Thursday, June 24, 2021

Dear Justin Trudeau: Prime Minister of Canada.

When a few dozen Mexican farm workers finally decide to avoid being exploited and decide to walk away from the farm fields of Canada, thousands of hungry college and university trained Canadian bureaucrats will wonder what went wrong with the economic system. They may also wonder how to grow vegetables in office buildings and yes, it is possible to grow vegetables in office buildings using hydroponic gardening methods, and that is what they should be doing instead of button pushing. 

 Millions of bureaucrats certainly don't know how or where to grow and harvest vegetables and the private multi-million dollar sky scraper office buildings they inhabit today, during daylight hours, lock their doors at night. Technically trained office workers are seldom valued. They work for large multi-national  exploitive companies who have CEO's willing to do anything to maintain the status quo...and that includes keeping office workers from climbing up the hierarchy ladder. Those same companies will lobby the Canadian government for tax breaks.

 While millions of office workers remain trapped in their offices, some farmers in Quebec, Canada, plow under their crops because not enough Mexican workers are available to help them harvest their vegetables. Other farmers dump their milk or kill their chickens if the market under values their produce.  What in hell is going on? Are Canadian students and welfare recipients not given the opportunity to work on the land? Why are there so many office bureaucrats and not enough Canadian born farm workers? Why are our educational priorities so screwed up? Why not send teenagers into the woods to plant trees and also to the farms to learn from the farmers and also, from the Mexican farm workers? I also suggest the Canadian government not subsidize Oil companies or any company that creates pollution and keeps thousands of office workers busy finding ways to manipulate the citizens of Canada.

---------------------------------------------------------

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown what Canada can do when we treat a crisis like a crisis. We have thrown out the old rulebook of what is politically possible and focused on what is politically necessary to protect ourselves and our loved ones. 

I want to thank you for your work in these difficult times, but also to tell you that I don’t want us to go back to a ‘normal’, or a system which creates rampant inequalities based on a model of infinite exploitation and destruction of nature.

Now that the time has come to rebuild our future — and we will — we need to have courage and foresight to create something better. The recovery from COVID-19 must make our society more resilient, fair and sustainable. 

People in Canada deserve a world that values cooperation and caring and a government that embeds these values in our public policies. That respects nature and lives within its limits. A Canada where Indigenous rights and wisdom are not just a slogan, but protected by law. A world that recognizes that solutions to climate change can create great jobs and a better future.  

A green recovery for Canada means investing in: Trees and gardens and Green-Houses for every citizen in proportion to the territory they inhabit.

A much faster and just transition to a sustainable low-carbon economy if climate change does not destroy us first with viral pandemics and floods and forest fires!

The protection and restoration of land, freshwater, and ocean ecosystems along with the wildlife that call these places home is now next to impossible today, in 2020, with our present human population growth. Sex education in the schools must become a priority and the school buildings themselves must be transformed into large round Sunlit Green Houses with computers and quiet rooms to study Botany and Biology and Science.

The current land development companies creating Condos and Apartments and Industrial Parks everywhere there is an inch of space must be shut down and reimagined. They have become dangerous exploiters and are potentially creating future overcrowded slums! Developers are buying up every piece of farm land and small Green space they could find available in Canada and especially in Quebec, which considers itself an independent country. These money hungry developers are backed by our tax hungry municipal governments and the over-crowding they are creating, will cost the federal government more in the future, if there is a future, as global warming continues to heat up the planet and continues to change the atmosphere. A few years ago in countries such as Syria, over-crowding and poverty and misery created civil disobedience which lead to...war! I suggest we create housing apartments under farm lands using fibre optic cables to bring sunlight down to the people. We can also convert under-used industrial parks back into apartment buildings and wrap the buildings in Greenery. Literally create buildings with thousands of plants growing on the roof tops and inside and outside the buildings. Europe is ahead of us in this respect. 

An end to the use of single-use plastics, and the growth of a circular economy. Money is not edible!

The replacement of toxic chemicals used in agriculture and in the creation of consumer goods. We need cleaner and safer manufacturing alternatives. Elon Musk and his Gigafactory is an example of a clean manufacturing plant. 

The development of accessible and affordable and healthy communities and transportation networks.  For example the Electric commuter busses presently used in the city of Moscow, Russia.

