Self-conscious Brits finally stop worrying about what other people think of them at the age of 46, according to a new poll. A survey of 2,000 adults aged 55 and over found they feel comfortable in their own skin when they turn 42, and become content in their careers aged 40. As a result of […]
The post 72% of Brits Feel More Content as They Finally Stop Worrying About What People Think of Them in Their 40s appeared first on Good News Network.
When the recent volcano eruption in Iceland proved to be substantially more harmless than first thought, people began to visit the crater to see what it was like. For the first time in more than 800 years, Mount Fagradalsfjall began discharging molten lava after Iceland had experienced 50,000 earthquakes in the lead up, bracing locals […]
The post Spontaneous Spirit of Humanity Takes Center Stage Around Erupting Iceland Volcano—WATCH appeared first on Good News Network.
This is the heartwarming moment a group of police officers surprises a boy with a little tractor after thieves stole his favorite toy. 4-year-old Gerald Philbrook was delighted when big-hearted cops gave him a brand new, replica John Deere. Police swung into action after Patrol Sergeant Andrew Brooks read Gerald’s dad’s Facebook post explaining how […]
The post Compassionate Cops Replace a Beloved Tractor For 4-Year-old After it’s Stolen—WATCH appeared first on Good News Network.
What’s 6 years old, zips through the air with gravity-defying ease, and wears a pink princess dress with her crash helmet? Australian skateboarding phenomenon Paige Tobin. For this mighty girl, dizzying 12-foot drops are a piece of cake. The pint-sized powerhouse recently beat out the competition in the 9-and-under category to win the King of […]
The post Phenomenal 6-yo Skateboarder Performs in Pink Party Dress and Leopard Print Helmet appeared first on Good News Network.
Over the course of the pandemic, the landscape of education has drastically changed, but that hasn’t kept one brilliant girl whose dreams have never been earthbound from reaching for the stars. While most pre-teens are navigating the challenges of middle school, at age 12, Alena Analeigh has already earned her high school diploma and is […]
The post She’s Starting College at Age 12, With Plans to Be a NASA Engineer appeared first on Good News Network.
Benjamin Kuo enjoys looking at photos and figuring out precisely where they’ve been taken. He happily admits that being a satellite mapping enthusiast is a “very weird hobby. But recently, his quirky interest may just have saved a California man’s life. Rene Compean was hiking alone in Angeles National Forest when he realized he no […]
The post Lost and Desperate Hiker Saved by Man’s ‘Very Weird’ GPS Hobby appeared first on Good News Network.
A British couple who spent nearly $100,000 converting a massive American yellow school bus into a luxury home are now offering the unique dwelling for sale through a raffle. Lucy Stevens and Glen Carloss bonded over their love of American cars on their first date, and even spoke about a shared dream of converting a […]
The post Couple Spends Nearly $100k Turning School Bus Into Dream Home — Now They’re Raffling It Off appeared first on Good News Network.
Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free […]
The post This Week’s Inspiring Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’ appeared first on Good News Network.
How many sandwiches does it take to make a pyramid? Three. How many sandwiches does it take to bring your mom on a trip to see the pyramids? Considerably more. Still, that didn’t stop one devoted son from raising enough bread—and cheesesteak—to make it happen. Gloria Walker always dreamed of traveling to Giza to see […]
The post Son Sells Thousands of Cheesesteaks to Give Mom Last Dream Trip to See the Egyptian Pyramids appeared first on Good News Network.
After saving the life of a little boy who fell on the tracks, an Indian railway employee went viral for his kindness on the Internet. Now he’s being praised once again—this time for giving the boy’s family money the Ministry of Railways gave him as a reward. Though he has his own family to take […]
The post Rail Worker Who Saved Child From a Train Now Donates Half of His Reward Money to Boy’s Family appeared first on Good News Network.
A small boy is holding his mother’s hand as they make their way across a railway platform. Weighed down by a heavy burden on her back and hampered by limited vision, she loses her grip. The child tumbles onto the tracks just as an approaching train barrels toward the station. But in the blink of […]
The post The Moment an Indian Rail Worker Saves a Child at the Last Moment From Oncoming Train appeared first on Good News Network.
You’ll want to set aside a little moon-gazing time this Monday evening—as April 26 is set to be the night of the Super Pink Moon. The best time to see it is as it’s appearing over the eastern horizon. At that point the Moon will appear a deep tangerine, then a steady gold, then pure […]
The post Spectacular Super Pink Moon Set to Rise Next Week—Here’s How to Photograph It in the Night Sky appeared first on Good News Network.
Sports fans love to root for the underdog, and golf lovers are no exception. At this year’s Masters Tournament when a low-ranked player rose up to take top honors, he became an instant hero here in America, and back home in Japan. Ranked at Number 25, and without a PGA win since 2017, oddsmakers pegged […]
The post After 4 Winless Years, He Won the Masters and Became the First Japanese Man to Win a Golf Major appeared first on Good News Network.
When a suspected burglar broke into a restaurant in the early hours of a Saturday morning, the last thing they must have been expecting was a show of kindness from the owner. Owner Carl Wallace is a special sort of person. When he found his restaurant’s front door smashed in, and surveillance footage of the […]
The post Restaurant Wants to Give Burglar a Second Chance – Offering Him a Job Application appeared first on Good News Network.
