Day Tripping at Tijuca Forest – Rio de Janeiro: another day at the office

 

On the top of Pico da Tijuca. Sweating like a horse in almost 40°c temperatures, but no complaining from any of us :)

Rio de Janeiro was basking under a perfect summer day and although this time of the year most people come to the Cidade Maravilhosa to enjoy the Carnaval, two Dutch girls asked me to take them for a walk on the green side of Rio de Janeiro… the Tijuca Forest. No need to say I was more than keen… 

I picked the girls (Monique and Annette) up at Rio Hostel in Santa Teresa around 7.30 in the morning and we started the 20 km ride to the Tijuca Forest. Because of the Carnaval festivities, the police had blocked some of the streets around the Sambódromo, where the garbage left by the last “blocos de carnaval” gave the place a deserted look.

Before reaching the parking space from where the hiking trail to the Pico da Tijuca starts, we made a brief stop at the Cascatinha waterfall, considered the most beautiful one of the park.

First stop in the Tijuca Park: The Cascatinha Waterfall

Our first hike for the day was the Pico da Tijuca, a 2,5 km walk to the 1.012m high summit of the highest mountain in the Tijuca Forest. The trail winds through sometimes dense forest, but is very well indicated and maintained. The Pico da Tijuca offers an awesome view of the center and north zones of Rio. On a clear day, like yesterday, it’s possible to see the Serra dos Órgãos with the “Dedo de Deus” (Finger of God) located 50km north of Rio.

Monique and Annette climbing up to the Pico da Tijuca. Jungle trail in the middle of the city.

Almost on the top of Pico da Tijuca, climbing the 117 steps that were carved out of the rock-face to accommodate the Belgian king Albert on his visit in 1921

Next stop before lunch, was the “Vista Chinesa”, which derives its name from the chinese style pavilion where tourists can find some shade while enjoying another privileged view of the marvelous city.

The Chinese "pagoda" style pavilion at the Vista Chinesa viewpoint

The view over Rio de Janeiro from Vista Chinesa with Christ the Redeemer to the left, overlooking the Lagoa Rodrigo Freitas and the morro do Cantagalo in the middle and the Sugar Loaf in the background.

The Vista Chinesa is only one of several viewpoints scattered all across the Tijuca Forest, each one offering another breathtaking view of Rio de Janeiro from a different angle, showcasing some of the city’s most famous attractions like Christ the Redeemer, Sugar Loaf, Lagoa, Dois Irmãos, Pedra da Gávea and Rocinha.

Continuing our tour of the Tijuca Forest, we went on in the direction of the coast, heading for the hanggliding ramp of Sáo Conrado, where you can watch people of all walks of life take the plunge into the lush green scenery of the forest.

Always special to see hang-gliders take off. This is must definitely be the closest thing to being a bird...

Watching the hanggliders do their stuff is something I could do for hours, but we had another hike on our list. The Pedra Bonita trail is only 1.2 km long, considered “medium difficulty” and is one of my favorite spots in Rio.

To our disappointment, the guard at the entrance said that we couldn’t go up because of a kidnapping that had occurred at the Pedra da Gávea. The police were still searching for the kidnappers, who were supposedly armed and hiding somewhere in the forest between Pedra da Gávea and Pedra Bonita.

More people arrived at the entrance who wanted to do the trail. They had heard that the search party had ended and Pedra Bonita would be safe, after which the guard allowed us to go ahead.

Monique and Annette on top of Pedra Bonita. In the background the silhouette of the Pedra Branca massive. Rio's other (and biggest) Urban forest.

Catching the last rays of a perfect summer's day on top of pedra bonita with the lagoas of Barra de Tijuca and the sheer endless beach of Recreio das Bandeirantes in the backdrop.

Pedra Bonita was the perfect end to a fantastic day (especially because there was no sign of any kidnappers). As the sun was slowly setting in the west, we sat down for a while on the granite mountain surface, which was still hot from a day of Brazilian sun, and tried to take it all in.

Another Brazilian-Dutch couple joined us and we talked about how Rio de Janeiro was definitely a unique place, which would at least take a year to fully discover.

Giving the Brazilian-Dutch couple a ride to Copacabana, I returned Monique and Annette to their hostel after an 11 hour tour of the Tijuca Forest. I’m sure they will remember this day, at least until the pain in their legs and other body parts has worn off :).

