#also a good go-to thing is some variant of 'your characterization is spot on' ' i love how you portray [] here'

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

*slowly teaches myself how to leave comments on fics because i know how amazing it is to get those and wanting to give the authors something back and let them know how amazing their fics are even though i'm very awkward because fandom works through interaction and i'll be damned to enjoy a fic without commenting and making the author happy because their fic made me happy too so it's more than fair*

[bitsbug]

i have a ton of question/suggestions for slug sign: 1. how do you indicate emotion in SS? my best guess is using cycles but talking about smth like sadness cant really be done that way 2. is there a specific way youre supposed to type out SS in english? 3. SS seems pretty heavy on context adding a kind of adjective system may help to fix issues with specification as well as free up room for more words. an example would be making words for "cycle", "food", "region", and "direction" and then changing the current word for "cycle" into "specify" so you could say [cycle] [<specification>] to talk about the specific cycle and plan or [direction] [<specification>] to talk about a specific direction and where you may want to go.. etc. words without specification still work but use context. 4. is there a way to explain advanced movement in SS, stuff like a flip or roll. 4.5. if not id suggest adding words for stuff like "sprint" or "crouch" and to go with it "then" to explain stuff for example [jump] [then] [crouch] [forward] would be a way to explain sliding

5. did you ever have concepts for a written version?

hooh momma! thank you for all the questions!

1)

Slugsign has a few emotion indicators, but not all of them are signs. We hop around a lot and dance and flip when we're happy; hopping in place is kind of a "this is good!" while hopping sporadically is "I'm excited!"

Using "loser" repeatedly or shaking on the spot expresses frustration, alongside signing "no" a lot and hitting eachother with rocks. Also insulting whatever you're mad at, we love to insult things.

Recently we've started using "peace" as a way of saying sorry, which wasn't even intentional it just developed during a play session. Sadness is characterized by a lot of "sorry" and crouching without movement and trying to shove yourself into corners. [Me] [loser] is used to express guilt.

2)

Oh hey, you actually use the exact method we use in this ask. We transcribe signs by placing them in brackets, for example: [give?] [Moon] [quantity-lots] [scav][object]. There's no official way you're "supposed" to though, that's just what we do.

3)

What you propose sounds like an interesting idea, but idk how much it'd be utilized. I mean for direction you can just.. point in the way you want to go. And "cycle" in reference to a day is considered the current one by default- you'd use "later" to specify a future one. I think what you're wanting is an abstracted "this" sign? which yeahh WOULD be nice actually..

I've thrown out the idea of having a grammatical word order thing, like [cycle] [food] and [food] [cycle] having different meanings, but Phen's worried that'll be really hard to memorize and cause confusion. Idk I still think it's cool and would add a lot of nuance, I'm gonna try to convince her on it.

4)

We probably could add those signs if y'all really want? I know people use it for their own co-op now, but in me and Phen's sessions we both already know the movement tech. It sounds really funny to teach someone about rainworld using slugsign though, I like that.

I could see condensing all those into a single "movement" or "example" sign: you use the sign and then do the action you're demonstrating. So a backflip would be like.. [example-run] [example-turn] [fast] [example-jump].? Could probably use some workshopping.

5)

..no not really!! I'm not a linguist or a language hobbyist, me and Phen are just winging this shit according to need, and I have NO idea how I'd go about making a written variant beyond transcripts. Besides idk if we'd really.. use it? That sounds super good for the worldbuilding aspect, but we already have the legend to reference. Anyone else who wants to take on the idea, by my guest.

[diffractor]

Large Cardinals 4: Measurable Cardinals

So, skipping over a bunch of weird large cardinals past indescribables, we arrive at the Measurable Cardinals. These... are kinda weird when you first learn about them. They’re the first time I got acrophobia (fear of heights) in the large cardinal hierarchy, and it suddenly wasn’t obvious at all that they existed. Inaccessibles are to set theory as infinity is to working with just the natural numbers, they’re pretty obvious. Mahlos weren’t that much more of a step. But Measurables have more of a combinatorial character instead of a largeness character. They aren’t just really really big (though they are really really big), the definition is more about having a level of infinity with certain special properties. Assuming you know what an ultrafilter is, you can skip this. If you don’t know what an ultrafilter is, read on. Let’s just take the natural numbers as an example. What would be an ultrafilter on the natural numbers? Well, it would be a classification of subsets of the natural numbers into “large” and “small”, subject to the rules: 1: The set of the natural numbers itself is “large”. 2: If a set is a superset of a “large” set, then it’s “large” 3: The intersection of finitely many “large” sets is “large” 4: Every subset of the natural numbers is either “large” or “small”, and if a set is “small”, then its complement is “large” (or vice-versa). It takes the axiom of choice to show that there’s an ultrafilter. A partial attempt at this, which should give some intuition, is letting finite sets be “small” and stuff that contains all but finitely many numbers “large”. This fulfills conditions 1, 2, and 3 (check why), but not 4. The problem with 4 is that, for example, we’ve got the set of even numbers and the odd numbers, and we need to arbitrarily choose one of them to be “large” and the other to be “small”, and we need to make a bunch of choices like that, and make sure they’re all consistent with each other. But it can be done. Measurable cardinals can be characterized in terms of this. 1, 2, and 4 carry over, but we’ve got a stronger form of 4. Now, if the measurable cardinal is K, the rule for 3 is “the intersection of <K many “large” sets is “large”” Of course, the natural numbers work for this too, but we also require that K is uncountable (not the set of the natural numbers). So, it’s a cardinal with an ultrafilter on it that’s *really* hard to escape via intersecting things. This is what I meant by a more combinatorial sort of description instead of a “it’s really fricking big” description, and it’s not obvious that such a thing should exist. The special thing is that this ultrafilter lets you derive a bunch of other things. As an example: Let’s say it wasn’t an inaccessible cardinal. Math person I talked to said it couldn’t be the powerset of anything less than it (idk why, they didn’t explain that). So let’s say you could make K from unioning <K many things of size <K, instead. Well, as we noticed from our natural numbers example, things of size <K are “small” , things of size K may or may not be “large”. So, if we could make K via unioning together <K many “small” sets, because the complement of a small set is big, then we could make (empty set) via intersecting <K many “big” sets (the complement), which doesn’t fit with the really strong closure property on intersections. So, it’s gotta be inaccessible. Even further, you can show that the ultrafilter fulfills another special property called “normality” which is just obnoxiously strong. I don’t really get it, but some implications of it are that: if you’ve got a CLUB sequence (basically, a sequence of ordinals climbing up to the measurable cardinal, that also contain their limits. So, as an example, if omega, 2omega, 3omega, etc... are in your sequence then omega^2 should be as well), it’s “large” in the ultrafilter, and also everything “large” in the ultrafilter is stationary (inescapable by any clever means of diagonalization for cooking up larger and larger levels of infinity). Via some stuff I’m not going to go into since I don’t know it, you can show the inaccessibles below the measurable are a CLUB sequence, so... huh, that’s gotta be stationary. So the first measurable is at least a Mahlo cardinal. But you can keep going and figure out that the Mahlos below the first measurable make a CLUB sequence, so... it isn’t just Mahlo, it’s got a stationary set of Mahlo’s beneath it, which is really fricking big. And you can go “yo, like inaccessibles, let’s say a 1-Mahlo is a Mahlo with a stationary set of Mahlos beneath it, and so on for 2-Mahlos and 3-Mahlos and omega-Mahlos and... yo, we can go up the ordinals with it, K is K-Mahlo so let’s call that hyper-Mahlo, and keep going past that...” Yeah, the first measurable is bigger than all that, no matter how far you went or how clever you were in defining variants of Mahloness. It’s like, really really really absolutely incomprehensibly Mahlo. Ok, so it’s a cardinal with a ridiculously hard-to-escape ultrafilter, which can be used (via some additional work) to imply it’s stupidly huge, what else about it? Well, Measurable Cardinals are kinda like the dividing line between the small large cardinals which are just defined in terms of being big, and the large large cardinals, which tend to be defined in terms of elementary embeddings. A elementary embedding is like... let’s say we swapped out each set for some other set (maybe the same set, maybe different), but we did so in such a way that if a property holds for how (finitely many) things relate to each other, then after swapping the sets out, the same property holds. And the same in reverse. So, as an example, the empty set must be swapped out for the empty set, because it’s easy to check that something is the empty set, and that property must not change. So a lot of stuff on the lower levels gets left alone. An equivalent statement of a measurable cardinal is that they’re the critical point of a nontrivial elementary embedding from V into a transitive class M. No, I’m not going to show the equivalence. But... what does that mean? Well, a transitive set is one where, if a set B is in your set A, then every set that lies B had better be in A as well, and all the way down the line. Transitive class is the same, but, y’know, we can take a chunk out of the whole universe of sets, instead of just working in a set. So, there’s a nontrivial elementary embedding from (true universe of sets) to (fragment of universe of sets but it’s still pretty big). Nontrivial embedding just means the embedding isn’t identity, you can’t just leave everything alone. So... you swap out some stuff from (true universe of sets) for stuff from (fragment of universe of sets), but you do it in such a way that there’s really no good way to tell that anything changed (any property holding true of (x1, x2, x3...) also holds true of (j(x1), j(x2), j(x3)...) and vice-versa). This is a bit of work, but you can show that ordinals get mapped to ordinals, and ordinals can’t go down, they can’t get smaller. So ordinals either stay the same or get bigger. The critical point of an embedding is just “whats the smallest thing that shifts up and gets bigger when you do the embedding”. So, a measurable cardinal is: A thingy that moves up when you do a nontrivial embedding from the universe of sets into a fragment of the universe of sets. That means it wasn’t pinned down very well by any description (otherwise it couldn’t move). (the description as “first measurable cardinal” doesn’t quite work for technical reasons, I’m being imprecise here). So it’s really indescribable too, in a sense. Actually, you can show that measurables fulfill almost all of the smaller large cardinal axioms at the same time. A nifty feature of measurables is that they’re the first spot in the large cardinal hierarchy where they’re inconsistent with V=L. V=L was a proposed axiom of set theory by Kurt Godel, that’s basically like “yo, powersets have a bunch of undefinable sets in them, instead we’ll just take the parts of the powerset we can actually define, call that the powerset instead, and here’s how to build up the universe of sets in a pretty hierarchy”. This makes a VERY NICE model of set theory, very easy to analyze, and it settles all the stuff that’s normally unprovable one way or the other. Continuum hypothesis holds, a bunch of other stuff holds, and in general, if there’s some annoying thing in set theory you can’t prove one way or the other, you can probably prove it one way or the other in V=L. V=L can even accommodate large cardinals, but once you get to measurable cardinals... they disprove V=L, because they can show the existence of a set of numbers that’s like “here’s a list of all the ways you suck and completely fail to capture the true universe of sets, you even think some countable sets are uncountable, lmao”. So, measurable cardinals break hopes of the set-theoretic universe being easy to analyze and settling a bunch of unprovable things. Or at least, the most obvious way to do that. More on this when we get to supercompact cardinals. Now... why do we think measurable cardinals are a thing? Well, they mesh with the rest of set theory very nicely, they imply a bunch of large cardinals we’re already ok with, attempting to study them led to developing a bunch of other tools that were really useful in set theory for other reasons, we have an inner model for them (a really fine-grained view of what the set theoretic universe looks like if you chop off at the level of a measurable cardinal, like a generalization of V=L that’s fancier but is still just as nice for settling independent problems, and if they’re inconsistent, the inconsistency probably would have been flushed out when making the inner model, we’ve got a very good understanding of them). Also, they let you extend some results on sets of numbers like “is this set Lebesgue measurable” and “if we interpret this set as an infinite game between two players, does player 1 have a winning strategy” and “does the continuum hypothesis hold for sets like these”. As an example, you can show in ZFC that if there’s levels of infinity between the natural numbers and the continuum, that set isn’t going to be a closed set. Measurables let you get stronger versions of all of these. They can show that much fancier sets are Lebesgue measurable, they can show that much fancier sets/infinite games have winning strategies, and they can show that much fancier sets are also ruled out from being “thing that shows continuum hypothesis is false”.

