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The Effects Of Meditation On The Brain Forbes What happens in the brain during meditation? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Headspace, The meditation and mindfulness app, on ...

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The Effects Of Meditation On The Brain - Forbes

Who doesn't have that one friend who's always gushing about meditation? She finds time for it, doesnt have a problem sitting still and claims it's changed her life. Admit it: You kind of want to know her secret.

Since May is National Meditation Month, we thought it was the right moment to ask women about the real ways it's impacted them. All of the studies already laud meditation for things like lowering risk of heart disease and cancer,improving calm and focus and overcoming fears and anxiety. But aside from avoiding a super-scary diagnosis and feeling better overall, which are obviously great benefits, what does that actually mean in day-to-day life?

For me, it began in the last few moments of yoga class during Savasana. At first, it was hard to lay there and hear the silence around me, but I soon embraced the downtime. Before long, I found myself taking Savasana breaks at home for a few minutes at a time. Ultimately, I think meditation is most helpful at helping us focus on our actions so they align with what we really want. For instance, I may not react as quickly to something that upsets me, which helps my body avoid harmful cortisol or adrenaline surges that come with being an anxious person.

Meditation can happen in many ways, and once you practice it, you'll find that it works itself into your day seemingly without even having to try. To me, thats the biggest benefit of all. Here's how other real women use meditation in everyday life.

By sitting still for five to 30 minutes a day, I've learned I shouldnt believe everything I think, and that's made such a difference in my ability to lead and parent. As an author, I spend quite a bit of time at the computer, and thus, my neck and shoulders can be tight. I realized after about a month of meditation how much more relaxed I was physically. Now, while I write, I take breaks and meditate for five minutes to increase my stamina and ability to think creatively." Christina Harbridge, author of Swayed: How to Communicate for Impact, San Francisco, California

Press pause on reactions

I had a global marketing career, steadily climbing the corporate ladder for 18 years. Then I developed a rare, aggressive and advanced breast cancer. I discovered that it's not stress that's the problem it's our physiological response to it. Mindfulness helped me wake up from a life of autopilot action and reactivity. It gives me space between emotions and reactions, allowing time, however brief, to reflect and respond more skillfully. After many months of intense daily practice, I realized if you want to make changes in the world, you have to start with changes in yourself. My schedule now includes intention and goal-setting in the morning, a formal meditation practice before breakfast or at lunch and mindful moments during the day. Kate Kerr, 42, mindfulness consultant, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Dial down stress

The word overwhelmed has started to disappear from my vocabulary. I wear many hats in an emerging technology field and at fast-paced growing company. There will never be a day where I'm not faced with challenges. Meditation has changed the way I respond to that stress. Since I started practicing regularly, my mental response to stressors is no longer panicked and I don't have the same physical response either. I find myself naturally reverting to breathing and other meditation techniques without thinking about it. The cool, calm, balanced demeanor is a win, not only in my personal and professional life, but a win for the company and my colleagues who are looking to me for an example and support. Brittiany Broadwater, 29, director of operations at Phone2Action,Washington, D.C.

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Get perspective

Meditation helps me shut out the anxious voices or external and literal sounds. Today, I'm in southern Maine, and meditation means concentrating on the crashing waves. When I'm home, it can be the rustling trees, blue skies or clouds. It's quite literally looking at the beauty of the bigger picture and being able to focus on that instead of the stress of life. Rachel Weingarten, author of Ancient Prayer: Channeling Your Faith 365 Days of the Year, New York City

Be more efficient

Meditation gives me a crucial mental focus and clarity that allows me to be more efficient at work. My partner and I meditate together and its given us some great quality-time together, offering us a new depth of intimacy in the interactions between actual meditation sessions. I also make more conscious decisions in everything from my eating habits to life-altering decisions, rather than moving through life triggered by my past and reactions." Tiffany Cruikshank,37 founder of Yoga Medicine and author of Meditate Your Weight, Seattle, Washington

Let inspiration in

Meditation helps me surrender more to what is instead of worrying what should be happening. My sense of touch, taste and smell is heightened. Its amazing what good ideas come when I let my thoughts be and allow pure inspiration in. I am not trying to control my thoughts, but just allowing what needs to filter in come. Steffi Black, 50, life and career coach, Toronto

Ease anxiety

I used to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, but by meditating, I've found that I can avoid getting too anxious, which means I avoid spiraling into panic. I'm always surprised at the difference I feel when I don't meditate compared when I do. I have more clarity about what I want and am much more productive during the day. I feel more sure about the decisions I make and know that I'm more present in all aspects of my life. It's really rewarding. Amanda Leigh Doueihi, 31 lawyer/writer, New York City

