Experiencing frequent nighttime awakenings can be frustrating and disrupt your sleep quality. Some people are sensitive sleepers who find it difficult to continue their sleep once it is disturbed, they take great precautions to make sure they do not wake up but sometimes it is not in their hand!

Imagine lying in bed, your mind racing, struggling to return to the comforting embrace of sleep. As you toss and turn, you might feel the weight of the day pressing down on you. But fret not; by implementing certain strategies, you can transform your nighttime experience and enjoy restful sleep, waking up refreshed and rejuvenated.

If you find yourself struggling to fall back asleep after waking up in the middle of the night, implementing these strategies can significantly improve your sleep.

By creating a conducive sleep environment and adopting healthy habits, you can promote restful sleep and wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

Tips to help you fall back to sleep

If you are experiencing insomnia and having trouble sleeping, make sure you visit the doctor and get checked out for any underlying issue.

Avoid Blue Light Exposure

The blue light emitted from electronic devices can interfere with your sleep-wake cycle, making it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Avoid using screens for at least an hour before bed. If you must use electronic devices, consider using blue light filtering glasses or apps.

Create a Relaxing Bedtime Routine

Establishing a calming bedtime routine can signal to your body that it's time to wind down and prepare for sleep. This could include activities like taking a warm bath, reading a book, or practicing relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation. A consistent bedtime routine can help you fall asleep more easily and stay asleep throughout the night.

Limit Caffeine and Alcohol

Excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption can disrupt sleep patterns and make it difficult to fall back asleep after waking up. Avoid consuming caffeine (found in coffee, tea, and soda) and alcohol several hours before bed.

Manage Stress Effectively

Unresolved stress can make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Practice stress management techniques like meditation, deep breathing, or yoga to reduce anxiety and promote better sleep. You can also try journaling or talking to a friend or family member about your stress.

Avoid Heavy Meals Before Bed

Eating a heavy meal close to bedtime can disrupt your sleep as your body focuses on digestion. Try to eat your last meal a few hours before going to bed. If you're hungry before bed, have a light snack like fruit or yogurt.

Create a Comfortable Sleep Environment

Your bedroom should be a peaceful and inviting space that promotes relaxation. Ensure your bedroom is dark, quiet, and cool. Invest in comfortable bedding and pillows, and create a clutter-free space. A comfortable sleep environment can make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.

Get Regular Exercise

Regular physical activity can improve sleep quality, but avoid intense workouts close to bedtime. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise most days of the week. Exercise can help you fall asleep more easily and sleep more soundly.

Avoid Naps During the Day

Long naps can interfere with nighttime sleep, especially if taken late in the afternoon or evening. If you need to nap, limit it to 30 minutes or less.

Seek Medical Advice if Necessary

If you're consistently struggling to fall back asleep after waking up at night, consult a doctor to rule out any underlying medical conditions that may be affecting your sleep. Your doctor can help you identify any potential causes and recommend appropriate treatments.

Foods That Promote Healthy Sleep

What you eat can significantly impact your sleep quality. Consider incorporating the following foods into your evening routine:

Almonds: Rich in magnesium, almonds help regulate sleep hormones and relax muscles. A small handful before bed can be a calming treat.

Kiwi: Packed with antioxidants and serotonin, kiwi can enhance sleep quality. Enjoy one or two before bed for a sweet and nutritious snack.

Chamomile Tea: This herbal tea is renowned for its calming properties. Sip on a warm cup in the evening to help ease your mind and prepare for restful sleep.

Oatmeal: The complex carbohydrates in oatmeal can stimulate insulin production, which may help induce sleepiness. Enjoy a small bowl as a comforting bedtime snack.

Fatty Fish: Rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D, fatty fish like salmon can enhance sleep quality. Try incorporating it into your dinner a few times a week.

