Sunday, November 8, 2009

Three facts from psychology that you will use in your everyday life

I'm a psych major, and thus have taken an inordinate amount of psych classes (haha, not really but still)... most of the information contained therein is very interesting, but not exactly useful unless you're going into the psych profession. However...

Here are 3 facts that you will actually use in your everyday life that I have gleaned from my psych studies. :P (Weirdly, they all have to do with sleep... was not intentional)

  1. The human sleep cycle is such that if you are going to nap, nap for either 20 minutes or an hour and 30 minutes. Any more or less than that and you will wake up groggier than you were before the nap. How many times have you slept for "just an hour" and woke up feeling like crap? Sleep for an hour and a half next time. You'll wake up nicely rejuvenated. (NOTE: This is not an excuse to not get a full night's sleep. -.-' But if you have to sleep less than your 8-10 hours, try and sleep in 1.5 hour increments... such as four and a half hours, or 6 hours... you'll wake up far less sleepy). Also, the "20 minutes" is from the minute you close your eyes and snuggle into your sheets. Your sleep cycle actually begins when you begin to relax into sleep, not from the second you fall out of consciousness. :)
  2. Speaking of sleep - during sleep, your brain converts all your short term memory into long term memory. So the things that happen to you during the last couple of hours before you sleep are the things first converted into long-term memory. Practical application? Study for tests at night before you sleep. (NOTE: This does not mean 15 minutes before you doze off - during that last stage before true sleep you aren't gonna actually remember squat)
  3. From the idea of Maslov's Hierarchy of Needs - If you are not well-fed, well-rested, etc. then you are not going to be able to function in more complicated realms of your life, such as relationships and spirituality. If I have to listen to one more person think some life-changing event has happened with God or with their boyfriend that can actually be attributed to dehydration or lack of a full night's sleep, I'm going to stab someone. Do yourself a favor and before you think that you're "falling out of love" with someone or there's "just a wall between you and God," look back over the last week - have you been getting enough sleep? Have you been eating healthy food? If not... calm down. Go eat a full meal and get a night's sleep before you make any big decisions.
I might randomly post stuff like this when I think of it in future days... I was just randomly basking in the fact that I have now learned how to manage my naps due to the information in point 1 and thought I should share. :P I actually kept thinking of tons more I wanted to share, but since I'm currently avoiding psych homework, I thought I should go back to the homework... ;) Bye!

2 comments:

  1. Seeing I'm pretty much an insomniac, I have a curiosity with sleep. I know how much I used to get and how much I get now; and it worries my parents but not my doctors and not me.

    The information you gave is something already know, and I'm glad it hasn't changed much. :D

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  2. Wow! I never knew that about nap time. I haven't laid down for a nap for a few days now, but when I do, I usually try to set my alarm for 45 minutes to an hour later, or when I absolutely don't care, I just don't set any alarm. I mean, if stress is already on me, I don't think I should stress about setting an alarm or napping just the right amount of time. hehe.

    And hooray for eating well and sleeping good before making a good decision. :P

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