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How to Get a Better Night’s Sleep

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Lack of adequate sleep is a problem that is afflicting more people than ever in the United States. Demands of work and the daily stresses of life can quickly take their toll and we can simply forget how to sleep. Stress and anxiety levels will then likely continue to get worse because quality of sleep is directly related to mental health.

Health and mental issues aside, it just makes you feel so much better when you get a full night of deep and restorative sleep. There are some precautions you can take and there are things you can avoid doing right before bed that can drastically improve your quality and duration of sleep. This is commonly referred to as sleep hygiene, a guiding set of practices and habits that are conducive to a good night’s sleep.

Create a Sleep Inducing Environment
Set the stage for a good night’s sleep by adjusting your immediate environment to support it. Remember that the cleanliness and order of your environment can have a calming effect on your mood. Put every electronic gadget you have been using, such as your smartphone, away at least an hour before bedtime.

The lights emitted by computer screens, smartphones and LED television sets can keep you up at night, even if they aren’t directly in front of you. LED lights and devices emit a spectrum of light known as “blue light”. This light spectrum can disrupt your circadian rhythm and keep you up at night.

The mattress you sleep can either help you sleep or keep you from it. Pressure points on cheaper mattresses are not located with enough consideration on cheap mattresses. High quality mattresses and bedding create simple design features that can have a powerful effect on how comfortable and relaxed you feel while in bed.

Avoid Caffeine and Alcohol
Many men and women mistakenly associate alcohol with deep levels of continued sleep after a hard day’s work or hard night’s partying. Although alcohol can be a powerful and effective sedative, it actually interrupts your natural sleep patterns and degrades the quality of sleep you do get. Alcohol should be taken in moderation, especially when it’s getting close to bedtime.

Although a few cups of coffee might be great in the morning hours, you should avoid it like the plague during the afternoon hours. Caffeine can linger in the body and affect sleep for up to six hours in many people.

Even though you might not feel the effects of caffeine, it’s still stimulating your nervous system more than normal and can keep you from drifting into sleep. This is especially true for older adults because it takes longer for their bodies to process caffeine.

Exercise for Deeper Sleep
Exercise the stress and anxiety away and prepare your body for a deep cycle of sleep hours beforehand. As little as ten minutes a day of aerobic exercise can be enough for some people to notice the difference.

The time of day matters, but it depends on the individual. Some people notice they sleep better if they exercise in the evening, but others prefer the morning or even afternoon hours. You’ll have to experiment to find out, but you’ll be glad you took the time to.

Author Bio: Paige Jirsa– I work with Top10.Today, a shopping comparison site, where we strive to help consumers find the best quality and priced products.

Some Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

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You would like to form a marketing campaign that will allow you to reach a lot of customers. If you have a solid email marketing strategy, you will be able to have new customers who will patronize the items and services that you are offering. What if you make some mistakes? You may lose your existing customers.

It is best that you know a lot of details about email marketing solutions. You can actually learn more when you check EMMA.

These are some of the email marketing mistakes that you should avoid right now:

  • Have the right amount of people that you would send your email to. You can start with the list of people who have subscribed to your newsletter. The more that you promote your business, the more people who will be a part of your list.
  • Sending an email without having a specific plan. You need to know what you are going to write on your email. Just imagine if you would send an email without any specific content. This will not be good for you at all. You can start researching about possible content even before you start sending emails. It will help you create the right content ahead of time.
  • Creating emails that will be considered boring by people who will check out your email. One of the reasons why people will stop clicking on your email is because they know that you are going to talk about something that they will not like at all.
  • Sending emails that do not look professional. Have you ever received an email before that is supposed to be important but was really bad-looking? The overall look of your email will be judged by your potential customers. Do your best to check if the grammar is okay. You should also check if the images are great.
  • Send your emails at the right time. There are some customers who cannot help but complain about receiving emails from the company every single day. Sending emails once or twice a month will already be appreciated.

Can you still think of other marketing mistakes that you should avoid? One of the most important things to remember is to never avoid your analytics. You need to see how well your emails are doing. The more that your emails are opened, the better your analytics are going to be.