Have you ever wondered about the effect of long working hours on your health, wealth, relationships, and overall well-being? It’s no surprise that hard work has been idolized as something that gets you all the success you could ever want. Unfortunately, what most of society thinks about the idea of “hard work” are long working hours.
Our upbringing has thought us that long working hours show dedication, commitment, and perseverance. But when the need to work starts to interfere with health, personal happiness, and social functioning, it becomes a weight around our necks.
It’s understandable that when famous successful people brag about working long hours, we follow their lead. We believe that it will do it for us as well. When someone like Elon Must, the CEO of Tesla Motors and founder of SpaceX, proudly announces that 100 hours a week highly improves the odds of success, one might think that that’s the definite way to success.
But there is one thing that has been proven—the long-term negative effects far outweigh the short-term gains from working longer hours.
What reseach says about working long hours? Find out here:
Given all these, there’s no wonder that more and more countries are looking into possibilities to reduce working days and working hours to boost productivity.[5] Companies that have a four-day workweek have found that it results in productivity increases because of reduced employee stress and improved focus.[6]
There are 3 main reasons why people work long hours: money, pressure, and resources.
Have you ever wondered about the longer effects on your overall well-being of working long hours? I’m sure you can come up with some obvious ones. Agitation, tiredness, exhaustion are just surface damage.
Everything is interconnected in our bodies—one change affects the whole system. If you lack sleep, you are less productive, your make more mistakes, and the quality of your work drops.
To help you stop working long hours, let’s first look at the disrupting effect it leaves in our lives, business, work, and overall well-being. These are the 4 points that are worth your attention.
You don’t need an expert to tell you that long working hours are negatively affecting your health. Your body can’t run without refueling with food, rest, sleep, and exercise. When you work long hours, you don’t have time to refuel your body with the fundamentals it needs for optimal performance.
A new study of more than 143 ,000 participants found that those who worked 10 or more hours a day for at least 50 days per year had a 29% greater risk of stroke for both men and women.[7]
There have also been many studies done that show a direct correlation between long working hours and heart problems. Another research showed that employees working 40 to 55 hours per week have a higher risk of stroke compared to those working 35 to 40 hours per week.[8]
Aside from the stroke, there are many other health implications if you don’t find time to rest and refuel your body. These include sleep debt, diabetes, heart diseases, and obesity.
But it’s not only the long working hours. Apparently, irregular work hours and shift work is linked to negative effects on health including disruption of our circadian rhythm, sleep, accident rates, mental health, and the risk of having a heart attack.[9]
Other studies have found that these health concerns cost businesses $300 billion thanks to lowered productivity, absenteeism, and actual healthcare costs.[10] Evidence also suggests that long working hours are associated with the risk of injuries and accidents.[11]
Your mind is working hard every day. It means it also needs to rest. Long working hours mean more pressure on your mind and less time for it to rest.
Many studies over the years have shown a clear link between long working hours and increased stress, complaints, insomnia, depression, overeating, and excessive drinking. Several studies have found that working more than 55 hours per week increases the chance of experiencing depression and anxiety.[12]
It’s no news that socializing is necessary to keep mental health healthy. However, with long working hours, relationships suffer. Being too busy at work takes away time you can spend with family and friends. This leads to decreased concentration and thus, lowers productivity. No matter how long you spend on your work desk, you will achieve almost nothing.
Aside from long working hours’ effects on your work pace, your children might begin to underperform academically and behaviorally if you can’t devote time to them.
Regularly working long hours results in poor work-life balance, leading to lower job satisfaction and performance as well as lower satisfaction with life and relationships [13]
More time at work means less time for yourself, your family, your social circle, which are huge sources of emotional support.
Several studies showed that long working hours decrease happiness, motivation, and life satisfaction.[14] The need to work long hours also harms family and social relationships and can increase family conflict.[15][16]
It is wrong to assume that putting in long working hours will help get more work done. The general belief that working longer hours will help you get more done has been proven wrong. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that while employees in Greece worked 2042 hours in 2014, employees in Germany not only worked 1371 hours in a year, but they were also 70 percent more productive.[17] It is also very interesting that managers couldn’t tell the difference between the employees who had worked 80 hours per week and those who pretended to.[18]
Author Jonah Lehrer, in his book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, wrote: “If you’re an engineer working on a problem and you’re stumped by your technical problem, chugging caffeine at your desk and chaining yourself to your computer, you’re going to be really frustrated. You’re going to waste lots of time. You may look productive, but you’re actually wasting time.”
If you’re leading a team, your performance will also reflect on their work. With decreased productivity leading becomes more challenging.
Ron Friedman, in his research on long working hours impact on leading, concludes that overworked leaders make poor decisions and impaired judgments and have difficulty keeping their emotions in check.[19]
This is a fast road to a decrease in profits, revenue, and client satisfaction. Therefore, it’s not cost-effective to work more than 10 hours per day. But what’s also interesting are people’s perceptions regarding long working hours and time demands. Voluntarily opting to work longer hours as opposed to being pressured by one’s employer can translate into big differences in health and well-being. This can help explain why some people who work extended hours may display poorer physical and psychological well-being compared to others.
Here are 10 suggestions on what you should start doing to get more done without overstretching your working hours and break the bad habit of working long hours. Even though changes will not happen in one day, with these suggestions, you can make sure that long working hours don’t become accruing pattern sabotaging your success.
