If you feel that your circumstances are an exception when it comes to getting some quality shut eye, realize that sleep disorders are on the rise. It is estimated that nearly 75% of adult Americans claim to experience sleep disorder symptoms at least a few nights per week. Is this truly some type of new heath epidemic that needs medical attention, or do we just fail to find our own sleep important enough to make a stronger effort?

This may come off as old hat, but yes – sleep is still important!

Sleep Deprivation:

An important part of starting or regaining a  sleep schedule is first understanding what you’re doing to yourself by not getting enough sleep. Your body is a complex machine that evolved over millions of years to the state it is in today. Our modern coffee-swilling, go-go-go, work-until-the-crack-of-dawn-and-collapse culture has only been around for the tiniest fraction of the history of the human species. We haven’t adapted to less sleep, and we’re likely not going to adapt any time soon. You need as much sleep today as your greatest of great grandfathers needed.

What happens when you don’t get enough sleep? Everyone is familiar with the common side effects, like being tired the next day, sore muscles, and general irritability. Sleep deprivation also has a myriad of side effects you don’t see as easily as yawning or a snippy attitude.  Sleep deprivation increases your risk of heart disease, impairs memory retention, increases risk of diabetes and obesity (adequate sleep is required for proper glucose processing and insulin regulation), and increases risk of depression and other mental illness, the list goes on and on.  Earlier this month we shared a study with you showing that sleep deprivation is similar to being outright intoxicated.  Most people would frown strongly upon someone showing up to work drunk every day, but we all act as if sleep deprivation is just the way it has to be.   Sleep is a critical part of your body’s maintenance routine and depriving yourself of it is the same as running a machine with no down time for preventive care and repairs. You can do it but eventually something breaks.

What Can You Do?

Step away from the screens -  Exposing yourself to the glow of a screen before bed will keep you awake. Your body is hardwired to wake up when light is bright and go to sleep when it gets dark. If you shine a bright light in your face before bed you’re telling your body it’s time to perk up and be alert. If you absolutely must use a computer or mobile device later in the day, at least turn the screen brightness way down to semi-counter the effect of the light.

Change your body temperature -  Your body drops in temperature as you drift off into sleep. You can trick your body by simulating this temperature shift. In the colder months take a hot shower or bath late in the day, your body temperature will rise and then fall again as you cool off from the shower making you sleepy in the process. This induces a temperature swing that will make you sleepy.
Don’t drink anything with alcohol in it -  Alcohol is a depressant and will help you get to sleep. The problem is it depresses everything in your system including your metabolism. Alcoholics report having no dreams because alcohol disrupts REM sleep, a critical sleep phase for both brain and body health.

Analyze your own sleep needs – Do you know how much sleep you actually need? Could you tell someone with certainty that you’re happiest after 7 hours of sleep? Do you wake up when the alarm goes off or do you wake up before it and turn it off on your way out of bed? There is only one good way to find out how much sleep you need and that’s going to bed earlier than you think you need to. Creep your bedtime forward by 15 minutes every few days until you start waking up on your own in the morning. When you start waking up before your alarm clock consistently—for a minimum of one week, weekends included—you’ve found your optimum sleep window.
Purge your bedroom – No computers, no television, no balancing your checkbook in bed, no reading over reports, no anything but sleeping. If you have a television in your bedroom and you never turn it on, don’t break your back hauling it down to the basement. If you’re a chronic bedroom channel-flipper however, you need to get it out of the room.

Don’t torture yourself -  You didn’t drink any coffee, you turned off the computer early, you lugged the TV down to the basement, you put in ear plugs and pulled the shades, but it’s 11PM and you’re still tossing and turning. Don’t torture yourself by laying in bed frustrated. Besides getting out of bed and reading a book, you could stretch, flip through photos, or do another boring activity that can keep you busy, but relax you.  Just don’t go watch television, play video games, or anything else that will stimulate your brain into thinking it is time to wake up. If you are still wide awake with energy, consider incorporating more exercise into your weekly routine.

Wake Up, Wake Up! – Waking up shouldn’t be a jarring affair that involves you smashing your fist on your alarm clock and growling. With a set routine, it is even possible to wake up without an alarm.  Beating the buzzer every day is like a little victory right out of bed.

