Amazon “Lightning Box” Deal — 9am-1pm EST Only (Plus: $299 Course for Free)

I just received confirmation from Amazon that a Lightning Deal tomorrow (1/24) is for The 4-Hour Chef.

This means that the hardcover will be 65% off for 4 hours only, from 9am – 1pm ET. Just click here.

For those interested… If you purchase 3 hardcover copies of The 4-Hour Chef OR The 4-Hour Body, I will give you a $299 video course I filmed with CreativeLIVE… for free.

This is two days of actionable content, filmed in HD with multiple cameras, including in-depth material from:

- Me (key concepts from all three books: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef)
- Neil Strauss, 6x New York Times bestselling author (on creative process and successful writing)
- Noah Kagan, CEO of AppSumo (testing and creating businesses or “muses”)
- Dave Camarillo, UFC grappling trainer (real-world self-defense training and jiu-jitsu — I get thrown a lot)
- Philippe von Borries, Co-Founder of Refinery29 (start-up funding, founding, and growth strategy)
- Leila Janah, CEO of Samasource (maximizing social good, hacking the non-profit world)
- Mark Bell, world-class powerlifter, top-10 totals of all-time (power training)
- Kelly Starrett, founder of SF CrossFit (crossfit, mobility training, undoing physical damage)
- Rick Torbett, founder of Better Basketball (keys to better shooting, better learning/coaching)
- John Jackson, founder of ArcheryTag (archery, shooting an apple off of my head — really)
…and much more.

Here are two reviews:

“I skipped work to watch this. Completely worth it so far. The session with Neil [Strauss] and Tim riffing about writing is gold-dust. The fact that there’s several more hours of great content is just brilliant. I’ve got about 30 pages of notes that I wrote as I was watching…”

“Thank you so much for hosting this event. It was amazing to learn in such an informal environment from people who are the best in their field and are completely approachable. The passion, know how and encouragement this course provided me with is invaluable and has inspired me to push myself further. Thank you!”

If interested, just do the following no later than 5pm PST this Friday, 1/25/13:

1) Buy 3 hardcover copies of The 4-Hour Body (40%+ off) OR The 4-Hour Chef (65% or 40% off).

Two Notes:
- For 3 books, this means you’ll have to buy one copy at 65% off and two copies at 40% off.
- First, if you’ve already bought a copy of one of the books, you can just buy two (2) new copies. Simply attach both screenshots. That said, I’d really appreciate you buying three copies if you can, and you must buy at least two new copies.

2) Fill out this form.

The course will be delivered to you within the next 10 days via e-mail! This 3-book offer applies to international readers as well, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to get the 65% discount.

Rock on. Next post, we’re back to our usual content…

Posted on January 23rd, 2013

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Alcohol and a Good Night's Sleep Don't Mix

Jan. 22, 2013 -- Think a nightcap may help you get a better night’s sleep?

Think again.  

A new review of 27 studies shows that alcohol does not improve sleep quality. According to the findings, alcohol does allow healthy people to fall asleep quicker and sleep more deeply for a while, but it reduces rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

And the more you drink before bed, the more pronounced these effects. REM sleep happens about 90 minutes after we fall asleep. It's the stage of sleep when people dream, and it's thought to be restorative. Disruptions in REM sleep may cause daytime drowsiness, poor concentration, and rob you of needed ZZZs.

“Alcohol may seem to be helping you to sleep, as it helps induce sleep, but overall it is more disruptive to sleep, particularly in the second half of the night,” says researcher Irshaad Ebrahim. He is the medical director at The London Sleep Centre in the U.K. “Alcohol also suppresses breathing and can precipitate sleep apnea,” or pauses in breathing that happen throughout the night.

The more a person drinks before bed, the stronger the disruption. One to two standard drinks seem to have minimal effects on sleep, Ebrahim says.

“The immediate and short-term impact of alcohol is to reduce the time it takes to fall asleep, and this effect on the first half of sleep may be partly the reason some people with insomnia use alcohol as a sleep aid,” Ebrahim says. “However, this is offset by having more disrupted sleep in the second half of the night.”

“Alcohol should not be used as a sleep aid, and regular use of alcohol as a sleep aid may result in alcohol dependence,” he says.

The findings will appear in the April 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Alcohol tricks people into thinking they are getting better sleep, says Scott Krakower, DO. He is an addiction specialist at North Shore-LIJ in Mineola, N.Y. “People who drink alcohol often think their sleep is improved, but it is not.”

REM is the more mentally restorative type of sleep, says Michael Breus, PhD, a sleep specialist in Scottsdale, Ariz. “Alcohol is not an appropriate sleep aid. If you rely on alcohol to fall asleep, recognize that you have a greater likelihood to sleepwalk, sleep talk, and have problems with your memory.”

If you are having trouble sleeping, talk to your doctor about how to improve your sleep quality. He or she may be able to rule out underlying sleep disorders like sleep apnea and suggest appropriate sleep aids.

Better sleep habits can also help. Some tips to improve sleep habits include:

Get regular exercise, but no later than a few hours before bed.Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine in the evening.Reserve the bed for sleeping and sex only.Keep your bedroom at a cool temperature.Set regular wake and bed times.