It’s important to take the time to plan properly. When you do things as they come your way, you’re not only wasting your time but also putting in more effort into completing the tasks. Taking the time to plan out your day, week and month will give you much-needed structure with a clear path to take to reach your set goals much faster.
Take advantage of technologies that are at your disposal. There are so many tools that can help you plan, remind, and automate for better organization of your time.
It’s more difficult to fit your self-care routines in your plan when it’s already filled with work obligations. So, start with your non-negotiable self-care rituals that will provide much-needed rest of mind and body to recharge and boost your productivity. By adopting this habit, you will soon realize how much more you can achieve because you’re recharged and focused.
Not everything is important. A to-do list is a great tool to remind yourself of the tasks that need your attention, but it can very easily go out of control making you feel like a failure because it just doesn’t seem to end.
Identify two to three priority tasks that need to be done today. These are the essential tasks, and the rest can wait. Remember to put these tasks in a manageable size. If the task is too big, it’s much more likely to procrastinate on completing it until you meet the deadline, making it harder for yourself to plan accordingly.
Helping your colleagues is great, but make sure that you are not paying a cost for it. If your work suffers because of it, take a stand and refuse. You will realize that you are not only helping yourself but also your colleagues by making them more independent.
Once you have decided to start work at a certain time and finish it at a certain time, keep yourself accountable and stick to these timings for your own sake. Getting up early might not be the most enjoyable thing to do, but it might be hugely beneficial. Most people find themselves being able to focus much better early in the morning. That helps to tackle top priorities before energy levels start to drop.
It’s important to train yourself to stick to leaving work on time. While you’re at work, give your 100% effort and you will not feel guilty about leaving on time.
Striving for perfection can be truly damaging. Instead, embrace your imperfections, give your best, and be at ease that it’s good enough. If you’re working long hours because you feel like your work could always be just a little bit better, it’s time to eliminate perfectionism. Decide how long a task should reasonably take and stick to it. Give your all during this time and you will be sure that it is good enough.
It’s the biggest time-waster that could very easily be eliminated, leaving you with more focus time to complete important tasks. Leaving your email open all day long is a very bad habit that keeps you distracted. Research shows that constantly monitoring your inbox promotes stress without improving efficiency.[20]. It’s simply because email notification tempts you to check what’s going on making you switch away from the task that you were doing. This forces your brain to work harder when you need to go back to your previous task.
There is so much information coming from so many directions that it takes a lot of work to keep up with everything. It’s great to be informed, but it’s very distracting. Decide what sources you want to keep consuming from and eliminate the rest. Limit the time you spend on each source to just have enough to be informed and then go back to your priorities.
While multitasking has been celebrated, it is highly damaging to your productivity and mental health. Multitasking is actually task switching. The more tasks you have to switch in between in a short time, the more exhausted your mind becomes. This leads to more mistakes, leaving you with more work to do later. The Guardian reports that multitasking increases the brain’s production of cortisol and adrenaline[21] This leads to stress doing damage to your health and productivity.
You will save much more time if you wait until you have enough of the same task to complete rather than completing tasks as they come along. It is a more efficient way that allows spending less time to increase productivity.
Long working hours might seem normal for those who are truly passionate about their work. If your work seems more like a hobby, you enjoy doing it every minute of the day. However, our body, mind, and overall well-being still need balance.
Working long hours occasionally is not bad, especially when you have urgent tasks you have to complete. The problem is when it becomes a recurring pattern. Looking for reasons behind it will give you clear indications on what areas need fixing. Career, success, money, and fame may be important, but everything has a price.
Long working hours don’t always translate to being more productive and successful. And the long-term consequences might cost much more than short-term gains.
Understanding your productivity flow and following it to achieve more in the time you have is important for work-life balance. Planning the time for yourself will give you a much-needed productivity boost and make you healthier and happier.
Featured photo credit: Victoria Heath via unsplash.com
The post Why You Should Stop Working Long Hours (And How To Stop It) appeared first on Lifehack.
Would you exchange $10,000 for a jar of applesauce? Unless the Golden Delicious apples it was made from actually contained chunks of real gold, probably not. But that’s just the reward one Washington state man received for returning ten grand he serendipitously found in the road to its rightful owner. Michael King had just taken […]
The post Man Returns $10k to Guy Who Left the Cash on His Bumper – And Was Given the Most Surprising Reward appeared first on Good News Network.
Kevin Mager was born without the part of his brain that connects the two hemispheres—and doctors suggested he would never walk or talk. But today, at 18, he sings, reads, runs, plays sports, and loves life. He has also become an advocate and source of inspiration for those with the same condition, called agenesis of […]
The post Doctors Thought He Would Never Walk or Talk, Watch His Reaction to Getting Accepted to College appeared first on Good News Network.
Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free […]
The post This Week’s Inspiring Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’ appeared first on Good News Network.
It’s been a few months since we had our last meteor shower, but the night sky is about to light up once again—with starry streaks brightening the night. This annual Lyrid meteor shower will begin tonight on April 16, and it’ll peak next week from April 21-22. The Lyrids are one of the oldest known […]
The post It’s Time to Watch the Biggest Meteor Shower of the Spring, Known for its Fireballs appeared first on Good News Network.
