Useful Brain

7 Basic rules of sleeping

2009-02-26T22:32:00.004+02:00

How many times have you woken up more tired then you were the night before? Many people have the same issue and you must know that the main factors that cause this metabolism malfunction are the sleeping habits.

These habits are often causing more problems that they are solving. Still, this isn’t a lost cause, there are a couple of things that you could do to improve your sleeping style.

A good way to begin the change is to pay attention to a few rules and to prepare your sleep properly.

1. The pillow’s shape has a very important role for a proper resting during sleeping time, also the pillow’s filling matters a lot. You need to buy a good pillow with soft filling, and you have to position it correctly to avoid neck and back aches, chronicle fatigue and even insomnia.

2. The bed and the mattress must be comfortable. Chris Idzikowski, the manager of a research centre for sleeping problems has discovered that an uncomfortable bed can cause muscular aches and can shorten your sleep with an hour/night.

3. The clothing must be adequate, on our size, so it wouldn’t bother us during the sleep and it must be made from natural fibers, for example cotton, to allow the body to breathe.

4. Avoid eating, reading, watching television or studying in bed. You have to teach your body that the bed is for sleep and sexual activity only.

5. Choose wisely your sleeping position. You should avoid sleeping on your stomach or on your left side, because the liver, the lungs and the stomach are pressing the hearth with their weight. The most relaxing sleep can be achieved only if you sleep on your back, allowing yourself an excellent breathing process.

6. The ideal bed size is 1.80 m per 2.00 m, a smaller bed will cause an agitated sleep and you will be tired and in a bad mood all day long.

7. At last but not least, for ensuring yourselves a relaxing and peaceful sleep you must take care of your insomnia problems.

After reading and taking care of all these aspects, all you have to do is to … sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.

What rules do you follow before sleeping ? Do you have a recipe for a better good night sleep ? Tell us how the rules above helped you have a better goodnight sleep.

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Written by: Liviu Moldovan

How to “cure” Insomnia (II)

2009-02-22T01:37:00.000+02:00

There were some methods presented on the post “How to cure Insomnia (I)”, and as I promised, I am writing some other remedy, and advice to help all of you insomniacs, cure and treat your Insomnia.

As a different method from the ones presented before, you can try aromatherapy for an aid, because it helps a lot. Scent of different flowers and oils are well known from ancient times, as a remedy for those who find it difficult to sleep, or to stay asleep. Lavender is one of the most known and used aroma therapies in curing insomnia, and helping people having a good night sleep.

Relaxation is another method that will help you sleep. Practice relaxing, falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer techniques and you will get a great night sleep. Read more about relaxation techniques here and here.

Visualization is also a great method. As I said in the Photography relaxation post, by visualizing a picture that you like, or a peaceful scene. As this method involves mind relaxation it is best to practice it by staying in bed, and concentrating of a relaxing scene. Most people think about tropical islands, the sand, the sun, the waves, the wind.

Mind sensing and listening method. This is a personal method that I generally use together with the visualization method, since these are both mind techniques. For example try and listen to the wind in the scene that you are looking at (in your mind of course), listen the waves, and feel the hot sand, the sun, the wind touching your skin, imagine that it is warm and a perfect day for a relaxing day in the sun – this is one of the best methods used by me, when I try to sleep while having insomnia.

How did these methods work for you ? Share your method with us ! Have you succeeded treating insomnia ? Have you cured it ? How ?

On the same subject:

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

How to “cure” Insomnia (I)

2009-02-21T00:57:00.006+02:00

As I said in a precedent post, Insomnia is bad for your health, for your mind, and for your body. Try to avoid getting insomnia, but anyway if you have it, or got it from any reason, in this post I will present some methods that will help you get rid of it, and help you get a good night sleep.

Useful Brain will not put you to count sheep, and we will never put you to count backwards from 1000. The above methods do not work, so don’t try counting to get rid of insomnia, because you will get concentrated on counting correctly and you will not achieve the peaceful state of mind, that helps you sleep.

First of all, if you want to get rid of Insomnia you need to organize your day schedule, that you can set a time for sleep, and respect that time (hour) set. Let’s say for example, 10 pm. It is best to choose an hour before 11 pm , because, if you get to sleep before 12 am, the toxins from your body are processed easier, so you body is and will be more healthy if you respect this rule. One of the reasons you get insomnia is that you don’t have a certain sleep schedule remember ? So why don’t we solve that problem now, for a change ?

As a second step, it will be perfect if you would prepare a little drink for a good night sleep. The “sleeping potion” is made with 3 ingredients, and is very easy to do. All you need is some milk (not more than a cup), some poppy seeds. Squeeze the seeds, warm the milk, and mix them together. Drink a cup of warm milk with poppy seeds and if you like you can put some sugar in it. I advice you not to put cocoa into the milk, because the cocoa is an energizer, and will not let you sleep, but instead it will make you active, just as chocolate does.

Try these methods above and tell us if you succeeded in curing insomnia. Have you got any other suggestions ? or methods ? Any other ideas of how to cure insomnia ?

To be continued...

On the same subject:

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

5 Benefits of a good night sleep

2009-02-19T01:51:00.008+02:00

Even though we spend a third of our life sleeping, that doesn’t mean that we lose that part and we can’t get any benefits from it. That is entirely false, because if you manage to rest during your sleep, you will improve the results of your daily activities.

So here are some benefits that you can get by sleeping “by the book”:

1. The sleep is a primary need of your body so if don’t sleep you will die. That means that the most important benefit of sleeping is the advantage to be alive.

2. All the professional bodybuilders know that the muscular mass grows during the sleep, not when you are weight lifting. If you are used to party late and you don’t let your body relax, the entire workout routine will be in vane and you won’t spot any notable results.

3. The lack of sleep destabilizes the immunity system of your body making you more exposed to diseases. A nap during the day may also increase your health condition and it can even offer you an increased protection against heart diseases.

4. According to scientist, sleep is necessary because it helps the body to regenerate certain parts, especially the brain. After prolonged periods of deprivation of sleep, neurons are affected, which is manifested by behavior problems. Each stage of sleep is necessary for the regeneration of neurons in the cortex and to enhance the memory.

5. A recent study, published in Journal of the American Medical Association by Christopher King and his colleagues from the University of Chicago, had shown that the length of the sleep can influence your heart condition. The study results revealed that every additional hour of sleep reduce heart attack menace by 33 %.

In addition, a good night sleep can improve your social life, because it is easier to communicate when you feel and you look fresh and energized.

Therefore, I have only one thing left to say: ready, set, fall asleep !

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Written by: Liviu Moldovan

Useful Brain's team got Bigger

2009-02-16T12:42:00.008+02:00

We are proud to announce that Useful Brain's team just got bigger. We have a new oficial member, who is a writter and brain-stormer here at Useful Brain. He's name is Liviu Moldovan, and I will let him introduce himself:

"My name is Liviu Moldovan, I am 23 years old and I am a future graduate of environmental engineering. I am a co-writer at Useful Brain, and I enjoy helping people in their daily life. I like to think that by writing articles here I can improve the reader’s way of living and their self esteem. I am a novice blogger, I started one year ago, but I think the enthusiasm can compensate the lack of experience. I am looking forward to see your opinion regarding to our blog, also I want to find out if you manage to make positive changes in your life by reading it."

