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For many Muslims around the world, Ramadan is a time to look inward, to weigh the heart's desires and separate out the things that really matter.

Muslims are encouraged to fast from dawn to dusk during this holy month. They joyously break the fast in the evening, snacking on a sweet date before sharing the iftar meal with family and friends.

HuffPost Religion will be updating this photo slideshow throughout the month to showcase how worldwide community of Muslims celebrates the holiday in diverse and beautiful ways.

My grandfather knew he was going to see my grandmother with his caregiver that morning. He was still living at home and my grandmother was living in a nursing home. She was the love of his life and he could no longer take care of her. He began to prepare a bath, which he only did if he was going to see her. He always wanted to look his best when he saw her.

When his caregiver arrived at his house, there was no answer at the door. A few minutes later, still no answer. She dialed 911.

It was a tragic end to their love story 66 years in the making. Tragic not only because my grandfather is gone, but that my grandmother has Stage 7 Alzheimer's. She was and still isn't able to comprehend that her husband of 66 years has passed away. There was no goodbye, no grieving, and no true ending to their story -- a story that I've watched and admired my entire life.

Alzheimer's is a disease. It's a disease that my grandmother has no medical coverage for. A disease that costs her over $300,000 in just two years. A disease that took her ability to speak, to walk, to eat, to go to the bathroom, to sit in a chair. A disease that took her memories, her perception of time, her ability to hold the Mother's Day card I got her. A disease that kept her from seeing her grandchildren graduate college and kept her from attending her husband's funeral.

But she's not gone. She's still here. This is not an obituary.

She fought her entire life for the American Dream. She came to America as an immigrant from Greece without speaking a word of English, fell in love with her husband in New York City, worked in the factories as a seamstress through her Great Depression, raised her beautiful, big, fat Greek family and always, always gave everything she had to others.

Alzheimer's will not be how her American Dream ends. It's time to raise our voices for those who can't. To stand up for those who can't. To fight for those who can no longer fight.

She is the greatest fighter I've ever known and she will keep on fighting. And she's not alone. She will never be alone.

From our days as newborns, my grandmother was always there to take care of us. My siblings and I are 19 months apart from each other so we were a lot to juggle growing up. When my family would go out for the day's adventure, my mom had my brother, my dad had my sister, and my grandmother had me. She always had me, and now I have her.

As of 2015, the cost of Alzheimer's paid out of pocket is $44 billion dollars. Alzheimer's care needs to be covered for everyone.

The disease progressed to the point where my grandmother could no longer live in her own home and my family could no longer take care of her by ourselves. My grandmother stays in a four-star nursing home in a unit specializing in Alzheimer's care that costs over $10,000 a month. Do not be fooled by that rating.

But going into a nursing home is not the end of the battle. Stay positive and be there for them. Be their voice. Love them. Pretend like nothing is wrong and give them a big smile -- your biggest smile. They're still the person you knew your entire life.

My grandmother, Sotiria Catacalos, is a victim of Alzheimer's. As of 2015, 5.3 million Americans are living with the disease. Alzheimer's disease, the sixth largest cause of death in America is the only cause of death among the top 10 that cannot be prevented, cured, or even slowed. This disease needs to be taken seriously. It will not be a new norm.

Alzheimer's has taken my grandmother's ability to walk, eat and participate. But, every time I see her, she still gives me the biggest kiss.

She remembers me. I know she does. Love will trump this disease.


June is Alzheimer's Awareness Month. To learn about how you can help fight this disease please visit www.alz.org.

You don’t need scientific research to tell you that listening to music can quiet your mind and help you relax. But here it is anyway.

A 2013 study published in the online peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE found that listening to music before a stressful situation helps calm the nervous system. Additional research has shown that music can act as a sleep aid, and that classical music in particular is effective in reducing sleeping problems.

As long as a song or musical number is string-instrument based, with minimal brass and percussion, it has the potential to bring on drowsiness by decreasing anxiety, blood pressure and heart and respiratory rates. Findings suggest that music around 60 beats per minute (the low end of a healthy resting heart rate) can trigger your brain to synchronize your heart rate with the musical beat, and classical does this best.

So it’s Mozart or nothing?

Not necessarily. Kansas State University’s counseling center suggests adding Baroque or New Age music to your sleep playlist, or any other music that has no defined melody and minimal fluctuations in volume. The University of Nevada Counseling Services recommends Native American and Celtic music, Indian stringed instruments, flutes and light jazz. While rock may not be the best option, acoustic instrumental versions of your favorite songs could be worth a listen.

Just keep in mind that two to three tracks probably won’t do the trick. You may need to spend at least 45 minutes in a relaxed position in your bed, listening, to feel the effects. And it could take consecutive days of listening before you find your eyelids drooping to the beat.