The limitations on travel during the pandemic has given many cabin fever, ad one aviation enthusiast in Scotland is relieving his frustrations in some extra curious ways. Pulling out an authentic airplane trolley, going back over Instagram airplane photos of past trips, and rolling up his sleeves, Nik Sennhauser has been recreating his favorite airplane […]
The post This Guy Missed Traveling and Has Recreated Airplane Meals to Get Through Lockdown appeared first on Good News Network.
A house is where people live but a home is where people are loved. Sometimes, the bonds of family have no relation to biology. That’s why when a group of fraternity brothers learned their “second mom” needed help to retire, she didn’t even need to ask. Jessie Hamilton worked as a cook at the Phi […]
The post Returning the Love, Frat Brothers Pay Off Mortgage For Their House Cook 30 Years Later appeared first on Good News Network.
A woman collecting shellfish was astonished to discover the largest dinosaur footprint ever found on the Yorkshire coast—likely belonging to a ‘Jurassic giant’ megalosaurus. 29-year-old Marie Woods was foraging for her dinner on Saturday when she stumbled upon an enormous footprint, believed to be around 165 million years old. Experts have now documented the find, […]
The post Woman Collecting Shellfish Discovers Dinosaur Footprint of ‘Jurassic Giant’ appeared first on Good News Network.
In spending his twenties dealing drugs in southeast Washington D.C. during the crack epidemic, Rodney Stotts would be the last person one would imagine as being interested in falconry. The ancient sport of capturing juvenile raptors and helping them survive to adulthood when they can take care of themselves, falconry mirrors his own experiences on […]
The post Falconry Saves Man from Life of Crime, Now he Helps Birds and At-Risk Youth Take flight appeared first on Good News Network.
Whether you’re dealing with a creative block on a personal project or you’re facing challenges in the workplace, finding sustainable solutions to problems is an integral part of personal and professional growth. As the British-Australian philosopher Karl Popper once said, “all life is problem-solving.”
As important as problem-solving is to success, not all approaches are created equal. The best problem-solving strategies ensure both efficiency (finding a solution as quickly as possible, with the minimum number of barriers) and effectiveness (finding a solution that actually solves the problem long-term).
To accomplish both, you may need to try out some new ways of seeing and handling challenges. Here are 8 surefire problem-solving strategies that work, no matter what you’re struggling with.
Staring down a big problem can feel overwhelming, especially when the stakes are high. That sense of overwhelm doesn’t just cause you to feel on edge, but it also compromises your ability to work effectively. Studies show when the stress response is active, the part of the brain required for problem-solving tasks essentially shuts down.[1]
To ease that stress and enlist the much-needed logical part of your brain, try breaking the problem down into smaller, individual issues you feel more confident tackling. For example, if you’ve missed your revenue goal two quarters in a row, try to resist framing the problem as “we’re losing money.”
Instead, identify the individual problems contributing to the larger one—for example, marketing, supply chain, or communication issues that may be at play. Then, work—slowly but surely—to overcome barriers in each area, ideally, in order of importance. Not only will you feel less stressed in the process (which leads to smarter decision-making), but you’ll also feel more motivated to press on as you gain a sense of accomplishment, one step at a time.[2]
I remember it clearly: I was sitting in my office, staring at the computer screen, trying to figure out where I went wrong in a line of code. Two hours in, and I wasn’t any closer to figuring out where I’d messed up (and, more importantly, how to fix it). Then, a colleague I’d planned to have lunch with came in. Almost instantaneously, she looked over my shoulder and saw the issue. I had to laugh—she hadn’t even been working on this project with me, but her fresh set of eyes solved my problem.
One of the most effective ways to reach a solution, faster? Don’t rely only on your own mind for an “aha” moment. Involving people who see the world differently than you—ideally, someone with a different skillset or from a different department—to chime in will help you more easily and quickly find the right approach.
Albert Einstein famously said, “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”
It sounds like common sense, but it bears repeating—you can’t solve a problem unless you know what the issue actually is. Before you start mapping out potential solutions, ask yourself, “why did this problem occur in the first place?”
For example, imagine one department in your business is consistently not meeting its goals. That’s certainly a problem, but it may not be the problem. When you dig a little deeper, you might find a need for better communication or more training.
Ensuring you have a deep and accurate understanding of what’s causing the problem will save you time working toward a solution and prevent you from having to backtrack to find a better one.[3]
One of the most important things I’ve learned as an entrepreneur: start with a clear vision of success. Before I launched my business, I envisioned what people’s lives would be like if my product succeeded. I try to follow the same approach when I’m tackling challenges.
Begin the problem-solving process with a clear understanding of what “success” would look like when the problem is solved. How will your company and team function if this problem isn’t an issue anymore?
Once you see how you want things to be, you can work backward to find practical ways to achieve that vision. For example, if you’re consistently frustrated by low morale among your employees, imagine what a motivated, positive team would look like in everyday operations. What do you want to achieve, and how would it change the course of your business?
By picturing your ideal situation, you can more easily pinpoint the steps you need to take to make it happen—in this case, perhaps implementing team-building events, more paid vacation, and incentives for reaching goals.
Enlisting other people’s perspectives can be a good way to find the answer you’re looking for. But if you’re attempting to tackle a problem with others, keep in mind the dynamic of the group.
Think back to your last Zoom or in-person meeting. Whose ideas do you end up hearing or applying most often? If I kept a running tab, I’d guess my most outgoing, assertive team members “win” these brainstorming sessions most often—simply because they’re not afraid to speak up.
