Science

5 Ways To Achieve Mindfulness At Work

Although mindfulness is often seen as consequence of meditation, it is however, not the only way to achieve it. Being mindful allows you to de-stress, stay focused and enjoy the moment.

There are various benefits to meditating at work. However, if you are looking for more subtle ways to achieve mindfulness at work, we show you how to do it!

Be Present

If you are consciously present, you work faster and better. The concept of mindfulness mainly requires counciousness and presence in the moment. For example, start the day with a clear idea, and immerse yourself entirely in doing each task. Take few moments before starting to organize your thoughts, and stay completely focused on what you are doing.

Avoid Multitasking

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a single-task person. In fact, research show that people who work slowly on a specific targeted tasks, usually tend to reach better results than some multitaskers.

Moreover, switching between data and information so quickly makes your brain tired faster. Psychologists said that when multitasking, you feel productive when in reality it’s inefficient.

Make Stress Your Friend

Stress is a normal reaction of your body towards the workload you have to do. However, stress can actually be used to your favor. In fact, research showed that people who believe that stress is needed, tend to have lower mortality rates, and better creativity. Use stress and a motivation that uses you to do your best, every time.

Work On Your Growth

Any job should be helping you grow professionally. If you have fixed mindset, then that means that you are more focused on quantitative data, and don’t allow yourself to grow in other areas. If you want to achieve mindfulness at work, it is key to embrace your qualities, yet adopt a growth mindset.

Be Grateful

Finally, being grateful is the door to being conscious and achieving mindfulness. It is important to count your blessings at work, and accept what you can and cannot change. Ask yourself questions about your job, and get to know what you love and what needs to be worked on. Cultivating gratitude will instantly release more positive thoughts that will help you enjoy the long hours at work.

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Here is What You Need To Know About The Coronavirus

The coronavirus is spreading in alarming rates. This lethal disease starts as a common cold, yet ends up with death. It first broke in the city of Wuhan in China, and in the matter of days it spread through the whole country. Few more cases were recorded in several parts of Asia, U.S and even Europe.

The Chinese government has now put a siege on Wuhan, disallowing any incoming or leaving flights. Coronavirus is the most dangerous virus since the break-out of Ebola in 2014. Here is what you need to know about it!

What Is Coronavirus?

China registered 41 deaths on Saturday morning, only for the death toll to double in 48 hours. Now, recent data estimates that over 2750 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus, from which 80 have died already.

The disease that was first related to contact with animals. However, more infected people appeared claiming they had no animal exposure. According to the World’s Health Organization, ”coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.”

Symptoms to Watch Out For

Although the disease first starts with a sore throat, runny nose and cough, not all those symptoms mean coronavirus. In fact, CoV targets the respiratory system, and causes difficulty in breathing.

However, if you have recently cameback from China, pay attention to the symptoms. In any case, it’s always better to get the test and make sure it’s just a simple cold.

How Does it Become Contagious?

Many experts are discussing how CoV could be transmitted from one person to another. Unlike other viruses that spread through physical contact and air, this one may be different. Actually, a Chinese doctor made the claim that you could get infected from the simple fact of having eye contact. The Chinese health minister warned people that you could get the virus before the other person even realizes they have it.

The Fast Spread of Coronavirus is Causing Panic Worldwide

In the light of how easily contagious CoV is, and it’s fast spread, the world is literally freaking out. As cases have been reported in the United States, France and other regions of the world, many countries restricted flights to Wuhan, and imposed airport tests in major cities. In order to treat all virus holders, China approved building a hospital in 10 days for those infected, given that the numbers are expected to keep rising.

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How Often Do We Need To Cry To Be Healthy?

Very few people in the world still see crying as a weakness. Now, it has officially been backed up with data and studies. How often do you cry? most importantly, how often do we need to cry? We break the answer to that in this article.

In addition to feeling absolutely relieved, science find crying a healthy activity? Why? Because ‘‘crying activates the body in a healthy way,” says Stephen Sideroff, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at UCLA.

Why Should You Cry When You Need To?

First of all, the study targeted both men and women. Yes, because let’s get rid of that idea than ”men don’t cry” as if we weren’t in 2020 already. Social pressure has affected many people, telling them that crying is a sign of emotional decontrol. However, psychology has been defending the healthiness, normality and benefits of crying.

Health Benefits of Crying

Japan is well aware of how crying makes you a better person, they created ”crying-clubs” so you can socialize over few tears. According to several psychologists, emotional tears release a higher level of stress hormones, as oppose to reflex tears like when you get something in your eye for example.

Moreover, the reason you always feel good after a crying session, is that crying your eyes out contains more mood-regulating manganese. At the same time, your body also releases tension and stress, as well as it activates your parasympathetic nervous system.

How Many Tears a Week?

Now that we’ve established that crying is great, let’s discuss how much of it should we do. In fact, have you ever wondered how often we need to cry? Biochemist William H. Frey in 1980, argued that women cry on average, 3,5 tears while men shed 1.9 tears monthly.