[carmenlire]

Hi! I am pretty new to SH, and when I went to ao3 to find some malec fics I saw there were 19k fics there and I just... noped out. But then I came across one of your fics somewhere idr (prob tumblr) and I really really liked your writing style so I may or may not have spent my spring break reading all your fics... rip. I'm still way too intimidated by the sheer amount of fics on ao3 and since I really loved your writing, I was hoping you could maybe rec some, either fics or authors? Thanksss

holy shit, anon, I’ve written so much dkfgjhsdfkjg that must have been quite the undertaking for spring break lmao! I’m super happy to hear that you like my writing though, especially enough to read most/all of my fics! 

Okay, so. When I first started in this fandom, it was overwhelming too and that was in August of 2017 lol! I read a lot of fic rec masterlists on here and then once I went through those, I explored ao3 a little more, along with those authors that captured my interest. I don’t know what you’re interested in but I’ll just go ahead and list some of the fics I started with along with my favorite authors! Everyone on this list is a delight as a person and a writer and I hope you like them! 

(This is going to be probably a lot of me rambling variants of read this!! but I’m gonna put a short summary so you know what the story is actually about. I will most likely oversimplify the fic lmao but check out those links for the full synopsis!)

Over 100k

Fall Without Wings by @notcrypticbutcoy (WIP) This was the first fic I ever read in this fandom and it topped every masterlist when I started– for good reason. At the time, it was around 180k? and I read it in one day/sitting. The writing is impeccable, plot to die for, and the way the author builds the characters in this story is just engrossing as hell. This is god tier lmao!

One Line Summary: Canon divergent AU where shadowhunters have wings, Magnus is actively on the Clave’s shit list, and Malec’s relationship is the best sort of slowburn.

One Easy Answer by @maleccrazedauthor This is the first of a two part series and holy. shit. I was enthralled from the first sentence. Apparently, I have a thing for canon divergent AUs and I read this a year and a half ago but still remember gasping at a certain point, hanging on the edge of my seat as I waited to see what the characters would do. I love this canon divergent AU– it’s written so beautifully. (Note: The series itself is over 100k. This particular fic is around 36k)

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec are leaders of their people and have to learn how to make things work when a marriage of convenience is their only option.

Anything You Say by @milominderbindered Admittedly, I’ve only read the first 80k? of this because I started it like over a year ago and it was a wip at the time but I remember being Super Into It and desperate to see where the story was going. Now that it’s finished, I’d totally recommend it!

One Line Summary: Detective Alec and Forensic Expert Magnus. Honestly, need I say more lmao.

Deeper than the Truth by @insiemes This was one of the first fics I read– probably within the first week of entering the fandom. It’s a wonderful story and a classic for a reason. And that ending:’)

One Line Summary: Alec is a famous author who uses a pen name and Magnus is a fashion designer in love with Gideon’s books.

60k-80k

The Haunting of Lightwood Hall by @bonibaru There are tragically few historical Malec fics in ao3 and this is a gem! The plot is interesting and the love story is super well done. And that ending! I loved it so much.

One Line Summary: Magnus Bane, a psychic, is invited to the Lightwood estate when a murder mystery implicated the heir, Alec Lightwood.

42 North, 71 West by @lecrit Okay so, admittedly, I haven’t read this yet but it’s because I don’t read wips and this just concluded like, last week lol. However, lecrit is a brilliant author and I’ve read several of her fics before and loved all of them! You really can’t go wrong with this author and I would encourage you to read anything/everything in her ao3!

One Line Summary: Politics!Alec and Actor!Magnus in one AU? Sign me up!

The Strength of (Un)Broken Bonds by Blue This is the first of a three part series and I love it so, so much! This is a little grittier though not angsty. The plot is tightly woven, the characterization spot on, and it’s an excellent exploration of the parabatai bond done right. Wildly creative and I everytime I reread this, I’m just in awe at this author’s skill!

One Line Summary: Post 2b, shadowhunters realize just how intrinsically their biology is tied to demon energy and Alec has to deal with a fritzing parabatai bond.

Addicted to You by AlxSteele I’m not a huge fan of fuck buddy AUs but this author is prolific in the shadowfam so I took a chance and I’m so glad I did! This was a realistic portrayal of this AU without being needlessly angsty. Everything was just right and I was so ready to see Magnus and Alec get their shit together!

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec lead busy lives and neither one has time for a relationship– only what starts out as a string of one night stands leads both to catch feelings big time.

A Fighting Chance by HeartsDesire456 This is a classic for me. I read most of this in one sitting and was almost late for work! But it was totally worth it. I love the build up and the world that this author created. Really, one of the best malec fics I’ve ever read and I love it so, so much! I would recommend anything else by this author, especially Hard Choices, though that fic is considerably heavier though no less well done.

One Line Summary: Alec owns an MMA gym next to Magnus’s dance studio. What starts out as a noise complaint quickly changes Magnus and Alec’s life irrevocably.

We Break That Way by ifallonblackdays_fics and valfromrome I’ve read this several times and it’s a fic of substance. I love fluff but this is a really excellently plotted story that does a fantastic job of showing both Magnus and Alec as the leaders they are. It’s darker but realistic for the shadowhunters universe and I love how amazingly well these authors created a story that picks up after 2x18 in an excellent canon divergent AU where Magnus and Alec didn’t reconnect at that Hunter’s Moon party?

One Line Summary: Not all shadowhunters are happy that Alec’s trying to build relationships with the downworld– what happens when a group of extremists go after the Head of the New York Institute in a bid to return to the old way?

40k-60k

The Lonely Heart Hotline by @unrestrainedlyexcessive Anon. Listen. I am putting Fatale here because this is her latest completed fic and it’s 40k but I would heavily encourage you to read every single piece of writing by this author. I have read all of her fics at least twice and I love them to death. She does such an amazing job of portraying real life, even when her AU is fantastical. I’m partial to her Ave Atque Vale series, which was the first fic I read by her, and her Home series but as I was scrolling through her ao3 profile, I just kept remembering all her stories and how amazing they are. Seriously. I can’t stress enough about how much i love this author’s writing!!

One Line Summary: Alec’s a law student who moonlights as a phone sex operator and Magnus calls him one night, only to talk about music and his questionable phone professionalism.

Love is a Gamble by la_muerta This is another author that I adore and I’ve read all of her fics! This is a western historical AU that I read last spring and simply loved! I’d also recommend her series The Universe is Conspiring Against Us!

One Line Summary: Sheriff Alec Lightwood is busy enough keeping Nephilim Falls from descending into chaos but when Magnus Bane opens a gambling house in town, Alec’s has more on his mind than his townspeople.

20k-40k

Give Me the Pain (Then Take It Away) by LadyOxymoron This is a beautifully well-done story of Alec and Magnus exploring BDSM, particularly Alec’s submission. But it’s so much more that. It’s about their relationship and Alec learning to take better care of himself and overall, I was stunned at this fic. I would really recommend anyone read this for something that pulls the heartstrings while still being hot as hell.

One Line Summary:  After a near death experience and throwaway line from Magnus, Alec finds out that he can let himself fall, as long as Magnus is there to catch him.