Enhance empathy

When I practice, I feel more clear, conscious and able to flow with the changing nature of life and myself. It's an adventure every time too exploring the great mystery that is my own mind. It's better than any vacation I've ever taken! A body scan allows me to witness whether or not I have emotional discomfort that I need to deal with. This sets me free from looping fear, anxiety, anger and sadness. It allows me a moment where I transcend my mind, which sets me free, if only for a moment, from the insanity that makes up my relentless thoughts. It allows me brief access to a bigger experience than my own limited personal view of the world. Every chance I get to connect to all things offers me greater compassion and empathy. Kristen Ulmer, 50, author of The Art of Fear: Why Conquering Fear Wont Work and What to do Instead, Salt Lake City, Utah

Press reset

Some people resist starting a meditation practice because they believe, erroneously, that it requires long, boring stretches of trying to sit still, doing nothing for 20 minutes or more. It doesn't have to be like that. Meditation can be as simple and easy as pausing to clear your mind for three minutes, two or three times a day. Mini-meditations give me pleasant, healthy little rewards throughout the day, providing an opportunity to press the reset button whenever needed. Dr. Liisa Kyle, creative life coach, Washington state

More: How to Get Away With Not Showering After a Workout

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9 Women on How Meditation Changed Their Lives - SheKnows.com

Sometime around 1985 was when I first heard of a doctor prescribing meditation to a patient to address a medical condition. I was impressed. I had already experienced the benefits of meditation but was surprised that a conventionally trained doctor knew that meditation improves health, that he was unqualified to teach it and needed to refer his patient to an expert that was impressive.

Since then, hundreds of studies have shown the benefits of regular meditation. Very simply, meditation can be a form of stress reduction and stress is implicated in nearly every disease. But the benefits of meditation go beyond that. Our mind is the most powerful tool we have. With an estimated 50,000 thoughts a day, the mind can end up with a lot of exhaust residue. Meditation can help clear out the jets and eliminate the toxic buildup from negative thoughts. It also clearly relaxes the body and releases stress.

Its all in your head. Humans try to make everything in the universe except ourselves responsible for our lives. The truth is, events in life do not generate stress. Events are neutral, though most humans struggle with that reality. Events do not cause stress. Stress comes from our thoughts about events in daily life. It is our thoughts that cause us to feel a certain way. And to make the outside world responsible is tantamount to saying I have no control of my thoughts. In fact, our thoughts are the only thing we have true control over. We may temporarily lose our confidence in that ability, but it can be reclaimed with practice.

If events were actually responsible for stress, how is it that one man is laid off from a job and says Woe! How horrible! and another man might say, This is exciting. Im ready for a change. A flat tire one day, maybe on the way to a concert, seems to elicit unhappiness. But a flat tire on the way to a root canal and we may feel a sense of elation. Same event (a flat tire), different feeling. Oh yes, you can draw out a because tree of reason after reason. But each branch of feeling is the result of the thoughts that we attach to it. That means we could say, Yeah, but one is a concert, one is a root canal. Yet always, for each branch, the same holds true. We feel the way we do because of the belief that a root canal means one thing and a concert another. If we think Oh dear. The root canal is going to hurt! we will feel one way. If, instead, we think, Wow, I was so looking forward to getting this over with, we will feel another way. We are responsible for our feelings and stress is the feeling of what we perceive as the negative aspect of any event, be it wedding or wake. It is the petulant avoidance of responsibility that allows us to waver toward an undisciplined and unruly mind, resulting in stress taking its toll.

Think less, know more. Practices like meditation, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, self-hypnosis, biofeedback, relaxation therapy all represent a form of stress reduction. People consider activities like exercise or a hot tub or a massage as stress reduction. Those activities are good and can be beneficial but they are activities. Relaxing the mind into abstraction requires specific intent. When our mind is intellectually active, it is busy judging. Judgment is what creates stress in the first place. The more active the mind, the more judgments it is making, and the more insistent stress becomes. It is possible to exclude judgment and attain thoughtlessness during meditation. Attaining the subtle moments where the critical and judgmental mind is uninvolved allows awareness of relaxation and a sort of mental purging that lowers stress. Lowering stress in the mind lowers stress in the body. Form follows thought. There is nothing that does that in the same way that real meditation does.

Do nothing, rest afterwards. People often believe that to meditate is to think. It isnt. Meditation is about not thinking. Often I will hear someone complain that they have been meditating but they are not getting what they want out of it. They are thinking about meditating. Stop thinking!

Finding an answer or hearing guidance is not the goal of meditation. Our job in meditation is to shut up, to be quiet, mentally. Meditation improves our ability to listen to our inner voice at all times. Meditation can be a time when we hear, but that is not necessarily the goal of it. Abstraction is the natural state of the mind. Just think about that!

Be well.

Heartland Healing is a New Age polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing the body, mind and planet. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. It is not an endorsement of any particular therapy, either by the writer or The Reader. Visit HeartlandHealing.com for past articles.

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Meditation: Slow down and get there sooner. - Omaha Reader

When you talk to someone about meditation, the usual response is, Oh, but I cant meditatemy mind is too active. Or, I find it difficult to sit still. Or, Who has the time, my life is so busy! In a nutshell, they list all the reasons they should be meditating.

