Weird night in Europe recently, according to the New York Times:
What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.
According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.
Juxtaposed against that black comedy in the paper's Most Emailed list was the story of another kind of invasion: the nightly encroachment of the "family bed babies" into mommy and daddy's sheets and blankets. For some reason, the article relates, the 1990s were the dawn of the co-sleeping era, when exhausted parents bought a few hours of sleep by sharing their beds, their warmth, and their heartbeats with their babies. The price - no more sex for the parents - was deemed a steep but fair deal.
Now, we're told, as those co-sleeping kids grow into large, gangly collections of limbs, they still insist upon invading their parents' beds nightly. And parental defenses appear inadequate: buying fancy Harry Potter-inspired 4-posters and Cinderella beds may delight the kids while the sun's up, but at night the family bed is the only hot spot in town.
Keep Reading…
More articles like this one in: Ahhh!, Kids, Parenting, Balance, Rest, Energy, Gearing Down, Stressbusting, Rants, Disease, Newsletter
Q: How can I retrain my body's natural clock to wake up earlier? I feel like I have become actually softer as I age and, though I know it would fix so many things wrong in my life, I still sleep in as late as possible before racing to the shower then out the front door off to work…
A: Our need for sleep is based on a number of factors, Keep Reading…
Q: What do you think of the energy drink "Cocaine"? Their website says that it's a healthier, stronger version of Red Bull that doesn't let you down with a "crash."
Keep Reading…
Q: Lately I don't seem to have much energy. What's going on?
A: There are lots of things that can cause low energy. Many people make lots of money telling you that it's your diet, your shoes, dust mites, the pH of your blood, Candida infection, heavy metals in your feet, you name it.
Keep Reading…
Professionals, no matter how busy, always
take care of the essentials. There's enough gas in the car to get us to
work. Our clothes are clean and pressed. We make sure there's paper in
the printer. We tend to neglect one area only–the quality of the fuel
we put into our bodies.
We rely on coffee and pastries to get us through the day. We go for
sugar boosts instead of healthy snacks. We lunch on processed food and
fatty animal products. If we treated our cars this way, we'd be
walking. If we fed our dogs the stuff we eat, we'd be featured in cuffs
on "Animal Cops Detroit."
Our food choices have predictable and disastrous short- and
long-term consequences. Many of us are struggling to lose weight, and
fully 50% of all Americans will die prematurely from stroke or heart
disease. Some researchers have estimated that 75% of cancers are
preventable, and diet is the main defensive weapon. And the diabetes
epidemic has been well documented. And if we have kids, we know we're
passing our bad habits - and predisposition for disease - on to them.
Despite the conflicting studies that we read about, we all know
pretty well what to eat: fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains,
beans, raw nuts and seeds, and small amounts of animal products on the
side if we choose. Knowing is the easy part; it's the doing that's
hard.
So how can we make eating right a natural part of our day? Post your ideas and questions in the comments section below.
Q: How healthy are the new energy drinks, like Red Bull and Rock Star? They seem to be full of vitamins and beneficial herbs. Keep Reading…
Q: What do you think about tea drinking? Doesn't it have less caffeine than coffee? Also, tea is drunk for social reasons, and not just the caffeine. Keep Reading…
Q: What do you recommend as a protein alternative to bacon and eggs for breakfast? Keep Reading…
Q: I'm a hard-working financial advisor, and I find myself getting sleepy around 1:30 pm every work day. Why do I get so tired, and what can I do about it? Keep Reading…
Q: What do I do when I'm exhausted, but I need to stay awake? Like a breakfast meeting after a night with the new baby screaming, or a client dinner after a long day of travel? Sometimes I just need the caffeine and sugar rush to get through. Any recommendations for a healthier strategy? Keep Reading…
