There’s a lot going on, but I did not take a night off over the weekend and it’s catching up to me. Going to take the night off and get a good night’s sleep so I can be back at it tomorrow with a clear head for the next public hearing of the January 6 committee.
Beautiful photo. Thanks Buddy. And never put off taking the rest you need. You are vital to your readers and to our democracy. We need you...healthy! ❤️
Your poems so speak to me. I think I could read your poem and then look at Buddy’s picture and recognize it from your deceptive imagery! The first thing I do now when Heather posts a picture is “come looking” for your poem. This village is helping me brave the days ahead. And here I naively thought our world and work would be better after “the elections “! Huh!!
I think most of us knew it was the damned machine's fault, Paula. It made me pause and think, now, what word did she really mean? Made me take in your comment even further. I'll look for Rowshan's poems in the future, too.
Believe that it will be, Paula. It must be. At least the truth is making it uncomfortable for the vile, and I think DOJ is in the process of erecting the gallows, after most of us had lost faith.
Jail cells would work, Rowshan, but I'm somewhat bloodthirsty after six years of not only TFG, but his criminal co-conspirators who enabled him. Of course, I understand that the rope would probably break under the strain of all of that lard. 🤢 In any event, I'll settle for whatever real punishment that is available.
It will be a better place after “the elections”. The ones coming up. How much we have all learned. And appreciate democracy enough to get out and vote for it!
Unidad, Paula! Keep the little golden boats in mind’s eye. That’s all of us!
I am so excited that now I am seeing your poems!! This is the second time you've expanded a photo for me (I'm more verbal than visual!) Thank you so much and blessings!
In listening to each hearing I finding I need a few days to absorb and sort it all out they've been so powerful. Sleep is the best way to give your brain the time to put it all together. Your brain is actually more active in REM sleep than when you are awake. In REM, the brain is very busy processing and consolidating memory, integrating old and new memories, reinforcing pathways within the brain, developing rules from the patterns it discerns, gaining new insights, and even projecting future scenarios. That's why getting a good night's sleep is so important. We, the People, all of us this time.
Cathy, I know this is true, but I find I can't get a "good night's sleep" for several days after the hearings. My mind won't turn off. And I especially have had a hard time after listening to Shaye Moss and Lady Ruby. The chaos tRump created for their lives is painful. I can't get pictures of their testimonies out of my mind.
I do understand. I have the same problem. And, I tend to stay up until Heather's Letter comes out in the wee hours of the morning. A tuck in time at least a half hour before you go to bed is helpful -- avoid white/blue light which suppresses melatonin, keep the room cool, no TV in the bedroom. Here's my complete article on sleep that I wrote for my Accessible Living column in the local paper.
December 2015
ACCESSIBLE LIVING by Catherine Learoyd
Byline: Stille Nacht: Creating A Haven for Sleep
“The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads,
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap —
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.“
This is the original wording of the second verse of “Twas a Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore written in 1823. “Settled our brains”? “Visions of sugar plums”? “A long winter’s nap”? “Snug in their beds”? In the context of what we know today about our brain during sleep, this verse shows a family that is getting a good night’s sleep.
“Arose such a clatter”
Papa was probably in the first stage of sleep known as N1. N1 is light sleep where one can be easily awakened say by the clatter of eight tiny reindeer. Mama may have already reached the second level of N2 sleep or even the deep sleep of N3 since she wasn’t arosed. N3 deep sleep (also called long wave sleep) is when the brain does its house cleaning through the ingenious glymphatic system getting rid of waste products that have built up in the brain while awake. For example, the build up of the protein amyloid beta has been shown to be one of the key steps in the
development of Alzheimer’s disease. If the brain doesn’t get the time to do its house
cleaning and keep the waste from building up this suggests that worsening sleep quality and sleep duration will contribute to conditions like Alzheimer’s.
“Visions of sugar plums”
The children are dreaming which means they have reached REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. In this stage of sleep the brain is actually more active than when it is in the wake state. In REM, the brain is very busy processing and consolidating memory, integrating old and new memories, reinforcing pathways within the brain, developing rules from the patterns it discerns, gaining new insights, and even projecting future scenarios. If you have the opportunity to “sleep on it” after learning new material, you will retain three times the learning when tested twelve hours later compared to not having the benefit of sleep in between.
“All snug in their beds”
Since we spend one–third of our lives in bed and in our bedroom, how do we make it a haven for tranquil sleep and gain the tremendous benefits to our health and well-being from full and deep sleep? Let’s start with the bed itself. The best pillow is soft and made of natural materials (more resistant to dust mites) and is flexible so that it can be adjusted to the various sleep positions we go through each night. Mattresses are a very personal choice so when shopping for a mattress spend fifteen to twenty minutes lying on each candidate in your usual sleep position. Couples need to test the mattresses together since a key difference between types of mattresses is whether the movement of one person is felt by the other. A person with back problems is probably best off with a medium firm mattress – not too soft or too firm. Over the years a mattress loses its ability to give your body the support it needs. The resulting pressure points then trigger your body to tell the brain to wake up multiple times in the night so you’ll roll over. Waking up multiple times
in the night for this or other reasons is equivalent to getting only four hours of sleep. So, consider buying a new mattress every ten years or so.
