Chocolate Link To Insomnia?

The claim: Chocolate can be disruptive to sleep.

The fact: Chocolate can stir up feelings of affection and awaken the taste buds, but some people wonder if it can have a less pleasant side effect – keeping them up at night.

Chocolate contains caffeine, as many people know, but in varying amounts depending on the type. A 42.5g Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, for example, contains 9 mg of caffeine – about three times as much as a cup of decaffeinated coffee. However, a dark chocolate Hershey’s candy bar has far more – about 30mg. That is the same as a cup of instant tea and slightly less than a typical cup of brewed tea which contains about 40mg of caffeine.

In other words, a dark chocolate desert, eaten late enough, might leave you counting plenty of sheep.

Chocolate also has other stimulants. One is theobromine, the compound that makes chocolate dangerous to dogs and cats because they metabolise it so slowly. Theobromine, which increases heart rate and causes sleeplessness, is found in small amounts in chocolate, especially the dark variety. The National Sleep Foundation recommends avoiding chocolate – as well as coffee, tea and soft drinks – before bedtime.

However, there is an alternative. White chocolate does not contain any theobromine and little if any caffeine.

The bottom line: Eating chocolate at night may keep you awake.

- The New York Times 

Why Is There So Much Suffering In The World?

There is so much suffering because there is so much sentience, or experience. We are sentient beings. We feel as well as think. We experience life on many levels. Because of that, we can live deeply. But because of that, we can suffer tremendously.

The smarter you are, the more you can suffer. Until you really wise up. Then you can put things into a bigger perspective and endure what before would have been unendurable.

But again, why is there so much suffering? Our freedom is so powerful, we can create enormous suffering for each other. And we do. That explains part of it. Some of that is intentional evil. Some is just stupidity. But even apart from malice and thoughtlessness, suffering enters our lives.

We can’t always say why. We can’t always understand the suffering that we see around us. And this frustrates us. But we can respond to it better than we typically do. And here is a fascinating fact about human life that I’ve noticed. The people who respond to suffering the best seem puzzled and frustrated by it the least. And this itself is something well worth philosophising about.

- Tom Morris 

A Joke

              A little girl and her mother were out shopping one afternoon when they ran across one of the mother’s old school friends. “How ugly you are!” the little girl blurted out when she was introduced to the woman.

              Horrified, her mother scolded her by saying, “That’s a terrible thing to say to someone!”

              “It was just meant as a joke,” the little girl said lamely.

              Without thinking about what she was really saying, her mother replied, “Well, the joke would have been much better if you’d said to Mrs. Jones, ‘How pretty you are!’”

Those Were The Days

The following has been making the rounds on the internet. Although I have read it many times, it still brings back vivid memories of days gone by – memories of the innocent years, as well as the harsh times – whenever I read it. If you are one of those born in that era, you will no doubt see the progress of the times. 

To all those who were born in the 50s, 60s and 70s

First we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked and cleaned while taking care of us at the same time. We took aspirin, candy floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrup And diabetes was rare. Salt added to Pepsi or coke was remedy for fever. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycle motorcycles. Richer ones in cars without the seatbelts or airbags. Riding in the back of a private taxi is a special treat. We drank water from the tap and not from the bottle. We would spend hours in the fields under bright sunlight, flying our kites. Without worrying about UV rays which never seem to affect us. We go into the jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes.

With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be an endless game. With a ball, we boys would run like crazy for hours. We caught guppies in drains or canals and when it rained we swam there. We share one soft drink with 4 friends from on bottle and no one actually worried about being unhygienic. We ate salty, very sweet and oily food, candies bread and real butter and drank very sweet coffee or tea, ice kachang, but we weren’t over weight because…. We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill, Only to find out that we forgot the brakes, after running into the bushes a few times we learn to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, multiple channels on Cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sounds, no phones, no PC, no internet.

We had Friends. And we went out and found them. We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts. We never had birthday parties until we were 21. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! Yet this generation had produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility and we learned how to deal with it all.

If you are one of them CONGRATULATIONS! You may want to share this with others who have the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, Forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were!

Learning The Art Of Small Talk

I came across this article decades ago. Being rather shy then, I had hope to pick up some tips on how to open a conversation or respond to one. Guess I must have learned the art of small talk from here. :-)

Many shy people just disdain small talk. While others ‘unselfconsciously’ open conversations with comments about the weather; shy people remain silent because they fear being boring, unoriginal. They are sure that if they ever looked up from the gory pictures in their morning newspaper to say to a neighbouring stranger, “God, what a terrible plane accident,” he or se would snort contemptuously and move to another subway car. They are very wrong!

As your desire to free yourself from the shackles of shyness intensifies, begin to study how others open conversations with strangers. You’ll notice how often people use opening lines that sound inane, clichéd, and trite. In movies and books, heroes and heroines exchange clever, witty remarks. In real life, the opposite seems to be the rule.