If you’re hitting a wall in problem-solving, you’ll need to find a way to hear everyone’s voice. One way to do that is a silent brainstorming session. Invite team members to spend a designated amount of time coming up with solutions for the same problem. Then, have them share their approaches and ideas in front of the group, or individually with you.
When everybody has a chance to contribute equally—without the distraction of a lively discussion—you’ll be more likely to develop an effective problem-solving strategy and find the answer you’ve been looking for.
Can’t get a group together but feeling like you need someone else’s brain to solve the problem you’re struggling with? One of my favorite problem-solving strategies is to use someone else’s perspective to see all sides of a problem and potential solutions.
As you brainstorm, imagine you’re sitting at a table with different personality types and thinkers—for example, a critic, an optimist, an artist, and a data analyst. You can think of real people you know and imagine how they’d respond to the problem, or you can simply imagine people who think differently than you.
The idea is that by using your own creativity to adopt different perspectives on the same issue, you can more quickly reach an effective solution.
Process of elimination can be a helpful tool when you’re trying to figure out how to overcome a challenge—mostly so you don’t waste time “reinventing the wheel.”
Next time you come up against a problem at work, ask yourself (or someone else) if you or anyone else in the organization have encountered similar issues in the past. If so, what are the solutions people tried, and more importantly, did they work? If not, cross it off the list and keep brainstorming.
If the past solutions proved to be effective, then ask yourself one more question: “Do I have the resources to apply this solution in my current situation?” If the answer is “yes,” then you have a resource at hand—and you just saved yourself some time.[4]
It might sound counterproductive to step away from a problem you’re trying to solve, but doing so can actually save you time and help you develop an even better solution.
Sometimes called the “wanderer technique,” taking breaks has long been shown in research to boost creativity and attention span.
When you’re focused on (and stressed about) a problem, your brain can grow fatigued, which prevents you from finding innovative ways to deal with the issue. On the other hand, when you step away and think about or do something else, your brain can wander. Given some stress-free time with your unconscious mind, you can make connections you wouldn’t have if you were staring at a screen or notebook.[5]
As common as it is to encounter challenges at work and in life, it can be frustrating to spend time finding solutions, especially if you’re not sure if the solutions will be effective. By approaching your problem-solving with a bit of strategy and intention, you can both save time and find better solutions. It’s a win-win!
Just follow these 8 surefire problem-solving strategies and you’ll have higher chances of overcoming obstacles in your journey to success.
Featured photo credit: Annie Spratt via unsplash.com
| [1] | ^ | NCBI: Stress signaling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function |
| [2] | ^ | PsychCentral: 10 Problem-Solving Strategies That Work |
| [3] | ^ | Forbes: 14 Critical First Steps to Solving a Problem |
| [4] | ^ | Harvard Business Review: Are You Solving The Right Problem? |
| [5] | ^ | American Psychological Association: Give me a break |
The post 8 Surefire Problem-Solving Strategies That Always Work appeared first on Lifehack.
When it comes to “where babies come from” some tales of impending parenthood can be pretty farfetched: babies delivered via stork, tots turning up under cabbage leaves, infants arriving on the subway. But as hard as it might be to believe, that last one’s true—at least in part. In August of 2000, Danny Stewart was […]
The post They Found A Baby on the Subway—Now He’s Their Adopted Son appeared first on Good News Network.
An out-of-the-ordinary request made to the Make-a-Wish Foundation saw a teenage cancer survivor get a trip to a medieval castle to train a dragon. Belle Cress was even able to take the dragon home with her, since it was built and designed specifically to respond to her touch, face, and voice. Make-a-Wish Denver teamed up […]
The post A Marvel of Engineering, Girl Receives Pet Dragon Through the Make-a-Wish Foundation appeared first on Good News Network.
Homesickness is a malady with only one known cure. Going home. But sometimes the circumstances are against you. When that happens, people can resort to some pretty bizarre schemes to get themselves back where they long to be. At age 19, an unhappy Brian Robson was working in Melbourne, Australia but sorely pining for his […]
The post Man Mailed Himself Home in a Box From Australia—Now He’s Looking for the Pals Who Helped Him appeared first on Good News Network.
While the prospect of an empty nest is bittersweet, most parents look forward to some uninterrupted couple time when their kids finally fly the coop. But for one California husband and wife, rather than a cozy retirement, they found themselves feathering their nest all over again—with seven adopted kids. The odyssey began back in January […]
The post Nearly-Retired Couple Adopts 7 Siblings Who Just Lost Their Parents: ‘If not us, then who?’ appeared first on Good News Network.
Since the pandemic began, churchgoers have mostly been joining virtual Sunday services via Zoom and Facebook Live. Naturally, many have staying in their pajamas or comfy workout clothes to watch. La Verne Ford Wimberly, however, has not been one of those people. 82-year-old Wimberly has been joining her fellow parishioners at Tulsa’s Metropolitan Baptist Church […]
The post Despite Zoom Services, 82-Year-old Dresses Like it’s ‘Easter Sunday’ Every Week for Church – LOOK appeared first on Good News Network.
More than 60% of Americans say they feel optimistic that the pandemic will end before 2022, and they’re preparing themselves for a better future. A study of 2,000 adults found 58 percent of Americans also said that being at home during the lockdowns has motivated them to focus on self-improvement. 60% of respondents have dedicated […]
The post People Are Optimistic That End of Pandemic is Near—And They’ve Laid the Groundwork For a Better Future appeared first on Good News Network.
