The Three-Bucket System simplifies money management with:
<ul>
<li>BLOW bucket: Daily expenses and fun (60%)</li>
<li>GROW bucket: Long-term wealth building (20%)</li>
<li>MOJO bucket: Safety net and confidence (20%)</li>
</ul>
This system automates good decisions by directing money to specific purposes before spending. No budgeting required—just automatic transfers that ensure every dollar has a job.

The Three-Bucket System

Monthly financial date nights transform money management:
<ul>
<li>Choose a nice setting</li>
<li>Review progress together</li>
<li>Celebrate wins, no matter how small</li>
<li>Plan next steps as a team</li>
<li>Keep it positive and future-focused</li>
</ul>
This ritual turns financial planning from a chore into a shared adventure. Regular check-ins prevent problems and build partnership.

Date Night Reset

The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.

The Domino Strategy accelerates debt elimination through:<ul><li>Listing debts smallest to largest</li><li>Focusing extra money on smallest debt</li><li>Maintaining minimum payments on others</li><li>Rolling freed payment to next debt</li><li>Building psychological momentum</li></ul>This approach creates quick wins that fuel motivation. Each debt eliminated accelerates progress toward the next, creating unstoppable momentum.

Domino Strategy

Building Safety Money changes your relationship with saving:
<ul>
<li>Aim for three months' expenses minimum</li>
<li>Keep it in a high-interest online account</li>
<li>Don't call it emergency fund</li>
<li>Make it automatic with scheduled transfers</li>
<li>Watch stress decrease as balance grows</li>
</ul>
This psychological shift from emergency to safety transforms saving from a chore into a source of confidence and peace.

The Safety Money Mindset

Don't focus on getting rich. Focus on getting your life right.

The Barefoot Steps create unstoppable financial progress:<ul><li>Set up basic accounts structure</li><li>Build Safety Money</li><li>Kill debt using Domino Strategy</li><li>Save house deposit automatically</li><li>Supercharge retirement savings</li><li>Invest simply and regularly</li></ul>Each step is simple but powerful. Complete one before moving to next. No complexity, no overwhelm—just steady progress toward freedom.

Barefoot Steps

Conscious Spending liberates you through structure:<ul><li>Set up automatic transfers</li><li>Use percentages not dollars</li><li>Allow guilt-free spending in categories</li><li>Focus on big picture not details</li><li>Create sustainable habits</li></ul>This approach frees mental energy while ensuring progress. When core priorities are handled automatically, daily spending decisions become simpler.

Conscious Spending

Tired of complicated financial advice that leaves you more confused than confident? This no-BS guide cuts through the jargon to give you a step-by-step path to financial freedom. Written in plain English with a dash of Aussie humor, it's helped millions take control of their money. Let's dive into the simple system that actually works!

** Reviewed and updated for the 2020-2021 financial year** This is the only money guide you'll ever need That's a bold claim, given there are already thousands of finance books on the shelves. So what makes this one different? Well, you won't be overwhelmed with a bunch of 'tips' … or a strict budget (that you won't follow). You'll get a step-by-step formula: open this account, then do this; call this person, and say this; invest money here, and not there. All with a glass of wine in your hand. This book will show you how to create an entire financial plan that is so simple you can sketch it on the back of a serviette … and you'll be able to manage your money in 10 minutes a week. You'll also get the skinny on: Saving up a six-figure house deposit in 20 months Doubling your income using the 'Trapeze Strategy' Saving $78,173 on your mortgage and wiping out 7 years of payments Finding a financial advisor who won't rip you off Handing your kids (or grandkids) a $140,000 cheque on their 21st birthday Why you don't need $1 million to retire … with the 'Donald Bradman Retirement Strategy' Sound too good to be true? It's not. This book is full of stories from everyday Aussies — single people, young families, empty nesters, retirees — who have applied the simple steps in this book and achieved amazing, life-changing results. And you're next.