According to Gabe Turow, the organizer of a Stanford University symposium that looked at therapeutic benefits of musical rhythm, “Listening to music seems to be able to change brain functioning to the same extent as medication, in many circumstances.”

Is there one perfect song that will put me to sleep?

Actually, there is, according to the British Academy of Sound Therapy. The institution, collaborating with the Manchester band Marconi Union, said it used scientific theory to produce the world’s most relaxing song ever, “Weightless.”


Lyz Cooper, founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy, explained that not only does the rhythm of “Weightless” lull you by synchronizing with your heart rate (starting at 60 beats per minute and gradually slowing to around 50), but the length of the song figures in as well.

“It’s important that the song is eight minutes because it takes about five minutes for that syncing process to occur.” As with classical music, the drop in heart rate also leads to a drop in blood pressure.

Composed of guitar, piano and manipulated field recordings, “Weightless” relies on “harmonic intervals — or gaps between notes” to create a feeling of “euphoria and comfort,” according to Cooper. And there’s “no repeated melody, which allows your brain to completely switch off” because you’re not trying to predict what comes next. Rather, there are “random chimes that induce a deeper sense of relaxation” and “low whooshing” tones like Buddhist chants that supposedly induce a trance-like state.

Though a few listeners found the bass beats made them hyper, others described the music as “aural bliss.”

-- Ellen Thompson

Are you an early bird? Perfectionist? Extrovert? Your "personality type" may explain a lot about how you interact with the world when you're awake, but it may also give a bit of insight into your sleep habits.

While character traits are hardly a significant or deciding factor when it comes to our sleeping patterns, it turns out how we behave can still subtly affect us while we sleep. Below are a few ways our personality, sleep schedules and shut-eye might be linked.



Photo credit: Shutterstock

1. Genetics determine whether you're a night owl or an early bird.
You may not even be able to help it if you prefer to rise with the sun or the stars. The distinction between late nighters and early risers -- also known as a chronotype -- may lie in our body's own internal clock. Chronotypes are largely determined by genetics, the BBC reported.

"Chronotypes reflect individual differences in the timing of the circadian rhythm and can be affected by age," Natalie Dautovich, an environmental scholar at the National Sleep Foundation, told The Huffington Post in an email. "For example, adolescents are more likely to be an evening type compared to older adults."

2. Early birds may be happier.
Early birds get the worm, and it turns out they also might get a few health perks, too. Morning people report feeling happier and tend to be more persistent than their night-owl counterparts.

Research also suggests morning people may be more well-rested since they are less likely to experience "social jet lag," which is what happens when our biological clock is out of sync with our 9-to-5 social clock.

3. "Type As" might struggle with falling asleep.
If you're a notorious overthinker, like a Type A individual, you might have a little trouble letting go of your stressors -- especially when you crawl into bed. "Cognitive arousal can take many forms, from simply reviewing the activities of the day, to ruminating or worrying about different things," Dautovich said.

For some people, that inability to shut off the brain may prevent them from falling asleep, says Dr. Shalini Paruthi, education committee chair of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the director of the Pediatric Sleep and Research Center at Saint Louis University.

"What it really means is that the mind isn't mentally aligning with the body to physically fall asleep," Paruthi told The Huffington Post. If anxious thoughts are keeping you awake, there are therapies to help treat the problem -- the most common form being cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, she said.

4. Night owls are believed to be greater risk-takers.
Evening people may be more sensation- or novelty-seeking, according to a 2014 study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. They're rumored to be more creative and have higher cognitive abilities, though Paruthi explains that research has yet to confirm that as far as she knows.

Night owls get a bad rap for burning the midnight oil, but their late bedtime isn't something to criticize as long they're getting the recommended seven hours of interrupted sleep each night, Paruthi said.

5. Extroverts might get a better quality of sleep.
In a preliminary 2014 study published in the journal Health Psychology, researchers found an association between individuals with higher extroversion and better sleep. The same association was found in individuals with high conscientiousness and agreeableness. This of course is not the sole indicator of a good night's rest, as other environmental factors play a much bigger role, but studying the link between personality and sleep "may benefit more personalized treatment of sleep disorders and help in personnel selection to jobs in which it is critical to stay alert," the researchers noted.

6. Neurotic individuals may be more susceptible to insomnia.
Those who display traits of neuroticism may have an increased stress-reactivity, which could lead to sleep disruption and insomnia, according to 2013 findings published in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews. However, researchers note that neuroticism and stress are somewhat cyclical, so it's likely the anxiety that's associated with the behavior is what could be leading to poor sleep.

"Stress can definitely be a detriment to obtaining healthy sleep," Dautovich said. "Stress can create a vicious cycle where it affects sleep, and the lack of sleep affects our ability to cope with stress."



What can we do about it?
Ultimately, experts stress that personality types have little influence compared to other external factors in your sleep environment, so don't worry too much if you identify with a certain behavioral trait. Regardless of what's keeping you up at night, whether it be your wired mind or something else, here are a few tips to help you fall asleep faster and get a better quality of sleep:

• Get out of bed. If you don't, your brain may start associating that sleep haven with being wide awake. If you don't fall asleep within 20 to 30 minutes, get up and go to a different room.

• Check the temperature. The best quality of sleep is achieved in a cool, dark room. The ideal temperature for getting quality shuteye is around 60 to 68 degrees, Dautovich previously told HuffPost.

• Try an activity. Just make sure it's boring, Paruthi advised. Pick up a dull textbook if you can't seem to drift off (sorry, no Harry Potter). Writing in a journal may also help.

• Ban those screens. Turn off those devices at least 30 minutes, but preferably an hour, before bed, Paruthi said. Research shows that the blue wavelengths emitted from screens may delay the production of melatonin, the hormone in the body that helps us drift off. "Use a [physical] alarm clock to wake up in the morning," she said.

• Stick to a sleep routine. Start getting ready for bed around the same time and make it a calming ritual (meditation, anyone?). "People fail to prioritize sleep," Paruthi said. "A routine really helps guide the brain -- and sleep is a function of the brain -- that's time to switch from 'go, go, go' to settling down."

Looking for more tips? Click here for 31 hacks to help you sleep better tonight. 

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday will announce that the government will no longer threaten criminal prosecution of the families of American hostages who are held abroad by groups like the Islamic State if they attempt to pay ransom for the release of their loved ones. The change is one of many that are intended to fix what the administration has acknowledged is a broken policy on United States captives, a senior administration official said.

South Africa's tourism sector is in crisis as a series of new visa regulations have prompted dramatic falls in arrivals, particularly from the world's largest source of tourists: China. The number of Chinese visitors to South Africa has plunged a staggering 32 percent since last year.

The new visa regulations require that all applicants apply in person and bring an official birth certificate for any children under 18 years old. In a country as large as China, that is apparently too much to ask as travel agents and tour operators are increasingly directing their clients to abandon travel plans to South Africa in favor of other destinations. After all, in some cases, it's actually more expensive for a Chinese traveler to go to Beijing or Shanghai to get the visa than it would be to make the actual trip to South Africa itself. So it's not surprising that Chinese tourists are choosing to go elsewhere other than South Africa for their holidays.

With the world's largest number of outbound tourists who spend more than visitors from any other country, the Chinese tourist is a prized asset. In the case of South Africa, the effects of the Chinese absence are being felt across the economy as flights are cancelled, hotel rooms go unfilled and restaurants operate below capacity.

The South African tourism industry, for its part, is doing its best to try and persuade the government to either amend or abandon these new restrictive policies that are encouraging ever larger numbers of visitors from China and Asia to go elsewhere. David Frost, CEO of the South African Tourism Services Association, is leading that effort and joins Eric & Cobus to discuss what's at stake.

We all need help maintaining our personal spiritual practice. We hope that these Daily Meditations, prayers and mindful awareness exercises can be part of bringing spirituality alive in your life.

Today's meditation is a recording by the musical group Pink Martini that tells the simple, yet moving story of a little tomato that is struggling to survive a dark, stormy night. He learns a lesson that may be good for us to remember -- "Just hang on, hang on to the vine. Stay on, soon you'll be divine."



Hang On Little Tomato

The sun has left and forgotten me
It's dark, I cannot see
Why does this rain pour down
I'm gonna drown
In a sea
Of deep confusion

Somebody told me, I don't know who
Whenever you are sad and blue
And you're feelin' all alone and left behind
Just take a look inside you and you'll find

You gotta hold on, hold on through the night
Hang on, things will be all right
Even when it's dark
And not a bit of spark
Sing-song sunshine from above
Spreading rays of sunny love

Just hang on, hang on to the vine
Stay on, soon you'll be divine
If you start to cry, look up to the sky
Something's coming up ahead
To turn your tears to dew instead

And so I hold on to his advice
When change is hard and not so nice
If you listen to your heart the whole night through
Your sunny someday will come one day soon to you.

Are "Smog Meringues" -- egg whites whipped in sugar and noxious fumes -- a new level of dessert decadence or an insightful critique of air pollution policies?

The question was posed at last weekend's "Ideas City," a New Museum festival in New York City that mixed street stands and speaker panels to examine current and future urban environments. Borrowing its theme from Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, this year's rendition promised engagement with voices and topics that remain transparent or unseen.

Evidently, one such entity is smog, and making it visible meant making it edible.

Behold: The Smog Chamber…precursor chemicals are 'baked' under UV lights to simulate smog from many places & times pic.twitter.com/vWqXoz2Pgp

— Genomic Gastronomy (@centgg) May 25, 2015

Vendors positioned outside at Manhattan's Rivington and Bowery offered free, bite-sized meringues in three flavors: "London-Style Pea-Souper," "Atlantic-Style Biogenic Photochemical" and "Los Angeles in the 1950s." The names were pristine, the wording ready for retweet, but I wanted a clearer explanation of the stunt's political basis, its environmental rationale:

"So what exactly ... What are you … Why?" I stuttered.

"What's the point?" offered a woman, helpfully, as she passed me a pea-souper.

It turned out there wasn't much of a point, or at least not one that she could provide, save a wonderfully detailed explanation of how the meringues are made. Based on consultation with professors at UC Riverside, the inventor developed a series of containers that house ingredients akin to trash, like orange peels and diesel. When heated under UV light, they combine to form the noxious fumes in which egg whites are beaten. Since meringue is 90 percent air, smog meringue is 90 percent smog!

Different ingredients are selected for each urban airscape. London requires a sulfurous kick, while the Atlanta recipe calls for a pinch of local pine. Listening to the taste profiles, I found, ironically, that any dangers from those ingredients had faded back to Calvino's invisible realm. Games of molecular gastronomy had taken priority.

The only place where you can taste the smog of two cities side by side #smogtasting #smogmeringues @IDEASCITY pic.twitter.com/hNqz32H82b

— Gabriel Harp (@gharp) May 30, 2015

An Edible Geography piece from Nicola Twilley, the mastermind behind the smog meringue endeavor, offered a more compelling explanation for the whimsical treats:

"Our hope is that the meringues will serve as a kind of 'Trojan treat,' creating a visceral experience of disgust and fear that prompts a much larger conversation about the aesthetics and politics of urban air pollution, as well as its health and environmental effects."

Let's parse out that Homeric metaphor: an outwardly attractive dessert, once ingested, releases a team of toxic warriors -- like those hidden inside history's infamous horse -- that furtively infiltrate a body. But once inside, does chaos ensue? Back in Troy, the horse's initial sweetness was pretty clearly outweighed by the siege's catastrophic repercussions. But with the smog meringue, it's just the opposite. Our digestive systems, Twilley explains, render the treat less dangerous than inhaling toxins -- and they actually taste pretty good. So much for a fall.

I just ate 1950s LA smog in an egg meringue! @nicolatwilley #ediblesmog #IDEASCITY pic.twitter.com/wZJMZUeXoN

— localecologist (@localecologist) May 30, 2015

On top of the failed metaphor, instead of ushering discussion, the meringues provoked a series of aestheticized tweets and Instagram posts, most of which focused on the quirky idea of the dessert instead of any conversations about pollution. Perhaps, in another era, this would not have been the case, but in today's cult of circulated images, clever captions can bring more likes and more social validation than serious content. So smog becomes a fun-flavor instead of an invisible force to be feared.

This turn to the frivolous is not the fate of all smog-inspired art. In "Smog Free Project," Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has developed an ambitious "smog vacuum cleaner" meant to make a tangible impact on air conditions in first Rotterdam, then China. Cai Guo-Quiang's "Ninth Wave" relied on spectacle, but it managed a mix of forceful and grim, similarly addressing China's pollution crisis with a harrowing display of ill animals.

Eating in the ozone. Mmm; #Smog #meringue, anyone? Find out what #pollution tastes like http://t.co/rH9v1s77U0 via @SCMP_News

— Paul Buck (@PaulBuckHK) May 29, 2015

Twilley's post shies away from this bleakness, bookending its environmental critique with reflections on "aerior": a reworking of the term "terroir" to describe the infusion of atmosphere -- rather than soil -- into taste. Future projects, she writes, include matching (presumably haute) street food menus to city-specific air tastes and developing devices that add olfactory "smog seasoning" to meals.

Overall, a gesture was made at pollution critique, but meringues gravitate toward culinary fancies rather than meaningful discussion or true aesthetic intervention. Ideas City had the right impulse to make the invisible visible, but we must be cautious with the forms that visibility takes. Rivington and Bowery is a far cry from Troy, and any horse that is too showy, too saccharine will blind us to the severity of what lies hidden inside.

We ate meringues made from smog and they tasted okay, actually: http://t.co/APPEMagmJ8 pic.twitter.com/PTjCVkX3U9

— COLLECTIVELY (@_collectively) June 1, 2015

Imagine "Game of Thrones" with Michael Fassbender speaking Shakespearean. Then you've got "Macbeth."

The first teaser trailer for Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth" shows Fassbender's titular fighter covered in streaks of dirt and blood on the battlefield. After receiving a prophecy that he will be King, Macbeth slips into the King's tent with a dagger. Between brooding looks of stern conviction from Fassbender, intense battle scenes and Marion Cotillard as Lady MacBeth, Kurzel's adaptation is sure to be an epic awards contender.

The film was also nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, so there's a lot to look forward to. "Macbeth" does not yet have a U.S. release date.