awesomeness
Depressed women have more sex - Depressed women have more sex than those who are happier, regardless of whether they are in a relationship or not. They also had more sexually liberated attitudes, a bigger variety of sexual experiences and, if single, were more likely to partake in casual sex. [digg]
Lorenzo: As good as I hoped... - "It's been hard work and of course I still have a lot to learn, but I think we're starting the season in as good a shape as I hoped" - Jorge Lorenzo. [motogp]
Ducati: Stoner 'better than ever'. - One year ago, Casey Stoner arrived at Qatar under pressure to prove he deserved a place at Ducati's factory team - but he returns as the reigning world champion and 'man to beat' during this weekend's inaugural MotoGP night race. [motogp]
GoogleNET Update: Google Buys A Piece Of TransPacific Cable - Google is buying a piece of a new transpacific fiber optic cable, according to research firm, Telegeography. This will be yet another piece of what can be loosely described as GoogleNet, a fiber network built & leased by the search engine & advertising giant to meet its ever growing bandwidth requirements.
Google is one of the six investors in the “Unity” undersea cable that will connect US and Japan. The new cable is going to be built by Tyco Telecommunications & NEC for about $300 million. Telegeography says that Google has been trying to buy a piece of a trans-pacific cable for a while now.
I have written about how Google is using its infrastructure (including network) as a strategic advantage, and this latest move is an extension of that philosophy. It has been buying dark fiber to grow its network, as I had first reported back in 2004. According to Telegeography estimates that trans-pacific bandwidth is eight times higher than trans-Atlantic routes. Google can now get capacity at cost, and it can also squeeze more out of its infrastructure.
“While Google is the first non-telecom company to take an active role in ownership of a submarine cable, it’s not likely that this is the beginning of a new trend,” commented TeleGeography Research Director Alan Mauldin. “Although many non-telecom companies have high bandwidth requirements, few will venture into owning submarine cables anytime soon.”
[gigaOM]
Eight-core power from Apple - Apple is not the most open source-friendly company around. But when it comes to hardware there are few companies that can make hardware look so good that it makes you just want one, even if you can’t afford it or you don’t need it. Without waiting for next week’s Macworld conference, Apple yesterday announced a [...] [tectonic]
PICTURES: Desmosedici on ice! - Monday's opening ceremony for Wrooom 2008 - Ducati's MotoGP Press Ski Meeting - saw factory test rider Vittoriano Guareschi ride a Desmosedici on the iced lake of Madonna di Campiglio! [motogp]
Stoner 'stronger', Melandri 'number two'. - MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner believes he and Ducati can only get stronger during their second season together. [motogp]
Ducati launches title defender. - The Ducati Desmosedici GP8 may have made its track debut during testing at the end of 2007, but the bike with which Casey Stoner will defend his MotoGP crown had its official unveiling on the snowy slopes of Madonna di Campiglio in Italy on Tuesday. [motogp]
Ducati explains the GP8. - "Our 2008 bike is an evolution of the 2007 model, how could we have done otherwise? There was so very little wrong with that bike..." [motogp]
Modern life is too demanding to turn out the lights and we're more sleep deprived than ever before. How can we get back in the habit of grabbing shut-eye?
Ask someone how they are and their response, more often than not, is "fine but a bit tired". Not surprising when one in three of us have sleep problems, according to recent research.
The medical profession calls it tatt, short for "tired all the time". It's one of the most common complaints that doctors hear. The disappearance of rest from daily life is also one of the themes of a major new exhibition on sleep at the Wellcome Collection in London.
We just aren't getting enough sleep and it's slipping down people's list of priorities. It seems modern life is just too demanding - and exciting - to switch off.
As a result sleep deprivation is becoming a national problem, say experts.
Sleep is so important because it allows the brain to recover from the rigours of the day. Not getting enough has been found to increase the risk of obesity, heart disease and depression. The government is keen to tackle these health issues, efforts doomed to failure unless getting enough sleep is made a priority as well.
