It's normal to wake briefly during the night. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}But if you're waking up during the night and having trouble falling back asleep, the following tips may help.

    Stay out of your head. The key to getting back to sleep is continuing to prepare your body for sleep, so remain in bed in a relaxed position. Hard as it may be, try not to stress over the fact that you're awake , because that very stress and anxiety encourage your body to stay awake. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you are finding it hard to fall back asleep, try a relaxation technique such as visualization, deep breathing, or meditation, which can be done without even getting out of bed. Remind yourself that although they're not a replacement for sleep, rest and relaxation still help refresh your body.

    Do a quiet, non-stimulating activity. If you've been awake for more than 15 minutes, try getting out of bed and doing a quiet, non-stimulating activity, such as reading a book. Keep the lights dim so as not to think that it's time to wake up. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} A light snack might help relax you, but be careful not to eat so much that your body begins to expect a meal at that time of the day.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If you wake during the night feeling anxious about something, make a brief note of it on paper and postpone worrying about it until the next day when you are fresh and it will be easier to resolve.

A

Welcome to Holker Hall & Gardens

Visitor Information

How to Get to Holker

    By Car： Follow brown signs an A590 from J36, M6. Approximate travel times: Windermere-20 minutes, Kendal-25 minutes, Lancaster-45 minutes, Manchester-1 hour 30 minutes.

    By Rail: The nearest station is Cark-in-Cartmel with trains to Carnforth, Lancaster Preston for connections to major cities & airports.

Opening Times

    Sunday-Friday (closed on Saturday)11:00 am-4:00 pm,30^th March-2nd November.

Admission Charges

Special Events

Producers' Market    13th April

    Join us to taste a variety of fresh local food and drinks. Meet the producers and get some excellent recipe ideas.

Holker Garden Festival    30th May

    The event celebrate its 22^nd anniversary with a great show of the very best of gardening, making it one of the most popular events in gardening.

National Garden Day    28th August

    Holker once again opens its gardens in aid of the disadvantaged. For just a small donation you can take a tour with our garden guide.

Winter Market    8th November

    This is an event for all the family. Wander among a variety of shops selling gifs while enjoying a live music show and nice street entertainment.

    In the classic marriage vow (誓约), couples promise to stay together in sickness and in health. But a new study finds that the risk of divorce among older couples rises when the wife－not the husband－becomes seriously ill.

    "Married women diagnosed with a serious health condition may find themselves struggling with the impact of their disease while also experiencing the stress of divorce." said researched Amelia Karraker.

    Karraker and co-author Kenzie Latham analyzed 20 years of data on 2,717 marriages from a study conducted by Indiana University since 1992. At the time of the first interview, at least one of the partners was over the age of 50.

    The researchers examined how the onset (发生) of four serious physical illnesses affected marriages. They found that, overall, 31% of marriages ended in divorce over the period studied. The incidence of new chronic (慢性的) illness onset increased over time as well, with more husbands than wives developing serious health problems.

    "We found that women are doubly weak when their marriage breaks up in the face of illness," Karraker said. "They're more likely to be widowed, and if they're the ones who become ill, they're more likely to get divorced."

    While the study didn't assess why divorce is more likely when wives but not husbands become seriously ill, Karraker offers a few possible reasons. "Gender roles and social expectations about caregiving may make it more difficult for men to provide care to sick spouses." Karraker said. "And because of the imbalance in marriage markets, especially in older ages, divorced men have more choices among potential partners than divorced women."

    Given the increasing concern about health care costs for the aging population, Karraker believes policymakers should be aware of the relationship between disease and risk of divorce.

    "Offering support services to spouses caring for their other halves may reduce martial stress and prevent divorce at older ages." she said. "But it's also important to recognize that the pressure to divorce may be health-related and that sick ex-wives may need additional care and services to prevent worsening health and increased health costs."

    Are you afraid of going to the dentist(牙医)? If so, you're not alone.

