Tuesday, February 27, 2007
The Workplace: U.S.-style work stress is spreading to Europe
’Take rest,” the Roman poet Ovid wrote about 20 centuries ago. “A field that has rested gives bountiful crop.” Unfortunately, not enough of us — employers or employees — are heeding the advice, and the result, according to experts, is wholly negative. “The stress tsunami is coming over from the U.S.,” said Cary Cooper, a professor of organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School in England. “It’s overwhelming Britain and Ireland, and moving to the Netherlands and parts of Scandinavia.”
Organizational Climate • Productivity/Performance • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Monday, February 26, 2007
Math anxiety saps working memory needed to do math
Worrying about how you’ll perform on a math test may actually contribute to a lower test score, U.S. researchers said on Saturday. Math anxiety—feelings of dread and fear and avoiding math—can sap the brain’s limited amount of working capacity, a resource needed to compute difficult math problems, said Mark Ashcroft, a psychologist at the University of Nevada Los Vegas who studies the problem. “It turns out that math anxiety occupies a person’s working memory,” said Ashcroft.
Anxiety • Productivity/Performance • (0) Comments • Permalink
Overly Anxious And Driven People Prone To Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Overly anxious and driven people are susceptible to irritable bowel syndrome, usually known as IBS, indicates research published ahead of print in the journal Gut. Those with IBS were significantly more likely to have reported high levels of stress and anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms than those who did not develop the condition. They were also significantly more likely to be “driven,” carrying on regardless until they were forced to rest - a pattern of behaviour which only worsens and prolongs the condition, say the authors.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
U.S Job Satisfaction Declines, The Conference Board Reports
Americans are growing increasingly unhappy with their jobs, The Conference Board reports today. The decline in job satisfaction has occurred over a period of two decades, with little to suggest a significant reversal in attitudes anytime soon. Today, less than half of all Americans say they are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61 percent twenty years ago. Today’s newest entrants to the workforce are the least satisfied with their jobs. Less than 39 percent of workers under the age of 25 are satisfied with their employment situation.
Organizational Climate • Productivity/Performance • (0) Comments • Permalink
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky discusses stress
\Why do humans and their primate cousins get more stress-related diseases than any other member of the animal kingdom? The answer, says Stanford University neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, is that people, apes and monkeys are highly intelligent, social creatures with far too much spare time on their hands.
Hormones • Immune System • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Motherly love may alter genes for the better
A good dose of motherly love may be enough to alter our genetic code, leaving us less fearful and stressed out in later life, researchers have found.
The striking claim suggests that rather than our genetic blueprint being fixed before birth our bodies can tweak its biological book of instructions, allowing us to adapt more swiftly to a changing world, instead of waiting millions of years for evolution to take its course.
New Study Shows Naps May Reduce Coronary Mortality
Is taking naps good for your heart? New research from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Athens Medical School (UAMS) in Greece suggests that the answer may be yes. In a new large, prospective study, researchers found that midday napping (siestas) reduced coronary mortality by about one third among men and women.
Rotten to the core: How workplace ‘bad apples’ spoil barrels of good employees
Look around any organization and chances are you’ll be able to find at least one person whose negative behavior affects the rest of the group to varying degrees. So much so, say two University of Washington researchers, that these “bad apples” are like a virus to their teams, and can upset or spoil the whole apple cart.
Health at Work • Organizational Climate • Productivity/Performance • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
A Small Part of the Brain, and Its Profound Effects
The recent news about smoking was sensational: some people with damage to a prune-size slab of brain tissue called the insula were able to give up cigarettes instantly. Suppose scientists could figure out how to tweak the insula without damaging it. They might be able to create that famed and elusive free lunch — an effortless way to kick the cigarette habit. That dream, which may not be too far off, puts the insula in the spotlight. What is the insula and how could it possibly exert such profound effects on human behavior?
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Study: Thousands of children still having major problems after Katrina
Up to 35,000 children—one-third of those across the Gulf Coast still displaced by Hurricane Katrina—are having major problems with mental health, behavior or school, a new study indicates. To make things worse, many of their parents are depressed as well, leaving them less able to help the children, said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness and president of the Children’s Health Fund, which conducted the study together.
Children • Depression • Parenting • PTSD • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Terror stress effect ‘widespread’
Terrorist attacks have widespread effects on people’s mental health even when they are not directly involved or are far away at the time, experts say. They found that after an attack in an urban area, 11 to 13% of the general population may suffer post-traumatic stress during the following six weeks. In the review, Chris Brewin, professor of clinical psychology at University College London found that 30-40% of people directly affected by terrorist action are likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and at least 20% still experience symptoms two years later.