Ba-Wah!!

My mother loved children – she would have given anything if I had been one.
—     Groucho Marx
There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep.
—     Ralph Waldo Emerson
[Particularly before two years of age!    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Prior Reflection (I Hope)
2022	Be Someone For Somebody
2021	Genius (And Other Details)
	I Don’t Know Why (I’m In A Hurry)
	Going Into The Deep End
2020	Repercussions For Health
2019	Chained To #45
2018	Some Men Make Their Office As Small As Themselves
2017	Too Many
2016	Not Yet, Anyway
2015	On Pornography
2014	Nudge, Nudge
2013	The Journey Will Be Joy
2012	Hopeful Flights
2011	Irrationally Predictable
	Lawful Restraint

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An Autumn’s Pause

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
—     Robert Frost
[This is a poem I’ve referenced several times in posts and included on my “Poems” page (many years ago), but never actually posted “as a post”.  This corrects that oversight.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Discovering Humanity
2021	Likely To Be Subtle
	My Temp’s Pretty High (Rollover Beethoven)
	Scratching A Persistent Itch
2020	A Word Of Assurance They Are Not Alone
	Is #45 Still Crying? (So Very Hard To Go)
2019	It’s Obvious
2018	Passed Too Swiftly (These Are The Days Of Our Lives)
2017	On Our Wall (Part 1)
2016	Or The Ripples From A Good Life
2015	Titles And Reputations
2014	Unfolding
2013	Again
2012	Needs
	Damned
2011	Potter & Prejudice
	Blink, Blink

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Sometimes While We’re Awake

In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep.
―     Socrates
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On This Day In:
2022	Ask Your Friends To Vote In November
2021	What Matters To Me
	With The Slamming Of The Door (It’s All Coming Back To Me Now)
2020	Make Voting A Habit
	You Ought To Hear Him Tell His Stories (Silence On The Line)
2019	2019 49ers Season Starts 5-0!!
	Will Any Republican Senator Vote For Impeachment?
2018	VOTE – We Need A Wave
2017	Soothe, Inspire And Recharge
2016	Aren’t We?
2015	Cold Embrace
2014	Delightful
2013	Apprenticeship
2012	Curtain Rods
2011	A Living Force
2010	BART Rides – A Tipping Point

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Vote NO In The California Recall

You see, sleep or no sleep, hunger or no hunger, tired or not tired, you can always do a thing when you know it must be done.
—     George Bernard Shaw
[If you are of voting age, live in California, and have not already voted by mail, get to your local polling location and vote NO on the California Recall.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	A Duty To Disobey
2021	Vote NO In The California Recall
	On And On (Don’t Stop Believin’)
2020	The Importance You Can Have
	Slow Dancin’ (Let’s Get It On)
	Trump Reaffirms His Administration Is The Cause Of West Coast Wildfires
2019	A Lifestyle
	Day 16: Cheat Day
2018	The Children Are Our Future (The Greatest Love Of All)
2017	And Three
2016	Nine Parts Mystery
2015	Little Or No Common Ground
2014	Just Between Me
2013	Beyond The Strings
2012	Saving The Union
2011	Still And Too Often

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Why I Used To Jog At Dawn

The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you, don’t go back to sleep.
—   Rumi
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On This Day In:
2022	Even If It’s To The Precipice
2021	And Ever
	Love Wouldn’t Lie (Look What You’ve Done To Me)
2020	Why I Used To Jog At Dawn
	Seeing You In His Arms (I Want You Back)
2019	The Most Pressing Task
	Don’t Mess With The Lady
2018	Seek A Clear View
2017	Living With Myself
2016	Still Looking In Mirrors?
2015	Fear No Evil
2014	And Nothing Can Be As Tragic As…
2013	Your Tax Dollars At Work
2012	Historically Unacceptable
2011	Niners Are NFC West Division Champions!!
	The Essence Of Leadership

