Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Balance & Fulfillment
Monday, February 08, 2010 ** NEW **Is Your Busyness Keeping You Up at Night?
I know, there aren't enough hours in the day, and you have too much to
do. If you find yourself shortening your night sleep to try and get more
done only to wake up in the middle of the night, this one is for you.
When you pack your daily schedule with one thing after another, your body
remains on high alert throughout the day. It produces stress hormones
which prompt your heart to beat quicker. As your blood circulates faster,
your body burns more energy, and you grow increasingly more tired.
Elevated levels of stress can also cause you to be more impatient,
irritable and insensitive to others, thus causing you to be even more depleted
by the end of the day. It can also erode connections between nerve cells
in your brain, thus not only causing grief today, but also in the future.
So
how can you fit a strategy that will break the cycle of depletion into your
busy day? Simple. Breathe deeply, trying to exhale for twice as
long as you inhale. Slow your breathing down by inhaling for 1 count,
exhaling for 2. Then inhale for 2, exhale for 4. Keep progressing
until you are inhaling for 5 and exhaling for 10, and do so 3 or 4 times.
Repeat the full exercise 2 or 3 times each day, more if you
can.
Taking a few long belly breaths will activate your parasympathetic system,
which is responsible for slowing down bodily processes (such as heart
rate). It will also pause your production of cortisol for a few minutes.
As you decrease your stress hormone levels, you'll be able to preserve more
energy throughout the day and sleep better at night.
Take it easy!
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Fitness & Nutrition
Wednesday, January 27, 2010How to Stick to Your New Year Resolutions
About half of us have been either brave or foolish enough to make New
Year resolutions for 2010. And of those who haven't made a resolution,
quite a few just gave up before they tried, thinking it probably wouldn't work
anyway.
But what if I told you that a simple tip could significantly enhance your
ability to be successful this year? Keep reading, it's coming!
New research published last October in the European Journal of Social
Psychology found that people who were asked to adopt a confident posture
(back erect, chest out) before they expressed an idea were more persuaded than
people who were asked to slouch as they shared their thoughts.
Equally
interesting, in a series of 2006 studies, Dr. Roy Baumeister had already
demonstrated that working on your posture can help you in other self-regulation
endeavors (such as following a budget, eating healthy, exercising more
regularly, or pretty much anything else you might have picked for your 2010
resolution!).
These two findings are quite relevant at this time of the year. If you
can remember to sit and stand tall as often as possible, you may be improving
both your confidence in and your ability to stick to your new year resolution.
Easy strategy, lots of impact! Not to mention, you'll look better and
avoid back pain in the process!
So go for it! Head above shoulders, shoulders above hips, tummy in...
looking good! :-)
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Fitness & Nutrition
Thursday, December 10, 2009How to Avoid Feeling Lazy and Dull This Holiday Season
Yep! Holiday season is started. With endless party opportunities,
chips, mashed potatoes, gravy and creamy desserts will almost be a daily
occurrence for the next few weeks. Other
than the few pounds you might gain,
are there other consequences to this temporary change of diet?
There are - and they might be quite more significant than
you think.
New research shows that after just a few days
of high-fat diets, our muscles get lazy and our memories get worse.
Here's how this was discovered. Lab rats were assigned to one of two
conditions: low-fat versus high-fat diets.
Only 4 days into the experiment, the muscles of the rats in the
high-fat
condition became less able to use oxygen, making their hearts work
harder and
discouraging them to be physically active.
Equally important, these rats made significantly more mistakes while
finding their way out of a maze they knew, showing that their memory
was also weakened. In other words,
eating too much fat impedes high physical energy and impairs cognitive
abilities.
"It's
nothing short of a
high-fat hangover," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Journal."
That being said, there is no need to become a low-fat
freak (in fact, I have a few
convincing arguments against it!). So
here's the bottom line: pay attention. If you know there will
be nachos and cheese dip this afternoon, make a point to avoid fatty
meals and
snacks the rest of the day. And remember: fats that harden in the
fridge (like butter) and trans fats are the worst ones
for you.
There
is an important connection between what we eat, how our brains function, and
how our bodies perform. The link is
direct and tough to ignore - unless of course, you've already eaten so much fat
in the past few days that you can't think straight!
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Business & Leadership
Wednesday, November 25, 2009How Thanksgiving Can Boost Organizational Performance
I recently heard fantastic news while on a conference call hosted by the
International Positive Psychology Association. The guest speaker was Dr.
Kim Cameron, and he started his call with a very interesting question.
Seeing that the stock price of about 80% of corporations who downsize in a bad
economy dropped, he wondered what the 20% of organizations whose stock price
did not drop was doing differently.
His research showed that an organization's virtuousness makes the
difference. By virtuousness, Cameron means the extent to which the
organization is benevolent, highly ethical and strives for excellence, as well
as the extent to which its employees flourish, experience flow and vitality.
