Today, Americans are logging longer hours on the job than ever--more than medieval peasants. We are working ourselves to death, said the co-author of "Affluenza" and national coordinator of the "Take Back Your Time" movement.
"It's not good for our health, for our families and communities, or for our environment," said de Graaf. "We don't have to make work (the center of) our entire lives."
But many of us do. The average American works nine weeks more each year than their European counterparts, according to de Graaf's book, "Take Back Your Time."
We also have the shortest paid vacations in the industrialized world--an average of two weeks compared to the four or five weeks of paid leave many Europeans get by law. Twenty-six percent of workers take no vacation at all.
"That's pretty shocking when you understand that for vacation to do its work, to improve our health, our productivity and mental health, (studies show) you usually need at least two weeks," he said.
The toll is tangible: An annual vacation can cut a man's risk of heart attack by 30 percent and a woman's by 50 percent, he said, citing research studies. Europeans over age 55 are only half as likely to have the kinds of chronic diseases from which many Americans suffer, including heart disease and hypertension.
"We are by far the least healthy nation (among industrialized nations) and we spend twice as much on health care," he said.
Our children are paying a price, too. Unstructured, outdoor playtime is largely a thing of the past. And the number of American families eating dinner together at least four times a week is falling, from 83 percent in 1997 to 75 percent in 2004. That's crucial since researchers say the nightly ritual can help prevent teens from smoking cigarettes or marijuana, drinking alcohol, getting lower grades, suffering depression or attempting suicide.
What will happen when we retire and don't have the job to go to? We had better learn how to do something other than work now. There's no time like the present to have some fun!
Read the complete article:
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=LEISURETIME-04-12-07
www.RobinThompson.com
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
The Corporate Leash
More than a quarter of us report begin so attached to our cell phones and laptops that we leave them alone only when we're asleep, according to a recent survey by career Web site Yahoo! HotJobs.
The survey also reports that 26 percent of respondents feel wireless devices keep them on a permanent corporate leash.
Some advice: set guidelines so these devices don't consume too much of your personal time, screen calls and don't check voice or e-mail on vacation. And most of all don't use wireless devices while exercising. You'll create stress instead of burning it off.
And be sure to take advantage of the good things about them and use the devices to schedule some fun and relaxation.
Although the technology will still be there when we retire, it may have less significance so we'd better find other ways to entertain ourselves.
Read the complete article: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/careerArticlesPost.html?post=88
www.RobinThompson.com
The survey also reports that 26 percent of respondents feel wireless devices keep them on a permanent corporate leash.
Some advice: set guidelines so these devices don't consume too much of your personal time, screen calls and don't check voice or e-mail on vacation. And most of all don't use wireless devices while exercising. You'll create stress instead of burning it off.
And be sure to take advantage of the good things about them and use the devices to schedule some fun and relaxation.
Although the technology will still be there when we retire, it may have less significance so we'd better find other ways to entertain ourselves.
Read the complete article: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/careerArticlesPost.html?post=88
www.RobinThompson.com
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Flexible Work Hours Lure Baby Boomers
Half-day Fridays are part of the official year-round work schedule at Chaparral Energy Inc. Employees pushed for that years ago, following a summer schedule of 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to noon Friday.
Such creative work schedules are setting trends in the workplace, business futurists say. Competition to attract and retain top talent is so fierce these days that companies are considering any way they can to gain an advantage.
Netflix Inc., a Silicon Valley-based online movie rental service, doesn't even track the hours of its 350 salaried employees. Workers can vacation whenever they want.
Meanwhile, Blockbuster Inc. gives its 1,200 salaried employees at its Dallas corporate headquarters the flexibility to get in their 40 hours a week any way they choose, around the core hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
At Netflix Inc., "face time is irrelevant," said Steve Swasey, director of corporate communications. "Nine to five, Monday through Friday is not our culture. The thought is if employees are able to produce great quality work, who cares where they sit?"
This would certainly make a Baby Boomer want to stay employed and have fun while getting it done!
read the complete article:
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=HALFDAYFRIDAY-04-13-07
www.RobinThompson.com
Such creative work schedules are setting trends in the workplace, business futurists say. Competition to attract and retain top talent is so fierce these days that companies are considering any way they can to gain an advantage.
Netflix Inc., a Silicon Valley-based online movie rental service, doesn't even track the hours of its 350 salaried employees. Workers can vacation whenever they want.
Meanwhile, Blockbuster Inc. gives its 1,200 salaried employees at its Dallas corporate headquarters the flexibility to get in their 40 hours a week any way they choose, around the core hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
At Netflix Inc., "face time is irrelevant," said Steve Swasey, director of corporate communications. "Nine to five, Monday through Friday is not our culture. The thought is if employees are able to produce great quality work, who cares where they sit?"
This would certainly make a Baby Boomer want to stay employed and have fun while getting it done!
read the complete article:
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=HALFDAYFRIDAY-04-13-07
www.RobinThompson.com
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Training Your Brain
Will health-minded seniors focus on keeping their minds as fit as their bodies in the years ahead? Experts are convinced that this is an up-and-coming priority for aging Baby Boomers as well as people already in their 60s, 70s and 80s.
"Over the next few years, we will see these (brain health) programs burst into the mainstream with great force," predicted Dr. Elkonon Goldberg, a clinical professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine and co-founder of Sharp Brains, a company that evaluates and helps markets brain-fitness programs.
A growing body of scientific studies supports the trend.