Written by: Alexandru Hategan & Liviu Moldovan

Do you feel sleepy?

2009-02-13T00:33:00.013+02:00

Every person needs to sleep in average 8 hours every day to ensure itself a full capacity functioning of its body. Have you ever wondered if this is the best way to spend a third of your life, or it is just a waste of precious time? Is it really needed to sleep so much, or so less, if you are a sleepy person? Why is the sleep such an important aspect of our life?

These are common question that we all have asked ourselves at least a few times in our life, especially when we were affected by the lack of sleep or by the abundance of it.

Regular people aren’t so preoccupied by the sleep’s interference in our life but they are many scientists that had tried to find an answer for these question and they are trying even nowadays.

The scientists have studied every aspect of the sleep and there even have been created organization like The American Sleep Medicine Foundation (ASMF) that offers the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) Physician Sleep Scientist Training Awards to stimulate researches in this domain. So you could say that sleep costs a lot of money.

I think at this point you are asking yourselves how important sleep is as a part of a human being life. The scientist had provided us this answer, after making a series of experiments.

Quantitative research, the study groups have shown the same things: subjects who slept eight hours a night have given yield, both physically and intellectually, very good, however, if those who slept only five hours, the ability data storage has fallen significantly after only one week of deprivation of sleep, as psychological tone and physical skills.

If you want to avoid this sort of problems you should know at least the recommended average sleep length depending on age:

New-born 20 hours / day
under 1 year: 14 hours / day
Children under 6 years: 12 hours / day
Child and adolescent (up to 18 years): 10 hours / day
Young adult (18-24/25 years): 9 hours / day
Adults 25-35 years: 8 hours / day
Adults 35-45 years: 7 hours / day
Adults 45 - 60 years: 8 hours / day
Adults> 60 years: 9 hours / day, increasing to 1h/day every 5-10 years

It is your choice, you can apply this recommendations or you can sleep as much as you feel like, the important thing is to keep your body and mind prepared to face the daily issues.

Or should we go to sleep again?

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

Insomnia and the problems caused by it

2009-02-12T20:48:00.003+02:00

Insomnia is a symptom of sleeping disorder, and it is characterized by persistent difficulty to fall asleep. I want to underline the fact that Insomnia is not a disease or a stand-alone diagnosis as some of you might think, but instead, Insomnia is a symptom. By definition “insomnia is difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep or both”.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in year 2007, aproximatively 64 million Americans suffer from insomnia on a regular basis each year. And it’s been known also that insomnia occurs 1.5 times more often to woman than to men.

There are different degrees of insomnia, but three of them are the most common identified: transient, acute and chronic.

Though there are three types of insomnia the most common is Transient Insomnia, which can last from days to weeks. In most cases it can be caused by another disorder: here are some examples will be the changes in the sleep schedule, or environment, changing the timing of sleep, stress, depression. Having transient insomnia, can have some consequences like impaired psychomotor performance, sleepiness, tiredness, can also get the stress in scene, and that is not good at all.

I decided to write this post because last week, I was suffering from insomnia a couple of days, and it got consequences on the whole week, and messed up all my schedule.

I got insomnia by not having a normal sleep program, and by not sleeping at night, followed by days of work. The funny thing is that when you have insomnia, you’re never really awake, and never really asleep. Having insomnia feels like sleepwalking, or maybe like being drunk.

Insomnia is bad for you. So try having some sleep, try relaxing and focusing on how to sleep and rest. Not sleeping will make you tired, and tiredness can make you stressed, and all these factors cumulated can make you sick.

After some days of not being able to sleep and suffering from insomnia I managed to relax and to rest by following some methods to fight insomnia (one of them really worked for me).

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Written by: Alexandru Hategan

Black and white photography in 5 easy steps

2009-02-11T12:45:00.001+02:00

It is known from the past that black and white photography is not so easy to take, to look good, but when you do, it looks so classy, clean and nice. When taking black and white pictures you have to consider shades and lights, because in the end only the shade and light game will make the picture beautiful, attractive, and somehow interesting.

Taking black and white pictures can be done with most usual cameras, but you can always return to the beginning of photography and we shall not forget the film photo-camera which, if you ask me is the best device to take such pictures.

An interesting experience about this film camera was when at the photography course, that I was following, we had a, let’s say homework, on which we should take pictures with a film camera. It was very hard in the beginning to start and think how to take a manual picture, thing that my brain was not doing automatically (at that time I wasn’t used to set my camera manually). But after figuring out how it worked I tooked some great pictures.

There are some rules you have to consider before taking black and white pictures if you want your photos to look real nice.

First rule is that first of all, you need to consider the light around you, the light around the object that you want to shoot, the shade produced by the object. Open your eyes, and just as you do when you take color photography, just like that, in case of taking black and white photography, you should view, study and think before you shoot.

Second rule sais that the best moment for black and white photography is when low light moments appear. Like a rainy day, or an overcast period. Try and shoot some pictures then and see how you do. I prefer taking black and white in hight contrast as well, but those pictures are not so well-defined, shaped and clear as a low contrast one.

Third rule sais to shoot in RAW, and that is because in a RAW picture you have all the information you could possibly use from that frame, at home when processing, and deciding to correct some mistakes, like exposure, back-light, fill-light, etc

Forth rule talks about shooting color, because after all with every camera you see color on the viewfinder (except the cameras with LCD viewfinder). So try and shoot color, and then decide which pictures fit the best to a black and white conversion. This is a technique I use very often.

Fifth rule is an imperative rule, which states that you should be very careful with the ISO when shooting in Black and White, because using a high ISO will make noise present and visible, and even more visible, on black and white pictures, because of the contrast. So be careful with that, more careful than you are with usual color photography.

If you want good photos you should respect these five rules above and even make your own rules, that work best for you, and for the way you shoot, the time you shoot, etc.

Last but not least don’t forget about composition. And because there are cameras that don’t have features to view black and white as you shoot, take care about the light and shade, darkest and lightest part of the object. Try to see and realize the importance of shades in a black and white photography. As I said in the beginning, analyze, open your eyes, think before you shoot, and after doing all this you have the best chance to take some great black and white pictures.

Try an comment about the rules above, about other techniques that you know, and you want to share with us.

Good luck with your Black and White photo shooting - relaxation session !

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

Photography relaxation. Is it possible ?

2009-02-11T01:20:00.002+02:00

It is commonly known that focusing your mental view on an object, picture, or on a beautiful thing that you like, or liked in the past, can make you relax, or at least it helps you relax along with other methods of relaxation.

As I said pictures can and will relax, if you use them the right way. Try and imagine for a second a sunny day on a tropical island with lots of palm trees, sand and the ocean surrounding it. Or for example try to focus on a beautiful sunset, or sunrise. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and try to mentally view a picture of a landscape scene that you liked (visualize a winter landscape, since we are still in the winter, perhaps some snowed fir wood, with the sun shining above).

As I experienced, black and white pictures also helps, because the colors are missing, and I can focus better on what happens in the picture instead of the chromatic view of it. A black and white picture is more balanced than a color picture, and it inspires calm and relaxation state.

Taking pictures is also a relaxing thing to do. Whenever I feel angry or stressed, I grab my camera, go out, and picture things that I like. Taking pictures is a very strong method to reduce the stress, and to relax, because whenever I press the shutter button, my mind also takes a mental picture. And then I can view it over and over again, anytime I feel I need to relax, or to lose the stress.

