Sleep & Electronics

I read somewhere that electronics should not be kept in the bedroom. What is that all about? I fall asleep with the TV on every night! Couldn’t go to sleep without it. What’s the problem?

 There are studies that show a link between electronics in the bedroom and restless or lower quality sleep. The recommendation is to keep all electronics out of the bedroom. Period. If you take your mobile phone into the bedroom, turn it off when you go to bed. Studies have shown that people who used mobile devices late at night were more depleted the next morning and less engaged at work. Another study found that people who responded to text messages or other alerts after they had turned in for the night had poorer sleep quality, which in turn predicted symptoms of anxiety and depression. Loss of sleep or poor sleep quality will not help one cope with the conditions on Planet Earth, much less risk an increase in anxiety and depression. Researchers say that filters in human eye such as the cornea and the lens do not block natural or artificial blue light from reaching the retina. Wearing blue-light-blocking glasses when you do use electronics can be important and helpful. 

Brain & Quality Sleep

According to associate professor neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Rachel Salas, MD, some sleeping positions and sleeping habits may be more beneficial than others. For example, sleep apnea is considered a serious medical problem. It involves episodes where your breathing repeatedly stops and starts. This interferes with the amount of oxygen your brain receives, which impacts how your brain and body function. No surprise you may have difficulty staying asleep (insomnia), experience loud snoring (which may cause relationship problems when your partner becomes sleep-deprived), excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia), waking with a dry mouth, morning headache. If you have any of these symptoms, you may be wise to obtain a medical evaluation. Sleeping on one’s side may help keep your airways open, reduce snoring, and alleviate mild apnea.

 Using Big Five personality traits, researchers followed 22,000 American and Japanese adults for over 10 years. The ones who slept poorly tended to become less conscientious over time. The ones who slept best were the least neurotic. It is worth doing whatever it takes to achieve quality sleep.

 

Brain & Sleeping Positions

 

I heard some cockamamie story about the fetus being short of oxygen depending on the mother’s sleeping position. Can you believe that?

 If you accept the definition of cockamamie as ridiculous or implausible, then it is perhaps an unfortunate word for your question. According to Rachel Salas, MD, associate professor neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, as a person becomes older and has more medical issues, sleep position can become positive or negative. It can impact much younger humans, however. Even a fetus. A side-sleeping position tends to be the most common, also called a lateral sleeping position by sleep scientists. It has been found to have some benefits. There is a left lateral and a right lateral option, however. Here are a few study findings.

 1.    Sleeping on one’s left side, for example:

 Maximizes circulation for mother and fetus, especially during the 3^rd trimester (lying on one’s back can actually be dangerous for the fetus even for short periods of time)

May clear brain waste more efficiently 

Helps lessen gastric reflux for those with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

 May help to alleviate or reduce snoring

 2.    Sleeping on one’s right side tends to be a better option for those with congestive heart failure 

Whatever position you choose, sleep in a dark room to avoid interfering with melatonin production (e.g., black-out drapes or soft eye patches). Open the drapes or go outside in the morning and allow sunlight to enter your eyes to reset your internal circadian clock.

What's in Your Glass? Part 2

Metaphorically, your brain is your “glass.” When you experience trauma or an event that could be disruptive or have a communication misunderstanding, or something triggers unhappy memories from childhood, think of brain as having just been bumped into. What spills out is whatever was in your brain. If the contents involves “low levels of Emotional Intelligence (EQ),” your brain will spill out JOT behaviors such as Jumping to conclusions, Overreacting, and Taking things personally—behaviors that will likely give you negative outcomes that may involve some “messes” that will take some doing to clean up (if they even can be cleaned up). If the contents of your brain involves “high levels of EQ skills,” it will spill out AAA behaviors that will likely avoid or minimize conflict, be reasonable, will result in positive outcomes, and create very few messes. Bottom line: no person forces you exhibit dysfunctional behaviors. The behaviors that you exhibit—that come out of your brain—are ones that were already in there. Fill your glass—your brain—with care. In adulthood, what it contains is largely your choice.

What's in Your Glass?

 

My siblings often do things that make me mad and then I say and do things that later I am sorry for. I heard you say that no one forces you to exhibit dysfunctional behaviors. Then where do they come from?

Excellent question. There is an old saying, “Every pathology has an ecology,” meaning that dysfunctional behaviors do not come from a vacuum. All behaviors come out some part of the brain: conscious thought, emotional impulses, or stress fight-flight areas. Here is one metaphor that might help describe this phenomenon. Imagine that you are holding a glass of lemonade and someone bumps into you. You exclaim: “Hey, you made me spill my lemonade.” Is that really true? Probably not. The person who bumped into you triggered a movement that resulted in you spilling something. You spilled lemonade only because lemonade was in your glass. If water had been in your glass, you would have spilled water. If it had been chocolate milk, cola, wine, orange juice—you would have spilled that. More tomorrow.

Effective Daydreaming

Three general types of daydreaming have been described:

•  Distractible daydreaming: low levels of attention control and difficulty concentrating can lead to low levels of conscientiousness, the personality trait most often linked with success

• Dysphoric daydreaming: thinking hostile, aggressive fantasies about others, and dwelling on anxiety, gilt, fear of failure, and obsessive negative thoughts.

• Dynamic daydreaming: This is linked with positivity, openness to new experiences, using imagination to explore new and useful ideas—in almost any genre. This type has been linked with happiness and high levels of creativity.

 If you want to become involved in an area you love, imagine in your mind’s eye what that would look like. Then do something constructive every day to move yourself toward that vision—sitting there waiting for gold to drop in your lap is generally unhelpful. Sure, something may fall into your lap:  autumn leaves, raindrops, bird droppings . . . but it may have nothing to do with your vision and aim. Stay positive. If one idea doesn’t work, try another. You may not “run the company,” but you may find yourself in a very rewarding branch of said company—or you may even you start your own! Be willing to collaborate. It is said that Edison worked with 14 other inventors and thousands of experiments to perfect the filament for incandescent light bulbs. The sky is the limit. 

Daydreaming & Creativity

Daydreaming is linked with creativity. Einstein reportedly used it frequently. Unfortunately, when watching TV and movies, the brain is “passively picturing” what another brain created—which may be decreasing creativity in children. To flourish, the brain requires “active mental picturing” ¾the brain is actually creating ideas and solutions and not just processing what another brain created. Studies have shown that both excessive screen time and drug use can reduce the amount of gray matter in the frontal cortex, located directly behind the forehead. This can stunt creativity as well as slow the development of Emotional Intelligence skills. From an interview with Cory Johnson on Bloomberg TV, Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame has been quoted as saying that the future is creativity. He believes that the future is not about data scientists or soft-ware writers, but individuals who excel at creative and critical thinking. That is where the jobs will be.

 

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/how-screen-addiction-is-ruining-the-brains-of-children.

https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/mark-cuban-says-this-will-soon-be-the-most-sought-after-job-skill.html.