The newest research comes from a large, well-designed study known as Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (known as ACTIVE), published in December in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Unlike previous studies, this one has a relatively long-term horizon. More than 2,000 healthy seniors in Baltimore; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston; Detroit; Indianapolis; and State College, Pa., were evaluated multiple times over five years.
Participants were divided into four groups. Three received special training in specific mental functions (memory, reasoning and speed of processing) and one group, with no training, served as a control.
The major finding was stunning: Relatively short training regimens - 10 sessions of 1 to 1.5 hours each over five or six weeks_improved mental functioning as long as five years later. Booster sessions helped advance these gains, and some people found it easier to perform everyday tasks, such as managing finances, after mental workouts.
"I think what this shows, conclusively, is that when healthy older people put effort into learning new things, they can improve their mental fitness," said Michael Marsiske, a member of the research team and an associate professor at the University of Florida at Gainesville. "And even if structured learning is relatively brief, you should be able to see the benefits of that learning for some time to come."
Read the complete article:
http://www.positscience.com/newsroom/news/news/020707.php
www.RobinThompson.com
"Over the next few years, we will see these (brain health) programs burst into the mainstream with great force," predicted Dr. Elkonon Goldberg, a clinical professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine and co-founder of Sharp Brains, a company that evaluates and helps markets brain-fitness programs.
A growing body of scientific studies supports the trend.
The newest research comes from a large, well-designed study known as Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (known as ACTIVE), published in December in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Unlike previous studies, this one has a relatively long-term horizon. More than 2,000 healthy seniors in Baltimore; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston; Detroit; Indianapolis; and State College, Pa., were evaluated multiple times over five years.
Participants were divided into four groups. Three received special training in specific mental functions (memory, reasoning and speed of processing) and one group, with no training, served as a control.
The major finding was stunning: Relatively short training regimens - 10 sessions of 1 to 1.5 hours each over five or six weeks_improved mental functioning as long as five years later. Booster sessions helped advance these gains, and some people found it easier to perform everyday tasks, such as managing finances, after mental workouts.
"I think what this shows, conclusively, is that when healthy older people put effort into learning new things, they can improve their mental fitness," said Michael Marsiske, a member of the research team and an associate professor at the University of Florida at Gainesville. "And even if structured learning is relatively brief, you should be able to see the benefits of that learning for some time to come."
Read the complete article:
http://www.positscience.com/newsroom/news/news/020707.php
www.RobinThompson.com
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Exercise Keeps You Cancer Free
Modern miracle drugs like tamoxifen and raloxifene routinely cut risk for breast cancer in women whose medical histories or genes make them especially vulnerable to it.
But reams of research also suggest that exercise—an activity as old as the human race—substantially reduces the odds of ever getting the disease, lengthens survival and considerably enhances quality of life for women with breast cancer.
Scientists don't completely understand why exercise is so important, but they're actively looking for answers. Roughly two thirds of all breast cancers are considered estrogen-positive; that means that the hormone estrogen fuels their growth. The rest are estrogen-negative. Many experts believe regular exercise lowers the amount of estrogen circulating through the body in the bloodstream. So for certain types of breast cancer, less estrogen equals less fuel. Exercise also pares off hormonally active fat tissue. Fat manufactures a substance called aromatase that converts hormones known as androgens to estrogen. After menopause, when the ovaries stop cranking out high levels of estrogen, this hormonal cascade becomes the major source of estrogen in a woman's body.
Recently two large, carefully designed studies suggested exercise may work through more than just hormonal mechanisms linked to estrogen. In a study published last month in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers speculated that exercise might affect tumor aggressiveness. The researchers found that long-term moderate or strenuous activity over a lifetime cut risk for developing estrogen-negative invasive breast cancers (though not estrogen-positive cancers). Since fewer therapies are effective against estrogen-negative cancers, that's heartening news. Some earlier research on exercise suggests it lowers risk for estrogen-positive cancers, too. Scientists are also looking beyond estrogen at the effects exercise has on insulin, leptin and certain growth factors.
Read the complete article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17887457/site/newsweek/
www.RobinThompson.com
But reams of research also suggest that exercise—an activity as old as the human race—substantially reduces the odds of ever getting the disease, lengthens survival and considerably enhances quality of life for women with breast cancer.
Scientists don't completely understand why exercise is so important, but they're actively looking for answers. Roughly two thirds of all breast cancers are considered estrogen-positive; that means that the hormone estrogen fuels their growth. The rest are estrogen-negative. Many experts believe regular exercise lowers the amount of estrogen circulating through the body in the bloodstream. So for certain types of breast cancer, less estrogen equals less fuel. Exercise also pares off hormonally active fat tissue. Fat manufactures a substance called aromatase that converts hormones known as androgens to estrogen. After menopause, when the ovaries stop cranking out high levels of estrogen, this hormonal cascade becomes the major source of estrogen in a woman's body.
Recently two large, carefully designed studies suggested exercise may work through more than just hormonal mechanisms linked to estrogen. In a study published last month in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers speculated that exercise might affect tumor aggressiveness. The researchers found that long-term moderate or strenuous activity over a lifetime cut risk for developing estrogen-negative invasive breast cancers (though not estrogen-positive cancers). Since fewer therapies are effective against estrogen-negative cancers, that's heartening news. Some earlier research on exercise suggests it lowers risk for estrogen-positive cancers, too. Scientists are also looking beyond estrogen at the effects exercise has on insulin, leptin and certain growth factors.
Read the complete article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17887457/site/newsweek/
www.RobinThompson.com
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