Try and take pictures also in black and white, it helps you to relax, and makes you calm down. Or if it is not possible or you to take pictures in black and white, take color pictures, and then convert them in black and white at home. You could also print them and put them in your office, or at home, in the zones where you feel stressed. And whenever you feel the stress coming in, look at the pictures, or mentally view a picture that you like, as I said in the beginning, and with time you will get used to relax just by thinking of a picture, or of a sunset.

Related articles:

How well did you managed to relax with photography ? Did you succeed relaxing with photos ? Tell us your story, or what you accomplished.

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

5 ways to dodge the hiccup attack

2009-02-10T19:33:00.009+02:00

As I wrote in my last post, I had a hiccup attack a few days ago. It made me think about my health condition, because there was posted on the web a vast list of diseases and health condition problems and I got scared and I have tried to get rid of the hiccup.

Theoretically, it sounded very well, but it got a bit tricky when I began to fight against this annoying, but still funny, at least for the others, sound. I tried numerous methods to stop the hiccup, some heard from my friends, some seen on the web, but there was at least one good thing I have learned, and that is that there aren’t any universal methods.

There are few people that react in the same manner to the same method of hiccup annihilation. Our bodies are different, and each person has a perfect way to stop a hiccup attack. It took me a while to find mine. Here is what I have tried:

1. Eat a slice of lemon. The lemon will create a strange sensation that the body can’t understand, and the acid from the lemon will make your stomach reduce its size, making the diaphragm relax. It should stop the hiccup in most of the cases, even for a short while.

2. Crouch and hold your breath as long as you can. Although it can cause dizziness and you can pass out if you push yourself to the limit, still it is a good way to relax the diaphragm and suppress the hiccups.

3. Drink water. This one has a lot of variables, because there are many techniques to drink. You can drink in repeatedly small sips, or drink when you feel like hiccup, or drink slowly but continuous.

4. Eat a spoon of sugar. This method has something to do with the action of sugar upon the stomach, and it also give a boost of energy to the body cells, helping them to carry away faster the surplus of carbon dioxide that causes the hiccup.

5. Apply to your both ear lobes pressure with your thumb and index together for approximately 40 seconds. This is the most surprising tip regarding the hiccup that I ever heard and it has nothing to do with breathing in a certain way or eating certain things, it is all about pressure points. With a background in acupuncture, I think this can be the most efficient advice.

Related posts:

So how well did you do against the hiccups? Do you know others ways to lose the hiccups?

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

The hiccup terror

2009-02-04T02:56:00.009+02:00

Today I had an attack of hiccup and I can say it was the worst experience I ever had. It lasted for almost 8 hours, with a few interruptions of course, and it was driving me crazy. I wasn’t able do work properly, I could not have a conversation without making everyone around me laugh, and I was starting to be worried about my health state.

So, the first thing that I have done when I got at home, it was to organize a brainstorming trough my friends for any advices about ways to get rid of the hiccup, and I even tried to find out the possible health issues that could have caused the hiccups.

For those of you that don’t know what hiccup really is, the hiccup is a sharp noise caused by a sudden spasm of the diaphragm, commonly cause by digestive disorder.
Whenever you experience an attack of hiccup, I advise you to stay away from medical explanation and try not to read about the problems that could have caused it.

If you ignore my advice, you will find a long and scary list with diseases and other factors that could have cause the hiccup, like this one: abdominal disease–gastric distension, GI hemorrhage, bowel obstruction, esophagospasm, or inflammation including hepatitis, peritonitis, gastritis, enteritis, appendicitis, pancreatitis, abrupt temperature change, alcohol, inferior wall MI, irritation of tympanic membrane, metabolic derangements–azotemia, hyponatremia, uremia, diaphragmatic irritants, diseases of chest wall, lung, and heart–mediastinitis, tumors, aortic aneurysms, subphrenic abcesses, pericarditis, foreign bodies, excess smoking, excitement or stress, toxins, drugs–general anesthesia, barbiturates, diazepam, α-methyldopa, tumors, pneumonia, herpes zoster, central and peripheral nervous system disease–encephalitis, tumors, meningitis, brainstem infarcts, phrenic nerve compression, cervical cord lesions.

When you hiccup the next time, you will surely panic and think that you are having an heart attack if you are taking that list as granted. I don’t say you should not, but actually, the hiccup means that there is a slight increase of carbon dioxide in the blood, and your body is trying to get more oxygen. So there is no need to panic, in most of the times, at least.

I want that people who read this post will share with us their worst hiccup experience, and I promise that I will soon make a list of ways to get rid of the hiccup terror. At the moment I am testing some of them, and maybe I will find one that work.

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Written by: Liviu Moldovan

The ultimate fattening factor - Stress

2009-02-03T00:20:00.011+02:00

You can gain weight by exposing yourself to a stressful situation, or by working, studying or living in a stressful environment. As shocking as it sounds, this is a certain fact. I’m sorry to shatter your illusion, but you aren’t going to lose any weight by pushing yourself to the limit and letting the stress to take over your life.

Beside the fact that stress is ruining your social life by making you gloomy and tempestuous, and that is interfering with your thinking capacity, unfortunately, the stress is also messing with your body like an one-eyed painter.

It has been proven by a series of lab research that a stressful situation triggers the release of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. This hormone can slow the metabolism, causing you to gain more weight than you would normally do. It will also mess with your current diet, if you are trying to lose weight.

Prolonged stress affects your blood sugar level, causing fatigue or even hyperglycemia. On a long term bases, it can cause heart diseases or diabetes. It also affects the location of the fat storage, because if you are a stressed person, you will surely start to develop a fluffy tummy, and beside the unaesthetic look, it can also cause serious sanity problems.

A stressful way of life can also influence the quantity and the quality of your meals. Although food can unleash chemical reactions, for a short period, that make you feel calm and confident, stress eating will trigger the guilt feelings and you will request for more food. That can be the disastrous start of a long road of weight gaining and you must avoid it.

Another problem of the stress eating is the fact that you eat even though you are not really hungry, just to compensate other things that you should to, like taking a walk in a park, or going to swim, because you get stressed at work, and you can’t run away from there to the park, so, you reach for a cookie, or a box of cookies, depending of the gravity of the situation.

The quality of the food is actually related to an old modern people problem – fast-foods. Most of the people are too stressed and busy to choose a healthy dinner in their family, then they refuge themselves in a shack with a big sign that says McD’s, to eat a big bowl of grease and drink a 3.5 pH coke. Then they will wine all night of stomach aches.

The last but not least of the problems is the lack of exercise, because many people state that they are too busy to work out, they work from 9 to 5 and spend another one or two hours on the way to and from work, so, by the time they get home, they are too exhausted.

In conclusion, if you are living a stressful life, and you are too busy (in translation too lazy), you will develop an oversized tummy (like me).

Did you encounter stress as a fattering factor ? Tell us your story, and ask us questions, so we can clear things that you are not clear with !

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

Stop biting your nails by identifying and eliminating the stress factor

2009-02-02T20:58:00.012+02:00

I ran into a forum where someone asks for help about how to stop biting her finger nails. So I decided that I can help many other people, that read my blog by telling them how I stopped biting mine finger nails.