Dr. Cameron then studied whether implementing new virtuous practices could
improve performance, and found statistically significant relationships between
virtuous interventions and:
- productivity
- quality
- innovation
- customer loyalty
- employee retention
- profitability.
If you
thought fulfillment and ethics were touchy-feely concepts unrelated to the bottom-line, think again. Turns out all
those values Mom taught you make a lot of business sense in the end.
Employers, why not give heartfelt thanks to your employees for all their
support and hard work this Thanksgiving? After all, what would you do
without them? Employees, I'm sure your boss isn't perfect, but I'm also
persuaded he or she does a few things you appreciate, and making that known
will help you get more of it. As Dr. Cameron's research shows, getting
the good vibes flowing abundantly can only benefit the organization overall.
Want to implement a few virtuous practices in your organization? Email
me: info@SmartsAndStamina.com. In the meantime, I'd like to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving. And sincere thanks for being here and reading me!
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Balance & Fulfillment
Saturday, November 14, 2009How to Avoid Being Stuffed Like a Turkey on Thaksgiving Day
Do you tend to overeat at Thanksgiving dinner? Most of us
do. By a lot! We like to indulge, we feel we deserve it, and the
food reminds us of warm memories, so resisting just doesn't seem possible!
But then we feel stuffed, bloated, guilty, tired and the after-meal party just
isn't as enjoyable. Know the scenario?
If
you'd like to make things different this year, quit trying to resist.
Why? Because while you are telling yourself to stop eating, your brain
wiring for eating is activated, even if the verb don't precedes
it. That's why resisting something is really difficult. It increases tension,
uneasiness and dissonance. It requires a ton of self-regulation, which is
an internal resource of which we have a limited quantity. So when the
self-regulation runs out, we give up and dig in!
Instead, turn your focus to a positive and appealing alternative.
Thoughts like "I'm savoring family time" or "I really want to
make gratitude the main event tonight" will stimulate enjoyable behaviors
other than eating, thus helping you make smarter choices as you approach the
dining table. Better yet, it will help you focus on what really matters -
your family, and giving thanks.
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Balance & Fulfillment
Wednesday, November 04, 2009Little Known Way to Avoid the Flu
Because a day in bed is not part of the game
plan...
There already aren't enough hours in a day, let alone being slowed down by a
cold. You've read a hundred times that you should wash your hands -
check. My previous newsletters have already mentioned that lack of sleep will impede
your immune function so you try to get enough Zs - check. You buy
probiotic yogurt because your doctor told you it is an ally in cold prevention
- check. What else can you do to avoid being the next victim of the swine
flu?
New research led by Sheldon Cohen, PhD has monitored a group of participants'
mood for a week before injecting the virus of the cold in their noses (sounds like fun, right?).
They then kept participants isolated in a completely sanitized hotel room for a
few days, and examined who developed the cold versus who didn't, as measured by
level of mucus produced and immune response activity.
Turns out that people who were most positive prior to being
infected were least likely
to develop the cold. Equally interesting, the less happy participants
were also more likely to report unfounded symptoms. In other words, the
better your psychological health, the better your objective and subjective
physical health.
So here's the easy strategy: research by Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, shows that
initiating random acts of kindness is an effective way to increase one's
happiness. For better results, try different ones on different days.
This is great news - and it deserves to be spread as quickly as the cold
itself! Since we know that emotions are contagious, I recommend you pass
it on: the more people around you lift their moods, the easier it will be for
you to do the same.
Top
Show All » FULL ARTICLES » Business & Leadership
Tuesday, October 27, 2009Simple Leadership Tip You Can Use Today
This article is © 2009 PositivePsychologyNews.com - Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar.
Are your employees eager to work for you each and every day? Few leaders can answer this question with a confident yes. Here’s a tip to help you be one of them.
Many of us envision the ideal leader as someone who is physically and mentally strong. Someone who gets things done. Someone who is invigorated and invigorating, and often who succeeds equally well in their personal and professional lives.
We may not think of it at first, but that is the portrait of someone who knows how to capitalize on their strengths and who has developed the mindset of a winner. It implies a person who has enough self-respect to cultivate sensible food, exercise, and sleep habits and enough respect for others to give them the opportunity to do the same.
When we imagine this ideal leader, we envision the opposite of the overstretched, impatient and nothing-but-work mentality that is so common. Yet, a lot of business people still think of the overstretched attitude as reflective of good business acumen. Revisiting this whole concept is long overdue.
A Leader’s Job Is to Make People the Best They Can Be
It is how employees perform that determines to a large extent whether companies succeed. To maintain first-class performance levels, employees need to be in good mental and physical health. For that reason, positively encouraging staff members to adopt healthy lifestyles deserves a seat amongst leadership strategies.