Small talk helps to unleash the thoughts that are on the tip of everyone’s tongue. To be sure, even the most ordinary citizens have profound inner reflections on death, humour, love, sex, and religion buried in the deep recesses of their mind. But, for whatever reason, the great majority of the people you come across in this world would rather leave their complex thoughts where they are, particularly when first getting to know a stranger.

Granted, small talk can appear boring, unchallenging, even hypnotizing in its dullness. It sometimes feels like sawdust in your mouth. But once you discover its immense power to interest your fellow women and men, to make them feel good, to help them to trust and like you, you can begin to employ it whenever you see someone you are drawn to.

From there it’s easy to continue on to topics more profound and fulfilling. But there’s nothing like small talk to get things off the ground. If you’re not convinced, just spend the next few weeks eavesdropping on the people around you. You’ll be astonished at the frequency with which small talk is used in office reception areas, at lunch counters, in pubs, on commuter trains and buses. And you’ll be even more astonished at its acceptance.

So don’t torture yourself trying to be Shakespeare. It’s not necessary. Don’t clam up because you’re convinced nothing you can think up could possibly impress anyone. People don’t want to be impressed. They want to be liked, listened to, and appreciated. Just keep you ear open for small talk. And practice using it yourself whenever you get the chance.

Small talk works a little like a Ping-Pong game. You serve your opener. The other person relates an anecdote or tells a story while you listen. Then it’s your turn again. There’s no need to be brilliant or personal or deep. Just play the game of friendly small talk. You will find small talk a magnificently powerful way to meet new people.

- Author Unknown

Is happiness Really Possible in Our World?

Yes. It sometimes seems as illusive as anything you can imagine, but it is available in this world. Happiness should never be confused with self-indulgence or even with gleeful giddiness. It is, in the end, less an emotional state than a total state of being. Evil makes it difficult. Suffering tries to hold it at bay. It sometimes seems that so many things hold us hostage in this world that we can never shake free to be truly happy. And how can I be happy today, not knowing what tomorrow will bring? Again, without even worrying about the future, the past itself may weight on you and hold you back from the happiness you crave.

The most insightful philosophers have made it clear that the only moment we ever really possess is the present. And yet the past and the future are constantly trying to assert ownership over us. One of the most important forms of liberation to be attained in this world is freedom from the times that we do not really possess. Haunted by the past or held by hopes of the future, most people never really experience the present moment in all its fullness. And yet this is the foundation for experiencing true happiness.

The great philosophers have made it clear that engagement in a process of working toward worthy objectives, along with other good people – a process that you can enjoy along the way – is a fundamental key to the universally sought state of personal happiness. It is not, for most people, attainable as a solitary pursuit. And it can’t be bought or borrowed. It must be created as the by product of loving, creative activities that make a difference for good in the world.

There are happy people in this world. Actually, there are many. Sometimes you have to move a bit outside the normal spheres of your daily activity to find them. But finding one of them can be an inspiration for life. Being one of them allows you to inspire others for life.

- Tom Morris - 

Basketball Coach

              The basketball coach stormed into the university President’s office and demanded a raise right then and there. 

              “Please,” protested the college President. “You already make more than the entire History department.’’

              “Yeah, maybe so, but you don’t know what I have to put up with.” The coach blustered. “Look.”

              He went out into the hall and grabbed a jock who was jogging down the hallway. “Run over to my office and see if I’m there.” he ordered. 

              Twenty minutes later the jock returned, sweaty and out of breath. 

              “You’re not there, sir,’’ he reported. 

              “Oh, I see what you mean,’’ conceded the President, scratching his head. “I would have phoned.”

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- by Robert Frost

Optical Illusion

Here's a couple of Optical Illusions.

Can you read the words 'OPTICAL ILLUSiON' in the first picture?

Or the word 'EVIL' in 'GOOD' in the second picture?

How about the 'you' in 'me' in the third picture?

What’s The Best Time For Exercise?

The claim: Morning is the best time to exercise.

The facts: Without a doubt, exercise at any time of the day beats no exercise at all. However, are there physiological advantages to working out in the morning versus evening, or vice versa?

              In various studies, scientists have found that subjects tend to do slightly better on measures of physical performance – including endurance, strength output, reaction time and aerobic capacity – between 4 and 7pm. 

              The explanations are numerous: the body’s temperature and hormone levels peak in late afternoon, making muscles more flexible and producing the best ratio of testosterone (muscle-building hormone) to cortisol (the hormone that does the reverse). Stress activates cortisol secretion.

              However, these variations have only small effects and studies have shown that the body can adapt to the time of day that you train. 

              In several long-term studies, for example, scientist randomly split people into groups and instructed them to train only in the morning or only in the early evening.

              In the end, the morning exercisers generally did well on tests of physical performance while the evening exercisers did better when tested later in the day. 

              On a practical level, that means that if you plan to run a marathon that starts in the morning, it maybe best to schedule your training runs early in the day.

The bottom line: In general, research suggests that the ideal time to exercise is late afternoon, though the advantages are slight.

- The New York Times