Multimedia designer Lara Défayes has designed a three-piece survival kit to help with the uniquely contemporary condition known as FOMO. Read more
FOMO Survival Kit helps users overcome their fear of missing out
Month: October 2016
10 Reasons We Need Sleep
You’re reading 10 Reasons We Need Sleep, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Sleep is essential to health. Adults need 7-9 hours of restorative sleep. But it’s not enough to just sleep eight hours. Quality of sleep is important as well.
What sleep does to restore us is based on our response to stress and our autonomic nervous system. This system is about the balance of our sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. Sympathetic provides our fight or flight response. This elevates our heart rate, our blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol, so we can get out of danger. The parasympathetic is our rest and digest system. This system lowers blood pressure, heart rate and mobilizes our gut. Both systems should be equal and active to keep us in balance. Sleep is our part of our parasympathetic and recharge system.
1 – Detoxification:
Our brain detoxifies while we sleep by sweeping up all the toxins from the chemical reactions in our brain. Glutathione is an antioxidant in our body made in the liver. Decreased sleep leads to decreased glutathione, which leads to chronic illness.
2 –Hormone balance:
Sleep debt results in decreased growth hormone. This hormone grows bones, and helps heal our injuries. Sleep debt affects our body’s ability to grow and heal.
3 –Glucose control and (4) Control of blood pressure:
Cortisol is our stress hormone. Some stress is actually good for our body. We need some cortisol to get us out of danger — as in fight or flight. However, persistent elevation of cortisol is a problem. When we stress our bodies with poor sleep, our bodies maintain high cortisol levels. Cortisol also serves as our wake up hormone. It peaks in the morning and goes down as the day goes on. When we do not get adequate, quality sleep, cortisol levels go up at night, which actually causes our sleep habits to worsen. Poor sleep leads to more poor sleep, keeping cortisol levels from changing as they should. Sustained, increased levels of cortisol cause elevation in our morning glucose, as well as elevation in our blood pressure, which can increase our cardiovascular risk for heart attacks and strokes.
5 –Weight management:
Leptin and ghrelin control our hunger and satiety. Both hormones are disturbed by lack of sleep. This means that we are hungrier with less satiety when we don’t sleep. As a result, we crave foods that are not healthy for us, like high sugar foods. This directly impacts our weight control.
6 – Memory:
Neural pathways to our memory center are directly impacted by sleep disturbance, causing poor memory storage. When we are stressed, cortisol levels are higher. Higher cortisol levels lead to trouble sleeping. Poor sleep results in decreased ability to retain memory.
7 –Risk for certain cancers:
Studies have shown that darkness when we sleep induces the hormone melatonin, which normally peaks at night. Melatonin can protect us from certain cancers. Melatonin is suppressed when we look at our phones or tablets or are working in bright lights.
8 –Manage Immune System:
Sleep disturbance can lead to a suppression of our immune system, which is why we tend to get colds more quickly when we don’t sleep.
9—Performance:
Studies have proven that even a decrease in sleep for one night by approximately 1.5 hours can lead to a decrease in alertness and performance the next day. Leave the task and work on it in the morning.
10 — Improved energy:
Restorative sleep leads to a refreshed state. We charge our battery and reinforce the ‘rest and digest’ part of the system.
About Jyothi Rao MD
Dr. Jyothi Rao, MD, ABAAHP, FAARM, has been practicing medicine for the past 16 years. She received her Doctorate of Medicine from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and completed her residency at New England Medical Center (Tufts) in Boston. She heads the holistic medical practice of Shakthi Health and Wellness Center, located in Mt. Airy, MD. She is certified inMedical Acupuncture from UCLA as well as certified in Cardiopulmonary Stress Testing, a personalized assessment of cardio and pulmonary disease. In addition, she is Board Certified inInternal Medicine and in Anti-Aging Medicine. She is an Instructor at Maryland University ofIntegrative Health. Dr. Rao appears as a medical expert in the TOP Interviews that can be seen on, Fox News, CNBC and other television networks. She lives in Elliott City, Maryland. Her book Finding Balance: Empower Yourself with Tools to Combat Stress and Illness is out now.