Meditation helps still the mind and body, increase focus, disconnect from stress, find a moment of peaceand these are just the very cosmetic advantages. At a deeper level, meditation offers great health benefits.

A March 2016 study, Now And Zen: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Brain And Improve Your Health, by researchers at the US Harvard University, and published on the website, showed that 80% of doctor visits are due to stress-related problems. They then studied an eight-week relaxation programme, which included meditative practices,at Harvard and found that people who attended this programme reported 43% fewer hospital visits than the previous year.

Meditation, however, is not just for people with conditions or those who are spiritually inclined. The practice is more relevant than it has ever been, given the constant connectivity and stress that are a hallmark of the millennial life.

People are scared of looking inwards, and seek gratification from the outside world, says Seema Sondhi, founder of The Yoga Studio in Delhi. She explains why people hesitate to take up meditation, We prefer movement instead of closing our eyes and sitting still.

Paula Tursi, founder and director of Reflections Yoga and the well-known Reflections Yoga Teacher Training Programme in New York, has a different point of view. People tell me all the time that they arent good at meditationI offer that there is no way to be bad at meditation, unless you simply dont do it. She describes meditation as the act of giving yourself permission to be with whatever is happening without needing to change it. US-based meditation master David H. Wagner, who has been teaching meditation and self-empowerment to people around the world for over two decades, says anyone who really tries can do it, with the right guidance.

Whether you learn it from a guru, a book, or follow a guided practice via an app, one thing is certain, you need to do it now. Meditation helps you disconnect from a stressful situation, it gives answers to burning questions, in fact you even have some eureka moments, says Sondhi.

And its not just the meditation gurus claiming this. Puneet Dwivedi, head of department, mental health and behavioural sciences, at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram, also recommends it to his patients. Meditation enhances the effect of our medicines and counselling. He says people who are stressed or mentally disturbed need some sort of calming exercise to restore the balance of chemicals in the brain, and this can be provided by meditative practices.

That said, you neednt sit for an hour to reap the benefitseven 15 minutes a day will show results. Heres how you can get started.

How to sit

The image of the ideal meditator is one who sits inpadmasana, with hands in amudra. But not everyone is comfortable sitting that way. In fact, the last thing you want is a mind agitated by painthis would eventually be counter-productive. Though there are reasons to sit in the lotus pose, its best in the beginning to sit in a way that your spine can be tall and that will allow you to sit for a longer period of time, says Tursi. A chair is fine, though I dont recommend lying down, she says.

Traditionally, north-east is the ideal direction to face because, as Sondhi explains, it is the direction of sun and light. Facing this side, however, isnt essential.

Morning is the best time for meditation, but Tursi says you can do it in the evening, around 4pm, too. Its the time when most people feel sleepytheir brain has been going all day and they need a break. I find it is far more effective than a cup of coffee.

How to meditate

While it is best to learn from a teacher, there are basic techniques that you can use to enjoy the benefits of this powerful practice. Sondhi says you should pay attention to your breathfocus on just the inhale for 20 breaths and just the exhale for the next 20 breaths. Then, focus on both the inhale and exhale for 20 breaths. After this, breathe normally and observe where your mind is instead of looking for answers to a problem.

Tursi also suggests breathing meditation, which is a bit different: Inhale to the count of 10 and exhale to the count of 15. Do this for 5 minutes and then just observe your thoughts for the next 5 minutes. I tell my students it is best to meditate for a shorter time but do it every day without fail.

What if your mind wanders?

This is the most commonly asked question, and one that actually prevents many from practising meditation. Its assumed that one must close ones eyes and empty the mind of all thoughts. Keep the mind blank.

How is that even possible? By giving your mind a thought to concentrate on, says Sondhi. It could be your breath, a mantra, a prayer, or an affirmation. She explains that meditation is one-pointed focus, so it could be any activity that absorbs your mind completely.

How will it affect your work?

In his book Advice On Dying: And Living A Better Life, the Dalai Lama says that earlier scientists usually viewed the mind as a product of the body. But now certain specialists are beginning to think of the mind as a more independent entity that can affect the body. Taming the mind is essential for a peaceful and equanimous life unaffected by external factors, he says, listing these practices as faith, compassion, single-pointed focus and reflection on emptinessall meditative techniques.

Meditation, when done for a while, gives us the ability to pause, says Tursi. It helps us to put some space around situations so we can respond instead of react. Meditation, she explains, offers us perspective so we can see these are tasks in our day, things that we donot who we are. And this sort of mindset has the potential to change the way you work.

If you do face a stressful situation, Sondhi suggests applying your meditative practice and taking a step back. Instead of focusing on whats making you angry, focus on your breathing to bring yourself to a state of (relative) equanimity.

