Drip...Drip...Drip

No one can write a book about disturbed sleep without devoting a page to the proverbial leaky faucet...or whatever else goes "clang...toot...or drip" in the night.

There's a saying that goes, "It's not the log in the road that slows you down, it's the pebble in your shoe." This principle also applies to sleep. It's not always the worst crises that will keep you awake, but sometimes the neighbor's dog.

But whatever the annoyance is, it can be turned around for God's glory. How? In His Word He promises that He is our "fortress" and our "refuge." What does this mean? It means that there is a special place, deep within your heart, where you can retreat from all the distractions and be only with Him. It's His secret "dwelling place" where no disturbances are allowed.

As the Psalmist tells us, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust" (Psalm 91:1-2, NKJV).

CONFESS GOD'S TRUTH

John 11:14 "Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead."

JOHN 11:14

Jesus spoke of Lazarus being asleep instead of dead because that is really a much better description. Death, to their carnal minds, would be final; whereas the word "sleep" would not. When the disciples misunderstood what He was saying, He clarified the situation by saying plainly, "Lazarus is dead."

This looks like a contrary statement to what Jesus was going to do (raise Lazarus from the dead) and indeed it would have been if He had left it at that. But He went on to say in verse 15, "I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe." This was referring to Lazarus being raised from the dead and it turned Jesus' statement of a negative fact into a positive confession of faith.

Suffer with Me Awhile

Glynnis Whitwer

"Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.'" Matthew 26:38 (NIV)

I dipped my piece of torn bread in the cup of dark purple juice and placed it in my mouth. I tasted the ripeness of the fruit and savored the texture of the bread. "I will remember, Lord." I spoke the words in my head, silently thanking Jesus for the sacrifice He made for me on the cross.

Within a minute, the aftertaste of the juice distracted my communion meditation. It was more bitter than usual and I thought about taking a sip of something else to remove the flavor from my mouth. Should I grab my coffee, or some water?

Immediately, the Lord spoke to my heart: "Suffer with Me awhile."

Sadness filled my heart as I realized how quickly I wanted to remove the unpleasant taste ... how fast my thoughts drifted from the suffering of Christ to my own comfort. And I wondered how many times my self-focus had led me away from obedience in the hard places of life.

The Bible tells of three disciples who also chose comfort over obedience. On the night of His betrayal, Jesus asked Peter, James and John to watch and wait for Him while He prayed. During the time when our Lord was "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," His closest friends couldn't keep awake. Three times Jesus returned to find them sleeping.

Superwoman Is Dead

Most mothers fight a constant battle between stress and guilt.


by Emuna Braverman

“The Age of the Superwoman is dead,” says Samantha Parent Walravens, editor of the recently released TORN: True Stories of Kids, Career & the Conflict of Modern Motherhood. I called Ms. Walravens at her Northern California home to discuss the impetus for the book and her goals and vision. We forged an instant bond because I know first-hand exactly what she is talking about.
Many of us today have bought into the superwoman myth. We think we can do it all – careers, children, healthy marriages – and then we realize that we still need to sleep at night!

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” — Genesis 28:12

The Torah portion for this week, Vayetze, is from Genesis 28:10–32:3 and Hosea 12:13–14:10.

The Jewish Sages teach that when Jacob was on his journey to the city of Harran, he ended up somewhere that he had not intended to go. But it was late, and so Jacob found a few stones, made a pillow, and went to sleep. As providence would have it, the place where Jacob slept was the holiest place on earth.


There, he had his famous dream in which Jacob saw a vision of a ladder resting on earth, stretching up to heaven. Angels were going up and down on it. When Jacob woke up he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16). Jacob had unintentionally, but providentially, stumbled upon a virtual stairway to heaven.

Erotic Dreams What Happens When Experiences Wet Erotic Dreams

By Leena Kiri 

What is the dream?