A future that prioritizes well-being and social and racial justice with economic equity for all people living in Canada...created in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and the communities most exposed to environmental harm.

I urge you to speak out in favour of a green and just recovery with your fellow Parliamentarians and the media and I look forward to working with you and our community to build this better world. Thanks for reading

Sincerely,

SIGNED: JOSEPH NELSON RAGLIONE.

human4us2.com

Monday, June 21, 2021

Political Smoke and Mirrors

We wrote a blog to cut through all the political smoke and mirrors to understand what happened at the G7 summit. Read our full analysis here.

Vaccine ❌

The world needs 11 billion doses to tackle the pandemic. G7 leaders are sharing 870 million doses. But many are not actual vaccines but cash from previous pledges to buy doses that don't exist due to supply shortage.

This was the case with Canada’s pledge of donating up to 100 million doses. It turned out that only 13 million of these were actual doses. The rest was an estimation of how many doses COVAX could’ve purchased with Canada’s previous investments.

Canada is #1 in the world for both doses pre-purchased per person and percentage of the population with a first shot. All while many high-risk people in other countries, including frontline health workers, still don’t have their first shot.

Can you help us remind Minister Anand that we should be racing against the virus and not other countries in our fight to end the pandemic? The tweet reads:

We’re no.1 country to have pre-ordered the most doses per person and this adds to the global supply shortage. We must start sharing vaccines NOW. We have more than enough (x5 the amount we need). https://twitter.com/AnitaOakville/status/1403791994170847233?s=20 

Friday, June 18, 2021

 Gentle People:

  Once in a while I become philosophical. The universe is so complicated that philosophy is often produced in lieu of facts. Today, however, the science of  Physics has progressed to the point where it is used to: discover, study and measure almost everything past and present. The concept of Gravity is now under the microscope of science.

The following is a simple explanation for Gravity which I believe is based on facts but if I'm wrong...fix it!

( Gravity is the process of Atoms bonding together to create a large mass which creates more bonding. ) 

 All mass is condensed energy. Cold condenses energy and shapes it into mass while pressure created by accumulated and condensed mass creates heat which, when hot enough, expands and liquifies and turns mass back into plasma and gas. A large mass of compressed heat energy creates electron holes which act like a vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum and electron holes suck in outside random electrons to fill the holes. The more electrons mass together, the heavier a particular Atom becomes and with weight there is compression and with compression there is heat and once again the displacement of energy. When energy becomes a large mass it attracts more energy and this attraction is called gravity. 

 Scientists are now capable of finding and measuring gravity waves. Waves created by moving Electrons. Our Sun has a large amount of energy and it creates a powerful pull of gravity. It attracts outside sources of energy into its core and a Hydrogen fusion reaction creates Plasma. 

 The Plasma creates electron displacement which attracts more energy. I believe Electron displacement creates the force of gravity but I may be wrong! I suspect the more electrons are displaced the more they exert a pull on outside electrons but again, I may be wrong! 

  Apart from our Sun, Black Holes in space have produced measurable gravity waves.

Author: Nelson Joseph Raglione

I invite scientists from around the world to prove, disprove or augment my theoretical concept of gravity. N. J.R.

=========================================================================


 


Thursday, June 10, 2021

Gentle People:

 Today, Thursday, June 10, 2021, I received my second protective vaccination shot against the Covid 19 virus. The question now is, am I in the clear? Am I protected against the COVID 19 disease? What about the COVID VARIANTS? 

 I've read that variants transmit 60% faster than the original Sars-Cov-2,... and so it's back to the research laboratories and to the hospitals to discover the truth.

Here are some questions for curious young journalists. 

1. Where are the variants today?

2. How much damage are they causing?

3. How effective are the current vaccines against the new variants?

4. How many Covid cases now exist in our Canadian hospitals and in hospitals around the world?

5. What is the (WHO) the "World Health Organization" reporting about the pandemic?

Go find the answers all you curious young people and good luck!           

Thanks for Reading!  

=============================================

Do vaccines work against both variants?

On Friday, government scientists at Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genetics Consortium and the National Centre for Disease Control published a report which said the Delta variant could be caught by people who had already had the disease or been only partially vaccinated.