And it works. In an address to the International Positive Psychology Association, Barbara Fredrickson shared the results of a loving-kindness meditation research she led in 2005 in a corporate setting. Commenting on her results, she mentioned that compliance rates amongst participants were higher than ever anticipated by anyone involved in the project. Curious, I asked what she thought was the main reason accounting for such high compliance rates. Her answer? Even though participation in the research project was optional, employees felt more inclined to stick with the program because it was available at work.
What this means to leaders is not only does a healthy workforce render better results, but due to the contractual nature of their relationship with employees, leaders are in a particularly good position to encourage their teams to achieve successful lifestyle changes.
Concrete Application You Can Use Today
Here’s
a very simple yet effective leadership tip to start integrating healthy
behaviors with business strategy. Start a new spreadsheet. On the
vertical axis (all the rows), write down the names of your employees.
On the horizontal axis (all the columns), write behaviors you want to
encourage consistently in interactions with your staff. For example,
you might want to give recognition more often (readers of this online
publication know that gratitude matters!) or remind your team of a
timely priority (current promotion, specific deadline, customer
satisfaction, etc). Other ideas may include expressing trust,
providing a challenge, or encouraging the use of one’s strengths. Also
as column headers, write health behaviors you want to encourage in your
employees (sleeping enough hours, turning blackberries off during meetings, making time for a nutritious lunch, etc.).
Then each time you encourage an activity in a column for a specific employee, put a check mark in the corresponding box of your spreadsheet. Samantha seems more energetic than usual today? Give her kudos, then keep track for yourself with a check mark.
At the end of the week, you may notice that you failed to reinforce certain key behaviors. Or you may be really good at giving recognition to a few employees, but not to others. Assuming everyone is deserving of appreciation to some extent, this reality check will help direct your attention towards your praise-deprived team members and make it up to them.
This technique enables you to adjust your practices so they support the leader you want to be, and helps you reinforce the behaviors you want to see. Equally important, it keeps you accountable for the behaviors you are encouraging in others. Overall, it puts you in a great position to improve and enhance your relationships with your employees.
“The leader who exercises power with honor will work from the inside out, starting with himself.” – Blaine Lee
“Be the change you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi
Images:
Clock courtesy of Inno’vison
Happy employee courtesy of Edwin Dalorzo
References:
Fredrickson, B. (2009). Address at the International Positive Psychology Association World Congress.
Fredrickson, B. (2009). Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive. New York: Crown.
Lee, B. (1998). The Power Principle: Influence with Honor. New York: Fireside.
Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2003). The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. New York: Free Press.
Posted By: Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar @ 5:21:15 PMTop
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Balance & Fulfillment
Friday, October 23, 2009What Would You Do With An Extra Hour Today?
Did you know that changing just one simple habit could dramatically
increase the quality of life of the vast majority of American adults?
Not only would it perk up their mood, but it would also improve their health,
benefit their marriages and increase their work productivity.
Want to know what it is? Very simple.
TV watching is now the most common hobby in America and the number 1 predictor
of bedtime. In other words, it's what's keeping us up at night.
Literally and figuratively.
Yes, a ton of research over the past 30 years
shows that watching too much TV is associated with increased snacking, smoking
and drinking. It correlates with less physical and sexual activity.
People who watch more TV are more likely to be obese and to suffer from
hypercholesterolemia. They tend to engage in more social comparison and
to feel depressed more often. Their ability to concentrate is also
reduced. In short, people who watch too much TV are less satisfied with
their lives, and they have good reasons to be.
How Much Is Too Much?
According to the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), the maximum
number of hours per month of TV watching for ideal health is 30 - or an average
of one hour per day.
TV certainly serves a purpose, but if you are an avid watcher, here's my
question to you: is it really worth that full commitment? Are there no
other activities that would be worth your time? How about reading?
Walking? Calling distant friends and family members? Learning
something new? Building miniature airplanes with popsicle sticks?
Imagine all the possibilities: what could you do with an extra hour or 2 today?
Top
Show All » NEWSLETTER ISSUES » Balance & Fulfillment
Monday, October 05, 2009Sleep Tight Tonight: 2 Strategies to Get More Zs
If you've been a reader of my newsletters for a while, you know that getting a full 7 to 8 hours of sleep
every day is important not only to your energy levels, but also to your memory,
mood, motivation, productivity and immune system. (For those of you who
may have missed the info, please see my article Beauty Sleep and Optimal Performance in the Balance & Fulfillment section under Full Articles).
Some of you may even have already read my top 6 tips for getting a good night's sleep (also in the article mentioned above). These suggestions work for most people most of the time, but
not for all people all the time.
So how can you get your full dose of shut eye if you are going through a
particularly stressful period and your mind can't stop racing at night?
