Stress
I’ve gotten in trouble at home more than once by saying, “You’re not sick, it’s just stress.” Turns out I was (as is so often the case) both right and wrong. Wired 18.08 (the one that also has the tell-all article about AT&T, Apple, and the iPhone network meltdown) has an extremely enlightening article about STRESS. I think the article’s description of the impact of stress on our lives, and vice-versa, deserves your attention. I hope you will read it and profit by it, whether you are a “stressor,” a “stressee,” or, like most of us, both.
A few salient points:
- It is not busyness in a job that makes it stressful, it is lack of control.
- Exercise only helps reduce stress if you want to exercise. Forcing yourself to exercise because you think you should causes more stress.
- Insufficient sleep aggravates stress, which in turn makes it hard to get to sleep the next night. Vicious cycle.
- Stress is like “a slow motion stroke,” with profound negative physical effects on the body and its resistance to disease.
- A stress reaction can reduce your memory and your ability to learn. Not good for the modern workplace.
Some ways to reduce stress (explained in more detail in the article) include:
- Make friends
- Confront your fears
- Meditate
- Drink in moderation
- Don’t fight
I’m telling you, you really need to understand the information in this article. E-mail the link to yourself as a reminder if you don’t have time to read it now.
And, hey: chill out. (Sadly, the article points out that my saying that to you does practically no good at all, and may even increase your stress. Sorry.)
Antimatter
I picked up a little light reading last week, a book called Antimatter by Frank Close, Professor of Physics at Oxford University. Although my undergraduate degree is in Physics, I stopped understanding it just beyond the part that helps you operate a pool cue. As a result, my degree, coupled with my lack of contemporary physics knowledge renders me neither physh nor phowl. This very readable little book has encouraged me to find a good overview of physics and catch up to the discipline.
I’ll let you know if there is anything critical for you to understand about antimatter.
Pratchett quote
I also bought another book in the Terry Pratchett Discworld series. Here’s a quote I found amusing, referring to a dwarf blacksmith’s belief in a higher power.
“Besides, when you hit your thumb with an eight-pound hammer, it’s nice to be able to blaspheme, It takes a very special and strong-minded kind of atheist to jump up and down with their hand clasped under their other armpit and shout, ‘Oh, random-fluctuations-in-the-space-time-continuum!’ or ‘Aargh, primitive-and-outmoded-concept on a crutch!’ ”
Adam
I’ll close with a cartoon that manages to combine marriage, math, weather, and work. (Click on the cartoon for a larger version.)
This cartoon caused me to wonder how many other jobs require actual prediction, especially in such public view. Most of us analyze, synthesize, publicize, innovate, educate, document, market, report, or just work through an action item list. I suspect few of us actually prognosticate like a meteorologist. Hmmm, that might make a good T-shirt slogan.
And on that note, adieu.