Tag: sleep
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Can sleep deprivation cause an eating disorder?
Dietitian Lucy Carey explores the relationship between sleep and health. Can poor quality sleep contribute to eating disorders? My eyelids were drooping but I was behind on my studies. Surely I didn’t actually need 8 hours of sleep… 6 hours would be fine… I could make it up on the weekend, right? I found my…
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Overcome your fears while fast asleep
Could your nightmares actually lessen your daytime fears? Dietitian Lucy Carey explores the role of dreaming in fear reduction. I clambered down the stairs, clutching my newborn to my chest tightly and praying the sound of running feet on the floors above us would muffle our own scramble to safety. My heart beat wildly as…
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Chew your smoothies
“Don’t worry, you’ll be back to having your healthy smoothies in no time,” the midwife said to me. Say what now? I was pregnant with my first baby and throwing up several times a day. I had just told the midwife that sucking on Gingernut biscuits in the morning was helping a little bit. Apparently…
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The headache of electric lights
“Take a video of the light on your phone,” suggested my colleague, pointing up at the long fluorescent lamps that lit up the office. “A video? Why?” “I read that some lamps flicker. You can’t see it but if you take a video then watch the video on your phone you might be able to…
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Time to ditch daylight saving
As every parent knows, daylight saving is a bitch. The twice-yearly ritual of shifting the clocks is rife with sleep deprivation and bad moods. I have been rubbing my eyes blearily every morning this past week as my four-year-old adjusts back to standard time (I feel like he only recently got used to daylight saving…
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Go to sleep
A while back, I conducted a little experiment on myself. For three nights I went to sleep at the same time as my preschooler – 7.30pm. I wanted to see how I would feel if I slept more, so I just closed my eyes and drifted off a couple hours earlier than I usually would…
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Want to increase IQ and EQ? Read a novel
Recently I was told that I’ll never “develop as a person” if I continue to read novels instead of more serious non-fiction titles. It’s hard to explain my reaction when confronted with this view: a mix of exasperation, incredulity and facepalming. But sadly, this is a common misperception among self-help book devotees. I couldn’t bring…