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How to Get Your Sleep Back… (Continued from Page 1) WINTER IS COMING—PREPARE Risky Business Fall Here are a few of the recommended ways to blunt the impact of COVID-19 2020 disruption on your sleep: YOUR HOME FOR THE COLD! • Get up at the same time each day – This is important even on the week- ends, so your brain and body get into a rhythm. Avoid sleeping in or napping Before the weather gets too cold, you should How to Get Your Sleep Back on Track in the afternoon. protect your house and family from the ele- • Get outside early – Natural sunlight tells our brain it is daytime so your brain ments. Here are some essential areas to check: can start preparing to help you perform your best and help you to wind down at the same time at night Roof COVID-19 has disrupted nearly every aspect of • Keep a routine – A routine will aid productivity, improve mood and expend the  Look for missing shingles, cracked flashing, everyone’s life, and sleep is no exception. But be careful, says same amount of energy each day to best earn quality sleep onset at the same and broken overhanging tree limbs. UH clinical psychologist Carolyn Ievers-Landis, PhD -- the time each night. • Stay physically active – Exercising early in the day also helps to earn sleep  Check the chimney for mortar deterioration irregular sleep schedules created by COVID-19 can have a at the same time each night. Avoid intense exercise close to bedtime. and loose bricks. negative effect on your health. • Find ways to socialize throughout the day – Regular social interaction is  Inspect the underside of the roof, from the Virtual schooling and working from home have another way your body gets feedback from your environment on when to be attic, for signs of leakage. created two conditions that contribute to poor sleep: eased-up most active. We tend to become sleepy at night when social interactions stop. Exterior • Take time for relaxation – Schedule breaks throughout the day for relaxation schedules and chair-bound lifestyles, she says. For example, activities that are familiar and enjoyable such as reading, solving puzzles, or  Check the foundation for cracks in the con- because many people are no longer commuting to work – or listening to music. This prevents feelings of being overwhelmed, which can crete or low spots in the soil where water can may be newly unemployed – they may not have to rise at the impact your sleep. accumulate against the foundation. • Watch what you are eating, drinking and taking -- and when – Many same early hour every day. “People are having more delayed  November 1, 2020 substances can interrupt the quality of your sleep at night, such as nicotine, Examine the caulking in the siding and around sleep,” she says. “Most people are able to sleep in a little bit caffeine, alcohol or marijuana. After noon, choose non-caffeinated food and the window and door trims. drinks, avoid large, rich meals and limit fluid intake before bed. later, which means they’re staying up later also.” In addition,  Check/replace weather stripping without the walking need to get around a school, office build- Don’t forget to • Set limits later in the evening – Turn off the news a couple hours before Heat bedtime and limit use of social media, smart phones and TV close to bedtime. ing, retail store, or factory floor, many people are moving quite CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS Do not bring these devices into the bedroom.  Turn on the heating system and ensure that a bit less. This has repercussions for sleep, she says. • Make the bedroom all about sleep – Do not eat, watch TV, play games, use the heat is being delivered to all outlets. social media, read or worry/plan in bed. Keep your bedroom cool, dark,  Check the filter and change it if necessary. “Some people are now noticing that their sleep is very comfortable and quiet at night. fragmented. It’s harder to fall asleep, and their normal middle- • Keep a somewhat regular bedtime and allow time to unwind Keep extra filters around so you can change before sleep – Set cut-off times for work and chores, and use the time to it during the winter season. of-the-night wake ups are extended because they really engage in quiet, enjoyable activities such as reading, knitting or playing card Plus... haven’t built up an adequate need for sleep,” Dr. Ievers-Landis games.  Check that carbon monoxide detectors are says. • Only go to bed when you are sleepy – Spending time in bed when your body is not ready for sleep can make sleep problems worse. If you are not working properly It’s important to be as well-rested as possible, she says, sleepy enough when getting into bed, your body learns not to expect to sleep  Change the smoke detector batteries because good sleep is important for: right away and instead learns to expect the other activities you do in bed (like toss and turn). • Immune defense -- so you are better protected against Nothing about 2020 has been what anyone expected, and this fall Source: uhhospitals.org getting sick will be no exception. As we did in spring and summer, we’ll have to • Metabolism -- so you can burn more energy to be healthy come up with new things to do in fall. While you’ll probably still get to Leftover Turkey and and active savor pumpkin spice latte season and snuggle in your coziest sweater, some typical things to do in the fall—like cheering • Managing emotions -- so you can focus on the positive with the crowd at football games or hosting Halloween Stuffing Stuffed Peppers and limit the negative parties—may be off-limits during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep Turn leftover turkey and stuffing into a healthy(ish) day- • Thinking and everyone safer. But just because we’re staying closer to home (and after dinner by stuffing them in bell peppers. In this issue of Risky Business: memory -- so you can holding our loved ones closer) right now doesn’t mean we can’t en- focus, learn, remember, joy the very best things that fall has to offer. We can keep celebrat- How to Get Your Sleep Back on Track 1 Directions: be efficient and make ing the season—even if it’s an autumn like we’ve never seen before. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, combine Don’t Forget to Change Your Clock 1 fewer mistakes. Go apple picking ● Take a hike ● Drink hot apple cider ● Take a INGREDIENTS: beaten egg, turkey, and stuffing. Season with salt and Surviving Autumn 2020 1 1 large egg, beaten (Continued on Page 4) drive to check out the changing leaves ● Make a big pot of chili ● pepper and mix together. MPA’s Wellness Program 2 carve or decorate pumpkins ● DIY a cool Halloween costume ● pick 2 c. leftover turkey, shredded 2. Spoon mixture into bell peppers and top with mozzarella. 2 c. leftover stuffing Birthdays, Anniversaries & Events 2 out a new cozy sweater ● make caramel apples ● enjoy homemade kosher salt 3. Transfer peppers to baking dish and bake until peppers soup with a grilled cheese sandwich ● plant bulbs for your spring Freshly ground black pepper are tender and cheese is melty, 25 to 30 minutes. Garnish Think Your Password Is Secure? 3 garden ● jump into a leaf pile ● get lost in a corn maze ● visit a 4 red and yellow bell peppers, with parsley. pumpkin patch● get a head start on your holiday shopping ● have a hollowed out Winter Is Coming 4 marathon of movies on Netflix ● gather with loved ones (in person or 1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella YIELD PREP TIME: TOTAL TIME: Recipe: Stuffed Peppers 4 virtually) ● write down what you are thankful for. Fresh parsley, for garnish 4 10 minutes 40 minutes (Source: realsimple.com) Page 2 Risky Business Page 3