Furthermore, these figures have increased significantly in the past years. The American Psychological Association, the average time adults spend crying yearly is approx 2 hours and a half. So, if you are falling under this number, go watch ‘‘My sister’s keeper”.

Photos: Pixabay.

Can Sleeping Too Much Lead To Your Death?

Sleep has been a target area for several research and studies. Just like it’s recommended to get 7-8 hours of sleep per night, experts also warn about the side effects of sleeping too much. In fact, it has been found that sleeping over 8 hours a day can cause to an early death.

Researchers from Seoul National University, in South Korea shared their shocking findings, in a study that targeted over 133,608 adults. In this article, we summarize for you why can sleeping too much lead to your death.

What Is ”Too Much” Sleep?

Study leader Claire Kim defines ”oversleeping” as getting more than 7 hours of sleep per night. In fact, according to her findings, both categories of people who get more than 10 hours of sleep, or less than 6 hours, are in danger of premature death.

However, a healthy sleeping schedule is different based on age groups. Children for example, often need more hours of sleep than adults. The study analyzed the case of adults between 40 and 69 years old.

Naps Could Be Deadly

According to the findings of this research, both men and women who slept over 8 hours a day (yes, this includes long naps) were ”40 percent more likely to have at least three health conditions linked to premature mortality”, as claimed by Kim.

In addition, sleeping too much is related to increasing sugar levels in the blood, and lowering your cholesterol. Moreover, both significantly increase the risk of strokes, diabetes and early death.

Sleep Guidelines For a Longer Life

In order to avoid the consequences of sleeping too much on your health, try to organize your sleeping schedule. The study insists that adults need more than six hours of sleep daily, but less than 8 hours. However, men undergo more risk, as they have a 12 percent more risk of early death if constantly sleeping less than 8 hours a day. As oppose to women, who, in some cases, get away with sleeping less than the recommended amount.

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This Is What Alcohol Actually Does To You

Drinking a glass of wine or a beer could actually be beneficial to you. However, constant alcohol consumption is very damaging to your body. Researchers have been investigating moderate alcohol use, and how it shapes our social behavior. Moreover, the findings also showed how alcohol affects our body and mental health. If you enjoy drinking, then take a look at this, to know what alcohol actually does to you.

Alcohol Inhibits Brain cells

Although the common explanation is that alcohol kills brain cells, new studies reveal that it doesn’t go that far. However, alcohol does inhibit and damage brain cells. In a study conducted by Grethe Jensen, he revealed that pure alcohol obviously does so much damage to your liver, and can cause brain cells to die. However, alcohol beverages that have a lower alcohol concentration, leads your brain to affect the way your neurons get their firing triggers from glutamate.

It Makes You Seem More Intentional

In addition to damaging your body, alcohol affects your interactions and how you come off to people. The Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin surveyed about 100 men, and tricked some of them into believing they were drinking Alcohol. Then, they questioned how they’ve judged certain reactions. In conclusion, men who thought were drunk seemed to believe that the acts done by others, were in fact, intentional.

Moreover, if you wonder why we often forget what happened, that’s because the way the brain makes memories is far from comprehensively understood. But it does seem linked to N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid, or NMDA, the receptor for which alcohol seems particularly adept at interfering with, according to Braun.

Effects Vary Based On The Person

The research however showed that what alcohol actually does to you, varies from men, to women, to different age groups, and even genetics. If you drink with a full stomach, alcohol absorption is relatively lower. In addition, Alcohol dehydrogenase (AD) is more effective on men rather than women.

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Does Having A Dog Make You Happier Than Having A Cat?

The eternal debate between cat people and dog people, finally has a concrete answer. Research is now investigating the bond humans share with both animals. However, it seems like the findings confirm that having a dog does make you happier than having a cat.

Scientific Research Can Prove It

A series of studies realized by the University of Chicago, targeted both dogs and cats owners. Their investigation process was transmitted through their General Social Survey. They researched the pros and cons of having each a pet, then proceeded with self-esteem and emotions of each category of owners.

Eventually, the findings did confirm what a previous professor at Manhattan College said: Dog owners are happier.

Why Does Having A Dog Make You Happier Than Having A Cat?

Yes, the study did come to the conclusion that on average, dog people admitted to be more happy. In addition, the surveys conducted reflected that 36% of dog owners said to be ”very happy.’‘ As oppose to only 18% of cat owners were able to say the same.

Consequently, dogs transmit more positivity to their owners than cats do. Dog people have shown to be more extrovert and open-minded than those who only have cats.

Benefits of Having A Pet

Wether you prefer dogs or you prefer cats, having a pe in general is good for you. Actually, in a study done by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , “pet owners exhibited greater self-esteem, were more physically fit, were less lonely, were more conscientious, were more socially outgoing, and had healthier relationship styles than non-owners.”

Moreover, animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has been encouraged by many psychologists. Pet therapy is said to lower anxiety , ease depression and motivate you. Did you know that the University of Miami offers pet therapy to their students during midterms and finals?

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