“Settled our brains”
The daily cycle of sleep and wake periods are regulated by our circadian biological clock within the brain’s hypothalamus which manages an army of neurotransmitters. By “settling our brains” a half hour to an hour before we go to bed we greatly enhance the quality of our sleep. This tuck-in period is the time to wind down. Brushing one’s teeth in a brightly lit bathroom is one of the worse things you can do just before climbing into bed so do this at the start of the tuck-in period. Put dimmer switches on bedroom and bathroom lights and lower the light levels at tuck-in time. Use part of the tuck-in time to pick up and declutter the bedroom to lower stress and anxiety. Keep the bedroom uncluttered and reserved exclusively for sleeping if at all possible. White and blue light suppresses melatonin delaying sleep so cover or remove electronic devices from the bedroom at tuck-in time even e-book readers. It is best for you and your child’s overall health to
remove TVs from the bedrooms altogether.
“Long winter’s nap”
How much sleep do we need? The longer we sleep the greater the percentage of time spent in the restorative N3 and consolidating REM periods. Newborn babies spend 50% of their 16 to 18 hours of sleep per day in REM sleep because of all the demands of growing and learning and the need to organize and set up connections in the brain. Teenagers, another demanding time in life, require ten hours of sleep a night and their circadian rhythm naturally shifts their day to wake later and go to bed later. Younger children need more hours of sleep than the teenagers. Adults including seniors level off at eight hours of sleep. While the quality of sleep can decrease with age, the need for eight hours of sleep does not. If we take a typical day in the life of a teenager, they get up at 6:30 a.m., have classes from 7:50 to 3:25 p.m., have marching band or athletic practice from 3:45 to 6, have dinner and then do 3 hours of homework from 7 to 10. If they get in bed by 10:30 they need to sleep until 8:30 the next morning way past the tardy bell to get
ten hours of needed sleep. They sit in class with lessened ability to concentrate or pay attention and feel moody and stressed. The teacher assigns more homework to make up for the lack of learningin the classroom and this devitalizing cycle of sleep deprivation continues. Further, sleep deprivation is now linked to obesity because the tired brain releases the hunger hormones and to Type II diabetes. According to the National Institute of Health, sleep deprivation in children can cause daytime hyperactivity and decrease in focused attention. This can be mistaken for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or other behavior disorders!
At bedtime and through the night, have the bedroom as dark and quiet as possible. Have the thermostat of the bedroom wing programmed between 65 to 68 degrees F starting at tuck-in time until around dawn. Have plants to take out carbon dioxide and add oxygen into the room. Have red night lighting outside the bedroom and in the bathroom if you need to get up in the night. This gives you enough light to see but not enough of
the white/blue light to bring you to a fully awake state and make it difficult to go back to sleep.
“Sprang from my bed”
In the morning, the best way to wake up fresh and alert is to do so naturally with the light of the sun with the bedrooms oriented to get eastern light. The thermostat is programmed to bring the temperature of the room to around 70 degrees F. Your body wakes you up at the end of REM instead of the alarm clock jerking you awake in the middle of your dream. This is the decade we’ll change our attitudes as a society about sleep as we come to understand the
neurobiology of sleep and its massive impact on our physical and mental health and productivity.
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”
Further readings:
Twas the Night Before Christmas in its original version:
Thanks for this, Cathy. My main problem is not going to sleep.( I go to bed every night around 10 pm.) I usually do quite easily. But, I often awaken around 2:30-3:30 am. Cannot go back to sleep and often, at this time of year, the birds start their morning song around 4:30. If I haven't yet gone back to sleep, I usually don't. Sigh....
I am writing to you as a concerned American who fears that our Democracy, something I have always been grateful for and certain that it would be forever safely guaranteed in this country, is now in peril. Donald J. Trump, whose actions and statements have given the green light to racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and violence, has proven in broad daylight, that he doesn’t give a hoot about it.
Had Robert Mueller indicted Trump and taken him off the streets as he deserved to be, our Democracy would not have come perilously close to extinction on January 6th, and you would not be in the unenviable position of having to decide on something as unprecedented as indicting a former president. Remember, though, that this would not have been a first if Richard Nixon had not resigned.
I write the following as a mental health therapist. Knowing full well that Biden had won in a free and fair election, Trump would have done anything, even allowing murder to have been committed, in order to foment the lie that the election was stolen from him. He would have stopped at nothing to overturn the election, no matter how illegal he knew his actions to be, for only one reason. Commentators endlessly suggest that Trump committed his actions against the law and our constitution in order to hold onto power. No, it’s more deeply psychological than that. His father imbued in him from childhood, that the worst thing anyone can be in this world is a loser. This is ingrained in every fiber of his mind and psyche. Accepting loss would be an existential threat to him--the same as dying. Therefore, he must propagate the lie to save his life. Being a loser is simply not an option. This is why Trump has manipulated his followers to have election officials in place who would overturn the election results if he runs again and loses. This cannot be allowed to happen. There are clear reasons why charges such as “seditious conspiracy” exist, and that the framers called for a peaceful transfer of power between factions in Articles 1 and 4 of our Constitution.
As a result of the January 6th Select Committee’s herculean effort of scrupulously laying out the facts, thus far the majority of Americans polled believe that Trump should be indicted and convicted for his crimes. For the sake of our Democracy, I hope that you will uphold your promise—that no one is above the law and if found guilty, regardless of the individual’s position and whether they were at the Capitol or not, they will be duly prosecuted. I trust that you will follow through and do your part.
I hope Merrick Garland read your letter, Sophia. In the history of our country, Garland’s responsibility to hold a former president accountable is possibly the most important decision a government official has. The consequences are whether or not we have fair elections and whether we tolerate those who have no regard for the rule of law, or prosecute them. What Garland does will have enormous, long-lasting consequences.
And while Democrats are hanging their hats on 01/06, the Republicans are hard at work convincing voters to support them.
