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"I don't care much for the night," Dave said as he exited the office late one evening. It was a simple building, and older than most of the city. Dave's work relied on light and this building was so old that it couldn't be properly out fitted with power. The generator in the back hummed, sputtered, clanked to a halt as Dave switched it off, hoping to conserve as much gas as possible for the remainder of the week. He looked back at his old office building in dismay. He always thought it would be easier to own his own business. The brick on the building was chipped in several places and windows were cracked, and some were completely broken. The roof leaked anytime it rained and sometimes when it didn't. The wooden door he exited from each night and entered each morning was in danger of falling off the hinges, but Dave did not have the money to make the necessary repairs. He wished now he had rented a building in the newer downtown area, but money was tight starting out, and when a humble old man offered to sell him the building out right Dave jumped on the opportunity. Dave started walking home. The winter was the worst time of the year for him. He had tons of paper work, and not enough light to work with. The generator he was able to afford could only power a small wattage of lights and it simply was not enough to work with. My eyes are already bad enough, he thought as he pulled off his glasses to clean the snow from the lenses. Dave readjusted his hat to better cover his face and slid the bifocals back on his nose. Snow crunched under his feet as he trudged home. It was a particularly dead night and not even the moon dared to show his face. He had no car's headlights to light his path. All he had was the occasional street lamp, ... ... middle of paper ... ...n running again. The traffic around him thinned as he closed the distance, and the street became desolate and broken. Dave looked around. He saw his office in the distance, and the bustling and busy street that he had left behind. Down the road in the opposite direction it was just as busy, but here, between the two thresholds of civilization, it was deserted. Dave starred at the lamp for a long while. It sat there, flickering, and nothing else. Finally he stepped in the light. It was immediately cold. The snow picked up and swirled about him in a frenzy. He gathered his jacket about him, and began shuffling toward his run down office. He was more tired than he had ever been, and he was glad that it was night again. Once inside, Dave started a fire in the fireplace. He laid his jacket down on the moldy, rotten carpet, and using his hat as a pillow, he fell asleep.
He fig-ured that the normal half hour walk home might take as long as two hours in snow this deep. And then there was the wind and the cold to contend with. The wind was blowing across the river and up over the embankment making the snow it carried colder and wetter than the snow blanketing the ground. He would have to use every skill he’d learned, living in these hills, to complete the journey without getting lost, freezing to death, or at the very least ending up with a severe case of frostbite be-fore he made it back to Ruby.
It was similar to the suburban street I grew up on, but in lieu of cookie-cutter houses with stale Bermuda grass, there stood wood cabins with yards covered in snow. The reddish-orange light emanating from the towering street lights pierced through a white fog and gently illuminated the area. Exiting the car, I was overwhelmed with a flurry of new sensations. The gently falling snow absorbed all of the sounds I was used to hearing in a residential area.The low hum of passing cars, birds singing from the trees, and the sound of blowing wind appeared to be muffled, even silenced, by the steady falling snow. I felt enveloped in a cool, but somehow familiar blanket. The smell of burning wood was coming from every direction, as each house I looked at had a thin, grayish plume rising gently from the chimney. The plumes represented the warmth and comfort of the many people I imagined to be nestled by the fire. Looking down the street, I noticed how freshly plowed it was. A thin layer of snow and ice-- like icing on a cupcake, or the glass top on my parent’s nightstand-- covered the street. But on the side of the street sat a pile of snow that could have swallowed me alive. Feeling taunted, I stood there and weighed my options. Chest deep mounds of frozen crystals begged me to dive in and lose myself. Preparing to succumb to the temptations before me, I was momentarily hindered by the fear of my parent’s wrath. But had that ever stopped me
Sleep is an essential life process that has been accredited as a crucial role on our wholesomeness and well-being as individuals for thousands of years. Our knowledge on sleep has increased tremendously over the past century thanks to advances in technology and remarkable research that has been done. A lot more information of how sleep occurs and the effects it has enough has on the body, the brain and our everyday lives is now understood. With this information another interesting topic has gained recognition, which is sleep disorders. One specific sleep disorder is insomnia.
The falling snow soon covers the irregular jagged surface of the earth and this visual scene is gradually overwhelming the senses and sensitivity as the mind is going in a state of numbness. In such a state of numbness one becomes concerned and confined with ones own self. The poet is trying to find refuge in the lap of nature but the cold whiffs of night seals out his approach. The falling snow has further aggravated the chances of his meeting with nature.
I poured my first cup of coffee for the day and anxiously searched for a weather report that could predict with some degree of accuracy as to just how severe this storm was going to be. I had to determine whether I would go to work or stay home. My heart sank as I pulled back the living room curtains and saw that the snow had already started to fall. I decided that it would be in my best interest to call into work and prepare for the several hours of back-breaking shoveling that faced me during the day. As I watched the snow pile up I decide it was time to get dressed and get outside to find the shovel and get ahead of what was to be a significant snowfall. I hated to leave the warmth of the house, but if I stayed ahead of it I might not ache as bad tomorrow. As I walked out the door, the smell was clean and crisp. The snow fell silently and was cold against my face. Each snowflake felt different, some seemed colder than others and some seemed heavier than others. Every so often the wind would blow causing the snow to swirl in multiple directions at one time. As it lay heavily on the...