Appassionato by chonideno This is a classic in the shadowfam. A wonderful story of malec falling in love before properly meeting. The vibe is so ethereal and full of feeling. Really lovely story.

One Line Summary: Alec plays the piano and one day, a request slips under his door– what follows is months of Alec playing for a stranger, both of them falling one note at a time.

Pillow Talk by lacheses This was one of the first fics I read and it’s a really beautiful story that takes place during season one. It’s gentle and really does a fantastic job of building Magnus and Alec’s relationship, both of them so cautious and invested so quickly after meeting.

One Line Summary: Alec Lightwood falls in love, one nap at a time.

Good Our Whole Lives by @beatperfume This fic ruined me. I was invested from the first word and read it in one sitting. The emotions are enough to put you in a stranglehold and while I was wildly unsure based on the synopsis/AU (hooker AU) I gave it a chance and I am so glad I did. I remember reading it and just feeling so much. Wonderful, 10/10. I would rec anything by this author (she really is very creative!) but particularly and I will be your shade.

One Line Summary: When Magnus catches Alec, a shadowhunter, hustling his club the two of them reach an agreement.

Three’s a Crowd by GoldenDaydreams I’ve read this a few times and I love it to death. Super lighthearted and funny, it’s a fun story about Alec and Magnus trying to have sex and Jace being a perpetually pain in the ass cockblock lmao.

One Line Summary: The story where Jace keeps interrupting Alec and Magnus’s ‘alone time,’ and they’re both super fed up.

Sympathy for a Prince by @ketzwrites This was a hella fun story about Magnus as a literal prince of hell and Alec, a no-nonsense detective just trying to do his job. Ketz has written several fics I’d recommend but this might just be my favorite!

One Line Summary: When Magnus, prince of hell, comes top side he doesn’t expect to meet Homicide Detective Alec and become his partner, so to speak.

Hold Onto Me (Cause I’m a Little Unsteady by MagnificentlyMagic One of my biggest pet peeves with the show is that scene in 1x09 where Jace betrays Alec and then it’s never spoken of again. This is a great fic that takes that scene and runs wild with it.

One Line Summary: His parabatai rune was burning, not with death, or injury, but with betrayal.

10k-20k

Yours is the Light by @theonetruenorth This author is an autoread for me and I love a good abo fic. This is so beautiful and I really, really love this. It spins the trope on its head while still in the shadowhunters verse and delivers a really satisfying love story for Alec and Magnus! I would really, really recommend literally everything they’ve written though!

One Line Summary: It wasn’t exactly a secret that out of all three secondary genders, it was the alphas who were the strongest, the most aggressive, the most territorial– It was also completely wrong.

Inimitable by Bumblebeesknees. I adore anything by this author but this. Wow. The plot is super creative as Alec and Magnus get sent back to Victorian London and Alec has to do something both of them would rather he didn’t. It explores a murky area that has the potential to ruin both of them and the writing is perfect. I don’t want to ruin anything but you gotta read this. I read it when it was first posted then scrolled back up to the top and immediately devoured it a second time. I’d recommend anything and everything by this author.

One Line Summary: Stuck in London in 1882 without Magnus’ magic, the way back to New York in the 21st century requires securing a charmed amulet from the Magnus who lives in that time.

It’s a Kind of Magicby @thealmostrhetoricalquestion I love every single fic by this author and would highly suggest you read everything by her but this one has a special place in my heart. It’s light and sweet and a wonderful AU!!!

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec live on the same floor and are highkey into each other– the only thing is that Magnus is a witch and Alec’s a mundane.

1k-10k

You Only Live Twice by partnerincrime I love this story so much!! It’s a fun little Simon POV on Alec as a gardening billionaire recluse and Magnus as a CEO of the shadow world’s largest department store. It’s hilarious and I lose my shit every time I read it!

One Line Summary: In which Simon Lewis becomes an entrepreneur, and, through a series of highly improbable events, fails upwardly toward success.

Lonely Starbucks Lovers by partnerincrime is also a hoot and I love this author so much!! It’s the quintessential coffeeshop AU.

PWP

The Way I Feel for You by @theonetruenorth Goddamn, this is a masterpiece. I’ve read this several time and like I said earlier, anything by this author is guaranteed to be amazing.

Shadows. Shovels. Joy. by oncethrown While this isn’t strictly a pwp, it’s about the parabatai bond and Jace’s POV on Alec having sex. Heartwarming and super well written! another example of how the parabatai bond could be well done.

In Plain Sight by redorchid. Holy shit, I love this to death and it’s actually the first in a series called membership, about Magnus and Alec’s exploration into exhibitionism.

hit me like a ray of sun, burning through my darkest night by liamandzayn I’ve read all of her malec fics at least twice and I just think she writes great sex lol. Definitely recommend!

With Bones Unbuttoned by @ohfreckle No smut list would be complete without ohfreckle. She’s an autoread author for me and I think I’ve yelled about this particular fic literally every chance I get. Goddamn, the sex is hot as hell and the emotions that pour through are enough to make my own heart ache. No one does it better and I wish everyone would read this and die with me.

Lionheart by Bumblebeesknees Both this one and the one above are 2x18 makeup sex fics but they’re both very different. I also love this one immensely and this author, as I’ve mentioned above, is amazing. 

Series

Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things by @my-nameless-bliss This series ruined me. I can’t stress enough how much I love this series. It’s beautiful written, the emotion gut wrenching, and it’s a wonderful exploration of Alec’s masculinity and what that even means. It really made me think and reevaluate my own life and I am awed by this author’s talent and everyone needs to read this. There’s also ALDNT extras which is a multichaptered work set in this universe.

We Built a Dynasty Like Nothing Ever Made by Madalena. This was a canon divergent AU set after 2x17 that does a great job of exploring shadow world tensions and Alec as a Leader and Head of the Institute. Creative and stunning and wonderfully plotted, I’ve read this series several times and love it so much!!

The Boundless Saga by sarcasticfluentry and teumessian This is a canon divergent AU that starts in season one and it’s a classic for the shadowfam in my opinion. I particularly love Parts 4 (which could go in the pwp section) and 7, which I think it’s an excellent exploration of shadowhunter tradition and expectation.

Authors

@laughingmagnus Serendi has been an autoread author for ages, since the beginning, really. Her writing is wonderful and she really hits emotions in a way that’s enviable. Her Maryse centered fics are superb.

@gingergenower I’ve been yelling about Kat’s writing since I discovered her last winter. I started with goddamn right (you should be scared of me) and I’ve read all of her fics multiple times. You really can’t go wrong with her!

@thattrainssailed Monica’s writing style is very distinctive and literary. She writes Malec like they’re set in stone entities, powerful and always in control, even if everything else is a chaotic mess.

@bytheangell Elle can write fluff or angst depending on her mood and she does a wonderful job with whatever strikes her fancy. She has a >100k fic called Support System that I’ve heard really great things about, even if I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

@royaltybane Lydia is an OG in the shadowfam for good reason! Her writing is fluid and suitably full of feeling. You really can’t go wrong with anything by her!

Ohprongs is a wonderful author and I’ve read all of their stuff on ao3. I’d highly recommend them for shorter pieces.

This is by no means an exhaustive list! I’ve quite literally read thousands of Malec fics since I joined the fandom in summer 2017. These are the most memorable to me, however, and the ones that I’ve returned to time and time again. Any author I mentioned would be worth going through their backlist. I often just picked my favorite fic of theirs. 

If there’s something that you’re into– a trope, a general tone– you can always come back and I’ll do my best to answer your questions and give you recs! I hope that this helps and isn’t too overwhelming– I tried to organize this masterlist by word count and then misc categories. Thank you so much for thinking highly enough of my writing to ask me this and I’m sorry it took a little while to compile this fic rec list! Happy Reading!!

[aion-rsa]

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 13 Review: Infested

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This Star Wars: The Bad Batch review contains spoilers.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 13

“Infested,” directed by Saul Ruiz and written by Amanda Rose Muñoz, explores the Bad Batch’s criminal underworld home base in an inconsequential but competent episode. Cid (Rhea Perlman) gets a well-deserved stint as a main character in an adventure that feels like a side plot, with choppy bursts of classic Star Wars action not really adding much to the story of the clones as clones. While not every story can be (or should be) as hooked in to the rest of the franchise as Hera’s was last week, “Infested” left the Bad Batch feeling more generic than when it started.

What actually happens is that the clones return “home” to discover that their benefactor/client Cid has been deposed. In her spot sits Roland Durand, the original owner of the pet lizard the gang recovered in a brief intro earlier in the season. He’s a gang member trying to live up to the criminal aspirations of his mother, starting with taking over Cid’s place. What follows is a twisting plan to get the cantina back, involving an expedition into a mine filled with deadly insects who don’t like visitors.

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The characterization of the Bad Batch remains status quo. Wrecker is afraid of heights, Tech builds things, Hunter doesn’t want to get involved with other people’s problems, and Omega talks him into doing it anyway. This last one is becoming increasingly annoying. We do know Hunter’s reason for hesitating to help here, just like he did on Ryloth: he doesn’t want to put his team in more danger than necessary. Meanwhile, Echo doesn’t believe any of this criminal stuff is a soldier’s job. While Hunter may disagree with Echo on what that means, he might also still miss having the structure (albeit minimal when it came to his team) of the Republic army.

As a motivation, I don’t mind this. It certainly is an explanation for both why Hunter doesn’t go above and beyond for Cid’s jobs, and gestures at both the nature of being a Republic clone and the way that’s having to change under the Empire. But it’s just a gesture, and does more to prove Omega’s open-heartedness by contrast than it does to deepen Hunter’s character. Omega is very sweet, and the repetition of this fact endears me to her (and makes me worry about what dark turn her story might eventually take). But we’ve now seen the same argument in two consecutive episodes, followed by the situation meaning Hunter has good reason to cave pretty easily.

