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Do you need caffeine to get through your day? I’ve experienced every over-the-counter wakefulness supplement produced before 2007 (when I smartened up) and can promise you that it all has the same effect: A brief period of increased alertness is followed by a dramatic increase in lethargy (a crash) or anxiety and fidgeting. Consume enough caffeine combined with whatever jungle juice is in vogue and you’ll eventually turn into an over-clocked grouch.

Perhaps you already are? You don’t have to be. Here are 7 ways to increase your alertness and subsequent productivity without reaching for that 6th cup of coffee before lunch:

1. Drop Napping

A quick version of the power nap, a drop nap takes only a few minutes and will usually give you enough of a boost to get through the last few hours of work. How to do it? Sit in a comfortable chair and hold something in one hand that, when dropped on the floor, will make enough noise to wake you from a shallow sleep. Hold the object you’ve chosen so that it will drop to the floor when you relax your hand and let yourself fall asleep. As soon as you fall asleep the object will drop and you’ll wake up with a boost of alertness. If you’ve ever fallen asleep for a few seconds while driving you already know what it feels like to wake from a drop nap!

2. Micro projects

A micro project is any small project that can be completed in a very little time. Taking a few minutes away from your sleep-inducing labor to work on a small project of your own can provide the excitement and immediate fulfillment needed to get your brain back in gear for the less interesting work you face.

3. Stretching

Get your hind parts out of that seat and release some of that lethargy and tension with a few minutes of stretching! You can start with some basic stretches and move to more complex ones as you feel comfortable.

4. Competitive games

Play a game that makes your mind work as you push for a win over another, preferably somebody you know. The combination of competition, strategy, and social interaction will give you the boost in brainpower you need to keep going. WeeWar is a recent favorite of mine. The combination of strategy, simplicity, and a bit of luck make for a fun way to take an “alertness break” from my work while connecting with a friend.

5. Hydrate!

Your brain is mostly water so it makes sense that you’d need to keep yourself hydrated for maximum alertness and productivity! They Mayo Clinic recommends three hydration styles to make sure you keep your body stocked with fluids:

• Replacement – The idea is to replace all the fluid you lose throughout your day. The average adult loses about a liter of water each day due to evaporation through the skin, breathing, etc. If you sweat a lot or live in a very warm climate you’ll want to up that amount appropriately. Combine that amount with the amount of water you lose as urine and you’ll have a good idea of how much fluid you should be consuming on a daily basis to stay healthy.
• 8 by 8 - 8 ounces of water 8 times per day (about 2 liters total) is an easy way to remember how much you need to keep from getting dehydrated and losing precious brainpower because your body is struggling to operate.
• Prescribed quantity – Check with your doctor or registered dietitian for a more exact idea of how much water you should be consuming based on your body weight and gender.

Trading that 4pm cup of coffee for a glass of water may have the extended benefit of guarding you from the hours-long affects of caffeine that might otherwise keep you up late.

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If you’d like to become an early riser, there are some things you should know before you run off to set your oft-ignored alarm clock. Here are five tips I’ve discovered to be most helpful in making the transition from erratic sleeper to early morning wizard:

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Today as I was reading a “Jesus book” to 3-year-old Moses*, he started punching the picture of Jesus. This surprised me, since Moses had just been admiring Jesus and how he had held the children in his arms. I asked him if he was mad at Jesus. He said yes. He said he wanted Jesus to be here. We were looking at the picture of Jesus leaving his friends and going into heaven. Moses then went on to say that he wished “Jesus would come out of the book.” I went on to explain how Jesus can live inside each of us and be with us all the time, even if we can’t see him with our eyes.

Thank you, Jesus, for your love for children!
Carmen Garber • Prince Street Teacher

*name has been changed

Our minds set up many traps for us. Unless we’re aware of them, these traps can seriously hinder our ability to think rationally, leading us to bad reasoning and making stupid decisions. Features of our minds that are meant to help us may, eventually, get us into trouble.

Here are the first 5 of the most harmful of these traps and how to avoid each one of them.

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I wanted to share a fun opportunity within Water Street Ministries for you to support Teen Haven. Teen Haven has entered Pepsi’s Refresh Project and is a candidate for a $50,000 grant to help refresh the old gym and facilities of the Lancaster Youth Center.

This project is entirely voter driven – so in order to win, we’ll need as many votes as possible! Would you consider giving about 30 seconds of your day each day to vote for Teen Haven? We’d love your VOTE so check out the details below about how you can log on to vote.

Thanks so much for your support! Any questions contact Teen Haven at 717-393-2716

To Vote simply follow these steps:

- Go to Teen Haven’s voting page at: www.refresheverything.com/teenhaven

- Click on the “Vote For This Idea” button.

- Log on using your Facebook username and password, or create a new login ID with your email, and a password of your choice.

- You will then return to Teen Haven’s voting page… click on the “Vote for this Idea” button again to register your vote.

- Come back to our voting page the next day and vote again (you are allowed to vote every day)!

- Each day you’ll have 10 votes that you can use to support 10 unique projects (we’d love if Teen Haven would be 1 of your votes each day).

- Any questions contact Teen Haven at 717-393-2716

In reality he has expanded funding for the wars, expanded the defense budget, expanded the nuclear weapons program, expanded the war into Pakistan, and expanded the number of troops on the ground.

In addition he has said that we will have permanent troops in Iraq: merely relabeling them as ‘non-combat’ troops without changing their actual role.

In addition troop death rates in Afghanistan have doubled in the past 3 months.  It’s time to bring the troops home and stop expanding our occupation of sovereign nations.