“I am a professional very well respected business woman, wife and mother. I cannot stop biting my fingernails! The only way my hands look decent is to wear acrylic nails from the nail salon. I have done this ever since I was in first grade according to my parents. I am now 40.I want to stop and just grow my own healthy nails, but I bite them without even thinking about it. My husband continually corrects me about this in public and I get embarrassed. Please help me stop this terrible habit is you can.”

“I bite mine too, probably since I was 8 or 10. Same situation, but I don't pay to have mine done, I just go to Wal-Mart and get the cheap ones. I would like to quit, but i just keep doing it even though I tell myself I'm not going to anymore. I've tried the nasty tasting stuff too. I don't know, my nails are paper thin, so even if they grew long they'd probably break right off anyway. It drives me crazy that I can't stop.”

“I think it is anxiety...I know it is hard, I am considering seeing a doctor because perhaps I need help to conquer anxiety. Well, I don't know your history and stress levels but I know that stress can make you anxious and nail biting is an induction of anxiety which can be caused by stress...”

These are only three testimonials of people that bite their finger nails and the last one even agrees that the factor causing this is the stress. So if you want to have success in losing this habit fight the stress and then try to stop biting nails, not the other way.

So here is my story and how I stopped biting my finger nails:

I began biting my fingernails long ago, when I was like 8 or 9, just after I stopped sucking my thumb. It was interesting at that age, but with time I realized that I had to stop because my nails began to hurt, bleed, and my skin began to harden and replace the nail in some way.

Later, after doing some researches, reading some psychology books and going to some doctors, I found the answer to my problem: I was biting my finger nails because I was stressed, by any small thing, a test in school, talking in front of the people, presenting my projects, etc.

At the age of 16 I had problems dating girls, and at the age of 19 I had problems when showing my artwork to others, because of how my nails looked. So I decided to lose this habit. It was harder for me, because biting my finger nails went along with smoking. And I could not stop biting my fingernails, until I stopped smoking (but that’s another story).

After solving the smoking problem it was really easy to drop this habit. But I have to admit, that any stressful situation makes me put my finger in my mouth and taste my nail, and even try to bite it with my teeth if I am stressed enough, but I can control myself, and I am not biting my finger nails any more.

I saw guides that state that you can lose this habit by placing bitter solutions on your finger, etc. I disagree, because you can never lose a bad habit if you don’t solve your brain problem first. So in this case, try to realize what you are doing, understand that it doesn’t bring any benefit to you or your health, and that it’s bad to bite fingernails. Analyze what makes you put your finger in your mouth, identify that factor, which in 90% of cases is the stress factor.

The last step is to eliminate that stress factor, by fighting it your way. I have discussed how to relax and get out of a stressful situation on many topics (more about this topic here - How to work in stress, and under pressure). You can fight it by doing something that relaxes you, by drinking the “usual glass of water”, by disconnecting your mind from the problems and try to find the solutions later, and trough different methods, you name the method regarding to the situation you’re in.

Tell us the method you used to stop biting your finger nails !
Have you succeeded identifying and eliminating the stress factor that was causing you to bite your nails ?
Tell us your story, or ask for our advice, and we’ll help you. Write or call and we’ll answer.

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

How to relax when your boss is stressing you in 5 easy steps

2009-02-01T20:25:00.010+02:00

Going through a stressful period made me realize that one of the most important stress-factors in my life was my boss. As a student I am stressed because I have exams in this period, and also have to go to work, but it seems that this stressful period never ends, and it even gets worse when the boss asks me to do things faster, better, finish tasks sooner, etc.

My days at work seem endless when my boss is stressing me. Working under pressure feels awful, but when my boss is also stressing me, it seems that the work I have to do, doubles.

I think that I am not the only person in this situation, and because I think that there are many in similar situations, with bosses that stresses them, I decided to write this little guide to help you all pass those hard periods at work, at school, at college.

1) STOP. Evaluate the situation. First of all, when your boss asks you to do something fast, to finish a task sooner or other stressful requests, first of all STOP ! Ok, now evaluate the situation, and try to find the best possible way to do that without freaking out, try to keep your calm, get a breath of fresh air, drink a glass of cold water (water is your best friend when you are stressed, Do we use water and it’s benefits the proper way ? ).

2) Ignore the "you have to finish this till X time" - don't get your mind trapped, thinking that you have to finish that, because that will get you stressed, and will make things even worse. Think of the task that you have to finish, find the best way to do it, break it into smaller doable parts, then start finishing those smaller tasks, and you will see the "puzzle" assembling faster than you could imagine. (this is a trick, that if you trap and block your mind on the time factor, your mind will freeze instantly and you will run out of ideas, and lose your originality, etc, so instead of gaining time, you will lose precious time, and never get that task done in time).

3) Have self confidence ! Instead of thinking that your boss is stupid, that you should quit your job, or that nothing goes well, try thinking that you are just the best person for that job, because compared to others you know how to manage stress (yes you do !), and you know how to solve all the problems, even under stress. Don't even think that you will not finish the task, or that you can't do it, because your mind works on the principle - "Your wish is my command" - which means that if you think negatively about yourself, that thing has 99% chance of happening right away.

4) Think positive. Never give up. Trust yourself and every time you will get more confidence when you'll see that you can do things that you didn't think you could do. Positive thinking is a great process that helps you fight the stress. (more on this topic here - Think positive, act positive!)

"Positive thinking can be a way to overpass all your obstacles and fulfill your hopes and dreams. It is a way of living, an attitude that can accomplish the best results.By thinking positive you can draw upon you happiness, successes, an excellent health and you can obtain whatever you are willing to."

5) Relax ! The most important thing on the list. Never freak out, never get nervous, trust yourself ! Now close your eyes, and repeat these words in your mind: "I am calm, and relaxed, and I know the answer to all my problems. I know how to solve them, and as soon as I will open my eyes I will feel more relaxed, and I will start working better and with higher efficiency. (more here - Relax, take it easy! )

Related Articles:

Did this helped you ? Tell us how !
Have better suggestions of things to do when your boss is stressing you ?
Do you think that following these 5 easy steps can improve your day at work when you are getting stressed ?

Relax and have fun in the winter !

2009-01-09T01:46:00.008+02:00

Some friends relaxing in the snow, laughting

Here I am again, it is 2009, a new year, full of hope, and of dreams, future plans, and if you ask me this year will be benefic in all ways, for those who know how to live a moderate life, who know how to work, and for those who are not lazy.

Happy New Year! to everyone. I apologize for not being able to write sooner, but I was out of the city, had no internet. But here I am, with you, telling a little part of my holiday and teaching you the benefits of taking a break, or a short holiday (or why not, a longer holiday).

I decided to write this post because on this winter holiday, I went up in the mountains, and went to snow, fresh air, some of us skiing, others snowboarding.

We had such a great time, it is true that we were a little tired after an entire day of skiing, imagine, a full day in the snow, climbing the mountains, skiing, joking and having great time with your friends. It was great !

What I learned from this experience and what I want to teach you is that the fresh air from the mountains, the freshness provided by the cold snow, and the 3 to 5 days trip in the mountains is very benefic for your body, for your mind.

Want to hear the best part ?