The report warned that "prior infections  and partial vaccination are insufficient impediments to its spread, as seen in Delhi, and strong public health response will be needed globally for its containment".

More studies are still underway, but there is some promising evidence from the UK that AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines provided a similar level of protection against the Delta variant as they did against the earlier Alpha variant.

study published on May 22 showed two AstraZeneca doses were 60 per cent effective against the Delta variant, while Pfizer provided 88 per cent effectiveness.

Less is known about how effective the vaccines are against the Kappa strain that is more prominent in Victoria's current outbreak, but experts have said it's likely to be similar to the Delta variant.

ABC / Reuters

Thursday, June 3, 2021

DANGER! MIRRORS REFLECT REALITY. REMOVE ALL ILLUSIONS BEFORE USE. J.N.R.

 NO! NO! I CAN'T DO THAT!

====================

 I WENT TO THE BATHROOM AND THEIR I SAT

THINKING...

I'M SO POOR AND HE' S SO FAT...

WHY DON'T I SIMPLY EAT THE CAT?   

BUT THEN I THOUGHT...

OH...NO!...I CAN'T DO THAT!

MY CAT IS TOO OLD AND WITH TOO MUCH FAT

AND SO WHY DON'T I SIMPLY EAT THE RAT?

BUT THEN I THOUGHT

OH..NO! I CAN'T DO THAT!

MY RAT IS THIN WITH A VERY THICK SKIN AND SO

I CAN'T EAT HIM...

BUT THEN I THOUGHT...

MY COW! MY COW!

SHE'S A WINNER!

AND SO I'M HAVING STEAK FOR DINNER.


   J.N.R.

=============================

ASKING ANY BUSINESS CLASS TO HELP THE POOR IS

LIKE ASKING SHARKS TO KISS SALMON.     J.N.R.

=========================================

POETRY FROM POVERTY AND PAIN

HAS MORE POWER THAN POETRY FROM

POWER AND GAIN.             J.N.R.

=========================================

WHERE THERE IS CHARITY AND WISDOM THERE IS

NEITHER FEAR NOR IGNORANCE. ..BUDDHA

==========================================

 TO TEACH AND SO CREATE PEACE TO STOP

A WAR FROM BEGINNING, IS BETTER THAN TO TRAIN AND

TEACH KILLING IN ORDER TO END A WAR ALREADY BEGUN.  J.N.R.

========================================================

HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN BONDED TO COOL THE UNIVERSE. IT WAS A

MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN!  J.N.R.

============================================

DANGER! MIRRORS REFLECT REALITY. REMOVE ALL ILLUSIONS BEFORE USE.  J.N.R.

===================================================================

DIPLOMAS ARE THE CEMETERY HEADSTONES OF EDUCATION.  J.N.R.

=====================================================

LEAVING A LEGACY IS A GOOD IDEA BUT ONLY AS LONG AS YOU ARE ALIVE TO ENJOY THE IDEA.  J.N.R.

Monday, May 24, 2021

 MEMORY LANE.


 AS OF TODAY, MAY 24, 2021, THERE ARE MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND ELECTRIC VEHICLES ROLLING ON THE STREETS AND BOULEVARDS OF QUEBEC, CANADA, WITH MANY MORE MOVING OFF ASSEMBLY LINES AROUND THE WORLD. THIS WONDERFUL FACT IS PROMPTING ME TO GO DOWN MEMORY LANE AND TO REMEMBER THE (EV1).

 THE EV1 WAS GM'S ELECTRIC CAR AND IT WAS FAST!  IN 1994, A PROTOTYPE SET THE LAND SPEED RECORD FOR ELECTRIC CARS AT 183 MILES AN HOUR. THE FIRST EV1'S ACCELERATED TO 30 MPH IN UNDER 3 SECONDS AND TO 60 MILES PER HOUR IN UNDER 9 SECONDS. TODAY TESLA HAS CREATED ELECTRIC VEHICLES THAT CAN GO FROM 0 TO 60 IN UNDER THREE SECONDS AND IN A QUARTER MILE RACE, SILENTLY FLY PAST ALL BUT THE MOST EXPENSIVE GAS BURNING POLLUTERS ON THE MARKET.

