Highlighting Routes of Interest

More research!
1. This fascinating article by students at Harvard describes the occupational and environment hazards that have occurred due to sleep deprivation. I was unaware that extensive research has been conducted on such a subjective catalyst but the Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster was linked to sleep deprivation in its workers. Too many injuries and even deaths in hospitals are linked to the exhausting shift hours demanded of its personnel that result in fatigue and exhaustion, and ultimately poor medical performance. Harvard Study on the Disasters of Sleep Deprivation This issue is causing more damage than I initially realized and is honestly disturbing that it is responsible for so many deaths.
2. Building on the ideas of the previous Harvard Study (above), the National Sleep Awareness Association has provided some astounding statistics about how unsafe the roads are with so many drowsy drivers. An unnerving statistic is that most incidents of falling asleep while driving occur on high-speed highways. Sleep drowsiness is a major cause of accidents because it depletes focus and concentration. National Sleep Awareness Roundtable
3. How does sleep affect you? "It affects you because if you don't sleep enough, you're grumpy. If you sleep, you'll be happy and fit." C/O WikiAnswers

Ironically, I am pretty tired while I'm writing all of this and yet I will drive to work under these conditions. Heavenly Father must have his hands full with preventing accidents between drowsy drivers.
I'm going to begin some rough drafts of information and thoughts surrounding the research I have found.
Love, Court

Mapping Out the Trail

The exciting stage of research has commenced!
1. I struck gold on the first website article I found about how sleep affects the brain, memory, and how deprivation can cause psychological disorders. The website is Sleep and Psychological Disorders and the information I need to glean from this is about how sleep is necessary to retaining memories throughout the day, particularly observations. Also, the emotional memory aspect is significant to providing a connection between the observations and how it affects us.
2. A slightly juvenille website with elementary ideas about the skill set of spies/secret agents. Useful idea about the" number one rule of spying" is Rules of Secret Agents

3. A lucky and credible find: the Portland Police Officer Test. This test includes a section that tests observation and awareness skills by describing details of a scene. I don't know yet how that section is evaluated, but I will see if I can find out. The Portland Police Officer Test

4. An adorable abstract of a scientific study on zebra finches' song recall ability is based on how varying amounts of sleep affected their memories. This study found that after a lot of sleep, the zebra finch birds had memory deteoriation but those with the most post-sleep deteoriation had the best final imitation. So even though sleep set them back initially, they achieved the best final results... Zebra Finch Song Recall Study

I love doing research.
xoxo Court

The Start of the Hike

I have wanted to write a book for a long time and I am frequently thinking of great book titles and ideas but I don't get much further than that. This is my attempt at breaking that pattern and see how far I can go with this idea: Developing the Sixth Sense: Awareness. The feeling of someone watching you, the ability to sense when someone is about to say something, I think these are manifestations of another sense!

I'm going to work through an outline because I want to do this properly. I'm thinking through the chapters and this is what I've come up with so far:
Chapter 1: Close Your Eyes (importance of sleep to boost awareness during the day)
Chapter 2: Open Your Eyes (importance of actively observing surroundings)
Chapter 3: Close Your Mouth (importance of listening more to absorb more information)
Chapter 4: Open Your Mind (listen to opinions without judgment, heighten cultural awareness through interaction with people of various races and ethnicities)
Chapter 5: Close Your Computer (occasionally if wasting time, to go out and experience the world in real-time),
Chapter 6: Open Your Heart (to see the beauty and intrigue in everyday life, despite its sometimes commonplace appearance)

I have recognized that I really enjoy books that give gems of information without dragging on about the same point. I also respect authors who take the time to do their research and incorporate other opinions and experiences, so this is what I'll do also.

If you have any feedback as you read subsequent posts, please feel free to let me know how it strikes you!
Love, Courtney Annette Carter