Guest comment by Marvin

Research has been shown that person’s physical health can be affected with bad sleep. The amount of sleep one can get also influence one’s decision making. According to the study published in the March 1st issue of the journal SLEEP, sleep deprivation impairs the ability to integrate emotion and cognition to guide moral judgements.

The study was conducted by William D.S. Killgore, PhD, and the colleagues at the Walter Reed Army Institute of research. It was focused on 26 healthy adults who made judgements about the appropriateness of various courses of action in response to three types of moral dilemmas on two separate occasions: at rested baseline and again following 53 hours of continuous wakefulness.

Good Night Sleep

Lack of sleep can result in stress, lack of concentration, moodiness, memory loss, lower motivation and fatigue. It is important to get a good night sleep otherwise it may lead to different sleep disorders. More than eighty percent of people suffering from depression are suffering with sleep problems.

At present, one of the most common problems is Sleep deprivation. In fact the Better Sleep Council surveyed a thousand adult respondents and discovered that more than 30% of them confessed to not getting enough sleep each night.

Here are 101 ways to get good night sleep for those who experience difficulty in getting sleep. 

http://www.sleepdisordersguide.com/blog/good-night-sleep-101-ways/

Does Blogging Kill You?

There appeared a recent story in the New York Times by Matt Ritchel telling about how the stress of blogging killed three people. Perhaps you read his article about how The stress of blogging can kill you. Apparently a couple of guys Russell and Marc Orchant who were bloggers died and another guy who also blogged had a heart attack.

And so because of these three people who happened coincidentally to be bloggers are not faring so well physically, then .... blogging kills. I can't think of anything more far fetched, and ... well... dumb.

I'll just bet I could find three airline pilots that had some health issues recently due to "the stress of flying." There are plenty of doctors who drop dead of a heart attack. Does that mean that we should be aware of "the stress of practicing medicine?"

Writing a blog can be stressful. Well at least for some bloggers I guess. But I can easily think of a lot of jobs that are much more stressful. How about policemen? They joke to each other about how working as a policeman sure beats having a job. But believe me, it is nothing but stress out there. Yes, they get paid quite a bit of money, but... is constantly worrying about being shot not a great stress? I should think so. Ditto with the people who work in the armed forces. Isn't seeing your buddies whom you love and work with get blown to smithereens by a bomb pretty stressful?

I used to work. Work IS stress. There are certain jobs I just don't think I would like to do. Cleaning out sewer systems. Shoveling horse and cow manure. Being a stunt double and falling down stairs or jumping out of tall buildings.

Having a dumb boss is very stressful. Not only do you and he both know that he doesn't have a clue (well, maybe he really doesn't know) but if you don't do what he tells you to do no matter how ridiculous or stupid, he can fire you. And even if you do exactly what he tells you to, and it turns out to be the wrong thing to do... you get fired. Now that is stress.

How about getting up in front of large crowds and speaking? Isn't that stressful? Some people seem to think so.

Rush hour traffic can be a stressor. That idiot ahead of you who is cutting traffic and almost hits you. That sure stresses me out.

Listen folks, I do not think you can avoid stress. My little old crazy lady I was taking care of was stressed out because the neighbors were "Bothering" her. I told her, "Eve (not her real name) how could the neighbors possibly be bothering you? You have not been outside of this house in weeks. Why the neighbors don't even know you are here. They are ignoring you completely!!"

"THAT is how they are getting to me. By ignoring me."

People who work in all types of jobs are dying everyday. But that does not mean that their jobs kill them. Unless of course they are Marines, or Army or Highway Patrol or something. But I really cannot blame blogging for killing anybody. Come on folks... blogging???

Hey, I suppose there are some people addicted to computers who stay up so long online that they eventually wither away and die. I suppose it happens. But... can you blame computing for their death? I don't think so.

Folks, I guess if you do anything long enough... (maybe 80 or 90 years) it can kill you. But if you do NOTHING for 80 or 90 years, you are going to die anyway. So let us get real here. Blogging is not going to kill you. And reading blogs won't either. Or at least I hope it doesn't.

If reading this blog kills you, please write and tell me about it.

Let us get real,

David A. Youngs

Dealing with controlling people

You know what a controlling person is--it is somebody who feels that have to be in control of everything. If you are around them, then they want to be in control of you too! So how do you deal with a controlling person.

Well, if it is your boss, I guess you let them think they are in control. But for others, I just don't like other people telling me what I ought to do.

Once when I was in the mental ward, (I did not handle stress very well in those days) I decided that the medications I was being given were not helping me, and I wasn't going to talk any more of them. I had been flying pretty high in a manic phase, and the psychiatrist was trying his best to bring me down using drugs. But I enjoyed being manic. Therein was the problem.

The visiting psychiatrist on duty said, "well, if you are not going to take your medications, I cannot help you." To which I replied, "you are not helping me. You have never helped me, and you never will help me. Besides, I don't want or need your help."

Well, the psychiatrist thought he had to be in control. After all, I was the patient in the psychiatric ward, and he was the doctor in charge of said ward.

He said, "if you don't take your medications, I have no alternative but to put you in the insane asylum." I didn't care what the fool did. I still wasn't going to be pumped full of any more mind numbing drugs with what I perceived as horrible side effects. So I told him, "you do what you gotta do. I am not taking any more drugs."

Apparently he did not particularly like that answer. Within 30 minutes, 4 men in white showed up. Each of these men weighed at least 300 pounds, and was built like a line backer on a professional football team. Can you say "checkmate?" Guess what -- those men had come for me. I was given a huge shot in my buttocks that was supposed to knock down a horse, but I was so angry at this event which I saw as invading my personal space, I successfully resisted the drug. Now I was not only high, I was very angry. I never did see that particular psychiatrist again or I might have had a conversation with him in which he would have realized he was NOT in control. It was probably a good thing I never saw him again, or I might be writing this from jail.

Fortunately, a nurse found out about the power play that was going on, and routed me to a half way house instead of the insane asylum. Too bad--I was looking forward to the adventures in the insane asylum. But as my mother carefully pointed out later, it really doesn't look good on your medical records to have been housed in an insane asylum!!

From this incident, I finally figured out that it is far better not to directly challenge controlling people. Just let them THINK they are in control and then go on with your life, doing what you planned to do anyway. This works for bosses too, unless they find out later you did not "obey" them. Then they might fire you to retain control. But if they fire you, they can't control you any more!!

Good luck with controlling people, and I hope you are not trying to be one. It is a very difficult position because nobody will like you.

David