MPA’s WELLNESS PROGRAM THINK YOUR PASSWORD THE TECH CORNER As we roll into the last two months of 2020, we begin For those who are unable to participate in a live class, to reflect what changes this year has brought to every no worries! The classes are recorded and posted on IS SECURE? THINK AGAIN one of us. 2020 presented new challenges, made us MPA’s website for viewing at a more convenient time. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created many of the password best face new routines, and taught us the immense If you are interested in joining one (or all) of our practices you probably loathe — using a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. The NIST now importance of being positive and taking care of our- virtually provided classes, please contact Madison selves and the people around us. Over the last eight says those guidelines were ill-advised and has changed its stance. Find out why and what this means for you. Heaton at [email protected] or (925) 943-1100 months, our Pool has prided ourselves on being and she will add you to the class invite. The Problem adaptive, flexible, and creative with how well we have The issue isn’t that the NIST advised people to create easy-to-crack passwords, but their previous come to change our regular routines. Effective November 2nd, the weekly virtual fitness classes is revising its schedule to: advice inadvertently made people create weak passwords using predictable capitalization, special characters, Municipal Pooling Authority’s Wellness Program Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday ~ 5:30pm - 6:30pm and numbers, like “P@ssW0rd1.” Such a password may seem secure, but the strings of characters and numbers offers various classes through our ever-growing Well- Tuesday & Thursday ~ 3:00pm - 3:30pm could easily be compromised by hackers using common algorithms. ness Program and has included fun, mind-and-body- Cooking Classes are held Thursdays 11am – 12:00pm healthy activities to its participants. The Wellness What’s more, the NIST also recommended that people change their passwords regularly, but did not specify how

Program has a range of flexible virtual fitness and and when to change them. Since many people thought their passwords were already secure because they’ve We thank you for being part of this growing program. cooking classes held live over Zoom. Milan Esco, Your support and participation is what allows us here included special characters in them, most only added or changed one character. fitness instructor and cooking guru, has been at MPA to mold this program to exceed the standards The NIST essentially forced everyone to use passwords that are hard for humans to remember but easy for a providing services to MPA for a number of years, and of our viewers. has always done a phenomenal job of keeping his hacker’s algorithm to crack. instructions light-hearted yet positively energetic, Remember ~ the change that you Eventually, the institution admitted that this can cause more problems than solutions. It has reversed its stance whether he’s whipping something yummy in the want to see starts with YOU! on organizational password management requirements, and is now recommending banishing forced periodic kitchen or kicking our butts in the workouts! password changes and getting rid of complexity requirements. BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES & EVENTS The Solution Security consultant Frank Abagnale and Chief Hacking Officer for KnowBe4 Kevin Mitnick both see a future with- out passwords. Both security experts advise enterprises to implement multifactor authentication in login policies. This requires a user to present two valid credentials aside from a password to gain access to an account. This could be a code sent to the account owner’s smartphone, a login prompt on a mobile device, or a facial or a fingerprint scan. This way, hackers’ login efforts are futile unless they fulfill the succeeding security requirements. Moreover, Mitnick recommended implementing long passphrases of 25 characters or more, such as “recedemarmaladecrockplacate” or “cavalryfigurineunderdoneexalted.” These are much more difficult to guess and less prone to hacking. As for the frequency of changing passphrases, it will depend on a company’s risk Happy Amniversary! tolerance. Simply put, passwords should be longer and include nonsensical phrases and English September comes from the October comes from the Latin November comes from the Latin word Thank you for all of Latin word septem "seven," word octo, "eight," because it novem, "nine," because this had the contribution you words that make it almost impossible for an automated system to crack. have made in making because this was the seventh was the eighth month of the been the ninth month in the early You should also enforce the following security solutions within your company: month of the early Roman early Roman calendar. Roman calendar. (Note: Although it's our MPA successful. calendar. eleventh month, the name never got changed.) Single sign-on – allows users to securely access multiple accounts with one set of Linda Lisa 1 Daylight Savings Ends credentials 5 Indigenous Peoples Day 7 Labor Day 3 Election Day Linh Victoria Account monitoring tools – recognizes suspicious activity and locks out hackers 13-14 Amazon Prime Day 13 Grandparents Day 11 Veterans Day Karisa Sue Source: Lanlogic.com 16 Boss’s Day Published August 7, 2020 19 Oktoberfest (start) 26 Thanksgiving Day United Nations Day Barbara 21 Int’l Day of Peace 24 27 Black Friday

22 Autumnal Equinox 31 Halloween 30 Cyber Monday Risky Business is published quarterly for member cities by For questions, comments or suggestions, contact Municipal Pooling Authority - Northern California. Jasmin Intravaia [email protected]