A lot of caffeine six hours before bed still cost people more than an hour of sleep.
Your 4 pm coffee can still be keeping you awake at 10. Caffeine blocks the chemical that tells your brain it's tired.
Save this for the next afternoon you reach for coffee.
Some evenings you feel numb, heavy, and stuck on the couch, and telling yourself to get up doesn't work.
Rub your hands together until they feel warm. Then press your feet into the floor for a few seconds.
The full guide is below.
Exhausted but still can't fall asleep? Caffeine blocks the chemical that makes you sleepy. Even six hours before bed, it cost people more than an hour of sleep.
Try your last coffee before lunch for a week.
Save this for your next afternoon coffee.
You go blank when everyone looks at you. Then the answer shows up in the shower.
After a stressful speech, men did worse on a memory game, but their thinking came back the longer they played (Schoofs, 2008).
Next time: one slow breath, then "Let me check and get back to you."
Four in ten people got stressed just by watching their partner go through a stress test. The closer you are, the more you pick up. Take one slow breath out before you walk in. Send this to the partner whose stress you pick up.
Don't answer straight away. Read the email once, then write down 3 things on paper:
1. What are they asking you to do?
2. By when?
3. What information is missing?
Now you're answering what the email says, not what you're afraid it means.
The full guide is below.
You can catch stress just by watching someone else.
When the watcher was their partner, four in ten had their cortisol go up. When it was a stranger, most didn't.
The closer you are, the more you pick up.
Start with your own body: one slow breath out before you walk in.
Your partner goes quiet at night, and there was no fight.
In the Gottman "Love Lab," couples who stayed married answered small bids for attention almost 9 times out of 10. Couples who divorced: about 3 in 10.
Next time: put the phone down and look.
One bad night makes your window smaller, so the same small thing feels like too much. Sleep, a slow breath out and someone safe make it bigger again. Save this for the next day one small thing feels like too much.
Your window: inside it you can handle things. Above it, overwhelmed. Below it, shut down.
One bad night makes it smaller. That's not your character.
It grows again: sleep, a slow breath out, someone safe.
Save this for a day when small things feel too big.
Patient with everyone all day, then you snap at the one person you love.
After their busiest days, air traffic controllers went quiet at home. When their wives were kind about it, they got less angry (Repetti, 1989).
Tonight: three slow breaths at the door.
Your heart is changing speed right now. It speeds up a little as you breathe in, and it slows down as you breathe out. Breathing out works like a brake for your heart.
Breathe in for four, and out for six, slowly.
Young men felt more comfortable and calmer after moving a houseplant than after computer work. Move one plant after screen work. Save this for the next time screen work leaves you tired.
A mum's day as a video game.
Energy: 100% → 12% by the 4 p.m. boss.
Achievement unlocked: sat down for 5 minutes 🏆
Send this to a mum who hasn't sat down all day.
Right after the stairs, college women felt more awake than after a caffeine pill. They tried both on separate days. Try a short stair walk this afternoon. Save this for the next afternoon you reach for caffeine.
What's the first word you see?
REST, HELP, QUIET, SPACE or SLEEP.
The first one might be what you need this week.
Save this for a week when you don't know what you need.