Scott Pape

The Barefoot Investor

<ul><li>You should try and get really good sleep 80% of the time (80% of the nights  of your life)</li><li>Sleep is the fundamental practice or part of our 24-hour cycle; if you don't get it on a consistent basis, you are down-regulating your ability to do everything: metabolism is screwed up, the immune system is screwed up, etc.</li><li>However, it is not the case if you get one night's bad sleep or if you're not sleeping perfectly that you can't perform well.</li></ul>

Having a good sleep

Try and get some natural light in your eyes within an hour of waking up. If you wake up before the sun, turn on bright lights and then get sunlight in your eyes once it comes out.If there are clouds, there are still more photons of light energy coming through them than there are coming from artificial lights, so try and get five to ten minutes without sunglasses outside in the morning once the sun is out.

Natural light exposure

<ul><li>it modulates the timing of the cortisol pulse: once every 24 hours, you're going to get a boost in cortisol. It's a healthy boost, it sets your temperature rhythm in motion, and it sets your level of alertness, focus, and mood.</li><li>you want that cortisol pulse to happen as early in the day.  When this pulse comes in the afternoon, your temperature rhythm is going to be shifted late and that's actually a signature of depression and anxiety and difficulty falling asleep.</li><li>when you don't get that light until a few hours later,  everything is shifted and you will find it difficult to fall asleep at nig<warningtag>ht.</warningtag></li></ul>

Effect of natural light early in the day

You can get bright light from electronic devices early in the day but it's not enough. You need photons from sunlight <ul><li>If you live in Scandinavia, or in the depths of winter, don't buy an expensive daytime simulator, get one of these led light boxes for drawing they're very inexpensive in comparison;</li><li> put that on your desk and just look at that thing for a few minutes in the morning. It's not as good, but better than being in the darkness; then when the sun's out getting outside.</li><li>in winter, you want to go through every bit of effort to double or triple the amount of time that you're spending o<warningtag>utside in the morning, so instead of 10 minutes make it 30 minutes.</warningtag></li></ul>

Bright light from electronic devices

Dopamine's main role in the brain and body is to drive motivation, craving, and pursuit.It is not the molecule of pleasure, it is the molecule of drive. It is life force.

The main role of dopamine

They both clear out the adenosine from our bodies.Delay the intake of caffeine by 60 to 90  minutes after waking, and allow the adenosine to be cleared out of your system (it's not only cleared out In sleep, it's also cleared out in that kind of sleepy state of early morning). The other thing that clears it out - is exercise.The longer we are awake the longer the buildup of something called adenosine in the brain and body;  adenosine turns on the parasympathetic nervous system and suppresses the sympathetic nervous system.  When we sleep adenosine is pushed back down. Caffeine effectively, thr<warningtag>ough some chemical steps, blocks the effects of adenosine.</warningtag>

Caffeine and exercise

<ul><li>If you're waking up naturally, without an alarm, that means that your temperature is starting to rise at that time that's why you wake up.</li><li> that temperature increase triggers that cortisol release now and that's why some people wake up right before their alarm clock it's this cortisol pulse.</li></ul>You wake up because of an increase in core body temperature, and that increase in core body temperature triggers that increase in cortisol; the clocks of your body are matched to this cortisol pulse so viewing bright light in the morning anchors it (so it happens every day around the same time).

Temperature and the cortisol pulse

Sometime around 2-3 PM, you're going to hit your temperature maximum: you might feel a  little sleepy at that time but that's actually the time in which your gut your all your systems are kind of revving at the maximum capacity.Then it's going to start to drop and that drop in temperature eventually will be a full one to 3 degrees below what your temperature maximum is and that's when you're going to get sleepy and fall asleep. This is why it's important to keep the room cool at night to fall asleep.

Keeping a cool sleeping temperature in the room

The goal is to increase body temperature in order to be awake and to decrease the body temperature in order to be asleep.
Exercising will increase body temperature, somewhat paradoxically getting into a cold shower or cold water is going to increase it.

