How do I switch off from work?
Do you check your voicemail or emails when you are on holiday? If you are able to unplug totally from work while on holiday, then you will be more productive when you return to work. That’s according to Professor Cary Cooper of Expedia, the world’s largest online travel agent. Here are seven of his tips for relaxing while travelling:
1 Out-of-office: Set up the out-of-office facility on your email.2 Try some meditation: Do breathing and visualisation exercises on the plane to help you relax.3 Mindfulness: Practice some mindfulness on your holiday – really notice your environment.4 Have a conversation: Talking to local people will help you ‘decompress’ from work, see life from another perspective and get the social aspect that helps us feel well.5 Exercise: Exercise releases feel-good endorphins that help you relax.6 Eat well: A healthy diet equals a healthy mind.7 Schedule free time: Don’t make plans for every day, that way you won’t feel pressurised to do too much.For travel tips, visit Expedia’s Facebook page on www.facebook.com/expedia.ie.
Two more hospital become smoke-free
The smoking shelter outside the main entrance at Wexford General Hospital was ceremoniously dismantled on St Valentine’s Day.
Love your life and your loved ones and give up smoking was the message from hurler Tom Dempsey, who launched the policy with Mayor George Lawlor. This was to mark the hospital’s tobacco-free policy. Smoking is no longer allowed anywhere on the campus. Staff have been trained in giving smoking cessation advice to patients. St Luke’s General and Kilcreene Orthopaedic Hospital are also now smoke-free. The HSE aim to have all acute hospital campuses tobacco-free by 2015.
Wheelchair backup needed urgently
Wheelchairs are essential to someone with a disability and are as important to them as medication is to an ill person, a study in the University of Limerick has found.
Wheelchairs are not being provided quickly enough and are not being fixed quickly enough when they break, it was found, and services are ad hoc around the country.
“A wheelchair becomes a person’s legs and is a person’s freedom,” Dr Rosie Gowran of UL said.
“It’s essential for survival and should be seen as a priority. As one person said, when the wheelchair breaks down it’s like cutting their two legs off.
“Many Irish children are currently sitting in wheelchairs that are too small for them. This could have major consequences for their development.
“This is a human rights issue and a national review of wheelchair services is needed as a matter of public priority.”
Why night shifts throw the body into chaos
Scientists at the Sleep Research Centre in Surrey have linked night shift work to higher rates of type two diabetes, heart attacks and cancer. They also found that it affected hormones, body temperature and athletic ability as well as mood and brain function. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, followed 22 people as they moved from normal work hours to that of a night-shift worker.
Tea can ease stress
There are many pros and cons to drinking tea, but did you know that research has found it can help ease your stress? Scientists at City University London have found that the simple act of putting the kettle on can reduce stress levels by up to 25%. An experiment placed volunteers in a stressful scenario and those who were given tea straight afterwards showed a 4% reduction in their stress levels. However, those who got no tea showed a 25% increase in anxiety.
• Source: The Social Psychological Effects of Tea Consumption on Stress: Drs Cross and Michael.
Powered-up ice cream
Paginini, the Wexford-based ice cream company, has launched a functional ice cream enriched with a protein called FitFuel Nourish. It is designed to help hospital patients recuperate. It has also launched a protein-enriched ice cream called FitFuel Perform for fitness enthusiasts and athletes. The products have won a Bord Bia Innovation Award. See www.paginini.ie for more information.
Book focus
Fabulous Jelly
By Susannah Healy
(€12.99) Mercier Press
In Fabulous Jelly, author and psychologist Susannah Healy describes the triumphs and failures of her own weight-loss battles before she learned to use her professional experience to design a plan that worked for her. Three stone lighter now, she shares her secrets about how to work with your brain and not against it when trying to lose weight, using research from neuroscience and cognitive and behavioural psychology.
Motherhood and Infertility in Ireland
By Jill Allison
(€39) Collins Press
For a comprehensive book on the story of infertility and the development of reproductive technologies in this country, get your hands on a copy of Jill Allison’s Motherhood and Infertility in Ireland: Understanding the Presence of Absence. It includes stories of women and men facing infertility and examines the forces that shape the idea of motherhood in Ireland and more.