You’ve read 10 Reasons We Need Sleep, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Alphabeta / Studio RHE
© Hufton + Crow
- Architects: Studio RHE
- Location: Worship St, London, United Kingdom
- Project Director Lead: Richard Hywel Evans
- Project Architect Lead : Dickon Hayward
- Project Team: Tomos Owen, Joe Bamber, Thidaa Roberts, Tom Foster, Ben Nemeny
- Area: 240.0 ft2
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Hufton + Crow
- Qs: Quartz Project Services
- Contractor : Galliford Try
- Client : Resolution Property
- Interiors : Studio RHE
- Structural : Furness Partnership
- Lighting: Hoare Lee Partnership
- M&E: URS
© Hufton + Crow
The ambition was to create a modern and vibrant office space that would stand apart from its competitors by offering a compelling signature design and embracing recent changes in work culture.
© Hufton + Crow
Section
© Hufton + Crow
The design explores the blurring of the boundaries of what constitutes typical office space by offering extensive work and social space outside tenancies in the form of the 750sqm atrium, shared leisure facilities and roof terraces. The atrium is envisioned to be a fully active space not merely an entrance route or waiting room. To ensure this a series of interventions at ground level have been installed to encourage a range of activities and uses. These include a 5m long kitchen table, a panelled library area, a fitted cafe and patisserie, meeting tables and soft furnishing.
© Hufton + Crow
Ground Floor
© Hufton + Crow
Cycling is seen as key part of modern urban living and encouraged through the creation of a large cycle store at lower ground level offering spaces for 250 bikes and adjacent changing rooms and lockers. Access to the cycle store is direct from street level via a new ramp that descends to the lower level. Glazed openings separate the ramp from the atrium allowing views of passing cyclists descending through the building that further animate the space.
© Hufton + Crow
Cycle Ramp
© Hufton + Crow
The design re-modelled the existing roof scape which clashed with the historic roof elements. In their place a new level of office space and roof terraces has been created. Materials have been selected to compliment the existing and large glazed openings created to frame the views over the city.
© Hufton + Crow
The design embraces the complexities and eccentricities inherent in the existing building rather then trying to overcome them. Exposed masonry, varying ceiling levels and level changes in floors are celebrated rather then hidden with finishes. Existing features that were previously inaccessible such as the buildings two towers have been opened up to create idiosyncratic meeting spaces.
© Hufton + Crow
Product Description.The polished concrete effect atrium floor finish is Solacir by Grace and was installed by Floored Genius Ltd. The this resin finish provided the look we were after whilst also working well over the a varying depth of screed due to the uneven historical floor slabs
© Hufton + Crow
America’s Oldest Shopping Mall has been Transformed into Micro-Units
via Business Insider. Image © Ben Jacobsen/Northeast Collaborative Architects
The Arcade Providence is 188 years old, but it’s getting its second wind.
This classical Greek structure, which also happens to be America’s oldest shopping mall, was renovated into 48 micro-apartments and an assortment of businesses. Northeast Collaborative Architects, who led the redesign, converted the top two floors into apartments and bottom floor into commercial space. As single people increasingly contribute to a large percentage of the population, micro-apartments have proliferated as a housing solution.
Originally designed by Russell Warren and James Bucklin in 1828, the Arcade Providence is almost a monument with its grandiose columns and stone walls. Destined for closure in 2008, preservationists — who declared it a National Landmark in 1976 — fought for its revival. Now, after a 10 million dollar makeover, a whopping 4,000 people remain on the building rental’s wait-list.
via Business Insider. Image Courtesy of Rhode Island Archive Collection
via Business Insider. Image © Ben Jacobsen/Northeast Collaborative Architects
The architects confronted the building’s antiquated infrastructure by laying down flat rocks and building atop those. The glass-gabled central atrium, which provides a golden, sunlit aesthetic, is reserved for small bars and restaurants. Each furnished micro-space includes an elevated bed, table, sofa, and TV. Kitchens are comprised of a dishwasher, microwave, and mini-fridge.
via Business Insider. Image © Ben Jacobsen/Northeast Collaborative Architects
via Business Insider. Image © Ben Jacobsen/Northeast Collaborative Architects
Arcade Providence is located in the heart of downtown Providence, so it’s close enough to restaurants and Providence nightlife.
