In this column I share articles, books, research, and thoughts related to the science of self-help, along with experiments and random rabbit holes I’ve gone down across the previous month.

This last month has been pretty quiet. My massive multi-month eating test to see what effects me the most has turned up very little as I continue to plateau. But upon reflection, I realized that most of my weight loss was historically tied to times I got a lot of sunlight. That not only got me researching sunlight’s effects on leptin, vitamin D, cortisol, insulin, and weight loss, but also into sleep and creating a better morning and nighttime routine. It might also effect muscle injury repair (I’ve been doing a ton of mobilizing for two tweaked joints). A recent blood test confirmed that I’m severely deficient in vitamin D.

I’ve also been putting together a test for “falling in love with the process”. My theory is that just as psychological mechanisms encourage behaviors to becoming habits, reverse engineering processes I love might help me fall in love with other actions, even those I don’t particularly like. The first step I need is a metric and luckily there has been some really interesting research in that area.

Lastly, I’ve been digging into information theory and data compression in computing. Data compression tries to solve the issues with compacting files, and I hope it can provide insights to productivity problems - like those I’m encountering with planning. It might be a long shot, but so much detailed work went into computing which I feel could be applied to issues that are far more personal.

What’s New

• Filmed an Instagram Live with Harshad Manglani of the What Works for You podcast, ostensibly on planning and Stoicism, though we ended up going on several interesting tangents

• Recorded another podcast on getting better sleep with Nate Sleger of Begin Within

• Started a Pinterest page

Interesting Articles

• Kill the 5 day work week (The Atlantic)

• Is a verbal or visual pep talk better? (Bulletproof Musician)

• How to sit in full lotus for meditation (Yoga Journal)

• A way to fuel compassion practice (Reddit)

• How to find flow while working from home (CNBC)

• The new science of “fatigue resistance” (Outside)

Research

• Measuring the parasympathetic nervous system using Heart Rate Variability

• Pink noise might boost learning (Bulletproof Musician)

• What is “slow wave” sleep?

• Improvisation is similar to sleep (article | study)

• Listening near bedtime promotes “earworms” that disrupt sleep (article | study)

• A detailed pilot study on aromatherapy

• “Diffused mode” thinking

• Laughter primes creativity (article)

Social

• How to form a daily routine (Reddit)

• Admiral McRaven’s “make your bed” strategy (Instagram)

• An experiment - can you form a habit in a day? (Pinterest)

• A guide on how to increase focus (Reddit)

• Interleaved practice (Instagram)

• 4 triggers of alcohol cravings to watch out for (Pinterest)

• How to get to sleep faster (Instagram)

• 10 techniques for overcoming negative emotions (Pinterest)

• The science behind compassion and laughter (Instagram)

Miscellaneous and Esoteric

• Mirror neurons might be the biological building block of compassion

If you’ve got any interesting links, books, comments, or suggestions, shoot me an email at scienceofselfhelp (at) gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!