From the Denver Post
“If Cliff Aragon’s take on politics reflects what other Latinos in Colorado are thinking as the mid-term election looms just over four months away, it could be an early and unwelcome warning sign for Democrats.
“He’s doing a horrible job,” the unaffiliated voter in Adams County’s Sherrelwood neighborhood, just south of West 84th Avenue, said of President Joe Biden.
“Aragon was on a list of homes being targeted Tuesday evening by a team of GOP volunteers, wearing matching red T-shirts, who believe that face-to-face engagement with a segment of the population historically aligned with Democrats is a crucial campaign strategy. Nick Coltrain and John Aguilar report.”
Convict trump and ALL the complicit in deed and silence...
at least FIVE House republicans asked trump for pardons and probably his children and many others including Gaetz, Gohmert, Biggs, Brooks, Perry: + that pitiful soul Rudy Giuliani, etc., etc., etc.
As deserving as they are of indictment and a conviction, which must be left to a judge or jury, that would only serve to waste time and take our energies away from working to defeat them at the polls. The next battle will be fought on November 8 and part of it will mean convincing voters that the Republican Party, as presently constituted, is not only un-American, but the party of sedition. Ask Representative Kinzinger, who has chosen not to run for re-election, about that.
Praying every Democrat initiates or fully participates in this methodology…
Quoted From the Denver Post
“If Cliff Aragon’s take on politics reflects what other Latinos in Colorado are thinking as the mid-term election looms just over four months away, it could be an early and unwelcome warning sign for Democrats.
“He’s doing a horrible job,” the unaffiliated voter in Adams County’s Sherrelwood neighborhood, just south of West 84th Avenue, said of President Joe Biden.
“Aragon was on a list of homes being targeted Tuesday evening by a team of GOP volunteers, wearing matching red T-shirts, who believe that face-to-face engagement with a segment of the population historically aligned with Democrats is a crucial campaign strategy. Nick Coltrain and John Aguilar report.”
Very interesting...I too a Graduate of 1969, School of Architecture, (at that time Oregon's school was one of the best Schools of Architecture in America!), .... 52 years of making lots of peoples' dreams a reality...and continuing to do so now....
How about that! I got into Harvard which was rated #5 at the time and decided on the U of O, rated #3 (I bet we've had the same professors). I met Buckminster Fuller when he had come to lecture there in 1973 (I write about the magical synchronicities that brought us together in my book) and came to Philadelphia to work with him after graduating (I'm now on my third career). You can find a photo of us on my website, sophiademas.com, on "My Influencers" page. You my contact me directly through there. Nice to meet you George!
Sophia, I am a retired therapist and I totally agree that the real reason for the "big lie" is tRump's inability to ever be considered a loser. And as we know, narcissists don't lose.
Well written Sophia. I share your fears of just how dangerous Trump is to our country, and that he must be stopped sooner rather than later. I don't know if you have noticed in the hearings, but I do not see alot of Trump being directly involved in the conspiracy. It's always his henchmen who have the direct involvement, just like a shrewd mafia boss. And his henchmen will go down.
I believe that he has enough experience in his real estate dealings in New York, and his other ventures, to have a pretty good feel for where to draw the line. What he can do and not do in order to thwart the law. And, he gets help from shrewd and unethical people in that regard. That is not to say he has not gone far enough for indictment - I think he is not an intelligent person, or a cautious person, and is highly capable of making the stupid mistake that gets him in the end. The phone call to Raffensperger might end up being one such thing. But he is infamous for being slippery. If I am Garland, I want to be sure I have him on the hook very securely. Deeply unethical and corrupt conduct does not necessarily break the law, especially if the law is not well defined. Pretty sure he is well aware of public opinion on this, and I am trusting that DOJ will do the right thing in a timely manner. But they cannot just go with public opinion.
I have a different take--the Select Committee has done a spectacular job of uncovering evidence that all roads lead to trump...and he's no longer a sitting president....
they don’t have to. I believe the DOJ has now a huge amount of evidence, especially for tax fraud, money laundering, wire fraud, and recorded phone calls in Georgia to interfere in a fair election.
I believe that Attorney General Garland recognizes that indicting the defeated former president would lead to a trial with very uncertain results. Because of the ambiguities in which he has spoken for years, before and after his election, there is an excellent chance that he would be acquited. That would be worse than his election in 2016. His language has always been that of the shady salesman, skirting the truth, remaining barely within the law, but nevertheless convincing to gullible customers. Conviction in a court of law is far more difficult than conviction in the eyes of the public. The House's two impeachments of him, the equivalent of indictments, did not survive the 'jury' for which the Senate served, just as the Mueller Report did not survive a corrupt AG's editing, three horrendous events! His being found 'not guilty' would be even worse! That is the chance that Garland seems reluctant to take. The only jury he should face is that of the public on Election Day in November, and two years from now. Every candidate whom he supports, and those who continue to support him, must be defeated. If that doesn't happen, the country will deserve what it gets. So, register voters and make sure they vote. If he manages to get away with his crimes, perhaps your grandchildren will clean up the resulting mess.
Not a pretty picture you paint, but I believe that people's disdain is swelling and that's not to be ignored--more than 60% of ALL Americans think trump should be indicted. Remember, he's no longer president. And I guarantee you that if Nixon had not resigned and Ford had not pardoned him, he was on his way to prison, trump's next residence....
thoughtful comments, many thanks. Isn’t there an overwhelming amount of evidence in the form of recorded phone calls, sworn testimony, that should in any case be more than enough to indict trump? yes, there is - but convicting him and diminishing his influence is what the country needs. I say this but I’m not a lawyer. I see a slide into fascism happening, everyone does, and it must be stopped. Prosecute those who sought to violently overthrow a fair election, starting with trump. He is not above the law.