When he got there, he put all of his things away and got ready to go to bed. He flopped on his bed and fell asleep
London’s first attempt to create an alarming mood is when he describes the almost invisible trail and heavy snow the Yukon has experienced. London writes that “The trail was faint. A foot of snow had fallen since the last sled had passed over, and he was glad he was without a sled, travelling light” (23). The reader is first alarmed by the unseen trail that London explains occurred due to a heavy snowfall, which further alludes the reader to the dangers of this man’s travel and the alarming mood of the story. Furthermore, cold weather once again contributes to the setting when London describes the man’s body in the cold. Once the man’s body starts to shake and tremble, London claims that he is “losing the battle with the frost” (33). The setting of the cold and the frost has now caught up with the seemingly invincible man, creating an alarming and dangerous mood as he runs out of body heat and energy. The bitterly cold setting has now lead to an alarming mood due to the death of the man. Through his detailed use of setting, London can effectively convey an alarming
Insomnia Almost everyone experiences insomnia now and then. When one believes he must be in bed by a certain time every night or that he needs a certain number of hours of sleep, it may be the very thing that is preventing him from going to sleep (Munson 21). It is unfortunately true that many people still suffer from poor sleep but do not know that there are numerous programs that can help them. Insomnia, which is due to various causes and includes a vaiety of symptoms, can be reduced or eliminated in a number of ways. Stress is one of the main causes in determining insomnia. It is a fact of every day life and can be defined as any event which causes a significant emotional response. Happy occasions such as getting married, promoted, or going on a vacation can cause stress reaction, not only because because participation in the event is occurring but also in the preparation. More obvious events that occur throughout one's life are the loss of a job, a loved one, or the need for surgery. In such major life changes, the sources of the emotional response is much more easily identified (Shapiro MacFarlane Hussain 49). There are two types of stress: bad stress or negative stress which destroys your ability to operate at capacity, mentally and physically and good stress which improves your performance (Shapiro 49-50). There are different ways to reduce stress. One should try to find a job he really enjoys. It is not the stress of work that wears one out but the stress of frustration and failure. Two big causes of stress on the job are not knowing what is expected and not having adequate facts or tools. Escaping for a while is another method to help eliminate stress. One can visit a friend, go to a movie, or shop. When he returns, he can attempt to cope with the problem. However, it does not help to keep escaping, the individual should try to cope with problems as promptly as they arise (Hauri 111). Even though it is often difficult to make changes in lifestyle, the effort is worth it. Exchanging stress for a sense of control can lift a heavy weight from one's shoulders. The more control one has over his life during the day, the more likely it is that his night time sleep will become satisfying again (Hauri 113).
The snow wrapped all the way up to the knee as though it were alive, hindering progress while the air served its own part in deterring trespassers. The frigid locale was paired with a thin atmosphere, and while the snow could hardly be considered heavy on its own, every breath turned progress into an ordeal. It was a struggle not against man nor beast, but against a lack of oxygen
The rising sun slowly pours its light into the cabin. The smell of pine trees and the mixture of wood and dirt surrounds me as I slowly start to wake up. I grab all my bathroom supplies and slip on my flip-flops and slowly open the door to head to the bathroom. The door makes an awful creaking sound that seems so loud compared to the quiet chirping birds around me as I step outside. I look behind me to see if any of the campers had woken up to the screeching door. Luckily, none of them seem to have been disturbed. I start making the trek to the bathrooms that are a football field lengths away. It takes me about 10 minutes to walk all the way there as I had to walk across the river that runs along the back of the cabins and up the tall hill that seems
An early winter breeze ripped through me, ruffling the sleeves of my jacket and whipping hair into my face. The cold and prediction of snow had driven everyone inside for the day, at least as far around me as I could see; the fog blocked out everything outside a five foot radius. I was at the top of a hill and couldn’t even see the bottom of the road. There were no cars, no people around, only the snowflakes to keep me company, falling softly at first, then whirling around as occasional gusts of wind cut through the valley. Blasts of air pushed heavy piles of snow off tree branches toward the ground, landing silently on top of the existing snowdrifts.
The human body is a complex system of intricate veins, muscles, and organs that require food, water, and sleep. Humans take both food and water from outside sources but people cannot take sleep from any exterior sources. The human populous of today is largely affected by insomnia. Many people who are affected by insomnia have it due to crossing several time zones in short periods of time or working the night shift at certain jobs that require you to be in front of a computer screen. This disrupts the body’s internal clock or the circadian rhythm and makes it difficult for humans to fall asleep. Melatonin, a hormone secreted in the brain, can help correct these issues .In the following sections the properties of the compound, benefits, and side
The chilling wind pierced through my skin like a thousand sharp knives as I walked to the bus stop that morning. I never did remember it being so far; I was walking through a never ending desert of bitter pain; the white, cold snow of the ground reminded of endless sheets of linen that covered every inch of the land beneath me. It was strange yet almost comforting. I opened my eyes differently when I awoke that morning, something felt different; felling different in this case is rare. This town, this very street; I never realized how everything had always been the same in this town.
An ability to function throughout the day is one of the positive effects of sleep. Mostly everyone has experienced the fatigue, bad mood, or lack of focus that usually follows a night of poor sleep, but these are just the short-term affections. Sleep deprivation is also associated with long-term health consequences, including chronic medical conditions (Harvard Medical School, 2007). One of the consequences of lack of sleep is increased inflammation. IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha, primary cytokines of the inflammatory system, are involved in the central nervous system where is the regulation of physiological sleep. They are elevated during acute sleep deprivation and prompt one's immune system to turn against healthy tissue and organs which can lead the body to increased
Past evidence suggests that sleep deprivation negatively affects solidification of memories. This experiment’s role was to confirm whether sleep deprivation does affect memory consolidation. Previous experiments also have shown, in human studies, that learning is improved only through a night of sleep and not through an equal amount of time wakefulness. (Walker, 2005; walker et al., 2003) It has also been noted in rodent studies that that sleep loss that after training does not produce a memory deficit four to six hours after training. (Bjorness et al., 2005; Graves et al., 2003; Smith et al., 1998; Smith & Rose, 1996) The experimenters’ final hypothesis is that sleep deprivation soon after the delay-conditioned task will cause the rats to