The first question to be clarified is the difference between Sleep and dreams. Sleep calls the state of suspension of activities conscious mind and the will, which occurs periodically (For several hours a day, usually at night) and that enables rest of the muscular system and a change of neuronal activity. Now are studying the importance of sleep period in the settlement of consolidation of memory and learning. The opposite state is the wakefulness or consciousness and will.

The passage of the monitors to sleep and vice versa is regulated by the central nervous system, with special importance reticular system which is located in the brain stem.

Sleep Throughout the body minimizes its metabolic activity, the muscles relax, the heart rate is slower, blood pressure is reduced, and the inspirations are longer and shorter expirations. However, its activity does not decrease brain psychic during sleep. Periods psychic peak phases coincide with those given in the dreams, and studies had shown that employing up Sleep 50% of a newborn, from 30% to 35% at two years, 25% in childhood, youth and adulthood, and from age 65 will be reduced progressively.

Ask a Scientist: Should I Sleep in a Bra?

If you don't want to throw them over your shoulder like a continental soldier...

Shutterstock

The Scientist: Arthur Perry, M.D., YouBeauty Cosmetic Surgery Expert

The Answer: If you don’t want the girls to sag, then you’ll have to tuck them up before you tuck yourself in. It’s sad but true: Sleeping sans bra is the major cause of breast droop.

Dreams can take the edge off

Credit: Dreamstime

Taking the edge off may require, not a stiff drink, but a trip to la-la land. UC Berkeley scientists report in the Nov. 23, 2011, issue of the journal Current Biology that during the dream phase of sleep (also called REM sleep), participants' brains showed decreased levels of certain chemicals associated with stress.

"We know that during REM sleep there is a sharp decrease in levels of norepinephrine, a brain chemical associated with stress," study researcher Matthew Walker, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, said in a statement. "By reprocessing previous emotional experiences in this neuro-chemically safe environment of low norepinephrine during REM sleep, we wake up the next day, and those experiences have been softened in their emotional strength. We feel better about them, we feel we can cope."

You can control your dreams

If you're interested in lucid dreaming, you may want to take up video gaming. Both represent alternate realities, according to Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada. Of course they aren't completely the same. While video games are controlled by computers and gaming consoles, dreams arise from the human mind.

"If you're spending hours a day in a virtual reality, if nothing else it's practice," Gackenbach told LiveScience in 2010. "Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams." Her past research has shown that people who frequently play video games are more likely than non-gamers to have lucid dreams where they view themselves from outside their bodies; they also were better able to influence their dream worlds, as if controlling a video-game character.

Men dream about sex

Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor


Credit: Phase4Photography | Shutterstock

No surprise here, men are more likely than women to dream about sex. And comparing notes in the morning may not be a turn on for either guys or gals, as women are more likely to have experienced nightmares, according to doctoral research reported in 2009 by psychologist Jennie Parker of the University of the West of England.

Dreams help us solve puzzles

Scientists have long wondered why we dream, with answers ranging from Sigmund Freud's idea that dreams fulfill our wishes to the speculation that these wistful journeys are just a side rapid-eye-movement, or REM, sleep. 

Turns out, at least part of the reason may be critical thinking, according to Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett who presented her theory in 2010 at the Association for Psychological Science meeting in Boston. She has found that our slumbering hours may help us solve puzzles that have plagued us during daylight hours.

According to Barrett, it's the visual and often illogical aspects of dreams that make them perfect for out-of-the-box thinking that is necessary to solve some problems.

Night owls have more nightmares

Credit: Jeff Thrower | Shutterstock

Staying up late has its perks (as long as you can hit the snooze button the next morning), but light dreams is not one of them. Research published in 2011 in the journal Sleep and Biological Rhythms, revealed that night owls are more likely than their early-bird counterparts to experience nightmares.

In the study 264 university students rated how often they experienced nightmares on a scale from "0," (meaning "never") to "4" (meaning "always"). The stay-up-late types scored, on average, a 2.10, compared with the morning types who averaged a 1.23. The researchers said the difference was a significant one, however, they aren’t sure what's causing a link between sleep habits and nightmares. 

