Life improved

This author's life improved and he wants you to know how it happened. He considered himself a "light, responsible" drinker with only rare bad incidents. Then he stopped altogether . . and the results were good.

"My chronic insomnia became easier to manage. I had more energy, spent less time watching TV and more time reading, writing, and exercising. When I went out (to the same bars and shows) I felt more present and took home better memories of the evenings."

"[Alcohol] consumption correlates strongly with severe insomnia. And it can lower sleep quality in healthy sleepers as well, making them more tired during the day. Drinking is associated with a higher risk of weight gain and obesity, and it makes you more likely to contract illnesses like hypertension, mouth cancer, pancreatitis, and liver cirrhosis."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Books

When did you last see an ad for an e-reader? Sales are way down. But there's a lot of real book lovers out there.

Among U.S. adults, 65% say they read a printed book last year, which was the same in 2012. According to Pew Research, the percentage goes up to 73% if they read any sort of book including  an e-book.

It seems that "voracious readers" use any and all methods. “They want books to be available wherever they are . . .They’ll read an e-book on a crowded bus, curl up with a printed book when they feel like that, and go to bed with a tablet.”

Material, tangible books - printed on all kinds of paper, sometimes heavy and awkward, often a pleasure to the senses - look to be in no danger from technological progress.

Not looking

America's un-employment figures are based on the number of people looking for work but unable to find jobs. According to some, we in the U.S. now have low un-employment, maybe even a situation of "near-full employment."

But you could say that one group is in worse shape than ever. It's 25-54-year-old men in their prime working years who - what? - are not even looking for work, 7 million of them.

Just ten percent of these men are students. What are the rest of them doing? "Socializing, relaxing, and leisure."

"Time-use surveys suggest they are almost entirely idle—helping out around the house less than unemployed men; caring for others less than employed women; volunteering and engaging in religious activities less than working men and women or unemployed men."

Their families need them. Society needs . . "to bring these detached men back—into the workplace, into their families, into civil society."

Good weekend

It's a good feeling to start the weekend after a week's work, and it's also a good feeling to start the work week again . . refreshed.  “You need to hit Monday ready to go. To do that, you need weekends that rejuvenate you, rather than exhaust or disappoint you."

In this article from Forbes, check out "14 Things Successful People Do on Weekends"