My book, “Shadows on the Highway” is now FREE on KOBO, NOOK and AMAZON. Go ahead, download it and I hope you enjoy it.
Also if you have a few moments, go ahead and leave a review of it on amazon.
Enjoy the book.
Also for April, we have contest/sweepstakes drawing coming up. If you are on my mailing list, you are automatically entered. If not sign up today.
A Gallup poll revealed 40% of Americans get less sleep than recommended by experts (http://www.gallup.com/poll/166553/less-recommended-amount-sleep.aspxl).
Right now, I’m not getting enough sleep. I’ve launched my second book, I’m marketing it, getting ready to launch a contest (if you are on my mailing list you are already entered) and I’m working full time; yes I’m stressed.
I tackled this problem by looking on the internet for tips on getting some sleep. If you are part of the unfortunate 40% statistic, I hope these tips help you. Also, at the end of these tips, is the cover of my second book, hope you like it.
A. Take a warm shower before bedtime but keep the room cool. Studies have shown before we are ready to sleep our body temperature drops, preparing us for sleep, it is part of our circadian rhythm. But many of us don’t follow our circadian rhythm and we stay up, watching tv, cleaning the house, doing bills and homework. As a result our temperature drops too much disrupting our normal sleep cycle. A warm shower brings our body temperature up and closer to our normal sleeping temperature.
B. Enjoy a glass of herbal tea – Studies have shown that Valerian root and Lavender are two herbs that have sedative properties.
C. No electronics near your bed – EMF’s (electro-magnetic fields) can disturb the body’s natural sleep cycle. If, for emergencies, you need a cell phone in your room, keep it on the opposite side of the room from your bed.
D. Strive for darnkess – Darkness helps the body produce melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate sleep. Use light blocking curtains or an eye mask.
E. No computers , cell phones or reading devices at least an hour before bed. The light from these devices passes through the retina and disrupts the area of the brain that regulates the sleep cycle and the sleep hormone melatonin.
Let’s try to reduce that 40% stat. Leave a comment or email me if you have any other tips or if you would like to comment on my cover.
I never liked tests in school. I usually didn’t do well and the tests that measured my abilities seemed flawed in a way I couldn’t explain. (One test put me in a remedial algebra class, and another determined I was a math genius when I came up with a perfect score.) Today I have a partial explanation of the flaws in the testing.
Standardize tests measure “convergent” thinking. This type of thinking means a person is good at bringing material from a variety of sources to work on a problem, in such a way as to produce the correct answer – one answer. This type of thinking is great for multiple choice exams, and for jobs in math and technology fields.
But how do you measure creativity? Flexibility? The ability to come up with more than just one solution? This is where “divergent” thinking comes in, something our standardized tests do not measure.
Divergent thinkers come up with multiple solutions, creative solutions that are “outside of the box;” they look for options and blaze new trails as opposed to following the same path. Since this type of thinking isn’t measured in schools or in most general intelligence testing, such as an IQ test, I’ve attached a link for you with some ways of testing your divergent thinking ability.
http://99u.com/articles/7160/test-your-creativity-5-classic-creative-challenges
One type of thinking isn’t better than another. They are just different and both types of thinking are necessary. Keep this in mind when you take your next test, either in school or for a job.