News via: Business Inside
Yellowstone National Park – Wyoming – USA (by Phil Price)
Yellowstone National Park – Wyoming – USA (by Phil Price)
A Key to Success: Choosing the Hard Way
Many people want to live a successful life. Not many, however, are willing to pay the price.
I have read the stories of many great people, and they all share common characteristics. In particular, there is one principle that I believe they all follow, whether they realize it or not. The principle is this:
Choose the hard way
Yes, choose the hard way. When given the choice between the easy way and the hard way, great people consistently choose the hard way.
A good example is Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. He once had a successful restaurant. Life was good for him. But one day the government moved the highway junction in front of his restaurant to another site. As a result, the traffic to his restaurant plummeted. It went so bad that he eventually had to sell his restaurant. Worse, he was already 66 years old at that time.
The easy way for him was to just blame the situation and do nothing. The hard way was to go selling his fried chicken door-to-door, even if that means sleeping in his car.
He chose the hard way. He kept knocking on doors despite many rejections. He endured having to sleep in his car. He paid the price and eventually built Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Another example is Theodore Roosevelt. In fact, there are so many examples in his life that it’s difficult for me to choose. But I’ll choose this one: his bravery in the Spanish-American War.
In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out. Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy at that time. That means he didn’t need to go to the front line; he could just sit behind his desk and do his duties. But he felt compelled to go to the front line. So he did; he led the Rough Riders into battles and almost got killed for that.
One more example is the story of Bill Gates and Paul Allen. They saw the magazine cover of Altair microcomputer in 1975. Microcomputer was new at that time. The easy way was to just read the magazine and talk about it. But they chose the hard way: they worked day and night for three months to create a programming language for Altair. That product launched Microsoft.
Everywhere I look, I see that successful people live by this principle. They choose the hard way. They pay the price for success.
Michelangelo put it well: “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”
6a Architects adds timber-clad halls to 1960s campus at University of Cambridge
London studio 6a Architects designed these student halls at the University of Cambridge’s Churchill College to pay homage to the “picturesque Brutalism” of the original 1960s campus architecture. Read more
💙 Monarch, Seattle Arboretum on 500px by Steve Roberts,……
💙 Monarch, Seattle Arboretum on 500px by Steve Roberts,… http://ift.tt/27Rw4ZT
Seven projects worth knowing by Vincent Van Duysen
Biennale Interieur 2016: to celebrate Vincent Van Duysen being named Designer of the Year at Biennale Interieur, we’ve rounded up seven standout projects from the architect and designer admired for his minimalist style. Read more
3 Simple Ways To Overcome Your Deepest Insecurities (And Become Happier In the Process)
Six months ago, I was an insecure wreck.
If you were to look at me from the outside, you would have thought I was pretty successful for my age. I had straight A’s, offers to some of the best universities in the UK, a career that was earning me more at 23 than people will ever reach in their life, six-pack abs, and a hot girlfriend.
What more could a person ask for? Surely I must have been happy right?
Well, surprisingly no – and the reason why is pretty simply really.
Happiness is not a result of how others perceive you. It is a result of how you perceive yourself.
On the outside, I was successful but internally, I was a mess. I was insecure, constantly seeking approval, and never thought I was good enough.
I only truly realised how messed up I was during my breakup. I remember saying one thing which really made me realise that something had to change. I said, “I’m scared.”
I WAS scared.
What if I had to make new friends and no-one liked me? What if I was never going to be in a relationship again? What if I was going to be alone for the rest of my life?
These thoughts, as well as many others, haunted me. I knew something had to change.
Over the next months I did some serious self-development to conquer these fears and insecurities which I felt was inhibiting me from being happy. It was the best thing I have ever done.
Today I want to share with you the three action steps which helped transform my life, and hopefully can help you out too!
1. Be completely honest and open with yourself
The worst thing you can do is hide yourself from you. Pushing all your self-limiting thoughts into a deep dark corner of your brain and locking them up is not going to get rid of them. They will still be there subconsciously affecting almost everything you do.
What I want you to do is to tell yourself aloud everything you are scared of. Then, have a deep conversation with yourself as to why.
For example, I used to always say no whenever my friends asked me to go out. When I started to question myself as to why, I realised that it was not due to the fact that I did not really like to drink at the time. It was more out of fear of not fitting it and not being accepted for who I was.