Over a million people from over 100 countries will take part Sunday in International Good Deeds Day. Launched 15 years ago in Israel as a small local event, the true spirit of dreaming big and getting things done has helped the project expand to include participants in 108 countries unifying for a day of good. […]
The post People in 108 Countries Are Joining Forces to Do Good on ‘Good Deeds Day’ April 11 appeared first on Good News Network.
Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free […]
The post This Week’s Inspiring Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’ appeared first on Good News Network.
At age 8, Lilly Bumpus is already a warrior. As an infant, she took on rare Ewing’s Sarcoma and won. The experience left her determined to take up the battle for other children fighting cancer. Her dream? To show them they, too can be strong. This year, Lilly took a huge step forward in making […]
The post This Cancer Surviving Girl Scout Broke the Record, Selling 32K Boxes of Cookies – With Proceeds Going to Sick Kids appeared first on Good News Network.
A big-hearted woman has helped three nonagenarian veteran pilot chums go on their dream “last hurrah” boys’ trip—without costing them a dime. Julie Pflaumer got a call from veteran and former pilot Jack Henderson to help him and two friends—also veterans and pilots—go to the Reno Air Races in Nevada. 90-year-old Jack was calling from […]
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Beetroots are vegetables rich in nitrates, antioxidants, and polyphenol compounds that have a role in improved cardiovascular function and exercise performance.[1] However, beetroot juice has limitations with storage and taste preference, and so other more convenient forms have been investigated. One of these forms is beetroot powder.
Beetroot powder is made by dehydrating or drying out thin slices of beetroot (to remove all the moisture) and then grinding them into a powder. If you don’t like the earthy taste of beetroot, then beetroot powder might be an alternative since it is more concentrated than fresh beetroot but with a relatively neutral taste. One fresh beetroot is the equivalent of approximately one teaspoon of beetroot powder.
Powdered beetroot can be added to sauces, smoothies, pasta, gnocchi, curries, cakes, muffins, or anything you choose to add nutrients and color to. Watch out that your urine may change color too! Due to the natural sugars in beetroot, it can also be used as a natural sweetener. Beetroot powder is even used in natural cosmetics.
One study looked at the total antioxidant potential, phenol compounds, sugars, and organic acids in beetroot juice, cooked beetroot, powder, and chips. They found higher amounts of total antioxidant potential and organic acids in the chips and powder compared with the juice and cooked beetroot.[2] However, it’s important to consider that it is a lot easier to take larger quantities of beetroot when powdered or juiced than just eating it and this means ingesting much more sugar.
While beetroot may have potential health benefits, it’s not clear if these are temporary or have long-term effects. More research is needed to answer this question and what the optimal dose is. Most studies have focused on beetroot juice, with only a handful of studies investigating beetroot powder. There hasn’t been evidence so far to support the benefit of beetroot powder on blood flow.[3]
Despite that, beetroot contains several different compounds with different properties. Here are the six health benefits of beetroot powder.
Firstly, beetroot powder is rich in nitrates. Nitrates have important roles related to increased blood flow, gas exchange, mitochondrial efficiency, and strengthening of muscle contraction.[4] By causing relaxation of the smooth muscles that encircle arteries and veins, nitrate leads to the dilation of these blood vessels, thereby lowering blood pressure. Nitrate medications are used for people with high blood pressure, angina, and heart disease to relax blood vessels, widening them to allow greater blood flow.[5]
A meta-analysis that combined 22 different trials and analyzed the results together found that additional beetroot juice significantly decreased blood pressure.[6] However, there isn’t evidence to support the long-term effects.[7]
Secondly, beetroot contains antioxidant polyphenol compounds that have anti-inflammatory properties. Antioxidants are molecules that have the ability to neutralize free radicals and protect against cell damage that can lead to chronic diseases. Eating a diet high in antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of chronic disease.[8] Different polyphenol compounds are different colors, that’s why you will often hear about eating a rainbow of fruit and vegetables.
Beetroot also contains betalains that have been found to have anti-cancer effects in cellular models in the laboratory.[9] Clinical trials are now needed to assess if there are potential anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects and the nature of these effects. While the anti-cancer effects of beetroot in humans aren’t known yet, including them in your diet may help and is unlikely to risk harm.
Beetroots are also a great source of vitamins C and B9 (folate). Vitamin C and folate have many important roles in our bodies. Vitamin C is required for the biosynthesis of collagen, which acts as a scaffold in the skin and ligaments. It is also has a role in wound healing and protein metabolism. Folic acid is vital for the production of healthy red blood cells, and cellular growth. Inadequate intake of vitamin C over a 3 month period can lead to scurvy, and smoking can further reduce the bioavailability.[10]
Beets also contain the minerals iron, manganese, and potassium. Iron has a vital role in the transportation of oxygen by healthy red blood cells. Over 40% of children worldwide have iron deficiency anemia and women of childbearing age are also at increased risk because of menstruation.[11] Potassium may actually prevent the harmful effects of eating excess salt (sodium chloride). Manganese has several roles including metabolism, bone formation, and the immune system. Beetroots are a great way of including all these micronutrients in your diet.