Key Differences Between Classical and Steel-String Acoustic Guitars

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You’re never too old to learn to play the guitar, so don’t hesitate to pick up the guitar that makes your fingers itch and your spine tingle when you see it. But first, you’ll have to decide between playing a nylon-string classical guitar or a steel-string acoustic guitar. How do you differentiate one from the other, aside from the strings on them?

Knowing the key differences between the two types of acoustic guitars will also help you in determining which one would be a better fit for you. From there, you can choose from among the best classical guitar models or steel-string acoustic guitars to get you started.

Here’s an overview of the differences between nylon- and steel-stringed acoustic guitars.

String tension

The strings on a steel-string guitar are under a greater amount of tension, which means you would need to exert a higher amount of force or pressure down on them to fret notes properly. On the other hand, the string tension on a classical guitar is not as high. Nylon strings are also softer, making them easier on the fingers.

Fingerboard

Classical guitars have a wider neck fingerboard and nut than steel-string acoustic guitars. And because they have a wider fretboard, the strings are placed a little bit farther from each other. The greater string spacing allows for more room to ensure accurate finger placement on the fretboard, as well as a more precise fingerstyle playing. The wider fretboard also better accommodates the thicker treble strings.

Classical guitars also don’t usually have fretboard markers, or the dots and inlays found on the fretboards of acoustic guitars. The fingerboard on a classical guitar is also flat, though some crossover or hybrid models have incorporated a radiused fingerboard like that of a steel-string acoustic.

Headstock

A slotted headstock with in-line tuning machines is more common among classical guitars. Acoustic guitars usually have a solid headstock with individual tuning machines.

Construction and shape

Acoustic guitars come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with some models having cutaways for easier upper-fret access. Classical guitars don’t have as much variety in terms of shape and size, but generally they’re smaller than an acoustic dreadnought and shape-wise, are closer to that of a parlor guitar. They rarely have cutaways either.

There is also a difference in the internal bracing. Steel-string guitars have a solid bracing to counter the higher string tension while nylon-string guitars have a lighter bracing, making classical guitars more lightweight overall. The solid bracing on steel-string acoustics also contribute to a better resonance and projection.

The truss rod also works to counteract the string tension on steel-string guitars and to keep the neck straight. Because the nylon strings on a classical guitar don’t put as much tension on the neck, a classical guitar often doesn’t have a truss rod.

Neck-to-body joint

In a classical guitar, the neck traditionally joins the body at the 12th fret, while the neck-to-body joint in a steel-string acoustic is usually at the 14th fret.

Tone and sound

Because of their body construction, size, shape and strings, classical guitars have a warmer, softer and more mellow tone than those with steel strings. This tonal quality makes them suitable for classical, Spanish, flamenco, Latin and some folk music.

Steel-string guitars have a crisp, bright and twangy sound with a greater resonance and projection, making them ideal for those who want to play folk, rock and country music.

Those are the main differences between nylon-string guitars and steel-string guitars. Classical guitars are most often recommended for beginners because they are easier to play and they can really help you in building musical knowledge and mastering fingerpicking styles involved in playing the guitar. Going from a classical guitar to a steel-string acoustic is a natural progression among many players, so if you learn with a good classical guitar, you’re already off to a great start!

Men’s talk – A look through the keyhole …

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… or should we rather call it “eavesdropping through the keyhole”. However, what woman would not like to listen to her sweetheart coolly talking with his best buddies? What are they talking about anyway? Is he talking about me? Is it just about dirty topics? The answers to these questions will surprise many women.

“So? Everything alright? How’s it going? “

An estimated 95% of all conversations between men start with these three questions. However, what really rebuts the prevailing belief of many women is the fact that the conversation is NOT about sex or other issues that are seemingly important. No bed stories, no hazardous details about a relationship, and absolutely nothing about the dream body of Steve’s new girlfriend.

The first answer to the three questions is generally short: “All good!”. Only then the topic # 1 is mentioned: And – disappointingly – men talk first of all about work. About a crappy boss. The latest job, what mishaps occurred to a colleague, and, and, and … until they continue to topic # 2.