    These fears could just be in our heads, however. According to a recent survey by Martin Tickle, a professor at the University of Manchester in the UK, the pain isn't felt most of the time in dental surgeries(牙科手术). In fact, among the 451 interviewed patients, 75％reported no pain at all during their visits, including situations when they had their teeth pulled out.

    Could it be the sound of the drill(钻头)then?

    "I found that the sound of drilling can evoke deep worry in dental patients. Actually they don't have any pain, "Hiroyuki Karibe, a scientist at Nippon Dental University in Tokyo, told The Guardian.

    To find the reason why a drill might bring on a racing heart, Karibe divided the volunteers into low-fear and high-fear groups based on how much they feared a trip to the dentist. Volunteers were played the sound of a drill while their brain activities were watched by a machine.

    What Karibe found in the low-fear group was increased activity in the areas of the brain relative to auditory processing(听觉处理), which means, for these people, the sound of dental drills is no different from other sounds.

    In the high-fear group, however, the brain area that was activated(激活)was different. It was the area that carries out a number of duties, including learning, feelings and, most importantly, memory. This means that these volunteers not only heard the sound, but they remembered it—they made connections between the sound of a drill and the worry it produced in the past, causing their worry to return.

    Understanding how brains reply to the sounds of dentists' drills could help scientists find ways to make patients more relaxed, according to Karibe, because patients who worry about going to the dentist might keep putting off their visits. But the best way is to keep your teeth healthy.

    A year ago, my friend and I went to a nearby town to attend a wedding. After the reception, we were waiting for a public transport bus to go back home. It was nine o'clock at night, and although many buses passed, none stopped.

    We waited for an hour and were getting forlorn. We wouldn't be able to stay overnight because it was weekday, and we both needed to work the next day. It was almost 10 p.m. when a family who had attended the same wedding passed by in their car. Probably sensing that we were waiting for some means of transport, they stopped and gave us a lift.

    I was so touched by their kindness, and I expressed my thanks to them. When we reached my hometown, the family dropped us at the nearest point from where we could catch a shared taxi to get back to the spot where we had parked our bike. On the way, a laborer stopped the taxi. The driver saw his clothes and asked him whether he had money to pay the fare.

    The laborer shook his head and said, "No." On hearing this, the driver refused to take him. I remembered my own dilemma a few minutes earlier, and I told the driver to allow him to sit with us, as I would pay his fare. What an immediate opportunity to pass on the family's act of kindness!

    That night, I felt lightness in my heart, and I went to sleep happily and filled with joy about what I had gotten to do. How I wish this chain of kindness could continue all over the world with your help! That is why today I specially share my story with you again!

It was the Dragon Boat Festival. Shiny white tents lined the waterfront, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (provide) shade and refreshments for dragon boat paddlers (桨手) from all over California, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} gathered around the Castaic Lake for a festive competition.

Giggling kids raced cheerfully along the lakeside beach, with  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (they) parents enjoying the shady picnic areas under the trees along the shore. "It's a great day out," said Paul Lin, co-founder of Castaic's own Dragon Eyes team.

Dragon boat racing has been going on for thousands of years in China, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}  (initial) conducted in honor of the poet Qu Yuan, as a way  {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (honor) his legacy and spirit.

In the race, a drummer  {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (use) a large traditional wooden drum to keep the paddlers on the beat, {#blank#}7{#/blank#}  a steersman in the back keeps them in their lane.

Lin said a friend got him  {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (involve) in dragon boat racing over a decade ago. In 2018, they decided to host their own festival. "There's something really special to be learned from our dragon boat motto: One Boat, One Beat," he said. "Paddlers come from all walks of life and that kind of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (close) with people is nowhere else to be seen."

"We really want to help expand people's awareness and grow the sport," said Lin. "We're hoping one day it will become  {#blank#}10{#/blank#}  Olympic sport."