The last word

When you delve in the world of meditative practices, you will find many options. Theres simple breath meditation,japa with themala, Vipassana, transcendental meditation, yoganidra (to sleep and manifest), to name a few. You may find that you prefer some techniques over othersthis doesnt mean one is better than another, only that a particular type of meditation may suit you better. The best way to find out is if it leaves you in a balanced statenot too lazy or too hyperactive, then it is good for you, says Sondhi.

One word of caution, however: Tursi says meditative practices can be harmful for those with an unstable mind. Like in the case of severe depression or perhaps schizophreniait is not really possible to clearly observe thoughts when the messages are distorted to this extent. That said, she believes meditation can help even in these cases. But I would suggest working closely with a highly skilled teacher.

Dr Dwivedi adds: When people have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or are schizophrenic, meditation could increase the obsessiveness or hallucinations. These are the only contraindications of this practice that is otherwise very beneficial.

****

For mind, body and soul

Some meditation schools

Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala: Learn meditation and Buddhist teachings at the seat of exile of the 14th Dalai Lama.

http://www.tushita.info

Vipassana, across India: A 10-day course done in silence. Vipassana is the form of meditation that Siddhartha Gautam used to become Gautam Buddha.

http://www.dhamma.org

Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune: This new-age meditation centre has courses such as Meditation for Busy People, which is ideal for companies.

http://www.osho.com/meditate

Transcendental meditation, across India: Learn this powerful technique which was popular with The Beatles.

in.tm.org

First Published: Mon, May 15 2017. 06 15 PM IST

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The meditation mantra - Livemint

I Tried Meditating Every Morning Before Work, and This Is What Happened

I'm constantly on the search for new and better ways to increase productivity, especially in the mornings. I am not an early riser in the slightest, so anything that helps me hit the ground running as soon as I wake up, I'm game. So, when Ananda Giri-ji from One World Academy visited our POPSUGAR office in San Francisco for a meditation session, I was intrigued when he advised us to meditate first thing every morning before checking our phones or making our coffees. By doing so, he said that we nourish the "beautiful state of being" (more on that later) and we manifest our intentions into reality. Basically, it helps you start your day off on the best possible note.

For 45 minutes, Giri-ji discussed the practice of meditation with our small group, including the difference between what the wisdom school calls a beautiful state of being and a suffering state of being. The former refers to the positive emotions you'd associate like happiness, peace, love, creativity, connection, and passion, while the latter is any state of being that would limit you: fear, loneliness, anxiety, jealousy, etc. By striving to maintain a beautiful state of being as much as possible, you're proactively trying to drive away the negative, resulting in an overall better mindset and well-being. Meditation is a way to shift your brain's activity to the BSOB.

There are various ways you can practice meditation, but the main thing to remember is that it's not about suspending thought, which is actually the antithesis of meditation, according to Giri-ji. Let your thoughts come in as they please instead of using all your efforts to block them out. You'll end up more in the suffering state by worrying about what to think or not think and whether you're doing it correctly. The objective of meditation is mindfulness and being in the present.

So, for every morning for a full workweek, I tried meditating for five minutes as soon I got up. I followed a shorter version of the eight- to 10-minute "soul sync practice" Giri-ji taught us with eight long inhalations and exhalations, eight more with audible humming, and the rest of the time visualizing myself melting into an infinite space. Here's how it went.

Monday: I had trouble focusing. Maybe it was because it was Monday and I couldn't stop thinking about my to-dos for the week. And of course when my boyfriend is usually still asleep at this time, I was startled in the middle of meditation when I heard, "Nicole! COME HERE!" I thought something was horribly wrong, but he wanted to show me scenes from his middle school play that his best friend had dug up, and they definitely were worth seeing. But then when I tried resuming my practice, it was even harder for me to focus and I couldn't stop thinking about what coffee I wanted to drink after.

Tuesday: This morning was much better! I did at times get distracted because of stomach pains from the container of parmesan I ate the night before, but other than that, I found myself in a peaceful state. My mind didn't race as much as yesterday, and the time went by much more quickly than I expected.

Wednesday: Today's practice was the most nice and calming yet. It could've been because I woke up especially tired and it was kind of like a second sleep. Breathing felt so good, and this was the point when I thought to myself, "OK, I see you, meditation."

Thursday: I definitely drifted off into a mini sleep, which could be why the five minutes passed so quickly this time. But I didn't wake to a groggy state as I expected. I felt slightly more refreshed than had I woken up after hitting snooze in bed.

Friday: I was really distracted this morning with thoughts about what was still left to complete on my list for the week. It was difficult to stop thinking about work and what I needed to pack for my trip the next week.

Overall, I found morning meditation to be a calming way to start off my day. I felt like I was actively turning my brain on earlier and didn't have to wait for my coffee to kick in at the office for me to get going. I also realized that I have always sort of practiced a form of meditation each morning in the shower when I run through my mental list of to-dos and story ideas, except I found myself less frantic and more collected. I was able to enjoy my first cup of coffee at home without excessively thinking about my day ahead because I had already run through my mental notes. I didn't expect five minutes to make any difference, but I was pleasantly surprised to experience its subtle benefits. Though it didn't change my life or anything, it definitely helped me jump-start my day on a positive note and got my wheels turning sooner than usual. Close your eyes and try it for yourself!