Not only that, but when you come back from such a trip (or holiday) and go back to work, or school, or in some cases when you go back to college, and have exams, you will be more efficient, you will work and learn faster, better, and fatigue will not install so fast in your body. A trip like that help and makes you feel more relaxed compared to a late night walk after a hard day of work, or after an exit with your friends in the city.

My advice for all of you:

If you have not went to ski or have not taken a trip in the mountains recently, my advice for all of you is to take a weekend off, put your stuff in the car (or train) and go to mountains, skiing, snowboarding and snow fighting with your friends. In addition, I am not exaggerating when I say that you will come back transformed, full of life, with a desire to work, and to do more around you.

Want to see some pictures ?

Here are some pictures from our trip, I hope you like it, and for all of you who cannot afford to go on such a trip, these pictures are especially for you. Even watching these pictures should make you feel more relaxed, and help you go to work tomorrow and have a wonderful day.

The best day of skiing in the cold snow

A friend of mine with his snowboard in his hand

Another friend of mine, making a nice air with his snowboard, in the middle of the forest, late at night

Do you like these pictures ? Please feel free to comment !

We apreciate the time you spent reading this article and we encourage you to read more on this topic.

Related articles:

Crispy Cinnamon Apple Saute

2008-12-20T14:08:00.007+02:00

This is a season recipe, and since Christmas is almost here I decided to post some recipes, beginning with this one, recipes that are easy to make, good for your health, without too many ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 large Golden Delicious apples, cored and cut into 1/3 – inch thick slices
2 teaspoons of butter
2 teaspoons of sugar
150 gr raisins
100 gr orange juice
50 gr apricot jam (or you can use peach jam)
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (which gives the Christmas flavor that I love)
1/8 teaspoon allspice

The way to do it right:

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet; then add the apple slices.Cook, tossing occasionally, about 10 minutes or until the apples get golden brown.Stir in remaining ingredients (all but the sugar – you don’t need that sugar with the other ingredients now); cook, stirring, about 3 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.

Here comes the interesting part:

After your sauce thickens, get a nonstick skillet, and put the sugar in it, cook for 3-5 minutes stirring until the sugar melts, and becomes caramelized. When the caramelized sugar is still hot, dress your apple’s with it (poor caramel on top of the apples)

Serve warm over pancakes, waffles, French toast or hot cereal. Bon apetit !
Do you like this recipe ? Have you tried it yet ? Try and make Crispy Cinnamon Apple Saute for your guests or friends. Did they liked it ?

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

How to let go

2008-12-19T00:41:00.007+02:00

Have you ever been in a situation that got to a point from where you felt like there is no other logical solution than to abandon the ship? Did things got so worse that the damage made by aborting the process would have been easier to bear than the result obtained by being stubborn and continuing it?

Then you wondered yourself what could you do to make things right and you pushed yourself to the limit but the solution refused to come? In that case, my friend, there is only one thing left for you to do: Just let it go!

You will ask me, why such a radical solution? I will surely answer because desperate times call for desperate measures, and this is the best option you have for reducing the “casualties”. It is better to give up to something that requires too much attention and energy and that will eventually lead you to self destruction.

Some of you will contradict me and they will say that this is a coward approach of the matter, but think outside the box for a moment. Wouldn’t take a greater courage to let it go than to hold on to an illusion? Don’t think the person that gives up becomes a loser. That person knew how to appreciate the outcome of a battle.

Also giving up to something doesn’t mean that you are thinking negative and you are saying to yourself “This is not going to work”. Not at all, the proper thought should be “With the time and energy saved I can accomplish something far greater”. If you are an optimistic person, it doesn’t mean that you should be a naïve one. You can think positive and real at the same time.

So, how can you determine if something is worthy to be abandoned?

At first, you must settle your priorities, your objectives and your resources. Put them into a balance and see if it is worthy to fight for.

So if it doesn’t and you must let go the path that you have walked on, at first you must admit and assume the failure. This is the part that takes a lot of courage. The severe the change is, the drastic is the fall, and you have to gather the strength to put yourself back into one piece.

After you are on your own feet again, you can start your next project, and learning from mistakes you have made, it will definitely be a greater success.

Related posts:

Get involved

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

How to work in stress, and under pressure

2008-12-18T02:51:00.012+02:00

First of all what you need to do is to deal with stress. Try to identify the thing that is stressing you – the stress factor. Then try to be aware of that factor and try to concentrate at it. After you are aware of the stress factor try to encourage yourself that you will finish your work, that you have to finish your work, and nothing bad will happen because you are on schedule.

Stress is a great factor and it will stop you from achieving your goal. If you have something to do, and you get stressed, your brain will stop being inventive, and you will work very hard, and you won’t be productive. Don’t lose your inspiration by working in stress.

I also recommend that you don’t work under pressure of not finishing your work, because that will automatically make the stress enter the scene. If you feel stressed, and under pressure of not finishing your work, try one of the seven following methods:

1. Get up and walk to the bathroom, wash your face with cold water, and repeat this in your mind: „I can do it, I will finish the work on time, nothing will stop me from doing my work, and I am not stressed anymore". Remember that fresh water actives blood flow, and so your face muscles will feel less tensioned, and you will feel less stressed and a little relaxed, just by washing your face.

2. Open your window so that you can have a good fresh breath of air, so that your brain get’s some oxygen. Of course that you will not open your window for some fresh air, if your office is in the center of the city, where the air pollution is very high.

3. Have a chewing-gum! It might sound silly, but trust me it does magic against the stress, and it helps you work under pressure without actually feeling the pressure around you.

4. Try not to eat food when you are stressed, at work. Because eating while under stress, will make your stomach hurt a lot, and that might hold you from giving the best for your project.

5. This is an exception from the above advice. Try to eat a fruit, like an apple, or other fruit with C vitamin. The vitamins contained in fruits are great for your organism, and help you pass a stressful moment, or even the entire day.

6. Try do close your eyes and count to ten. This will make your brain disconnect for a moment, and force it to relax, so that it can work better after this short break.

7. Don’t drink too much coffee at work. Too much coffee will make your muscles tremor, and your stomach shrink, it will make fatigue gone, but it will make stress to come.

Though I said that there are seven methods, I will give you the 8th method as a bonus:

8. Think positive, relax and focus on little stages of your project, so that your brain will focus only on small parts, and it will work more effective.

Have you ever worked under pressure, or being stressed by your schedule, or by your boss ? Tell us your story, and we'll discuss it together.

Unleash the positive thoughts!

Think positive, act positive!

Do we use water and it’s benefits the proper way ?

Relax, take it easy!

How to work and live a healthy life

5 Ways to stay focused

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

Be your own boss !

2008-12-18T02:38:00.006+02:00

Have you ever been in a situation where you could not find a way out, and you did not know how to deal with the problems and with the tasks you have ?

Here’s my method of dealing with problems that seem to have no answer:

Sometimes is good to analyze the situation you’re in, and try to find a way out by listening to yourself and being confident in your way of dealing with the situation.
After you analyzed the situation, the best thing to do is to mark a point where you need to get. For instance if you have a project you need to finish, first split it into smaller parts, then mark a point where you want to get, like at the middle of the project.

Then try to focus at that point and how to get there. Try and focus all your energy both physically and mentally so you can get to that point.