So, not much actually happens. The clones journey into the mine to steal Roland’s spice, therefore setting him up for failure in front of his client, the Pyke gang. At first they succeed, but then discover that the Pykes have no problem using Roland as bait to draw Cid out to deal with her once and for all. At the end, the Batch are back where they started with the bar under Cid’s control.

However, I don’t always find the discussion of whether something is filler to be useful criticism. Foundational character work can happen in an episode that doesn’t move the plot forward. Something seemingly inconsequential can end up having a big impact later (such as in the season one Rebels episode “Fighter Flight”). The larger problem with “Infested” is that the characterization isn’t particularly interesting (or even present), the action just okay, the Bad Batch mostly just the muscle for Cid’s story.

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Roland Durand and Cid’s personalities help elevate the mediocre plot. They’re also the characters who change the most and have the most to lose. Rhea Perlman’s attitude elevates her character’s so-so dialogue, and Cid’s just fun to watch, her big body and bony head providing a distinct shape. She’s far from the The Clone Wars staple of the majority of women characters being some variant of ingénue. Newcomer Roland Durand changes more than one might expect, unfolding from hard-edged crime lord to ambiguously young upstart. His mix of threat and vulnerability are fun. His plight also connects to the wider story a little, as we know the Pykes once worked with Maul’s gang and seem to be thriving under the Empire.

Stories like this can work with the main characters not actually being at the center: look at The Mandalorian, which derives maybe half of its charm from the very fact that Din Djarin does not know what’s going on most of the time. But even without speaking, he tends to have more personality than the Batch do here. Nevertheless, I have reluctantly become a Wrecker fan, with every reminder of his fear of heights — and there are getting to be a lot of them — endearing him to me more.

The action is fine, with staples of cartoon exploration (imposing heights, dangerous creatures, and even a fun sci-fi take on railroad hand cars). After a beautiful few episodes, the animation wavers a bit here. In part that’s because many of the scenes take place in darkness, making it difficult to see what the bugs and people are doing (or to get a look at a minor material upgrade — Wrecker’s snazzy new climbing harness). The insect scenes in particular felt more disorienting than anything else. Even some wide shots of the city don’t feel entirely finished. The music also plays it safe, evoking (and watering down) the Imperial march a little bit for the journey into the caves. (And if the caves were under the city, why did the team have to go so far outside it to recover the spice?)

I wish I had more to say about the Batch themselves in this episode, or that the show was more interested in detailing what they really think. Cid giving the orders is fun, but means that the clones yet again take a back seat in their own show. While the two episodes with Hera pulled on other parts of the franchise to fill in the gap, this one simply maintains the status quo. We know by now that Cid’s bar is a good home base for the gang, regardless of her ambiguously amoral work, so in a way this is an episode about the clones defending their new home in a way they couldn’t for Kamino or the Republic. But I might be reading too much into something that isn’t actually there, doing the work because I want these characters to better stand on their own.

Those hand carts with LED lighting were very charming, though.

The post Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 13 Review: Infested appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[silverjewelrypping]

What is the quality of the earrings?

Who benefits from the prettiest earrings if it harms health? Burns, itches or flakes the ear hole, loses even the noblest piece of gloss. But how do I recognize high quality jewelry?

The material - the main role in earrings

It is not the shape and color, but the material that determines the quality of a piece of jewelry. It is all the more worthwhile to take a careful look at our small material guide.

Beware of Nickel

Whether in eyeglass frames, scissors, buttons or jewelry - nickel is omnipresent. The material is even present in lettuce and chocolate. There is nothing wrong with nickel either. An overdose is questionable. There is a dangerous amount of nickel in inexpensive costume jewelry. It is not for nothing that allergic skin reactions such as swelling, redness, burning, itching or pustules often occur during or after wearing. Your skin defends itself against the chemical element.

Since a striking number of jewelry wearers are allergic to nickel, there is now an EU nickel regulation. This determines how many grams of nickel a week can come into contact with the skin. A maximum of 0.2 micrograms per square centimeter per week is recommended for earrings. Jewelery that significantly exceeds the guidelines should be used with caution.

Surgical Steel

A good choice for earrings is surgical steel, also known as 316L. Behind it is a rust-proof stainless steel with a low nickel content. The material convinces with its exemplary anti-allergic properties. It is not for nothing that it is ideal for first and follow-up earrings.

 But why is one actually talking about surgical steel? Quite simply: The material is also used in medicine, especially in surgery. When it comes to surgical grafts, the anti-allergic steel is expressly desired. After all, the grafts should remain in the human body for a lifetime without causing health problems.

Titanium

If a material is good for the skin, it is titanium. Since the robust classic is absolutely corrosion-resistant, it achieves 100 percent biodiversity. In other words: it is exceptionally skin-friendly. It is not without reason that medicine has sworn by titanium for decades. Whether new hip joint, dentures or heart valve - Titan is a medical all-rounder.

 If allergic reactions nevertheless occur after contact with titanium, it is usually not due to titanium, but to small impurities. Even pure titanium is not immune to them. Titan allergies are not yet known - good news for allergy sufferers.

Silver

925 Sterling Silver is also suitable for sensitive skin types. Even allergy sufferers rarely report unpleasant side effects after wearing silver jewelry. However, only a few pieces of jewelry are made from 100% silver, not even sterling silver. Mixed metals are added. And the more mixed metals in the game, the higher the allergy risk.

Plastic

Fashion jewelry likes to use plastic. Compatibility often leaves something to be desired. Our tip: If the manufacturer's description does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the origin of the plastic, you should look around for other accessories. In addition, plastic jewelry quickly loses shape. In the cold, the material bends or splinters.

The Processing - The Devil Is in The Details

High quality earrings are keen on details. Whether handmade or cast - everything is just right here. The jewelry manufacturers work meticulously towards a noble finish. This care cannot always be said for cheap or mass-produced goods. They are often cast thicker; metal remains stick out or the individual metal seams are too clearly recognizable. They lack finesse. The reason: Inexpensive costume jewelry is usually not reworked. These processing errors testify to inferior quality: dirty eyelets rough, unsuitable mechanics (hooks that are too thin without locks; poorly processed ear nut with imprecise material clamping) lifelessly glued on gemstones.

The price - a subtle quality feature

More expensive earrings are the better one? Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. Even a cheap pair of ear studs from the nearest drugstore sometimes turns out to be a stroke of luck. But sometimes you are completely wrong. INR 300 for stunningly beautiful, durable and well-tolerated earrings is anything but a matter of course.

 The price-performance ratio often creates clarity. High-quality, handmade earrings made of fine materials such as sterling silver, pure diamonds or valuable colored gemstones cost only INR 300 according to the price tag? Either the dealer is very generous, or something is wrong.

It is the other way around: fashion jewelry with a high nickel content and colored gemstones made of plastic costs INR 3000 ? Somebody wants to pull the money out of your pocket. Neither the material nor the workmanship justifies the unnaturally high price.

The provider - a matter of trust

With cheap earrings, the choice of the dealer is usually irrelevant - different with high-quality jewelry. If you are looking for solid gold diamond studs or earrings, you do not choose any provider - especially not online. There has to be a certain amount of trust.

 At best, you have already had positive experiences with a jewelry retailer. The service was good, the piece of jewelry corresponded to your personal wishes. Here you can safely order again.

It becomes more difficult with unknown providers. Follow up with friends, family and colleagues. Maybe someone from your close circle of friends has useful things to report. If not, study customer reviews. Most buyers are satisfied with your piece of jewelry. Sounds good, maybe you are too. Quality and security seals are also a sign of authenticity, just like meaningful product photos and detailed product descriptions.

From gemstones to pearls - the subtleties of earrings

Simple earrings are content with a straightforward design. Bells and whistles are not important to them. But of course, there is another way: Decorative highlights such as pearls and gemstones give the little treasures a special twist. But there are also huge differences in quality in the accents. It's worth taking a look twice.

Pearl Earrings

The most feminine of all jewelry is the pearl. It gently refines the skin. But pearl is not just pearl. Natural and cultured pearls have the greatest value. After all, they mature naturally in mussels.

 Its trademark is imperfection. Small flaws such as cracks, discoloration, dents, lackluster spots or indentations characterize the shimmering natural beauties. A perfectly rounded pearl is the exception. It is precisely this beautiful imperfection that distinguishes the real pearl from the artificial pearl.

 The synthetic pearl is simply too beautiful to be real. Their round shape looks almost flawless. The industry helped here. However, this does not mean that artificial pearls cannot look fantastically beautiful. Even fashion icon Coco Chanel bravely reaches for the synthetic beauties.

If you want to know exactly, consult the A-B-C-D system from Tahiti. The evaluation grid determines the quality of the pearl: A: Congratulations. You are holding a pearl of the highest quality. The piece of jewelry is almost flawless. Only tiny flaws characterize the sensually shiny surface. B: Good choice: your pearl is of excellent quality. At least 75% of the area is flawless. There is also a medium to strong chandelier. C: Not bad: Your pearl impresses with a medium luster and a flawless surface of at least 60%. D: The lowest quality level: Several small defects are visible on more than 60% of the surface. This pearl is not suitable for jewelry making.

Earrings with Precious Stones

Whether timeless diamond, intense ruby, mysterious emerald, mystical onyx or invigoratingly fresh aquamarine - gemstones are the crowning glory of the earrings. With them, every noble piece looks even more noble. But how do you recognize their value? The four Cs help you determine:

 Carat

Color

Cutt

Clarity

The carat

The expert calls the weight of a gem carat. And the more carats a gem has, the higher its value.