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I Tried Meditating Every Morning Before Work, and This Is What Happened - POPSUGAR

When you are deciding in favour of post bariatric surgery, it is evident that you are frustrated with the excessive fat that has been barring you from doing day to day jobs properly.

You are fed up of the loose skin that make your skin surface uneven and you have not been able to get rid of it with the yoga and the other excercises that you were prescribed. This surgery can be quite effective in these cases, and you will know why. Read on.

How We Burn Fat

We know that we cannot possibly create or destroy matter but we can choose to change their forms that suits us so that we can remove the excess fat and convert them in some kind of energy. We know that the food that we intake is converted to glucose which is then utilized by our body. But often the starch remain stored in our body in forms that cannot be broken down into glucose and the signals from the brain cannot send signals to have them broken down to be sent to various parts of our body so that we can utilize it. This surgery does this work, and helps in burning down the fat from places on which yoga or excercise cannot work effectively. If you have taken a decision in favour of this surgery, congratulate yourself. Though it will cause a bit of pain, it will give you a healthy lifestyle that is priceless.

Why the Extra Skin?

As we have discussed earlier, the problem is regarding the skin that hangs loose from the surface, thus giving it an uneven look and making us feel uncomfortable. Extra skin can be attributed to different stages of a persons life, ranging from puberty to pregnancy. The collagen fibres of our body stretches, and they have a limit upto which they can strtch. Sometimes they overstretch, which gives rise to stretch marks and is quite ungainly to the sight. These can cause other problems too, such as back pain, and so, getting rid of this extra skin is more important than it seems at first.

Post-Bariatric Surgery and Treatment Options

Age is an important factor that decides how much loose skin one might have after the surgery is done. The younger the person is, the less loose skin he will have. Also, the more weight the patient loses, the more loose skin he will have, naturally. For example, someone who will lose 200lbs would have more loose skin than a person who will lose 80lbs. So, keeping this in mind, you should decide positively for the surgery, and thus you must prepare yourself mentally for it. For people who are planning to lose more than 80lbs, you should know that you are actually going to get rid of those extra pockets of fat that had been troubling you, and this surgery would help you a lot, if you can bear with the pain for a while.

Exercise:

This is very important, post surgery. Walking and excercise is very important, and you must carry these out, even if you have to skip on some occasions, but make it a regular habit. This movement of the body will make your body adjust to the new structure of the body, which is very important.

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Post bariatric surgery: feasability of the process | MilTech - MilTech

Silicon Valley is Mike Judge and Alec Bergs biting comedy about the American tech industry, now in its fourth season. Every week, well be taking one idea, scene, or joke and explain how it ties to the real Silicon Valley and speaks to an issue at the heart of the industry and its ever-lasting goal to change the world and make boatloads of money in the process.

Spoilers ahead for the fourth episode of season 4, Teambuilding Exercise.

In the fictional tech industry of HBOs Silicon Valley, the soul-crushing mundanity of grunt work is often treated as a punchline. Like many sitcoms about careerism and the slog of American professional life, its considered an insult to have to do boring, seemingly meaningless tasks just because some higher power demands it. But on last nights episode, Silicon Valley highlighted a rather pernicious aspect of the tech industry thats currently serving as the foundation of modern artificial intelligence, shining a spotlight on a type of human labor often overlooked when we discuss the marvels of automation.

In Teambuilding Excercise, we have Erlich scrambling to transform his Shazam for food idea into a workable app, in order to keep the venture capital money flowing. He has Jian-Yang cook up a working prototype of SeeFood, as its so appropriately called, but the test app is capable only of identifying whether a certain food is or is not a hot dog. As is the case with most Silicon Valley gags, theres an elaborate dick joke here. (In a clever twist, HBO commissioned a developer to turn the prototype into a real mobile app you can download right now, if you live in the US.)

AI relies on humans making sense of data

Running out of time and in need of some massive data crunching to expand SeeFood beyond hot dogs, Erlich convinces newly minted Stanford guest lecturer Big Head to let him assign an introductory computer science class with the task of categorizing pictures of food off the internet. It ultimately backfires on Erlich, as the students decide to launch a SeeFood rival of their own. But the task he assigned the class is a very real and illustrative type of tech industry labor, not unlike the work of the Mumbai clickfarm Jared employed last season to boost Pied Pipers user metrics.

Because many modern AI advancements are thanks to neural networks, and because those networks must be trained with countless examples so they improve over time, companies often need human beings to help the software make sense of the data. Thats especially true of computer vision, where computers are digesting images as a series of 1s and 0s and must be trained to understand what its actually looking at. But its also quite common in the realm of chatbots, where text exchanges are reviewed after the fact and then cataloged based on how well the software answered a question or performed a task.

