【推荐2】Three Simple Tricks Improve Your Mornings

Most people are familiar with the feeling of being torn out of heavy sleep by the sound of their alarm clock. But why do we feel fresh and fully rested some mornings, while on other days we barely have the energy to turn off the alarm clock?

Scientists have carried out a study of 833 adults. The results show that we can control how fresh we feel in the morning if we follow three simple pieces of advice.

As in the sleep research, the test subjects wore special watches that monitored their physical activity and the quantity and quality of their sleep. They were also served different breakfasts, and then through the day the scientists monitored their blood glucose (葡萄糖) levels while those who took part in the research kept a chart of their energy levels through the day. Many of the subjects were twins, helping to rule out genetic differences.

The data showed that the secret behind energetic mornings is a three-stage solution made up of plenty of exercise the previous day, enough sleep, and then the right breakfast.

One researcher explains that each of these three factors are important ingredients if you want to wake up feeling fresh and fully rested—and able to continue feeling relatively energetic for the rest of the day. “If you sleep more than you usually do, you will feel more awake,” he explains. “If you are more physically active the previous day, you get the same effect. Both factors cause improvement.”

The worst breakfast proved to be food with high sugar content; this made those who took part in the research feel sleepy and low on energy for the rest of the day. The best way to start a new day was to eat breakfast with a high content of whole grains and vegetables.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the quantity of sleep was also a key factor in mood. The results proved that 7—9 hours of sleep are necessary to shake off morning sleepiness.

Scientists do not yet know why exercise seems to improve our awareness and ability to wake up re-energized. But they stress that exercise is an important key to our health and mood in general.

【推荐1】A study by Harvard researchers found that mind wandering, or daydreaming, consumes an average of 47% of peoples’ waking hours. This brings about the question：If mind wandering is so costly to our well-being, then why in the world are we so willing to spend nearly half of our lives in this mental state?

Creative thinkers know, despite what their parents, teachers and school leaders might have told them, that daydreaming is hardly a waste of time. But unfortunately, many students learn to suppress their natural instincts to dream and imagine-instead, they’re taught to fit into a standardized model and to learn by the book, in a way that may not feel natural and that very well may suppress their natural desire to create. But as two famous psychologists recently noted, “Not all minds who wander are lost”-in fact, the mind’s wandering is vital to imagination and creative thought.

Nearly 50 years ago, psychologist Jerome L. Singer established that daydreaming is a normal and indeed widespread aspect of human experience. He found that many people are “happy daydreamers” who enjoy their inner imagery and fantasy. According to Singer, these daydreamers “simply value and enjoy their private experiences, are willing to risk wasting a certain amount of time on them, but also can apparently use them for effective planning and for self-amusement during periods of routine task activity or boredom.”

Singer coined the term positive-constructive daydreaming to describe this type of mind wandering, which he distinguished from poor attention and anxious, obsessive fantasies. By making these important distinctions, Singer was able to highlight the positive, adaptive role that daydreaming can play in our daily lives, under the right circumstances.

【推荐2】Japan's prime minister encouraged the decision to ban viewers, even family members, by issuing a state of emergency order in Tokyo earlier this month in response to rising COVID-19 case numbers.

From the perspective of sports psychologists, an Olympics without fans is a real-life science experiment that is helping researchers and clinicians to comb through the true impact of a crowd of fans on its players—and on viewers at home. The strange circumstances under which the games are held may place unexpected pressure on some athletes. On Tuesday, superstar gymnast Simone Biles dropped out of the women's team event, telling teammates and reporters she wasn't in the right “headspace” to compete. “It's been really stressful this Olympic Games. There are a lot of different variables going into it,” Biles told the Washington Post.

The 2020 Summer Olympics bears similarities and differences to other major sporting events without viewers. The English Premier League supplemented (增加) game broadcasts with crowd noise from the soccer video game FIFA 20, mixed with game audio in real time. A Taiwanese baseball team and German soccer team began populating stands with cardboard cutouts of fans, and the trend caught on internationally.

Jamey Houle, the lead sports psychologist for Ohio State University Athletics and a former Al-American gymnast, says competitive athletes are trained in visualization— imagining performing a certain action or motion, such as doing a roundoff back handspring in gymnastics. Without moving a muscle, players using visualization can solidify neural (神经的) connections and activate their motor cortex (皮层). To visualize most effectively, Houle says, athletes working with sports psychologists will try to simulate as closely as possible the conditions of actual gameplay. Empty stadiums may thus have a measurable impact on players' performance. This phenomenon is grounded in a psychological concept called “social facilitation”, referring to a change in a person's performance that occurs when others are around compared to when a person is alone.

【推荐3】Gifts are more than just an economic exchange of goods. They signal things about the giver, receiver and their relationship. It’s a sort of language that lets us communicate without words. Use the following little tricks to make gift-giving perfect.

Aesthetics (美学) of a gift shouldn’t be ignored and neither should presentation be. All the time and energy you spend picking the perfect thing for your receiver will fall short if you do. A gift should delight. It should be unique and easy on the eyes. So receivers often prefer appearance over function. This is why gift stores are filled with such gifts. These items are often low in their usefulness yet they make most gifts.

The price isn’t necessarily a priority. Even costly items can be considered as cheap sometimes. It’s better to pick an item from the top of an inexpensive sort than one at the bottom of an expensive sort. Even if you’re paying the same for both choices, the former will be received well.

A gift that feels heavier tends to be considered as of higher quality. Giving someone a hardcover book is better than giving them a paperback as a gift. You may also package it in a relatively heavy box. Anyway, pick items that aren’t too light.

Don’t present your gift without the wrapping (包装). It shows effort and devotion. Presentation expresses special thought on behalf of the giver. When they receive a gift, receivers process the exchange and analyze the giver in terms of thoughtfulness, which is communicated through gift presentation. If you want your receiver to think of you as thoughtful, make sure you wrap it in a good wrapping paper. Bad presentation can ruin a great gift. So it matters making a present more attractive to your receiver.