At least once in our lives, most of us have dreamed of having a perfect memory. A brain that would remember crucial details at the nick of time, whether it is during your exam or an interview. But this is not just a dream, it is just another day for this young girl, who has a ‘Super Brain’.

Scientifically speaking, she has a very rare condition that makes her remember every detail of her life, like a record. In a 2024 interview by Official W5, Emily Nash, who was 18-year-old at the time of filming, from Ottawa, described her incredible ability to remember everything.

A Person Who Remembers Everything

The video explained how she is one of the few people in the world confirmed to have Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) She can remember the exact date and details of public events, from the death of Queen Elizabeth to celebrity news and movie release dates. Her memory is so precise that she can tell you what she was doing on a specific date, down to what she had for lunch and what was playing on the radio.

Her family even gave her the nickname "Wikipedia" because she was their go-to source for random facts and dates. Emily describes her memory as a "calendar" where each day is like a little movie she can rewind and fast-forward through.

How Is HSAM Different From Having Good Memory?

According to a 2024 study by Neuropsychology Review, HSAM is a very rare and special ability where a person can remember almost every single day of their life in incredible detail. If you give them a specific date, like "January 15, 2003," they can instantly recall what they were doing, what the weather was like, and even what they were wearing. Unlike memory athletes who use tricks to memorize things, people with HSAM do this automatically and without any effort. It feels like a movie playing in their mind. The review confirmed that HSAM is a truly unique type of memory.

It's Fast and Accurate

People with HSAM can recall memories quickly, with amazing detail, and the memories are almost always perfectly accurate.

It Doesn't Fade with Age

A person with HSAM who was studied at ages 75 and 80 still had an incredible memory, showing that this ability seems to resist the normal memory loss that comes with getting older.

It's Only for Personal Memories

The study found that people with HSAM are not better at remembering just anything. They are not smarter, and their memory for general facts, names, or things they learned in a textbook is normal—only their memory for their own life is special.

How Do People With HSAM Remember Everything?

The study explained what goes on inside the brains of people with HSAM.

Brain Activity

When people with HSAM recall a memory, their brain activity goes into overdrive. Areas that are normally used for memory light up much more intensely. This suggests that their memories are more vivid and that the brain's "memory network" is working at a much higher level.

Brain Structure

Interestingly, the physical structure of their brains doesn't appear to be bigger or different in size. Instead, the main difference is in the way certain brain regions are connected, particularly the hippocampus, which is a key part of the brain for memory. This suggests that the special memory isn't because of a bigger brain but because the brain's connections are wired differently.

How Does Researching HSAM Help Brain Health?

Understanding HSAM could be incredibly important for the future. By figuring out how these rare individuals remember so well, scientists might be able to develop new strategies to help people with memory problems, such as those caused by diseases like Alzheimer's. It could also help improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony in legal cases. Ultimately, this research gives us a unique window into how memory works and how it might be strengthened.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is not something many people understand. We all develop this skill as we age and meet more people, however, the learning curve may be different for all of us. But why do we even need to be emotionally intelligent? And how is it a skill? This is not just a social phenomenon, but a complex inter-emotional communication that one needs to learn.

In simpler terms, you as a person need to have the ability to recognize your own feelings, manage them as well as understand other people. The best example of it would be when a young child who never had to share suddenly gets a sibling.

Now everything that belonged solely to the child gets divided, like the parent’s love and affection. In turn, the child acts out in different ways, like throwing tantrums, crying and pouting so that the attention is on them again. It is now the parents’ turn to teach children what they’re feeling and how to manage these feelings.

However, as you grow up, the situations are much more complicated, so are your feelings and you will still encounter people you may not understand or some situations. So how do emotionally intelligent people go about handling things like this. The first answer would be to explain yourself, expressing your feelings and showing your intent. But you are going about this the wrong way.

Tessa West, social psychologist and professor at New York University, speaking to CNBC News says even when you run into a difficult situation like a conflict with a spouse, leaving your feeling bare won’t help the situation as much. So, what do you do? She explains in 3 points what emotionally intelligent people do in difficult situations.