You could call the workers that perform these tasks AI trainers or data annotators, but those roles tend to inflate the importance of the work and downplay its grueling nature. Ultimately, what it comes down to is human beings stepping in when a chatbot or AI program needs assistance, or tirelessly reviewing an algorithms decision-making and cataloging its mistakes to ensure it improves over time. Think of it like a specific extension of Amazons Mechanical Turk marketplace, where human beings are regularly tasked with performing feats computers are not yet capable of doing for tiny fees.

A number of AI startups have popped up over the last few years, as the field has become one of the most sought-after technologies in the industry. Nearly every single one relies on human labor, often secured through short-term contract agreements, to make the reality of the service or software match both the lofty expectations of its creator and the confused expectations of users.

Startups like Magic rely on cheap labor from the Philippines

Take, for example, the startup Magic, which debuted in 2015 as an on-demand concierge service that let you make virtually any request via SMS, so long as its legal. Magic launched its service, which once cost $100 per hour and now costs $35, by employing scores of contractors in the Philippines, where human labor is far cheaper than in the US. The companys long-term goal is to build AI that can automate away some of the more rote behaviors and routine demands, while humans would increasingly be used only for tasks the software could never perform on its own, like calling Amazon customer service. Yet for now that means having a team of around 150 people, dubbed magicians, who are essentially treated like virtual robot butlers by a clientele of mostly wealthy Bay Area types.

Other startups arent quite as dependent on human labor just to operate, but rely on it nonetheless to make sure the data coming in is instructive. X.ai, which developed an email assistant that helps schedule and manage appointment in your inbox, uses human trainers to review and correct exchanges the bot has with strangers. That way, it sounds less robotic and more natural over time.

Facebook also engages in this blend of software and human input with its M bot. Launched in beta in fall 2015, M acted like a fully automated personal assistant, but it requires a team of human contractors down in Menlo Park to take control of the bot when, say, someone asks it to call Amazon customer service. Because this model is near impossible to scale to Facebooks gargantuan user base, M wont likely exit its experimental testing stage anytime soon. Instead, the company has taken the learnings from M and turned them into features for the broader Messenger user base, starting with suggestions for M to perform tasks calling an Uber for you or picking out a sticker to reply with.

While Teambuilding Exercise paints Erlichs request as the whims of a ludicrous con man, categorizing images of food on the internet not so different than annotating an email exchange or observing a stranger conversing with a Facebook chatbot about ordering a burrito. The work is arduous, boring, and in the case of content moderators who scan social networks for violent or disturbing content sometimes psychologically torturing. In the real Silicon Valley, you dont have to make college students do all this dirty work for school credit. You just need to hire someone as a contractor, with few strings attached, and task them with making the AI of the future smarter and better. Hopefully one day, our phones just might be capable of recognizing more than hot dogs.

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HBO's Silicon Valley addresses the dark underbelly of artificial intelligence - The Verge

The annual spectacle of the Eurovision Song Contest brings a much-needed shot of absurdity-tinged sincerity to pop. Each year, countries from all over Europeas well as more far-flung territories like Israel and, as of 2015, Australiasend songs that they feel represent their countrys pop zeitgeist to go head-to-head against each other, putting themselves at the mercy of home viewers and expert juries.

On Saturday, the 61st running of Eurovisionwhich spans months of local decision-making, regional competitions, and lots of pop hits and missescame to a close in Kyiv, Ukraine. At the end of the nearly four-hour, 26-entrant pageant, the winner was a simple song, simply sung. Portugals Salvador Sobral emerged victorious with Amar Pelos Dois, a sleepy, string-assisted ballad about finding lost love that was written by his siser, Luisa. (Luisa and Salvador sang the song as a duet for the show-closing victory-lap performance, which at least added a smidge of tension to the occasion.)

For Eurovision, which so often blends national traditions with a theatricalspirit, Portugals victory represented a shift of sorts. Sobrals impassioned railing against disposable music during his surprised acceptance speech was a bit bizarregiven Eurovisions long historyof foisting incredible songsand ones that are far lessself-serious thanSobrals balladon the pop consciousness.French louche Serge Gainsbourg penned France Galls y-y delight Poupe de cire, poupe de son, which won the competition in 1965 for Luxembourg. Swedish pop titans ABBA made their global breakthrough with the love-as-war confection Waterloo, which conquered the competition in 1974. Finnish pomp-metal revivalists Lordis 2006 entry Hard Rock Hallelujah brought together pop craftsmanship, metallic pizzazz, and hulking costumes. Loreens skyscraper-vaulting Euphoria, the 2012 winner for Sweden, reaches EDM-pop heights that the likes of David Guetta and Zedd are still trying to match years later; ditto Norwegian Margaret Bergers goth-tinged I Feed You My Love, which lost that year to Danish singer Emmilie De Forests not-bad Only Teardrops.

