Get Older, Get Happier!

Perhaps the best news I've ever relayed: more happiness may come with age

According to a study reported by CNN.com,
# Older adults, may be better able avoid stressful situations,
which may mean less negative emotion
# They also may limit the time spent thinking about negative aspects of a situation
# Memory may also contribute to older adults' positive emotional state

Noise. Who needs it?

An article about what catches my ear recently caught my eye. "Noise Busters" By Richard and Joyce Wolkomir writing in Smithsonian Magazine said, "Nature quiet is now preserved in only 7% of Arizona's Grand Canyon national park and nowhere in Hawaii's volcano's National Park."
"Among city dwelling Americans, 87% are exposed to noise so loud it has the potential to degrade hearing capacity over time. But you will not necessarily find piece in the suburbs or country side either, not with the onslaught of leaf blowers, snow blowers, lawn mowers, chain saws, snow mobiles, power boats, and all terrain vehicles.

They went on to say, "Researchers have demonstrated that noise can raise your blood pressure and change your blood chemistry. Adrenaline levels can rise, indicating the imposition of stress."

Did you know that "noise" referring to unwanted sound is derived from the Latin word for nausea? In 1997 Automobile traffic was 360% of 1960 levels, while large truck traffic was 430% of 1960 levels. Airliner travel in 1998 was 600% of 1960 levels and air cargo traffic was 2460% of 1960 levels.

In 1960 there were no boom boxes, no boom cars, no leaf blowers, no jet skis, no car alarms, and few snowmobiles. Noise on one side of a school has been shown to diminish children's test scores, compared with that of children on the other side of the school in a relatively noise free zone, who otherwise have the same academic capabilities and demographic profile.

Noise. Who needs it?

Manage Cell Phone Use or Else

A study published in the "Journal of Marriage and Family" finds that cell phone and pager use has become a vehicle for job worries and problems to interfere with family life for both men and women. Cell phone technology is linked to increased psychological distress and lower family satisfaction in general for working men and women.

Upshot: Manage your cell phone after hours or it will quickly manage you.

Over-surfing as Medication

The U.S. could be rife with Internet addicts as clinically ill as alcoholics, an unprecedented study suggested. Based on a telephone survey, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine concluded that more than one of every eight U.S. residents showed at least one sign of "problematic Internet use." The findings of this survey was consistent with those of previous, less rigorous studies.

The typical Internet addict appears to be a single, college-educated, white male in his 30s, who spends about 30 hours per week on non-essential computer use. Some people hide their Internet surfing, or go online to cure foul moods in ways that mirrored alcoholics using booze, using the Internet to “self-medicate."

Cheating to Get By

A survey of 50,000 students, at 69 colleges and universities, by the Center for Academic Integrity indicates that:

* 27% of journalism majors admitted to serious cheating on exams

* 26% of business majors admitted to serious cheating on exams

* 54% of business majors admitted to cheating on written assignments.

* The most honest students were science majors.

So, do they students cheat because they are under-prepared, have no time, and/or cannot focus? In our overloaded society, probably ALL of the above. Having a firm sense of Breathing Space enhances one’s ability to study! With out it… good luck!

Tickler Files

If you're overwhelmed by what crosses your desk, it's worth considering the benefits of having a file folder for each month of the year and a file folder for each day of the month. This idea, the "tickler file" system, has been in practice for years.

Create a file for days 1-31 of the month, and place it at the front of one of your file drawers. Behind that, have a file for each month of the year. If it's the second day of the month, for example, but you receive something that you won't need to deal with until the 15th, then put it in the file for, say, the 13th to allow yourself some slack. If anything comes in that you don't need to handle now, put it in your tickler file. This yields some immediate benefits. It keeps your desk clear and eliminates a lot of worry about where things go.

As the days and months go by, you continually take files that were in front and put them in the back. Once you get this system in place, you'll find that many of the things you file may not need to be acted on later. The benefits of this system are immediate.

Cell phones Disrupt Relationships

HealthDayNews.com: Cell phones and pagers, part of the technological revolution that was supposed to liberate everyone, is tethering people to their jobs to an unprecedented degree, to the point where family life is suffering. The study limited the blame to cell phones and pages, and not computer-based communication such as e-mail. Cell phones and pagers were linked to increased psychological distress and reduced family satisfaction for both sexes.

