Moving light-dark exposure could reduce disruption faced by night shift workers

March 27, 2018

Science Daily/The Physiological Society

New research shows that our brain clock can be shifted by light exposure, potentially to align it with night shift patterns. It highlights that a 'one size fits all' approach to managing sleep disruption in shift workers may not be appropriate. A personalized approach, with light-dark exposure scheduled and taking into account whether someone is a 'morning' or 'evening' person, could reduce shift workers' risk of health problems.

Our sleep-wake cycle, in part controlled by our brain clock, encompasses physical, mental and behavioural changes that follow a daily cycle. Light is the dominant environmental time cue which results in, for example, sleeping at night and being awake during the day.

Night time shift work disrupts the normal sleep-wake cycle and our internal circadian (24-hour) rhythms, and has been associated with significant health problems, such as a higher risk of heart disease and cancer. Alertness levels are often markedly impaired while working night shifts.

While it has been known that there are considerable differences in how the brain clock of different individuals responds to changing shift cycles, we have known very little about the mechanisms that underlie these differences between people. If someone was able to realign their brain clock to their shift pattern, then it would improve sleep and could lead to health benefits. While such realignment is rare, in some circumstances such as on offshore oil rig platforms, complete adaption has been observed.

This new research aims to understand the relationship between light exposure and how an individual's circadian rhythm is affected across a transition from day to night shift schedules. The researchers found that timing of light exposure is the primary factor in determining how the brain clock responds to night shift work, accounting for 71% of the variability in timing of the clock observed in the study. It also found that the extent to which an individual is a 'morning' or 'evening' type affects how the body responds, which shows that a personalised approach is important.

This study was led by the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity and saw nursing and medical staff recruited from an Intensive Care Unit at a major hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Staff members were enrolled into the study when working a schedule of day or evening shifts, or days off, followed by at least 3 or 4 consecutive night shifts.

To examine how the sleep-wake cycle responds to the shift schedule, the timing of the brain clock was measured on the day schedule, and at the end of the night shifts. It was measured by monitoring urinary concentration of the major metabolite of melatonin, which is a hormone produced in the pineal gland known to be involved in the regulation of sleep cycles. Individual light exposure was measured using wrist actigraphs, worn for the duration of the study.

Prof Shantha Rajaratnam, from Monash University and the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, corresponding author for the study, said:

"We know that night time shift workers are more likely to suffer health problems due to disruption of their circadian clock, and the mismatch between the timing of the clock and their sleep-wake cycle. This research is important because if we can realign a person's clock to fit their shift pattern, then they will sleep better and this may result in improved health, safety and productivity.

"These results will drive development of personalised approaches to improve sleep-wake cycles of shift workers and other vulnerable people, and could potentially reduce the increased risk of disease due to circadian disruption."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180327203014.htm

Mindful Meditation, Shared Dialogues Reduce Physician Burnout

September 23, 2009

Science Daily/University of Rochester Medical Center

Training in mindfulness meditation and communication can alleviate the psychological distress and burnout experienced by many physicians and can improve their well-being, researchers report.

The training also can expand a physician's capacity to relate to patients and enhance patient-centered care, according to the researchers, who were led by Michael S. Krasner, M.D., associate professor of Clinical Medicine.

"From the patient's perspective, we hear all too often of dissatisfaction in the quality of presence from their physician. From the practitioner's perspective, the opportunity for deeper connection is all too often missed in the stressful, complex, and chaotic reality of medical practice," Krasner said. "Enhancing the already inherent capacity of the physician to experience fully the clinical encounter—not only its pleasant but also its most unpleasant aspects—without judgment but with a sense of curiosity and adventure seems to have had a profound effect on the experience of stress and burnout. It also seems to enhance the physician's ability to connect with the patient as a unique human being and to center care around that uniqueness.

"Cultivating these qualities of mindful communication with colleagues, anectodotally, had an unexpected benefit of combating the practitioners' sense of isolation and brought forth the very experiences that are such a rich source of meaning in the life of the clinician," he said.

"The most salient element was the collegial effect of weathered physicians reflecting on mutual experience using a theme-based approach in a safe environment," Chamberlain said. "It is a unique opportunity to return to our roots as physicians, exploring in a workshop format abstract yet key emotionally charged or difficult issues that many of us had not visited so academically since medical school. Perception of the impact and approach to those issues is quite different once tempered by experience, particularly in a program that emphasizes awareness of the moment. It is a singular opportunity to do-over some of our medical school experience, and get much more out of it than the first time, as one reflects on how others in the group have grappled with and addressed the complex experiences of being a physician whose life touches and is touched by others constantly. The program is all about the experience of being a physician. Not what to do, or how to do it, but what it feels like. That is unique, and quite refreshing."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090922162259.htm

Workplace Yoga and Meditation Can Lower Feelings of Stress

August 5, 2009

Science Daily/Ohio State University

Twenty minutes per day of guided workplace meditation and yoga combined with six weekly group sessions can lower feelings of stress by more than 10 percent and improve sleep quality in sedentary office employees, a pilot study suggests.

The study offered participants a modified version of what is known as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a program established in 1979 to help hospital patients in Massachusetts assist in their own healing that is now in wide use around the world.

In this context, mindfulness refers in part to one’s heightened awareness of an external stressor as the first step toward relaxing in a way that can minimize the effects of that stress on the body.

While the traditional MBSR program practice takes up an hour per day for eight weeks supplemented by lengthy weekly sessions and a full-day retreat, the modified version developed at Ohio State University for this study was designed for office-based workers wearing professional attire.

Mindful attention awareness increased significantly and perceived stress decreased significantly among the intervention group when compared to the control group’s responses. Overall sleep quality increased in both groups, but three of seven components of sleep were more affected in the intervention group.

On average, mindfulness increased by about 9.7 percent and perceived stress decreased by about 11 percent among the group that experienced the intervention. These participants also reported that it took them less time to fall asleep, they had fewer sleep disturbances and they experienced less daytime dysfunction than did members of the non-intervention group.

The researchers also took saliva samples to test for the presence of cortisol, a stress hormone, but found no significant changes in average daily levels of the hormone over time for participants in both groups. Klatt said the design of this part of the pilot study could have affected the result, and the sample collection technique will be changed in subsequent studies.

Klatt said mindfulness-based stress reduction, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, has been studied widely and determined to be useful in lowering symptoms ranging from depression and anxiety to chronic pain. But the time commitment required in the program makes it impractical for busy working professionals, and adding a stress-reduction class outside of work could add stress to these people, she said.

So Klatt set out to develop what she calls a “low dose” of the program that is suitable for the workplace and still offers stress-reduction benefits. She specifically scheduled weekly sessions during lunch to avoid interfering with work time or home time, and combined movement with verbal prompts and music that are cues for participants to relax.

“As I’ve been working on the program, I heard so many of the participants say they wish they had learned this earlier,” Klatt said.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090804114102.htm

Exploring the Cognitive Processes Behind Mind Wandering

October 11, 2012
Science Daily/Association for Psychological Science
It happens innocently enough: One minute you're sitting at your desk, working on a report, and the next minute you're thinking about how you probably need to do laundry and that you want to try the new restaurant down the street. Mind wandering is a frequent and common occurrence. And while mind wandering in certain situations -- in class, for example -- can be counterproductive, some research suggests that mind wandering isn't necessarily a bad thing.
 

Inspired by Distraction: Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation

Benjamin Baird, Jonathan Smallwood, Michael D. Mrazek, Julia W. Y. Kam, Michael S. Franklin, and Jonathan W. Schooler

You might be driving home from work, taking a shower, preparing ingredients for dinner and, suddenly -- "Eureka!" -- you have a new insight into some problem or situation. Anecdotes tell us that people often have these kinds of creative thoughts while engaged in unrelated tasks, but researcher Benjamin Baird and colleagues wanted to subject the phenomenon to scientific scrutiny. The researchers designed an experiment in which they asked participants to perform an Unusual Use Task (UUT), listing as many unusual uses for an item as possible. The participants were then split into four groups -- one group was asked to perform a demanding task and a second was asked to perform an undemanding task. The third group rested for 12 minutes and a fourth group was given no break. All participants then performed the Unusual Use Task again. Of the four groups, only the people who performed the undemanding task improved their score on the second UUT test. Participants in the undemanding task reported greater instances of mind wandering during the task, which suggests that simple tasks that allow the mind to wander may increase creative problem solving.

Published online August 31, 2012 in Psychological Science
 

What Mind Wandering Reveals About Executive-Control Abilities and Failures

Michael J. Kane and Jennifer C. McVay

While mind wandering might lead to creative insights, involuntary mind wandering can also take us away from the important activities and tasks at hand. In this article, Kane and McVay discuss the relationships among working memory, task-unrelated thoughts, and task performance. Using both laboratory-based and daily-life assessments, research has shown that people with lower working memory capacity are more likely to mind wander, at least during demanding tasks. This propensity to mind wandering may partly explain why people with lower working memory capacity are also more likely to make errors. Kane and McVay argue that involuntary mind wandering can provide psychological scientists with a unique window into aspects of the mind's mechanisms for cognitive control, including how, when, and for whom these mechanisms fail.

Published in the October 2012 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science

The Persistence of Thought: Working Memory May Help to Maintain Task-Unrelated Thinking

Daniel B. Levinson, Jonathan Smallwood, and Richard J. Davidson

Our working memory acts as a sort of mental workspace that allows us to juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously, but what role does it play in mind wandering? Does working memory inhibit or support off-task thinking? Psychological scientist Daniel Levinson and colleagues decided to put this issue to the test. They asked volunteers to perform one of two simple tasks -- either pressing a button in response to the appearance of a certain letter on a screen, or simply tapping in time with one's breath -- and compared people's propensity to drift off. In both tasks, people with higher working memory capacity reported more mind wandering during the tasks, even though their performance on the test wasn't compromised. But when the volunteers were given a comparably simple task that was filled with sensory distractors, the relationship between working memory and mind wandering disappeared. These results suggest that working memory may ultimately reflect underlying priorities, enabling off-topic thoughts when we don't have many other things to keep in mind.

Published in the April 2012 issue of Psychological Science
 

Rest Is Not Idleness: Implications of the Brain's Default Mode for Human Development and Education

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Joanna A. Christodoulou, and Vanessa Singh
While moments for reflection may be hard to come by, some research suggests that the long-lost art of introspection -- from mind wandering to focused reflection -- may be an increasingly valuable part of life. In this article, psychological scientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and colleagues survey the existing scientific literature from neuroscience and psychological science, exploring what it means when our brains are 'at rest.' Immordino-Yang and her colleagues believe that research on the brain at rest can yield important insights into the importance of reflection and quiet time for learning.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121011162148.htm

Fit to Fly? From F-22s to Jumbo Jets, Real-Time Info On Pilots Needed

October 24, 2012
Science Daily/Mayo Clinic
Anyone who has followed news coverage of a plane crash has probably heard of a black box, an onboard device analyzed for clues into a flight's demise. What if there were a black box for pilots that could determine, in real time, whether they are fit to fly, helping to head off cognitive and physical failures that could take a jet down? Recent issues with the physically demanding F-22 fighter jet show it's time for in-flight pilot monitoring, Mayo Clinic and other aerospace medicine physicians say.

That is illustrated to dramatic effect by the Air Force's F-22, grounded after pilots had flight-related medical problems including cognitive abnormalities, the authors wrote. Common aeromedical problems, such as oxygen deprivation, spatial disorientation, fatigue and stress aren't assessed by standard tools, aren't in play during pre-flight physicals and can't be found in autopsies after a crash, they say.

For example, as a pilot's oxygen level drops, it can happen subtly, and several planes have been lost after a pilot passed out or otherwise became unable to make the right decisions, says co-author Lawrence Steinkraus, M.D., a Mayo Clinic aerospace medicine physician who served on the panel. If something on board alerted the pilot to that developing hypoxia and directed him or her to take specific actions, it could prevent a crash, he says.

Another common problem in fighter jets is gravitational-force-induced loss of consciousness, or G-LOC, Dr. Steinkraus says. There is a period of time before consciousness is lost when the pilot could be warned and told to intervene, or the aircraft could take action, if the right systems were in place, he says.

"Our argument is that the human being is the most important, the critical piece in aircraft performance, whether it's a commercial airliner, whether it's a fighter, you're talking about the human being, the brain, the decision maker, being the one who drives it," Dr. Steinkraus says. "If we have something go wrong with that central processing unit, we need to have some sort of backup or warning, and it would be wonderful if we could add that information flow back to the pilot."

Dr. Steinkraus is joined in the commentary by Mayo aerospace medicine physician Clayton Cowl, M.D.; Russell Rayman, M.D., of Aerospace Medical PLC in Alexandria, Va.; William Butler, M.D., of the Air Force Research Laboratory Institutional Review Board at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio; Royden Marsh, M.D., of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine in San Antonio; and William Ercoline, Ph.D., of the Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group in San Antonio.

A change in philosophy in the aviation community is needed for monitoring to catch on, Dr. Steinkraus says. Fighter pilots and others have resisted the idea as "Big Brotherish" and potentially punitive, and effective systems also have been lacking, he says.

However, the F-22 problems have pilots, the military and aerospace medicine experts alike hungry for answers, Dr. Steinkraus says. That, combined with the growth of on-board tracking in some modes of transportation, such as the use of GPS by trucking companies to monitor truck drivers, and advances Mayo Clinic and others are making in the technology, may be turning the tide in favor of it, he says.

"Acceptance is a big deal, and the smaller and easier we can make this and the more reliable, the easier it's going to be to get pushed out into the world and people will be willing to do it," Dr. Steinkraus says. "When the first cell phones came out they looked like giant bricks, and now you look at them and everyone's carrying them. It's the same thing with monitoring units."

A Mayo Clinic research team went to Mount Everest earlier this year to study how extreme altitude affects humans and the effectiveness of remote monitoring units under those conditions.

In-flight pilot monitoring also could help prevent physiological failure-related commercial jetliner crashes; pilot fatigue, for example, is a common problem, Dr. Steinkraus says. The concept also could head off medical emergency-related semi crashes and train disasters, he says.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121024124629.htm

Sleep Problems Cost Billions

November 1, 2012
Science Daily/The University of Bergen
Insomnia and sleep apnea are turning us into major health service consumers, causing us to be less productive at work, and may even lead to serious accidents.

http://images.sciencedaily.com/2012/11/121101110514-large.jpg
If you can't sleep at night, you're not alone. Around ten per cent of the population suffer from insomnia, where you have trouble falling asleep, wake up frequently at night, and still feel tired when the morning comes.

Sleep apnea is a more severe problem, affecting four to five per cent of the population. Sufferers can stop breathing for up to 40 seconds several times during the night, putting a huge strain on the heart. As a result, they have many micro-awakenings that stop them from reaching deep sleep.
Bad night, bad day

According to the sleep scientist, a recently-published study from the United States puts the annual losses from insomnia alone at 63.2 billion US dollars annually. Only a third of this was due to actual absence from work; two thirds was due to a loss in productivity while at work.
"An Australian study found that about two per cent of Australia's GDP is lost due to sick leave caused by insomnia and sleep apnea disorder. This shows how common these diseases are and how much they affect work," Sivertsen says.
 

Danger on the roads

In their own ways, each sleep disorder also has a strong impact on accident statistics. For example, lorry drivers have sedentary jobs, and this increases the risk of developing obesity and sleep apnea.

"The disease is a major cause of the many traffic accidents on American roads," Sivertsen says.
As for insomnia, drug use can cause problems. Sivertsen's studies show that sedatives can cause users to feel less rested during the daytime.

"Sleep medication may work in the short term, but after six weeks of use we noticed a decrease in deep sleep. Sleep may be uninterrupted, but you may not necessarily get quality sleep," he says.
Testing every treatment there is

Sleep disorder sufferers are often major health care users, which leads to an increase in social costs.

"When you feel bad, you will try every treatment there is. There is an overconsumption of alternative methods amongst insomnia sufferers. They often consume too much alcohol and visit their GPs, psychologists, physiotherapists, and chiropractors more often."

Sivertsen wants insomnia treatment to become more accessible, and to include cognitive behavioural therapy.

"Several recent studies show that the Internet can be used to offer good and cost-effective methods of treatment. This is particularly true in areas where sleep centres are few and far between," he suggests.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121101110514.htm

Long shifts lead to nurse burnout and dissatisfied patients

November 6, 2012
Science Daily/University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Extended work shifts of twelve hours or longer are common and popular among hospital staff nurses, but a new study reports that nurses working longer shifts were more likely to experience burnout, job dissatisfaction, and patients were more dissatisfied with their care.

In the first study to examine the relationship between nurse shift length and patients' assessment of care, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing report that nurses working shifts of ten hours or longer were up to two and a half times more likely than nurses working shorter shifts to experience burnout and job dissatisfaction. Furthermore, seven out of ten patient outcomes were significantly and adversely affected by the longest shifts.

"Traditional eight-hour shifts for hospital nurses are becoming a thing of the past. Bedside nurses increasingly work twelve-hour shifts. This schedule gives nurses a three-day work week, potentially providing better work-life balance and flexibility," said Amy Witkoski Stimpfel, PhD, RN, a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at Penn Nursing. "When long shifts are combined with overtime, shifts that rotate between day and night duty, and consecutive shifts, nurses are at risk for fatigue and burnout, which may compromise patient care."

This study took place in California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida, which represents approximately 25 percent of the United States population and 20 percent of annual US hospitalizations. Nearly 23,000 registered nurses took part in the study over a three-year period.

Sixty-five percent of nurses worked shifts of 12-13 hours, the percentages of nurses reporting burnout and intention to leave their job increased incrementally as shift length increased, wrote Dr. Witkoski Stimpfel and Penn Nursing co-authors Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN and Douglas Sloane, PhD, in the November issue of the policy journal Health Affairs.

In hospitals which had higher proportions of nurses working longer shifts, higher percentages of patients reported that nurses sometimes or never communicated well, pain was sometimes or never well controlled, and they sometimes or never received help as soon as they wanted.
Dr. Witkoski Stimpfel and co-authors recommend restricting the number of consecutive hours worked, that state boards of nursing consider whether restrictions on nurse shift length and voluntary overtime are advisable, and nurse management should monitor nurses' hours worked, including second jobs.

"Nursing leadership should also encourage a workplace culture that respects nurses' days off and vacation time, promotes nurse's prompt departure at the end of a scheduled shift, and allows nurses to refuse to work overtime without retribution," noted Dr. Witkoski Stimpfel. "These types of policies that facilitate manageable work hours can contribute to the development of a healthier nursing workforce, prepared to manage the complex care needs of patients and their families."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121106114046.htm

Shifting the Safety Balance for Overnight Workers

December 3, 2012
Science Daily/Monash University
An international team of sleep researchers has developed the world's first screening tool to help reduce workplace accidents and illnesses, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, caused by shift work.

At least 15 per cent of workers in Australia, the US, and the United Kingdom, and around 23 per cent of workers in Japan are estimated to work outside normal hours, causing significant disruption to their natural sleep-wake schedules. SWD, characterized by extreme sleepiness and/or insomnia, is thought to affect around 10 per cent of shift workers.

"Aside from associated health problems, shift workers are significantly more at risk of workplace injuries. The workers most affected by sleep disruption -- those with SWD -- account for a significant proportion of this risk and need to be identified."

Shift work, especially overnight, is associated with a higher rate of car crashes, industrial accidents, actual and near-miss injuries and quality-control errors on the job. Secondary health problems linked with shift work include cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases and mood disorders, including depression.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121203093802.htm

Workplace bullying ups risk of prescriptions for anxiety, depression, insomnia

December 12, 2012
Science Daily/BMJ-British Medical Journal
Witnessing or being on the receiving end of bullying at work heightens the risk of employees being prescribed antidepressants, sleeping pills, and tranquillisers, new research finds.

Workplace bullying is linked to poorer mental health among employees, but it is not clear if that translates into a greater need for drug treatment, and if the impact is similar for those witnessing bullying and those who find themselves on the receiving end of it.

The researchers asked 6606 public service employees working for the City of Helsinki in Finland -- the largest employer in the country with 200 venues -- about their experiences of workplace bullying, both personal and witnessed, between 2000 and 2002.

National registry data on purchases of prescribed "psychoactive" drugs -- antidepressants, sedatives, tranquillisers, and sleeping pills -- were tracked for three years before the survey and for five years afterwards.

All participants were aged between 40 and 60, and were part of the Helsinki Health Study.

One in 20 employees said they were currently being bullied. A further one in five (18%) women and around one in eight men (12%) said they had been bullied before, either in the same job or in a previous job with another employer.

Around half the respondents said that they had witnessed bullying in the workplace at least occasionally, while around one in 10 said they had witnessed it often.

The findings showed that workplace bullying was associated with subsequent prescriptions for psychoactive drugs in both men and women.

Women were around 50% more likely to have a prescription for these drugs while men were around twice as likely to do so if they had been bullied at work.

And witnessing workplace bullying had a similar impact. Women were 53% more likely to be prescribed a psychoactive drug, while men were almost twice as likely to receive a prescription of this kind.

The associations remained after taking account of factors likely to influence the results, including previous medication for mental health issues, childhood bullying, social class and weight.

Between one in 10 and one in seven people claim to have been bullied at work in Finland, say the authors, who conclude: "Workplace bullying needs to be tackled proactively in an effective way to prevent its adverse consequences for mental health."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121212205727.htm

Pilot Fatigue Is Threat to Safety

January 3, 2013
Science Daily/University of Leicester
This year the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will agree new flight-time limitations (FTLs) for pilots. Many consider EASA's proposal to relax FTLs a threat to safety.

Britain's FTLs are amongst the most stringent. Nevertheless, research published by Dr Simon Bennett of the University of Leicester's Civil Safety and Security Unit in the Institute of Lifelong Learning shows that pilots can find themselves flying an aircraft many hours after waking. Over 20% of Dr Bennett's respondents said that by the time they completed their shift they had been awake for 28 hours or more.

Dr Bennett said, "Research proves that judgment is seriously impaired after eighteen hours of wakefulness. How well do you think you could drive after being awake for eighteen hours?
"FTLs take no account of the pilot lifestyle. No account is taken of prior wakefulness, the duration and quality of sleep or commuting. FTLs are dissociated from the realities of life -- despite the fact that those realities affect performance. Nearly 50% of respondents took over 60 minutes to commute to work."

FTLs stand apart from what Dr Bennett calls 'lived reality'. He adds, "Regulators (and lawmakers) take no interest in the world beyond the crew room and flight-deck. When pressed they retort, 'We have no knowledge of any rule violations'. Violations are not the issue. The issue is the fidelity of FTLs. Those who represent the industry remain aloof. 'Flying time is a matter for the UK Authorities and it is up to them to specify the measures which are appropriate' says the British Air Transport Association.

"The aviation industry is volatile. In debt due to training fees, novice pilots struggle to make ends meet. Properties in airport catchments are expensive. Hard-up pilots find themselves commuting long distances. Long commutes add to the fatigue generated by flying multiple trips through congested airspace. The new regulations must take account of the fatigue-inducing aspects of life beyond the airport perimeter.

"Regulations made without reference to scientific knowledge or social context are dangerous. EASA's proposed FTLs take little account of the latest sleep research and no account of the pilot lifestyle as described in my own research. Passenger safety is threatened. Those who work at the coal-face of aviation deserve better."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130103073242.htm

How Unconscious Processing Improves Decision-Making

February 13, 2013
Science Daily/Carnegie Mellon University
When faced with a difficult decision, it is often suggested to "sleep on it" or take a break from thinking about the decision in order to gain clarity.

http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/02/130213092305-large.jpg
But new brain imaging research from Carnegie Mellon University, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, finds that the brain regions responsible for making decisions continue to be active even when the conscious brain is distracted with a different task. The research provides some of the first evidence showing how the brain unconsciously processes decision information in ways that lead to improved decision-making.

"This research begins to chip away at the mystery of our unconscious brains and decision-making," said J. David Creswell, assistant professor of psychology in CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and director of the Health and Human Performance Laboratory. "It shows that brain regions important for decision-making remain active even while our brains may be simultaneously engaged in unrelated tasks, such as thinking about a math problem. What's most intriguing about this finding is that participants did not have any awareness that their brains were still working on the decision problem while they were engaged in an unrelated task."

The results included three main findings. First, the team confirmed previous research demonstrating that a brief period of distraction -- in this case two minutes -- produced higher quality decisions about the cars and other items. But did this effect occur because the distraction period provided an opportunity for the brain to take a break from decision-making and then return to the problem with a fresh look? Or alternatively, does the brain continue to unconsciously process decision information during this distraction period? This research supports the latter unconscious processing explanation.

When the participants were initially learning information about the cars and other items, the neuroimaging results showed activation in the visual and prefrontal cortices, regions that are known to be responsible for learning and decision-making. Additionally, during the distractor task, both the visual and prefrontal cortices continued to be active -- or reactivated -- even though the brain was consciously focused on number memorization.

Third, the results showed that the amount of reactivation within the visual and prefrontal cortices during the distractor task predicted the degree to which participants made better decisions, such as picking the best car in the set.

"We all face difficult problems we need to solve on a regular basis," Creswell said. "Whether it's buying a new car, finding a new apartment to rent, or seeking out a new dating partner on social networking sites. This study provides some of the first clues for how our brains process this information for effective problem-solving and decision-making."

Bursley (DC'12), who joined CMU's Health and Human Performance Laboratory as a freshman, spent his undergraduate career working on this research and related studies. To support his work, he received a Small Undergraduate Research Grant (SURG) and Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). Bursley also received a Rothberg Research Award in Human Brain Imaging, made possible by Carnegie Mellon alumnus and trustee Jonathan M. Rothberg (E'85), founder of four genetics companies aimed at improving human health.

"Carnegie Mellon was the perfect place to carry out this work because there's a significant focus here on pursuing new directions in mind-brain research," Bursley said. "This study is really a starting point. We also are using brain imaging to see if we find the same reactivation patterns in learning tasks that we saw here in decision-making.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130213092305.htm

Job burnout can severely compromise heart health

March 12, 2013
Science Daily/American Friends of Tel Aviv University
Dr. Sharon Toker of Tel Aviv University has found a link between job burnout and coronary heart disease (CHD), the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries that leads to angina and heart attacks. She says that her findings were more extreme than she expected and make burnout a stronger predictor of CHD than many other risk factors.

Americans work longer hours, take fewer vacation days, and retire later than employees in other industrialized countries around the globe. With such demanding careers, it's no surprise that many experience job burnout -- physical, cognitive, and emotional exhaustion that results from stress at work. Researchers have found that burnout is also associated with obesity, insomnia, and anxiety.

Now Dr. Sharon Toker of Tel Aviv University's Faculty of Management and her fellow researchers -- Profs. Samuel Melamed, Shlomo Berliner, David Zeltser and Itzhak Shpira of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine -- have found a link between job burnout and coronary heart disease (CHD), the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries that leads to angina or heart attacks.

Those who were identified as being in the top 20 percent of the burnout scale were found to have a 79 percent increased risk of coronary disease, the researchers reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. Calling the results "alarming," Dr. Toker says that these findings were more extreme than the researchers had expected -- and make burnout a stronger predictor of CHD than many other classical risk factors, including smoking, blood lipid levels, and physical activity.

Taking a toll on the heart

Some of the factors that contribute to burnout are common experiences in the workplace, including high stress, heavy workload, a lack of control over job situations, a lack of emotional support, and long work hours. This leads to physical wear and tear, which will eventually weaken the body.

Knowing that burnout has been associated with other cardiovascular risk factors, such as heightened amounts of cholesterol or fat in the bloodstream, the researchers hypothesized that it could also be a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Over the course of the study, a total of 8,838 apparently healthy employed men and women between the ages of 19 and 67 who presented for routine health examinations were followed for an average of 3.4 years. Each participant was measured for burnout levels and examined for signs of CHD. The researchers controlled for typical risk factors for the disease, such as sex, age, family history of heart disease, and smoking.

During the follow-up period, 93 new cases of CHD were identified. Burnout was associated with a 40% increased risk of developing CHD. But the 20% of participants with the highest burnout scores had a 79% increased risk. Dr. Toker predicts that with a more extended follow-up period, the results would be even more dramatic.
Avoiding long-term damage

These results are valuable for preventative medicine, says Dr. Toker. Healthcare providers who know that their patients are experiencing burnout can closely monitor for signs of coronary heart disease as well.

Once burnout begins to develop, it sparks a downwards spiral and ultimately becomes a chronic condition, she warns. Employers need to prioritize prevention by promoting healthy and supportive work environments and keeping watch for early warning signs of the condition. Simple diagnostic questionnaires that identify burnout are already available online. Workers can contribute to prevention by making healthy lifestyle choices, such as exercising more regularly, getting seven to eight hours sleep per night, and seeking psychological therapy if required.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130312134906.htm

Reframing Stress: Stage Fright Can Be Your Friend

April 8, 2013
Science Daily/University of Rochester
Fear of public speaking tops death and spiders as the nation's number one phobia. But new research shows that learning to rethink the way we view our shaky hands, pounding heart, and sweaty palms can help people perform better both mentally and physically.

For many people, especially those suffering from social anxiety disorder, the natural uneasiness experienced before giving a speech can quickly tip over into panic. "If we think we can't cope with stress, we will experience threat. When threatened, the body enacts changes to concentrate blood in the core and restricts flow to the arms, legs, and brain," he explains. So, "cold feet" is a real physiological response to threat, not just a colorful expression.

In the study, 69 adults were asked to give a five-minute talk about their strengths and weaknesses with only three minutes to prepare. Roughly half of the participants had a history of social anxiety and all participants were randomly assigned to two groups. The first group was presented information about the advantages of the body's stress response and encouraged to "reinterpret your bodily signals during the upcoming public speaking task as beneficial." That group also was asked to read summaries of three psychology studies that showed the benefits of stress. The second group received no information about reframing stress.

Confronted with scowling judges, participants who received no stress preparation experienced a threat response, as captured by cardiovascular measures. But the group that was prepped about the benefits of stress weathered the trial better. That group reported feeling that they had more resources to cope with the public speaking task and, perhaps more tellingly, their physiological responses confirmed those perceptions. The prepped group pumped more blood through the body per minute compared to the group that did not receive instruction.

Surprisingly, this study also found that individuals who suffer from social anxiety disorder actually experienced no greater increase in physiological arousal while under scrutiny than their non-anxious counterparts, despite reporting more intense feelings of apprehension. This disconnect, argue the authors, supports the theory that our experience of acute or short-term stress is shaped by how we interpret physical cues. "We construct our own emotions," says Jamieson.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130408133020.htm

Workplace Stress Poses Risk to Health

April 23, 2013
Science Daily/Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen - German Research Centre for Environmental Health
Stressful situations at work can have a negative impact on the cardiovascular system and the metabolism. Stress, which is transmitted by direct and indirect signaling pathways, leads to an inflammatory response in the body, which can trigger cardiovascular diseases, amongst others.

The study is based on a long-term observation of more than 950 people as part of the population-based cohort study MONICA/KORA. The work was conducted by Dr. Rebecca Emeny as part of the Mental Health working group headed by Prof. Karl-Heinz Ladwig, Institute of Epidemiology II (EPI II) at the Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU). Data was analyzed from questionnaires on psychological stress at work and concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers in the blood. The results showed that healthy workers who were exposed to stress at work displayed significantly elevated inflammatory parameters and faced twice the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

More than half of the participants in the study stated that they experienced psychological strain and stress at work. Stress is regarded as a cardiovascular risk factor. Its consequences are communicated directly via activated messenger substances as well as indirectly via unhealthy stress-related behavior. In particular, the scientists found a clear association between stress and elevated concentrations of CRP (C-reactive protein), which is an inflammatory marker, and were thus able to demonstrate a stress-related inflammatory reaction in the body. Moreover, job stress led to harmful psychological effects such as depression and sleep disturbances as well as to unhealthy behavior, for example, physical inactivity. Doing sports regularly, for at least one hour per week, significantly reduced inflammatory activity. However, the differences in terms of health risks between people who suffered from work stress and those who did not still remained.

With their analysis, the scientists at HMGU have made a substantial contribution towards a deeper understanding of stress-related responses in the body. "The insights gained from this study form important starting points for finding preventive measures that will protect against stress-related diseases such as coronary heart disease," says Dr. Emeny, first author of the study.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130423090940.htm

Harnessing ADHD for business success

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) promotes entrepreneurial skills

March 9, 2017

Science Daily/Technical University of Munich (TUM)

The symptoms of ADHD foster important traits associated with entrepreneurship. That conclusion was reached in a study conducted by an international team of economists, who found that entrepreneurs with ADHD embrace new experiences and demonstrate passion and persistence. Their intuitive decision making in situations involving uncertainty was seen by the researchers as a reason for reassessing existing economic models.

Poor concentration, hyperactivity, a lack of self-regulation -- at first glance, the symptoms of ADHD would seem to lower performance. On the other hand, successful entrepreneurs are frequently reported to have ADHD. "We noticed sometime that some symptoms of ADHD resemble behaviors commonly associated with entrepreneurship -- in a positive sense," says Prof. Holger Patzelt of the Entrepreneurship Research Institute at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

In cooperation with Johan Wiklund, professor at the Syracuse University, and Dimo Dimov, professor at the University of Bath, Patzelt asked 14 self-employed people with ADHD about their diagnoses, their careers and their personal background. The study shows that important symptoms of ADHD had a decisive impact on the subjects' decision to go into business and on their entrepreneurial approach:

Impulsiveness

People with ADHD are quick to lose their patience. Several of the participants in the study cited boredom in their previous jobs as a reason for setting up their own company, where they could follow up on their own ideas whenever they wanted. One woman reported that she had introduced 250 new products within just a few years. In situations that would be highly stressful for others, such as difficult meetings with important customers, many of those surveyed felt at ease and stimulated. "Their impulsiveness, resulting from ADHD, gives them the advantage of being able to act under unforeseen circumstances without falling into anxiety and paralysis," says Patzelt.

Most of those surveyed act without thinking, even when making far-reaching decisions. One of the entrepreneurs described buying a friend's company over lunch. He only learned of the friend's plan to retire during the meal. Other participants reported that they make investments with no strategy and commit large sums of money to projects with highly uncertain outcomes. Some entrepreneurs believe that this kind of quick decision making is the only way to be productive, and are willing to live with setbacks as a result. Some have difficulty coping with structured activities.

"A marked willingness to try out new things and take risks is an important entrepreneurial trait," says Patzelt. However, the respondents' impulsive actions led to success only when they focused on activities essential to the development of their businesses. One disadvantage of their impulsiveness was mentioned by all of them: problems with routine tasks such as bookkeeping.

Hyperfocus

When people with ADHD have a strong interest in a task, they display an unusual level of concentration known as hyperfocus. One entrepreneur reported that he often becomes completely absorbed in crafting customer solutions. Another constantly keeps up with the new technologies in his industry to the point that he is now much in demand as an expert. "With their passion and persistence, and the expertise they acquire as a result, entrepreneurs can gain a substantial competitive advantage," says Patzelt.

High activity level

Many of the entrepreneurs in the study work day and night without taking time off. That is due to the their hyperfocus, but also to the physical restlessness associated with ADHD. The entrepreneurs use this to fuel their workload. As their energy levels are not constant throughout the day, an advantage in running their own businesses is that they can set their own hours.

"Logic of people with ADHD symptoms is better attuned to entrepreneurial action."

Summing up the results, Patzelt says, "ADHD was a key factor in their decision to go into business for themselves and decisively impacted important entrepreneurial traits: risk taking, passion, persistence and time commitment. Impulsiveness has a special role to play. For People with ADHD it is okay to make intuitive decisions even if the results are bad."

Although one third of those surveyed failed in their business ventures or had little success, Patzelt sees the results of the study as vital for prompting a reassessment of prevailing assumptions in entrepreneurship research: "The way we evaluate entrepreneurial decisions is largely based on rationality and good outcomes. In view of the multitude of uncertainties, however, can such decisions always be rational? People with ADHD show us a different logic that is perhaps better suited to entrepreneurship."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170309132303.htm