Easy Strategies To Get More Zs:
1- Have a light night-time snack. But not just any
snack! You need a carbohydrate-rich, low glycemic index snack, such
as a whole grain toast, an apple, a peach or a small bowl of oatmeal.
Here's how it will help: carbs facilitate the production of serotonin in your
brain, and serotonin is responsible for sleep regulation, so carbs will help
prep you physiologically.
2- Try a sleep-inducing meditation. Not to worry, there's no need
for out-of-body or any other esoteric experiences. Just get in a
comfortable position, turn the lights off, maybe light up a candle and focus on
breathing deeply for a few minutes. For extra encouragement, play this
youtube video: Sleep Music. I recommend you
turn your computer screen off so it doesn't project bothering light while you
have your eyes closed. Focusing on nothing but your breath will help you
get ready for bedtime mentally.
Once mind and body agree that it's time to fall asleep peacefully, there should
be no stopping you! Try it out and let me know how it worked!
Top
Show All » FULL ARTICLES » Business & Leadership
Friday, September 25, 2009When Overworking Leads to Underperforming
596 words, 2 minutes reading time
This article is © 2009 PositivePsychologyNews.com - Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar.
I was headed to a conference last week and I knew it would be a long drive, so I brought an audio tape. This time I listened to an older one, curious to see if business had changed. The author of the 1985 publication promises to deliver street smarts and to train listeners on “what they don’t teach you at Harvard business school.”
One of his recommendations in particular didn’t shock me because it is somewhat typical, but it really is shameful when considering its full and inadvertent consequences.
This executive declares, “I like it when I call the office at 10 at night and people pick up. I like it when I call on a Sunday afternoon and people are there. I like it when I come to the office on Monday morning and people know the results of sports team in distant parts of the world [his business is sports-related]. To me, this shows commitment.”
Counter-Productive Expectations
Employers still holding such expectations are in for a rude awakening. When individuals are encouraged to work virtually every waking moment, there is little opportunity for them to get a nutritious meal or enjoy a workout – two ingredients that can help boost productivity. No surprise our country is plagued by simultaneous epidemics in obesity, in physical inactivity, bringing along with them a long list of serious diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and atherosclerosis – to name just a few. The US Surgeon general declared that over 300,000 Americans die prematurely each year due to lack of physical activity and poor nutrition.
Being overworked also impedes the ability to get sufficient sleep. According to scientist William Dement, "sleep deprivation is now the most common brain impairment" Hence, when work impedes sleep, the unintended consequence is reduced performance.
Personal lives also suffer from work-life imbalance. Feeling depressed is now so common that the World Health Organization finds depression to be a leading cause of disability. Anti-depressants are now the most common drug prescription. Since we know that psychological well-being is a good predictor of productivity, lack of work-life balance is clearly counter-productive in the long-term.
For the CFOs and other “show me the money” readers, let’s take a look at the numbers. Right now in the US, health care costs are increasing faster than inflation, GDP or average organizational revenues.
Hiring more employees therefore weighs heavier on the wrong side of the
balance sheet and enterprises have a hard time growing as a result. As
if this weren’t enough, Dr. Ron Goetzel, Director of Cornell
University’s Institute for Health and Productivity Studies warns that presenteeism costs can outweigh an employer's medical costs – ever been on Facebook during work hours?
Downward Spiral
With increased costs and reduced productivity, employers are hard-pressed to increase performance, which seems to reinforce the need for long hours. Employees get blackberries so they can respond to email 24/7. Multi-tasking is now the name of the game, but it augments stress more than it does productivity. As anxiety increases, so do our depression rates, our waist lines and, our health care costs.
Now of course overworked employees are not solely responsible for these conditions, and clearly there are times where a little extra push is necessary. But overall, employers would be better served being part of the solution, not the problem.
Sustainable Success
For an organization to be successful and sustainable, contributors at all levels have to thrive long-term. To the extent that everyone’s contribution is necessary, everyone’s physical, emotional, mental and relational energy matters.
Good health is an intrinsic part of good performance. That’s what I’d like to see added to the curriculum of business schools.
Images:
Images are courtesy of Marie-Josée Salvas for one-time use with this article.
References:
Blair, S. (2009). Lecture presented at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Boyle, M.A. & Long, S. (2007). Personal Nutrition, Sixth Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Dement, W. (2000). The
Promise of Sleep: A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital
Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night’s Sleep . New York: Random House.
Quote above from p. 231.
Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2003). The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. New York: Free Press.
Ratey, J. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
Wright, T.A., Cropanzano, R. Denney, P.J. & Moline, G.L. (2002).
When a Happy Worker is a Productive Worker: A Preliminary Examination
of Three Models. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science.
Posted By: Marie-Josée Salvas @ 3:33:44 PM
Top
Next » |
Last »» |
Records 1 to 10 of 44 |