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Insomnia and Sleep Deprivation Are Killing Your Finances (and Health)

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Sleep deprivation

Everyone is wired a little differently. Some people prefer to get up early and conquer the day, while others prefer to spend the nighttime awake. A number of studies have examined how the latter may impact your health and other aspects of your life – including finances. So, what exactly does sleep deprivation do to your finances?

Your Body Clock and Mental Health

Whether you’re aware of it or not, your body has an internal clock that “resets” every 24 hours or so. Scientists have said this is your body’s way of aligning itself with the sun and moon. However, recent research has shown a strong link between sleep deprivation (or being a night owl) and mental health.

The research, which was released last week, further explained that being a morning person or night owl is actually a consequence of your internal body clock. All of this is shaped by your genes. According to the research, some genes can shift a person’s sleep schedule.

Researchers investigated these genes and whether or not they were associated with mental health. What they found was people who wake up earlier are more likely to have a more positive sense of well-being. Altogether, these individuals had a lower risk of developing depression or schizophrenia.

“Our work indicates that part of the reason why people are up with the lark while others are night owls is because of differences in both the way our brains react to external light signals and the normal functioning of our internal clocks,” lead author Samuel Jones, Ph.D., said. “These small differences may have potentially significant effects on the ability of our clock to keep time effectively, potentially altering risk of both disease and mental health disorders.”

Folks who aren’t getting enough sleep or who have poor sleep patterns have more to worry about where their finances are concerned as well.

Sleep Deprivation and Money

While there is no surprise that sleep deprivation has an impact on your mental health, many people find it interesting that your regular sleep patterns can affect your finances as well. Around one-third of Americans report they get less than seven hours of sleep on a regular basis. This type of sleep deprivation leads to the loss of 1.2 million working days a year.

Of those who say they aren’t getting proper sleep, 65 percent say they lose sleep because of their finances. However, losing that sleep can actually lead to a loss in income. People who sleep more earn 5 percent higher wages than folks getting less than eight hours a night. This is because they typically perform better in the workplace than those not getting enough rest.

Think about the things you could do with a 5 percent raise! Now is the time to kick your sleep deprivation to the curb and better your mental and financial health. Here are a few tips to get started.

  • Keep it cool. Turning your thermostat down a few notches can help you get to sleep faster (and stay asleep longer).
  • Get a massage. Regular massages can help you wind down. They also increase the serotonin and oxytocin production in your body, increasing your feeling of happiness.
  • Improve your environment. Spend some time making your bedroom an inviting and calming place. Put some lavender in your room, add candles and soft lighting, and make your bed.
  • Listen to music or white noise. Music or white noise can help you unwind and put your mind to rest after a long day.
  • Plan your sleep. If you are a busy person, you need to draw a hard line where sleep is concerned. Plan it out and stick to it. Make sure you get the sleep you need and unplug from everything else.
  • Stop taking sleeping pills. Your body can become dependent on sleeping aids FAST. Stop taking them and allow your body to get its natural sleep pattern back.

Readers, do you have any additional tips to add to help fight off sleep deprivation?

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Sleep deprivation

The Marie Kondo Method: The Mental Health Benefits of Tidying Up

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mental health benefits of tidying up

Netflix made a fantastic call when it debuted Tidying Up With Marie Kondo at the first of the year. Many people vow to declutter, lose weight, get more organized, and improve their lives at the beginning of each year. While each resolution has the potential to positively impact your life, there are a few significant mental health benefits of tidying up.

Mental Health in the U.S.

Serious mental illness costs the United States more than $1.93 billion in lost earnings each year. In fact, depression is the number one leading cause of disability worldwide. Mental health has a huge impact on the economy, not to mention the lives of millions of people. Check out the infographic below for more mental health statistics.

Mental Health Benefits of Tidying Up

There’s no doubt that some of the numbers detailed above are unsettling. Doctors, researchers, and scientists are constantly looking for natural ways to better manage mental health. Could the Marie Kondo method of decluttering benefit your mental health?

What Are the Mental Health Benefits of Tidying Up?

