Are Dreams a Sign of Good Sleep?

They say if you’re dreaming, it’s deep sleep

The Pyramid of Luxuries

The Bespoke - $1,000 Grocery Gift Card

The Ultra High End - Pay Your Phone Bill Gift Card

The Superpremium - World of Color

The Premium Core - Kraft Macaroni & Cheese

The Accessible Core - Are Dreams a Sign of Good Sleep?

The Affordable Luxury - TRIVIA: Median retirement savings by age 65-74?

The Everyday Luxury - Best Prompt Winner

BESPOKE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

The winner of October 2024 Bespoke Contest is…

JENNIFER from GARLAND, TEXAS! Congratulations on winning the $1,000 Grocery Gift Card! Here is her submission for “hint what your favorite holiday is”:

Congratulations to JENNIFER, I hope you will have a splendid Christmas Season with a grocery cart full of holiday foods! Let’s see some of the other favorite holiday submissions:

There’s a clear favorite holiday… FYI, there were other holidays submitted but the majority was Christmas and winter festivities.

The Bespoke

Due to popular demand and through Member voting, this prize will be repeated for November 2024 Bespoke Contest.

Click on the banner to enter The Bespoke Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: $1,000 Grocery Gift Card [ARV $1,000]

• Odds: For every 130 Ducky Tran premium member by the time of judging, I will give out one (1) Grocery gift card

• Contest Period: October 30, 2024 at 10 AM CST to December 3, 2024 at 10 PM CST

The Ultra High End

Previous Contest Winner

The winner of Issue 49 Ultra High End Contest is HOA from DALLAS, TEXAS! Here’s her submission for “something cringy”:

Congratulations to HOA, you have won $100 Uber Gift Card, time to be cringy in the comfort of your own home. Let’s take a look at the other submissions:

I see that WE are the cringiest thing you can think of. I definitely hard squint on these submissions, I may have gained another wrinkle or two.

This Week’s Contest

Click on the banner to enter The Ultra High End Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: $100 Pay Your Phone Bill Gift Card [ARV $100]

• Odds: For every 70 Ducky Tran premium members that submit a valid entry, I will give out one (1) gift card prize

• Contest Period: October 30, 2024 at 10 AM CST to November 5, 2024 at 10 PM CST

Nowadays, everyone has a phone. Your mom, dad, uncle, dog, 2-year-old niece…. everyone. But that also means everyone has a phone bill. Let me save you $100 with this week’s contest prize.

The Superpremium

This week’s Superpremium topic is World of Color. This is an attraction at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California. This is an amazing water show produced by Disney and have changed in theme, music, water choreography, and lighting throughout the years; however, is spectacular in every sense.

Its scale, colors, ambiance, and nostalgic music really captures the audience and showcase the magnificent planning and engineering to execute such a massive water show. I say water show, but they incorporate lights, lasers, fog, and even pyrotechnics.

This is a show that even if you do not like Disney themes you can still enjoy, but if you are a Disney fan, it is a show that will live in your memory forever. Out of all the rides and attraction at the theme parks in California, this is my favorite.

The show is so memorable, I can feel the mist that falls from the powerful water cannons, the heat from the flamethrowers, the cool breeze from the wind blowing on the water wall, the soothing “sshhhhh” from hundreds of dancing water fountains, and the sky of color that is shot dozens of feet into the sky by the water cannons so it can tower over the audience below.

An immersive experience that I will never forget.

The Premium Core

This week’s focus is mental wealth and sometimes it’s not about your current mental fortitude but what helps you get there. I don’t even like mac & cheese that much, but as a parent, at times, it is a must-have! Mac & cheese is to childhood as bills are to adulthood. It comes hand-in-hand and the faster it is made, the better the results. Or if you just like mac & cheese, this is a steal!

Deal #1: This week you can get an 18 pack of Kraft mac & cheese: easy mac for just $3, normally about $7-10! Go to shop.duckytran.com and get something to feed your monsters when they’re hangry. (This is not the cups'; they’re packets and you’ll need to use your own bowls.) Only 5 boxes available!

The Accessible Core

Are Dreams a Sign of Good Sleep?

I’ve always heard that dreaming was a sign of good sleep. I’m one of the few people I know that rarely remember any dreams, maybe once a year on average. For the longest time, I thought I was the odd one because I am usually rested regardless of my lack of memory of my dreams. But after some research, I found out that more than half of people rarely remember their dreams and actually those that remember their dreams generally have worse rest than those that don’t remember their dreams.

Even though it is not a determining factor, studies have shown that when you wake up while in REM sleep you are more likely to remember your dreams. Also, that bad dreams, or nightmares, are generally more memorable than good dreams. The reason is bad dreams may cause you to wake up during REM when you are dreaming and so the recall is easy. Those waking up multiple times at night may also remember their dreams more often because of this REM interruption. For those that don’t remember dreams, it is likely that you are in your non-REM sleep, or deep sleep, and are getting rest that is provided in this phase. Because you finish or wake-up during non-REM sleep, you do not remember your dreams as well or at all.

However, regardless if you remember your dreams or not, restful sleep is crucial for memory, recuperation, and energy. So regardless of your dreams, prepare yourself properly for a good night sleep by:

1. Reducing screen time prior to sleeping

2. Having a consistent sleep schedule

3. Fast at least an hour before sleeping

4. Freshen up before getting into bed

The Affordable Luxury

Issue 49 Community Poll Results

Here’s results from last week’s poll:

1. Nearly everyone remembers your dreams a few times a month. I’m in the rarely to never category.

2. No one has dreamed in black and white. Supposedly 10-12% of the world dreams in black and white.

3. Half of you have experienced lucid dreaming. There supposedly a few techniques to induce lucid dreaming, sounds like a good video game.

This Week’s Community Poll

Here are this week’s poll questions:

The Everyday Luxury

I received no submissions for the prompts so I’ll push it off to another day. But just in case anyone was wondering, my secret snack is Mounds. I like coconut and dark chocolate, what a wonderful combination!

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Visit shop.duckytran.com with the weekly password: color