2013年8月17日星期六

why you can't fall in sleep!

Every once in a while you have a bad night's sleep and you know exactly why: You found yourself at the coffee maker at 4 p.m. or there were sirens blaring outside your window all night or maybe your allergies are killing you. But more often than not the reasons behind your less-than-satisfactory slumber remain a mystery and you slog through the day with the unpleasant memory of your alarm clock's siren close at hand.
We're shining a light on some of the most surprising reasons you can't sleep below. Some of them you can't control, but some of them require only the tiniest of tweaks to help you hit the hay in no time.
1. You Slept In Saturday And Sunday
We've all been tempted to spend some extra time in bed on a Saturday or Sunday morning (or both, whoops!), but experts say that sleeping late on the weekend (and staying up late, too) can be a bad idea -- for reasons other than productivity. Adjusting your wakeup time can throw off your biological rhythms so drastically that your body feels like it traveled across time zones, and when it comes time to drift off Sunday night, this so-called social jet lag likely won't let you fall asleep without a fight.
2. It's A Full Moon
No, you're not turning into a werewolf. But the lunar cycle does seem to have some effect on our sleep, at least according to a small study. Researchers found that during the nights around a full moon, people get less deep sleep, less total sleep and took about five extra minutes to fall asleep.

3. Your Room Is Too Cold -- Or Too Hot
You might think you know what makes for a cozy bedroom, but there's actual research examining optimal sleeping temperature. Generally, the sweet spot is somewhere between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit, Dr. Christopher Winter wrote in a recent blog for HuffPost, with temps below 54 or above 75 deemed disruptive to your slumber.
4. You're Not Wearing Socks
Even if you've set the thermostat correctly, some people are just disposed to having colder than comfortable extremities. But this can become a problem at bedtime, since warm hands and feet are part of a delicate thermoregulatory dance that seems to predict how quickly you'll fall asleep, according to a 1999 study. Speed up the process by pulling on a pair of clean socks before climbing into bed.

5. It's Too Quiet

Yes, you want your sleep sanctuary to be calm and quiet, but complete silence can lead to problems. If your room is too quiet, every little "inconsistency of sound" becomes that much more evident and disruptive, Thomas Roth, Ph.D., director of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, told Prevention. A white-noise machine can help!
6. You're Afraid Of The Dark
You may be too proud to admit it (even to yourself), but try to be completely honest for a minute: Are you afraid of the dark? Fear of the dark could actually be messing with your shut-eye. In research presented at the 2012 SLEEP conference, people who reported themselves to be "bad sleepers" were found to get more anxious and more easily startled by noises once the lights went off than people who considered themselves "good sleepers", MSN reported. The researchers posited that bedtime anxiety that's often chalked up to knowing a night of fitful sleep awaits may actually be due to a legitimate and untreated phobia.
7. You're Exhausted
It's been a long day (or week) and you're feeling stretched to your limits. All you want to do is get into your bed, and you practically have to drag yourself into it. But despite that overwhelming exhaustion, you find yourself annoyed while counting sheep. What gives? "There's actually a big difference between being exhausted and being sleepy," Roth told WebMD. Your body is still on high-alert, even though you can hardly carry on, whether it's because of stress or physical activity. Long story short, rushing to bed doesn't equate to rushing to sleep. No matter how exhausted you feel, it's a good idea to wind down calmly and quietly first.
8. You Share A Bed
We know, we know -- you love to snuggle. But allowing a pet in the bed is asking for trouble falling asleep. Every time Fluffy makes a move or a sound, you'll toss and turn right along with her, not to mention she drags with her allergy-triggering animal dander that you're better off keeping outside the bedroom.
And it's not just furry friends that cause problems. Sharing a bed with a partner who tosses and turns or kicks or snores can give you just as much trouble falling asleep. One study found that when sharing a bed, couples experience 50 percent more sleep disturbances than when sleeping solo, the BBC reported. Separate beds may be catching on -- a recent report from Toronto found that 30 to 40 percent of couples sleep apart.


2013年8月11日星期日

Johnny tell you four ways to be seen experience!


I don't think I've ever had relevant experience for any job that I've worked in the past 11 years. As a result, I've come to believe that the experience you do have is more relevant than you may think. Past jobs have always helped inform my choices at future jobs, and none of the experience was ever useless. If you have experience in something, that may be all you need. Here are my recommendations:

Find Relevant Experience You Didn't Realize You Had

First, figure out a way to use any experience you do have to seem more relevant to the job at hand. I once used a technical support job to get a job on a film set. It's possible to focus on certain aspects of a position while still being honest. Think about what you did at your past and/or current job and concentrate on the days you enjoyed the most. Chances are there's at least one project that you worked on that has some relevance. On your resume, and in your interview, be sure to focus on that. If you can make it a good story and speak passionately about the work, it will go a long way.

Create Your Own DIY Experience

If you have no official experience it's great if you've got sample work you've done on your own. If you've ever been to art school, you know that half the reason you go is to create a portfolio. If you want to get into graphic design, you need to have examples of your work. You don't need to be employed to design a web site, so mock up some relevant designs and use those as your work samples. If you want to write for a blog, create your own blog so you have writing samples. Even if the job you want isn't necessarily creative, you can still do work that can help you. You might think you can't, but let's pretend you want to be a tax accountant. While you technically could do a bunch of fake taxes, you could also do taxes for your friends and your parents. Not only will this give you real experience, but it'll demonstrate to your potential employer that you have enough passion for the job. If I were hiring an accountant to do my taxes and knew they enjoyed it so much that they were willing to do it for free, I'd be excited to have them on my team. The simple point is this: you can easily give yourself a leg up by practicing and creating experience. You don't need anyone's permission, and you don't have to be employed to do it.

Get an (Unpaid) Internship

If you can, I would recommend starting with an internship. Seek out companies you'd want to work for and try to become an intern even if they've never had an intern before. Offer to work unpaid for 3-6 months and then push for a job as soon as you feel they can't live without you. If you can't afford to work without pay right now, either save enough money until you can or just offer to work a few days a week and find a paying (and likely crappy) job to handle your bills. This can be a rough road and it will wear you down, but it's only temporary. If you're a great worker and they don't want to lose you, they'll find a way to keep you around.

Get an In-Person Interview and Be Charming

Finally, do whatever you can to get an in-person interview. Once you're in you need to think of your interview more like a first date. Be charming, be interesting, and be hopeful and idealistic. Smile often. Be kind. If they interviewer likes you and feels you're a hard worker, your experience is basically irrelevant. People make hiring decisions based on their gut and pretty much ignore what's on paper. If you can get into a room with someone and they like you, then you will have no trouble getting the job.