Obey the routine – No one can tell you what your perfect routine is. Maybe your routine is no coffee after 3PM, dim the lights around your apartment at 7PM, and read in bed for 20 minutes at 9PM before it’s lights out—or maybe it’s none of those things. What is important is that you find a routine that works for your schedule and you stick to it. Whatever routine you decide on, stick with it long enough to see if it works and tweak it gently and one thing at a time if it doesn’t.

Anticipate lack of sleep – Sometimes lack of sleep is one hundred percent unavoidable, but most times we see an event coming that will cut into our sleep cycle. If you know you’re going to be up late, take a power nap in the afternoon. Short term sleep deprivation can be quickly remedied with adequate rest. Don’t let a weekend throw off your sleep schedule for the rest of the month as you stay up too late and sleep in too late.

Here at iScripts.com, we believe as a business owner and entrepreneur, you need to pay extra close attention to how you treat yourself also. We want you to succeed and stay healthy. Enjoy your holiday season and know when to take it easy!

We’re excited to announce that this past year, iScripts has been moving forward!  We want to extend a huge THANK YOU to all of our wonderful clients and the relationships that we’ve built along the way.  Because of you, we’ve also learned and improved our services.  We will continue to listen to our customers as we move forward along with you from our new home!

Our team is growing and improving in order to help businesses and entrepreneurs like yourself.  Because of this, we have moved from our cozy location at 1325 Remington Rd. in Schaumburg Illinois, to a larger office located at :

1020 Milwaukee Ave. Suite #245 Deerfield, IL. 60015

We will certainly enjoy brainstorming and working with you in a more comfortable setting.  Without your support, we wouldn’t be here.  Thank you for letting us help you and your business!

Continue to contact us at:  sales@iScripts.com  or by phone at 312-423-6728 and 1-800-569-5538

iScripts teamed up with Melissa Victors, founder of USA Productions (Ultimate Stage Adventure Productions) to recreate a series of pageant websites.  Each year, more than $250,000 in scholarship savings bonds, cash awards, prizes and awards are given at the local, state and national level through 4 “AmeriPageants” – YAMI, DreamGirls USA, RealGirls USA and AmeriQueen/AmeriTeen Pageants.  We are proud to announce that we have enhanced and completed the design and functionality of all 4 pageant sites operating under USA Productions.

Now equipped with an events calendar, the sites offer users the ability to view upcoming pageants and videos.  Visitors can catch a glimpse of real girls pursuing big dreams and goals by browsing the improved photo gallery. Viewers can then “like” and tweet these photos on social media networks.

Because these pageants introduce and promote strong interactive community service participation, there is also a news feed dedicated to following the AmeriPageant queens and their efforts.

To simplify the pageant registration and payment process, contestants can create a login and enter 1 pageant or all 4 simultaneously.  Payments are then submitted online through PayPal.

Since 1995, USA Productions has been recognized for providing real opportunities for real girls in the modeling, acting and/or entertainment industries. As the best value in pageantry and the only children’s pageant to have its success featured on the Discovery Channel, USA Productions is a clear leader in positive and natural pageantry currently offered in the country.

See the improved Ameripageants websites!

http://musictionary.com/ (For the Landing Site – Ameri Pageants)

http://swapra.com/ (For the site Dream Girls USA Pageants )

http://pocketpath.com/ (For the site Realgirls Pageants)

http://skood.com/ (For the site Yami Pageants)

http://cendu.com/ (For the site AmeriQueen Pageants)

Interesting Mobile Marketing and App Stats:

1) Worldwide mobile advertising revenue will expand 3.5X its present size by 2016. (Source: Yankee Group)

2) Mobile commerce will account for 24.4% of overall ecommerce revenues by the end of 2017. (Source: ABI Research)

3) Email opens on smartphones and tablets have increased 80% over the last six months. (Source: Litmus)

4) 45% of US businesses are conducting some form of mobile marketing, with mobile websites (70%), mobile applications (55%), and QR codes (49%) being the most common tactics. (Source: StrongMail)

