Questallia

Do you remember the days before Internet, when we used to play bridge with the computer? Although the game was OK, the bids made sense, many times we felt like something was missing there. It was the lack of human touch, the gut feeling that makes you disobey a rule from time to time, the small mistakes that give flavour to our actions. When Internet was here, such games like bridge were available online, with real partners. It felt so great!

I read a post today, on Problogger, in which Darren Rowse brings into attention the power of the virtual space, which makes possible things such as successful associations or close friendships between people who never met in real life. He challenges the readers to name the five bloggers they would like to meet in real life. I see this invitation as an opportunity for me to thank a few people who changed the course of my life, although I never met them in person. Here is my list of bloggers I would love to have a chat with:

Later update: I was way ahead the times with this enterprise. Nobody saw the need to have a corporate blog in 2006 in Romania. Today, in mid-2008, even the country’s president has a blog!

I have a special mention here: many thanks to Steve Pavlina for his outstanding work. Actually his blog determined me two months ago to shift the direction of my personal business, from training and consultancy in real life, to blogging full time, with a strange certitude that I’ll reach some profit before all my savings were gone for good on the deep blogging waters. When I came across his blog, I spent about one week staring at his words and realizing that this is what I want to do from now on, at least for a while.
Yet, I would not want to meet him in person, because I have the strange feeling that he writes for a million people audience and not for one person at a time. I’m not saying this is bad, but it just happens that I’m not very fond of crowds.

If I’ll ever meet one of the persons on this list, I’ll remember once more that everything is possible. All we have to do is grab the opportunities as they pass by.

Other articles:
How many phone calls are you worth?
Give me something to do
Forgiveness Day: one small step to a better planet

“Hello,
I am 36 yr Male working for a reputed IT Company in Bangalore, India.  I am married, with a 7 year old son. I am a smoker, do not take alcohol or drugs.
My serious concern is my lack of sleep. I go to bed at 9 PM after a very hectic day- with over 4 hrs of traveling to and from the office by company bus and yet I have a disturbed sleep- my body asks for more sleep but my mind is not ready to go to deep sleep.
Kindly assist.
Thanks and Regards
Naren”

Thank you Naren for asking Questallia. The lack of sleep is really a problem, as if your body feels not having enough sleep, this can result in concentration problems, making you less efficient at work or even at home, with your family. Statistics show that you are not alone. Causes are various, though it seems that 65% of Americans are losing sleep due to stress.
In an earlier edition of The Hindu, India’s National Newspaper, Uday Murugod, consultant neurologist at Manipal Hospital, says that
sleep disorders are to be expected in a city that leads such a chaotic and fast life. A complicated lifestyle is a big contributor to sleep disorders.
Dr. Murugod says the cause for the sleep disorder has to be diagnosed before proper treatment can be given. “We need to analyze reasons for sleeplessness by process of elimination before we can diagnose the reason,” he adds.
So, in order to sort it out, some medical investigations would be the best. Meanwhile, there are some tricks for getting a better sleep which are worth trying:

• Practice a relaxation technique for 15-30 minutes before falling asleep
• Try not to smoke before going to bed
• Don’t go to bed with an empty stomach (hunger leads to a poor sleep)
• Give up coffee or other caffeine products. Even if you drink it in the morning, coffee affects sleep behaviour. If you think you can’t do it, check the article “how to give up coffee of Steve Pavlina. He is sharing his own experience of giving up coffee, and he has some good insights there.
• Exercise can induce sleep, but it should not be done in the evening, before going to bed
• Try to listen to some soothing music before falling asleep. A study has found that people sleep better and longer if they listen to soothing music at bedtime.
• Don’t refrain from buying the things you love. This happened to me once: I’ve seen a gorgeous pair of Born shoes in a shoe store and I didn’t buy it,because I thought it was too expensive for me. I was not used to spend that much on designer shoes or label clothing. Then I could not sleep all night long, fwearing that somebody else bought that pair of shoes which I liked so much. I went next morning and got my shoes, so I can get some rest.
  

If you want to know more about your sleep habits, you can take this test and see what is your sleep profile. It is free and it may reveal you some solutions for overcoming your sleep disorders.

The “How To…” Group Writing Project initiated by Darren Rowse at Problogger is now over. The result was the biggest “how to” list ever put together. As a follow up, the participants were asked to read all 343 entries, choose the ones they like most and publish the list on their blog.

It was an interesting, funny and instructive reading (which took quite a while to do), out of which I selected the following entries as my favourites: