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Ricky Gervais and the BBC’s stunningly successful sit-com “The Office” has been a huge hit around the world spawning countless spin off’s and remakes.

The fact is that the comic situation transfers across cultural barriers. The exact idioms of the language may alter but essentially we see people in the show that we relate to in our own workplace – sometimes we even see ourselves.

The people are not the only aspect of the show tat transfers, so do the situations the characters find themselves in. Do these two quotes from The Office strike a chord?

Jim Halpert: Because right now, this is a job. If I advance any higher, this would be my career. And if this were my career, I’d have to throw myself in front of a train.

Michael Scott: This is our receptionist, Pam. If you think she’s cute now, you should have seen her a couple years ago.

These lines may be funny yet they point to something basic and fundamental pertaining to the work place: stress and more specifically work related stress.

The UK Health and Safety at Work Executive (HSE); the UK government’s Work related health and safety body define work related stress as: “the adverse reaction a person has to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed upon them.”

A certain degree of stress is healthy, t keeps us on our toes and drives us to achieve. In essence stress will cause us to lead more fulfilling lives. The difficulty is here however, is how do we create a healthy balance of stress because too much stress and anxiety is certainly harmful to your health and well-being? What techniques can we apply to encourage stress and anxiety relief in our lives? Stay with me for a short while and we’ll look at 10 simple ideas to initiate stress and anxiety relief at work.

Tune Into Your Body

A simple idea it may be, but one that is the key to unlocking the box to the other stress and anxiety relief techniques that we shall examine. Be aware of the degree of stress that you’re experiencing at any one moment in time. First of all you need to know when your stress levels are rising.

Measure your stress level on a scale of 1-10. While you’re at home find a time when you are alone and when you can lie down with your eyes closed. Put on your favourite music for relaxing or just sit in silence, whatever works best for you. Just let your mind wander and do not seek to hold your thoughts, no matter how fleeting. After 10 minutes or so you should be aware of level zero stress.

this is the gauge for measuring all other stress levels. During the day check into the scale and not the level of tension that you’re feeling: are your shoulders hunched and tense; how does your gut feel, is it tight and churning; is your jaw clenched?

Take time to move

Movement is a great way to reduce stress levels. Just by getting out of your seat and moving around you will find that you will feel a measure of stress and anxiety relief. A brisk walk during your lunch break and a short jogging session at the end of the day will reduce tension. Generally aim to keep fit anyway.

Take time for deep breathing

Simply breaths deeply, inhaling through the nostrils, after holding the breath for a count of three exhale slowly through the mouth.

Take time to use your minds power of imagery

This is another great way to bring stress and anxiety relief into the workplace. Just take a moment or two to imagine that yo are somewhere else. Hear the sound of the sea, create the vivid colours of the sky in your mind, soar of to your favourite place and do not wait for that distant vacation; go there today. The more vivid the images the better this stress and anxiety relief technique will work.

Take time to challenge your irrational thoughts

Be aware of you inner voice and the messages that it is sending to you. Often these thoughts are based on previous mind conditioning and the thoughts will be harmful and create unnecessary levels of stress. For example if you are under pressure to get something done by a particular time you may find yourself thinking” I must get this done or else I’m fired and I’ll need to find another job!” This is probably not the case and if it is then you’re probably better looking for another job anyway.

Take time to plan work into smaller manageable tasks

A large taks can be overwhelming and may need to be broken down into simpler easier to complete jobs. We meet more step by step targets this way and feel agreater sense of achievment after each step is finished. Give yourselfa reward for completing the smaller taks and do not wait for the final task before you give yourself a pat on the back.

Take time to reduce cafine intake

Have you ever seen a two-year old completely wired after chomping through a few cookies or drinking cola? Well that’s exactly what happens to all of us when we take in too much sugar or caffeine. However, unlike the nipper at home we can’t very well run around the office making airplane noises, we just carry the excess stress.

Take time to have a play break

Some professionals keep “squish” balls, or stress balls, in their work space a simple squeeze is all that is needed for rapid relief of stress and anxiety. Other people take a few minutes to play a game at www.addictinggames.com. They’re quick (less than five minutes), easy to play, and many don’t require a download.

Take time to Blow Off Steam – but fairly

don’t think that you can’t vent a little, but just remember words spoken in anger can haunt you for a long time if they’re read or overheard by the wrong person. Don’t put anything in email you don’t want the whole office to see.

take time to understand that a little stress is worthwhile

Finally, remember that it’s natural to feel stress when you leave your comfort zone. Some stress must be endured as you expand your horizons, learn new tasks and earn new responsibilities. That kind of stress may not be much fun, but in the long run, it’s worth it!

