One of the benefits of shift work is that it often provides a wage premium. Since we pay for these premiums with greater health risks, we should use the money wisely.
The smart thing to do is invest any extra funds in an earlier retirement, escaping shift work as early as possible. But if we aren’t satisfied with our quality of life, early retirement isn’t likely to help much. Which begs the question, can we buy happiness?
In Pursuit of Happiness
…and missing by a wide margin.
Although we are more wealthy and enjoy more comforts now than any other time in human history, this has not translated into increased happiness. Why? We chase the wrong things.
When we exchange money for happiness, we do so in the following ways:
- buying consumer items
- buying time to pay for help (by, say, hiring people to do tasks you don’t enjoy)
- buying accompanied experiences (for example, going on vacation with a loved one)
- donating charitably or giving to friends and family
The evidence is clear that, although people tend toward the first, much greater happiness comes from the other three.
And it’s not just our spending. We’re also failing in how we approach our relationships. Social media is a poor replacement for real connection.
Mounting evidence shows that media and technology use predict deleterious psychological and physiological outcomes, especially among young people. This is particularly true in the case of social-media use.
Want to increase your happiness? Look no further than this quote from Harvard psychiatrist George Vaillant:
“Happiness is love. Full stop.”
His research shows that those who report having the happiest lives are those with strong family ties, close friendships, and rich romantic lives.
Are We Trading Our Happiness for Modern Comforts? | The Atlantic
Cede Your Mind
It’s not always easy to get the recommended amount of sleep. But if the research is any indication, it’s a smart goal.
“This is the first study to show that adults who complain of insomnia and sleep objectively fewer than 6 hours in the lab have a twofold increased prevalence of mild cognitive impairment, particularly cognitive impairment associated with vascular contributors such as stage 2 hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or stroke,”
Insomnia With Short Sleep Linked to Cognitive Impairment | Medscape
Due to an Hour?
The clocks rolled back this past weekend and, for many countries, it could be the last time.
Scientists have been calling attention to the damaging effects of the time changes—which include a general reduction in mental and physical well-being, as well as a potential increased risk of serious complications, such as strokes and heart attacks, soon after the shifts. There is also evidence of increases in traffic fatalities and harmful medical errors shortly following when clocks are moved forward in the spring.
Governments around the world have been in discussions about scrapping the seasonal clock changes and sticking to one time—either permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving. In the U.S., many states are considering, or have already passed, legislation to adopt one of the two… Last year the European Parliament voted to abolish the time shifts, but the member states of the European Union have yet to agree on how to implement the decision.
Although I commend governments and the scientific community for taking these ill effects seriously, this is only a one-hour time shift, twice per year. What does that say about our schedules? If one hour is serious enough for a ban on daylight savings time, what of regular eight and twelve-hour time shifts? What of constantly living out of sync with the rise and fall of the sun?
Until robots can replace us all, there will be no such ban on shift work. In the meantime, we’ll have to educate ourselves on circadian rhythms and limit our risk as much as possible.
Governments Worldwide Consider Ditching Daylight Saving Time | Scientific American
Embrace the Calendar
Is your current measure of productivity how many items you checked off your to-do-list? If so, you’ve noticed how much easier it is to add things to the list than actually check them off. The result is an ever-growing reminder of our unaccomplished goals.
Instead of keeping a to-do list, try building a schedule instead.
People are awful at predicting how long a task will take them to complete—hence our habitual failure to finish the tasks on our to-do lists. From now on, measure yourself not by what you finished, but whether you did what you said you would do, for as long as you said you would, without distraction.
Be a Schedule Builder, Not a To-Do List Maker | Nir & Far
Sweet Sauce o’ Mine
When reaching for a salad dressing or dipping sauce, many people take a quick glance at the fat content and choose accordingly. But low fat isn’t always the smart choice. This is how much sugar is in some of your favorite condiments.
Whoa, There’s *This* Much Sugar In A Few Squirts of Your Fave Condiments? | Greatist
Versatile Vaccines
Did you get your flu shot yet? If so, you may have provided yourself with a little more protection from coronavirus. A new paper revealed that workers who received a flu shot during the 2019-2020 flu season were 39 percent less likely to test positive for the coronavirus as of June 1, 2020.
The paper is in line with some other recent studies that point to similar effects.
Vaccines are known to work by stimulating the adaptive immune system, causing the body to make antibodies that can recognize and attack a specific pathogen if it is encountered again. But recent studies suggest that some vaccines also train the body’s faster-acting and less specific innate immune system, improving its ability to fight off many kinds of infections.
However, the research is preliminary and doesn’t provide definitive evidence.
“As far as telling people, ‘You should go get a flu vaccine because it can protect you from COVID,’ that’s a little bit of a stretch at this point,” Foxman says. But, she adds, people should still go get the flu shot—because, at the very least, “it’s going to protect you from the flu.”
A Flu Shot Might Reduce Coronavirus Infections, Early Research Suggests | Scientific American
Stay healthy-
Jason Glenn