 IN 1994, WITH HELP FROM THE FOSSIL-FUEL ENERGY SECTOR, THE BUSH JUNIOR ADMINISTRATION GAINED CONTROL OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND WITH POWER,  QUICKLY FORCED THE EV1 OFF THE MARKET. IT WAS DESTROYED  COMPLETELY AND ABSOLUTELY AND THAT  STALLED THE DEPLOYMENT OF CLEAN ELECTRIC VEHICLES FOR ANOTHER THIRTY YEARS. 

 TODAY, THERE ARE STILL MILLIONS OF GAS BURNING CARS POLLUTING THE PLANET. WHY? BECAUSE RETAILERS ARE  PROVIDING FINANCIAL INCENTIVES TO PEOPLE WHO COULD NOT OTHERWISE AFFORD BUYING A NEW CAR. 

  IT IS THE LAST FLUSH FOR THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY AND THEY ARE PUTTING UP ONE HELL OF A FIGHT, BUT THE WRITING IS NOW NOT ONLY ON THE WALL BUT GRAFFITI EVERYWHERE! 

GOODBYE FOSSIL FUEL BURNING POLLUTERS, IT IS YOUR TURN TO GO EXTINCT!



 

Monday, May 17, 2021

https://www.storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-plastic-animation/

Friday, April 30, 2021

OUR INTERNATIONAL INDEX OF WORKING WEB SITES.  


=   http://www.Greenpeace.org               </>
=   http://www.freechess.org

THE B.1.351 VARIANT CAN BREAK THROUGH VACCINE PROTECTION BY 5.4%


Your top resources for Covid-19 readiness

The state of coronavirus variants

According to The Hill, experts are scrambling to determine how well authorized vaccines perform against coronavirus variants because, in several countries, the variants are becoming the dominant version of the virus in circulation.

For example, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky last week said the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, is now the United States' dominant coronavirus strain, The Hill reports.

The P.1 variant, which was first detected in Brazil, is now the second-most prevalent version of the virus in the United States, and the country also has reported increasing cases of the B.1.351 variant, which was first detected in South Africa.

How effective are Covid-19 vaccines against variants?

There is limited research available on how currently authorized vaccines perform against the variants. However, the research that is available—although generally preliminary—suggest that several vaccines are fairly effective at protecting against both the original version of the virus and the range of variants emerging around the globe.

For instance, one study of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine—the distribution of which U.S. officials have temporarily paused—found it was 85% effective at preventing severe Covid-19 from the B.1.351 variant, which was first discovered in South Africa. Similarly, a small study of Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine found it was up to 100% effective at preventing even mild cases from the B.1.351 variant.

However, some preliminary research suggests not all vaccines are so effective against all variants. For example, one study of the vaccine developed by Novavax—which has not been authorized for use in the United States—found that, although it's about 89% effective at preventing mild Covid-19 from the original strain of the coronavirus, that efficacy drops to about 50% against B.1.351.

And several lab experiments—in which blood samples from vaccinated people are exposed to variants or manufactured "pseudo-virus" variants—suggest that the antibodies produced by the Moderna vaccine are less effective against B.1.351 than against the original version of the virus. According to NPR's "Goats and Soda," these experiments suggest it takes about eight times as many of the antibodies produced by the Moderna vaccine to neutralize the B.1.351 variant as to neutralize the original version of the virus.

That said, Salim Abdool Karim, an infectious disease researcher and co-chair of the Covid-19 advisory committee for South Africa, said he was not deeply concerned about those findings. "[T]he Moderna vaccine produces pretty high levels of antibodies," he said, "so there is enough antibody still to neutralize the virus."

However, Abdool Karim expressed more concern about the efficacy of AstraZeneca's vaccine, which has not been authorized in the United States, against certain variants. One very small study suggested that that vaccine was almost entirely ineffective at preventing mild cases of Covid-19 against B.1.351, and a separate experiment found that it takes 86 times as many antibodies from the AstraZeneca vaccine to neutralize B.1.351 as it does to neutralize the original strain of the virus.

"I'm basically not confident about [AstraZeneca's] vaccine at all" in mitigating B.1.351 infections, Abdool Karim said.