Your living space heavily impacts your mental health. If you are constantly in a space that is cluttered or dirty, you are less likely to feel good. Not only that, but it has been proven that organization can have the following positive impacts on mental health.

  1. Organization helps you think more clearly and you won’t get frustrated as easily. When you declutter your space, you declutter your mind as well. You’ll find yourself being more productive and able to think more clearly in your new clean space.
  2. Decluttering and tidying up shows you care about yourself. Tidying up is another way to practice self-care. When you clean your living space, you show you care about yourself.
  3. When you go to clean up, it isn’t as difficult because things are already tidy. This is one of the biggest perks of tidying up and decluttering. Any time you go to do your regular household chores it doesn’t take as long because there is no clutter to move around or go through.
  4. You feel satisfied after you’ve cleaned up and organized. It feels great when you step back and look at your newly organized closet or desk.
  5. Many people find themselves to be more efficient. When you organize your space, it can make things way more efficient. You’ll find yourself knowing where things are and your day-to-day activities moving faster.
  6. Having an organized mind can lead to further positive change in other aspects of life. Once you tidy up, declutter, and get organized, you’ll probably find you are more organized and excelling in other areas of life as well. What is better for your mental health than to continue to improve?

With more than 44 million American adults suffering from some kind of mental health condition, it is important to find ways to improve your mindset on a day-to-day basis. Consider the mental health benefits of tidying up and how much it could save you.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Marie Kondo method, check out The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story. You can also watch Marie in action in Tidying Up With Marie Kondo on Netflix.

Readers, do you find tidying up improves your overall mental health?

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What is the Best Way to Prevent Kids’ Colds?

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Everyone’s mother yelled after them to put on a coat, blow dry their hair, and take their vitamin C to stay healthy, but how likely are those factors to contribute to staying healthy? From vitamins to bundling up, here are the best ways to prevent kids’ colds.

How to Prevent Kids’ Colds

This time of year, it is difficult to avoid sniffles and coughing, especially if you have kids. On average, kids get between six and 10 colds per year, leading to about 22 million missed school days. More than half of parents have tried methods of preventing the common cold that have little-to-no scientific evidence behind them.

To get an idea of how much parents know about cold prevention, researchers took a survey of 1,100 parents in the United States. A shocking 71 percent of parents surveyed said they use “folklore” or non-evidence based prevention strategies.

“The positive news is that the majority of parents do follow evidence-based recommendations to avoid catching or spreading the common cold and other illnesses,” Dr. Gary Freed, co-director of the poll, said in a statement.

What Really Works?

When it comes down to it, 99 percent of parents say strong personal hygiene is their number one defense against the common cold. Researchers look to this as a positive sign that many parents are on the right track because good hygiene is one of the best ways to prevent kids’ colds.

Sickness is spread through mucous droplets from a person’s nose or mouth. When those droplets enter another person’s body through direct contact or the air, it can cause you (or your child) to get sick. Good hygiene can help kill those germs. Frequent and proper hand-washing is the best thing you can do to keep from getting sick.

If you can, avoiding contact with individuals who are sick can also lessen the likelihood of falling ill yourself. Additionally, cleaning surfaces like doorknobs, countertops, toys, and other frequently-touched items can help prevent the common cold. You should also encourage your kids to keep their hands away from their face/mouth and discourage them from sharing utensils and drinks with others.

What Really DOESN’T Work

Although many parents are practicing the prevention methods above, many are still placing too much stock in old wives’ tales.

Fifty-one percent of parents surveyed said they give their children some kind of over-the-counter vitamin or supplement to prevent colds. However, there is no scientific evidence that this actually helps. In fact, these over-the-counter products aren’t even required to provide any proof they are effective to be sold. For the most part, healthy children don’t need vitamins at all.

Around 71 percent follow old wives’ tales like “don’t allow your child to go out with wet hair” and “stay indoors when it is cold.” Typically, these thoughts have been passed down from your mother and grandmother. Like other “folklore,” there is no evidence to support using these as your only preventative measure.

Researchers hope these findings will encourage parents to focus on proven methods instead. “The best strategy is for parents to focus their preventive efforts on decreasing the spread of the cold viruses through strong attention to hand washing and avoiding direct contact of people with colds,” the report concluded.