I still had another 120 km ahead of me to get back home, where I arrived around 9 pm but for a day like this I would get out of bed at 4.30 am any day, even on a Sunday. I guess you could say that for me, this was just another day at the office, but people, WHAT an amazing office it is.

 

25 Kitchen Gadgets Under $25 That You Will Actually Use And They Make For Great Gift Ideas Also

 

Kitchen tools make for great holiday gifts.  There's plenty you can find that are affordable enough not to send your wallet hurting, compact enough to make wrapping a breeze, and practical enough not to end up merely tucked away in an attic box like a lot of gifts we receive during Christmas.   Here are 25 kitchen gadgets under $25 that can make for gifts both friends and family can appreciate.

1. Sushezi Sushi Bazooka $24.99

Perfect For: family and friends who love sushi but can't afford Japanese restaurants every night of the week

Making sushi ain't easy.  Yes, no matter how easy those how-to YouTube videos make it appear.  The Sushezi, a plastic extrusion sleeve styled to look like a mini-bazooka, changes that.  To use, simply split the tube in half, remove the plunger, and bundle up the ingredients (yes, you can put whatever the heck you want) in a pile.  Then, put back the plunger at the end, close up the bazooka to press everything into a perfect roll, and push the plunger to send the tightly-pressed load onto a nori sheet.  From there, you simply roll the wrap, slice the whole thing into bite-size pieces and enjoy.

2. Rice Cube $19.99

Perfect For: people who like fancy finger food

I have really warmed up to sushi in a last few years.  If you don't like sushi much, you can actually even get creative with these rice cubes and make some bite-sized appetizers with tasty toppings mixed in. I doubt anyone will be able to resist those.  That's exactly what the Rice Cube makes, which presses rice mixed with other ingredients into perfectly-shaped cubes that you can pop straight into your mouth.  Even better, it's not restricted to pressing sticky sushi rice.  You can use it with any rice, along with other food.  Think cheese cubes, potato cubes (you'll have to boil it first, of course), and anything else with similar consistencies.

3. Chef'n Bananza Banana Slicer $9.99

Perfect For: monkeys(?), people on a banana diet (hey, I heard it works)

I have to admit: a banana slicer sounded like too much of an unnecessary thing.  But what if, instead of spending a minute cutting banana slices with a knife, you can get the same results in literally two seconds?  That's exactly what the Bananza allows.  Plus, it's safe (dull stainless steel blades), clean (you can slice directly into a bowl of ice cream) and effortless (just insert the banana and squeeze), making it easy to use even for kids.

4. Easy Tool Pineapple Corer $5.97

Perfect For: dudes who can't skin a pineapple if their life depended on it, people who don't like pineapple-in-a-can

Want to make pineapple rings?  Easy enough -- just peel off the skin and work a little knife magic.  Yeah, it's the magic part that always gets you, though.  Well, this clever tool provides the magic all on its own.  To use, simply slice along the top of the fruit, insert the stainless steel end of the contraption, and drill it in.  A ratcheting handle allows simple operation for both left- and right-handed users, letting you core a pineapple in mere minutes.

5. OXO Good Grips 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer $9.99

Perfect For: health nuts, fruit fiends

Avocados are a great way to add healthy fat, valuable nutrients, and plenty of fiber to your diet.  Encourage friends to partake in the healthy produce with this 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer, which you can use to split, pit, and slice the flavor-packed fruit.  The cleverly-designed slicer will not just cut the flesh in long, even slices -- it will do that while automatically parting it from the skin, too.

6. Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker $24

Perfect For: single people, college kids in dorms

An all-in-one device for making breakfast sandwiches, the Breakfast Sandwich Maker will toast your bread, cook your eggs, and heat your cold cuts in one go, letting you quickly prepare a filling breakfast sandwich using just a single appliance.  Simply put one slice of the bread on the bottom toaster slot, lay the cold cut on top for heating, crack an egg straight on the griddle, and top everything off with the other half of the bread.  Then, press a button and wait for the whole thing to finish.  Seriously, this will make a great gift for dorm-dwellers and city folks who rush through breakfast every morning.

