Tenacity...

Tenacity... Grit. Determination. Persistence.

Four words that mean pretty much the same, but tenacity wins hand down when it comes to the sort of consistent application that takes and shapes an idea and makes it a reality.

Buzz words come and go. Happiness was around for a while. And then Resilience. During difficult, recessionary times resilience certainly has its place but it's tenacity that could make all the difference to whether or not you succeed with your idea. Not letting go, but holding on to it, exploring it, shaping it, developing it and believing in it is the only way to transform the abstract into reality. Otherwise it remains just an idea.

Reading about David Karp, the man who created the blogging website Tumblr (36 million users, 40 billion views a day) I am struck not so much by his idea for the website he produced, but by his tenacity in exploring its possibilities, developing it and staying with it while others might have thought... what's the point of another blogging website?

Whether you take an existing idea and make it better or dream up something completely new, whether it's Tumblr or Spanx, the difference between the ideas we know about and the ones we don't is that someone, often an individual, just kept plugging away with it until it became a reality. The original idea may come in and out of focus, but it remains at the core to be explored, shaped, developed and kept alive, coming to fruition often just slightly ahead of the market curve. Then you hold your breath. But along with that first 1% of inspiration came 99% of perspiration: it seems the old cliches hold true. Tenacity works.

It doesn't really matter what you want to do - create a new product, run the marathon, compose the next Bohemian Rhapsody, improve an exam grade, write a book - out there are a whole host of things that seem somehow so obvious now, it's hard to imagine a time when they didn't previously exist, but all it takes is the first step, and the next, and the next... And the next.

That's tenacity.

Sleep...

Sleep... that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care, the death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, chief nourisher in life's feast.

So said Shakespeare and a new study just published by Vielife, the health and productivity company that carried it out, suggests that a third of UK workers suffer from poor sleep and are putting their jobs before their health, counter-productive though this might be.

This is echoed by the US's National Sleep Foundation's 2012 American poll, cited recently on the Huffington Post, and as long ago as 2008 the online health site NetDoctor identified lack of sleep, and its causes, as a perennial problem.

Sleep is essential to restore the body and mind. Deep slow-wave sleep, when our brain moves into delta waves, is imperative: this is the restorative sleep that we all need and without it, we suffer both physically and mentally. In order to compensate for chronic lack of sleep, we produce more stress hormones (adrenalin and cortisol) which revs us up and consequently makes it more difficult to sleep. Stress hormones are designed for short, sharp (fight or flight) responses, not for sustaining you against chronic levels of sleep deprivation caused by your lifestyle.

Stress caused by chronic sleep deprivation is also inflammatory (hence the secretion of anti-inflammatory hormone cortisol) - which causes damage to the cells of the body, and permanent long term damage over time. Consistently high levels of circulating cortisol are also a neurotoxin, which may go some way to explain the increase in degenerative brain damage that results in diseases like Alzheimer's. There's also a correlation between chronic sleep deprivation and heart attacks and strokes, not to mention weight gain and diabetes.

It's not easy, though, to reverse those habits that cause chronic sleep problems. Once your stress thermostat is set at high, and you have adjusted to it, it takes time to turn it down to the point where your adrenalin-fueled, pounding heart rate no longer keeps you awake at night. So used are we to the anxious, 3 am thoughts that keep us awake, we are somehow loathe to let them go and our incredible ability to adapt can even make bad habits possible. It's insidious, this slow glide towards a chronic sleep problem and, at first, the lifestyle changes you make may not immediately yield the results you seek. Give yourself time - but persevere, you will benefit greatly from better sleep, both in the short and long term.

To improve your sleep, and consequently your health and productivity, check out the following top tips:

• physical exercise - factor in a daily dose, even if it's only a 20 minute walk - but avoid excessive exercise late in the day

• reduce your daily intake of caffeinated drinks - coffee, colas and ban Red Bull - it takes time for an exhausted liver to rid your circulation of caffeine, so cut down gradually but get to a point where you have seriously reduced your intake and nothing caffeinated after 3pm

• eat regularly and eat slow-release carbs - hungry bodies go into stress mode more easily which equals more stress hormones, which will aggravate sleep problems

• take time off from work before you go to bed and keep your bedroom work, TV and mobile phone (turn if off, so that 3 am text from a well-meaning 'friend' doesn't wake you!) free

• keep regular hours - going to bed and getting up the same time every day helps set your internal clock - at least 5 nights out of 7 - you may have to adjust this over time to adapt, but it's worth it - and so are you

• aim for 7-8 hours which, for most of us, will mean we need to go to bed earlier...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-volpi-md-pc-facs/sleep-tips_b_1389778.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/01/chronic-sleep-deprivation-uk-staff?INTCMP=SRCH

What the Dickens?

