from JPT Group | June 2025 | Vol. 18 No. 6
Welcome to Dreamland
Everybody does it and we all do it everyday… or night. Regardless of race, creed or color, it’s one thing that we all share: sleeping.
The so-called experts claim that you should get eight hours of sleep every night. That’s also what’s known as a “fat chance” – which has nothing to do with weight. Another widely agreed-upon fact is that we need sleep regardless of the time spent doing it. The CDC claims that if you stay awake for 17 hours, it’s the same as having two glasses of wine.
The number one consensus prevalent in the scientific community is that no one has any idea why we do it. According to QI, some researchers claim that sleep is the time when our brains re-load – as it were. They compare it to restarting your computer. But that’s not proven.
"Wake up and go to sleep"
According to Inc. Magazine, a whole lot of entrepreneurs really struggle to get a good night’s sleep. Entrepreneurs are, in general, strivers, which means when they see a problem they set about trying to fix it. But according to Inc., this natural inclination to improve our sleep actually often ends up making our sleep worse. On the other hand, QiGong and yoga and others claim that they can help you sleep better and to fall asleep faster. The keyword, of course, is “claim.”
Studies at the University of Toronto say that there is no neuropsychiatric, no neurodegenerative, or mood disorder that doesn’t have a sleep abnormality associated with it. All of which begs the question is the sleep problem a product of the abnormality or its cause.
But wait! There’s more. There is something called paradoxical insomnia. According to the sleepfoundation.org it’s also known as sleep state misperception – a condition where individuals feel awake even while they are asleep, leading them to underestimate how many hours they sleep each night. People with this disorder can feel as though they have barely slept at all despite sleeping for a relatively normal length of time.
To no one’s surprise, sleep has its share of excess baggage. For one thing, somaticmovementcenter.com touts pandiculation – the term which describes stretching and yawning at the same time. And, of course, there are dreams – which is a subject unto itself. A study done in 2004 reported in sciencealert.com found that people tend to have more disturbing dreams if they sleep on their left sides.
Last, but not least, sleep is also a favorite subject for the music set. Little Willie John had a hit record in 1960 with a song entitled “Sleep” which was first popularized by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians in the 1920s. There also was Bobby Lewis’ "Tossin & Turnin" in 1962. And then there is the plethora of songs devoted to dreams such as Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” in 1977.
“Having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.”
— Andy Rooney,
American radio and television writer
BUSINESS UPDATE
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) claims to have achieved a world’s first by successfully triggering and drawing lightning using a drone that harnesses electric field fluctuations. The drone, acting as a flying lightning rod, does this through a nifty lightning protection cage that’s designed to prevent it from malfunctioning or getting damaged, even when directly struck.
Not to be confused with the Farraday Cage, NTT hopes that such cage-equipped drones could protect cities and important infrastructure in the future, as they work towards a “society free from lightning-related damage.”
What’s Left?
What causes left-handedness? Left-handedness has been consistent at about 10 percent of the population across time, geography and culture. Some researchers claim the 10 percent mark dates as far back as 10,000 years.
Left-handedness tends to run in families, but it’s not as straightforward as eye color or blood type. Instead, it’s likely influenced by a combination of genetic and prenatal factors. The bottom line is that no one knows for certain.
A specific gene, TUBB4B, has been identified as being 2.7 times higher in lefties. According to Nature Communications, other genes seem to have an effect as well with as much as 25 percent of handedness being attributed to genes. Further research to follow. As for prenatal considerations, left-handedness may be detected in the womb as early as 10 weeks into pregnancy. Also, low birth weight seems to be a factor
From interestingfacts.com, you have the overwhelming number of everyday consumer products that favor righties over lefties such as scissors, rulers, glass measuring cups, number pads on computer keyboards, camera buttons and controls, and other tools. There are also everyday functions that favor righties such as swiping a credit card and the pens on credit card terminals, accessing zipper flaps and writing in spiral bound notebooks just to name a few.
“If the left half of the brain controls the right side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right minds!”
— leftys.com.au
KEEPERS
Eat more fruits and vegetables, they say. You might want to think again. Because of the amounts of potassium-40 they contain, bananas are classified as radioactive. Are there foods with more potassium-40 than bananas? Yes. Coconuts, peanuts and sweet potatoes are all more radioactive than bananas. According to what-if.xkcd.com, even a large cheese pizza might be three times more radioactive than a banana. Not to worry. The half-life of potassium-40 is 1.25 billion years – a mere blink in the eye of evolution. And you were worried about gluten.
Spell checker. Publicly is the most commonly misspelled word in the English language.
— Oxford English Dictionary
Bet on it. From the Spanish, Las Vegas translates into “the meadows.”
— travelquiz.com
Not making hay. U.S. manufacturing jobs have fallen from 35 percent in the 1950s to 9.4 percent today.
— The Wall Street Journal
Take this job and… Some 30 percent of employees “often or always” feel stressed at their jobs, and it’s most often related to workload and compensation.
— SHRM
That old home cookin’. Customers are cooking at home at the highest levels since the lockdown era of early 2020.
— Morning Brew
Goin’ in circles. The world’s first true roundabout – the Place de l'Étoile – was installed around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in 1780.
— QI
They’re out there. 28 Percent of U.S. knowledge workers report to freelancing or working independently – meaning more than a quarter of knowledge workers are not full-time employees.
— Upwork
Cold, hard facts. Unrefrigerated eggs age in a day as much as a refrigerated egg ages in a week.
— Alton Brown
Passing the sniff test. The Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation found that the scent women found most arousing was Good & Plenty candy mixed with cucumber.
— Mental Floss
Something to chew on. Although it doesn’t change much – similar to a kernel of corn – swallowed gum passes through your digestive system in roughly the same amount of time as other foods.
— ripleys.com
Bird brains. The bird in the Twitter logo is named “Larry” after basketball player Larry Bird.
— factretriever.com
The Month of June
Month of the Month
Don’t forget. June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month. Don’t know if there is any correlation, but it’s also Beautiful in Your Skin Month. Curiously, June is simultaneously Dairy Month and Dairy Alternatives Month. With most schools out for the summer, doesn’t June seem a little late for Student Safety Month?
Yum! Today, June 15, is National Big Boy Day.
Question of the Month
Which U.S. President never married?
You won’t find a presidential dating site here, but you will find the right answer.
Quote of the Month
“No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.”
— P. J. O'Rourke, American author,
journalist and political satirist
Get a Headstart
If you have ever thought about including a newsletter in your marketing communications toolkit, before you begin, download our free digital booklet – Getting Started with Your Newsletter – to get some basic questions answered as well as a little inspiration to nudge you forward. Be sure to check out “Something Special” at the end. Download your copy.
A Gridiron MBA?
Maybe that’s not possible, but there is much you can learn about business from football in the book, Hard Hitting Lessons. The subtitle says it all, “Some not-so-obvious business lessons learned from playing football.”
Get your copy here!
