We fall backwards an hour on Sunday November 1. Here are some actionable tips that will help smooth the transition. Be proactive with your clock. Reset your clock the night before to set yourself up for success and make sure you are on time for your events. Set your clock ahead. While you're at it, if you're always running late, this will help you to be more on time. I often recommend 5 minutes, but you may want to do more or less depending on your needs. Beware: people are often very … [Read more...]
24 Tips for better sleep
Far too many of my students have sleep problems, yet good sleep is one of the foundations for optimizing brain function and learning. Fortunately, after talking with countless students about this issue, it's good to know that they often value the relationship between sleep and how they function emotionally, cognitively and physically. They understand that the price to pay for poor sleep is huge. But taking action is another story. What can we do to help them take action that works? First, … [Read more...]
"Our Natural Sleep Cycle"
Here's a short post which links to a 4 minute TED video about sleep by Jessa Gambale. As I work with families, I try to figure out how well a student is sleeping because of it's effect on his/her daily life. In this clip, Jessa refers to sleep and our internal clock as, "the most underrated force on our behavior." It certainly has a tremendous impact on a student's learning and concentration. In order to keep it simple, I usually start the sleep discussion with a question that gives me enough … [Read more...]