7. Amco Rub-Away Bar $7

Perfect For: that family member with the smelly hands during family reunions

Onion and garlic are cooking staples you likely work with in every meal.  Quite simply, kitchens around the world can't live without them.  Neither onion nor garlic, however, leave the nicest smell on your fingers.  The Amco Rub-Away Bar is designed to remove those odors off your hands -- no more need for soap or repeated washing.  Even better, it should remove any odor that lingers on your skin, so you can use it after preparing fish, eating blue crabs, or handling some noxious cheese the neighbors sent over.

8. Herb Scissors $9.95

Perfect For: discerning cooks who use a cornucopia of herbs and spices, home gardeners

If you spend any amount of time in the kitchen, it won't be long before chopping, slicing and mincing feel like the most natural things -- they're just something you'll have to do over and over.  The Herb Scissors is a time-saving contraption that will do the same thing, using five shear blades to chop green onions, chives, and any of the produce from your wall-mounted herb garden in a fraction of the time.  Plus, you can use it like a regular pair of scissors, allowing you to do all the chopping straight into a bowl or a pot.

9. Bear Paw Meat Handler Forks $12.95

Perfect For: dudes who want to tear meats violently

Want to carve, shred, and tear through large mounds of meat like a hungry bear in the woods?  No?  Well, we'll bet there's a man in your life who does.  These Bear Paw Meat Handler Forks are the tool for enabling that, letting you make quick work of any meat-mauling duties using six sharp claws.  It's made from hard, durable plastic, too, so you can use it to lift steaks offf the grill without getting burned.

10. Norpro EZ Jalapeno Corer $7.23

Perfect For: pepper-mongering hot food addicts

This is one of those kitchen tools that the recepient isn't likely to use a whole lot of times.  Those nights they decide to make stuffed peppers, though, they'll be so thankful they had a thoughtful friend who got them this contraption, which uses a stainless steel blade with serrated edges to cleanly remove a jalapeno's core and seeds in no time.

11. Trudeau Toss and Chop Salad Tongs $15.58

Perfect For: light eaters, people on a diet

First, you chop your vegetables, then you throw them in a bowl, tossing everything till they're mixed just right.  The Trudeau Toss and Chop Salad Tongs let you do everything right on the bowl, cutting up your greens with its scissor mechanism and mixing them right on the same container.  It features soft-grip handles, along with stainless steel blades and micro-serrated edges designed to never damage the bowl.

12. Victorio Apple and Potato Peeler $23.14

Perfect For: men who only want manly gadgets in their... uhm... man-kitchen

Sure, it looks like a tool that belongs in a craftsman's workshop more than it does in a kitchen, but this Apple and Potato Peeler can make peeling, slicing and even coring duties a whole lot easier.  A few turns of the handle will get your apples ready in a jiffy; for the potato, simply remove the coring blade and do the same thing to peel.  Construction is enamel-coated cast-iron with stainless steel blades, so it can last as long as your beloved workhorse tools in the toolbox, too.

13. Chef'n StemGem $6.76

Perfect For: people who don’t eat strawberries like they do in the movies (i.e. nib at it from the bottom while holding the stem)

This tool lets you hull strawberries effortlessly, pulling out the stem while keeping the entire fruit intact.  It uses a clever claw design that you inject at the top of strawberry, then clamp once inside to take the full stem without damaging the actual fruit.  Even better, it can also be used to quickly core tomatoes and similar small, soft fruits.

14. Food Huggers $19/set of four

Perfect For: conservative cooks, frugal moms

Sometimes, you just need to use half an onion or want to eat half an orange.  Problem is, the remaining half is going to end up spoiling if you don't finish it all up soon. Food Huggers is a set of silicone caps that cover the exposed part of the produce, sealing it in tightly, locking freshness, and keeping odor from escaping around the room.  It comes in four sizes for accommodating different types of fruits and vegetables, so you can use it for tons of stuff in the kitchen, including onions, tomatoes, apples, and more.

15. Brieftons Spiral Slicer $23.50

Perfect For: raw foodists, healthy eaters

One of my favorite kitchen toys, this device lets you slice any vegetable into spaghetti-like strips, offering a whole new world of cooking and presentation options for carrots, turnips, cucumbers and other firm vegetables.  To use, simply insert the vegetable onto the opening and start twisting like you do with a pencil sharpener.  With high-quality first-grade plastic and stainless steel construction, along with a slew of super-sharp Japanese blades, this is quite a great value for the price.

