E-mail is an efficient way to communicate, but, truth be told, it can also be overwhelming. People fire off e-mails so fast that messages often pop into our in-boxes every few seconds.

And the urge to take care of them (either by responding to them, filing them or deleting them) is strong. In fact, a 2010 New York Times article humorously compared deleting e-mails to killing zombies—you get rid of them, but then more keep coming.

Attending to e-mails takes up a lot of precious time. But more importantly, the practice can sometimes negatively affect our mental health.

It can make us feel stressed, as if we’re drowning in a sea of messages, as well as distracted, because the onslaught comes at us rapid-fire.

Could you reduce the amount of time that you spend checking e-mail? If so, what are the best ways to do that? And would doing so make you feel less scatterbrained and anxious? How great would that be?

AN ABRUPT CHANGE

To see whether busy professionals could survive—and even flourish—without e-mail, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, asked them to do something unrealistic and rather drastic.

They asked 13 people from one office to turn off their work e-mail completely for five consecutive days. Before the big shutdown, researchers analyzed the participants during a normal workweek to see how they typically behaved.

BENEFITS ALL AROUND

Surprisingly for those of us who can’t imagine working without e-mail, participants responded well to the e-mail shutdown, said Gloria Mark, PhD, coauthor of the study and an informatics professor at the university.

For instance, when they were without e-mail, subjects…
Felt more productive. Rather than multitasking, which can be distracting and lead to inefficiency, subjects were able to concentrate longer without interruption.

The average time spent working on a computer document or within a particular computer window was about 74% longer, compared with when subjects had e-mail. And when subjects were doing noncomputer work, they spent 39% longer on each task, compared with when they did have e-mail.

Felt less anxious.
Participants’ stress levels went down, as shown by their heart-rate variability, compared with when they did have e-mail.

Moved more.
Rather than make phone calls, when subjects couldn’t use e-mail, they usually got up from their desks and walked to colleagues’ desks to have a conversation.

Grew closer with colleagues. All participants reported that they liked having more face-to-face interactions and felt closer to their colleagues.

TAKE MINI “E-MAIL VACATIONS”

No one (including Dr. Mark) is suggesting that it would be a good idea to give up e-mail altogether for five straight days. After all, you might miss important, timely messages…

or you might be working on a project that involves a large group of people from various offices (perhaps even various countries!) and a lack of e-mail might slow your ability to communicate …plus, you wouldn’t be able to receive electronic documents, such as attached documents and photos.

What Dr. Mark does suggest is that you try taking shorter, more realistic “e-mail vacations” each day, anywhere from one to four hours at a time.

In other words, rather than keeping your e-mail program open continuously, open it and check your e-mail only at, say, 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm (in batches).

That way, e-mails will feel less distracting, intrusive and overwhelming. The pile of messages in your in-box won’t stress you out—because you won’t see it.

Of course, if your boss or colleagues require or expect instant responses to e-mails, then check with them first to see whether blackout periods are workable.

Be prepared for some knee-jerk resistance—in fact, you may even run into some resentment about the fact that you would no longer be waiting on pins and needles for every communication from your coworkers!

Try explaining your reasoning to them in a way that won’t insult them…for example, say, “I’d like to do a trial run to see whether it improves my productivity. If something urgent comes up, I’d be sure to respond to any phone call immediately.”

At the very least, said Dr. Mark, try turning off your e-mail system’s pop-up notifications. For example, if a new window or an image of an envelope appears on your screen every time an e-mail lands in your in-box, there often are ways to make those disappear under “settings” or “preferences.”

You may find that you’re less compelled to check your in-box constantly (and instead, simply check e-mail in between tasks) once those nonstop reminders are out of your life.

Source: Gloria Mark, PhD, professor of informatics, department of informatics, University of California, Irvine. The study was presented at the May 7, 2012 meeting of the Association for Computing Machinery in Austin, Texas.

I hope you are in fine health. If so, what’s up beautiful?

Larry

What is at issue, however, is not the faith of those who don’t believe in contraception but rather how the religious beliefs of legislators will now be forced on citizens of Missouri. The Republican battle cry is that of religious freedom, but they seem to forget about the religious freedom guaranteed to all citizens, and that freedom includes protecting citizens from religious zealots.

The veto vote went completely down party lines, passing the Missouri House 109 – 45. 109 votes is the minimum amount needed to overturn a veto. The Senate also approved the measure 26 – 6.