Fiber is such an important component of our diet, with most of us needing to eat much more to reach the recommended daily amount of 30g. For every 10g of fiber you eat a day, you may decrease your long-term risk of bowel cancer.[12]
Fibre also acts as a pre-biotic, providing food for the friendly micro-organisms in your gut called the microbiota. There are trillions of micro-organisms in your gut that are now known to play a key role in inflammation and both mental and physical health. Eating beetroots can help to increase your fiber intake and support a healthy gut community.
It’s clear that for relatively few calories, beetroot contains a variety of vitamins, minerals, nitrates, and antioxidants. For these reasons, beetroot is labeled as a “nutraceutical” and supplementation has become increasingly popular.[13] While most studies have looked at the effects of beetroot on blood vessel dilation, there are still many unanswered questions about other potential benefits.
Like all other supplements, there is very little regulation. Therefore, it is very difficult to be sure exactly what is included in the supplement or assess the quality. My recommendations for choosing a supplement are to check for a product license and always buy from a reputable company.
There are, however, no agreed benchmarks for quality or efficacy. How much and how often are also unknown at this time. Try to avoid powders that have added preservatives, sweeteners, or artificial flavorings. Consider whether an organic powder is worth the extra money to you. I would avoid powders that have added silica to avoid clumping. Some supplements now use 3rd party companies to verify the contents.
There isn’t an agreed dose of nitrate or beetroot powder, so while some powders do contain nitrate content, it is difficult to know exactly what this means in practice. The higher the nitrate content, the more likely it is to have a beneficial effect on raised blood pressure. But if you don’t have high blood pressure, it’s difficult to know if more nitrate is beneficial.
In summary, look for:
First, wash, peel, and grate your beetroots by hand or using a food processor. Then, place them on a tray, spread them out, and cover them with parchment or grease-proof paper to protect them from direct sunlight.
Leave to dry until there is no moisture left and shake intermittently so that it dries evenly. When it snaps instead of bending and feels dry, it is ready for the next stage.
The drying stage can take up to four days depending on the air temperature. To speed up the drying process, you can do this on low heat in a saucepan for 15 to 25 minutes or in the oven at no higher than 180 degrees Celsius or in a dehydrator. If you use the oven or on the hob, just be careful not to burn the beetroot.
The final step is to grind the dried beetroot using a grinder. It can then be stored in an airtight container, avoiding sun-light for up to one year.
Beetroot is a great vegetable that contains vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, nitrates, and fiber. The nitrates present in beets may lower your blood pressure in the short-term, but the long-term effects are not yet known. More research is needed to know about other potential benefits such as the effect on cancer.
So, while beetroot powder may have health benefits unless taken in excess, it is unlikely to have significant side effects. Large doses of beetroot, however, are associated with an increased risk of kidney stones.
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, taking beetroot supplements is best avoided as there isn’t sufficient safety information. Beetroots do also contain fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols or FODMAPS for short. These are types of carbohydrates that are hard to digest and can cause symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in some people. FODMAPS are thought to act as prebiotics, feeding the friendly micro-organisms that live in your gut (microbiota). So, for those people who can tolerate them, they are beneficial for a healthy gut.
Featured photo credit: FOODISM360 via unsplash.com
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When was the last time you found yourself experiencing one of these eight characteristics while working on a project?
Let’s be honest: have you ever felt this way? Most people haven’t, probably because they’ve never been in a peak state of “flow” that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes in his research on attention and peak productivity.[1]
Your undivided attention doesn’t occur through wishful thinking. It must be earned, created, and consciously accomplished by structuring your environment to facilitate the sustained brainpower needed for proper focus and concentration.
Through his research in understanding the “flow state” of mind, Csikszentmihalyi realized that to accomplish a peak state of focus and concentration, one must be fully committed to the pursuit and positioned within a specific set of key parameters to create this heightened state of euphoria and bliss.
Sadly, very few of us learned about these simple techniques and learning objectives in school, primarily because schools don’t teach you how to learn. They merely teach you the content you need to know.
Like most things in life, learning isn’t uniformly accomplished across the human species in the same way. Some may learn better through audio while others prefer video. Some may choose to read where others may prioritize being hands-on. There isn’t a “right” or “wrong” way to learn information, but there may be “better” ways to facilitate learning by increasing our attention span and mental endurance.
To truly maximize your brain’s ability to focus on a task and provide undivided attention to a project, we need to create an optimal environment and schedule our day with the proper intentions for success.
If this one were easy, then everyone would be doing it. Distractions are one of the easiest and more efficient ways to distract our focus and waste precious brainpower on tasks that yield little to no long-term benefits.
Simple activities like scrolling through social media, endlessly checking emails throughout the day, and scanning over at your phone to see your latest text messages can be a surefire way to prolong a project, especially since it takes around 23 minutes and 15 seconds for our brain to return to the peak state of focus after an interruption.[2]
So, why do we do this to ourselves? Because we love the thrill of dopamine.
Every time you get a new text, see a new email, or find out that you received a new like on your LinkedIn post, dopamine floods your brain and lights up an area of your brain called the Nucleus Accumbens.[3]
The Nucleus Accumbens is an integral part of our reward system (along with the ventral tegmental area). It lights up like a Christmas tree whenever something exciting happens in our lives, regardless of whether we perceive or experience it. It’s also the circuitry responsible for the high felt while taking recreational drugs, with scientists noting that there very few differences in the reward pathways between all of these tasks.[4]
So, if getting an email in your inbox could amount to the equivalent hit of dopamine as doing a line of cocaine, why should you stop doing it? Because it’s killing your productivity (and potentially brain cells).
