Build a NPR One Radio with a Raspberry Pi Zero 

The Raspberry Pi Zero is a perfect little device for single-purpose machines
. Case in point, Adafruit shows off how to use one to make a device that’ll play NPR at the push of a button.

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Create Separate Netflix Profiles to Fit Your Moods

If you have a whole Netflix account all to yourself (or just share with one other person) you may have a few extra profiles to play around with. Instead of letting them just sit there, unused, you should use them to create queues for each of your unique moods, as we all contain multitudes.

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Your Favorite HDTV Antenna Is Down to $30

If you want to stop paying your cable company $100/month for channels you don’t watch, it might be time to cut the cord. Between services like Netflix, Hulu+, Sling TV, and HBO Now, it’s easier than ever to declare cable independence, but a good antenna is still a critical piece of equipment
for picking up your local broadcast stations.

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What’s the Difference Between All These Running Apps?

A lot has changed since we picked our favorite running apps
a few years ago. Now there are tons of apps that save your stats in the cloud and let you share runs with your Facebook friends, but they’re each different enough you might have a hard time picking the right one for you. Here’s how to choose.

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The Medical Screenings All Women Need, and When

No matter how fast medicine moves us towards treatments, preventive medicine will always be the most effective and cheapest way to keep healthy. In this post, we’ll run down some common women’s health screening tests, when you should get them, and what you’re in for when you walk in.

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3 Ways Meditation Changes the Brain and the Body

Meditation has been practiced by Eastern Cultures for thousands of years and is believed to offer many benefits including those which can help you become stronger and healthier.

The practice has been introduced to the Western Culture, and each day more and more people from western cultures are embracing the practices of meditation and are realizing the potentially large benefits that meditation offers in multiple areas of your life.

The benefits of meditation have been accepted by many medical experts as an important part of healing.

Matter of fact, the medical community has thoroughly studied the physiological benefits of meditation.

Furthermore, meditation has been accepted by mainstream health care providers as a method of stress and pain reduction.

The benefits of meditation are much farther reaching than that, but knowing that meditation is an accepted form of pain relief by many hospitals and doctors can give you the needed nudge to make meditation part of your healing process.

Medical experts agree that along with prescribed medical care, meditation can help control diabetes, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, cholesterol, and many other medical conditions.

This means that meditation can help reduce the amount of medicines that you take and the symptoms of these ailments. Being less dependent on doctors if you have a chronic condition is one of the great benefits of meditation.

Relaxation and meditation both have a very powerful effect on the body and the mind. They can help you cope with all kinds of medical conditions, let you find enlightenment, and generally help you deal with life in a much more effective way.

Simply put, everyone can benefit in some way by learning how to meditate and relax, especially if they are suffering from stress-related illnesses.

Just taking a few minutes a day to relax will help you start to enjoy the benefits of meditation.

In my opinion, It’s almost impossible to name all of the benefits of meditation, but I am ganna give it try 🙂

Let’s explore the major benefits that meditation offers.

Physiological benefits

Meditation has been distinguished as a process that relaxes the mind and body and is used as a mean to counteract with the related stress that the modern life offers.

Meditation helps one in relaxing to the utmost heights. This effect of Meditation benefits the high blood pressure patients.

It also improves the immune system which in turn helps the body to fight off diseases and drastically lowers emotional distress and activity of viruses.

Moreover, the risk of cardiovascular disease and cholesterol levels get lowered through meditation.

Migraines and headaches are also dealt with by practicing meditation. It also improves the breathing capability in asthma patients.

It aids in relaxing the nervous system and regularizing the hormonal production and the endocrine system of our body.

Meditation even reduces the pressure on the heart and thus this lowers the likelihood of different kinds of heart diseases, eventually diminishing the levels of unease and stress.

Also, by balancing the mind and body through meditation, a person can promote positive physical and mental changes in themselves. During meditation, the body has time to recharge and regenerate any lost cells and repair the damages done by illness and stress.