You don't need to be a lawyer to come to your conclusions. Why does some ignoramus go to jail for blindly following the insurrectionists onto the Capitol but the hideous man behind the curtain, who was in on the plan from inception, wishing death on his vice president be let off the hook?
Yes, Hale! I went out last night after the rains and they were so beautiful. I told my friend who was with me that we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place with lights flickering all around us. Am sending the light and beauty to Merrick Garland who is tasked with a job that we have no idea what will be unleashed. But it must be done. It Must Be.
I get that from my balcony! Magical moment. From the east at 7.45 in the morning, and from the west at 5 pm. If it's not raining, I can see the big ships on the horizon. (Guess where I am...)
The lobsters are moving North due to a warming Gulf of Maine, so get them whisk they are around. Sad to say, our democratic governor, Janet Mills, and her Central Maine Power brother, are gung ho for aquaculture salmon CAFOs. That’s like a hog confinement operation on steroids. One proposed in Belfast from a Norwegian company called Nordic AquaFarms would put out 7,000,000 gallons of warmed parasite laden water into the bay daily. There is a need for reliable electricity to keep the pumps running and oxygen flowing 24 seven. Last week the public utility commission approved a $63 million upgrade by CMP for Midcoast Maine, which will be paid for by the rate payers but its prime beneficiary seems to be Nordic AquaFarms. This is socialism for the corporations. The town of Belfast for many years had a huge chicken processing plant right on the bay downhill from downtown. The smell the dust the feathers the offal going directly into the Penobscot bay was wretched. Of course jobs were available and the environmental disaster was tolerated. A cleanup occurred partially due to the philanthropy of NBNA which helped remove the factory and replace it with a beautiful park. Now it appears that Belfast is enamored of the unknown number of jobs and the known environmental degradation of a foreign corporation building a plant hear that it is no longer allowed to build in Norway. It will again have an environmental and carbon spewing disaster at their door. The Belfast City Council is totally sold on this project. The only lever is emails and letters to Governor Janet Mills to ask her to back off her support. Yet the project may be killed off due to supply chain cost increases after all. The current financial projections did not include the enormous increase in concrete and steel and labor and electricity.
There are numerous proposed salmon factories along the gulf of Maine and no government or region or federal agency seems to be looking at that synergistic impact of all these plants dumping nutrients, viruses and warmed water into the Gulf.
These Norwegians claimed they are producing high-quality protein to feed people. However they are taking lesser value fish some even harvested off the shores of Africa, out of the mouths of poor people, they’re taking soy beans grown with Roundup and corn grown with Roundup and pig blood and any thing that is available according to the cost of the day to create fish food. This higher quality protein is only affordable by coastal elites in Boston,New York, Providence, New Haven. It’s not going to feed Mainers.
We ask your readers simply to NOT buy farmed salmon because no matter where it is grown,it destroys the estuaries and the livelihood of local fishermen like Buddy and the indigenous aquaculture already established such as oyster growing—just to make profits for a multinational corporation that is not welcome to build in their own country.
Wow, I know salmon farming is a problem but had no idea the details. It confirms what I have known for most of my long life - that man and greed can turn any great idea into rancid reality.
Beautiful photo. Thanks Buddy. And never put off taking the rest you need. You are vital to your readers and to our democracy. We need you...healthy! ❤️
“Fields of Gold”
Quietude in ripples of
pewter and gold,
where the glassy ocean
seeks to touch
the dark and glowing bars
separating sea and sky.
Black silhouettes of trees
and moored boats give
breadth, depth and height
to your canvas, as it
captures an ephemeral moment
of hushed soundscape.
“Headed out to”
these metallic fields
of collective, contemplative silence
beckons a regeneration of
heart and soul —
a transfigured mindscape.
And that golden boat in the foreground
speaks to this critical juncture …
the miracle of your pen’s
truth and creed
in a world so often devoid
of justice and peace.
The golden boat speaks so to me also, Rowshan. Beautiful poem and tribute to Heather and Buddy. Love it.
Thank you so much, my friend. ❤️❤️❤️
Your poems so speak to me. I think I could read your poem and then look at Buddy’s picture and recognize it from your deceptive imagery! The first thing I do now when Heather posts a picture is “come looking” for your poem. This village is helping me brave the days ahead. And here I naively thought our world and work would be better after “the elections “! Huh!!
Thank you, Paula! I’m so glad that my thoughts spoke to you. Allow the golden boat to bring you hope.
I meant descriptive not deceptive!! Yikes
I think most of us knew it was the damned machine's fault, Paula. It made me pause and think, now, what word did she really mean? Made me take in your comment even further. I'll look for Rowshan's poems in the future, too.
Thank you, Mary!
Don'tcha just hate it when the machine thinks it knows what you mean better than you do??? :0)
I got it! 😉
Believe that it will be, Paula. It must be. At least the truth is making it uncomfortable for the vile, and I think DOJ is in the process of erecting the gallows, after most of us had lost faith.
Or, at the very least, preparing the jail cells, Nancy!
Jail cells would work, Rowshan, but I'm somewhat bloodthirsty after six years of not only TFG, but his criminal co-conspirators who enabled him. Of course, I understand that the rope would probably break under the strain of all of that lard. 🤢 In any event, I'll settle for whatever real punishment that is available.
I hear you!
It will be a better place after “the elections”. The ones coming up. How much we have all learned. And appreciate democracy enough to get out and vote for it!
Unidad, Paula! Keep the little golden boats in mind’s eye. That’s all of us!