"Today's children have very short attention-spans because they are being reared on dreadful TV programmes. They are not being educated for long attention-spans." So says Charles Dickens' biographer, Claire Tomalin in yesterday's Independent newspaper.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/every-pupil-should-read-dickens-says-minister-but-hes-too-hard-says-the-authors-biographer-6579525.html

I disagree. The ability to concentrate is innate, but like a muscle has to be flexed to extend its use, and reading Dickens is in fact a good way of helping our kids to do this.

Why?

Because Dickens writes in brilliant, episodic bursts designed to grab the attention with his larger-than-life characterisations, lots of dialogue, vivid descriptions and emotionally engaging plots. He wrote for the ordinary person, not the intellectual or the academic, and his storytelling reflects this making it more accessible than might be imagined at first glance. And, in spite of the possibly daunting extent of his books, the length of each chapter is actually quite short.

Great Expectations, for example, may be 440 pages long, but it's divided into 59 chapters, averaging 7.5 pages for each chapter. Any young person who can sit through a 30-minute episode of the BBC soap EastEnders will have no trouble romping through a few chapters, as a 15 year old I once coached found. He had to read Great Expectations for his English GCSE and was daunted by the task. How are you going to go about this, I asked? A chapter a day, was his initial, doeful suggestion. Pointing out that, given the number of chapters, this would take a while I suggested he read for as long as an episode of EastEnders a day, 30 minutes. Which he did, and discovered that he could easily do it and completed the whole book in his half term (7 day) break. He was delighted with himself, not least because he had enjoyed reading, and reading a classic like Dickens, and consequently found his GCSE work much easier having read the whole book. An additional pay-off.

So let's not patronise our young people and say they don't have what it takes to make reading Dickens possible. Instead, let's actively encourage them to read Dickens' novels for enjoyment and see them extend their ability to concentrate and improve their attention span.

And even if you've not read Dickens by the age of 11, there's still time. Dickens is one of those authors that can be read time and time again. His books are timeless in spite of their historical settings, because like any great fiction it is the lie we give to truth.

The Whitehall ll study - what to do?

The recently published Whitehall ll study, which focused on 7,000 British civil servants over a 10 year period, showed that amongst this group mental dexterity and brain power deteriorated earlier than was once thought.

There is no doubt that here in the Western world we are, on average, living longer, which creates an associated risk of age-related decline in our mental powers – but the news is not all bad. It was once thought older people lose thousands of brain cells every day, but this has now been contradicted by more recent studies. While neurons in some areas of the brain, like the basal forebrain, do decrease in number as we age, most neurons in the cortex are retained – while the hippocampus is capable of generating new cells until the day we die, if stimulated. Cell process can change, but this fine-tuning may result in gains in wisdom and patience.

While there is a sense of ‘use it, or lose it’ there are some effects of ageing on the brain that we can’t escape, because our bodies are deteriorating too. Our sensory organs – eyes and hearing, in particular – tend to deteriorate, too and with it the inclination to expose ourselves to new stimuli. The decline of other body systems will also have a similar effect. Our digestive system, for example, becomes less efficient at absorbing the nutrients we need from the food we eat, while the endocrine system becomes less efficient at responding to hormonal messages. Brain cells are also extremely sensitive to oxygen levels and, with a degree of arteriosclerosis typical of the ageing process, a reduced blood supply to the brain reduces the oxygen supply. A low-level but continuous oxygen deficiency will lead to a decline in neurons.

Without continuous external stimulation, new brain cell production slows down and with it brain plasticity because, as research has shown, it is the plasticity of the new brain cells that helps old brain cells function better. Neuroplasticity refers to the continued changes that can occur in the brain as the result of exposure to new experiences and learning opportunities, referred to by neurologists as ‘experience-dependent plasticity’. This was seen to occur after injury to the brain, where plasticity allowed new functional and structural changes to take place to compensate for the damaged area. This is what makes rehabilitation so important, and creates the possibility for regaining some, if not all, previously damaged function.