Are You Running Yourself Ragged?

     There aren't enough hours in the day... at least that's the way it feels. You're always going from one place to the next, but are you spreading yourself too thin? Take our quiz and see if you need to stop and smell the roses.

http://www.mydailymoment.com/app/quiz/userquiz/takequiz/266

 Question 1 out of 12

How many hours of sleep do you get a night?

	More than 10 hours
	Between 8-10 hours
	Between 6-8 hours
	Less than 6 hours

MDM Quizzes are for entertainment purposes only

http://www.mydailymoment.com/app/quiz/userquiz/takequiz/266

Hear God Through Your Dreams

Hear God Through Your Dreams (3-CD Set and Book) by Mark Virkler, Code: 9112

"The best teaching I have ever seen on interpreting dreams!" — Sid Roth "I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; Indeed my mind instructs me in the night" (Psalm 16:7 NAS). Do you often wake up feeling there was a significant message in your dream, but you're just not sure what it is? Like Daniel and Joseph, do you long to be able to help others understand their own dreams and recognize the message within them from their Heavenly Father? Wouldn't it be nice if you could receive mid-course corrections from the Lord while you sleep? Do you wish you could be receiving divine inspiration, creative solutions to problems, and direction from the Lord during that third of your life that you're "just" sleeping? This unique 3-CD series and Workbook will guide you in letting the Holy Spirit be your Teacher as you learn to interpret God's messages revealed through your dreams! (Includes 5 complete sessions on 3 CDs, plus workbook. Also, be sure to order Mark Virkler's book, Four Keys to Hearing God's Voice (see below). Mark Virkler and his wife, Patti, are the founders and directors of Communion With God Ministries and Christian Leadership University, an internet school. They have helped establish more than 150 church-centered schools. https://secure2.convio.net/srmv/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=17302&store_id=1101&JServSessionIdr004=bym4igwh82.app220b

7 Mind-Bending Facts About Dreams

Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor

Intro7654321More

Credit: Stockxpert

Dream Scape

You are getting sleepy, very sleepy. When your head hits the pillow it’s lights out for the brain and body, right? Not if you consider the brain cells that must fire to produce the sometimes vivid and sometimes downright haunted dreams that take place during the rapid-eye-movement stage of your sleep. Why do some people have nightmares while others really spend their nights in bliss? Like sleep, dreams are mysterious phenomena. But as scientists are able to probe deeper into our minds, they are finding some of those answers. Here's some of what we know about what goes on in dream land.

http://www.livescience.com/17290-facts-dreams-nightmares.html

Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor

More Than 8 Million Americans Sleepwalk, Surprising Scientists

By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer | LiveScience.com

Adult sleepwalkers are more common than previously realized, with upward of 8 million American adults prone to nighttime ambulation, a new study finds.

In fact, about 3.6 percent of U.S. adults have walked in their sleep at least once in the previous year, researchers report Monday (May 14) in the journal Neurology. One percent experienced at least two episodes of sleepwalking per month.

Almost 1 in 3 in U.S. have sleepwalked: study

By Andrew M. Seaman | Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although only a handful of people in the United States sleepwalk every year, a new study suggests close to one-third may do it at some point in their lives.

The study, published Monday in the journal Neurology, also suggests that other sleep disorders, severe depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) -- among other things -- are linked to an increased chance of sleepwalking.

Past research on sleepwalking was mostly based on studies conducted in a lab, according to the study's lead author, who told Reuters Health he wanted to know what was actually happening in people's homes.

"We did not know what was the prevalence of sleepwalking -- as a disorder -- in the general population and that was a big problem," said Dr. Maurice Ohayon, director of the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center in California.

To find out how many people were sleepwalking -- also known as nocturnal wandering -- at home, Ohayon and his fellow researchers from around the U.S. called about 16,000 adults in 15 states.