I have to do many projects for my law school in this period, and so I try to teach you all my methods of dealing with mountains of paper, and with tones of documents I have to read and review, and then make a project regarding different law subjects.

I manage to finish my projects because I try to stay focused all the time, spare my energy and try not get tired mentally by thinking all the time at the pile of paper that I have to deal with.

Every time you get bored of what you need to do, try to encourage yourself, and try to enter a state of mind where you convince yourself that you are on the right track, and that you will finish very soon.

If your mind is not focused on what you have to do it will be very hard to work, and to finish your work on time, it is very hard to work unfocused. If you got into a state of focus, try not to lose that state, and try to maintain that state of mind, and then work as hard as you can.What I meant with being your own boss is to take care of yourself while working, but also act bossy just like your boos would. Try to be productive, and to encourage yourself to do that.

Be smart, do it for yourself

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

Be smart, do it for yourself

2008-12-18T02:23:00.011+02:00

I am always busy and I never have time to read a book, or navigate on the internet. I can’t remember the last time I entered in a library, or when I opened a book, don’t even have time to read the newspaper. Sometimes I go to university but even there I can’t stay focus on learning what teachers teach us and I don’t even pay attention at classes. Continuing like this will never make me become a smarter person, but I believe other way.

I use to increase my intelligence by watching discovery before sleep, or by watching some movies from where I learned English, or some Spanish TV programs from where I learned Spanish. It is not necessary to read books and study all time to be intelligent.

How will studying and reading thousands of books help us? I know many intelligent people who can’t find a job, who are dying because they can’t earn enough money for their daily food.

No one cares how intelligent were the greatest poets of universe at that moment, how many poems they wrote, or how many paints they have painted. They are dead now, and people start to care about them only after they are dead. I don’t want to be intelligent, so other people will appreciate my work after I already died. It would be better to be a normal person so that people will appreciate me now, in the present, not at my tomb.

There is an expression that says that

“you don’t need to be intelligent to be so lucky to have a fortune and a nice wife, or you can be intelligent and maybe you will be rich after you die, maybe your grandson will be famous because of you”

Is this what you really want? That your grandsons or their grandsons will be rich and you can see from Heaven how they spend the money earned by your hard work?

Be smart, if you are going to do something, than do it for you, because no one cares about you more than you do.

Be your own boss !

Written by: Obsession626

Unleash the positive thoughts!

2008-12-18T01:20:00.005+02:00

After researching and writing the article about the positive thinking, I have tried to practice the knowledge that I have obtained. Usually I think very negative and I have declared myself as being a pessimistic person. But changing things can offer you benefits that you haven’t even dream about it.

That’s why, in this morning, when I woke up, I have tried to raise my morale by watching my favorite comedy show, because you can’t think positive if you feel gloomy. I also had a nice breakfast, because “happiness goes through the stomach”. Then I got dressed with some light colored clothes, to determine the people around me to be more receptive and open to talk.

With all of these been done, my little experiment has started. I walked to my college, smiling and thinking what a great day I will have. Although I was worried, I have successfully banished my negative thoughts. During the classes, I had a boost of confidence thanks to my positive thinking and I managed to get remarked by a teacher for my visible interest and my spiritual presence during the class.

Afterwards, I had to buy a present for my girlfriend’s birthday and even though I had no idea what she would like to receive, positive thinking helped me through. Thinking that I will surely find the proper present, I started to wander from a shop to another, but after a half an hour I had already found the perfect gift, a butterfly shaped jewel box.

I didn’t had a clue about how she would react, but once more, I had used my secret weapon, the positive thinking. I have told to myself that this is the perfect gift and leaving behind my fears, I gave her the present.

So, the result of my small scale experiment was very satisfying: I had a great day at school and my girlfriend liked the gift, all of these due to my positive thinking.
If you have tried the power of positive thinking on your own, share it with us, even if you don’t succeed at the first attempt. Remember, all you need is a good will and a lot of practice.

Related posts:

Think positive, act positive!

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

Think positive, act positive!

2008-12-17T19:42:00.007+02:00

You are what you think or you think what you are? This is an endless dilemma amongst well known philosophers. Many of them believe that if you can think positive and concentrate hard enough on those thoughts, you can obtain a better result than by being pessimistic.

Positive thinking can be a way to overpass all your obstacles and fulfill your hopes and dreams. It is a way of living, an attitude that can accomplish the best results.

By thinking positive you can draw upon you happiness, successes, an excellent health and you can obtain whatever you are willing to.

There are people that believe in this way of life, but they don’t know how to use it in their benefit. There are other people that think this is just another method to blame somebody else for your unsuccessful actions. But we must admit that this current is starting to take proportions. As a proof we have the increased number of books and conferences about this subject.

A logical question is “What positive thinking can do for me?”. I will try to answer you by a list of considerations.

Positive and negative thoughts can be very contagious, by transferring thoughts, feelings and emotions to the people around us. You can influence the attitude of the people around you by unintended subliminal messages. For example, if you are presenting your opinion about a subject and you are doing it very convincing, it is most likely that the person that hears you will start to share your opinion.

The people around us can percept our state of mind and they are involuntary straying away from us if they sense a negative energy. On the other hand, if you radiate a positive energy, people around you will be more receptive.

When you are thinking negative, harmful chemical substances are released into your body and when you are thinking positive your body is releasing endorphins and other substances that raises your morale and induces a state of happiness.

You can think positive only if you are training yourself. You have to visualize positive situations, use positive words in your conversation and smile often. You will see that after a short time, people around you will enjoy your presence, because the first life aspect that is influenced by the positive thinking is the social life.

When you are thinking negative, you have to eliminate that thought or replace it with a positive one. Try to see the full half of the glass, not the empty one, and eventually, it will fill itself.

Everyone can use positive thinking to improve their life. Just trust your mind and heart and try to see the life from an optimistic angle.

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

Have you ever been fooled by a "work from home" job ?

2008-12-17T18:28:00.013+02:00

I spent a lot of time searching jobs on internet. A few times I even wanted to send money to some funny advertising regarding jobs. I thought very carefully and I realized that if someone really wants to give me a job than I don’t have to pay for having that job. They make nice offers from where you can possibly earn thousands of dollars, yeah right....

I can’t believe this. How could someone who has studied all his life, earn in one month what he earned in his last 10 years ? Well the strategy is very simple, you can send the money to obtain that job, or you can keep those money and invite your girlfriend to a nice restaurant and maybe you get lucky and find an associate to open a business, who knows?

You can send some money to those tricky companies and you will be very satisfy when you will realize that you just throw some money on the window, money that you earned in a very hard way, which you could use to do something else.

You should never send money to get a job, I want to make you understand that you are smart enough to choose the good way for having a job, doesn’t the idea of inviting a girl at the restaurant sound better ? Doesn’t this sound better than throwing money on the window ?

Use your brain to find methods to get a real job not a fake one or a tricky one. Many companies ask you to send money and in exchange, they promise to teach you how to make a website and how to do the same exact scheme which they are already doing.

Try to find the job that you are looking for yourself, and do not waste time putting all your hopes in a phantom-company’s hands. Do your best and search for jobs in newspaper, or on the internet in safe spots, like job sites, and take only credible offers.

Did this happened to you to ? Were you in a similar situation ? Write a comment and let everyone know the company that tried to fool you, and take your money !

Written by: Obsession626

Do we use water and it’s benefits the proper way ?

