Naptime for grownups

Naptime for grownups

I am obsessed with sleep these days. My family is getting annoyed with me, that’s how obsessed I am. I recently moved our collective bedtimes up by a half an hour and basically refuse to go anywhere that requires my presence after 8:30 PM. I’ve started resisting the usual TV-time naps that used to drag me down hard in the late evening, not wanting to release the valve on the sleep pressure that needs to build up during the day in order to increase chances of a solid eight hours of sleep at night. I have turned my clock away from my pillow so as to ward off night-time anxiety about how much time I have left until the sun rises and the dogs start clamoring for their breakfast. I turn the thermostat down to 65 degrees and wash my face before bed in order to start cooling down my core temperature.

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The origins of PCA and our annual fundraiser

The origins of PCA and our annual fundraiser

“Hi, Erin? It’s Ellen Vincent. I’m calling to see what your plans are after graduation!” Erin was pregnant with her second child Georgia at the time, by the way.

“Well, I was hoping to maybe work for you, to pick up some shifts in West Philly!” she said.

“That’s actually a terrible idea… we don’t need to hire anyone right now or probably ever again since I’m moving to Tucson in 6 months, but I was thinking… what if we open a clinic in Mt. Airy together?”

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"Small, reliable doses of positive feeling" -- on neuroplasticity, pain, and how community acupuncture can help

"Small, reliable doses of positive feeling" -- on neuroplasticity, pain, and how community acupuncture can help

“At this point, research suggests that the only way to heal the brain from the vicious cycle of compulsive relief-seeking and amplified pain is to gently re-establish connections in the brain that provide small, reliable doses of positive feeling. Over time, low-key rewards that don’t swamp and overwhelm the circuitry can begin to have an effect on the pain amplifier, and actually turn it down. Neuroplasticity can be engaged for the purpose of learning how to feel other things than pain.”

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