5) 47% of marketing companies plan to increase their efforts in mobile apps in the next year. (Source: Experian)

6) 59% of U.S. marketing companies collect mobile contact information. (Source: Experian)

What do these stats say? Not only do your customers need mobile apps, but your marketers also need an application that enables them to keep tabs on their lead generation and customer conversions on the go.Consumers don’t just want phones for calls and texts, they want mobile-enabled devices.  AT&T sold  a reported 3.7 million iPhones just in the second quarter of 2012, and Verizon sold another 2.7 million iPhones during the same period. iPhones represent only 58 percent of total  smartphone sales. Overall, smartphone sales were up 44.7 percent in 2012, despite a two percent drop in mobile phone sales overall. It’s a fact that consumers are moving towards smartphones and non mobile-enabled phones aren’t selling like they used to.  It looks as if we might be at a tipping point in the market for mobile apps and how they are becoming the go-to place for digital content.

Developing mobile apps for your business will put your business in the palm of the consumers hand.  It is important that your website is optimized when a user is accessing the site from a mobile device. Your company’s mobile marketing efforts should begin with a mobile-friendly website.  Most websites created using iScripts products already come with this optimized option.

Mobile Apps have been a very expensive product for a small business budget. A more realistic option would be to use readymade templates so that you or your developers can create and publish apps at a lower cost.  There are a few providers of these brandable apps.  iScripts recently acquired GizmoPlay.com to provide you and our future customers an affordable option for mobile app development.  GizmoPlay.com offers brandable iPhone and Android apps with full source code.  You can receive help customizing your app and submitting them to the iTunes store.  This concept is similar to the open source scripts currently offered through iScripts.com.  With GizmoPlay mobile apps, you will receive the same features that the big businesses are using, but you will only pay a fraction of the price.

Celebrate with us!  October 30^th is National Candy Corn Day.  To celebrate, we are giving a special discount to those subscribed to the iScripts Newsletter.  Sign up for the iScripts Newsletter to receive notification of all future contests and promotions.

Candy corn is a sweet fall treat that was invented in the 1880s.  Candy corn consists primarily of corn syrup, honey, and sugar. Fondant is added for texture and marshmallows are added to provide a soft bite.

A serving of Brach’s Candy Corn is nineteen pieces, is 140 calories and has zero grams of fat!

Ever think of using candy corn in other dishes? We have gathered some interesting recipes for you to try!

Candy Corn Recipes

Candy Corn Parfait

Candy Corn Jello Shots

Vegan Candy Corn

Candy Corn Fudge

Candy Corn Cheesecake

Candy Corn Bark

Candy Corn Cocktail

Media Contact:
Ashley Zimmerman
(312)423-6728
ashley@iscripts.com
http://www.iscripts.com/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 25, 2012 — iScripts (www.iScripts.com), provider of quality web software, announces today that it has completed the acquisition of PHP Monster, a proven web design and development company helping clients to create and implement full-service digital business solutions.
iScripts is a market leader providing online businesses with unique solutions that help clients execute and reap the benefits of owning online social networks, ecommerce, bartering, reservation, store building and hosting sites.

PHPMonster is a web design company specializing in custom PHP script development by providing software and consulting to thousands of users.  PHP Monster uses creativity and unconventional approaches to develop unique scripts and internet presentations for clients.

Lavor Dektor, founder of PHPMonster, states “This merger allows two excellent companies to combine their products and services to a wide range of users, in turn enhancing existing products, ability and service.”

“This is a pivotal time for iScripts. We are looking forward to continuing the excellent product development and support PHPMonster has provided” says Aji Abraham, founder of iScripts.com.

iScripts will continue providing services, products and solutions offered by PHPMonster.   Current and new PHPMonster customers are encouraged to contact the iScripts team with any questions:
1-800-569-5538
Email: sales@iscripts.com
www.iScripts.com

About iScripts:
iScripts develops and markets online business software for service providers and entrepreneurs. The company’s turnkey web software includes solutions for social networking, web hosting management, site builders, store builders, online data backups, marketplace and shopping cart software, and more. All the software products are distributed with full source code, product support and upgrades and a 30-day money back guarantee.

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