 It has been estimated that three out of every four overweight people are addicted to carbohydrates.  But what does this mean?  In essence, it means that you have too much of the hormone insulin in your system.  This insulin prompts you to eat often and to consume the wrong types of foods.  Some of the tell-tale signs of carbohydrate addiction include fatigue, mood swings, and migraines which can be caused by low blood sugar.  

       A carb addiction can lead you to consume a whole bag of  pretzels at one sitting, or to indulge in half a cake at dinner time.  Your body is conditioned to eat as many carbs as possible.  Thus, it may seem that at times you’re never really satisfied—no matter how much or how often you eat.

         On the official Carb Addicts plan, you eat two meals composed of vegetables and protein; the other meal consists of protein, vegetables that are not filled with starch, and carbohydrates.  During this last meal, known as the reward meal, you can even eat dessert.   The trick is to skip the carbs for two meals each day.

           The authors of the program believe that, if you follow this regimen, you will lose your cravings for carbohydrates in time.  If your urge to consume carbs does not disappear by the second week of the program, they recommend checking your diet to see whether you are following the program closely.  

           With the Carb Addicts plan, like other diet plans, you need to closely monitor your portion sizes.  All of your hard work will be in vain if you allow yourself to overindulge in sweets—even if it is for only one meal a day.  Also, you need to make sure that the protein you consume is not high in fat.  You may want to eat fish, chicken with the skin removed, or lean meats when trying to obtain a protein source.

            Another important aspect of the Carb Addicts plan is that you are not permitted artificial sweetener except during your reward meal.  This can be quite a challenge, especially if you’re accustomed to sweetened coffee in the morning.  However, it can be well worth the deprivation in the long run as you see those pounds melt away.

             There is no set time for the reward meal; however the authors of the plan recommend that the meal take place in the evening.  This is because it can take 12 to 24 hours for the body to overcome carbohydrate overload.  There is also a psychological advantage to having the meal at night.  It gives you something to look forward to all day long.

             You should begin your reward meal with a salad, such as a Caesar salad or an Oriental salad,  then divide the rest of the meal into thirds:  One third should consist of low-carb vegetables, one-third protein, and one-third carbs.  This formula has proven successful in enabling individuals to achieve long-term weight loss.

              As with many other meal plans, the biggest challenge for those who are on the Carb Addicts Diet is the ability to stick with it.  Dieting can be hard work, no matter what kind of rewards await an individual at the end of the day.  Your commitment will enable you to stay with the program, even when it becomes particularly challenging.

              Surf the World Wide Web, and you’ll find a number of testimonials offering glowing reviews of the Carb Addicts Diet.  But you should keep in mind that results can differ from individual to individual.  While some people might see rapid weight loss with the Carb Addicts plan, others may see only moderate weight loss.   The success of the program may depend on your own individual physiology.

              Is the Carb Addicts Diet a fad?  It all depends on who you talk to.  While some people see it as a significant dietary breakthrough, others view it as just a passing fancy.   Medical experts disagree as to whether the Carb Addicts Diet represents sound nutrition.  In the end, you, in consultation with your personal physician, will have to decide whether the Carb Addicts Diet will work for you.        

“Goals…
…and resolutions.”
Yes, it’s that time of the year again.
Why is it that every time Jan 1st comes around, everyone starts to think about their new resolutions for the year? Or perhaps “new” isn’t the correct word — perhaps “recycled” is more apt? After all, isn’t it true that for most people, “resolutions are made to be broken?”
Goals are a wonderful way to inspire us towards getting the things in life that we want, but more often than not, they simply end up unattained and we get frustrated (again) at the end of the year.
But it doesn’t have to be so.
Really.
You can attain your goals or resolutions, but only IF you know how to go about setting them up correctly in the first place. And I’ll give you a few useful pointers to help you get started on the right track…