16. Joseph Joseph Food Station $20.36

Perfect For:  people who cook for large families

Sometimes, all the food you're preparing just won't fit in a single chopping board.  And while you can use plates and bowls to switch stuff to and from the board, we have a feeling these Food Stations will work a whole lot better.  This set consists of a glass chopping board and three color-coded chopping mats that can be attached to the main board during storage.  Basically, lay down the board and mats around the counter, put the different food items down, and each one gets their own dedicated chopping area.   The glass board also doubles as a trivet, able to withstand temperatures of 530 degrees F.

17. Tovolo Silicone Vegetable Steamer $15.99

Perfect For: healthy eaters

This contraption combines a steamer and a serving tray in one.  Lay down your vegetables on the 10-inch silicone surface, put it on the pot, and use the interlocking handles to pick it up when the food is done.  It features an elevated base to keep it from sitting too closely to the heat source, with the entire thing able to handle temperatures of up to 600 degrees F.

18. Joseph Joseph Square Colander $11.99

Perfect For: folks with cramped kitchens

This is, basically, like every other collander, except the entire thing is clad in a square shape.  Why?  So you can tuck it in a corner of the sink for efficient use of space.  Plus, it's got a vertical handle that reaches to the base, allowing the whole thing to stand freely, apart from facilitating easy pouring.

19. Bella Cucina Donut Maker $19.37

Perfect For: people not trying to lose weight

Yes, it's a mini-donut factory sized to sit in the counter.  It can work with any store-bought mix (just pour it in), cranking out up to seven round, holed sugary treats in mere minutes.  Oh yeah, there's no frying so it's only half as nasty as regular donuts, too.  At least, we think so (those don't look healthy, lol).

20. Black Beauty Bottle Capper $15.90

Perfect For: home brewers, dads who don't finish their beers and put them back in the fridge

This isn't the gift to get the serious home brewer who sells a couple dozen cases to local bars every week.  For the hobbyist who puts together a batch every now and then, however, this basic capper should do the trick.  It comes with built-in magnets to hold the cap in place when crimping it to the bottle, as well as a design that works with any American bottle and cap.

21. Joseph Joseph Folding Collander $19.95

Perfect For: folks with overcrowded kitchens

Collanders aren't the easiest thing to store.  They don't nestle well with other kitchen tools and take up quite a big chunk of room.  Not the case with this Folding Collander, which allows for convenient kitchen storage by collapsing flat, letting you squeeze it into tight spaces in a drawer or closet.  When put together, the collander's twelve hinges lock tight, ensuring your food stays in the container even when you get a little rough washing vegetables in the sink.

22. Keebler Personal Pie Maker $18.99

Perfect For: everyone because everybody likes pie

Pies are awesome. You can put in fruits for dessert, meats for a filling snack, or whatever the heck you want if you're feeling experimental.  With slots for up to four personal pies (each one good for 3 to 5 bites), you can use this appliance to make three meat pies and one apple pie (or whatever sweet recipe you want) in one go to cook up a proper meal in minutes.

23. Silvermark Grater Tongs $8.93

Perfect For: everyone who pulls out the cheese grater at least once a day

Why get a pair of tongs when you can get one with a built-in grater for instantly garnishing any meal with cheese?  This under-$10 Grater Tongs from Silvermark is a serious kitchen convenience, allowing you to cheat with a little cheese on the salad while saving you from another food prep tool to clean.  It comes sporting both fine and coarse graters, with heavy-gauge stainless steel construction and snappy spring action.

24. Casabella Silicone Microegg $7.64

Perfect For: people who insist egg sandwiches need perfectly-shaped square eggs

Round eggs make perfect sense when you sandwich them inside round buns.  But if you're trapping them in square slices?  Not so much.  But how do you make square eggs?  Apparently, by using this Silicone Microegg, which lets you cook a square-shapped egg in the microwave in just 60 seconds.

25. Dip Clips $9.38

Perfect For: people with a closet full of sauces, dips, and liquid seasonings

Know someone who never eats without an assortment of dips and sauces on hand?  In my family, that happens to be me.  And I can't help but think these Dip Clips were made for me, allowing me to surround my plate with a selection of dips and sauces that follow anywhere I go.  Each mini-bowl comes with capacity to hold a third of a cup -- big enough to hold a good helping of stuff and small enough to let you cram half a dozen around the plate easily.