Cold water

Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning. Huberman is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Cogan Award in 2017, given to the scientist making the most significant discoveries in the study of vision. His lab’s most recent work focuses on the influence of vision and respiration on human performance and brain states such as fear and courage. He also works on neural regeneration and directs a clinical trial to promote visual restoration in diseases that cause blindness. Huberman is also actively involved in developing tools now in use by the elite military in the U.S. and Canada, athletes, and technology industries to optimize performance in high stress environments, enhance neural plasticity, mitigate stress, and optimize sleep. Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford School of Medicine has been published in top journals including Nature, Science, and Cell and has been featured in TIME, BBC, Scientific American, Discover, and other top media outlets. In 2021, Dr. Huberman launched the Huberman Lab Podcast. The podcast is frequently ranked in the Top 25 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness. The core audio from this video is from a podcast Andrew Huberman did with Jocko Willink. Check out the full podcast here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ApNHAPJVU&t=13066s To learn more about Andrew Huberman visit: https://hubermanlab.com/ Subscribe to Andrew's Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/AndrewHubermanLab Follow him on IG and Twitter @Andrew Huberman @ hubermanlab Please consider supporting After Skool on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/AfterSkool Visit our site at https://www.afterskool.net/ Check out the new After Skool prints! https://after-skool.creator-spring.com/ Or send us an email at afterskool100@gmail.com

health

Health

habits

Habits

videos

Videos

Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning. 

Huberman is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Cogan Award in 2017, given to the scientist making the most significant discoveries in the study of vision. His lab’s most recent work focuses on the influence of vision and respiration on human performance and brain states such as fear and courage. He also works on neural regeneration and directs a clinical trial to promote visual restoration in diseases that cause blindness. Huberman is also actively involved in developing tools now in use by the elite military in the U.S. and Canada, athletes, and technology industries to optimize performance in high stress environments, enhance neural plasticity, mitigate stress, and optimize sleep. 

Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford School of Medicine has been published in top journals including Nature, Science, and Cell and has been featured in TIME, BBC, Scientific American, Discover, and other top media outlets.

In 2021, Dr. Huberman launched the Huberman Lab Podcast. The podcast is frequently ranked in the Top 25 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness.

The core audio from this video is from a podcast Andrew Huberman did with Jocko Willink. Check out the full podcast here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ApNHAPJVU&t=13066s

To learn more about Andrew Huberman visit: https://hubermanlab.com/
Subscribe to Andrew's Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/AndrewHubermanLab
Follow him on IG and Twitter @hubermanlab  @ hubermanlab 

Please consider supporting After Skool on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/AfterSkool
Visit our site at https://www.afterskool.net/
Check out the new After Skool prints! https://after-skool.creator-spring.com/
Or send us an email at afterskool100@gmail.com

We cannot change the world. But we can change ourselves...and that will change the world. The goal of this channel is to empower the individual and deliver profound ideas through art.

Everyone is welcome to contribute. If you have a good idea for an animation please send them to Mark at AfterSkool100@gmail.com

After Skool

The Optimal Morning Routine - Andrew Huberman

Decisions formed from a diversity of opinions usually lead to better long-term outcomes. So, when you believe that your team or organization is missing something important, moving in the wrong direction, or taking too much risk, you need to speak up. Done effectively, dissent challenges groupthink, reminds those in the majority that there are alternative paths, and prompts everyone to get creative about solutions.

Dissent In The Team

Six decades of scientific research point to strategies those without formal power can use to make sure their dissenting ideas are heard.<ul><li>First, pass the in-group test by showing how you fit in.</li><li>Then pass the group threat test by showing how you have your team’s best interest at heart.</li><li>Make sure your message is consistent but creative and tailored for different people, lean on objective information, address obstacles and risks, and encourage collaboration.</li><li>Finally, make sure to get support.</li><li>Dissent isn’t easy but it can be extremely worthwhile.</li></ul>

How To Bell The Cat

Perhaps you have indispensable skills, specialized knowledge, or vast experience that allowed you to play a “glue role” in an organization. You answer questions, help people, and amplify the contributions of others.You might also point to mentorship, service, sacrifices, and overdrive mode in the presence of time, financial, and personnel constraints. This will remind people that you accumulated a large number of “idiosyncrasy credits” – that is license to cash in the goodwill you’ve earned and challenge the majority opinion.

Demonstrate how Your Work Has Benefitted the Team

Illustrate that you have the best interests of the group at heart. Show that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2041386619849085">your primary concern is boosting the team’s chances of success and longevity</a>.Acknowledge potential upfront costs or short-term pain points, but explain that you’re focused on a better long-term future. If you stand to benefit from the direction suggested, address that conflict of interest. You want to inspire trust and evoke <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-five-dimensions-of-curiosity">curiosity</a>, not fear.

