give your brain downtime...

[Darren Dirt]

it's best to turn computers off at night, too. Morning light is blue; evening light falls into the red spectrum. Electronic devices naturally emit the blue light, giving your brain all the wrong signals and priming it to stay awake."

I'm sure I've mentioned this in another thread, that's why at night I try to give myself at least 30 minutes of 0 screen time reading or listening to music before I hit the hey

All too often I've gone to bed and pulled out the tablet and then just ... been up for most of the night (it's amazing how many episodes of "Freeman's Mind" you can watch before the battery dies)

I've been struggling with on and off insomnia for a little while now, I think I'm finally getting out of a bad / low cycle. I have a lot more energy during the day when I sleep at night (who woulda thunk it)

I love a particular app I added to my Android, it lets you pick an exact color to "hue-ify" your display so of course I use it to add a pretty-much-opposite-of-blue color so at night I run the app and I can easily fall asleep reading stuff (instead of being over-stimulated and staying awake for hours).

Just gotta remember to launch it some nights 


Lately I've put my charging cord onto the other side of the room so I can't reach it from the bed, then I read one of many books I've been meaning to get through and hey guess what I also fall asleep pretty quick

[Tom]

I've got an app called Twilight installed on my tablet and phone. It auto tints my screens gradually as it gets later. I find it does help. But its probably just a better idea NOT to use them late at night.

[Darren Dirt]

On the subject of sleep cuz it is SO iimportant I posted in the Insomnia thread a link to 5 simple "mini-habits". Simple stuff, but not easy to actually follow through

http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,10795.msg86632.html#msg86632

[Darren Dirt]

neuroplasticity -- increase your brain power, change your life!

... a "magical" scientific discovery that shows that our brains are not hard-wired like computers, as was once thought, but like "play-doh" or a "gooey butter cake.

... Neuroplasticity can refer to structural changes, such as when neurons are created or die off or when synaptic connections are created, strengthened or pruned. It can also refer to functional reorganisations, such as those experienced by the blind patients of Paul Bach-y-Rita, whose contraptions triggered their brains to start using their visual cortices, which had previously been redundant.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/11/can-you-think-yourself-into-a-different-person/

Cool article discussing bio-feedback as well as "life hack" kind of techniques. Heavy reading in parts, but you can skim or skip those paragraphs.


In summary, my take on this is that each of us can benefit in practical ways re. quality of life if we just stay aware and occasionally remind ourselves that for the most part our brains are really just incredibly powerful "pattern-matching machines", and how we live our lives is a result of what is the "programming" inside. As Scott Adams likes to say in his excellent blog, we are "robots made of meat" -- but I declare that once we are truly self-aware of this fact, once we "get it" in a deep foundational way, that becomes LIBERATING rather than a LIMITATION.*

"Plasticity says you start off with a lot of potential but you're laying down a future that's going to become increasingly determined by what you've done before." <-- pretty much what my summary is saying



PS: one of the Comments mentioned a blog covering news and research etc. on this this kind of topic, really a merger of "neuroscience" with "culture" that seems pretty accessible -- http://neuroanthropology.net/about/ -- and it even has funnies!




*especially, SJWs might point out, if you are an employed white male living in a western nation #checked

[Darren Dirt]

...or, in our old age, just give up hope on every being at your prime again.

[Starcraft 2 log files analysis proves...] "After age 24, our brains on our the decline"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLlsIxOBF64

... and on the radio this week I heard that the "happiest time" is at age 23 (or 24?) ... COINCIDENCE?
(bonus: the radio also said that happiest time #2 is at age 69. Seriously, no joke.) (Happy #420 guys!)

[Mr. Analog]

Ugh, when i was 23 I was working at ISC / Upside, I guess I'll look forward to 69 then!

[Darren Dirt]

...unless you can find a "magical/mystical janitor" in a high school and pull the ol' "18 Again" switcheroo!

[Mr. Analog]

Hah