6 Ways Your Bedroom May Be Sabotaging Your Sleep

 

How to make your bedroom more conducive to sleep

Let’s face it: we all know that sometimes, getting ourselves (or our kids) into bed is only half the struggle when it comes to falling asleep. Lying there, or tossing and turning as the minutes turn into hours while sleep continues to eludes us can be really frustrating, and no help when the alarm goes off the next morning and we can barely get going.

There can be lots of reasons why people have difficulty falling or staying asleep, and I’ve addressed many of them in previous posts as well as in my book

One of them, often overlooked, is the quality of the sleep environment itself. Namely: how conducive your bedroom is to falling asleep.

Here are a number of things to look for in your, or your child’s bedroom, which may be interfering with your ability to fall asleep at night:

1. Too much light. Bright light, especially in the evening, has a very powerful awakening effect on the brain.
2. Make sure the bedroom lights are dim, or better yet turned off completely. If you read before going to bed, use a low-wattage lamp. If a night light is needed, use the lowest wattage you can find (no more than 7 watts) and make sure that the light it casts does not shine directly on the bed. In the summer months, when trying to go to sleep (or to put younger kids to bed) before the sun has set, consider using light-blocking shades or curtains.
3. Too many distractions. Televisions , computers, iPads, video games are problematic not only because of the light they case, but because of their content, which can rile up the brain just as you’re trying to calm it down.  And while falling asleep to soothing music can be very helpful to some, not all music is soothing. I’ve met teens with difficulty initiating sleep who never made the connection between the heavy metal they listened to in bed at night and why it was taking them so long to fall asleep.
4. Pets. Whether it’s a dog who snuggles up and leaves you little room to stretch out, or a cat that’s constantly moving about, your pet may be causing more of your sleep problems than you realize. If you’re not convinced, consider videotaping the bed one night and watching what happened over the course of the night.
5. Too much stress. Taking computers, homework, or work into bed is an especially big no-no, because it can generate stress that lingers even after the task is complete, and the computer turned off and the notebooks put away. It’s important to keep the bed for sleep (and sex, when appropriate), and not to allow negative associations to develop between the bed and unpleasant or stress-generating tasks which can then interfere with sleep.
6. Clocks. Even though the stress they produce is a direct continuation of point #4, they bear special mention. Nothing is more anxiety-producing than watching the minutes tick by as you lie in bed and can’t fall asleep. “Oh no, it’s been half an hour, and I’m still awake… Now it’s been thirty-five minutes and I still haven’t fallen asleep.” Most of us need an alarm to wake up in the morning, but that doesn’t mean that the clock has to face the bed. Move it out of arms-reach and out of sight. For example: put the clock on a dresser across the room and facing the wall. That will make it much less tempting to look at.
7. Noise.  Thin walls, snoring bed partners, or family members watching TV in the den can all make it harder to fall asleep. Sometimes this is easy to fix, but not always. If that’s the case, consider foam earplugs, or a fan or white noise machine to mask the sound

Good luck, and good night!

Dennis Rosen, M.D.

Help your child get a great night's sleep with the new book:

Successful Sleep Strategies for Kids (a Harvard Medical School Guide)

 

Three Tips for Better Sleep: Overcome your Insomnia

 

Published on October 15, 2013 by Jonathan Fader, Ph.D. in The New You

“When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, “Did you sleep good? I said “No, I made a few mistakes.” - Steven Wright

First, you are not alone. A shocking 50-70 million Americans have sleep difficulties of some kind. But not to worry, there are some very practical strategies that you can use if you would like to try change your behaviors to improve your sleep. As Steven Wright joked, we all make mistakes in our sleep related behaviors. This post will review some of the tools used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) to get started towards a more restful night tonight!

1. Retrain your mind and body for sleep.

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. - Dale Carnegie

When we lie sleeplessly in bed our brain begins to associate bed with sleeplessness. Stimulus control therapy works to retrain your brain how to sleep. There are some guidelines you can follow on your own that can really help in this area. First, avoid using your bed for anything (ok almost anything!) except sleep. Secondly, if you are in bed awake for more than 20 minutes, get up and sit in a chair outside of the sleeping area and participate in a non-activating activity in low light. For example reading, crafting, or implementing a relaxation exercises. Try not to use anything with a screen.

Sleep Hygiene can also contribute to training your body to sleep. One healthy step towards this is to develop a nighttime ritual. Having a cup of tea (decaffeinated), taking a warm shower, stretching, changing into specific pajamas before bed can all help send messages to your brain that it is time to go to sleep.