Pass the Group Threat Test

Recognize that mindless repetition doesn’t often work. What triggers and holds curiosity is expressing the same message in different ways. Use anecdotes and stories as well as data. Include precise details on the benefits of ideas. Help people imagine what they will be doing, thinking, and feeling six months and one year in the future. <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/1998-12834-009">Make the relevance of your message clear</a> to each person and tie it to what is deeply interesting and valuable to them. While you won’t know which arguments will be attractive to whom, you can have a master list from which to choose.

Be Creative with Your Consistency

Label what is a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1990-01250-001">subjective opinion and what has supported evidence</a>. You earn an audience’s trust by anticipating their questions and already having answers ready. Show how your own view has updated over time in response to new high-quality information.

Lean on Objective Information

It might feel intuitive to focus only on the positives and what an audience will gain. But it’s important to be upfront about the difficulty of executing your idea and the dangers that might arise as you pursue it. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10888683211001269?casa_token=-i1GQi9lVQ0AAAAA%3AgZZ-DaM71M6LrF4vYDiL-AwmAS9po8XOp0JoZmDHg0AHIqXl9XVRpD7WtgOM56XiqS09OPqa3vXoOQ">Transparency boosts persuasive appeal.</a>

Address Obstacles and Risks

Reduce the distance between you and your audience. Use “we” instead of “I.” Investigate and embrace the expertise of your teammates and explicitly ask for their assistance to improve on your idea. Show you know their background, and ask them to leverage this knowledge, strength, and skill. Offer opportunities for them to volunteer criticism and refinements.Try also to meet with potential detractors in private (instead of public forums) so you can effectively address their concerns. Let them know how they’ve been helpful and give them credit as contributors to solutions.

Encourage Collaboration

Demanding activities, like dissent, are less daunting when bolstered by friends. Over the past few decades, scientists have discovered that the mere thought of existing healthy relationships allows us to believe that more is possible and act with bravery. When we know allies are just a phone call away, <a href="https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00400.x?casa_token=fHfeDZfceokAAAAA%3APk_WDo3MlE3ko59NXHkWyTWlIGMNETPHwQCXCUAIpS1s5yfO77WvKU42Wge_q8MexoxdUabmKIFFZYi0">we view their capabilities as part of our own supply</a> and can act with more confidence and resilience.

Get Support

Results are not guaranteed, but these seven rules ensure a greater probability of winning over an audience and turning dissenting ideas into accomplishments. What the world needs now are not conventional thinkers but people who dare to differ, deviate, and defy to make their organizations – and society – a better place.

The Bottom Line

Decisions formed from a diversity of opinions usually lead to better long-term outcomes. So, when you believe that your team or organization is missing something important, moving in the wrong direction, or taking too much risk, you need to speak up. Done effectively, dissent challenges groupthink, reminds those in the majority that there are alternatives paths, and prompts everyone to get creative about solutions. Six decades of scientific research point to strategies those without formal power can use to make sure their dissenting ideas are heard. First, pass the in-group test by showing how you fit in. Then pass the group threat test by showing how you have your team’s best interest at heart. Make sure your message is consistent but creative tailored for different people, lean on objective information, address obstacles and risks, and encourage collaboration. Finally, make sure to get support. Dissent isn’t easy but it can be extremely worthwhile.

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

communication

Communication

teamwork

Teamwork

7 Rules for Persuasive Dissent

Eating well means concentrating on a proper diet and on the time you eat. The foods you consume on a day-to-day basis will have a knock-on effect on your overall health. A balanced plate should include a handful of carbs, an outstretched handful of protein, two handfuls of veg and a thumb-sized portion of fat (olive oil). The current NHS guideline that you should eat small meals often throughout the day is completely disproven. Snacking is generally bad because it produces extra sugar and fat peaks, leading to sugar dips and more hunger. However, snacking can be helpful for some.

There’s more to eating than what’s on our plates

You should stop eating around two hours before bed; otherwise, the digestive tract is working at metabolising your food and absorbing nutrients instead of secreting and absorbing the sleep hormone melatonin. However, if you get home late and don't have that two-hour window before bed, a smaller, lighter dinner is recommended.