The research, by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee sociologist Noelle Chesley, appears in the December issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family. "The use of cell phones and pagers was linked to increased distress and a decrease in family satisfaction over time," said Chesley, an assistant professor of sociology. "There is clearly a link between using the technology and experiencing increased access."

Spinning out of Control

Early warning signs when you’re heading for an "out of control" situation: Control is always based on your perception; still any time you start stacking horizontal piles on your desk you are operating in a malfunctioning mode.

If you find yourself perpetually 5 to 10 minutes late for meetings and always handling activities up to the last minute before turning your attention to what is next, you are leaving yourself wide open for some anxious moments. Also if you don't give yourself enough physical space to handle a task you are also likely to feel out of control.

From Breakdown back to Control

Do you find yourself in control for most of the morning and part of the afternoon, but then all of the sudden, like a train derailment, everything seems scattered and out of control?

Take mental pauses throughout the day, particularly as new developments occur. The best laid plans often go astray and those people who are able to maintain control know when to let go of one activity and redirect their focus towards another.

Remember that being in control is more related to how you feel about the situation than the presence of evidence. Keep reminding yourself that you are, in fact, in control. Ten minutes before the end of the day if your boss springs a one-hour assignment on you that must be done immediately, you can regard this as a major intrusion in your day or you can see it as a
professional challenge or an opportunity to demonstrate your overall value to your company. Make a note of the times you have taken on such challenges and bring them up particularly at raise times.

Also before, during, and after handling the late assignment thrown on your lap, keep considering the many benefits of completing it. These include learning something new, practicing maintaining grace under fire, and serving as a reminder for you to discuss this type of situation with your boss so that it doesn't happen too frequently.

End of the Work Day

Do you sometimes get anxious in the late afternoon or as you make your way home at the end of the work day? "With emails, faxes, voice mail, "snail" mail, memos and reports, your boss, and your peers, in too many offices 4:45 p.m. can be as hectic as 9:15 a.m. Here are some tips for heading home with more energy and peace of mind:

* Each day, before you are about to leave, pause for a minute to acknowledge yourself for what you accomplished or did not accomplish. This simple mental exercise frees you to experience the rest of your day.

* Once inside your car or on the bus, consider that you are already "home." You don't have to wait until you are actually in the door and kicking off your shoes.

* If traffic is slow, stop off at a drug store or hardware store and get the household items you usually buy on Saturday.

* If you perpetually bring work home from the office, give yourself a break -- several times a week come home empty-handed.

Avoid the Post-Vacation Slam

Would you like to minimize stress following your travels? Suppose your time away from the office is ending. Once back at work, you have a stack of phone messages on your desk. Your mail is eight inches high. There are memos, reports, and announcements all over the place. You experience extreme pressure to catch up. The moment you return, the whole
world seems to falls in on you.

The Remedy? Plan your trips so that you return before you announced you would. Include a "decompression" phase in your plans; your trip is not complete until you comfortably reintegrate yourself. Also:

* Take one less vacation day and build in a day for transition and decompression rather than coming back too abruptly.

* Avoid returning to work on a Monday; it's already a high-pressure day.

* Instruct others to handle or reroute as many phone calls as possible; and to segment your mail and other papers that come in. Return to a clean office and a clean desk.

* Unpack all your bags quickly. You may be tired, but the task will only be more burdensome later. Put all notes and papers in their place as soon as possible if you ever intend to act on them.

Stress of Getting to the Airport

Simply getting to the airport has become increasingly stressful in the last few years. (Nevermind TSA), consider the following:

1. You have to pack the night before or very early that morning, and that in itself is an unusual burden. Then, largely because people are going to bed later and sleeping fewer hours per night you need to get to bed at a reasonable hour and get up on time.

2. Unless you've allowed plenty of time to get ready in the morning, you have to dress and groom yourself more quickly, and get out the door at a specific time.

3. Then there's the trip to the airport. If you're driving, you have to make sure your car is in tune, hope that the traffic won't be too bad, and that there will be no other circumstances that prevent your timely arrival. If you're taking a taxi or shuttle, you still have to hope that it comes on time, and that it doesn't experience the same problems on the road that you might have.