that asked us to play with them.

By donning the correct costume, performing the appropriate gestures I'd seen other blokes perform, as well as regurgitating stock answers to most of the common ice-breaking questions a bloke will ask another fellow bloke he doesn't yet know, I could tell I was on the verge of entering blokedom proper, and was a hair's breadth away from assuming my position as a functioning member of the privileged patriarchy.

After about half an hour or so of trying to assimilate with these learned elders, I noticed there was one main bloke who did the majority of the speaking, and was the default focal point if you didn't know what to do with yourself; like stand properly, or hold your can of beer with a convincing level of manliness. Despite his irritating braggadocio, he was a welcome diversion that deflected group attention away from my poor quality man acting. Occasionally he would look over to another bloke, who I concluded was his deputy, for those moments when he needed his more audacious claims backing up.

An hour had past, the Fosters was flowing and I'd gained the ability to hear things beyond the cacophony of anxieties in my head. I felt at ease. I could focus on the actual content of what us guys were sharing with each other, and could think about how I'd be able to shoehorn myself into the conversation. So I listened eagerly for an opening in order that I could make my mark.

What I heard was a series of banal accomplishments, mainly home improvement based, presented to the group as though they were scientific breakthroughs. Disdain was being flung at nearly everyone and everything, designed it seemed, to exemplify their own strengths. Their incompetent work colleagues, their illogical and irrational wives they couldn't understand and regretted marrying, their children who were unaware of what good music was, the idiotic tactics the manager of the football team they supported would use. The weather. Modern life. Vegetarians. It just went on and on... The best I could manage was a couple double-entendres and an innuendo that brought a ripple of chuckles, but it felt completely contrived. I was being a fraud, ticking boxes to gain status. I did consider the possibility that everything they were saying was valid, but for some reason I didn't feel like I was in the presence of 9 Nobel laureates.

At a certain point during the exchange I felt a bit off. Waves of disenchantment about what the hell I was doing and what being a man actually involved began swirling around inside. Then one of the guys began regaling us all with the time he heroically got out of his car to give a lollipop man a piece of his mind for walking into the road too abruptly...

"Nah, this is shit!" I said out loud, fetched my bike and rode home.

Cigarettes Should Be Made Illegal

I live in the UK, and over here drugs like heroin and meth are illegal. They not only lead to behaviours that can put others at risk (consider the bus driver taking a big hit of heroin before his morning shift), they also ravage the body resources, depleting nutrients, and over time often leaving it unrecognisable. In addition to this their highly addictive nature helps proliferate their continued use.

In these superficial times, more and more people feel the pressures to not only look good, but to project an image of health and well-being, a sense that there are doing well in life. I'd even go as far as to say that even the form this projection takes has been codified to some extent, which has led to many people projecting themselves is very similar ways.

Constantly having to exist in this environment is depressing for some and they may turn to drugs to temporarily alleviate them of this reality. Drugs that can do the holy trilogy 1. Place us in an alternative pleasant reality 2. Ravage our looks and body 3. Are highly addictive and leave users in a terrible place when they finally return. It's like going to the Bahamas for 2 weeks and coming back to find that your teeth are mysteriously missing, but while you're in the Bahamas, you don't realise it and don't even need teeth in order to have a good time there. Which is why many people taking these holy trilogy drugs will simply stay on vacation for as long as possible.

Addiction isn't inherently bad in itself. I could be addicted to helping people less fortunate than me, or to the feeling of succeeding in business.  But to be addicted to cigarettes (not nicotine), is a lose-lose-lose.

I make the distinction between nicotine and cigarettes because I feel that with the advent of vaping systems, issues such as stained teeth, increased risk of gum disease and aged leathery skin have largely been minimised, factors which play a crucial role in how one feels about one's appearance. Vapers get precisely what they want, without the bulk of the carcinogenic substances and damaging ingredients that steadily turn us into a population of Yodas.

The increasing worries of personal appearance in today's avatar age greatly impact upon our mental health. Looking good can feed into feeling good which then can feed into how we project ourselves, and so on. Cigarettes are anathema to this positive cycle. Some people may say state or even fight for the freedom to smoke cigarettes because we should all have the ability to choose our own destiny. If cigarettes were running for president I just don't see how anyone could bring themselves to vote for the fate it would promise the electorate.

"I solemnly promise to ruin your health. Increase your chances of cancer. Make you self-conscious about your teeth. Leave you smelling bad. Thin your hair. Decrease the circulation into your legs. Make you look gaunt and old. And  I swear that from this day forth, you will want to stick with me through it all"

For me, endorsing cigarettes is like giving the thumbs up to erosion of the body and health, and not even being given a happy place to go to while you're doing it.

Libraries can be Great Weapons against Loneliness and Mental Health related Issues

With sponsored facebook ads reminding us of the 1.2 million older people that will be lonely this Christmas, it seems as though as a nation we're still boldly sailing towards our shared vision of rendering every last public amenity into a commodity or service we have to buy back in order for it to continue to exist.

Libraries are literally the incarnation of learning and education, but more importantly now I feel as though they represent more than just the importance of literacy. They can function as hubs of well-being, social cohesion, tolerance and empowerment too. Literally antidotes to the avalanche of loneliness and mental health related issues we're facing.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/12/library-closures-will-double-unless-immediate-action-is-taken