Technology and machines – From cordless screwdrivers to monster trucks

Still, there’s no word about the ladies. If you surf the WWW to find out what men (especially heterosexual men) are generally talking about, you’ll soon discover that gadgets, technology and heavy machinery are on the very top of the list of topics. Computers, chainsaws, cars and/or the new surround system for the TV … whatever! What for many women would certainly be a boring conversation, is an area the “boys” can talk about for hours.

They will discuss the new models of different car manufacturer, Peter’s new mountain bike, or philosophize about their last shopping spree across the hardware store. And only then they’ll move on to the topics 3 to 5 …

Hobbies, police & politics … seriously?

Incredible, but true. The next topic is … hobbies or travel or something similar. It’s about the latest tennis match, about football or about a visit to a club during their most recent business trip to Frankfurt in Germany. Even here, there is hardly, if any, talk about women, not even to mention the encounter with a hot escort girl. It’s more about the DJ set, the cool sound system and the overpriced drinks.

And then they will talk about the “boys in blue”. Topic # 4: the police. The report in the newspaper about police violence, the traffic ticket or the fact that the police in Dubai has a Bugatti in their vehicle fleet (which takes us back to topic # 2).

Topic # 5 – politics. What is already boring on television, among men may sometimes stir quite heated discussions. If during the conversation, some politician’s “unsexyness” is discussed, maybe the gentlemen will finally touch the topic that really interests them: women.

Personal details are not the main topic …

Men will be men, and basically, they are all pretty similar. Once they finally get to the topic “women”, there will usually be a few macho words. Then they could eventually shortly discuss the boredom of a long-term relationship, which however, and quite honestly, is also somehow comfortable. That in the past they were real stallions, that they would be much richer if their sweetheart would not invest all their money in clothes, and so on. Dirty secrets are certainly also a topic, but by far not as important as many women imagine. The play “Straight white men” by Young Jean Lee, which is on stage in New York, gives a very nice insight into a men’s discussion about # 6.

2019 Mother of the Bride Dress Suggestions

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Your daughter’s marriage is definitely a very special occasion for you; therefore, it is necessary for you to make sure that you are perfectly dressed for it. May it be the style, may it be the color, or may it be the hairstyle, there are multiple confusions running through your mind when you are eligible for the mother of the bride dresses.

That tag itself brings in a lot of attention and specialty on you particularly for being the mom of the bride. To ease up your worries, following are a few tips to be kept in mind while selecting a dress for your daughter’s big day:

1. Avoid Last Minute Rush

You need time to search and select the dresses. Waking up last minute to look for something outstanding won’t do any good and is extremely risky at the same time. Therefore, make sure you start hunting down the eligible clothes at least 3 months prior to the function.

2. The tradition

As per the etiquettes, the bride’s mother chooses the dress first and should inform the mother of the groom about what she’s wearing so that she can coordinate accordingly. This is a long carried tradition and is preferred to keep that way.

3. Choose colors wisely

The dress of your color should blend well with the color of your daughter’s dress and the theme and weather also. So, there are multiple things that you need to keep in mind before finalizing the color.

4. Explore

Make sure that you don’t limit your choices by straight away asking for mother of the bride dresses. Explore more colors and try different keywords to see dresses and to choose what looks best on you.

Following these tips will help you a lot in finalizing the dress for the beautiful occasion. Furthermore, below mentioned are a few dresses that you can look for as they can never fail to amaze you or to go out of fashion:

  • Capes: Add a vintage look to your attire by wearing an attractive cape which is recently on top of the mother of the bride dresses trends. Look for the short capes, long capes, floor touching etc. and see what looks breathtaking on you.
  • Metallics: No one can deny the fact that metallics can never go out of fashion or can look tacky on the bride’s mother. May it be beautiful embroidery on gold mother of the bride dresses or champagne color, metallics never fail to surprise us with their elegance and grace.
  • Deep Colors: If the theme of your wedding adds popping color to the venue, make sure your dress too. The latest trends have beautiful deep and rich colored dresses for the mother of the bride trends to make you look ravishing.
  • Illusion Lace: What can be better than choosing a beautiful gown with stellar illusion lace? A long flair gown with the beautiful lace on the neck and the sleeves would make you the eye-catcher of the evening.

Conclusion

These are a few recommended dresses and a few considerable tips which can help you be the star of the evening and justify the tag of being the “Bride’s Mother”.