Distractions are a surefire way to make your day more complicated, and it doesn’t just stop there. They also use up coveted brainpower and energy resources, causing the brain to switch from task to task, which is an inefficient use of neural activity. Switching from a task requires the brain to refocus, which also entails new circuits to be used, different pathways to fire, and more energy exerted to start up the new task at hand.[5]
When Mihaly Csikszentmihaly was doing his research, he realized that the power of sustained focus and undivided attention was accomplished by repetition, frequency, and intensity. As the saying goes, the more you use it, the easier it gets.
Eliminating distractions must be the first step in the process because the brain thrives off simplicity and can function at a higher level when it doesn’t continuously change focus.
Take a moment and think about that one thing you will never get back. And no, it’s not money, fame, or your ex.
It’s time.
Time is the most precious resource we have because regardless of your physical, social, or financial status, it’s the only constant we have that we cannot trade for. Time is of the essence, and sadly, most of us waste it on activities that provide short-term gains at the expense of long-term rewards.
To master our ability to focus and practice honing our skills for undivided attention, we must become masters of time management. And the best way to manage your time is to plan it out.
We should be scheduling out time for physical exercise, social media, checking email daily. The list could go on forever and usually does, especially when this schedule isn’t utilized. Keeping yourself honest will always be the best policy, so don’t forget to prioritize booking out time for hanging out with loved ones. This policy can be a very effective way to manage your most precious assets while recharging the batteries after a long day at work.
Even with scheduling, time management can become erratic and get away from us, which is why setting aside specific times for projects can be the ultimate time management hack to take your game to the next level.
The Pomodoro Technique, created by Francesco Cirillo, utilizes a simple formula for managing time by setting 25 minutes of designated space for performing one specific task at a time. This technique is simple yet highly effective and aligns with our current understanding of neuropsychology and how the brain processes information.
The old-school strategies of multitasking are outdated and unfounded in neuroscience as research continues to show that switching tasks is very time and energy-intense. It also depletes the brain’s energy reserves and slows down central processing within the prefrontal cortex—the brain region responsible for executive function, decision-making, and motivation.[6]
As you continue to switch back and forth between tasks, the brain becomes fatigued and error-prone, which can further delay progress and increase your chances of having to redo your work. Some research even estimates that task switching via multitasking can increase our error rates by nearly 50%, causing our tasks to take twice as long to finish.[7]
So, the next time your coworker starts to brag about their ability to multitask at their desk, enjoy the comforting feeling that you’re more likely to get the next promotion than they are.
The saying is true: “If you don’t use it, you truly do lose it.” It’s is a classic philosophy in neuroscience, specifically speaking about forming habits, optimizing physical and mental performance, and understanding how the central nervous system works in tandem with the body to execute activities.
Eliminating distractions and setting a daily schedule are essential steps for having undivided attention—and success. Still, these tactics can’t be utilized to their highest capacity if you approach your work feeling foggy, tired, in pain, or unable to motivate yourself to get ready to work.
The brain isn’t binary and far more complex than it may appear, but some tried and true principles will always remain foundational for success.
For starters, the brain thrives off of physical movement and exercise.[8] The best way to energize the brain is through physical activity because exercise can vastly improve blood flow, oxygenation, and neural activity in the brain’s executive processing regions. Exercise can also significantly impact our mental and emotional health, providing significant advantages for our overall well-being and a sense of purpose.[9]
Good brains also require good fuel to survive, which is why diet, nutrition, and giving your body a chance to heal can be advantageous for those who choose to utilize it. You wouldn’t choose to put regular unleaded gasoline into a high-performance race car, so why would you expect poor food choices to give you high-performance outcomes?
Your food choices provide fuel for your brain and body. More importantly, they also feed the gut bacteria that break your food into energy sources to produce neurotransmitters and optimize your immune function.[10][11]
These little bugs have taken on a lot of press over the last few decades as gut bacteria and altered gut microbiome composition have been implicated in nearly every neurodegenerative condition ranging from Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and even cardiovascular disease.[12][13][14][15] You need to feed your body the proper nutrients to fuel your brain for success.
And lastly, you need to sleep like your life depends on it—because it does. There’s a reason we sleep nearly a third of our lives away. Sleep helps us recharge our internal battery and facilitates the consolidation of memories, allowing us to update our brain’s software and maximize our memory stores for enhanced learning and exploration of ideas.[16]
Sleep also accelerates our body’s healing processes, with new research uncovering vast increases in the brain’s movement of cerebrospinal fluid as a way to take out the trash accumulated in the brain throughout the day.[17]
Knowing this information is great, but the application is where the magic happens. You need to create structured systems to elevate your standards and create your optimal work environment. Sadly, no one else can do this for you.
By owning your results and controlling what you can control, you will see your productivity skyrocket. And with undivided attention, you will see greater success levels, higher chances of advancing roles, and improved fulfillment in your work.
Being productive can be tedious, but anyone who has found success in their career will agree that most of their success resulted from the long hours of work where no one was watching. And always remember to keep your focus on things you can control.
Featured photo credit: bruce mars via unsplash.com
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