Tears for this beautiful, inspired poem— such a tribute to Heather and Buddy, Rowshan.
Thank you for beginning my day with such power.
Oh, thank you, Pensa! It may be the VT air that inspires … 😉
Rowshan, Your words open a window so us non-poets, blind to what is spread before us, so we can enjoy the splendor. Thank you.
Thanks so very much, Manuel! It’s kind of you to say so!
Wonderfully done. Thanks
Thank you, Benjamin.
I am so excited that now I am seeing your poems!! This is the second time you've expanded a photo for me (I'm more verbal than visual!) Thank you so much and blessings!
That makes me so happy! Thank you!
The humans in this community are so inspiring. Thank you Rowshan for this beautiful poem. 🥰
Thank you, Sharon!
Beautiful! Thank you! ❤️
Thanks so much, Fred!
Lovely
Thank you, Annette.
Enjoy your early night Professor…the work you do is much appreciated!
...and helps provide me with a place to stand as I try to maintain a personal sense of balance in the midst of all this chaos ❤️
Sweet dreams. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you’ve done for me with your regular communications. I’ve learned so much from you.
Nancy Kish
In listening to each hearing I finding I need a few days to absorb and sort it all out they've been so powerful. Sleep is the best way to give your brain the time to put it all together. Your brain is actually more active in REM sleep than when you are awake. In REM, the brain is very busy processing and consolidating memory, integrating old and new memories, reinforcing pathways within the brain, developing rules from the patterns it discerns, gaining new insights, and even projecting future scenarios. That's why getting a good night's sleep is so important. We, the People, all of us this time.
Beautifully said! Thank god you are in Texas. The many wonderful people in your state need good thinkers!
I have been so affected by the stories of Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman. What happened to them epitomizes the evil that is tfg—and Giuliani, frankly.
Cathy, I know this is true, but I find I can't get a "good night's sleep" for several days after the hearings. My mind won't turn off. And I especially have had a hard time after listening to Shaye Moss and Lady Ruby. The chaos tRump created for their lives is painful. I can't get pictures of their testimonies out of my mind.
I do understand. I have the same problem. And, I tend to stay up until Heather's Letter comes out in the wee hours of the morning. A tuck in time at least a half hour before you go to bed is helpful -- avoid white/blue light which suppresses melatonin, keep the room cool, no TV in the bedroom. Here's my complete article on sleep that I wrote for my Accessible Living column in the local paper.
December 2015
ACCESSIBLE LIVING by Catherine Learoyd
Byline: Stille Nacht: Creating A Haven for Sleep
“The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads,
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap —
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.“
This is the original wording of the second verse of “Twas a Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore written in 1823. “Settled our brains”? “Visions of sugar plums”? “A long winter’s nap”? “Snug in their beds”? In the context of what we know today about our brain during sleep, this verse shows a family that is getting a good night’s sleep.
“Arose such a clatter”
Papa was probably in the first stage of sleep known as N1. N1 is light sleep where one can be easily awakened say by the clatter of eight tiny reindeer. Mama may have already reached the second level of N2 sleep or even the deep sleep of N3 since she wasn’t arosed. N3 deep sleep (also called long wave sleep) is when the brain does its house cleaning through the ingenious glymphatic system getting rid of waste products that have built up in the brain while awake. For example, the build up of the protein amyloid beta has been shown to be one of the key steps in the
development of Alzheimer’s disease. If the brain doesn’t get the time to do its house
cleaning and keep the waste from building up this suggests that worsening sleep quality and sleep duration will contribute to conditions like Alzheimer’s.
“Visions of sugar plums”
The children are dreaming which means they have reached REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. In this stage of sleep the brain is actually more active than when it is in the wake state. In REM, the brain is very busy processing and consolidating memory, integrating old and new memories, reinforcing pathways within the brain, developing rules from the patterns it discerns, gaining new insights, and even projecting future scenarios. If you have the opportunity to “sleep on it” after learning new material, you will retain three times the learning when tested twelve hours later compared to not having the benefit of sleep in between.
“All snug in their beds”
Since we spend one–third of our lives in bed and in our bedroom, how do we make it a haven for tranquil sleep and gain the tremendous benefits to our health and well-being from full and deep sleep? Let’s start with the bed itself. The best pillow is soft and made of natural materials (more resistant to dust mites) and is flexible so that it can be adjusted to the various sleep positions we go through each night. Mattresses are a very personal choice so when shopping for a mattress spend fifteen to twenty minutes lying on each candidate in your usual sleep position. Couples need to test the mattresses together since a key difference between types of mattresses is whether the movement of one person is felt by the other. A person with back problems is probably best off with a medium firm mattress – not too soft or too firm. Over the years a mattress loses its ability to give your body the support it needs. The resulting pressure points then trigger your body to tell the brain to wake up multiple times in the night so you’ll roll over. Waking up multiple times
in the night for this or other reasons is equivalent to getting only four hours of sleep. So, consider buying a new mattress every ten years or so.
“Settled our brains”
The daily cycle of sleep and wake periods are regulated by our circadian biological clock within the brain’s hypothalamus which manages an army of neurotransmitters. By “settling our brains” a half hour to an hour before we go to bed we greatly enhance the quality of our sleep. This tuck-in period is the time to wind down. Brushing one’s teeth in a brightly lit bathroom is one of the worse things you can do just before climbing into bed so do this at the start of the tuck-in period. Put dimmer switches on bedroom and bathroom lights and lower the light levels at tuck-in time. Use part of the tuck-in time to pick up and declutter the bedroom to lower stress and anxiety. Keep the bedroom uncluttered and reserved exclusively for sleeping if at all possible. White and blue light suppresses melatonin delaying sleep so cover or remove electronic devices from the bedroom at tuck-in time even e-book readers. It is best for you and your child’s overall health to
remove TVs from the bedrooms altogether.