What a real-world study revealed about the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine's effectiveness against variants

Amid these laboratory findings, researchers in Israel recently conducted the first real-world study—although still in pre-print—assessing the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants, with largely positive results.

For the study, researchers compared almost 400 people in Israel who had been infected with the coronavirus after receiving at least one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine with a control group of unvaccinated people who had similarly contracted the virus. Of those in the vaccinated group, 149 participants were infected at least one week after their second dose; the rest were infected more than two weeks following their first dose, but less than one week after their second dose.

Overall, the researchers found that the vaccine performed well against all the variants circulating in Israel. However, because the vaccine doesn't have 100% efficacy, a few breakthrough infections occurred among vaccinated people—and those infections, while generally not severe, were most likely to be caused by the B.1.351 variant.

Specifically, the researchers found that "vaccine effectiveness remains high" against the B.1.1.7 variant. "We see evidence for reduced vaccine effectiveness against the [B.1.1.7] variant, but after two doses, extremely high effectiveness kicks in," Adi Stern, a researcher at Tel Aviv University and senior author on the study, said.

However, the researchers found that B.1.351 accounted for 5.4% of breakthrough infections among people who had received both doses and just 0.7% of the infections among unvaccinated people. "This means that the [B.1.351] variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine's protection," Stern said.

Even so, Stern noted that while the study wasn't able to pinpoint precisely how much lower the vaccine's efficacy was against the B.1.351 variant, she pointed out that "even if the [B.1.351] variant does break through the vaccine's protection, it has not spread widely through the population."

Separately, Richard Lessells, an infectious disease expert focusing on the B.1.351 variant, said he doesn't believe the results of this study should "worry us unduly."

The study results "seem to provide support to what we currently understand—that while the neutralizing antibody response is still developing post-vaccination and has not yet reached peak, there is still a risk of infection."

"It is always important to keep in mind that vaccine protection is never 100%," Stern said. "As long as case counts are high, even fully vaccinated individuals should take precautions" (CIDRAP News, 4/12; Aizenman, "Goats and Soda," NPR, 4/9; Schumaker, ABC News, 4/12; Stein, "Shots," NPR, 4/15; Choi, The Hill, 4/11; Williams, The Hill, 4/09).

Your top resources for Covid-19 readiness

Access our resource library

researchLearn from the top health plan resources on how to safely manage and prevent the spread of Covid-19 with our library of research on topics from provider network support to payer strategic outlook. 

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Humans are Diurnal through evolution.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

April 28th, 2021


Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller! To check it out, click here.




This Is The Best Time To Do Anything: 6 Powerful Secrets From Research


(Click here to read on the blog) 

In 2007 the World Health Organization declared shift work a probable carcinogen. Yeah, you read that right: working at the wrong time can kill you.

And cancer isn't the only problem it causes. If horror movies don't give you nightmares, the list of health problems associated with shift work will. So what's the deal here?

Shift work messes with your circadian rhythm. Now "circadian rhythm" might sound to some like iffy pseudoscience. Far from it. It has so much credibility that it has incredibility. Michael Rosbash won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 2017 for his work on it.

There are no two ways about it: humans are diurnal. We're designed to be awake when it's light out and asleep when it's dark. Sure, we can be nocturnal but we weren't built for it and if you stay on that schedule too long, things get wonky.

Well, anyway, good thing we're not shift workers, right?

Problem is, these days all of us basically are.

From The Circadian Code:

Professor Till Roenneberg, a researcher in Munich, surveyed more than 50,000 people in Europe and the United States and found that the majority of people either go to bed after midnight or wake up early with insufficient sleep. Similarly, people also follow different bedtime schedules on weekdays and weekends.

This, combined with our bright screen use at night, means we're all living like shift workers to some degree. And our bodies weren't built for this. As we discussed in my recent post on exercise, the way we live our modern lives has "some problems” in the same way the Pacific Ocean has “some water.”

Timing matters in life, even more than you think. We're not talking about clever productivity hacks here; we're talking about much more important stuff like your health. And biology doesn't like to negotiate. For your body, "no" is a complete sentence. So what do we do?

Luckily, experts have answers. I went down the research rabbit hole and patched together insights from a number of fancy-pants sources: Satchin Panda at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Daniel Liebermanat Harvard, and Andrew Huberman at Stanford. They're gonna tell us how to get our circadian rhythm back on track for increased health, happiness and productivity.