It was previously thought that the adult brain was hard-wired and no longer capable of new development. It had been thought that after critical periods of development, there would be no more change and that the sensory pathways were fixed, even while areas like the hippocampus – concerned with processing memory – continued to produce new neurons. Exposed to enough opportunities, it seems, we go on learning, process what we learn, and apply that learnt experience – all of which encourages the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus.

As we age, we tend to be exposed less to new experiences, become less active, and become less sociable so our opportunities, unless actively sought, for brain stimulation quite naturally decline. We are just less likely to try new things, so overall our opportunities for external stimuli decrease. But when older people are given tests that depend on vocabulary, general information and well-practised activities, they show negligible age-related deterioration. So while both low response times and short-term memory impairment contribute to lower scores on standard tests of intelligence for the elderly, removing this difference equals this out.

The Whitehall study shows that reasoning, memory and verbal fluency were the three main areas of cognitive ability affected. But when I read the following from India Knight’s piece in the Sunday Times on January 8^th 2012, describing what she was trying to do all at the same time, one could perhaps see why: “How can we be expected to remember anything at all, when we are multi-tasking to such an insane degree?” she wrote. “As well as wondering what to write about, I was also thinking about my elder son’s university offers; my younger son being late for school; how to re-hang the door of a kitchen cabinet that has come off its hinges; where to collect my daughter from… what to make for supper… I was also on Twitter, having six conversations at once and reading hundreds more, and the doorbell rang twice…” and so she goes on.

Six things that might help:

· stop multi-tasking, focus on one thing at a time

· eat nutritiously 3 times a day, sit down and relax while eating

· exercise – even a daily, 20 minute walk in natural daylight will help

· anxiety & depression create additional stress hormones that are neurotoxic: so address the worries in your life & learn to let go

· maintain good relationships with people you actually see & talk to

· sleep – good restful sleep is restorative, make it a priority every night

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/06/memory-loss-begins-at-45-says-study

You're really stressing me out!

Researchers from the University of Hawaii, led by Professor Elaine Hatfield, discovered that second-hand stress can be passed from person to person in the workplace - and it seems to be contagious.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/11/10/passive-stress-at-work-just-as-contagious-as-a-cold_n_1085758.html#s451010&title=Build_In_Planning

Washing your hands isn't going to deal with this sort of contagion, but recognising those personality types you work with that cause you stress may help.

"We call it 'people poisoning' and we describe the culprits as stress carriers," says Dr Chandra Patel, stress expert and author of The Complete Guide to Stress Management (Vermilion). "They induce stress in others without suffering it themselves."

Behavioural scientist Dr Robert Bramson has identified seven key personality types who cause difficulties and stress for those around them. Work out which category your tormentor fits into, the theory goes, and you can find coping strategies to reduce the stress they cause you.

1. Know-it-all experts ~ these can be divided into two types: those who might know what they are talking about and those who 'become' experts on the basis of very little information but present it with such authority that it's difficult not to feel overwhelmed by them.

2. Super-agreeables ~ they come across as good humoured and willing, but never deliver. They are exasperating because they agree everything in an effort to be liked, but constantly let you down.

3. Indecisive stallers ~ one of the most stress-inducing types, especially if you are dependent on their decision making to get your job done.

4. Pessimists ~ no matter what you say or how you present it, they always respond negatively and often respond with such conviction that it's difficult not to get hooked into their negative agenda.

5. Silent unresponsives ~ this type purposefully use silence to negatively control situations, undermining others, and it can be a form of passive aggression or a spiteful refusal to co-operate.

6. Hostile aggressives ~ basically these are the office bullies, who aim to get their own way by being hostile, using ridicule or sarcasm. Criticism tends to be personal and stress is induced by confusing, frustrating or even frightening you.

7. Complainers ~ constant whining while refusing to take steps to change those things they complain about is super stressful because they suck you in while ignoring helpful suggestions and wasting your time.

Whether it's your boss or a co-worker or someone who reports to you, identifying what it is about them that triggers a stressful response can help you see how to deal or avoid it.

It's also helpful to review your own behaviour, too and see what your default position is and how this might cause stress to those around you. None of us is infallible, all of us are human, but given how much time we spend at work - in the UK an average of 48 hours a week, way over the European standard - we owe it to each other to facilitate each other's and our own best use of time. Actively trying to reduce second-hand stress in the workplace helps us all concentrate and work better, more effectively and in less time.