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Jessica Chastain Interview – Zero Dark Thirty

The actress discusses the controversies surrounding the film, & reveals what an Oscars win would mean to her

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Aspirin Linked to Blinding Eye Disease

Jan. 22, 2013 -- Regular aspirin users are more likely to develop the “wet” form of age-related macular degeneration compared to people who rarely or never take the drug, a new study shows.

Aspirin is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Millions of people with heart disease take a daily low dose of aspirin in hopes of preventing heart attacks and stroke. It’s also used to ease pain.

Macular degeneration is a leading cause of blindness in older adults, and it is on the rise. The “wet” form accounts for only about 10% to 15% of cases, but it progresses more rapidly and is more likely to lead to vision loss than the “dry” form.

In “wet” macular degeneration, tiny new blood vessels grow under the retina, the light-sensing part of the eye. These blood vessels break open and leak, causing scar tissue to form. Over time, the scar tissue clouds central vision. It’s not clear why this happens.

Both kinds of macular degeneration become more common as people age. Beyond age, the only risk factor that’s consistently been linked to the condition is smoking.

News that aspirin may be linked to macular degeneration surfaced last year when a large European study found that regular aspirin users were more likely to develop the sight-stealing disease. Before that, two large studies found no association between aspirin and macular degeneration. Another study had even suggested that aspirin might protect against the “dry” form of the disease.

For the new study, researchers in Australia followed more than 2,000 older adults. Doctors conducted detailed interviews at the start of the study, asking people about a variety of diet and lifestyle habits, including medication use. About 11% of people (257) were regular aspirin users, meaning they'd taken the drug at least once a week in the past year.

Study participants had regular eye exams to check for changes to their retinas.

Fifteen years later, 63 people in the study -- 15 regular aspirin users and 48 who rarely or never took it -- had developed “wet” macular degeneration.

Compared to people who never took aspirin, regular users were more than twice as likely to develop macular degeneration. That was true even after researchers accounted for other things known to influence a person’s risk for macular degeneration, including age, sex, smoking, heart disease, BMI, and high blood pressure.

The findings are published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

The study doesn’t prove that aspirin causes macular degeneration. Different kinds of studies are needed to understand whether aspirin may directly harm the eye. 

But one theory is that aspirin ramps up a part of the immune system called the complement system. Many people with macular degeneration carry a form of a gene that keeps them from being able to turn down the complement system when needed. Researchers say the result is that the immune system may be chronically overstimulated, causing damage to the back of the eye.

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Dave Grohl at the Sundance Film Festival 2013

We’re still debating whether this man actually sleeps or if he is in fact some sort of sun repelling vampire

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Flu Deaths 'Unpredictable'

CDC: Yearly Flu Death Toll Ranges from 3,000 to 50,000

Aug. 26, 2010 – U.S. deaths from flu range from about 3,000 to about 50,000 per year, the CDC now calculates.

The new numbers come from analysis of the last 31 flu seasons by CDC medical officer David Shay, MD, MPH and colleagues.

For years, the CDC has been estimating the annual flu toll at about 36,000 flu-related deaths per year. But that average came from the years 1990-1999.

The H3N2 type A flu bug dominated eight of those nine flu seasons -- and the Shay study finds that H3N2 seasons are nearly three times as deadly as H1N1 type A or type B seasons.

So how many people really die of flu in an average flu season?

"There are very few average seasons," Shay said at a news teleconference. "That is one reason why CDC is trying to move away from a single number and move to a range over a period of time to give a better prediction of what flu means to a community."

What this really means is that the CDC wants out of the flu prediction business. For example, there's no way to say whether the approaching 2010-2011 flu season will be mild or severe.

It could be like the 1986-1987 season, with only 3,349 deaths. It could be like the 2003-2004 season, with 48,614 deaths. Shay says there's no way to predict.

Even if the season starts out with a rash of H3N2 illness, he says, there's just no way to tell whether the milder flu bugs will come on strong later in the season.

And the type of flu bug isn't the only factor. Some flu seasons are shorter than others, so fewer people get sick and fewer die. During some flu seasons, a lot of elderly people get sick. Since about 90% of flu deaths are in the elderly, more people would die.

"Flu deaths are a moving target," Shay said. "Among vaccine-preventable diseases, there is not another one that has this kind of moving target."

Over the 31 seasons analyzed in the Shay study, the average annual number of deaths due to flu-related causes was 23,607. But Shay warns against using this as a benchmark.

"A simple average fails to give the impact of flu," Shay says.

Only one thing about flu is predictable. If you get the annual flu shot -- now recommended for everyone who does not have a medical reason to avoid it -- your odds of getting the flu are dramatically lower.

Moreover, if you're vaccinated, you're far less likely to infect someone who might come down with severe disease, possibly adding to the year's flu death toll.

The Shay study appears in the Aug. 27 issue of the CDC's MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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Alesha Dixon at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions

Alesha Dixon wears a pink and green printed jumpsuit and blush pink jacket to the London Britain’s Got Talent auditions - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’ts

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