The Benefits of Sleep

Maria Haymandou’s latest blog post is here!

When you’re a lawyer, you spend a lot of sleepless nights poring over law books and court documents.  So it’s hard for me to say “you should be sleeping!” when I myself don’t practice what I preach, but it’s hard to not emphasize the importance that sleeping plays in overall health.  Even though sleep used to be ignored, recent studies have looked at its benefits.  Here are a few of them:

Sleeping improves memory: During sleep, your mind undergoes a process known as “consolidation”, where you strengthen memories or “practice” skills that you learned while awake.  Your brain also helps reorganize and restructure these, which could result in more creativity by strengthening the emotional components of memory.  So if you’re trying to remember some legal cases, and think of creative ways to use them in an argument, you’ll do better after a good night’s sleep.  

Sleeping is linked with longevity: Too much or too little sleep is linked with a shorter lifespan, although whether that’s a cause or effect isn’t yet clear.  Sleeping also helps curb inflammation, which is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis and premature aging.  

Sleeping gives you energy: A study from Stanford University found that college football players who tried to sleep at least 10 hours every night for seven to eight weeks were able to improve their average sprint time and stamina.  Similar studies done with tennis players and swimmers found the same results.  

Sleeping improves your grades: A 2010 study in the journal Sleep found that children between the ages of 10 and 16 who have sleep disordered breathing (snoring, sleep apnea, etc) are more likely to have problems with attention and learning.  In another study, college students who didn’t get enough sleep had worse grades.

Sleep sharpens your attention: A lack of sleep can result in ADHD-like symptoms in children.  A 2009 study in the journal Pediatrics found that children aged seven and eight who got under eight hours a sleep a night were more likely to be hyperactive, inattentive and impulsive.  

Sleep improves your weight: Researchers at the University of Chicago discovered that well-rested dieters lost more fat than those who were sleep-deprived.  Dieters in the study also felt more hungry when they got less sleep.  

Sleep lowers stress: Sleep has been known to reduce levels of stress, giving people better control of their blood pressure as well.  It’s also believed that sleep affects cholesterol levels, which plays a significant role in heart disease.

Sleep helps you avoid accidents: Drowsy driving is just as bad, if not worse, than drunk driving, and in 2009 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that it accounted for the highest number of fatal crashes.  Lack of sleep for just one night can be as detrimental to your driving as booze.  

Sleep helps fight depression: A lack of sleep can contribute to depression, and a good night’s sleep can do wonders in helping somebody decrease their anxiety.  Good sleep means more emotional stability.  It’s all about finding a balance; so that means don’t try to make up for lost time on the weekends!

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Brooklyn’s Notorious Old Gangs

Maria Haymandou’s latest blog post

With its brunch spots, specialty bars and artisanal food places, it can be easy to forget that Brooklyn was once a pretty dangerous place to live.  Rappers like Biggie and Jay-Z speak of a borough that up until pretty recently was riddled with crime.  But I don’t want to talk too much about the gangsters of the 90s, but rather those of the 1890s.  I recently read a post on the blog “Greenpointers” that talked about some of the more notorious gangs of Brooklyn’s past:

The Battle Row Gang: For nearly 20 years since their founding in 1870, the “scum of the Fourteenth Ward” (Williamsburg) hung out at McGoldrick’s saloon, located on Union Avenue a few blocks south of Union Pool.  They earned infamy in 1871, after one of their members killed a Brooklyn Police officer.  Their gang fights and crime-riddled escapades were followed religiously by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

The North Sixth Street Gang: “Skinny” Wilson started this gang in the 1870s, notorious for burglary and highway robbery.  Their leaders often spent time in Sing Sing, leading to a lot of turnover.  The gang members also had some pretty great names: “Goose McCue”, “Sugar Van Wagner”, “Matches” and “Gallows”, just to name a few.

The Meeker Avenue Gang: Made up of members of the North Sixth Street gang and veterans of Battle Row, the Meeker Avenue gang loved to trash saloons.  They were known to force entry into saloons to get free beer, and in 1873 got into a shootout with the police after invading a saloon at 333 Devoe Street and taking the owner and his wife hostage.

Gang of the Green: Starting off as an offshoot of the Battle Row Gang, the Gang of the Green hung out on an open lot between Bushwick and Greenpoint, from whence they got their name.  They were infamous for police fights, muggings and highway robbery.  

The Rainmakers: These guys earned their name by their preferred method to rob people: by throwing bricks and cobblestones at them.  They hung out under the docks along the waterfront of North 1st and 4th streets, not too far from the SoulCycle Williamsburg.  They stole from factories, barges and railroad yards.  They were frequently at odds with the area’s Jewish community, which led to a riot in 1904 when their would-be victims fought back.  

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