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Not sleeping well is worse for you than you thought

It’s a no-brainer that not sleeping enough is unhealthy. But do we really realize up to what point? It has now been proven that little sleep is worse for us than we thought: it not only leaves us feeling tired, it also has serious long-term consequences for our health.

Lack of sleep

The known effects lack of sleep has are feeling grumpy, not working at your best, and overall leaves you feeling very uncomfortable for the rest of the day. However, there is more to it than meets the eye. As it turns out, sleep deprivation has serious health consequences – a bad night’s sleep is more than just lack of focus and bad moods.

Not sleeping enough shouldn’t become a habit

One in three people suffer from poor sleep, because of stress, computers and taking work home. If having poor sleep occurs regularly, it can cause serious medical conditions, like obesity, heart disease and diabetes, as well as straight on shortening your life expectancy.

How it affects your brain

Getting little sleep keeps our brain from regenerating itself because when sleeping less than we should, we reduce the hours our brain has to carry out this “regeneration”. Because of this, we are not able to fix the damage caused during the day. This shouldn’t be a major problem, but we should indeed be careful if it becomes a habit.

Other consequences sleep deprivation has, include becoming prone to acquire illnesses like Alzheimer’s or an increase in probability of cardiovascular diseases. On top of that, we gradually lose the ability to remember things or learn something new.

But how much sleep do you really need?

Seven hours of sleep seems to be the magic number. Which, according to Matthew Walker from the Berkeley University, is the minimum number of hours we should sleep every day. A smaller number would mean less rest than our brains need.

However, some of us need more and some need less. It is often said that eight hours of sleep is a good-quality sleep in order to be able to function properly. It is important to find out with how many hours you function well.

Why you’re not sleeping well

Usually, if you spend your time day-dreaming about taking a nap, chances are you are not sleeping enough, and you should try to increase your sleeping hours.

Sleep deprivation can be caused by several conditions, like for example, sleep apnoea. However, it is often just a case of bad sleeping habits.

What lack of sleep does to you

It’s obvious that occasionally not sleeping well won’t really affect your health other than you feeling irritable and tired. But it does become a problem after several sleepless nights.

The brain becomes foggy, which will cause difficulties focusing and making decisions. You start feeling gloomy and occasionally fall asleep during the day. The risk of injuries and accidents rises. If then you still can’t get a good night’s sleep, consequences will worsen. It will seriously affect your general health, making you prone to medical conditions like obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

All in all, it seems pretty clear that a good night’s sleep goes hand in hand with a long, healthy life, so sleep away!

Photos: Unsplash

How to stop feeling stuck and become successful instead

Feeling stuck is a feeling we probably all know. In fact, feeling stuck in life is probably part of how we keep moving forward. It is, however, important to know how to manage it and move on, or it will otherwise just worsen over time, keeping you from being productive, and in a negative state of mind

“When we feel stuck, going nowhere – even starting to slip backward – we may actually be backing up to get a running start”
Dan Millman

Sometimes you feel like you’ve tried everything in life, but there’s just no change at all. This can lead to frustration because you get the feeling of being unable to resolve the situation. You feel lost.

Why do we feel stuck?

Feeling stuck is only a perception of the mind and it does not actually represent reality. However, sometimes feeling stuck is necessary: it is a sign that something in your life has to change.

When faced with a problem, many of us become afraid and insecure, this occurs because it forces us to step out of our comfort zone. This is why we often need something or someone to push us out of it. And it might just be ourselves.

There are no shortcuts or loopholes to get out of this feeling of being stuck. There are, however, ways to ease the feeling and flourish, allowing ourselves the successful beings we thrive to become. Here are ten tips to achieve a better life.

1. Focus on commitment, not motivation

It is important to realize how committed you are to your goal, and what you are willing to sacrifice in order to achieve it. If you are fully committed, motivation will follow right behind.

2. Seek knowledge, not results

As they say, what’s important in the end is the journey and not the destination. Focusing on the excitement of discovery, exploring, experimenting and improving will keep your motivation fueled. If you just focus on the result, your motivation will die the moment you hit a bump on the road. Keep in mind what you are learning along the journey, and what can be improved.

3. Make the journey fun

Make it feel like you are playing a game; let it be exciting and entertaining. If you take things too seriously, you will probably carry around a heavy emotional weight which will cause you to lose perspective and start from zero.

4. Get rid of stagnating thoughts

How our mind works is a big line of domino pieces just waiting to fall over causing a big chain of repercussions. Our thoughts influence our feelings, and these in turn influence how we view things. As human beings we are emotionally intelligent enough to choose what thoughts to focus on, and we have two choices: focusing on the negative thoughts, those that will make us feel stuck all over again; or the positive ones, those that will encourage us and make us move forward.