How do I switch off from work?
Do you check your voicemail or emails when you are on holiday? If you are able to unplug totally from work while on holiday, then you will be more productive when you return to work. That’s according to Professor Cary Cooper of Expedia, the world’s largest online travel agent. Here are seven of his tips for relaxing while travelling:
1 Out-of-office: Set up the out-of-office facility on your email.2 Try some meditation: Do breathing and visualisation exercises on the plane to help you relax.3 Mindfulness: Practice some mindfulness on your holiday – really notice your environment.4 Have a conversation: Talking to local people will help you ‘decompress’ from work, see life from another perspective and get the social aspect that helps us feel well.5 Exercise: Exercise releases feel-good endorphins that help you relax.6 Eat well: A healthy diet equals a healthy mind.7 Schedule free time: Don’t make plans for every day, that way you won’t feel pressurised to do too much.For travel tips, visit Expedia’s Facebook page on www.facebook.com/expedia.ie.
Two more hospital become smoke-free
The smoking shelter outside the main entrance at Wexford General Hospital was ceremoniously dismantled on St Valentine’s Day.
Love your life and your loved ones and give up smoking was the message from hurler Tom Dempsey, who launched the policy with Mayor George Lawlor. This was to mark the hospital’s tobacco-free policy. Smoking is no longer allowed anywhere on the campus. Staff have been trained in giving smoking cessation advice to patients. St Luke’s General and Kilcreene Orthopaedic Hospital are also now smoke-free. The HSE aim to have all acute hospital campuses tobacco-free by 2015.
Wheelchair backup needed urgently
Wheelchairs are essential to someone with a disability and are as important to them as medication is to an ill person, a study in the University of Limerick has found.
Wheelchairs are not being provided quickly enough and are not being fixed quickly enough when they break, it was found, and services are ad hoc around the country.
“A wheelchair becomes a person’s legs and is a person’s freedom,” Dr Rosie Gowran of UL said.
“It’s essential for survival and should be seen as a priority. As one person said, when the wheelchair breaks down it’s like cutting their two legs off.
“Many Irish children are currently sitting in wheelchairs that are too small for them. This could have major consequences for their development.
“This is a human rights issue and a national review of wheelchair services is needed as a matter of public priority.”
Why night shifts throw the body into chaos
Scientists at the Sleep Research Centre in Surrey have linked night shift work to higher rates of type two diabetes, heart attacks and cancer. They also found that it affected hormones, body temperature and athletic ability as well as mood and brain function. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, followed 22 people as they moved from normal work hours to that of a night-shift worker.
Tea can ease stress
There are many pros and cons to drinking tea, but did you know that research has found it can help ease your stress? Scientists at City University London have found that the simple act of putting the kettle on can reduce stress levels by up to 25%. An experiment placed volunteers in a stressful scenario and those who were given tea straight afterwards showed a 4% reduction in their stress levels. However, those who got no tea showed a 25% increase in anxiety.
• Source: The Social Psychological Effects of Tea Consumption on Stress: Drs Cross and Michael.
Powered-up ice cream
Paginini, the Wexford-based ice cream company, has launched a functional ice cream enriched with a protein called FitFuel Nourish. It is designed to help hospital patients recuperate. It has also launched a protein-enriched ice cream called FitFuel Perform for fitness enthusiasts and athletes. The products have won a Bord Bia Innovation Award. See www.paginini.ie for more information.
Book focus
Fabulous Jelly
By Susannah Healy
(€12.99) Mercier Press
In Fabulous Jelly, author and psychologist Susannah Healy describes the triumphs and failures of her own weight-loss battles before she learned to use her professional experience to design a plan that worked for her. Three stone lighter now, she shares her secrets about how to work with your brain and not against it when trying to lose weight, using research from neuroscience and cognitive and behavioural psychology.
Motherhood and Infertility in Ireland
By Jill Allison
(€39) Collins Press
For a comprehensive book on the story of infertility and the development of reproductive technologies in this country, get your hands on a copy of Jill Allison’s Motherhood and Infertility in Ireland: Understanding the Presence of Absence. It includes stories of women and men facing infertility and examines the forces that shape the idea of motherhood in Ireland and more.
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