Readers, have you placed faith in any old wives’ tales? Do you think they helped keep you healthy?

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What is the Impact of Cannabis on Mental Health?

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More investors are beginning to look into putting stock in cannabis sales as the popularity of the legalization of marijuana continues to rise. In fact, the cannabis market is slated to grow 38 percent in 2019 to $16.9 billion. However, not many people have looked into what impact smoking or eating cannabis has on your mental health.

The Impact of Cannabis on Mental Health

When it comes down to how cannabis may impact your overall mental health, there honestly isn’t enough evidence to support one idea or another. This is because the cannabis plant contains more than 500 chemical constituents. Not every strain will have the same effect.

More than 100 of the identified chemical constituents in the cannabis plant are cannabinoids. These chemicals impact the user both mentally and physically, and not always in the best way.

Many doctors and other health officials are optimistic about the use of cannabis in the future for treating various ailments, including mental health. Cannabis has been praised for being an effective way to treat psychiatric conditions like depression, anxiety, and even addiction. However, there hasn’t been enough evidence to support those claims yet.

Cannabis and Mental Health Findings Conflict

There is a significant gap in factual evidence supporting the idea that cannabis can/will help your mental health. Even though many people have touted on its potential, most of the findings studying the impact of cannabis on mental health conflict with one another.

No doubt has been placed on the fact that the endocannabinoid system plays a role in regulating your mood. When it comes to cannabis’ impact on depression, however, no randomized trials support the use of marijuana in the treatment of depressive disorders. Findings support the contrary actually.

Two of the best-known cannabinoids (THC and CBD) have had the most mainstream attention. While they are both present in marijuana, both have different effects on the body and mind. THC, which you get when you smoke or otherwise ingest marijuana, has actually been shown to produce anxiety and psychotic features (especially at higher doses). CBD, on the other hand, has antipsychotic effects.

Many doctors warn against self-medicating with marijuana but push for cannabis-based medicines to treat it. In reality, though, none of the previous findings are good enough to support cannabis treatment for mental health or addiction.

Do Cannabis Users Need to Be Concerned?

Obviously, there is probably some kind of health impact we haven’t seen yet that will likely be tied to cannabis use. For folks who smoke (or ingest) cannabis occasionally, it is relatively safe with little-to-no health effects.

Individuals with mental health or addiction concerns may find cannabis to be both helpful and a hindrance.  The motive behind a person’s cannabis use is also important. People trying to escape from something who use cannabis will likely experience difficulty with mental health and possibly even addiction.

All in all, even though cannabis can be helpful for some, it can have a negative impact on individuals with depression, anxiety, addiction, and other conditions people have praised cannabis for curing.

Too Soon to Tell

So, yes. It is still too soon to tell. There are no solid reports out there supporting the fact that cannabis will have a positive impact on your mental health. More often than not, findings have sent mixed messages.

As support for legalization across the U.S. grows, it will be interesting to see if studies find whether cannabis has a positive or negative impact on your overall mental health.

What do you think? Does cannabis have a negative impact on your mental health?

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New Trend: Mental Health Books Outsell Diet and Exercise Books

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At the beginning of the year, everyone is looking for something to better about themselves. While 71% of Americans who made resolutions resolved to focus on diet and exercise in 2019, it turns out more people may be interested in improving their mental health. According to recent data released from Barnes and Noble bookstores, mental health books are outselling those centered around diet and exercise.

Why Mental Health Books

Throughout the New Year’s season, Barnes and Noble collected data from its customers to predict what books may be popular in the year to come. It was collected from purchases made on Barnes and Noble’s websites and within its retail store locations from December 16 through January 5. What the bookstore found in its data was that more readers seem to be focused on reducing stress and increasing self-esteem than they are on losing weight.

This is a change in the usual trend, according to Liz Harwell, the senior director of merchandising for trade books. “Books related to self-improvement are always in high demand around the new year, but in a recent shift, books focused on mental well-being are far outpacing titles addressing exercise and dieting,” she said.