“Long winter’s nap”
How much sleep do we need? The longer we sleep the greater the percentage of time spent in the restorative N3 and consolidating REM periods. Newborn babies spend 50% of their 16 to 18 hours of sleep per day in REM sleep because of all the demands of growing and learning and the need to organize and set up connections in the brain. Teenagers, another demanding time in life, require ten hours of sleep a night and their circadian rhythm naturally shifts their day to wake later and go to bed later. Younger children need more hours of sleep than the teenagers. Adults including seniors level off at eight hours of sleep. While the quality of sleep can decrease with age, the need for eight hours of sleep does not. If we take a typical day in the life of a teenager, they get up at 6:30 a.m., have classes from 7:50 to 3:25 p.m., have marching band or athletic practice from 3:45 to 6, have dinner and then do 3 hours of homework from 7 to 10. If they get in bed by 10:30 they need to sleep until 8:30 the next morning way past the tardy bell to get
ten hours of needed sleep. They sit in class with lessened ability to concentrate or pay attention and feel moody and stressed. The teacher assigns more homework to make up for the lack of learningin the classroom and this devitalizing cycle of sleep deprivation continues. Further, sleep deprivation is now linked to obesity because the tired brain releases the hunger hormones and to Type II diabetes. According to the National Institute of Health, sleep deprivation in children can cause daytime hyperactivity and decrease in focused attention. This can be mistaken for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or other behavior disorders!
At bedtime and through the night, have the bedroom as dark and quiet as possible. Have the thermostat of the bedroom wing programmed between 65 to 68 degrees F starting at tuck-in time until around dawn. Have plants to take out carbon dioxide and add oxygen into the room. Have red night lighting outside the bedroom and in the bathroom if you need to get up in the night. This gives you enough light to see but not enough of
the white/blue light to bring you to a fully awake state and make it difficult to go back to sleep.
“Sprang from my bed”
In the morning, the best way to wake up fresh and alert is to do so naturally with the light of the sun with the bedrooms oriented to get eastern light. The thermostat is programmed to bring the temperature of the room to around 70 degrees F. Your body wakes you up at the end of REM instead of the alarm clock jerking you awake in the middle of your dream. This is the decade we’ll change our attitudes as a society about sleep as we come to understand the
neurobiology of sleep and its massive impact on our physical and mental health and productivity.
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”
Further readings:
Twas the Night Before Christmas in its original version:
http://www.nightbeforechristmas.biz/poem.htm
National Institute of Health “Your Guide to Healthy Sleep
http://catalog.nhlbi.nih.gov/catalog/product/Your-Guide-to-Healthy-Sleep/11-5271
TEDtalk by Russell Foster “Why We Sleep”
http://www.ted.com/playlists/223/talks_to_inspire_you_to_go_to
Thanks for this, Cathy. My main problem is not going to sleep.( I go to bed every night around 10 pm.) I usually do quite easily. But, I often awaken around 2:30-3:30 am. Cannot go back to sleep and often, at this time of year, the birds start their morning song around 4:30. If I haven't yet gone back to sleep, I usually don't. Sigh....
ooh, how serene.
I can't wait for tomorrow's hearings....
I wrote the following letter to Merrick Garland:
Dear Attorney General Garland,
I am writing to you as a concerned American who fears that our Democracy, something I have always been grateful for and certain that it would be forever safely guaranteed in this country, is now in peril. Donald J. Trump, whose actions and statements have given the green light to racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and violence, has proven in broad daylight, that he doesn’t give a hoot about it.
Had Robert Mueller indicted Trump and taken him off the streets as he deserved to be, our Democracy would not have come perilously close to extinction on January 6th, and you would not be in the unenviable position of having to decide on something as unprecedented as indicting a former president. Remember, though, that this would not have been a first if Richard Nixon had not resigned.
I write the following as a mental health therapist. Knowing full well that Biden had won in a free and fair election, Trump would have done anything, even allowing murder to have been committed, in order to foment the lie that the election was stolen from him. He would have stopped at nothing to overturn the election, no matter how illegal he knew his actions to be, for only one reason. Commentators endlessly suggest that Trump committed his actions against the law and our constitution in order to hold onto power. No, it’s more deeply psychological than that. His father imbued in him from childhood, that the worst thing anyone can be in this world is a loser. This is ingrained in every fiber of his mind and psyche. Accepting loss would be an existential threat to him--the same as dying. Therefore, he must propagate the lie to save his life. Being a loser is simply not an option. This is why Trump has manipulated his followers to have election officials in place who would overturn the election results if he runs again and loses. This cannot be allowed to happen. There are clear reasons why charges such as “seditious conspiracy” exist, and that the framers called for a peaceful transfer of power between factions in Articles 1 and 4 of our Constitution.
As a result of the January 6th Select Committee’s herculean effort of scrupulously laying out the facts, thus far the majority of Americans polled believe that Trump should be indicted and convicted for his crimes. For the sake of our Democracy, I hope that you will uphold your promise—that no one is above the law and if found guilty, regardless of the individual’s position and whether they were at the Capitol or not, they will be duly prosecuted. I trust that you will follow through and do your part.
Sincerely,
I hope Merrick Garland read your letter, Sophia. In the history of our country, Garland’s responsibility to hold a former president accountable is possibly the most important decision a government official has. The consequences are whether or not we have fair elections and whether we tolerate those who have no regard for the rule of law, or prosecute them. What Garland does will have enormous, long-lasting consequences.