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Time For Bed

A man can do only what he can do.  But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.
—   Albert Schweitzer
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On This Day In:
2022	I’ll Drink To That
2021	A Quest
	I’m Still Wondering
2020	Time For Bed
2019	With Proper Guidance
2018	MAGA?
2017	Neutral
	Family Over Ego
2016	Hard Learners
2015	Goals
2014	Switch To Dogs…
2013	Times Change
2012	Ashes Not Dust
2011	A Handful From Saudi
	None Of This Happened
	Take Responsibility

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Slow Wisdom

Not until just before dawn do people sleep best;  not until people get old do they become wise.
—    Chinese Proverb
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On This Day In:
2022	My Interesting Life
2021	Saving Democracy And A Voting Rights Act
	Just Chillin’ (Breezin’)
2020	Two Hours From Now
	Criminal Incompetence, Criminal Indifference Or Both
2019	Slow Wisdom
	It Is A Start…
2018	Young, Fun And Playing Well
2017	Earning Your Blessings
2016	A Suggestion… (All We Need Is Love)
	Capable Of Being
2015	Looking For The Needles In The Haystacks
2014	The Definition Of A Gentleman
2013	Thar She Blows (Not)!
2012	Naturally
2011	Been Here, Done That
	Remember
2010	Timeless Classics

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Courage And Patience

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones.  And when you have finished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.  God is awake.
—     Victor Hugo
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On This Day In:
2022	A Time Advantage
2021	A “Modest” Goal
	I’ve Had Enough (Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues)
2020	BLM
2019	Courage And Patience
2018	Push The Envelope
2017	Ents
2016	Are You Sure?
2015	Distracted
2014	What It Takes
2013	We Are
2012	Utopian
2011	Seen Any Black Swans Lately?

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I Prefer A Neat Single Malt

Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.
—    Saint Thomas Aquinas
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On This Day In:
2023	Zapped Again (Three)!!!
	The Darkness Of 6 January 2021
	Decrease Your Limits To Increase Your Rates
2022	Defeated: So Far (Anyway)
2021	Elections Have Consequences
	It’s Cold Way Down There (And When I Die)
2020	Fearless Security
2019	I Prefer A Neat Single Malt
2018	Seeking Finer Fruits
2017	Something That Is Absolute
2016	Animate And Encourage
	Out Of Time
2015	In Time
2014	Robust Interconnectivity
2013	What Have We Here?
2012	Tributaries And Eddies
	An Honest Politician
2011	Penultimate

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Mine, Too

My favorite cure for boredom is sleep.  It’s very easy to get to sleep when bored and very hard to get bored after a long rest.
—    Robert M. Pirsig
From his book:  “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“
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On This Day In:
2022	One Of The Problems (Anyway)
2021	Outside Yet?
	Have You Ever Won? (Rhiannon)
2020	Choice
	More Rain Forecast (I Love A Rainy Night)
2019	He Claims It’s Fake News And Spies
2018	Mine, Too
2017	Who’s Turn Is It Now?
2016	Before You Vote In November…
2015	Two Faithful Thoughts
2014	Love Light
	Orange October (III) – Giants Advance To National League Championship Series (NLCS)
2013	Nothing Ridiculous
2012	Keeping Faith
2011	Summon Us, Don’t Criticize Us
2010	Obama’s Wars – Book Review
	Game Two – Hearbreaking Loss

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My Family Calls It Hoarding

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.
—    Jorge Luis Borges
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On This Day In:
2022	I’m Not So Sure
2021	The Margin Of Safety
	Hold Your Head Up (Sweet Dreams)
2020	In The Path
	Hangin’ Out
	But I Won’t Do That (I Would Do Anything For Love)
	Unless You Are #45
2019	Seeking Nobility
2018	My Family Calls It Hoarding
	Day 30: Done & Dusted
2017	Rogers’ Rules (Hexadecimal)
2016	But, It’s Such A Simple Mistake
2015	Crawl Towards The Light
2014	Sweet Songs
2013	The Wife Of An Ordinary Man
2012	Three Words
2011	Know Anyone Like This?
2010	Apoplexy??
	When Breaking Up Is Hard To Do…
	Sibling Awareness