 If you want to determine the carat of your gem, you don't necessarily have to go to the jeweler. The kitchen and letter scales also provide reliable information about its weight.

The shade

Colorless diamond is the rarest. Its rarity also explains its considerable value. The further the color of a gemstone is from colorless, the lower its value.

 Diamonds in bright colors such as red, blue or green occur almost as rarely in nature. These so-called fancy colors are of exceptional value.

 The cut

The most valuable cut is undoubtedly the brilliant cut. It lets the gem shine in at least 57 symmetrical facets. The light breaks in its artistic structure from all sides. The sensual play of light is of such a unique beauty that we also use the word “brilliant” in everyday life. If we find something great, we speak of brilliant.

 Other precious cuts are the rose, oval, stair, emerald and scissor cuts. The incoming light is reflected in its many facets in an almost magical way.

If you like it more subtle, choose earrings with smooth cut gemstones. Whether spherical stone, cabochon or tumbled stone - the flat variant is made for simple earrings.

The purity

In our ideal, the gem is transparent and translucent. Of course, there is this ideal, but reality says something else. Gemstones are often shaped by inclusions. Some so much that they are completely opaque.

The basic principle is the clearer and more translucent the gem, the more valuable it is. But there are exceptions: Some gemstones are so precious precisely because of their rare inclusions. This is the case with mineral needles. Chatoyance such as the tiger or falcon eye are also very popular.  

[sentientgenesis]

Gotta Go Fast

Southeast of Viliera Hill is the path you’re meant to take to get to Raguel Bridge and trigger a cutscene in order to progress the story. However, you can finesse this if you go to the far southeast of Raguel Lake and climb up the cliff. This will take you across the lake, where you’re free to wander around the Bionis’ Leg Second Level. But, you can’t just skip the cutscene at the bridge, if you want to progress the story, you’ll have to go back to the south end of the bridge.

Along the intended path, you’ll find groups of Mechon, the first indication of their control in the area. Specifically, you’ll find: Mechon M42 Scout Units (level 13), M32 Scout Units (level 15), M32 (level 15), M53 (level 14-16), and M64 (level 16). The Mechon M32 Scout Units and M32 aren’t too different, but the M32 Scout Units have a 5% higher Critical Rate and 4 arts compared to the M32′s 1 art. The Mechon found near the south end of Raguel Bridge pretty much drop things you could already get at this point, but fighting them still doesn’t hurt. 5 Mechon M64 must be killed for a quest however, and since the other Mechon found near the M64 can detect you with either sight or species, you’ll probably have to fight the rest.

One tip for fighting Mechon is to make use of some of your ether arts, particularly Sharla’s Tranquiliser and Thunder Bullet arts. Since Thunder Bullet is an ether art, you can damage Mechon with it at all times and since Mechon can take physical damage when inflicted with Sleep, Tranquiliser will also be helpful. If you’re having trouble managing a large group of Mechon, use Tranquiliser on one of them, then immediately target a different one, since monster inflicted with Sleep will wake up and take guaranteed critical damage when it even once. Reyn’s Aura Burst art also can damage Mechon at any time since it uses ether, as a bonus it’s good at drawing aggro since it damages all monsters close to him.

After fighting through the Mechon and approaching Raguel Bridge, you’ll unlock a new Landmark, Raguel Bridge - South. Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla are also able to spot Juju’s buggy and when Shulk reaches out to it again, he has another vision of Juju being taken by a Mechon. Since Shulk mentioned a valley in his vision, Sharla mentions there’s place like that just up ahead, which is even on the way to Colony 6.

After this, you’re free to move again and after crossing the rest of the bridge, you’ll unlock another Landmark, Raguel Bridge - North. Past this Landmark is a bit of a fork in the road, Windy Cave (location) to the Left, and Maguel Road (location) to the right. Sharla comments how Juju would stay on Maguel Road since going off the beaten path is too dangerous. This is a subtle hint to avoid Windy Cave for now since it is filled with monsters that are around level 75 or higher. You could go ahead and explore in there, but you’ll have another opportunity to do so from a safer entrance. Maguel Road and the cliff near it also have Mechon occupying it. They’re the same ones from Raguel Bridge except for the M53, which are replaced by M53x at Maguel Road. The level 15 M53x are just stronger versions of the M53.

If you’re wondering what the numbers in the Mechon names are for, it’s pretty simple. With the exception of several Story-Exclusive variants, a Mechon's "ten-digit" number indicates its size, shape, and power. 30-series Mechon are small aerial monsters and have low stats. 40-series Mechon are small four-legged Mechon with similar stats to the 30-series. 50-series Mechon are slightly more than half the height of a Hom and are characterized by curved claws that are fairly large relative to their body. 60-series Mechon are the height of a large man, bear cone-shaped "heads", and have medium sized stats. Very few Mechon reach the 100-series, but the ones that do are the size of buildings and have incredibly high stats. These can be found much later in only 2 areas in the game.

Past Maguel Road is the rest of the Bionis’ Leg, the Second Level. It isn’t as big as the First Level and has less Locations and Landmarks but is still pretty big.

I’ll go over the Second Level of the Bionis’ Leg later since we have more pressing matters. For now, you’ll want to just go directly north after Maguel Road opens up to get to the Spiral Valley Landmark. Spiral Valley is a tower made out of rock. It protrudes from Windy Cave in a spiral shape, which kinda explains its name but I still say that the name makes no sense.

Anyways, upon reaching Spiral Valley a cutscene will start where Sharla sees Juju, already in the grasp of the Mechon M71 (large tentacle Mechon). As she runs towards the Mechon, Shulk has a vision of a tentacle rising out of the ground and capturing her too. A moment after, a different, blue colored symbol appears in the Monado’s glass. Shulk hears a voice tell him that he can save her with this power, which is exactly what he does. When he uses this new power by slamming the Monado in the ground, Sharla, Reyn, and Shulk drastically speed up. This allows them to dodge the Mechon’s attacks and also counter attack.

Then, the boss battle begins. Shulk from here on will have access to a new Monado Art, Monado Speed. This art costs 75% of Shulk’s talent gauge and drastically increases one party member’s physical evasion rate for 8 seconds. Leveling up Monado Speed only increases the duration by .5 seconds each level, up to 12.5 seconds. Monado Speed almost acts like Monado Shield in that you’ll use this art mostly after receiving a vision in battle. But, it is best used after having a vision of the monster using a physical art since it won’t help against talent arts. The Mechon M71 (level 18) will have 3-4 Mechon Tentacles that act as separate monsters assisting it. These tentacles are level 15 and only have one art, Fire Shot. Fire Shot uses ether, so having Ether Def Up gems could be helpful. This art also inflicts Blaze, a debuff that does 40% of the damage the art caused 10 times in the span of 20 seconds, so once every 2 seconds. Make sure to use Sharla’s Cure Bullet art proactively to counter this.

Like many other large monsters, the Mechon M71 can only be inflicted with Break, Topple, and Daze during a Chain Attack. The M71 has an art that applies the Awakening aura to itself. Awakening will increase a monster’s level for a short time. The effect and length of the aura depends on the monster but in this case, it will increase the Mechon M71′s level by 1-3. The M71 can only use this art when it has 30% health or less.

This fight also has 2 stages. Once the Mechon M71′s health drops to 50% in the first stage, it will escape to a higher level of Spiral Valley and you’ll have to pursue it. During the second stage, the Mechon M71 is slightly stronger, but remains at level 18. Lastly, the M71 is immune to Sleep, so you’re going to have to use Monado Enchant one way or another.

After the battle, everyone but Shulk seem pretty glad that they were able to change the future. Shulk knows that the Mechon they just beat wasn’t the mysterious faced from his future. Reyn claims that they just changed more than he expected but in that moment, the Mechon from Shulk’s vision flies down in a jet form similar to Metal Face. This face Mechon actually speaks unlike Metal Face, who merely showed intelligence/sentience. It says that it was waiting for “Monado Boy” to show up which caught Shulk and Reyn off guard. This face is also incredibly arrogant, saying that Shulk’s just a “pathetic little kid”.

The Mechon then charges at the party, starting a very one-sided boss fight. The Mechon is known in battle as Mysterious Face and it is level 25. About 6-7 levels higher than what you ought to be at that point (unless you’re overleveled like me). This boss is a prime example of what difference your Agility stat makes in battle since Mysterious Face’s agility is 52. Compared to yours, which is much lower, you won’t be able to get a single hit in nor will you be able to dodge any of its attacks. The only exception is ether arts since they’re a bit more accurate, but those will do hardly anything to him because of Mysterious Face’s huge Ether Def stat. In this “fight”, all you can hope to do is last a short while before you die using Sharla’s healing.

After a bit of time, Mysterious Face will use a physical art, Wild Crash, which will end the battle and start a cutscene. Juju ends up getting captured again, but this time by Mysterious Face and all the while, Shulk is forced to just evade its attacks using his visions since he can’t damage this face Mechon either. Just as Mysterious Face is about to swing his hammer and take out Shulk, he stops and steps back. He says that it’s Shulk’s lucky day and flies back to Colony 6 with Juju. He also alludes to eating Juju if they take to long. Sharla then passes out from the damage she took in battle.

Today’s track plays when Shulk learns Monado Speed and saves Sharla and several other times throughout the story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wdc_cDaUNQ

Screenshots from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18N8VjDQR8E

[jesseneufeld]

Why Am I Waking Up at 3am?

Whenever I write about sleep, I hear from a chorus of people who struggle to sleep through the night. Anecdotally, it seems a far more common complaint than difficulty falling asleep in the first place.

