Oct 04

Reboot Your Brain with a Caffeine Nap

From Wired’s How To wiki:

Scientists say that a successful midday nap depends on two things: timing and (no kidding) caffeine consumption. Experiments performed at Loughborough University in the UK showed that the sleep-deprived need only a cup of coffee and 15 minutes of shut-eye to feel amazingly refreshed.

1. Right before you crash, down a cup of java. The caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in.2. Close your eyes and relax. Even if you only doze, you’ll get what’s known as effective microsleep, or momentary lapses of wakefulness.

3. Limit your nap to 15 minutes. A half hour can lead to sleep inertia, or the spinning down of the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which handles functions like judgment. This gray matter can take 30 minutes to reboot.

Cheat on the Need to Sleep [Wired How To Wiki]

If you found this article interesting or helpful, feed my energy with some caffeine.

Oct 04

Try Stand Up Meetings

Probably the biggest issue with workplace meetings is their length. Almost always, meetings take longer than is necessary. This is particularly true for those daily keep-us-up-to-date meetings.

Instead of sitting at a traditional conference table, we took the chairs out of the room and ran meetings while standing on our feet. Well, the length of the meetings DRASTICALLY dropped, because people didn’t want to stand for long. Meetings went from 30-60 minutes to roughly 1/2 of that while still delivering meaty content. Neat, huh?

Stand Up Meetings - Lose the Chairs and Save Time - [OrganizingLA]

If you found this article interesting or helpful, feed my energy with some caffeine.

Oct 04

Monks in Burma: How you can help

 
Dear Activist,

Stand against oppression 

I’ve watched in horror all week.

In Burma, Buddhist monks, marching against tyranny, are reported to have been disrobed and shackled. Many detained, many killed. They marched against injustice and oppression, and their actions were met with a cruel and ruthless crackdown.

You can take a stand against the oppression of these peaceful monks. Take action today. 

The death counts vary wildly. But you can be sure that the military junta has brutally beaten and possibly murdered many more than we’ll ever be able to confirm. 

Please take action today for the people of Burma.

As you know, Amnesty International has been working for decades to protect human rights in Burma (Myanmar) and to support the pro-democracy forces’ right to peaceful dissent. When the people of Burma last staged mass pro-democracy protests back in 1988, the military junta murdered thousands. But history does not have to repeat itself.

Take action now to help prevent more killings by the military government. Tell your friends and family to do the same.

The world is watching. Please do your part.

Thank you,

Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

If you found this article interesting or helpful, feed my energy with some caffeine.