Let’s get to it...


The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You


Every cell and every organ in your body has a clock. And, if things are going right, they're synced up with the master clock in your brain: the SCN or "suprachiasmatic nucleus." Think of it like an old school heist movie: "Synchronize watches!"

Because if things aren't in sync, your body is like a bad symphony. But instead of the bassoon and viola coming in later than they should, it's your hormones that are out of whack, leading to problems with energy levels, hunger, stress and overall health. This is, as they say, "important."

Brass tacks: what is the most important factor when it comes to your circadian rhythm? Light. Our ancestors didn't have a lot of control over light. When the sun rose and set was not a very democratic process. We, however, have unprecedented control over the amount and timing of the light we're exposed to, leading to unprecedented problems. And this is why we're all shift workers now.

Okay, clearly not good. So what do you need to do tomorrow morning to fix this? Uh, back up, fella. Tomorrow is too late. Most of the work has to start the night before.

From The Circadian Code:

Your performance at any moment during the day is primarily determined by what you did the night before—when you ate and how much you slept—because that is what sets your clock, which then primes your body and brain.

Sounds akin to: "All battles are won or lost before they are ever fought." I guess Sun Tzu was a circadian expert.

(To learn more about how you can lead a successful life, check out my bestselling book here.)

So what do we need to do tonight to get everything back on track? Well, you've probably heard some rumblings about the evils of blue light. Actually, that's only partially true...


Blue Light Isn't The Problem. All Light Is The Problem.


Blue light sends the most powerful signal to your SCN that it is daytime, making it your worst enemy at night -- but it's not the only enemy. After dark, you want to reduce all light as much as possible.

Light at night means less melatonin which means poor sleep which results in a foggy brain the next day. (Researchers have spent many sleepless nights studying this stuff.) Optimally, you want as little light as possible after 8PM. Sound unrealistic? Oh, it is. Hold on, it gets worse.

I regret to inform you that as the day goes on, your retina actually becomes more sensitive to light. Indoor lights and screens that aren't powerful enough to wake you up and set your clock in the morning are more than enough to screw your clock up at night.

From The Circadian Code:

A mere 8 lux—a level of brightness exceeded by most table lamps and about twice that of a night-light—has an effect, notes Steven Lockley, a sleep researcher at Harvard.

No, I'm not saying you need to sit around during the evening with your home as dark as a Nietzchean abyss, skulking about like a swampgoblin. I am well aware that nothing short of an EMP blast is going to stop us from watching TV and doing internet ablutions on smartphones. We just need to limit light as much as we reasonably can, and there are tricks we can leverage to help.

The cells in your eyes most relevant to timing are primarily at the bottom of your retina -- so you want to reduce overhead lighting. Dim lights set low in a room are a good idea. (And candlelight does not trigger these cells much at all.)

Use the "Nightshift" feature on Apple devices (or the equivalent) to reduce blue light. And if you want to go for the nuclear option, check out Drift TV, which gradually removes blue light from your television screen at night.

I know what some people are thinking: "Oh, that won't work for me. I'm a night owl." Ummm, maybe not.

I've been a card-carrying night owl my entire life. Everybody talks about the early bird, but I have always lived in fear of being the early worm. Telling me I should go to bed early makes me want to reach for something sharp. I thought it was just how I was wired. Guess what? I was wrong.

Researcher Ken Wright Jr. at the University of Colorado, Boulder, did a study where he took night owls camping. No artificial light. Guess what happened? Yup. In a matter of days they stopped being night owls and were all in bed by 10PM.

Maybe you're an exception, but to my chagrin, I'm not. Keeping the house dark at night, through some sort of Blakean alchemy, has transformed this night owl into an early riser. You might want to give it a shot.

(To learn how to make emotionally intelligent friendships, click here.)

Okay, light is the number one thing when it comes to getting our clocks right. But it's not the only thing...


Your Stomach Is Not An All-Night Diner


Eating is another signal that tells your body it's daytime. Also, there's plenty of research on how healthy “time-restricted eating” is and, yes, it looks like those intermittent fasting folks are on to something. Satchin Panda found that people who got all their calories in an 8-11 hour window and stopped eating 3 hours before bed were notably healthier.