Saturdays competition had its own pop high points, too. Francesco Gabannis entry for Italy, Occidentalis Karma, was a slight piece of electropop elevated by its staging as an actual, and gorilla-inclusive, aerobics class; Robin Bengtssons Max Martin manqu I Cant Go On, the entry from (obviously) Sweden, was marred by an unfortunate use of freakin' in its chorus, but was goofily performedwith treadmills; the home team entrant O. Torvald offered an alternate-universe fate for Linkin Park on Time; Armenia fused modern dance with goth on its entry, Artsviks Fly With Me; and Hungarys Joci Ppai, on Origo, threw down a Roma rap. A couple of songs hewed a bit too closely to current pop trendsGermanys entrant was so reminiscent of Sias EDM-leaning work that it could have been called Titanium (Alloy), while Spains entry, Manel Navarros Do It For Your Lover, came off like an unholy union between Ed Sheerans aw-shucksiness and Sugar Rays island breeziness.

Funnily enough, the nights best song straight-up was a ballad that was stripped down in the manner of its winner; City Lights, the simmering Belgian entry, showed off the steel-in-velvet voice of its singer Blanche, with her visible nerves adding an extra shot of tension to the proceedings.

Eurovisions initial mission involved literally uniting Europe with the power of songit was established in 1956 as a way to bring the continents countries together in the wake of World War II. But as with any high-stakes multinational competition subject to human prejudice, politics of varying degrees of seriousness did popup here and there. Russias entrant, Julia Samoylova, was banned from traveling to Kyiv by Ukranian officials after they learned shed performed in the onetime Ukranian, now-Russian-annexed territory of Crimea. Last years winner Jamalas performance of the storming 1944which was largely viewed as an implicit protest of Russias moves in Crimea, as its lyrics focus on her ancestors being deported by then-Soviet Union ruler Joseph Stalin during World War IIwas interrupted by an Australian flag-wearing invader who briefly showed his rear end to the audience. (He, it turned out, was not Australian, but Ukranian serial disruptor Vitalii Sediuk, who made headlinesin 2014 for scuffling with Brad Pitt.) Sobral, meanwhile, sported a pro-refugee shirt at a press conference following the first semifinal earlier this year, earning a rebuke from the European Broadcasting Union, which puts on Eurovision.

The British paper the Telegraph broke down the political nature of the voting, which is split between jury votes and viewer phone-ins, and which has its own persistent wrinkles despite receiving a serious makeover in 2016. Greece and Cyprus have a mutual back-scratching relationship that continued this year, with each country once again giving the other their highest 21 points; Meanwhile, the Irish Timess recap of who Ireland gave its points to had the subhead the UK wont be happy. (British critic Tom Ewing gave a very convincing presentation on the competitions relationship to the United Kingdoms decision to leave the European Union last month.)

Its tempting to view Sobrals commanding win as a statement in favor of something like niceness, or at least a soothing-sounding song backed by a feel-good story in a time of increasingly apparent global tumult; other Eurovision watchers in my circle blamed its victory on the hokiness espoused by recent authenticity poseslike La La Land. Either way, his victory means that Eurovision heads to Portugal for its 2018 final, which will no doubt combine soaring hooks, winks to local customs, and the occasional moment that reminds the viewers at home and in the arena why music was once deemed a worthy vehicle for repairing international wounds.

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Butts, Gorilla Aerobics, and a Boring Winner: Everything That Happened At the Wonderfully Absurd Eurovision Song ... - SPIN

In our society now, lack of sleep is almost like a badge of honor. If you sleep more than five hours youll get bed sores! Youll get all the sleep you need when your dead. Sleep is for the weak. You can find statements like these all over social media.

The idea is to push high-achievers on to work harder for better results. I just had the chance to spend some time with a buddy who was a Navy Seal with Seal Team 6 for eleven years. At certain times he would average 4 hours of sleep a WEEK (not a day but a week). The need to push, drive and deprive was necessary. We often think in the business world and in our hectic times of today we need to do the same thing. But what if that thought process is exactly backwards? What if our willingness to think were a navy seal and push ourselves to our limits is actually sabotaging our success?

The Problem with lack of sleep

I have known for years for years how important sleep is. I know it, but Im bad at following my own advice, and putting into action the knowledge that I have. After meeting with my buddy, Jeff Nichols, with SEAL Team 6, he reminded me how important sleep is, and also gave me steps how to get into the groove of getting into a sleep pattern.

Jeff showed how we can make sleep into something we can train and condition. Like Pavlovs Dog (they would hear a bell and start salivating) we can set up classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a reflexive or automatic type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the ability to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus. Our goal is to develop patterns or set activities that bring on the response of sleep.

Whats true for Navy SEALS isnt always true for all highly motivated people, Jeff says. Folks may think its smart to skimp on sleep but in reality, most of the people who are buying into that are not successful theyre not even close to successful. While a few anomalies might pull it off (which are the seal group), most of eventually fizzle out.

And unfortunately these stubborn folks that miss sleep often create massive problems in their metabolism, in their endocrine system. They just really hurt themselves physically while theyre chasing another dream.