The gap between your last bite and going to sleep

Eating well doesn’t necessarily just mean concentrating on the right diet – the time you eat (or don’t) can also make a big difference to your wellbeing

food

Food

How timing your meals right can benefit your health

Whereas a career path tends to be a singular pursuit (climb the ladder in one direction and focus on what is straight ahead), a career portfolio is a never-ending source of discovery and fulfillment. It represents your vast and diverse professional journey, including the various twists and turns, whether made by choice or by circumstance.
Especially for those just starting their careers, it’s important to know that you’re not going to have everything “figured out.” The ability to navigate ambiguity and “not knowing” are in fact among the most valuable skills.

The career portfolio

You already have one — even if you don’t realize it, even if you’ve never had a paid job. The place to start is to identify what’s in it.While your portfolio can include traditional paid jobs, don’t limit it to that. Think bigger. Your portfolio is created by you, rather than determined for you by someone else (like a bunch of hiring managers). It reflects your professional identity and potential. It includes your unique combination of skills, experiences, and talents that can be mixed, matched, and blended in different ways.

Building a career portfolio

A career portfolio typically leads to greater ownership of your career. It also gives you a unique professional identity that evolves alongside you. It’s naturally aligned with lifelong learning and meant to help you expand your professional community and access to leadership opportunities. Over time, the value of your portfolio will increase by your ability to combine and weave together skills from your different experiences in order to gain new insights, tackle new problems, diversify income sources, and serve in new ways.

The benefits of a career portfolio

A “career portfolio” is a new way to think about, talk about, and craft your professional future.

career

Career

Why You Should Build a “Career Portfolio”

A growth mindset is a belief that your abilities can be developed over time by learning to embrace failures, facing difficult situations with resilience, and seeking help along the way.
To build a growth mindset, remind yourself that your failure is not a sign of incompetence, Rather, it’s an opportunity to learn what not to do.

Growth Mindset

Try practicing these three things:<ul><li>Don’t blame circumstances for your mistakes. Instead, use them as an opportunity to learn about yourself.</li><li>When faced with an unfamiliar situation, don’t run or hide. Try to tackle it to the best of your abilities.</li><li>Don’t be hesitant about asking for help. No one comes with all the expertise, so ask for help when you need it. The best way through an unknown situation is going through it, rather than avoiding it or feeling let down by it.</li></ul>

Developing A Growth Mindset

Personalizing your current job in a way that feels energizing and helps you stay relevant. How to use this: “I’ve been job crafting by taking on a more creative branding project in addition to just crunching data as an analyst.” To bring your superpowers into your job, focus on these three questions:<ol><li>How do I use my strengths to bring more of myself into the work?</li><li>How can I improve my relationships at work so they are more inspiring?</li><li>What story do I tell myself about why I do my work, and can I make the narrative more inspiring?</li></ol>

Job Crafting

Divergent Thinking is a method of thinking that allows us to consider various solutions to a problem and discover new points of view. It is also known as thinking “outside of the box.” How to use this: “I was able to do some divergent thinking after journaling this morning. I came up with five new ideas!”

Divergent Thinking

Take two or three mundane office or household items (like a sock, a paperclip, or a pencil) and brainstorm as many alternative uses as you can for each. For example, a sock can be used as a washcloth, a paperclip as a keychain, and a pencil as a hair curler.

How To Think Differently

It is the tendency to seek out information that affirms your beliefs and ignore information that opposes your beliefs.How to use this: “It’s been so hard to try and change his mind about this project. I think confirmation bias is really impacting his decision-making.”

Confirmation Bias

How often do you search Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram before meeting someone new? All the time, right? Everyone is checking you out online, too. The “first” impression of you isn’t when you actually make contact, it’s when someone pulls up your profiles and makes snap judgments based on what they see. From there, once you actually do meet, they’ll likely be looking for signs to confirm the assumptions they’ve made about you. The same thing happens in your career, especially from your LinkedIn profile

Everyone Is Checking You Out

It is the ability to inspire confidence in others to believe in and follow you. To build executive presence, become aware of your communication style, actively seek feedback, make small changes to your behaviour that feel authentic, and be mentally present during conversations.