Rising Sleep Deficiencies Mean More Sleepwalking

ABCNEWS.COM - Dr. Richard Castriotta gives helpful advice on sleep walking management.


http://abcnews.go.com/Health/video/rising-sleep-deficiencies-sleepwalking-16345532

7 Ways for Women to Look Great Naked

By Lucas Wold

My gym is located right by Lake Tahoe, which is home to the sexiest beaches in Nevada, hands down. It should come as no surprise then, that I am most often called on for help lookin' good in a bikini.

Here are SEVEN of my sizzling hot tips to help you raise your metabolism through the roof, so you'll be lean and sexy and looking great naked before strutting your stuff on the beach:

1. Supplement your diet with krill oil, whey protein, and a greens booster.

5 ways you can stay fit as a couple

By Patricia Hizon | Yahoo! SHE

It takes two to keep fit and healthy.  If you’re a health buff, imagine being married to a junk food-eating, non-exercising, potbelly-scratching couch potato.  Not pretty! 


It is important for couples to work together, like they do in other aspects of their relationship, to achieve a healthier lifestyle.


Here are simple and easy tips.


1. Watch each other’s diet.


It’s really not that easy to go on any kind of diet if the person you’re constantly with is munching on the very same food you’re trying to avoid.  This sometimes leads to tension in the relationship. 


Couples should mutually agree on the terms of the diet—whether it’s to cut down on carbs or sodium, use organic ingredients, or go vegetarian.


Agreement is key to commitment.  That means that you have to manage your food intake together as a couple and check on one another.


The best way to get this started is to consult a nutritionist.  You and your partner might have different dietary needs and goals, but the reality is you share the same pantry and kitchen.

Read: Do vitamin supplements do more harm to the elderly?

2. Go to bed earlier.


This is a great excuse to get a head start on snuggling up. That might mean turning off the laptop, the TV, getting the kids out of the room and adjusting your evening routines so you hit the sack earlier.


When you improve your sleeping habits, you are allowing your body to recover and priming it to take on the demands of the day. 


Plus, studies have shown that people who sleep less than six hours a night undergo hormone changes that lead to an increase in hunger.

Read: 10 ways to break bad habits

3. Make gym dates a regular thing.

Using cardio machines side by side can help motivate and encourage the other to reach his or her individual goals.


On weights, you or your partner can praise each other as you flex in front of the mirror.  Ladies, squeeze his biceps and show some admiration.  A regular pat on the back (or the lower extremities) can put your partner in a giddy mood.


Use opportunities like wiping the sweat beads off the side of your partner’s face to keep the flames of romance alive.  At least you’ll be burning more than just calories!


Go on gym dates two to three times a week.

Read: The best time to stretch

4. Enjoy the outdoors.


Look for activities you and your partner would enjoy.  A brisk walk or a run around the neighborhood, a bike ride on a trail both of you can conquer, or a weekend fun run.


Or, try a little basketball, volleyball and even football at the local park. You don’t need to be great, but you need to be determined.


There are so many activities you and your partner can take up to make your bond strong...and your bones and muscles even stronger.

Read: 5 healthy reasons to get walking

5. Dance like no one’s looking.


It doesn’t matter if you have two left feet. What matters is that you’re willing to spice up your workout with a partner who won’t laugh (that much) at you for your not being blessed with rhythm and grace.


Dancing is a sure-fire way to add sizzle to your relationship while allowing those unwanted fats to fizzle.


There are many dance classes and dance workouts being offered in malls, hotels and neighborhood studios. You can also hit the many dance clubs in the city.


Staying fit and healthy not only allows you to enjoy life more fully, it also puts more excitement in your relationship.

Remember, it takes two to tango.  So drop the chips, get off the couch and vow to get through the challenge together, in fitness and in health.

Read: Street dance for fitness

Patricia Hizon is an accomplished sportscaster, mother of two, wife of a basketball player turned golf addict, free lance producer and writer, owner of a travel agency, marketing and events consultant, and founder of the "Everyday Is Your Birthday Foundation". Get to know more about her on her blog 
www.patriciahizon.com.

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