Summary: So, as I said last week. I finished off ほぼ日 and now I'm moving on to some Harry Potter. Specifically, I'm working my way through Harry Potter : The Sorcerer's Stone, in other words the first Harry Potter book. I listened to the English audio book so I have a general idea of the story and what the characters are like. This book is turning out to be a little bit harder than a thought, but a fun challenge. I've only been through about 10 pages and all ready I've added 70 new words to my word list. All of it is new descriptive words though that are pretty easy to understand without too much work. I'll probably eventually put up an entire list of the more difficult vocabulary on memrise for everyone, once I get deeper into the book. Speaking of vocabulary, I'm afraid I might have to tone down my vocabulary learning. My lightening speed of trying to absorb 20-30 words a day is starting to catch up with me and my busy schedule. The words that I have to review on memrise is getting to be a little too much for me in one morning session and I've had to start doing two sessions, which I really don't have time for. Sleeping your way to a Higher Score on the JLPT Lately, as you can probably imagine, I've had a pretty hard time getting a good night's sleep. My daughter loves to get up at random times in the night and serenade me with her screams. I know, deep down inside, she just wants to tell me about her day, but alas she is only 2 months old. So, I've been waking up in the middle of the night, partially waking up, and taking naps when I can. I've also just been plain busy of late with the growth of the popularity of the site, which by the way is perfectly fine with me. But, all this craziness means less shut eye for me. I'm starting to feel a bit like a machine that is starting to get a bit worn out. Things are not sticking in my head as well as they used to. And I know a lot of you get stuck in this same predicament as well, so I figured I do a little research into sleep. Sleeping = Good It turns out that not a whole lot of people know a lot about sleep. We all apparently do it, but no one is completely sure why or what happens. However, most scientists believe that sleep helps you consolidate your thoughts. In some recent studies, scientists discovered that getting a healthy amount of sleep can help you build connections in your head and improve your creativity in a subconscious way. Also, it is generally believed that if you study something or are exposed something right before sleep you'll dream about it. This, in turn, helps reinforce the knowledge in your head. So, you know all those difficult grammar points you are trying to remember? How about giving them a read through once before you turn in for the night. Overall, scientists don't exactly know what process during sleep helps you do this, but they pretty unanimous about one thing. That is that sleep is good for you. (I know, a big shocker there, right?) Get Good Sleep All right, so you should get good sleep, but how do you go about doing that if you are burning the candle at both ends or if you are like me and have a baby that loves to keep you up? You always hear about the fact that you should try to get 8 hours in, and that is great and all, but that is for normal people, right? Well, there are a few tricks you can pull to trick your mind into being more awake. First of all, if you have the ability to do so, I highly recommend a siesta. Yes, those Spanish folk are not lazy, they are actually on to something. Taking a 15 minute snoozer in the middle of the day (around 2 or 3 pm) can help boost your brain power. An added benefit is that if you are doing a study marathon all day, taking a short little nap in the middle will help to break it up and improve your memory because the day won't seem like just one big blur. If you want to add a little kick to this routine, down a cup of coffee before you lay down for the nap.