• Begin with the end in mind. What’s the end result you want to achieve? Do you want to lose weight? Or do you want to drop 1 dress size instead?
• Get specific and be realistic. It’s not enough to just say “I want to lose weight.” How much do you want to lose exactly? By when? A better goal is to say “I want to lose 11 pounds in 3 months.” And make sure your goal is realistic. If you want to drop 27 pounds, it’s not realistic to say you want to do that within the next 7 days, not to mention that it’s not healthy to do that! Or if you’ve been putting on the weight slowly over the last 10 years, it’s not quite realistic to say you want to go back to your weight 10 years ago within a month.
• Break it down into smaller and easier “baby steps.” Let’s say you want to lose 20 pounds. That seems like an insurmountable task, but it becomes easier to manage if you look at it as losing an average of 1 pound per week, over a course of 20 weeks. Now’s that manageable! For you to lose a pound a week, you only need to create a calorie deficit of about 500 calories per day by controlling your diet and increasing your amount of exercises.
• Okay, now for the big “secret” — the missing key to achieving your goals: Write down your “Why” i.e. what are you doing this for? Most people skip this step, and it’s a primary reason why they never seem to achieve their goals. It’s absolutely critical for you to write down the reasons why you want to achieve each specific goal. For example, if the goal is to “lose 20 pounds in 6 months,” write down why you want to lose that weight. And here’s another tip: Make it “personal and emotional.” The more “emotional” the reason, the more likely you’ll be driven towards the goal. So, let’s say you’ve got kids. An example of a good “reason why” is “I know being overweight is a leading cause of many health problems — I will lose the 20 pounds and get healthier so that I will not be a burden to my children, and be able to stay healthy long enough to attend my daughter’s wedding and be there to carry my grandchildren.” A ssuming all these things are important to you, of course. 🙂 But I’m sure you get the picture.
• “Write it down and put it up!” It’s usually not good enough to just think of the goals in your head. You need to write down all your specific goals and the “reasons why,” and then paste it up where you will look at it every day. Don’t write it down on a notebook and chuck that inside the drawer. Instead, paste it up on your dressing table mirror, or anywhere else that is in plain sight. Remember, “out of sight, out of mind!”
• Do not be too ambitious. Aim for a loss of 1-2 pounds per week, at the max! Losing more than that amount is bad for you. And it’ll most probably be caused by a loss of water and/or muscle, rather than your unwanted excess body fat.
• Be realistic and “go with the flow.” The pounds didn’t come on overnight, so don’t expect them to disappear in a jiffy too. And sometimes the weight loss isn’t as fast (or as much) as planned. But don’t get stressed out, because stress will only add on the pounds. It’s important that you don’t think of the weight loss process as “all or nothing.” Instead, think of it as “slowly but surely.” The weight may go up a little sometimes, but if you stick to your plan, you’ll still be delighted at the end of the year!
  Use these simple steps and make a positive difference to your life this year! Best of luck!
  
• Copyright 2006 Tracy Lee
• ZZZZZZ

Anxiety is a common occurrence when a person faces potentially problematic or dangerous situations. It is also felt when a person perceives an external threat. However, chronic and irrational anxiety can lead to a form of anxiety disorder. There are different types of anxiety disorder depending on their causes or triggers.

Common forms of anxiety disorders

Generalized anxiety disorder

A person who has this type of anxiety disorder usually experience prolonged anxiety that is often without basis. More accurately, people with generalized anxiety disorders cannot articulate the reason behind their anxiety. This type of anxiety usually last for six months and often affect women. Due to the persistence of the anxiety, people affected with generalized anxiety disorder constantly fret and worry. This results to heart palpitations, insomnia, headaches, and dizzy spells.

Specific phobia

Unlike someone with generalized anxiety disorder, a person who has a specific phobia experiences extreme and often irrational fear of a certain situation or object. When exposed to the object or situation they fear, people with specific phobias exhibit signs of intense fear like shaking, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and nausea. Common specific phobias include fear of heights, enclosed spaces, blood, and animals. The fear a person with phobia feels can be so extreme that he or she may disregard safety just to escape the situation.

Panic disorder

Also known as Agoraphobia, panic disorders are characterized by recurring panic attacks which are often unexpected. Symptoms are usually shaking, chest pains, dizziness, fear of losing control, and reluctance of being alone. People with panic disorder are aware that their panic is usually unfounded and illogical. This is why they avoid public situations and being alone. A panic attack can be so severe that people may lose control and hurt themselves.

Social phobia

Alternatively called social anxiety, a person with social phobia may exhibit similar symptoms like those of panic disorder especially in social situations. Shaking, dizziness, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations may ensue when a person with social phobia finds his or herself at the center of attention or in the company of many people, regardless whether they are strangers or not.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder experience anxiety caused by a persistent obsession or idea. They tend to avoid experiencing anxiety by resorting to repetitive actions or behaviors that prevent anxiety. For example, a person who is obsessed about cleanliness may experience anxiety at the mere sight of a vase placed slightly off-center. To prevent anxiety, he or she will clean and organize everything compulsively or without reason.

PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder may occur after a person experienced a severely traumatic event. He or she may relive the experience in his or her mind which causes stress and anxiety. If a person with PTSD comes into contact with stimuli (any object, person, or situation) that he or she associates with the traumatic event, he or she may literally re-experience the event by crying uncontrollably, panicking, or losing control. Subtler symptoms include insomnia and avoidant behavior. PTSD may manifest itself immediately after the traumatic event or even years after.

Determining the type of anxiety disorder a person has is crucial to seeking treatment and recovery. Techniques and methods that are used to help a person cope with a certain anxiety usually target not only the management of symptoms but coping mechanisms when exposed to triggers. Only after thorough diagnosis can treatment and recovery for anxiety disorders really commence.