These complaints are one of three types:

People who have trouble falling asleep

People who sleep fitfully, waking multiple times throughout the night

Those who reliably wake once, around the same time most nights

Understandably, this is a hugely vexing problem. Poor quality sleep is a serious health concern. Not to mention, sleeping badly feels simply awful. When the alarm goes off after a night of tossing and turning, the next day is sure to be a slog. String several days like that together, and it’s hard to function at all.

I’m going to go out on a limb, though, and assert that waking up in the middle of the night isn’t always the problem we make it out to be. For some people, nighttime wakings are actually something to embrace. As always, context is everything.

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What Causes You to Wake Up In the Middle of the Night?

One of the most frustrating things about nighttime waking is that there are so many possible causes. Sometimes the solution is as simple as practicing good sleep hygiene. Other times, medical help is in order. Still other times, the solution is something different entirely.

Transitioning to Lighter Sleep Stages

Sleep isn’t a uniform state of unconsciousness you slip into when it becomes dark and, theoretically, ride until morning. It’s a dynamic process that goes in waves—or more precisely, cycles—throughout the night.

There are four (or five, depending on how you slice it) stages of sleep:

Stage 1: light sleep, occurs right after falling asleep

Stage 2: deeper sleep

Slow-wave sleep (SWS): deepest sleep, a.k.a. Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep

REM: lighter sleep where our more interesting dreams occur (although we can also dream in non-REM phases14)

A single sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes, during which you move from light sleep, through stage 2, into deep SWS, and back up to REM. Then down you go again, then back up, ideally at least four of five times per night.

Your sleep is also roughly broken into two phases over the course of a whole night. In the first half, you spend relatively more time in SWS. The second half is characterized by a higher proportion of REM sleep.

What does this have to do with nighttime waking?

One possible explanation is that as you transition into lighter sleep — either within a single sleep cycle, or as you move from the first to the second phase—aches, pains, and small annoyances are more likely to wake you up. These can include medical issues like chronic pain, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or GERD. Soreness from the day’s hard workout, noise or light from your environment, hunger, thirst, or being too hot or cold might rouse you from your slumber.

If you’re waking up multiple times at night, chances are that you’re experiencing physical discomfort that you’re not able to sleep through. Sometimes it’s obvious, but not always.

Was It Something You Ate Or Drank?

While individual studies have linked sleep quality to diet and macronutrient intake (high versus low carb, for example), they are mostly small and the results inconclusive.15 Still, you might be able to look at your diet and identify a likely culprit. For example, if your sleep problems started after going carnivore or adding intermittent fasting, that’s an obvious place to start.

A food log can help you spot patterns, such as whether eating certain foods at dinner tends to correlate with poorer sleep. Alcohol and caffeine are big sleep disruptors as well, though you surely know that.

If you’re frequently waking up to pee, you might be overhydrating, especially in the evening. More seriously, it can be a symptom of diabetes or bladder, prostate, kidney, adrenal, or heart problems. Getting up once or twice to pee probably isn’t cause for alarm. It’s worth seeing a doctor if you’re getting several times or urinating much more at night than during the day.

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What to Do About Nighttime Waking

First things first, pick the low-hanging fruit

I’m talking good sleep hygiene practices. Things like:

Sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room.

Minimize exposure to artificial lights after the sun sets. Use blue-light blocking glasses, and turn on night mode on your devices.

Watch your alcohol and caffeine consumption, especially later in the day.

Go to bed around the same time each night.

If applicable, experiment with your diet and food timing

Depending on your current diet, some experiments you might try include:

If you’re ultra-low-carb, try increasing your carb intake for a few weeks.

Try loading more of your carbs into your evening meal.

Make sure your protein intake isn’t too low.16

Try eating your last meal earlier if you’re waking up with indigestion, or later if you’re waking up hungry.

Try a teaspoon of raw honey before bed

One hypothesis is that you’re waking up in the middle of the night because your brain gets hungry for glucose eight hours after your last meal. The honey provides some carbs to get you through.

There’s no concrete evidence for honey as a sleep aid, but plenty of people swear by this remedy. I’m not sure it’s likely to be more effective than eating a serving of complex carbs at dinner. That said, even for low-carbers, I don’t think there’s any harm in trying.

I’ll note, though, that fasting studies don’t show a link to sleep disturbances.17 That calls the “starving brain” hypothesis into question, but I suspect there’s an important nuance here. Individuals who can comfortably do longer fasts are almost certainly also fat-adapted and, at least during the fast, producing ketones to fuel their brains. Metabolically, they’re in a very different place from a carb-dependent person who struggles to make it through the night.

Consider napping

If you’re unable to get enough high-quality sleep at night, you might prefer to adjust your sleep schedule entirely. Instead, aim for a shorter nighttime sleep period, say five or six hours, paired with an afternoon nap. This is another variant of biphasic sleeping.

Years ago, I wrote a post on how to conduct just this type of experiment. Check it out and see if it might work for you. It’s unconventional in this day and age, but I know people who thrive on this schedule.

Finally, don’t hesitate to seek medical help

Sleep issues are a symptom of many diverse health issues, including hyperthyroidism, anxiety, depression, and, as previously mentioned, diabetes, heart disease, and others. Your doctor may want to test you for sleep apnea.

The Case of Hot Flashes

Hot flashes are a common cause of nighttime waking for women of a certain age. If you endure nighttime flashes, you’re probably familiar with the standard advice:

Sleep in a cool room

Use moisture-wicking pajamas and sheets

Try acupuncture or other mind-body therapies

Add supplements like folic acid, or herbs like black cohosh or chasteberry

Investigate hormone-replacement therapy

Unfortunately, as I’ve learned from my wife Carrie’s and many friends’ experiences, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. I do think acupuncture is a potentially helpful, underutilized tool. Mostly, though, it’s just a combo of trial-and-error plus time that seems to get most women through this phase.

Getting Back to Sleep

In the meantime, while you get to the root of the issue, here are some tips for getting back to sleep:

Take care of pressing needs. Get up and pee, get a drink of water, or adjust the thermostat. There’s no point in trying to power through the discomfort that woke you up in the first place. Just fix it.

Keep artificial lights and screens off. Use small nightlights to light your path to the bathroom if necessary, and wear your orange-tinted glasses.

Do a calm activity such as reading by candlelight, deep breathing exercises, or sketching or writing in your journal.

Most of all, don’t stress! Fretting is likely to keep you awake for much longer than simply accepting the fact that you are awake and lying peacefully in bed.

Are You Fighting Something You Should Be Embracing?

I’ve long believed that humans naturally tend to be biphasic sleepers. The idea that we should be passed out for a solid eight hours per night is a social construct not firmly rooted in our sleep biology.

Historian Roger Ekirch argues, rather convincingly I think, that before the advent of artificial light, humans across geographical locations and social strata slept in two chunks during the night. The first, usually just called “first sleep,” or sometimes “dead sleep,” comprised the first four or so hours. “Second sleep” went until dawn. In between, people would enjoy an hour, or perhaps two or three hours, of mid-night activities such as praying and meditating, reading and writing, having sex, and even visiting neighbors. This was seen as completely normal, even welcome.18

Anthropological evidence confirms that some modern-day hunter-gatherers around the world likewise engage in biphasic sleeping.19 Also, in one small experiment, seven adults lived in a controlled environment with 14 hours of darkness per night. Over the course of four weeks, their sleep and hormone secretions slowly and naturally became biphasic.20

Scholars argue that biphasic sleep confers an evolutionary advantage.21 If some individuals fall asleep earlier and some later, and most people are awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night, someone in the group is always up. That person can tend the fire and watch for danger. In fact, the waking hour was sometimes called the “sentinel” hour. According to Ekirch, it was often referred to as simply the “watch.”

Are You a Biphasic Sleeper, or Do You Have a Sleep Problem?

Waking up multiple times per night, such that you rarely feel truly rested, is a problem. However, we shouldn’t rush to pathologize a single nighttime waking. That might just be your natural sleep pattern. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’d be better off aiming for biphasic sleep either. Even if you wake reliably at the same time each night, sometimes a full bladder is just a full bladder.

The litmus test is how you feel. With a biphasic schedule, the intervening waking period should be pleasant. Your mind should feel calm and alert, if perhaps a bit dreamy. Anecdotally, many famous writers, artists, and sculptors have adhered to a biphasic schedule, believing that creativity and flow are enhanced during the mid-night hours.

Of course, you can’t tap into how you feel if waking is causing you a ton of angst. Remind yourself that waking can be normal, not dysfunctional. I know this can be easier said than done, especially if you’re sleep deprived. The thing about biphasic sleeping is that you’re still supposed to get the eight hours of nightly sleep you need, give or take. That means you have to spend nine or ten hours in bed. How many people do that nowadays?

See if you can commit to at least a couple weeks of sufficient time in bed. Push away your previous (mis)conceptions about what a “good” night of sleep is “supposed” to look like. Try to welcome rather than fight the mid-night waking. Be open to what comes next.

(function($) { $("#dfBgGBW").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=674&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfBgGBW" ); })( jQuery );

References

https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2010/05/low-calorie-dieting-increases-cortisol.html

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/business/grocery-prices-rising/index.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4947579/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4578804/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4405421/#:~:text=This%20study%20suggests%20that%20human,patients%20with%20obesity%20(48).

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w307w62037125v33/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413112001891

https://journals.lww.com/ejanaesthesiology/Fulltext/2009/12000/Hepatocellular_integrity_after_parenteral.17.aspx

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22308119/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21288612/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24316260/

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3316

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/uops-mwt030311.php

https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4545

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3700250/

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727

https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/106/2/343/64370

https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/39/3/715/2454050

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10607034

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2017.0967

The post Why Am I Waking Up at 3am? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Why Am I Waking Up at 3am? published first on https://drugaddictionsrehab.tumblr.com/

[lauramalchowblog]

Why Am I Waking Up at 3am?