5. Use your imagination

Once you have been able to get rid of the negative thoughts, the next step is using your imagination. Usually when things are well, we tend to feel good, and positive; but once things go south, we immediately start experiencing difficulties and are invaded with negative thoughts. This must change, and is essential to becoming successful in life.

You have to change your situation. If you keep bringing yourself down over and over again, you will actually start believing it. Negative thoughts will evoke negative feelings. So now it’s a matter of imagination. “Fake it ’till you make it”, as saying goes. You can always find a way to learn from a bad experience. Think positive and positive things will follow.

6. Stop being nice to yourself

Motivation means actions and actions means results. When this is not the case, we often prefer being nice to ourselves and remove us from a difficult situation. We rather wait for an opportunity to come up; for the perfect timing.

While this happens we drive ourselves into stagnation, which can often result in anxiety and even depression. It’s important to challenge ourselves, even if it might frighten us.

7. Get rid of distractions

Trivial distractions will always stand in the way of our achievements, especially simple things we’d rather do instead. This is procrastinating. We need to get rid of this and focus on new challenges that will help us grow. Learn to focus. A great tip to get rid of distractions is writing down a list of trivial things that just waste your time, and sticking to not doing them.

8. Stop relying on others

Never ever expect others to do your work for you. Everyone has their own stuff to get through. You’re the only one who can make you truly happy, so focus on you.

9. Plan

It is important to have a simple three-step-plan: when will you do what and how. Following these three points, fill your weekly calendar with precisely what you have to do, when you will do it and how you will do it. It is essential to schedule. After, you should review how the days went, realize what you’ve learned, and what can be improved.

10. Protect yourself from burnout

Being motivated is good, but not so much until the point where you burn out. Look at yourself in the mirror; try to auto-criticize yourself and identify when your mind and body need to rest. Include relaxation and time for fun into your schedule: create a diversity of tasks to fulfill and keep switching between the different types. Switch between creative and logical activities; between working alone and in group. Change up the locations from time to time.

Meditating is also a great way to clear your mind and relax. Even just taking deep breaths will help your mind from going all over the place. Take the time to take care not only of your body, but also of your mind. It is the motor that keeps your whole system going, don’t forget that.

Photos: Unsplash

This is why you procrastinate and how to stop

Procrastinating means delaying something we must do (for example, by doing something else instead), usually because it is boring or unpleasant. It is a term that has been thrown around a lot during the last decade, especially with the rise of social media. However, procrastinating is not a new phenomenon.

Humans have been procrastinating for centuries. Nowadays, the most common forms of procrastination are checking our social media accounts, watching Netflix or even just plain sleeping, but we have always managed to find a way to delay what we have to do. Take for example, Victor Hugo, one of history’s most important french writers.

Victor Hugo: expert procrastinator

During the summer of 1830, our famous author was battling against a tight deadline: has had promised his publisher he would write a new book. Instead, he spent the whole year doing all sorts of non-related activities. When Hugo’s publisher realised, frustrated, he set a new deadline: less than six months away.

Thanks to this, the author came up with a plan to become more efficient. He gave all of his clothes to his assistant and told him to lock them away. This way, he would not be tempted to take part in any outdoors activities. He then wrote and wrote during the whole fall and winter of 1830. Finally, he was able to publish “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” two weeks earlier, on the 14th of January 1831.

Akrasia

Victor Hugo has showed us none of us are immune to daily life distractions. It was even around in the ancient Greece, where philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle came up with a word to describe this behaviour: “akrasia“.

Akrasia is the state of doing one thing even though you know you have to do something else: you act against your better judgement. Akrasia could be considered similar or even a synonym for procrastinating. It is basically what holds you back from doing what you planned to do.

Making plans and not following through

One theory as to why akrasia “works so well” in keeping us from doing things is what we call “time inconsistency”. This term refers to our brains valuing immediate rewards over future rewards. This means that when we set a plan, we actually make a plan for our future selves. At the moment of making a plan, it seems like a good idea and even motivates us because it is easy for your brain to see the long-term benefits.

However, when the moment comes for us to take an immediate decision, we no longer think about our future selves: instead, we think only about our present selves. And these “present selves” we talk about likes instant gratification much better.

So what this means is that we might go to bed feeling motivated about an action were are going to do in the future, but then wake up falling into old patterns: nothing has changed and we keep procrastinating. The motivation has drifted away.

Is there a solution to it?

The solution to procrastinating seems to lay in the ability to delay gratification. The key to success is resisting the pull of instant gratification as often as possible (if not always). This is what will take you from where you are to where you want to be.