The 4 stages of addiction come in to play mainly when you try to change an eating habit or anything that is self medicated. Food is the most common addiction for the majotity of us – Bread, drinks, Desserts, alcohol Alcohol. Other addictions are fast fatty foods, this is a high addiction. People usually consume generous helpings of steak, burgers, and chips(fries), large salads, which ar healthy but not with great big mountains of dressing. Chunks of cheese also tend to appear as a part of a daily food consumption.

Calories are units of energy, after your dinner you want to be full of energy no feeling tired.

Eating more than you need you start to feel like you are in a different state similar to a slight drugged state, so when you are eating your not really thinking about anything else, which is why it is said when your unhappy you comfort eat.

Stage One – Resistance to change

A certain program comes says, At breakfast each morning try not to have a drink, except water take a beverage every other day, have a soup as a meal instead of something heavier, and weigh your self every day.

This may be scary stuff. You are probabily thinking that you are just fine this old way and that the new way wont be the same. You are apprehensive about doing something new and something different that isnt as easy as the normal way you do things, but you know the way thing are now are producing negative results.

It is the narrow minded view that the outcome of what you attemping will end badly, even though you dont know or havent even experienced the possible outcome yet. It is the addiction to the old ways that have contorded your way of thinking to give up and make you feel justified for doing so.

Stage Two – Begrudging attempts

You decide to join a weight loss program and have obtained information on dieting, however grudgingly, you will try it out. You think – I dont want to do this, I will just pick 1 or 2 days a week were I wont have coffee and a bun on my break, I don’t want to weigh myself twice a day. I really dont want to document everything I eat. I wnat to have my fry or danish in the morning not cereal. I don’t want breakfast in the morning, but I will because I want to weigh XX pounds.

Stage Three – Surprise, I enjoyed it

I actually tried a bowl of hot cereal in the morning and found it to be most enjoyable. For lunch I took a walk down to the deli and had the most delicous soup, that I was quite surprised to have enjoyed so much. For the evening time I had a cup of hot water instead of my usual coffee and thought it strangely satisfying

Stage Four – The new way becomes the comfortable and preferred way

It is very important to differentiate between the foods that were familiar and the foods that you really love, just try not to overload yourself on food to numb the senses. Striving to get the food and consuming it has become an intrigal part of the self medication that you put yourself through. The mere thought of not getting your food fix induces a feeling of anxiety and you become slightly annoyed. You just eat what ever it is to feel comfortable hense the “comfort eating” term. Consider it this way – not drinking coffee and getting a sore head then drinking coffee to relieve the discomfort caused by not getting it, it’s like horse chasing a corrot on a stick.

Having the knowledge of the 4 stages of addiction with help you to be pro active in getting rid of any resistance to making that move described in stages 2 and 3 and all the way to knowing the new way is the comfortable, preferred way.

Autism effects every child differently, so it is difficult to find the exact treatments your child needs to cope with his or her symptoms. One thing that effects some autistic children (though, not all) is problems with visual perception. By using some standardized methods to help improve visual perception, you can give your child the ability to see the world more clearly, making learning and comprehension easier and possibly curbing some behavior problems as well.

Autistic children mainly have problems with sensory overload and distortion. These are some of the same problems many people not suffering from the disorder develop, and so many treatment options have become available. Individuals with autism often find, however, that the sensory overload of the world due to light, colors, contrast, shapes, and patterns, is too much to handle, causing them to act out or shut down in general.  This is sometimes a genetic condition that is simply enhanced by the autism, so if the child’s parents have trouble with reading or have been otherwise treated for visual perceptive problems, there is a good chance that the child needs help as well. 

The Irene Method is one effective way to treat visual perception disorders. This method uses color to create a more harmonized world. You may have heard of these methods if anyone has ever suggested using a color filter over the page when reading to be able to read better and more quickly. This method is proven to work, and if your autistic child is at the maturity level of reading, you may want to try these color filters to see if there is a difference in speed and comprehension. However, it is more likely that your autistic child will benefit from color filters during the entire day, not just when reading. Special glasses have been made using colored lenses to conquer this problem. Not every child responds the same way to every color, so it is a process of trial and error to find out which color is the one blocking the harmful light. You can also choose to use colored light bulbs in your home to help autistic individuals with their visual perception problems. 

This method mainly helps children in 4 areas: depth perception, social interaction, learning, and physical well being. The colors help the child determine how far he or she is from an object, and the world becomes more three-dimensional, helping depth perception. Social interaction also improves because the child feels as though he or she is in a calmer world and can more clearly see and interpret facial expressions. The colors make it possible to learn, especially when reading, and overall, the child will feel better, because it helps reduce headaches and dizziness. By testing this technique and others to help visual perception problems, you can help your child better cope with the world and his or her autism.