SteveOH

By eHow Health Editor

There’s actually a scientific explanation behind those dreaded Monday morning blues. Our internal clocks naturally operate on a day that is longer than 24 hours. By the time Monday rolls around each week, we’ve built up a sleep deficit of at least an hour. Of course, the weekend revelries and facing another work week don’t help matters. Here are some tips to make Monday mornings a little easier.

Step1

If you can, sleep in an extra hour on Monday mornings. Going to bed early on Sunday night doesn’t always help because most people will remain awake until their usual bedtime.

Step2

If you can’t sleep in by a full hour (and most of us can’t), take action Sunday night to shorten your morning preparation time so that you can set the alarm for 15 minutes later than usual. Wash your hair, pack lunches, lay out your outfit or pack your briefcase on Sunday night.

Step3

Hop out of bed the moment you wake up on Monday morning. Lingering in that downy comforter will only draw out the agony.

Step4

End your shower with a jolt of cold water to tear yourself out of your grogginess. Or exercise in the morning to get your blood pumping and to release those feel-good endorphins.

Step5

Get out in the sunlight. Bright light tells your body that it is indeed the morning and helps reset your internal clock.

Step6

Drink coffee or another caffeine beverage. Although it’s not healthy to drink caffeine to the point of addiction, caffeine, when used in moderation, can give your Monday mornings that much-needed oomph and alertness.

Step7

Anticipate your Monday morning on Friday afternoon. Fight the temptation to race away from a messy desk. Clean up your desk and leave yourself a to-do list to make Monday morning a little more tolerable.

I have two tanks set up at home: 1 x 29 gallon community tank and 1 x 20 gallon breeding / life bearer tank.  In the 20gal tank I only have platies and guppies with a little salt in the water.

So after much research I’ve come to the conclusion that my tank must have Fish TB (tuberculosis).  The research on the net confirms the sunken belly and the curved (bent) spine.  All my guppies eventually fall victim to it (their spines start bending) and then all of a sudden then die.  I’ve come to the conclusion that, whatever it is, is a communicable disease, since I’ve added new guppies to the tank and they’ve fallen victim, as well as the offspring of previous guppies who have also died.  The weirdest thing is that it does not affect the 15+ baby and adolescent platties in the tank (sun burt and red scarlet).  They seem happy and healthy.  I currently have about 4 baby guppies (the mother died 2 months ago and the father died just recently – about 3 days ago), so I’ll have to keep an eye on them and let you know what happens.  Either way, there doesn’t seem to be any defense against this bacterium and the only resolution I’ve found is to dry the tank, bleach it, and start again.  That’s a huge pain though, so I’m willing to give it some time before I go that route.