2008-12-16T21:01:00.015+02:00

First of all i like to say that I never use to drink water, only juice and energy drinks and so on. I never drink water because it doesn’t have any taste for me, until I discovered that the water is one of the most important things, and it seems that we don’t really realize this:

What would happen if someone swoon in the office and on the street ? You will start to snap that person till he wake up ? Or you will just throw some water on his face ? I suppose you would not throw juice... the water is everywhere and we can’t notice this because we don’t really think about this.

When we bring our cars to carwash, they use water, and also when we take a bath or a shower we use water. Is true that in the antic period Cleopatra was using milk for bath, but nowadays we use water, and also the animals drink water, except a dog I had who liked to drink beer because it has a taste of food, but that is an exception, of course.

Everything is working with water, if you don’t believe me think of these things for example: the nature needs water to survive but it also needs sun, also fishes need water, we will never see a fish swimming or walking on ground, that would be a very good exception, but that will not happen, I am sure.

If there will be no water than nothing will exist, the nature will be dead, most animals will disappear, and the humans will start dyeing. We can save the nature by using the water we have without wasting it. I propose to save this planet and everything in it, by starting to care about the water around us, by taking advantage of all the benefits of drinking water:

• Drinking water enhances fat loss
• Combat ailments by drinking more water
• Drinking water can reduce hunger
• Look younger - drinking water hydrates your skin
• hydrotherapy is a calming remedy for stress and anxiety

Remember your body is 70% water, in other words, your body is a bag of water, that needs water to live, and that works better when is hydrated. A proper hydration is the first step in having a healthy life, and a fast healing body.

Remember a glass of water can save you from stress, can help you focus, and can help your mind stay in a healthy body. You can’t drink too much water. Doctors recomend two liters a day, but I say that three or four liters will make you live a better life.

Relax, take it easy!

How to work and live a healthy life

Written by: Obsession626

Relax, take it easy!

2008-12-16T19:41:00.012+02:00

How many of you experienced a bad day at work, when everything is going wrong, you are arguing with everyone for no reason and you feel like throw your computer through the window just for the fun of it? I am pretty sure that even if you are doing a job that completely satisfies you, the stress will kick in someday.

When something like that is happening, you know that you have to do something to relax. You have to dominate the situation or it will take the control.

A simple way to relax is to inhale deeply and then exhale very slow, concentrating to relax all your body muscles. It will improve even your brain oxygenation and it will give you the chance to meditate about the problem.

You can also focus your breathing, by inhaling deeply and then, while exhaling, encouraging yourself with expressions like “relax”, “I am calm”, “I can handle the situation”, “There is nothing that can take me down”. This way, you can also practice your positive thinking, involuntary performing an elementary form of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming ). Positive thinking it is thought that it can improve both your mental and physical condition. Scientists have said that it can boost our health condition and it can prevent even common cold.

Muscle stretching is also a good method to relax and oxygenate your whole body. For example, lift your arms above your head, and stretch them, but you can use this technique on every part of your body that needs it.

Imagination exercises could help as well, for example whenever you are too tense, imagine a wonderful place where you will feel excellent. All that you want to see, to smell, to sense, to hear, to taste, depends entirely of you.

You can use a good relaxation tape and spend a couple of weeks before becoming skilled enough for relaxing anytime you wish.

At last but not least, a very know and used method is the Jacobson method of relaxation. This method has three important steps:

1. Concentrate on a muscular group.

2. Tension it, without hurting yourself, and keep it that way for 20-30 seconds.

3. After the relaxation of that group, pay attention to the sensation that follows. By doing that, you can reduce your stress level.

This exercise can be practiced on the following muscular groups: right hand or left hand, then
the other one, forearm and deltoid, back and lumbar zone, neck, face and eyes, the trunk and abdomen, the thighs.

You can always find the time to use one of these methods of relaxation and I am convinced that it will be a time well spent.

Related Articles:

How to work and live a healthy life

5 Ways to stay focused

Do we use water and it’s benefits the proper way ?

Do yo know other methods of relaxation ? How do you relax when you feel tensed ?

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

5 common sense rules for active listening

2008-12-11T00:28:00.008+02:00

Although it’s a well known subject and everybody has something to say about it, relating to the project presentation, I thought it will be a good chance to put yourself in the audience’s place. Is it easy to be a good listener? I will show you that if you aren’t, there are things you could do to become one, or at least to improve your listening skills.

I usually attend to project presentations, and it happened more than once to notice someone who mistook the boardroom for the bedroom. So I think the first and more important thing is to get your rest at home and be prepared to endure at least an half an hour without snoring like an asthmatic camel. At least act like you are listening, or, even better, stay at home and watch Nascar while drinking a Bud.

Now, for the awake part of the readers, the real rules:

1. Always try to ignore any form of distraction, like your cellular phone, the talkative people around you and any other things that can disturb your listening process. The only thing you should pay attention is the presentation and the presenter.

2. Try to put yourself in place of the person in front of you and use your body language to express your interest to raise the morale of the speaker, if you were in his place you surely didn’t liked to see a bored and uninterested crowd.

3. If you have a question for
the speaker, or an answer to some of the speaker’s questions, wait until the pause or the end of the presentation, don’t try to formulate it during the presentation, because you will definitely lose your concentration. Also, do not interrupt the speaker, even if he is making a pause, let him start the discussion.

4. If you feel like arguing about some idea in the presentation because you don’t agree, I advice you to keep it to yourself, you are there to hear what the speaker has to say, not the other way around.

5. Another important thing is to provide feedback, to let the person in front of you know that you are listening and understanding what he had presented.

If you think that these are useless advices, try to observe next time you are attending to a presentation the people around you. You will be surprised.

Useful advices for a successful project presentation

Written by : Liviu Moldovan

Join our team today

2008-12-10T14:35:00.001+02:00

Got any sugesions about a future topic ?
Wanna join Useful Brain's team and write some articles ?

Why join ?

Join and write some articles here instead of making your own blog, because if you don't have enough time to write your own articles and post them soon enough, your readers will lose interest in reading your blog. While here you can write anytime you want, and we will apreciate your posts, and help you develop writting skills. It's a win-win situation, by having you writting we will grow together, and we'll have a lot of advantages along the way.

Here's your chance. Send an e-mail to with a 250 words test article, a self-description, your name, your age, where you come from, what you like to do, and if you fit the team, you will be part of it in notime.

Good Luck

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

How to work and live a healthy life

2008-12-10T14:00:00.004+02:00

Many of you people may think that I’ve climbed a tree and fallen from it, but more important than working at your desk is to have a healthy life. And very rarely an obese person is a healthy one. Here I can give an unfortunate example from my family, my father weights 300 pounds and got two different diseases in two consecutive months. Therefore, I will give you 5 tips which I thought that could be useful in the battle with the extra pounds gained in front of the computer.

1. Roll your neck. When you sit in front of the computer, you accumulate a considerable amount of stress from your body in your neck, and that stress influences negatively your body fat. This exercise will help you lose weight and as a bonus, it will get you relaxed.

2. Drink cold water. You can burn 100 calories if you choose as refreshment an ice cold beverage, and you drink approximately eight glasses. Note that it should be a beverage without calories.