4 Ways to Rock Yourself to Sleep

Nicholas has nothing against success. Far from it. He just knows from painful personal experience and from helping others how important good sleep is to getting good results in our lives.

When we face time crunches, sleep is often the first thing to get cut. It may seem efficient and even smart at the time, but its not. In reality, you getting that optimal sleep is going to enable you to wake up and do the job to the best of your ability, Nicolas says. As a navy seal, a lot of our missions were at night, so we needed to be able to adjust and get our sleep during the day. We needed to develop systems and conditioned responses to find ways to get to sleep and get a good sleep. Here are some ideas on how he did it.

1. Put away the Gadgets and Turn Off the Electric Devices

The best sleep is low-tech with the sounds and lights and electricity of apps and devices well away. Nichols says REMOVE the devices from your sleep area. Some experts say turn it all off phones, TV, computers, etc. Jeffs advice is, dont even have it in the room. When I told him I use my phone for my alarm clock, his response, Go buy a clock for less than $10.00.

Right now thats not happening. Too many people todayand especially younger peopleare sleeping with their cell phones, have their computer in their bed for the night, have a TV in their bedroom and have other devices literally next to their head on their pillows.

In some situations, where having a device is needed, as with parents who have kids, business leaders or folks with jobs that might be on-call, they can actually use technology to help them tune things out: many devices allow us to shut down all notices and to screen out all calls except from close friends and family, select business numbers, or vital contacts so they can reach us in the event of a genuine emergency.

Nicolas suggests turning off all devices at least 30 minutes before bed.

2. Get Your Routine In Place to Get Ready for Bed

Notice how things that we do well, do often and do with success usually have a plan or routine. You do a workout and have a plan and routine to follow its a better workout. You have a routine of what youll do at work to be more efficient and knock out a ton of work. Many of us have a routine for our kids in the evening to help get them to bed, do you have one for you?

Just like Pavlovs dog, we spoke of earlier, we want to set up a routine that puts us into sleep mode. That might be reading a book. Smelling a certain aroma; Nichols says he smells lavender because it reminds him of his daughters and puts him into a restful state. Just remember to make what you choose something that will relax you and reduce stress. Doing a high level workout might not be the best activity 30 minutes before bed. But whatever it is, do it every time before you are planning to sleep, in the same order, at about the same time; 30 minutes before bed relax in recliner and review next days schedule; 20 minutes before bed put on relaxing music, check electrical devices and turn off for the night; 10 minutes before bed do sleep prep; bathroom, wash face, brush teeth, etc.; Last few minutes before bed aroma therapy and breathing work; SLEEP

Following set routine will build that conditioned response.

3. Make the Room Dark

This one was vital for Nicholas and his team, also for folks that are working at night and planning to sleep during the day. It is important for you too make your room a dark zone. Black Out Curtains are easy to find. These help keep outside lights from interrupting sleep patterns. By implementing Step 1, moving all electronic gadgets helps to remove all types of lights out of the room.

4. Use Your Bed for Sleep

Many people use the bed and bedroom for more than sleep (and well say couple time!). Dont! Your bed isnt a place to read. Its not to make out your to do list or write a letter. You already know its not a place to play one more video game or finish up that project on your computer. No last minute evening phone calls and no late night texting or checking emails from any of your devices. Do your routine, get into bed and sleep. All those other things should be taken care of before you go into your bedroom. Your bedroom or sleep room is just for that go to bed and sleep!

By improving your sleep routine youll see huge improvement in your success level.

Mark Coach Rozy Roozen, M.Ed, CSCS,*D, NSCA-CPT, TSAC-F, FNSCA is owner/director of Coach Rozy Performance Powered by AVERA Sports Yankton. He can be reached at rozyroozen@gmail.com or by going to his website at coachrozy.com.

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Improve Sleep To Improve Performance - Yankton Daily Press

Emmelie was excited to be in Kyiv and at Eurovision again. "Im very excited but Im also calm, as a songwriter youre more in the background, its more relaxing than four years ago when I was on the stage."

The Eurovision Song Contest changed Emmelies life. "Back then I was nineteen or twenty, I had just finished school and moved to Copenhagen to study singing but I was not in the music business at that point. After I won Eurovision everything changed. Im still making a living out of music because of that."

The Danish artist explained that alongside singing she has also started writing. "After the 2013 contest I started to get into songwriting. Last year I wrote a song for Anja, who represented Denmark this year. She came second in the national selection in Denmark in 2016, she almost won, so it's really been an adventure."

Emmelie explained that songwriting is her main focus for now but performing also remains important. "Ive been writing a lot of songs over the last four years, more than 80 in fact. Ill also record some new songs later this summer."

Not only has Emmelie won Eurovision for Denmark, Never Give Up On You provided the United Kingdom with its best placing in the Eurovision Song Contest for more than five years.

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Emmelie de Forest is never giving up on music - Eurovision.tv