2. Manage your stress and worry.

Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep. - Mahatma Gandhi

Stress and anxiety can create substantial barriers to sleep. Some tools that you can use during your day and near bedtime to reduce worry and stress are breathing exercises and muscle relaxation exercises. Both of these tools can help to reduce stress and induce relaxation which will help you prepare your body and mind to rest.

Worry time: Pick a scheduled time to worry and write your worries down. If you think of something during the rest of the day, tell yourself you will worry about that during your “worry time.” If you must, take a minute to write down your worry at that time.

Lastly, don’t look at the clock while sleeping! This can lead to increased pressure and worry about sleeping. I have had clients that go so far as to put the clock in another part of the room or put tape over the screen to avoid temptation.

3. Daily Activities and next steps

A well spent day brings happy sleep - Leonardo da Vinci

What you do during the day does affect the quality of your sleep. There is plenty of evidence that supports the fact that exercising during the day can help you sleep better. Also, napping during the day can negatively affect your nighttime sleep.

One of the main ideas of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia is the idea of “sleep efficiency” which basically means the proportion of time that you are actually asleep while in bed. In CBT-I you work with a therapist to help you create a “sleep debt” (a need to fall asleep) by allowing yourself less time (opportunity) to be in bed. This results in being tired while in bed and thus, eventually sleeping more.

Hopefully some of these tips will be helpful for you. Certainly a consultation with a clinician who has expertise in CBT-I can help you guide yourself to a night of restful sleep.

Sweet Dreams!

Follow Dr. Fader on Twitter @drfader

 

How Is Your Sleep Health?

 

Just because you don’t have insomnia doesn’t mean sleep's doing its job for you.

When you come across yet another magazine piece about sleep disorders, you pass it by. You know lots of people who have sleep problems—but as far as you’re concerned, you don’t. You don’t lie awake for hours hoping for some shut-eye, or wake up in the middle of the night, or find it really hard to sleep on a schedule that works with the rest of your life.

Great! Congratulations! But…

Not having a particular problem is not at all the same thing as being healthy. We know that when it comes to our general health, just because you're not in bad shape physically doesn’t mean you're in good shape. Good is at least one or two steps beyond so-so or okay. That’s true for health, it’s true for diet, it’s true for energy level and mood. And it’s definitely true for sleep.

This point is brought home in a recent issue of the scientific journal Sleep. The author is Daniel Buysse, MD, a top authority in the field of sleep medicine. He raises the point that sleep medicine—a field that goes back at least 30 years—has focused on disorders, diseases, and their treatment. Of course this effort has been momentous, as anyone who has tried to deal with a sleep problem will gratefully agree. But what is needed in addition is a positive frame of reference that gives us a way to know how well we are doing.

KEYS TO HEALTHY SLEEP

What makes for a healthy sleep pattern, one that reinforces good general health? Dr. Buysse suggests that five simple questions can give you a sense of where you stand:

• Do you fall asleep easily and get back to sleep easily if something wakes you during the night?
• Do you sleep between six and eight hours a night?
• Do you stay awake and alert during your waking day, without dozing?
• Is your sleep schedule appropriate to your lifestyle (for most of us, this means sleeping during the nighttime)?
• Do you feel you typically get a “good night’s sleep”?

Researchers can get objective answers to most of these questions by observing someone in a sleep lab. But as a rule, that isn’t really necessary. Practically all of us are able to say whether our personal answer to each question is Rarely/Never, Sometimes, or Usually/Always. And that is enough to give us a general idea of our current state of sleep health, but most importantly, a target to aim for—being able to say Usually to every question.

If you fall short of that, like so many of us, what can you do about it? To answer that question, we need to understand something of the basics of sleep itself.

MECHANISMS OF ACTION

The most widely accepted physiological understanding of sleep involves the joint action of two independent brain processes. We want them both to be in sync. The first is sleep pressure. From the moment we wake up, our bodies start building up a need to sleep again. Once we do go to sleep, this need starts to recede. The second process is the circadian cycle, which rises and falls across the twenty-four hour day, under the control of the inner clock. When these two reinforce each other, the result is healthy sleep. But the more they come into conflict, the more our sleep health declines.