Whenever I write about sleep, I hear from a chorus of people who struggle to sleep through the night. Anecdotally, it seems a far more common complaint than difficulty falling asleep in the first place.

These complaints are one of three types:

People who have trouble falling asleep

People who sleep fitfully, waking multiple times throughout the night

Those who reliably wake once, around the same time most nights

Understandably, this is a hugely vexing problem. Poor quality sleep is a serious health concern. Not to mention, sleeping badly feels simply awful. When the alarm goes off after a night of tossing and turning, the next day is sure to be a slog. String several days like that together, and it’s hard to function at all.

I’m going to go out on a limb, though, and assert that waking up in the middle of the night isn’t always the problem we make it out to be. For some people, nighttime wakings are actually something to embrace. As always, context is everything.

Instantly download your Guide to Gut Health

What Causes You to Wake Up In the Middle of the Night?

One of the most frustrating things about nighttime waking is that there are so many possible causes. Sometimes the solution is as simple as practicing good sleep hygiene. Other times, medical help is in order. Still other times, the solution is something different entirely.

Transitioning to Lighter Sleep Stages

Sleep isn’t a uniform state of unconsciousness you slip into when it becomes dark and, theoretically, ride until morning. It’s a dynamic process that goes in waves—or more precisely, cycles—throughout the night.

There are four (or five, depending on how you slice it) stages of sleep:

Stage 1: light sleep, occurs right after falling asleep

Stage 2: deeper sleep

Slow-wave sleep (SWS): deepest sleep, a.k.a. Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep

REM: lighter sleep where our more interesting dreams occur (although we can also dream in non-REM phases1)

A single sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes, during which you move from light sleep, through stage 2, into deep SWS, and back up to REM. Then down you go again, then back up, ideally at least four of five times per night.

Your sleep is also roughly broken into two phases over the course of a whole night. In the first half, you spend relatively more time in SWS. The second half is characterized by a higher proportion of REM sleep.

What does this have to do with nighttime waking?

One possible explanation is that as you transition into lighter sleep — either within a single sleep cycle, or as you move from the first to the second phase—aches, pains, and small annoyances are more likely to wake you up. These can include medical issues like chronic pain, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or GERD. Soreness from the day’s hard workout, noise or light from your environment, hunger, thirst, or being too hot or cold might rouse you from your slumber.

If you’re waking up multiple times at night, chances are that you’re experiencing physical discomfort that you’re not able to sleep through. Sometimes it’s obvious, but not always.

Was It Something You Ate Or Drank?

While individual studies have linked sleep quality to diet and macronutrient intake (high versus low carb, for example), they are mostly small and the results inconclusive.2 Still, you might be able to look at your diet and identify a likely culprit. For example, if your sleep problems started after going carnivore or adding intermittent fasting, that’s an obvious place to start.

A food log can help you spot patterns, such as whether eating certain foods at dinner tends to correlate with poorer sleep. Alcohol and caffeine are big sleep disruptors as well, though you surely know that.

If you’re frequently waking up to pee, you might be overhydrating, especially in the evening. More seriously, it can be a symptom of diabetes or bladder, prostate, kidney, adrenal, or heart problems. Getting up once or twice to pee probably isn’t cause for alarm. It’s worth seeing a doctor if you’re getting several times or urinating much more at night than during the day.

Melt your stress away with Adaptogenic Calm

What to Do About Nighttime Waking

First things first, pick the low-hanging fruit

I’m talking good sleep hygiene practices. Things like:

Sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room.

Minimize exposure to artificial lights after the sun sets. Use blue-light blocking glasses, and turn on night mode on your devices.

Watch your alcohol and caffeine consumption, especially later in the day.

Go to bed around the same time each night.

If applicable, experiment with your diet and food timing

Depending on your current diet, some experiments you might try include:

If you’re ultra-low-carb, try increasing your carb intake for a few weeks.

Try loading more of your carbs into your evening meal.

Make sure your protein intake isn’t too low.3

Try eating your last meal earlier if you’re waking up with indigestion, or later if you’re waking up hungry.

Try a teaspoon of raw honey before bed

One hypothesis is that you’re waking up in the middle of the night because your brain gets hungry for glucose eight hours after your last meal. The honey provides some carbs to get you through.

There’s no concrete evidence for honey as a sleep aid, but plenty of people swear by this remedy. I’m not sure it’s likely to be more effective than eating a serving of complex carbs at dinner. That said, even for low-carbers, I don’t think there’s any harm in trying.

I’ll note, though, that fasting studies don’t show a link to sleep disturbances.4 That calls the “starving brain” hypothesis into question, but I suspect there’s an important nuance here. Individuals who can comfortably do longer fasts are almost certainly also fat-adapted and, at least during the fast, producing ketones to fuel their brains. Metabolically, they’re in a very different place from a carb-dependent person who struggles to make it through the night.

Consider napping

If you’re unable to get enough high-quality sleep at night, you might prefer to adjust your sleep schedule entirely. Instead, aim for a shorter nighttime sleep period, say five or six hours, paired with an afternoon nap. This is another variant of biphasic sleeping.

Years ago, I wrote a post on how to conduct just this type of experiment. Check it out and see if it might work for you. It’s unconventional in this day and age, but I know people who thrive on this schedule.

Finally, don’t hesitate to seek medical help

Sleep issues are a symptom of many diverse health issues, including hyperthyroidism, anxiety, depression, and, as previously mentioned, diabetes, heart disease, and others. Your doctor may want to test you for sleep apnea.

The Case of Hot Flashes

Hot flashes are a common cause of nighttime waking for women of a certain age. If you endure nighttime flashes, you’re probably familiar with the standard advice:

Sleep in a cool room

Use moisture-wicking pajamas and sheets

Try acupuncture or other mind-body therapies

Add supplements like folic acid, or herbs like black cohosh or chasteberry

Investigate hormone-replacement therapy

Unfortunately, as I’ve learned from my wife Carrie’s and many friends’ experiences, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. I do think acupuncture is a potentially helpful, underutilized tool. Mostly, though, it’s just a combo of trial-and-error plus time that seems to get most women through this phase.

Getting Back to Sleep

In the meantime, while you get to the root of the issue, here are some tips for getting back to sleep:

Take care of pressing needs. Get up and pee, get a drink of water, or adjust the thermostat. There’s no point in trying to power through the discomfort that woke you up in the first place. Just fix it.

Keep artificial lights and screens off. Use small nightlights to light your path to the bathroom if necessary, and wear your orange-tinted glasses.

Do a calm activity such as reading by candlelight, deep breathing exercises, or sketching or writing in your journal.

Most of all, don’t stress! Fretting is likely to keep you awake for much longer than simply accepting the fact that you are awake and lying peacefully in bed.

Are You Fighting Something You Should Be Embracing?

I’ve long believed that humans naturally tend to be biphasic sleepers. The idea that we should be passed out for a solid eight hours per night is a social construct not firmly rooted in our sleep biology.

Historian Roger Ekirch argues, rather convincingly I think, that before the advent of artificial light, humans across geographical locations and social strata slept in two chunks during the night. The first, usually just called “first sleep,” or sometimes “dead sleep,” comprised the first four or so hours. “Second sleep” went until dawn. In between, people would enjoy an hour, or perhaps two or three hours, of mid-night activities such as praying and meditating, reading and writing, having sex, and even visiting neighbors. This was seen as completely normal, even welcome.5

Anthropological evidence confirms that some modern-day hunter-gatherers around the world likewise engage in biphasic sleeping.6 Also, in one small experiment, seven adults lived in a controlled environment with 14 hours of darkness per night. Over the course of four weeks, their sleep and hormone secretions slowly and naturally became biphasic.7

Scholars argue that biphasic sleep confers an evolutionary advantage.8 If some individuals fall asleep earlier and some later, and most people are awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night, someone in the group is always up. That person can tend the fire and watch for danger. In fact, the waking hour was sometimes called the “sentinel” hour. According to Ekirch, it was often referred to as simply the “watch.”

Are You a Biphasic Sleeper, or Do You Have a Sleep Problem?

Waking up multiple times per night, such that you rarely feel truly rested, is a problem. However, we shouldn’t rush to pathologize a single nighttime waking. That might just be your natural sleep pattern. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’d be better off aiming for biphasic sleep either. Even if you wake reliably at the same time each night, sometimes a full bladder is just a full bladder.

The litmus test is how you feel. With a biphasic schedule, the intervening waking period should be pleasant. Your mind should feel calm and alert, if perhaps a bit dreamy. Anecdotally, many famous writers, artists, and sculptors have adhered to a biphasic schedule, believing that creativity and flow are enhanced during the mid-night hours.

Of course, you can’t tap into how you feel if waking is causing you a ton of angst. Remind yourself that waking can be normal, not dysfunctional. I know this can be easier said than done, especially if you’re sleep deprived. The thing about biphasic sleeping is that you’re still supposed to get the eight hours of nightly sleep you need, give or take. That means you have to spend nine or ten hours in bed. How many people do that nowadays?

See if you can commit to at least a couple weeks of sufficient time in bed. Push away your previous (mis)conceptions about what a “good” night of sleep is “supposed” to look like. Try to welcome rather than fight the mid-night waking. Be open to what comes next.

(function($) { $("#dfUzFnW").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=674&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfUzFnW" ); })( jQuery );

References

https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4545

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3700250/

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727

https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/106/2/343/64370

https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/39/3/715/2454050

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10607034

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2017.0967

The post Why Am I Waking Up at 3am? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Why Am I Waking Up at 3am? published first on https://venabeahan.tumblr.com

[jesseneufeld]

Why Am I Waking Up at 3am?