Three ways to help you beat procrastination

1. Design your future actions

This is, for example, how Victor Hugo overcame his akrasia. His method consisted of putting away his clothes in order to prevent his future self from going outdoors. This method is called “commitment device”: it is a choice your present self makes to lock in a certain future behaviour, binding you to a positive habit and restricting you from negative ones. These commitment devices help you design your future actions.

2. Reduce the friction of starting

“On a moment-to-moment basis, being in the middle of doing the work is usually less painful than being in the middle of procrastinating”
Eliezer Yudkowsky

If the guilt of not doing what we have to do is worse than actually doing it, why do we still procrastinate? The answer to this is that it is not hard doing the work, it is hard starting. This is why it’s important to build the habit of getting started when introducing a new behaviour.

3. Utilize implementation intentions

An “implementation intention” is stating your intention to implement a certain behaviour at a particular time in the future. Basically, what this means is that actually scheduling actions to be fulfilled is, in fact, useful when building a habit. For example: “I will exercise for an hour every day on x day in x place at x time”. It seems to be a simple task, but it is definitely effective: implementation intentions can make you two to three times more likely to fulfill an action in the future.

Photos: Unsplash and Pixabay

6 reasons why you need bananas to stay healthy

This yellow fruit we can find in every supermarket is one of the most popular fruits worldwide because of its size, cheap price and having a natural protective wrap. The perfectly portion sized fruit is great as a quick snack on its own, mixed with other foods like yoghurt, or even as an ingredient as part of a recipe (banana pancakes are a must try!). Bananas are healthy and easy to eat.

Healthy fruit

This common fruit, apart from being super easy to carry around, is also very much one of the healthier foods, packed with vitamins, nutrients and fiber.

It is common knowledge that bananas are filled with potassium, and most believe this is the reason they are healthy and we should include them in our diets. Truth is, there is much more to these yellow vitamin-sources than meets the eye.

1. Heartburn

Heartburn is not an uncommon condition, but most don’t know that bananas are great for preventing this annoying acid refluxes. They are alkaline fruits, meaning they are powerful against the burn and provide instant relief. What’s more, eating them regularly will help you get rid of acid refluxes forever, as they neutralize stomach acid.

2. Energy

Bananas will keep you energized for two reasons: 1) the potassium found in them protect your muscles from cramping, and 2) the carbs they contain provide enough energy to endure intense workouts. These yellow fruits release energy at a slow pace, thus keeping you energized for a prolonged period of time.

3. Anemia

Anemia is caused by an iron deficiency, and given bananas are high in iron, they can help those suffering from it by stimulating the production of hemoglobin. An increased red blood cell count also means and increased circulation to the whole body.

4. Ulcers

One important benefit of bananas, and what might be a benefit exclusive to this fruit is that they are able to reduce acids of ulcers through the coating of the stomach lining, thus providing protection against irritation. Bananas also contain protease inhibitors. This is positive because what they do is they remove harmful bacteria linked to the development of stomach ulcers.

5. Constipation

Bananas are able to restore regular bowel movement because of the fiber found in this yellow fruit. They help remove the stool in the intestinal tract.

6. Stress and anxiety

Low serotonin levels lead to the development of stress, anxiety and even depression. Bananas can contain the solution: they include tryptophan, which is a compound our body needs to produce this chemical, putting an end to the low serotonin levels.

Also, the potassium bananas contain help the brain improve its functioning because it sends more oxygen to the brain cells. Vitamin B also plays a part in this: it helps calm the nervous system and can improve your mood. So now you know, whenever you are feeling the “emotional appetite“ come up, stuff your face with bananas rather than with junk food.

Photos: Unsplash

Tinder levels up with their new “Festival Mode” feature

The world-wide famous app known as Tinder was first launched in 2012, and has since gained huge amounts of engagement. Even so that it gets 1.6 billion “swipes” per day, with over 20 billion matches. The app helps users achieve 1 million dates per week.

According to the latest statistics, Tinder has reached over 50 million users, which usually takes quite some time to obtain: many social media brands have invested a lot of money to achieve this milestone.

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Una publicación compartida de Tinder (@tinder) el 1 May, 2019 a las 1:19 PDT

Dating opportunities

The app came relatively late onto the market, but it was new and innovative: it appealed to millennials looking for dating opportunities. The app is location-based, as well as free, which makes it very accessible for young people. Tinder’s aim is to let the users show Tinder what type of people they actually want to date.

From here on, Tinder shows the user a picture of another user, and the user can then swipe right (if they like the person) creating a “match”, or swipe left (if they don’t like them). Another feature the app has is swiping up: a super like. The person receiving the super like will be noted, and if they in turn also give them a super like, it will be an immediate match.