Executive Presence

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

5 Office Buzzwords You Should Know About

The first commonly available convenience foods were canned goods, which were developed in the 19th century for military purposes. The little tins made it easy to store, transport and prepare food on the battlefield.The use of canned food escalated during second world war, when soldiers’ rations contained tins of meat and stew to keep them going

Ready meals: Military beginnings

<ul><li>The first home ready meals were actually created to use up surplus meat. US food company Swanson had a disappointing Thanksgiving period in 1953 and found themselves with huge stocks of leftover turkey.</li><li>Bosses challenged their staff to find a creative solution, and salesman Gerald Thomas designed his own version as a ready meal tray. It had three compartments to hold meat, potatoes and vegetables.</li><li>Swanson named their new idea a TV dinner, marketing it as a convenience food you could eat while watching television. And their popularity was staggering: Americans bought 10 million TV dinners in the first year alone!</li></ul>

1950s: TV dinners

<ul><li>Ready meals didn’t take off until the 1970s, when more homes had domestic freezers. Brands launched products specifically for these new kitchen gadgets.</li><li>Birdseye Fish Fingers and Findus Crispy Pancakes became mealtime staples, finished off with frozen desserts like Viennetta, Arctic Roll and Black Forest Gateau.</li><li>The biggest attraction of frozen food was timesaving – everything was pre-prepared and quick to cook. By the 1980s family life was changing, with an ever-rising number of working women. More and more families turned to frozen ready meals for a hot, tasty dinner you could cook in just three minutes.</li></ul>

1970s: Microwave meals

By the 1990s, diets were getting more adventurous and ready meals makers strived to match this. Cuisines like Thai and Mexican were introduced and producers often recreated food that diners enjoyed in restaurants, but didn’t know how to prepare at home.

1990s: New flavours

Since the first ready meal was invented in 1953, convenience food has reshaped the way we eat. What's the attraction of ready-made meals? Read our article.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

The rise of ready meals

<ul><li>Migraine is a neurological condition that can cause multiple symptoms. It’s frequently characterized by intense, debilitating headaches. </li><li>Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, difficulty speaking, numbness or tingling, and sensitivity to light and sound. </li><li>Migraines often run in families and affect all ages. Migraines can begin in childhood or may not occur until early adulthood. Women are more likely than men to have migraines. </li><li>Family history is one of the most common risk factors for having migraines.</li><li>Migraines are different from other headaches.</li></ul>

What is a migraine?

<ul><li>The prodrome stage (one to two days before the headache itself): food cravings, depression, fatigue or low energy, frequent yawning, hyperactivity, irritability, neck stiffness.</li><li>In migraine with aura: during an aura, you may have problems with your vision, sensation, movement, and speech. </li><li>The attack phase. This is the most acute or severe of the phases when the actual migraine pain occurs: sensitivity to light and sound, nausea, dizziness or feeling faint, pain on one side of your head, pulsing and throbbing head pain, vomiting. </li><li>The postdrome phase. During this phase, there are usually changes in mood and feelings. A mild, dull headache may persist.</li></ul>

Migraine symptoms


Researchers haven’t identified a definitive cause for migraines. However, they have found some contributing factors that can trigger the condition. <ul><li>This includes changes in brain chemicals, such as a decrease in levels of the brain chemical <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/serotonin">serotonin</a>.</li><li>Other factors that may trigger a migraine include bright lights, severe heat, or other extremes in weather, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/dehydration-headache">dehydration</a>, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/hormonal-headaches">hormone changes</a>, excess stress, loud sounds, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine/exercise-induced-migraines">intense physical activity</a>, skipping meals, changes in sleep patterns, use of certain medications, smoking, alcohol use, etc.</li></ul>

What causes migraines?

<h2>Migraines can’t be cured, but your doctor can help you <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/headache-management">manage them</a> so you get them less often and treat symptoms when they occur.</h2><h2>A treatment plan may include a combination of self-care <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/natural-ways-to-reduce-migraines">migraine remedies</a>, lifestyle adjustments, including <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/stress-management">stress management</a> and <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine-triggers-and-how-to-avoid-them">avoiding migraine triggers</a>, OTC pain or migraine medications, prescription <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine-drugs">migraine medications</a>, prescription medications to help with nausea or vomiting, hormone therapy if migraines seem to occur <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine/migraine-during-period">in relation to your menstrual cycle</a>, counseling and alternative care, which may include <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/biofeedback">biofeedback</a>, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/types-of-meditation">meditation</a>, acupressure, or <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/acupuncture-for-headaches">acupuncture</a>.</h2>

Migraine treatment

Here’s what you need to know about migraine types, symptoms, triggers, and treatments as well as how they’re different from regular headaches.

mentalhealth

Mental Health

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Everything You Want to Know About Migraine

Hormones regulate various biological activities, for example, growth, development, reproduction, energy use and storage, water and electrolyte balance.
Hormones are molecules that function as chemical messengers in the body's endocrine system. Specific organs and glands produce them, and then they are secreted into the blood and other bodily fluids.