What if I went and no-one talked me and just thought I was weird? That was the true fear which I was trying to hide from myself.
Recognizing and accepting your insecurities is your first step to surpassing them. Now that you are truly aware of what is holding you back, you can start to working with them to overcome them.
See Also: Self-Acceptance: The Key To True Happiness
2. Do the things you love by yourself
Have you noticed that people very rarely go out to a restaurant or watch a movie by themselves?
After going through Step 1, I realised that I tended not to go out and do things by myself even if they were things I really enjoyed. I was afraid of being judged. What if people thought of me as a loner who had no friends?
After I became aware of this, I worked with myself in overcoming this fear. I started going out by myself whether it was to go for walks, go to restaurants, or do other things in public.
I love playing piano and did not have one at home so I decided to find a public one in the centre of one of the busiest train stations in the UK and just play. Why should I not play piano just because people may look at me and/or judge me?
Going out and doing things by yourself helps you not only conquer the fear of being alone and the fear of being judged, but it also helps you be autonomous. It helps you to become independent and free.
The analogy I love to use is this. Your emotional state is a cup of water. For a lot of people, their cup is half empty, and the people who they emotionally depend on fill the cup.
In the past, these people consisted of my two bestfriends and my then-girlfriend. I depended on them a lot and spoke to them almost daily.
However, I realized that your cup should already be full from the get go. You should be emotionally complete regardless, and then your friends, family and loved ones overflow the cup. Having your cup already full alleviates the need to rely on other people to be emotionally happy.
Remember me saying I was scared? Well this was due to a fear of being alone and being chucked out of my little comfort bubble which had been built up over the years.
Being emotionally independent is so important for long-term happiness. Unfortunately, people are going to come and go out of your life for all sorts of reasons. Why would you let your emotional state be controlled by things you cannot control?
Going out and tackling the world by yourself will help you transition from the feeling of needing people in your life to simply wanting them in your life. This is such a subtle yet powerful change in mind-set which will help you free yourself from the feeling of attachment to others.
See Also: 3 Things You Need To Stop Doing To Live The Life Of Your Dreams
3. Appreciate
It’s amazing how you can truly have everything in the world and be sad, and yet someone with next to nothing can be happy. Happiness is very much dependent on how much you appreciate the things you do have rather than the quantity of what you actually have.
For example, I was feeling a bit down as a lot of things have not been going my way.
I was at work on a Friday night working my socks off for tight deadlines whilst all my friends were out relaxing or having fun. I also had to study for another 3 hours afterwards for exams I have in the coming weeks. I have not been seeing as much growth as I would have liked on my sites and I was annoyed with myself at how I had let my body go quite a bit because of work, which made me even more annoyed.
If I wanted to, I could have let this spiral downwards. I could have resented my weekend as I had to study more, and I could have used every negative event which could have occurred to fuel my sadness.
Instead of doing all of that, I took a moment to walk up to the rooftop of my office building, and I just appreciated.
I took a moment to think about all the wonderful and glorious things in my life.
Although I’m working late on Friday and have to study, I have been blessed with this opportunity which so few people would ever have. And although my website has not grown to where I have wanted it to be, I have been blessed with the drive to pursue my objectives. I am also incredibly lucky to be completely healthy – people are struggling to survive as we speak.
The 10 minutes I spent staring at the London skyline gave me a sense of internal satisfaction. I felt grateful and happy for everything I have in life which has allowed me to be the person I am today.
I also took a moment to just appreciate the skyline. It is absolutely stunning and fascinating how we as a human race went from kindling fire to living in skyscrapers!
Simply appreciating external or internal things goes a long way in making you feel happier and more content with the world.
Closing thoughts
Happiness stems from the ability to love. Overcoming our deepest fears and insecurities helps us love ourselves, and the ability to appreciate and be grateful for everything you have and experience in this world helps you love life!
Whether you are feeling like you need some help in your life, or whether you feel over the moon, I do suggest you give these 3 steps a go. It worked wonders for me and I hope it can do the same for you too.
The post 3 Simple Ways To Overcome Your Deepest Insecurities (And Become Happier In the Process) appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Sig Nordal 