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Day 11: Just Plain Tired

The end of day eleven and the start of day twelve…
Morning weight: 356lbs.  The scale actually read under 355lbs, but that can not possibly be correct so I am just subtracting 2lbs from yesterday’s weight total.  That’s 24lbs of total weight loss at the end of 11 days.  Obviously, this much weight loss is not sustainable.  IMHO.  It is only possible when you are experiencing rapid weight loss due to elimination of waist in your stomach.  In any case, my expectation is to lose about 1lb per day.  I’m sure the law of diminishing returns will kick in soon and it will much more difficult to lose 2lbs, let alone 3 to 5lbs in a single day.  I guess I know more tomorrow.
Another bad night for sleep.  We were still tired from the prior night, so we went to bed early.  11:00pm  —  Yes, I know, but that’s early for us.  It didn’t help.  Hil fell straight to sleep and I tossed for and hour before falling to sleep.  I then woke up at 3am.  I tossed for another hour (until 4:00am).  When I could not go back to sleep, I decided to get up and read.  I read some emails, played around on my blog and then finally walked the dog at 7am.  The sky was (is still) grey and full of smoke from the wildfires up north.  The sun was bright red and so diffuse you could look directly at it for a second or two (without seeming to hurt your eyes).
I got in my hour of treading water at the pool and upped the twisting motion to four sets of 100 (4X100).  I expect I may get up to 10 sets if I keep practicing.  I’m thinking of naming the twisting motion “agitator”, as I feel like the agitator in a cloth’s washer.  And it sure does make one puff.  It’s kind of like a sprint.
Once again, too lazy to make veggie juice.  I got by on mixed fruit juice, but it is waaaayyy too sweet and doesn’t leave me feeling anywhere near as “clean” inside at my veggie juices.  I am committing to making another bunch of veggie juice (swamp juice) tomorrow.  Ideally, that will get me through 14 days / 2 weeks (this Friday).
We’ll see.  Day by day…
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On This Day In:
2022	Wake Up Call For November 2022
2021	And It Will Be Here Last
	Still Goode 40 Years Later (Johnny B. Goode)
2020	Necessary And Desirable
	Who Made The Rules? (The Way It Is)
2019	The Far Side
2018	Hold On
	Day 11: Just Plain Tired
2017	Why Don’t You Tell Us What You Really Think?
2016	Discontent
2015	Do You Know Me?
	Appetite For Life Update
2014	Tough Journalism
2013	Things I’ve Learned
2012	Abstainer, n.
2011	Rain, Rain, Rain
	Test Your Strength
2009	End the mistakes…

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We Sleep To Remember And We Sleep To Forget