The function of hormones

While hormones in the blood come in contact with a number of cells, they influence only the cells which have receptors for each specific hormone.
<ul>
<li>Endocrine signalling is when the hormones influence specific cells from a distance. For example, the pituitary gland near the brain secretes growth hormones affecting the body all over.</li>
<li>Paracrine signalling is when hormones influence the neighbouring cells.</li>
<li>In autocrine signalling, the hormones cause changes within the cell that releases them.</li>
</ul>

Hormone signalling

Hormones are classified into two main types:
<ol>
<li>Peptide hormones (e.g. human growth hormone): These protein hormones are made up of amino acids and are water-soluble. They cannot pass through a cell membrane. They bind to receptors on the cell's surface and cause changes within the cell. </li>
<li>Steroid hormones (e.g. sex hormones - androgens, estrogens, and progesterone): These hormones are lipid-soluble and can pass through the cell membrane to another cell. Steroid hormones cause specific genes to be expressed or suppressed by influencing gene transcription in a cell.</li>
</ol>

Types of hormones

Hormones are regulated by other hormones, glands and organs, and by a negative feedback mechanism.
<ul>
<li>Tropic hormones regulate the release of other hormones. The anterior pituitary in the brain, the hypothalamus, and the thyroid gland secrete tropic hormones.</li>
<li>Organs and glands help hormonal regulation by monitoring blood content. E.g. the pancreas will secrete the hormone glucagon if glucose levels are too low and insulin if glucose levels are too high.</li>
<li>In negative feedback regulation, the initial stimulus is reduced by the response it provokes. E.g. the regulation of red blood cell production.</li>
</ul>

Hormone regulation

Hormones are specific molecules that act as chemical messengers in the body. Hormones regulate various activities, including growth and reproduction.

Types of Hormones in the Body and How They Work

Tech addiction may be real in some cases but is mostly fear-mongering.
Many studies linking technology addiction with mental health problems may be setting a false narrative and blaming technology for unrelated psychological problems.

Technology Addiction: Myth Vs Reality

Many studies link tech addiction (like playing video games) to cocaine, or methamphetamine usage, as it stimulates the same pleasure centres of the brain. 
The dopamine release is blamed for the addiction, but research shows that video games release far less dopamine than drugs, approximately the same as having food.

Technology Is Not A Drug

Only about 3 percent of gamers develop problematic behaviours leading to bad grades. A vast majority of the problems are mild. 
Kids who use smartphones aren’t all addicted, and having a smartphone won’t cause major interference in work or social relationships.

Tech Addiction Isn’t As Common As Perceived

The addiction to games or gaming disorder has been classified as a disease, but it could only be a symptom of other mental health issues like chronic anxiety and depression. 
The truth is that most cases are mild and easily cured.

Tech Addiction Isn’t A Mental Illness

If a person is depressed, chronically anxious, or having attention problems, he or she may be showing abnormal behaviour and symptoms, and one of those symptoms may be to use technology in a disproportionate way and be affected by it.
If such a person starts to sleep all day, one doesn’t blame the bed and think that it is a ‘bed addiction’. The mistake is that a symptom is being treated with the real problem being neglected.

Tech Addiction Is Not Caused By Technology

Apart from using technology, many people indulge in a wide range of activities disproportionately, like exercise, eating, sex or shopping. 
The activity isn’t the problem in these cases, but the person’ underlying mental health needs to be diagnosed.

Tech Addiction Isn’t Unique

Though the World Health Organization has declared "gaming disorder" an addiction, its – and others' – concerns about technology use and alleged addiction don't hold up to scholarly scrutiny.

The Barefoot Investor

The Optimal Morning Routine - Andrew Huberman

7 Rules for Persuasive Dissent

How timing your meals right can benefit your health

Why You Should Build a “Career Portfolio”

Laila