Sleep Tip of the Day

File this under things you already knew. Getting the right about of sleep is good for you. A new study has shown that in kids as you as 3 years old who don't get enough sleep tend to weight more. They already found that the same was true of older kid. It seems like, if you don't have enough energy from sleeping, your hormones tell you to eat more, I guess to make up for the lack of energy.

Lack of Sleep Tip of the Day

You have a couple of weeks off for vacation or the holidays. The mysterious 'they' tell you to keep your normal sleeping cycle. Yeah right! It's my vacation, I'm not going to go to bed at 9:30pm, I'm just not going to do it. So, getting back on the schedule proves a little difficult. Here are some things you can do while you are waiting for your body to be tired before 1am.

• Tear the Under Penalty of Law tags off your new pillows. You own them, you can.
• Sew the seam of the pillow where you pulled the tag too hard, causing a rip.
• Darn your stockings.
• Think of words to use for the next game of Speed Scrabble.
• See how many people you can list from your high school class to prepare for your upcoming reunion.
  
• Organize under your sink.
• Write a tip of the day.
  

Mattress Tip of the Day

Mattress makers, like others in the specialty store industry, are really good at marketing. Remember the true purpose behind getting a good mattress, so you'll be comfortable sleeping and when you wake up. Ignore coil counts, and all that other stuff the sales person will confuse you with. Just get a comfy matress Debumking the mattress myths.

Turkey Tip of the Day

If someone pre-cuts the turkey and separates the light meat from the dark meat and tells you that they also took out the tryptophan, one of the 3 isn't true.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Travel to Europe Part I

Packing and planning is an important part of any trip. Here are some things you need to make sure you have before you leave the country:

• Passport (obviously) - leave at least 6 weeks to get it if you don't already have it AND check your expiration date
• Paper copies of everything (tickets, plans, emergency contact, etc) - make sure another member of your group also has this information
• Sleeping Pills - this will revolutionize your way of travel - bite the bullet and get them!
• Tide Pen/Shout wipes - you never know when you're going to get dirty (like I did on the first day)
• Camera - You're going to Europe; take a camera and take lots of pictures. You won't regret it.
• Good shoes - This includes shoes for walking as well as "hot shoes" that only match with one outfit (again, it's Europe - splurge a little).
  

Book and a Bath Tip O Da Day

A nice hot, steamy bubble bath can do wonders for anyone, but if you intend to enjoy a book as well, please keep in mind the side effects of a bath is sleepiness and you must be mindful of your book or you may just drop it in the tub as you nod off ever so briefly.

-JCo

Fumes Tip of the Day

Many of you know I have been putting in long hours at the house recently and have felt the side effects in terms of tiredness. I will take this opportunity to apologize to everyone who has had to deal with me the last month. Well, this fatigue, lack of energy and muscle weakness have not subsided, even with 14 hours of sleep on Tuesday. I was getting quite concerned with this lingering problem, when Peter made a brilliant connection…paint fumes and me sleeping at my house. I moved in and painted three rooms (large ones at that) over the same weekend and have been inhaling the aroma ever since Saturday night. Well, I come to find out that side effects of inhalants are…fatigue, lack of energy and muscle weakness along with other things that I am lucky enough not to experience. So I do feel there is a connection here and my tip for all those out there is don’t hang out in a newly painted house and definitely don’t sleep there until well aired out. It will get to you – trust me!

-Jen

Etiquette Tip of The Day

When you arrive home at an hour when roommates still might be sleeping (11:00am on a Sunday, particularly), and there are houseguests in town, never assume that everyone's up and the security system is off--make sure you press "off" on the security system remote before you open any exterior door (two quick beeps is better then 10-12 longer alarm-type ones). Also, NEVER have cold groceries with you in this situation. You might be fortunate if the houseguest in the adjacent living room is a hard sleeper--you might just be able to get all of the cold items in the fridge. But you're out of luck if the kitchen sink decides to back up when you're getting rid of old milk when you're making room for the new. Then the big question arises--do you wake them up with the disposal, or do you let them slowly wake up to the smell of sour milk? I assure you, just follow the tip--no groceries on weekends before 2pm, and get that alarm turned off before you wake up the neighborhood.