Across the chain of bookstores, more people are buying material about mental and emotional well-being than ever before. Whereas in previous years, January typically brought a peak in sales for diet and exercise books.

The Most Popular Books

If you’re interested in improving your mental health in the new year, you may be wondering what people are buying from Barnes and Noble. Below are the most popular mental health books being sold this year.

  1. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a … : A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
  2. You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
  3. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson
  4. Calm the … Down: How to Control What You Can and Accept What You Can’t So You Can Stop Freaking Out and Get On With Your Life by Sarah Knight
  5. Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You by Lon-Manuel Miranda

Barnes and Noble isn’t the only bookseller noticing a change in trends this year either. Amazon has also listed each of these among its top 20 list of bestselling books.

Other Lifestyle Change Books

That isn’t to say the popularity of diet and exercise literature has completely faded out. Amongst Barnes and Noble customers, physical health books were still popular. However, most of the health and wellness books sold seemed to focus solely on healthy eating.

When it comes down to it, if you want to really see a positive change in your life you will need to educate yourself on how to improve. Those wanting to seriously change their finances usually turn to a Dave Ramsey novel or another critically-acclaimed personal finance book. What is interesting is to see America’s focus switch from physical to mental and emotional well-being.

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Get Organized: A Bullet Journal Tracker Can Change Your Life

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Staying focused is key to reaching your goals, whether they be financial goals, career goals, or otherwise. Many people search for the right organization technique to stay on track and be productive. In more recent years, the bullet journal tracker has gained popularity in helping individuals focus and make their dreams come true.

What is a Bullet Journal?

Bullet journals, or BuJo for short, were created by Ryder Carroll. Carroll was a digital product designer and author living in Brooklyn. As a child, he was diagnosed with learning disabilities and needed to find different ways to find his focus and be productive. For him, a bullet journal did the trick. After experiencing how a bullet journal changed his life, he decided he would help others by sharing his ideas.

Now bullet journals have evolved into many different ways to track progress, plan events, and even organize finances. The best part of using a journal this way is you can make it anything you want it to be.

How to Use a Bullet Journal Tracker

First, you’ll need to buy a journal and decide what you’ll be tracking. Of course, every page in your journal can have a different project focus. However, you may want to dedicate entire journals to track specific things (i.e., finance journal, weight loss journal, etc.).

Next, create an index for your bullet journal. This will be where you log what is on each page, so it’s easier to find the page you want to work on. Then you’ll decide what you want to track first.

Some individuals organize their bullet journal by goals. For instance, if you want to drink 100 ounces of water every day, you’d color in or otherwise mark the days you met this goal.

You can also use a bullet journal tracker for your bills, debt, or savings. To do this, draw charts to track your progress toward meeting each goal.

Other things you might consider tracking in a bullet journal include a deep-cleaning schedule, a daily gratitude list, your daily mood, fitness goals, food and water, and even books you’d like to read throughout the year.

Where to Find Free BuJo Page Ideas

Bullet journal tracker

For the most part, bullet journals are a product of your own imagination. You can put whatever you dream up to track and follow on the page. There aren’t any printable pages for your bullet journal. However, there are plenty of places on the web to discover inspiration for your bullet journal tracker.

  1. Pinterest: Pinterest is by far the best place to look for bullet journal inspiration on the internet. No matter what you are looking to track in your journal, Pinterest probably has an innovative way for you to organize it. Simply search “bullet journal tracker for personal finance” or whatever you’re looking to track in the Pinterest search bar, and you’ll find hundreds of ideas.
  2. The Habit Journal: You can also buy a bullet journal tracker that comes with already-made pages. These are typically a bit more expensive to buy but can help you organize your journal if you are having difficulty thinking of page decoration.
  3. Online forums: On top of Pinterest, there are also a number of online forums centered around bullet journaling. If you’re looking for ways to organize a specific project or goal, you can always reach out to one of these communities for ideas.

Organization and focus are both important in reaching your goals. For some people, a bullet journal tracker helps them see progress and outline a good route to get where they want to be.

Readers, have you ever used a bullet journal? What did you use it to track? 

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