Addicted to love... of Blackberrys, iPhones & other handheld devices!

Remember when someone called the Blackberry a Crackberry, apparently referencing its addictive properties? Emails, texts, Twitter & BBM are all great means of staying in touch - but do you ever feel that this virtual communication is dominating your life, getting in the way of what really matters - your real relationships with partners, family and friends?

Way back in 2005, a 19 year old from Paisley was treated for his addiction to electronic communication, which had cost him £4,500 in a year of sending around 100 texts a day, his job when he was sending up to 500 emails a day, and his relationship when his girlfriend could no longer cope with the barrage of messages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/oct/15/news.mobilephones

And also in 2005, a study from Hewlett Packard expressed alarm that 62% of British adults appeared addicted to their email - even checking messages during meetings, after working hours and on holiday - behaviour we now mostly consider as normal!

Tom Stafford, lecturer in psychology and cognitive science at the University of Sheffield and co-author of Mind Hacks, identified what it is that makes this so addictive. "Both slot machines and email follow something called a 'variable interval reinforcement schedule' which has been established as the way to train in the strongest habits," he says. "This means that rather than reward an action every time it is performed, we reward it sometimes, but not in a predictable way. So with email, usually when I check it there is nothing interesting, but every so often there's something wonderful - an invite out or maybe some juicy gossip - and I get a reward."

Now you understand the psychology and how you've been snookered into this addictive behaviour, it might make it easier to resist. Not least because if you are trying to get something done - a book read, a movie watched, an essay written, homework done - these constant interruptions seriously restrict your ability to concentrate and, in the long term, add to your personal stress.

I have worked with teenagers who tell me that they just can't turn off their phones, day or night, for fear of missing out. And when I see someone texting during a movie I just think - why can't you allow yourself some time out, some uninterrupted "me" time, for just 90 minutes? Or couples in restaurants not talking to each other but checking their messages or Twitter alerts, unable to drag themselves away from the demands of this insatiable device, and I wonder how it was that the idle thoughts of someone you don't actually know became more important than those of the person you're with?

In 2008 it was reported that Madonna and her then husband Guy Ritchie slept with their Blackberrys under their pillows. She apparently said, "It's not unromantic - it's practical." Six months later the marriage was over.

There's no doubt that it's brilliant to be able to have such immediate communication when we need it, but sometimes it's important to literally switch off from the virtual world and re-engage with the real world, before we lose sight of what really matters.

Breakfast

A boiled egg with dippy toast fingers may not be your choice for breakfast, but its combination of protein and carbohydrate will set you up well for the day.

But if your idea of breakfast is a black coffee and a cigarette or a latte and muffin, en route to work, you could be doing your body and your brain a serious disservice.

"The body's natural reaction to low blood sugar is to compensate by increasing adrenalin output," says psychologist and director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP) Sally Goddard Blythe. "Such a biochemical combination can affect attention, concentration and impulse control. In the long term, sharp swings in blood sugar levels increase irritability, fatigue and bouts of hyperactivity."

Do you really need more stress in your life, detrimental to your body, your brain and - somewhat inevitably - relationships with those around you, from your family to your work colleagues?

Slow release carbohydrates, combined with some protein to further reduce insulin surges, provide the fuel you need to start the day. Not only that, you are less likely to get a desperate urge for a sugar hit mid morning, when grabbing a full fat latte and muffin 'snack' could earn you a quarter of your daily calorific intake.

So what to choose to break your overnight fast and get your day off to a good start? A boiled egg and wholegrain toast is an excellent choice. But porridge oats, with skimmed milk and fruit is another choice. Oatcakes and cheese, perhaps? A bagel and avocado? Skimmed, live yoghurt with apricots? My personal choice is a helping of rolled oats, sunflower seeds (high in zinc), a handful of nuts (walnuts for omega-3, brazil nuts for selenium, almonds for magnesium) for protein and blueberries (lots of vitamin C and antioxidant anthocyanin) with some skimmed milk.

And if breakfast is important for grown-ups, imagine how much more important it is for children whose smaller, growing bodies and higher energy needs demand regular, nutritious meals.

So if all else fails, as you rush for the door thinking breakfast is a luxury you don't have time for, at least grab yourself that ultimate in fast food - a banana. Your body and brain will thank you for it.