When you read that headline, you may think this or that. But I figured out that nicotine patches are more expensive than necessary.

You can start out at 21 mg nicotine per 24 hours, and then go down to 14 and 7 - that's what the producer allows.

The interesting thing is that the patches cost the same, regardless of how much nicotine they provide. So, I was thinking the other day and figured out that stepping down around 5 mg of nicotine every 2, 4 or 8 weeks is the right way to go.

And that's easy to do. I'm down on 10 mg per 24 hours now, using a 21 mg patch cut in two. This effectively makes the patches cheaper to use the less nicotine I need.

What a pair of scissors can do.

So, I've learned some tricks lately that can help with day-to-day living if you have serious mental challenges, either just in your head or also brought upon you by others.

It is easy to get stressed (and have a high pulse). One might automatically start doing something if stressed, such as working, exercising, drinking water, drink alcohol or simply just sit there fretting.

And then the alternatives for calming down are usually medicine. But I've found a better way which requires some work and focus, but it has worked for me recently. It is as simple as taking deep breaths (suck air down to the stomach area) through the nose, and then exhaling through the mouth.

I tried it yesterday, and it worked well. Another thing with these mental matters is that a lot of things feel real and scary, but there isn't much one can do to control them. So one has to "let go"; ultimately one only has control over one's own actions and thoughts (and not even that at times when unstable), and scary things can happen anywhere.. Best trick to deal with it is to take things at a normal or slow pace.

Another thing I've discovered (reminded by a psychologist who was on the morning TV today) is that it is good to take 10-15 or even 30 minute breaks doing nothing, between mentally challenging tasks.

Work for me is mentally challenging, and it feels better to do something with flair and pace and take a good break afterwards, rather than to .. sift through it. And what to do during those breaks? Nothing, just relax and let whatever that wants to pop into your focus do so. But the point of the break is to relax.

If you can't relax after doing some task.. then you have to analyze the situation and figure out why you can't relax. But I think that just relaxing properly for some days or weeks can help the situation.

Without these, I would probabably be in quite a different mental state right now.

Lately I've started have problems hearing properly, especially on my left ear. I was scared I might have blown my hearing by using too high of a volume on my headphones (which I wear pretty much all the time when I'm on the computer, which is at least 10 hours a day).

Well, it turns out there was just a bit of earwax that had built up, in both ears. I suspected this a while ago and bought one of those do-it-yourself clean-your-ear kits with a device to flush and all.. turns out I didn't use enough pressure on it so the earwax didn't come out.

In each ear there was a big lump of earwax (the doc showed it to me).. gross, but also interesting in a weird way.

Anyway, got a bit of a scare, now I appreciate my hearing a bit more.

Well, it is time for another visit to the doctor. Think my right ear is getting clogged up again with earwax, even if I use q-tips and some do-it-yourself ear cleaning kits.

Hopefully I'll get a same day appointment, it is a quick operation anyway.. 5 minutes and done.

Today I started working out at a new gym, as we decided the company should pay for our gym expenses. It was a nice place with lots of equipment and space.

Did the regular thing with 30 minutes of cardio and then 2-3 strength related exercises and got some tips from one of the guys who worked there, on how to focus on certain muscle groups and improve the results.

They also had a weight there, so I checked my weight and lo and behold, I've lost 4 KGs since the start of this year. Doing the math, that's 4000 (grams) * 9 (calories) = 36000 calories, which amounts to about 600 ((4000*9)/60) calories per day or about 0.5 KGs of fat per week.

That's a healthy weight reduction, and I must say that I'm happy with the results, even after having a weekend here and there with partying and extra food.

Well, I got a little surprise at the gym today. Just for fun I checked my weight again and now I was down 5.5 KGs since the start of this year.

I guess it varies on the amount of water, goo and stuff you have in your body, the time of day and so on - but wow. That's a 1.5KG difference in two days.

Anyway, the people at the gym are nice and helpful. Discussed whether Creatine could be helpful and they said it was helpful in gaining extra "juice" while working out, as well as buffing the muscle mass since Creatine helps the muscles bind more water.

So I ordered a box of Creatine today and will start using that next week, look forward to seeing the results.

There's a study that suggests Creatine helps boost the brain as well:

  http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20030816/fob4.asp

for veggies at least. More about Creatine supplements here:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_supplements

Well, I ordered a body fat measurement tool and got it in the mail today (the Creatine also arrived, yay!). I got a bit of a surprise when the body fat "counter" said I had 26.7% body fat, which is considered obese.

I don't think anyone (normal) would call me fat these days, but doing the math it kinda makes sense. I probably have 1-2 KGs of fat around the stomach and some pounds here and there. So my goal towards the summer is to go down to around 20% body fat. That's roughly another 5 KGs of fat so if things progress like they have been doing until now, that should be possible in the next 2-3 months.

That should be my goal, and I'm also considering a partial or full vegetarian diet - but getting enough of the right proteins could be a bit tricky, since I'm also on a training schedule.

My mouth fills with water when thinking about all the tasty vegetarian food I ate with Vinay while staying in India. I'll have to start making some myself or visit Bangalore again. ;)

http://science.slashdot.org/science/07/03/13/1638245.shtml

Exercise boosts your intelligence, and just about anything else. After talking to people in the gym, I've gotten a new respect for people who actively work out. Some people's knowledge about exercise and their ability and willingness to experiment with different training techniques and intake of nutrients, and the systematic way in which they do it makes them researchers and innovators in my eyes. And it's also a great deal of discipline involved - discipline to the point that you learn to enjoy pain (no pain no gain..)

Now, the prize for doing this exercise thing isn't exactly money (directly anyway) - but you'll find droves of info supporting that exercise and the intake of the "right stuff" will do wonders for your body and it will probably lengthen your lifespan as well. So you get quality *and* quantity.

Back in the day I might've labelled people as "muscle heads", but many are very intelligent - and that they speak in simple terms shows that they're intelligent (vs. intellectual).

So, learning as I go..

I love sleeping - I sleep a lot.

Lately I've been starting to wake up around 8-8:30 thanks to the light that's coming in through the window, which is nice.

Starting to think that maybe I'm missing a lot since I sleep as much as I do, and maybe some sort of lighting rig is in order.

Waking up from natural light sure beats any alarm clock and sure enough, some googling produces interesting results:

  http://www.outsidein.co.uk/bodyclock.htm

now when it is going towards the summer I guess it isn't necessary, but maybe it is something for the winter..