"Sleep is as important as diet and exercise when it comes to the nation's health," says Doctor Neil Stanley, a sleep expert at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
"But we place no importance on it in our culture. When you are sleep deprived you are putting yourself in a stress situation. In our culture it is socially acceptable to have had no sleep and go into work, even though your ability to function is severely impaired and you could be dangerous."
But even if you cut back on the late nights, how to tackle the problem of falling asleep? Here are some tips:
- Get tense. Tensing until your muscles hurt may not seem the most sensible way of getting to sleep, but it's a popular and proven cognitive technique.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is about exaggerating the feeling of relaxation to help the mind and body wind down.
Systematically tense each muscle group in turn until it starts to hurt - about 20 seconds - and then let go. This creates a warm feeling of relaxation, and any tension should flow away. The theory is that with physical relaxation comes mental calmness. PMR is used as a stress buster, as well as helping sleep.
"It promotes sleep because it is like a meditation," says Professor Kevin Morgan, director of the Clinical Sleep Research Unit at Loughborough University. "It's a very clever technique and is a strategy that is evidence-based and rational."
It sounds simple, but experts say it's important to be taught how to do PMR properly. Once instructed, practice the technique each day, in the same environment. The more you do, the more you will be able to do it in other conditions and with distractions.
- Old CDs. The key to falling sleep is all about relaxing the mind and the body. Much of what we do to wind down may relax the body, but the mind is still ticking over.
"Your mind spends the working day remembering and placing names and faces and all the information that goes a long with it," says Dr Stanley.
"Sitting down and watching EastEnders might relax the body but the mind is still working, remembering who the characters are and what they do. It might all be rubbish, but it's still keeping the mind ticking over."
The key is to use something to relax that requires no mental thought process at all.
He suggests dusting down old and familiar CDs - new music is no good as you end up concentrating on the lyrics.
"You know old albums inside out and don't have to concentrate. They become pleasant background music."
- Power of 'the'. We've all been there - in bed, desperate for sleep but unable to switch off the thoughts running through our heads. Work, family, debt... all keep us awake at some point in our lives.
Just repeating "the" could be the solution. It's known as a blocking strategy, another cognitive technique. The aim is to stop the mind racing.
Repeating a simple word like "the" at irregular interval blocks other thoughts coming into your head.
"If you say the word at regular intervals, you stop thinking about what you are saying and other thought come back in," says Professor Morgan.
"By saying the word at irregular intervals, you make sure you are just monitoring what you are saying."
- Power nap. Popular in the 1980s, power naps have a fast and effective restorative power that is hard to beat.
"A 20-minute nap gives you an amazing boost, it's much better than having a coffee," says Dr Stanley. "Even closing your eyes for 20 minutes is better than nothing.
"But in the UK it is culturally unacceptable for us to be found napping with our head on the keyboard. However, it's fine to pump yourself with caffeine even though it it's nowhere near as effective."
Dr Stanley says having a nap during the day should not be used to replace sleep at night, but other researchers suggest that it could do you as much good as seven hours sleep at night.
American sleep expert Doctor Sara Mednick describes taking a regular nap as a "lifesaving habit" that can help improve your health and sex life, slim the waist and boost work performance.
- Work in Japan. Napping at work isn't acceptable in the UK, but in Japan dozing anywhere from Parliament to business meetings is allowed. It's called inemuri, which literally means "to be asleep while present".
The custom is partly a result of how commitment to a job is judged in Japan, says Dr Brigitte Steger. Inemuri is viewed as exhaustion from working hard and sacrificing sleep at night. Many people fake it to look committed to their job.
It's a concept that seems bizarre in the UK but the Japanese are the ones who've got it right, says Dr Stanley.
"The Japanese are right in their assessment that you work better after a nap than before it. There's a degree of machismo about it, you're saying look how hard I've worked. But that's better than the macho rituals we have over here, like how late you can send a work email to prove how long you've been working."
Strict rules apply to inemuri. These include who is allowed to do it - only those high up or low down in a company - and how you do it - remain upright to show you are still socially engaged in some way.
"The rules are written nowhere but everyone knows them, they learn them culturally," says Dr Steger.