Smart Ways To Handle Conflict

Most people are taught that when you're in a conflict, the first thing you should do is tell the other person how you feel. But a social psychologist says this isn't always the smartest move. True emotional intelligence is not just about expressing feelings but also knowing when to do it. Sometimes, it's better to talk about what happened first.

We Don’t Always See the Same Thing

It’s easy to assume that everyone sees a situation the same way you do. You might feel disrespected because a coworker cut you off in a meeting. But that coworker might have done it because the meeting was almost over, and they had to make a decision.

Instead of starting with your feelings, a better approach is to talk about the specific event. You could say, "Here's what I remember happening. What's your side of the story?" This shows that you're open to hearing their perspective and aren't assuming you're right.

Our Guesses About "Why" Are Often Wrong

It's natural to assume you know why someone did something. But these assumptions are often wrong and can be hurtful. People tend to think the worst if they don't trust the other person.

A better way is to ask for their reasons. You could say, "I made some guesses about why you did that, but I'd love to hear your side." Admitting your assumption helps calm things down and makes room for a real conversation. The reason for their action might be something you never even thought of.

Talk About Feelings Later

Once you've cleared up what happened and why, your feelings might change. With a better understanding, you might not be as upset as you were before.

This is the right time to talk about how you feel. By waiting, you can have a more productive conversation. This approach helps build stronger relationships because it’s based on understanding each other, not just on emotions.

Music has a way to make you feel different kinds of emotions. Whether it is calm, excited or even sad. We all have playlists for different moments, whether it's for a workout, a commute, or a quiet night at home. Music isn't just background noise; it's a tool we use to match or change our mood, and it can even influence how we feel physically. Having playlists according to our routine is normal as well as having playlists dedicated to occasions like our birthdays and anniversaries. However, did you know, you could also have an anti-motion sickness.

A new study suggests that listening to certain kinds of music can help you feel better when you get motion sickness. Specifically, joyful and soft music were found to be most effective at relieving symptoms and making the travel experience more pleasant. Scientists found that these types of tunes help calm the brain and reduce the physical symptoms of feeling sick. This discovery offers a simple and easy-to-use solution for people who suffer from motion sickness, whether on a car ride, a boat, or even in a flight simulator.

What Is Motion Sickness?

Motion sickness happens when there's a disconnect between what your eyes see and what your inner ear feels. For example, in a car, your eyes see the inside of the vehicle, which appears still, but your inner ear feels the motion of the turns and bumps. This mismatch confuses your brain and can cause you to feel nauseous, dizzy, and just plain sick. This is becoming a bigger issue with the rise of self-driving cars, where passengers aren't always focused on the road ahead and are more likely to experience this visual-vestibular conflict.

What Kind Of Music Helps With Motion Sickness?

To figure out how music affects motion sickness, scientists created a driving simulator. This allowed them to safely make people feel motion sickness by creating the same visual and balance disconnect that happens in a real car. They then had the participants listen to different types of music—joyful, sad, stirring, and soft—and measured their brain activity using a special cap that reads brain signals (EEG). They also asked the participants how they felt. The study’s setup was designed to find a clear link between brain activity and the type of music listened to.

The study found a strong link between brain activity and motion sickness. By analyzing brain signals, they were able to accurately predict when someone was feeling sick. When they looked at the effect of music, they found:

• Soft and joyful music were the most effective. People reported feeling significantly better—up to 57% better with soft music and 56% better with joyful music.
• Sad music actually seemed to make things worse, performing even less effectively than a group that just rested with no music.
• Stirring music had mixed results; it helped according to brain data but not in what people said they felt.

The study concludes that playing the right kind of music could be a simple, non-drug solution for motion sickness. However, the researchers noted that more studies are needed with a larger and more diverse group of people to confirm these findings in real-life situations.