Taking an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine may also make it easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep. Try taking some ibuprofen, naproxen, or acetaminophen to help with the pain from your pinched nerve and make it easier for you to fall asleep. Make sure that you read and follow the manufacturer's instructions before taking any OTC pain medicine. If your doctor has prescribed painkillers for you, then make sure that you take these exactly as directed. Taking a warm shower before you go to bed can help to relax your muscles and may help to relieve some of the pain from the pinched nerve. Try taking a warm shower right before you go to bed to help soothe and relax the nerve. You may also want to apply a heating pad to the affected area to provide some relief. You can use a heating pad for up to 20 minutes at a time over the area of your pinched nerve. Try using a heating pad right before bed to provide some soothing relief before you go to bed. Remove the heating pad after 20 minutes to prevent it from burning your skin or causing tissue damage. You may even want to consider getting a heating pad that has a timer, just in case you fall asleep with the heating pad on. Ice works best on new injuries, which tend to swell up. You can apply an ice pack to the affected area to help numb it and reduce inflammation. Use an ice pack for no more than 20 minutes at a time. Make sure that you wrap the ice pack in a towel before applying it to your skin. Do not apply ice directly to your skin. Give your skin a break from the ice pack after 20 minutes to prevent frostbite and tissue damage. If the pain from your pinched nerve keeps you awake at night, then you may want to ask your doctor about corticosteroid injections. Your doctor can administer a corticosteroid injection to help reduce inflammation and swelling around your pinched nerve.

Summary: Use over-the-counter painkillers as needed. Take a warm shower before bed. Try a heating pad. Apply an ice pack. Ask about corticosteroid injections.

Some schools go to great lengths to keep parents involved in the progress of their children, and if your school does this, you may need to go to equally great lengths to prevent your parents from finding out about a bad grade. However, you should note that these extreme measures take dishonesty to a whole new level, and you are seriously betraying your parents' trust by attempting to hide your mistakes in this way. If your school sends report cards or grades to parents via email, you will need your parents' email addresses and passwords so that you can login to their accounts to intercept and delete the email before they have a chance to see it. Parents are sometimes required to sign and send back report cards, and this is meant to ensure that the parents are aware of how their children are doing in school. For a school that does require a parental signature on a report card, you can't just hide the report card from them and hope they don't find out. Forging the signature of a parent without their consent is often considered fraud and is usually illegal. You can also try signing your own name in a creative way and hope that your teachers don't catch on. Another perk of modern technology is that parents are often now able to access their children's grades via online portals. While you can't prevent your parents from logging in and seeing your grades, you can try to stop them: Log on to the portal. Copy the format of your grades into an editing program. Manually alter the grades and print off the changed report. Show it to your parents. Some schools may call to notify you that report cards are coming out. Start offering to answer the phone a few days before report cards are due. After the call is made, delete it. Keep in mind that it may not be practical to always be available for the phone. If you are not sure when the call will come, your best bet is to block the school's number.

Summary: Delete email notifications. Sign on behalf of your parents. Change and print grades that are available online. Intercept phone calls.

The takeoff foot is the one that hits the takeoff board; it is the foot you jump off the board with. Generally, a right-handed long jumper takes off with the left foot. New jumpers can try both styles to see which works best. To determine your takeoff foot, have a friend gently push you from behind. The foot you step forward from is your dominant foot and can be used for the takeoff. Alternatively, you can determine your takeoff foot by thinking about which foot you kick with or which foot leads when you jump over something, such as a hurdle. Practice your run-up several times to determine how many strides you'll take before performing the jump. Generally, the number of strides corresponds to your age, for example: 10 years = 10-11 strides 11 years = 10-12 strides 12 years = 11-13 strides 13 years = 12-14 strides 14 years = 13-15 strides 15 years = 14-16 strides 16 years = 15-17 strides 17 years = 15-21 strides To discover the starting point for your jump, start with your back to the sand pit at the point you will jump from. Run toward the area you generally start from, but only run the same number of strides you have determined you will take before jumping. The spot where you end your last stride is your starting point. Do this several times and adjust your starting point if necessary. Another way to determine your starting point is to begin from a certain point on the track and run forward the number of strides you have determined you will take. Mark the point of your last stride. Do this several times so you can find an average distance based on the number of strides you take. You'll need to use visible markers that will stand out from other jumpers who have a similar starting point. You can put cones, small flags, brightly colored rocks, or colored tape at your starting point. Place them off to the side of the track so they don't get in the way of jumpers or people competing in other events.
Summary: Decide which foot you will take off with. Figure out the number of strides you will take. Determine your starting point. Place markers at your starting point.