3. Eat foods that burn calories. Spinach, celery, lettuce and cucumbers can help your body consume more calories that you ingest, even if they have an awkward taste, no offense for the vegetarians.

4. Eat spicy food. You can raise the metabolic rate of your organism by eating spicy food, and you should also encounter the “sweat factor”.

5. Drink strong coffee. The coffee also increases your metabolic rate, and you also became more active and burn more calories, but you should always remember that it worth drinking coffee only if it is without sugar.
Bonus tip: Stop making money online for an hour or two and take a long and liberating walk outside, you may even get some good ideas while taking a breath of fresh air, and maybe you will realize that it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Relax, take it easy!

5 Ways to stay focused

Do we use water and it’s benefits the proper way ?

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

Useful advices for a successful project presentation

2008-12-10T13:35:00.002+02:00

Let’s pretend that you are going to present a paper, an idea or a project to an audience. Will you ~~freeze in front of the crowd~~, or will you manipulate it to embrace your ideas like it were their own?

Here are some ideas that could improve your “people skills” and help you act more natural when standing in front of an audience.

At first, to effectively present your assets, you must determine the best format that you could use for the presentation. Let’s suppose that the most popular choice will be Powerpoint, although I hate to use Microsoft products.

You must define your message by writing a short list of points you want to make, that the audience should comprehend after your presentation, and you should concentrate to those points in your speech.

You will have to consider that a presentation is usually 10 minutes long, plus the afterwards questions and discussions. You have to know that the time is your friend but also your worst foe if you don’t know how to organize the material and the amount of information to make sense to your audience in that time lapse. The best way to do that is to decide how much of your information is useful for the public.

After you have the final form of the presentation, although it may sound stupid to some people, you should rehearse in front of the mirror. This is the best way to notice your posture flaws and parasite gestures.

During your presentation you have to look at your audience and speak to it, not to the walls or to the ceiling. Try not to read long passages from your notes, because the people will think you aren’t well prepared.

Stand aside when you are pointing charts or pictures, the audience needs to see those things, you saw them already. Explain the images but don’t read everything, let them do it for themselves, you are wasting precious time on that.

Know well your presentation if you want to sound like a prepared person, be ready to tell the sources of your inspiration, and if necessary, admit that you don’t know an answer instead of making one up.

Stay relaxed, keep your calm, you can’t be persuasive if you sweat like a race horse and you wave your hands like a mad man.

Good luck.

Related posts:

5 common sense rules for active listening

Written by: Liviu Moldovan

5 Ways to stay focused

2008-12-03T21:31:00.001+02:00

Each of us lose control of our mind during the day, and sometimes we get tired quickly if we can't reach back to the focus state. Therefore, I will present several techniques to stay focused.

For me there are so many things to do, e-mails to read, articles to write, documents that have to be done at work on schedule, that I easily lose my focus. In my case, working on many things doesn't work out, because I lose my focus, and I can't do any of them right.

So, here are some techniques, I’ve learnt from a friend, not so long time ago:

1. Define your goal. Start your work by having a goal, a clear point of what goal you need to achieve. Do not hurry, and take your time, to do this, and to set your target. Without setting a goal, your focus will be lost immediately. You can help yourself doing this, by writing down your goals. Once you've done that, if you ever lose your focus, just take a look to the paper and you'll regain your focus.

2. Stay relaxed. Staying relaxed is very important, not only because stress is one of the worst enemies, but also because working on stress make your work turning into junk. Stress will not let you focus, and will not let you finish your work on time. In addition, even if you do finish on time, and have your work done, you'll be so tired. Staying relaxed is hard, I have to admit, but try to drink a glass of water when you feel you lose control and begin to feel stressed. Try to focus on your breath once in a while, and try not to stay on your chair all day.

3. Track your progress. Tracking your progress will regain your self confidence, will convince your mind that you are making progress, and that you must continue to achieve what you want. Tracking gives you a wide-angle view regarded to what you have done to that point. By tracking, you can also measure and divide your effort equally so you can reach the end.

4. Plan ahead your work. Planning ahead, is almost as important as tracking, the only difference is that by planning you will know what you have to do next, and you won't lose your focus. By doing this, I found that looking at goals and at tasks will help you understand better what you have to do, will help you do it faster and better.

5. Have a positive state of mind. Having a positive state of mind will help you get your work done well by helping your mind do good things, better things. Having good habits can consistently help you get more things done better. I found that I get very productive when I have positive thoughts and when my mind is in a positive state. Stay focused and follow these patterns.

Here is an example of how I have applied these techniques in blogging:

- write 2 articles every day
- write 50 articles a month
- plan topics for future posts
- getting up early, and start writing a post before going to work
- go to sleep at a normal hour, so I will not be tired the next day
etc.

These 5 techniques can be applied with success in any domain, and you can apply them every day in your life, with all the things that you have to do. However, what worked and works for me, might not work for you, but you can try it anyway, you might have a better day y doing this. If you have any other techniques that work better than the 5 I wrote, please leave a comment.

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

Get Involved

2008-12-03T16:55:00.001+02:00

Many of us live their lives just standing by and watching. Many of us prefer to be spectators to the events that happened around them. Most of the time, we decide to watch how the game is being played. It is safer this way, it’s safer on the side, it’s safer outside the events. However, there is no opportunity for success, no opportunity to get noticed, and to achieve what you really want. It is very important to play the game sometimes.

Get involved and see what happens,
Get involved and try to be more confident.

You’ll have the same boring life, and same boring things around you if you never decide to change something. Therefore, here’s your chance.

Sometimes fear is present and will not let you get involved. Try to defeat your fear by thinking that there is no turning back. Don’t think about “what ifs”, think about how to move on, how to win.
What to decide you have the same choice in front of you. Sometimes in life, we face choices that are almost the same, maybe there is a book you need to write, or a job you need to finish, or maybe there is a business you always wanted to start, or sometimes you want to approach someone to begin a conversation.

Staying inside a safety circle will protect you from the problems, from the injury that might come if you get involved. But getting involved might be the only way to achieve what you want. Therefore, remove the obstacles and the excuses, think the problem from outside the box, get some altitude, and set fire to the thoughts that will not let you get involved. Turn around and look forward. Put your fear to the past, and begin to move forward in the direction you decided you want to go. Surrender to no one and nothing and fight for what you want. This way you will get where you want to, you will win the battle.

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

First day here

2008-12-02T04:42:00.000+02:00

Here i am writting about how useful your brain gets when you need it the most. Have you ever tried to finalize a thing and you couldn't because you were stuck on one ideea or you just couldn't pass that phaze ?

I know you passed trough this. That's why i decided to write about interesting things, and to help you , all of you, get the inspiration you need to finish your work, to get your work done at time, live a healthy life, and care about the things around you more than ever.

Health to you and happiness to all those around you, if you decide follow the advices here.

Written by: Alexandru Hategan

About Me

2008-11-30T21:08:00.000+02:00

Hello, and wellcome to Useful Brain. My Name is Hategan Alexandru and I am the person who's writting the UsefulBrain Blog. This blog was created to help all those who want, to gain self confidence, to understand how their body works, and to understand the right way to use your mind, and to improve your ideeas. I am a law student on my forth year, photographer since 2006, and blogger since 2005.

To contact me, please e-mail to graphxro@gmail.com, or post a comment on any article and i will respond as soon as possible.