And while Democrats are hanging their hats on 01/06, the Republicans are hard at work convincing voters to support them.
From the Denver Post
“If Cliff Aragon’s take on politics reflects what other Latinos in Colorado are thinking as the mid-term election looms just over four months away, it could be an early and unwelcome warning sign for Democrats.
“He’s doing a horrible job,” the unaffiliated voter in Adams County’s Sherrelwood neighborhood, just south of West 84th Avenue, said of President Joe Biden.
“Aragon was on a list of homes being targeted Tuesday evening by a team of GOP volunteers, wearing matching red T-shirts, who believe that face-to-face engagement with a segment of the population historically aligned with Democrats is a crucial campaign strategy. Nick Coltrain and John Aguilar report.”
Thanks, Sophia. I'm sure he will, and it's good that he should read letters like this.
Thank you Anne-Louise, I believe that public sentiment counts.
Votes are what count, despite polling and public sentiment.
Yes, but it's the DOJ that indicts....
Indicting may be like chasing a bear up a tree.
I'll take it....
It must count! it's one of the factors to be considered when forming a judgement.
Wow!! So well written and explanatory!
YES!
Convict trump and ALL the complicit in deed and silence...
at least FIVE House republicans asked trump for pardons and probably his children and many others including Gaetz, Gohmert, Biggs, Brooks, Perry: + that pitiful soul Rudy Giuliani, etc., etc., etc.
As deserving as they are of indictment and a conviction, which must be left to a judge or jury, that would only serve to waste time and take our energies away from working to defeat them at the polls. The next battle will be fought on November 8 and part of it will mean convincing voters that the Republican Party, as presently constituted, is not only un-American, but the party of sedition. Ask Representative Kinzinger, who has chosen not to run for re-election, about that.
Hey Jack Lippman:
VOTING STRATEGIES
Praying every Democrat initiates or fully participates in this methodology…
Quoted From the Denver Post
“If Cliff Aragon’s take on politics reflects what other Latinos in Colorado are thinking as the mid-term election looms just over four months away, it could be an early and unwelcome warning sign for Democrats.
“He’s doing a horrible job,” the unaffiliated voter in Adams County’s Sherrelwood neighborhood, just south of West 84th Avenue, said of President Joe Biden.
“Aragon was on a list of homes being targeted Tuesday evening by a team of GOP volunteers, wearing matching red T-shirts, who believe that face-to-face engagement with a segment of the population historically aligned with Democrats is a crucial campaign strategy. Nick Coltrain and John Aguilar report.”
Not bad, Eh Jack.......
Go Ducks!
Duck graduate of 1969, "Hell No We Won't Go" "Far Out" So-cal woody wagon surfer...wonderful memories!!!
Excellent book title.....
Thank you (I write about my time there).
Graduate of 1979, School of Architecture....
Very interesting...I too a Graduate of 1969, School of Architecture, (at that time Oregon's school was one of the best Schools of Architecture in America!), .... 52 years of making lots of peoples' dreams a reality...and continuing to do so now....
How about that! I got into Harvard which was rated #5 at the time and decided on the U of O, rated #3 (I bet we've had the same professors). I met Buckminster Fuller when he had come to lecture there in 1973 (I write about the magical synchronicities that brought us together in my book) and came to Philadelphia to work with him after graduating (I'm now on my third career). You can find a photo of us on my website, sophiademas.com, on "My Influencers" page. You my contact me directly through there. Nice to meet you George!
Sophia, I am a retired therapist and I totally agree that the real reason for the "big lie" is tRump's inability to ever be considered a loser. And as we know, narcissists don't lose.
And as long he's got his narrow ignorant feckless followers living under a rock that believe the lie, he's not a loser....
Well written Sophia. I share your fears of just how dangerous Trump is to our country, and that he must be stopped sooner rather than later. I don't know if you have noticed in the hearings, but I do not see alot of Trump being directly involved in the conspiracy. It's always his henchmen who have the direct involvement, just like a shrewd mafia boss. And his henchmen will go down.
I believe that he has enough experience in his real estate dealings in New York, and his other ventures, to have a pretty good feel for where to draw the line. What he can do and not do in order to thwart the law. And, he gets help from shrewd and unethical people in that regard. That is not to say he has not gone far enough for indictment - I think he is not an intelligent person, or a cautious person, and is highly capable of making the stupid mistake that gets him in the end. The phone call to Raffensperger might end up being one such thing. But he is infamous for being slippery. If I am Garland, I want to be sure I have him on the hook very securely. Deeply unethical and corrupt conduct does not necessarily break the law, especially if the law is not well defined. Pretty sure he is well aware of public opinion on this, and I am trusting that DOJ will do the right thing in a timely manner. But they cannot just go with public opinion.
I have a different take--the Select Committee has done a spectacular job of uncovering evidence that all roads lead to trump...and he's no longer a sitting president....
they don’t have to. I believe the DOJ has now a huge amount of evidence, especially for tax fraud, money laundering, wire fraud, and recorded phone calls in Georgia to interfere in a fair election.