I know, I know -- late night snacks are one of the things that makes life worth living. I agree. But if we sacrifice the unmitigated glory of munching after dark, what benefit do we get?

Super productivity and focus.

From The Circadian Code:

Studies have shown that both modest fasting and exercise have a similar brain-boosting effect. Each of them can increase a chemical called brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) that improves the connection between brain cells and improves brain function. When you have plenty of BDNF combined with a good night’s sleep, your brain is better prepared for performing complex tasks, staying focused, and being productive, so you can complete the same amount of work in less time. Eating a late-night meal negatively affects your ability to pay attention the next day.

(To learn the two-word morning ritual that will make you happy all day, click here.)

Okay, everybody says getting enough sleep is important. Definitely true. But when it comes to your circadian rhythm, it's not just about the amount...


Be Consistent


You need around seven hours of sleep. More for kids, less for older folks. Sleeping notably less -- or more -- than seven hours is associated with a shorter lifespan.

From Exercised:

...numerous studies using better data and sophisticated methods to correct for factors like age, illness, and income have confirmed that people who sleep about seven hours tend to live longer than those who sleep more or less. In no study is eight hours optimal, and in most of the studies people who got more than seven hours had shorter life spans than those who got less than seven hours (an unresolved issue, however, is whether it would be beneficial for long sleepers to reduce their sleep time).

But the thing that very rarely gets talked about is consistency. It's huge. Studies show kids that sleep a consistent amount every night get better grades.

Timing and consistency is a good idea across the board. Having a regular schedule for when you wake up, when you have your first and last meal, when you dim the lights, and when you go to sleep is a powerful combo. Satchin Panda says if any of these factors shift by two hours over the course of a week, it's an issue. If they all do, that's a big issue.

(To learn how to live a long awesome life, click here.)

Okay, we have our evenings down. But what's important when you wake up in the morning? Well, turns out what you do then is the most important factor of them all...


The Most Important Event Of The Day


Satchin Panda's words, not mine: “When (and how) you wake up is the most important event of the day.”

And the key event here is getting bright light in your eyes early to set your master clock. If your only outdoor activity is collecting Amazon packages from your doorstep and you tend to get as much morning light as a mole rat, take note. Live like a Morlock and you're going to be less chipper, less energetic and the word "metastatic" may be in your future.

From The Circadian Code:

In modern times, an average person spends more than 87 percent of their time indoors; we average only 2½ hours outdoors, half of which is often after sunset. Our indoor light environment may be disrupting our circadian rhythm and compromising our mood.

So if you forget everything else I have written here, remember this:

Right after you wake up, go outside and get sunlight into your eyeballs. 

Yes, you need to go outside. Remember, your retinas are more sensitive at night, meaning they are less sensitive in the morning. You need ~100,000 lux before 9AM. Don't worry, that only takes about 2-10 minutes depending on how bright it is outside. But digital screens are only 500-1000 lux and that just ain't enough photons.

It's important to get this as early as possible to set your clock properly. The relevant cells in your eyes are awfully particular. They respond best to light at "low solar angle." So once the sun is overhead, it's not the same. Blue light in the morning is a good thing, so appreciate that morning sky.

No, do not stare directly into the sun. The negative effects of this are obvious: you will be blind and unable to read my future blog posts.

(To learn the 4 harsh truths that will make you a better person, click here.)

So your clock is set. Once you're firing on all chronological cylinders, when will you be sharpest and most productive during the day?


Best Time For Brain Work


You'll be sharpest between 10AM and 3PM. This is when you want to do your thinky work.

From The Circadian Code:

Your optimal brain function is highest between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.; that’s when you should notice that your best work or learning is done. Studies have shown that this is the window during which we are in the right frame of mind for making good decisions, solving multifaceted problems, and navigating complicated social situations.

Still not feeling awake? Kinda cranky? You may need even more early sunlight. Indoor light isn't enough to get your brain up to top speed during the day (but it sure is enough to screw you up at night.)

From The Circadian Code:

You need at least 1 hour of daylight exposure—being outside, driving in your car, sitting by a window where you can soak up at least 1,000 lux of light—to reduce sleepiness, synchronize your clock, perk up your mood, and stay happy and productive throughout the day.