It wouldn’t be healthy, or efficient, to remember every event or experience in its full factual and emotional context.  But separating the emotional aspects of a memory — the anger over an argument with your spouse, the frustration at the guy who cut you off in traffic, the dejection you felt after getting a curt email reply from your boss — from its objective parts allows you to recall the experience without reliving it.  “We sleep to remember and we sleep to forget,” says Walker, the UC Berkeley sleep scientist, of this coping mechanism.  “I call it overnight therapy.”
This type of processing takes time.  It likely happens only during deep, quality sleep, and only over consistent nights of such sleep.  That may explain why people who cut their sleep short or experience interrupted sleep may not fully disentangle the emotional baggage from their memories.
In those cases the memory, in its emotionally taxing entirety, continues to resurface every time the brain tries to sleep, in a vain effort to be properly processed.  The brain tries to store the memory in a neutral way, but without deep sleep, there just isn’t enough time for that triage.
Walker believes these aborted efforts may drive conditions like PTSD, which is well understood to be common among combat veterans but which may be more common among the general population than therapists and researchers previously thought.
“The more nights you sleep, the more soothing the influence of sleep on that memory,” he says.  “Sleep continues to work on those emotional memories and flatten them out after about a week.  Now there’s great evidence that PTSD is a disorder in which that process fails.”
…
There’s also strong support for the idea that insufficient sleep may be a trigger for, and not just a symptom of, a number of mental illnesses, including depression, bipolar disorder and even schizophrenia.  Depriving people with bipolar disorder of sleep, for example, can launch a manic episode, while some people with depression report worsening symptoms when they aren’t sleeping well.
Fully understanding the role sleep plays in mental illness is a rich area of future research.  Already many doctors think consistent, high-quality sleep can have a direct bearing on the health of those with mental illness.  “Anyone who suffers from moderate or significant mental-health concerns needs to be aware that sleep may be one of the most important things they can do,” says Walker.
Stress, scientists also know, is one of the more potent accelerators of aging, and a body that’s not sleeping enough looks similar to one that’s stressed out — it’s highly reactive to perceived threats, even when those threats don’t pose any real risk.  Biologically speaking, there’s virtually no difference in the way a body reacts to a startling noise in the middle of the night, a rabid raccoon or a stressful work deadline:  in all cases, fight-or-flight mode is triggered, blood pressure spikes, breathing gets shallow, and the heart starts to race.  That’s what happens to a body on no sleep too.
Those stress reactions can be useful, of course:  they help you respond more readily to an actual physical threat.  But that’s not usually what’s going on.  And staying in an alert mode can trigger a number of unhealthy conditions, the most damaging of which is inflammation.
Inflammation is the body’s natural defense system against injury or invading microbes like bacteria and viruses.  It’s why your toe turns red and throbs when you stub it or when it’s infected:  white blood cells rush to the area in order to protect it for the short time it’s needed to help you get better.  But inflammation can also become chronic, and that’s when the real trouble starts.
Chronic inflammation, doctors now know, is a leading driver of many diseases, including some cancers, cognitive decline, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes — even chronic pain.  And one of the main drivers of chronic inflammation is, of course, not sleeping enough.
Quoted by:  Alice Park
In her article:  “The Sleep Cure“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine
Dtd:  Feb 27 – Mar 9, 2017
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On This Day In:
2022	I Remember…
2021	Biden Won By Almost 7 Million Votes
	Waiting Outside My Door
2020	The Tragedy Of Trump Republicanism
2019	What Do Your Children See You Doing?
2018	Is #45 STILL Losing America
2017	We Sleep To Remember And We Sleep To Forget
2016	Useful Gift
2015	Who’s The Boss?
2014	What Counts In The Future
2013	Improper Sequence?
2012	Two Gems
2011	A True Test

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The Single Most Effective Thing For Health

I used to suggest that sleep is the third pillar of good health, along with diet and exercise.  But I don’t agree with that anymore.  Sleep is the single most effective thing you can do to reset your brain and body for health.
—    Matthew Walker
Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology
University of California, Berkeley
Quoted by:  Alice Park
In her article:  “The Sleep Cure“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine
Dtd:  Feb 27 – Mar 9, 2017
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On This Day In:
2022	We Need Both
2021	Broaden The Circle
	The Phone Keeps Ringing
2020	Stay Gentle
2019	Immoral #45
2018	From My Soapbox
2017	The Single Most Effective Thing For Health
2016	A Trumpet Solo
2015	Potential Is A Heavy Burden
2014	Fear Not, Weep Not
2013	Half Way There
2012	Sacrificed Any Lately?
2011	The Value Of One’s Character
2010	Intervals
	On Being Human
	Non-predictive Emergence
	Events
	Bodily Functions
	Standing Thoughts
	Sent Home Is Better Than Fixed

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