Psychological benefits

The psychological benefits of meditation are vast and thus focusing the mind and turning inside helps a great deal.

Meditation helps in decreasing anxiety, irritability, and despair. It also aids in developing determination, willpower, and emotional stability.

One can also overcome their fears and phobias by using meditation.

Also, It helps in building the self-confidence of the practitioner and boost the feeling of creativity and vitality.

The deep breathing and focus used during meditations can enhance our memory and thereby increases our learning ability.

Meditation can bring about the feeling of self-belief, self-control, and better relationships.

With the help of meditation, we can control our mind and thus can make it go where we want instead of freely wondering with it.

Negative thoughts are gradually replaced by positive attitudes with daily practice of meditation.

Self-satisfaction is improved with a regular meditation practice; this is resulting in feeling happier, healthier and more at ease as we go through our days.

Spiritual benefits

It has been documented that meditation develops the quality of thinking process of individuals as they continue the regular practice of meditation.

Meditation can help us gain a new perspective on life and gain a greater understanding of life, our purpose, and our existence.

Meditation induces a greater level of spiritual repose and brings in harmony between the body, spirit and mind.

Meditation also widens and deepens the capacity of love and thereby changes our overall attitude towards life.

In the studies on cancer and AIDS patients, it is observed that many are most interested in meditation as a way of getting in touch with the divine and becoming more familiar with the other dimensions of life.

Self-realization and divine awakening can also be realized through meditation, and many have told stories about their awakening; just google it and you’ll be able to find tons of stories from people from around the globe about how meditation helped them become awake and enlightened.

So, above I highlighted three major areas where meditation can help you get the most out of your meditations.

So, are you ready to try meditation?

To get started, try this simple meditation exercise. It is very easy and only takes a few moments.

First, make sure that you find a quiet spot where you can sit comfortably and won’t be disturbed.

Close your eyes and use your nose to take a deep breath that fills your lungs all the way down to your abdomen, and then slowly release it using your mouth.

Try this again and make sure that when you inhale you think of the phrase, ‘Cool, and clear mind.’ As you release your breath think ‘Calm and relaxed body.’

Keep your mind relaxed and focused on these two phrases. It is important to stay in the current moment and not think about anything else.

Keep doing this exercise for four to five minutes and when you are finished, you should feel relaxed and refreshed. That’s all there is to it!

If this is your first go at meditating, the relaxed feeling may not last for a long time, but as you continue meditating you will notice that your calm feeling will stay with you longer.

You may also notice that you will have a better handle on any situation that is bothering you if you meditate on it. This is only a sample of the benefits of meditation that you can enjoy if you learn to meditate on a daily basis.

So what are you waiting for, get your meditation on today!

The post 3 Ways Meditation Changes the Brain and the Body appeared first on Change your thoughts.

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Today’s Best Deals: Tech Gear, Logitech Harmony, Self-Inflating Air Mattress, and More

The Differences Between Antibiotics, Antibacterials, and Antiseptics and When to Use Them

There’s a bit more to first aid than just cleaning a wound and slapping on a band-aid. Store shelves are littered with antibiotics like Neosporin, antiseptics like peroxide, and more. Let’s go over the differences.

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Format Encrypted Drives as ExFAT to Make them Play Nice on Windows and Mac

After our Windows encryption showdown
, reader Jerod passed along this tip to make sure your encrypted volumes, especially external hard drives, in Windows play nicely with other platforms like OS X—just format them as exFAT, and they’ll be mountable, readable, and writable everywhere you go.

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How Much It Costs to Fly With a Pet on the Most Popular U.S. Airlines

A big move with a pet can be tough, and most experts recommend you avoid flying with them if at all possible. If there’s no way around it, though, you want to be prepared, and that means knowing how much the flight will cost. Here’s how much the major U.S. airlines charge for flying with a pet.

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