The good news is that both sleep pressure and the circadian cycle can be brought under our control. Getting on a regular sleep/wake schedule helps ensure that sleep pressure builds to its high point at bedtime. We detail the ways to adjust the circadian cycle in our paperback guide, Reset Your Inner Clock. For example, if you expose yourself to bright light during the hours shortly before bedtime, it can overwhelm the clock’s sleep signal and make it harder to fall asleep. But if you cut down on light exposure—and especially light in the blue-ish part of the spectrum—you can avoid this interference. Holding back on television and computer use during the evening hours is one simple but effective step toward sleep health. How you arrange your nighttime and morning environment is just as important. Put together the ingredients, and you can rate yourself Usually—or even Always—on the positive side of the sleep equation.

Michael and Ian are co-authors of the 2013 Penguin paperback, Reset Your Inner Clock. They invite you to follow them on Twitter for news updates, opinions, and challenging Q-and-A’s. If you want to stay on top of body-clock matters, light therapy, and more — and take advantage of confidential, online self-assessments of inner clock time, depression, and seasonality — you should become part of the nonprofit Center for Environmental Therapeutics community. Email PTuser@cet.org so we can stay in contact.

Famous Men and Their Motorcycles

 

by Brett & Kate McKay on April 10, 2011 ·

 

Few things have captured the passion, the sometimes obsession, of men like the motorcycle. There’s no mystery as to why this is. Motorcycles represent a peculiar combination of several manly elements: danger, speed, singular focus, solitude, mechanics, noise, and physical skill.

Many famous men were motorcycle enthusiasts; they combined their passion for things like acting, music, and adventure, with a love for bikes. Motorcycles were a perfect outlet for their zeal for life; riding the open road with the wind in their faces left them invigorated and inspired. Today we take a look at the relationship ten famous men had with their motorcycles.

T.E. Lawrence

“A skittish motorbike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on earth, because of its logical extension of our faculties, and the hint, the provocation, to excess conferred by its honeyed untiring smoothness.” -TE Lawrence

T.E. Lawrence, aka “Lawrence of Arabia” was a passionate motorcyclist and a devotee of the Brough Superior. Brough Superiors were considered the “Rolls Royce of Motorcycles” and Lawrence had his custom-made; short of stature at 5’5, he ordered his bikes with a smaller back wheel to accommodate his height. Lawrence owned seven Brough Superiors during his lifetime, referring to them as his Boanerges (sons of Thunder), and calling each George (the first was George I, the last George VII). In 1935, while riding George VII and awaiting delivery of George VIII, Lawrence swerved to avoid hitting two boys on bicycles, was thrown over the handlebars, and died a week later from his injuries at age 46. Lawrence loved to ride his bikes fast and hard; he was likely going around 100 mph, the bike’s top speed, at the time of the accident.

Marlon Brando

“It still pleases me to be awake during the dark, early hours before morning when everyone else is still asleep. I’ve been that way since I first moved to New York. I do my best thinking and writing then. During those early years in New York, I often got on my motorcycle in the middle of the night and went for a ride–anyplace. There wasn’t much crime in the city then, and if you owned a motorcycle, you left it outside your apartment and in the morning it was still there. It was wonderful on summer nights to cruise around the city at one, two, or three A.M. wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a girl on the seat behind me. If I didn’t start out with one, I’d find one.” -Marlon Brando

Before he became famous, Brando cruised the streets of NYC on his bike, and in the coming decades, whenever his fame started to feel oppressive, he’d get on his motorcyle and simply head out into the Southwest, riding through the desert for miles on end.

In the iconic film, The Wild One,  Brando rode a 1950 Triumph 6T Thunderbird.

Bob Dylan

In 1966, Bob Dylan’s career was going full throttle; several of his albums had gone gold and platinum, he was touring the world, and he was soon to publish a novel. His schedule and impending commitments were brutal. Success was crashing over him like a wave, a wave that perhaps would have drowned him if a mysterious motorcycle accident had not intervened. While tooling along near his Woodstock, NY home, Dylan apparently crashed his 1964 Triumph Tiger 100 and suffered an injury to his vertebrae. While he was not taken to a hospital, he enjoyed a long convalescence; he did not return to touring for almost a decade. The accident provided Dylan with a way to slow down his life. He would later say:

“When I had that motorcycle accident … I woke up and caught my senses, I realized that I was just workin’ for all these leeches. And I didn’t want to do that. Plus, I had a family and I just wanted to see my kids.”