Tinder levels up

Tinder’s new aim is attracting and engaging a younger demographic; and this, together with the fact that Tinder users love music, makes a great mix. In fact, users who share music they’ve listening to via Spotify get a whole 84% more matches than those who don’t. And thus, a new feature has been created: “Festival Mode”.

“Festival Mode”

Tinder has announced their newest update: “Festival Mode”. The company has created the feature in collaboration with two other companies: AEG Worldwide and Live Nation.

The latest feature will allow users to get to know and even meet up with people who have the same taste in music. Even more so, users will be able to activate the feature up to three weeks before the actual festival, and they will be offered exclusive content, too.

How it works

The feature is similar to the “Spring Break Mode“, which was launched in February. The difference is, that “Festival Mode” will involve a use of badges on user profiles to indicate and upcoming destination.

What the badges do, is make it easier to spot people (when swiping) planning to go to the same music festival. For now, the app will only be available to those attending music festivals in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia.

A festival-feature

Tinder says they noticed downloads increase during festivals. Last year, for example, during the Bonnaroo festival, the app’s activity increased up to 300 times the norm.

In addition, Tinder will also run a brand activation at specific festivals, including photo ops as well as the opportunity to win VIP upgrades and merch.

Photos: Unsplash, Pixabay and Instagram

Three apps to make your life look picture perfect

With social media came the birth of a generation of so-called “influencers“. Reaching millions of followers, they all seem to have a picture perfect life: they travel all around the world, get the most expensive clothes from the most exclusive brands, eat the most colourful meals, and most important of all, take the most incredible pictures.

The influencer community has quickly spread, probably because we don’t need a whole photography studio and a massive team to obtain the perfect picture anymore. Nor do we need the best camera. We just need a decent phone and the right apps.

The right app goes a long way

Editing goes a long way in the social media world. You took a picture but you see something that wasn’t meant to be there? Crop it out. You feel like your teeth seem a little too yellow? Use the whitening tool. Does your skin not look tan enough? The tanning tool. Is the sky a little too cloudy? Change the background. And so on and so forth.

We are going to show you three of the best, most useful apps to create the Instagram feed of your dreams.

Enlight Quickshot

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Una publicación compartida de Enlight Quickshot (@enlightquickshot) el 25 Abr, 2019 a las 5:20 PDT

Enlight Quickshot is suitable for the iPhone fans. It’s only available for iOS and you can download it for free, but it does include inside purchases. The app is perfect for the adventurous yearning to capture their outdoor quests. This is often a challenging task, especially when the weather seems to be conspiring against us.

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Una publicación compartida de Enlight Quickshot (@enlightquickshot) el 1 May, 2019 a las 8:24 PDT

Enlight Quickshot is the perfect tool is if you want every day to be the perfect day for a picture. This is very useful if you want to succeed on social media. A great example is the influencer Dulceida, who often makes use of this app.

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Una publicación compartida de Aida Domenech (@dulceida) el 10 Ene, 2019 a las 11:11 PST

A breath-taking sky can make the difference between an Instagram page with millions of followers and yours. Because let’s be honest, one does not just walk outside and encounter a sky filled with five shades of pink and cotton candy clouds.

One of their mottos is that just filters are not enough, which is why they include the tool “sky control“. The tool allows you to turn the greyest of skies into a ravishing pink one in just a matter of seconds. But if what you want is simulate a stormy sky, you can just add a couple of lightning rays.

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Una publicación compartida de Enlight Quickshot (@enlightquickshot) el 27 Feb, 2019 a las 7:30 PST

Picnic

Android users ought not to worry. Picnic has come to their rescue. The app describes itself as the “climate genius“, and it is accessible to everyone, as you can download it for free.

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Una publicación compartida de IDEAS • STYLE • PHOTO (@novoselts_eva) el 10 Ago, 2018 a las 8:18 PDT

It doesn’t matter if it rains or if it’s cloudy, the app promises to have it all covered, allowing you to always create the perfect image. From a clear sunny day to a ravishing sunset on the beach, you can create it all no matter what the real weather is like.

Picnic can create the most impressive skies with their “atmosphere filters“. It allows you to retouch any background in a natural and artistic way.

Chroma Lab

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Una publicación compartida de Francois Morvillier (@mirror_lab) el 2 May, 2019 a las 3:37 PDT

Chroma Lab is the application to bring out your inner artist. This app allows you to take a step further in sky editing, and become real “pros” at retouching our landscape photos. It is perfect if you’re looking for bold edits.

It is available for Android users for free and has inside purchases. Chroma Lab allows you to make infinite creations combining the different filters they offer. It also includes a wide rage of editing tools, and for those who want to go a step further, a video editing tool.

Images: Instagram and Play Store