I believe that Attorney General Garland recognizes that indicting the defeated former president would lead to a trial with very uncertain results. Because of the ambiguities in which he has spoken for years, before and after his election, there is an excellent chance that he would be acquited. That would be worse than his election in 2016. His language has always been that of the shady salesman, skirting the truth, remaining barely within the law, but nevertheless convincing to gullible customers. Conviction in a court of law is far more difficult than conviction in the eyes of the public. The House's two impeachments of him, the equivalent of indictments, did not survive the 'jury' for which the Senate served, just as the Mueller Report did not survive a corrupt AG's editing, three horrendous events! His being found 'not guilty' would be even worse! That is the chance that Garland seems reluctant to take. The only jury he should face is that of the public on Election Day in November, and two years from now. Every candidate whom he supports, and those who continue to support him, must be defeated. If that doesn't happen, the country will deserve what it gets. So, register voters and make sure they vote. If he manages to get away with his crimes, perhaps your grandchildren will clean up the resulting mess.
Not a pretty picture you paint, but I believe that people's disdain is swelling and that's not to be ignored--more than 60% of ALL Americans think trump should be indicted. Remember, he's no longer president. And I guarantee you that if Nixon had not resigned and Ford had not pardoned him, he was on his way to prison, trump's next residence....
thoughtful comments, many thanks. Isn’t there an overwhelming amount of evidence in the form of recorded phone calls, sworn testimony, that should in any case be more than enough to indict trump? yes, there is - but convicting him and diminishing his influence is what the country needs. I say this but I’m not a lawyer. I see a slide into fascism happening, everyone does, and it must be stopped. Prosecute those who sought to violently overthrow a fair election, starting with trump. He is not above the law.
You don't need to be a lawyer to come to your conclusions. Why does some ignoramus go to jail for blindly following the insurrectionists onto the Capitol but the hideous man behind the curtain, who was in on the plan from inception, wishing death on his vice president be let off the hook?
EXCELLENT letter. I'll send it too, Sophia, assuming it's ok w you? For some reason I'm not able to copy it.🤔
Thank you. Why not write your own message, however brief—the more voices the better….
Rest up! And then we should all buckle up!
Absolutely!!
Love that solstice light on the water.
Peace, Heather...
The lightning bugs here in the Vermont hills are mesmerizing tonight.
Yes, Hale! I went out last night after the rains and they were so beautiful. I told my friend who was with me that we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place with lights flickering all around us. Am sending the light and beauty to Merrick Garland who is tasked with a job that we have no idea what will be unleashed. But it must be done. It Must Be.
Middlesex
Putney!
Here in Minnesota too. So peaceful to just watch them blink in and out.
Yes, that was particularly lovely. Thank you Buddy.
I get that from my balcony! Magical moment. From the east at 7.45 in the morning, and from the west at 5 pm. If it's not raining, I can see the big ships on the horizon. (Guess where I am...)
Norway? Tromso, perhaps?
No...the sun doesn't set at all up there - they've got the summer solstice!
The sun rises at 7.45 am late June at Cape Cod??
Blessings upon you both. Take good care of each other.
Your live tweets are keeping me grounded - thanks for your contribution to our continued democracy
Well deserved rest . Thank you and Buddy!
Beautiful sentiment and gorgeous photo. Rest well, professor.
So glad you are taking care of yourself. You do so much, some of us worry a bit about about you.
The lobsters are moving North due to a warming Gulf of Maine, so get them whisk they are around. Sad to say, our democratic governor, Janet Mills, and her Central Maine Power brother, are gung ho for aquaculture salmon CAFOs. That’s like a hog confinement operation on steroids. One proposed in Belfast from a Norwegian company called Nordic AquaFarms would put out 7,000,000 gallons of warmed parasite laden water into the bay daily. There is a need for reliable electricity to keep the pumps running and oxygen flowing 24 seven. Last week the public utility commission approved a $63 million upgrade by CMP for Midcoast Maine, which will be paid for by the rate payers but its prime beneficiary seems to be Nordic AquaFarms. This is socialism for the corporations. The town of Belfast for many years had a huge chicken processing plant right on the bay downhill from downtown. The smell the dust the feathers the offal going directly into the Penobscot bay was wretched. Of course jobs were available and the environmental disaster was tolerated. A cleanup occurred partially due to the philanthropy of NBNA which helped remove the factory and replace it with a beautiful park. Now it appears that Belfast is enamored of the unknown number of jobs and the known environmental degradation of a foreign corporation building a plant hear that it is no longer allowed to build in Norway. It will again have an environmental and carbon spewing disaster at their door. The Belfast City Council is totally sold on this project. The only lever is emails and letters to Governor Janet Mills to ask her to back off her support. Yet the project may be killed off due to supply chain cost increases after all. The current financial projections did not include the enormous increase in concrete and steel and labor and electricity.
There are numerous proposed salmon factories along the gulf of Maine and no government or region or federal agency seems to be looking at that synergistic impact of all these plants dumping nutrients, viruses and warmed water into the Gulf.
These Norwegians claimed they are producing high-quality protein to feed people. However they are taking lesser value fish some even harvested off the shores of Africa, out of the mouths of poor people, they’re taking soy beans grown with Roundup and corn grown with Roundup and pig blood and any thing that is available according to the cost of the day to create fish food. This higher quality protein is only affordable by coastal elites in Boston,New York, Providence, New Haven. It’s not going to feed Mainers.
We ask your readers simply to NOT buy farmed salmon because no matter where it is grown,it destroys the estuaries and the livelihood of local fishermen like Buddy and the indigenous aquaculture already established such as oyster growing—just to make profits for a multinational corporation that is not welcome to build in their own country.
Thanks for your attention.
Wow, I know salmon farming is a problem but had no idea the details. It confirms what I have known for most of my long life - that man and greed can turn any great idea into rancid reality.
Thank you, Heather! Your letters and interviews are keeping us informed and enthralled. Now out west, I miss the fresh lobsters!
Good idea Heather - get some much deserved rest!
Rest well! Lovely photo. Aaaaah!
Mmm...lobsters.