How Can You Prevent Insomnia?

how to get good sleep
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Image Credits: pixabay.com

By definition, Insomnia is the difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Individuals with Insomnia often report feeling dissatisfied with their sleep and usually experience one or more of the following symptoms: fatigue, low energy, difficulty concentrating, mood disturbances, and decreased performance in work or at school.

5 Ways to Get Motivated Today!

advice

By: Anna Agoncillo
Image Credits: Celestine Chua via Flickr
1. IDENTIFY YOUR PRIORITIES

 Identify and list down the Top 10 priorities that will lead you to your concrete goals in life (e.g., becoming a teacher or owning your own house).

 Choose to undertake the projects that are compatible with your concrete goals in life. Then, allocate most of your time to tasks that improve those projects.

 As J.K. Rowling once proclaimed: "it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities".

 2.  WATCH THIS 60-SECONDS OF INSPIRATION

 Watch this inspiring video that feature quotes from Lily Tomlin, George Eliot, Frank Clark, Betty Smith, Robert Frost, and William Whewell.

Stress Management: 9 Tips to Conquer your Inner Beast

attention
By: Anna Agoncillo

The daily hustles and bustles in a face-paced city made me realize how stressful life can be. Stress, when not managed, can be detrimental to one’s health. So, here are some ways to conquer your inner beast, and live healthily:

1. SLOW DOWN, BREATHE AND RELAX.
(c) Sreehariayurveda
Whenever you feel like you're going to burst, calm yourself down. Breathe in and out, hold your breath for a while, breathe slowly and repeat. A higher form of this practice is called meditation. Personally, yoga and meditation help me regulate my emotions better.

PART II, Lucid Dreaming and Dream Control: A Peek into the depths of the Unconscious

cognitive psychology
By: Anna Agoncillo
Films like "Inception" and "Waking Life" tickled our curiosities to the possibility of being to able to control our dreams. Imagine being fully aware of what you’re dreaming, and being able to create objects, people, situations or even travel across multiple dimensions to the extent that it may seem real to you.

It sounds powerful, doesn’t it? The good news is that, with practice, even you can become a lucid dreamer. In addition, further application of lucid dreaming and various techniques can give you the ability to control your dreams.

 Lucid dreaming is a learned cognitive skill that enables the dreamer to know that they are dreaming while they are dreaming (Zadra et al., 1992; LeBerge & Levitan, 2007). It is highly vivid and immersive in which you’ll experience multi-sensory hallucinatory effect (Snoozon, n.d.). In a sense, it feels like you’re awake but in reality, you’re sound asleep.

 Lucid dreaming transcends physical limitations. It let’s you experience your wildest fantasies such as swimming with the dolphins, flying across the skies, having a pet dinosaur, being a mermaid, and so on. It let’s you explore your inner self and sometimes towards a deeper spiritual or existential level.

PART I, Dreams and Dream Analysis: A Peek into the depths of the Unconscious

author's opinion
By: Anna Agoncillo
Since dreams are fascinating, I divided this topic into two posts. May you find it as equally interesting as I do! :)

 PART I:  DREAMS AND DREAM ANALYSIS

PART II: LUCID DREAMING AND DREAM CONTROL

Why do we dream?

Personally, I adore analyzing dreams; I find it genuinely entertaining. I believe that sleeping is essential to our survival, and its by product is not meaningless. Dreams are small facets of you and your personality.  It is the gateway to your unconscious mind where your imagination runs wild. In here, your deepest and darkest desires, thoughts, wishes and memories resides. Here are some of well-known dream theories (don't worry, there is a TL;DR [too long; I didn't read =P] version at the end) :

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