Whenever I write about sleep, I hear from a chorus of people who struggle to sleep through the night. Anecdotally, it seems a far more common complaint than difficulty falling asleep in the first place.

These complaints are one of three types:

People who have trouble falling asleep

People who sleep fitfully, waking multiple times throughout the night

Those who reliably wake once, around the same time most nights

Understandably, this is a hugely vexing problem. Poor quality sleep is a serious health concern. Not to mention, sleeping badly feels simply awful. When the alarm goes off after a night of tossing and turning, the next day is sure to be a slog. String several days like that together, and it’s hard to function at all.

I’m going to go out on a limb, though, and assert that waking up in the middle of the night isn’t always the problem we make it out to be. For some people, nighttime wakings are actually something to embrace. As always, context is everything.

Instantly download your Guide to Gut Health

What Causes You to Wake Up In the Middle of the Night?

One of the most frustrating things about nighttime waking is that there are so many possible causes. Sometimes the solution is as simple as practicing good sleep hygiene. Other times, medical help is in order. Still other times, the solution is something different entirely.

Transitioning to Lighter Sleep Stages

Sleep isn’t a uniform state of unconsciousness you slip into when it becomes dark and, theoretically, ride until morning. It’s a dynamic process that goes in waves—or more precisely, cycles—throughout the night.

There are four (or five, depending on how you slice it) stages of sleep:

Stage 1: light sleep, occurs right after falling asleep

Stage 2: deeper sleep

Slow-wave sleep (SWS): deepest sleep, a.k.a. Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep

REM: lighter sleep where our more interesting dreams occur (although we can also dream in non-REM phases1)

A single sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes, during which you move from light sleep, through stage 2, into deep SWS, and back up to REM. Then down you go again, then back up, ideally at least four of five times per night.

Your sleep is also roughly broken into two phases over the course of a whole night. In the first half, you spend relatively more time in SWS. The second half is characterized by a higher proportion of REM sleep.

What does this have to do with nighttime waking?

One possible explanation is that as you transition into lighter sleep — either within a single sleep cycle, or as you move from the first to the second phase—aches, pains, and small annoyances are more likely to wake you up. These can include medical issues like chronic pain, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or GERD. Soreness from the day’s hard workout, noise or light from your environment, hunger, thirst, or being too hot or cold might rouse you from your slumber.

If you’re waking up multiple times at night, chances are that you’re experiencing physical discomfort that you’re not able to sleep through. Sometimes it’s obvious, but not always.

Was It Something You Ate Or Drank?

While individual studies have linked sleep quality to diet and macronutrient intake (high versus low carb, for example), they are mostly small and the results inconclusive.2 Still, you might be able to look at your diet and identify a likely culprit. For example, if your sleep problems started after going carnivore or adding intermittent fasting, that’s an obvious place to start.

A food log can help you spot patterns, such as whether eating certain foods at dinner tends to correlate with poorer sleep. Alcohol and caffeine are big sleep disruptors as well, though you surely know that.

If you’re frequently waking up to pee, you might be overhydrating, especially in the evening. More seriously, it can be a symptom of diabetes or bladder, prostate, kidney, adrenal, or heart problems. Getting up once or twice to pee probably isn’t cause for alarm. It’s worth seeing a doctor if you’re getting several times or urinating much more at night than during the day.

Melt your stress away with Adaptogenic Calm

What to Do About Nighttime Waking

First things first, pick the low-hanging fruit

I’m talking good sleep hygiene practices. Things like:

Sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room.

Minimize exposure to artificial lights after the sun sets. Use blue-light blocking glasses, and turn on night mode on your devices.

Watch your alcohol and caffeine consumption, especially later in the day.

Go to bed around the same time each night.

If applicable, experiment with your diet and food timing

Depending on your current diet, some experiments you might try include:

If you’re ultra-low-carb, try increasing your carb intake for a few weeks.

Try loading more of your carbs into your evening meal.

Make sure your protein intake isn’t too low.3

Try eating your last meal earlier if you’re waking up with indigestion, or later if you’re waking up hungry.

Try a teaspoon of raw honey before bed

One hypothesis is that you’re waking up in the middle of the night because your brain gets hungry for glucose eight hours after your last meal. The honey provides some carbs to get you through.

There’s no concrete evidence for honey as a sleep aid, but plenty of people swear by this remedy. I’m not sure it’s likely to be more effective than eating a serving of complex carbs at dinner. That said, even for low-carbers, I don’t think there’s any harm in trying.

I’ll note, though, that fasting studies don’t show a link to sleep disturbances.4 That calls the “starving brain” hypothesis into question, but I suspect there’s an important nuance here. Individuals who can comfortably do longer fasts are almost certainly also fat-adapted and, at least during the fast, producing ketones to fuel their brains. Metabolically, they’re in a very different place from a carb-dependent person who struggles to make it through the night.

Consider napping

If you’re unable to get enough high-quality sleep at night, you might prefer to adjust your sleep schedule entirely. Instead, aim for a shorter nighttime sleep period, say five or six hours, paired with an afternoon nap. This is another variant of biphasic sleeping.

Years ago, I wrote a post on how to conduct just this type of experiment. Check it out and see if it might work for you. It’s unconventional in this day and age, but I know people who thrive on this schedule.

Finally, don’t hesitate to seek medical help

Sleep issues are a symptom of many diverse health issues, including hyperthyroidism, anxiety, depression, and, as previously mentioned, diabetes, heart disease, and others. Your doctor may want to test you for sleep apnea.

The Case of Hot Flashes

Hot flashes are a common cause of nighttime waking for women of a certain age. If you endure nighttime flashes, you’re probably familiar with the standard advice:

Sleep in a cool room

Use moisture-wicking pajamas and sheets

Try acupuncture or other mind-body therapies

Add supplements like folic acid, or herbs like black cohosh or chasteberry

Investigate hormone-replacement therapy

Unfortunately, as I’ve learned from my wife Carrie’s and many friends’ experiences, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. I do think acupuncture is a potentially helpful, underutilized tool. Mostly, though, it’s just a combo of trial-and-error plus time that seems to get most women through this phase.

Getting Back to Sleep

In the meantime, while you get to the root of the issue, here are some tips for getting back to sleep:

Take care of pressing needs. Get up and pee, get a drink of water, or adjust the thermostat. There’s no point in trying to power through the discomfort that woke you up in the first place. Just fix it.

Keep artificial lights and screens off. Use small nightlights to light your path to the bathroom if necessary, and wear your orange-tinted glasses.

Do a calm activity such as reading by candlelight, deep breathing exercises, or sketching or writing in your journal.

Most of all, don’t stress! Fretting is likely to keep you awake for much longer than simply accepting the fact that you are awake and lying peacefully in bed.

Are You Fighting Something You Should Be Embracing?

I’ve long believed that humans naturally tend to be biphasic sleepers. The idea that we should be passed out for a solid eight hours per night is a social construct not firmly rooted in our sleep biology.

Historian Roger Ekirch argues, rather convincingly I think, that before the advent of artificial light, humans across geographical locations and social strata slept in two chunks during the night. The first, usually just called “first sleep,” or sometimes “dead sleep,” comprised the first four or so hours. “Second sleep” went until dawn. In between, people would enjoy an hour, or perhaps two or three hours, of mid-night activities such as praying and meditating, reading and writing, having sex, and even visiting neighbors. This was seen as completely normal, even welcome.5

Anthropological evidence confirms that some modern-day hunter-gatherers around the world likewise engage in biphasic sleeping.6 Also, in one small experiment, seven adults lived in a controlled environment with 14 hours of darkness per night. Over the course of four weeks, their sleep and hormone secretions slowly and naturally became biphasic.7

Scholars argue that biphasic sleep confers an evolutionary advantage.8 If some individuals fall asleep earlier and some later, and most people are awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night, someone in the group is always up. That person can tend the fire and watch for danger. In fact, the waking hour was sometimes called the “sentinel” hour. According to Ekirch, it was often referred to as simply the “watch.”

Are You a Biphasic Sleeper, or Do You Have a Sleep Problem?

Waking up multiple times per night, such that you rarely feel truly rested, is a problem. However, we shouldn’t rush to pathologize a single nighttime waking. That might just be your natural sleep pattern. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’d be better off aiming for biphasic sleep either. Even if you wake reliably at the same time each night, sometimes a full bladder is just a full bladder.

The litmus test is how you feel. With a biphasic schedule, the intervening waking period should be pleasant. Your mind should feel calm and alert, if perhaps a bit dreamy. Anecdotally, many famous writers, artists, and sculptors have adhered to a biphasic schedule, believing that creativity and flow are enhanced during the mid-night hours.

Of course, you can’t tap into how you feel if waking is causing you a ton of angst. Remind yourself that waking can be normal, not dysfunctional. I know this can be easier said than done, especially if you’re sleep deprived. The thing about biphasic sleeping is that you’re still supposed to get the eight hours of nightly sleep you need, give or take. That means you have to spend nine or ten hours in bed. How many people do that nowadays?

See if you can commit to at least a couple weeks of sufficient time in bed. Push away your previous (mis)conceptions about what a “good” night of sleep is “supposed” to look like. Try to welcome rather than fight the mid-night waking. Be open to what comes next.

(function($) { $("#df60bi9").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=674&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=df60bi9" ); })( jQuery );

References

https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4545

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3700250/

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727

https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/106/2/343/64370

https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/39/3/715/2454050

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10607034

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2017.0967

The post Why Am I Waking Up at 3am? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Why Am I Waking Up at 3am? published first on https://drugaddictionsrehab.tumblr.com/