(To learn how to stop being lazy and get more done, click here.)

What about when sunlight isn't enough? Still tired throughout the day? Well, there's another powerful influence on your circadian rhythm that can help...


Exercising Keeps The Rhythm


Exercise has a huge effect on how well you sleep at night and how energetic you feel the next day.

From Exercised:

One survey of more than twenty-six hundred Americans of all ages that controlled for factors like weight, age, health status, smoking, and depression found that those who regularly engaged in at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week not only reported a 65 percent improvement in sleep quality but also were less likely to feel overly sleepy during the day.

The most important thing about exercise is just to do it at all. That said, timing still helps. Doing it early in the day improves energy levels and mood but the optimal time is between 3PM and dinner. So, if you can swing it, try to work out between finishing work and eating your final meal.

An intense workout later at night can spike cortisol and mess with sleep, but if you can't hit the gym earlier, there's a hack that can help. Eating and exercising primarily alter circadian rhythm by increasing body temperature, so if you do either one late but still want a good night's sleep, the trick is to take a shower before hitting the sack. This will help your body cool down and get ready for beddy-bye.

(For more on how to motivate yourself to exercise, click here.)

Okay, we've covered a lot. No longer can anyone say you don't have rhythm. Let's round everything up and learn the secret to how you can enjoy (a little) extra light and screen time at night without wreaking havoc...


Sum Up


Timing matters. Here's what to do:
  • It's not just blue light, it's all light: Biology says when the sun goes down, you should too. Do the next best thing: kill overhead lights and dim everything else.
  • Your stomach is not an all-night diner: You want to be eating all your calories in less than half the day and none 3 hours before bed. Apparently, starving in the dark is good for you.
  • Be consistent: Sleeping in on the weekend means you're doing it wrong during the week. Your physiology does not like an unpredictable schedule and it will seek vengeance.
  • The most important event of the day: Wake up, go outside, and get many many photons into your eyeballs.
  • Best time for brain work: 10AM to 3PM. And this reformed-night-owl writer now finds that's when I really have a "way with words." After 3PM, well, uh... not have way.
  • Exercise keeps the rhythm: Best time is after work but before dinner. If you have to work out late, use the shower trick.
Yes, you really should do this every day. I don't make the rules. The only part of life where you get time off for good behavior is prison. That said, there is a trick for sneaking in a little extra screen time in the evening without causing problems.

Stanford University professor Andrew Huberman says getting outside for 2-10 minutes around sunset can help keep your internal clock calibrated. A little more of that low solar angle magic light tells your SCN "must be nighttime" and can help defend against the negatives of evening light.

Yes, medical science insists you enjoy more sunsets.

No doubt, in the modern world, keeping your circadian rhythm humming properly can be challenging. But it's worth it to feel more energized and happy during the day, to sleep better at night and give yourself a much better shot at long term health. We're often our own worst enemy, and that also means we're our own worst victim.

Timing is everything in life but we're often too focused on the timing of external things when the really important stuff is internal.

So synchronize watches. This heist is an inside job.


***And if you want a daily insight, quote or laugh, you should follow me on Instagram here.*** 


Email Extras


Findings from around the internet... 

+ Want to learn the workplace skill that can actually make your entire life much happier? Click here

+ Want to know what makes a mentor great? Click here. (Many thanks to the excellent Dan Pink.) 

+ Want to know how to be a better writer -- from one of the greats? Click here

+ Miss last week's post? Here you go: This Is How To Have A Long Awesome Life: 5 Secrets From Research

+ Want a lot of great info on how to be happier? Click here

+ You read to the end of the email. I feel that our clocks are in sync -- and that warms my heart. Thank you. Okay, Crackerjack Time: Last week I received a barrage of messages via email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and even a few via smoke signal and semaphore. What happened? One of the most flattering things ever: my book was a question on "Jeopardy." I cannot express in words how good that felt. And it would not have been possible without all the wonderful people who have supported my work -- that means you. So thanks again. You are amazing. (And if you're curious to see the question, I've posted it here.)

Thanks for reading!
Eric 

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Bakadesuyo · 8033 Sunset Boulevard, #1073 · Los Angeles, CA 90046 · USA 

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