Clark Gable

While this seems to be a posed press photo, Clark Gable did indeed ride a motorcycle, a 1934 Harley Davidson RL to be exact.

Hunter S. Thompson

“But with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin and no room for mistakes. It has to be done right . . and thats when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that the fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms. You can barely see a hundred; the tears blow back so fast that they vaporize before they get to your ears. The only sounds are the wind and the dull roar floating back from the mufflers. You watch the white line and try to lean with it  . . . howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica . . . letting off now, watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge . . . The Edge  . . . ” – Hunter S. Thompson, Hells Angels

Writer Hunter S. Thompson earned his motorcycling chops the hard way: by riding his BSA A65 Lightning for a year with the Hell’s Angels. His experience  riding with (and getting stomped by) the gang became the book,  Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga.

Clint Eastwood

While Eastwood was only an occasional rider in his personal life, he rode motorcycles as part of several of his films. In Coogan’s Bluff, for example, he chases an escaped criminal through Central Park while astride a Triumph Bonneville.

Charles Lindbergh

As a boy, Charles Lindbergh had a keen fascination for the mechanical workings of machines generally and for internal combustion engines in particular. When he was in high school, he ordered a twin-cylinder 1920 model Excelsior “X” motorcycle through the local hardware store. Lindbergh was a shy and quiet young man, but he rode his bike fast, hard, and, as his classmates remembered it, rather recklessly. “I loved its power and speed,” he admitted. On the way to town, Lindbergh would tear through a path that ran past a power plant, through a thicket of bushes, and along the steep banks of the Mississippi River. As an observer remembered, “it seemed like he wanted to see how close to the edge he could get without plunging in.” The owner of the plant became so concerned that he closed off the trail. But the future pilot was as cool on that bike as he was behind the controls of a plane; he never had an accident.

Buddy Holly

In 1958, coming off a tour and flush with success, Buddy Holly and the Crickets decided to spend some of their hard earned money on new motorcycles. They flew to Dallas and started shopping the local bike stores. But the owners, unaware of who these young lads were, treated them dismissively; the owner of the Harley dealer practically pushed them out the door. But they found what they were looking for at Ray Miller Triumph Motorcycle Sales, where each man picked out one of the latest models: Buddy chose an Ariel Cyclone, J.I. picked a Trophy, and Joe B. decided on a Thunderbird. The guys then headed back to Lubbock on the bikes, but not before stopping by the Harley dealer to show off their new rides.

James Dean

Hope for teenage nerds everywhere. James Dean on his first real motorcycle. Pre-smoldering angst.

Of course the “Rebel Without a Cause” had a thing for motorcycles. He got his first real motorcycle at age 15, a 1947 CZ 125-cc. He was the only kid in his small town in Indiana with his own motorcycle, and he rode it full throttle, losing two teeth in a fall. The locals called him “One Speed Dean.” And that one speed was “wide open.”

When he dropped out of college to pursue acting, he traded his beloved CZ for a Royal Enfield 500cc vertical twin. But he wouldn’t hold onto that bike for long. While home in Indiana on break from working on a play in NYC, Dean decided to ride his Royal Enfield all the way back to the Big Apple. But when it broke down along the way, he traded it in for an Indian Warrior TT. When Dean arrived back in New York, he had the bike serviced at a shop…where Steve McQueen worked as a mechanic.

Later, wanting to emulate Marlon Brando, Dean bought a Triumph TR5 Trophy, the last bike he rode before he died.

Steve McQueen

There is perhaps no famous man we associate more with motorcycles than the King of Cool, Steve McQueen.

Before Steve McQueen made it big as an actor, he would compete in–and win–weekend motorcycle races on the first bike he owned–a used Harley. Even when Hollywood success came calling, acting gigs always had to compete against his passion for motorcycles. McQueen amassed a collection of over 100 motorcycles, his favorites being vintage Indians. When the weight of celebrity grew too stifling, McQueen would grab one of those Indian bikes and tear out of Tinseltown and onto the open road. McQueen loved off-road racing as well, and raced the Triumph’s TR6 in everything from the Baja 1000 to the prestigious International Six Days Trial.

The TR6 also famously makes an appearance in The Great Escape. In that film, McQueen performed many of his own stunts; however, contrary to popular belief, it was not McQueen who jumped his bike over the barbed wire fence in that iconic scene. Because of insurance concerns, Bud Ekins was called in to make the leap.