Many Democratic lawmakers believe this move by Republicans will cost the state in the long run, and will make Missouri vulnerable to the now inevitable lawsuits where citizens will sue based upon being discriminated for religious reasons.

Even after John Wayne sent Reagan a private and personal note offering to show him “point by goddam point in the treaty where you are misinforming people,” and offering fair warning that it was time for the Gipper to shut his piehole (“If you continue to make these erroneous remarks, someone will publicize your letter to prove that you are not as thorough in your reviewing this treaty as you say or are damned obtuse when it comes to reading the English language”), Ronald Reagan doubled down. – Drift, by Rachel Maddow [page 33]
======================
By the way “Drift” by Rachel Maddow is a must read if you want to understand how the the B actor whore sold out to the Military Industrial Complex in a way that changed the balance of power of government to private enterprise to make money of waging wars.

Also you will learn about the Iran Contra scandal. What you will not learn is that Ronald Reagan sold our the lives of american civilians and military men to gain the White House.

He made a deal with Iran not to release the prisoners until after the election. In return he promised to give them arms. So after he was elected they returned the prisoners the next day for a huge array of arms and technology.

He also authorized the CIA to develop a form of cocaine that could be smoked, Crack Cocaine, to be sold in black ghettos to finance his illegal war in Nicaragua http://www.trutv.com/conspiracy/government-lies/government-drug-dealer/reagan-nicaragua.html.

It destroyed the lives of millions of people in the US and hundreds of millions of lives in Central and South America. It is a legacy that lives on today with huge drug cartel that have made it way to Mexico.

This guy was so desperate for money he allowed a lowly colonel to direct policy in Nicaragua for the Contras war. He was America’s Biggest Drug dealer. He organized the movement of thousands of tons of cocaine with the Director of the CIA, Casey.

Together they made Colombia’s Medellin Drug cartel. Reagan used the weapons stockpile to arm and train the drug dealers in counter insurgency and overthrow of governments.

Anonz sent me stuff on film of Reagan accepting money and hundreds of tapes of reagan giving orders and doing deals with Oliver North, Poindexter, Casey, Felix Rodriquez and many others.

This guy was so crooked, if a small bit of this material was ever to see the light of day, he would be impeached in absentia.

I viewed several reels of tape in black and white and color made by several NSA, DEA and other secret agencies showing President Ronald Reagan doing drug deals, weapons deals. Some were boldly signed by DEA agents Celerno CAstillo III and Michael Levine.

Ronald Reagan worked with Israel and key scientist to develop the AIDS virus to thin out the blacks of South Africa for whites. He was a racist second only to Hitler with what he was willing to do to OTWS.

They planned to inoculate the whores along the Gold Coast of Africa. The gave it to the whores along that route because it was driven by black long haul truck drivers.They administered it in a foam that was placed inside the vaginas of the prostitutes telling them it was
a form of birth control and STD protection.

It was a fatal disease that killed silently and would be spread from woman to man. It was not intended to kill the black women. They would only be carriers.

Unfortunately, they never counted on white men taking it up the ass and passing it on to other white men.

http://www.democracynow.org/2004/6/7/noam_chomsky_on_reagans_legacy_bush

This was the original Money Whore. He would do anything for a buck. You have to remember he used to take it up the ass for parts. Men were very much a part of Hollywoods’ Casting Couch.

Anonz delights in showing Ronnie sucking dick and giving up ass for bit movie parts.

Mike, TM

Remember the hula hoop, the plastic toy that you played with as a kid—slinging the big round hoop around your waist and moving your hips to keep it rotating? It’s back—this time as a genuinely great exercise for adults.

And yes—you can do it.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse have even studied it. They found that a 30-minute hula hoop workout can burn about 210 calories, similar to taking a brisk walk.

Hula hooping also has been found to strengthen core muscles and improve balance. That’s good news for people looking for another type of workout to add to their regimen. John Porcari, PhD, executive director of the La Crosse Exercise and Health Program at the university and the lead researcher in the study, explains how you can make hula hooping into a real workout…

THE HOOP

The first plastic hula hoops were made by the toy company Wham-O starting in the 1950s. But hooping actually dates back thousands of years to ancient Greece and Egypt, where early exercisers used hoops made of grapevines or stiff grasses.

Today’s adult fitness hula hoops are larger (37 to 45 inches in diameter) than the original toy version and weigh more—between one and five pounds.

The bigger diameter and added weight enables the hoop to rotate more slowly around the body, which makes the activity easier.

Some adult hoops come wrapped in friction tape in a candy-cane style—this let’s the hoop stick to your body better, which means that you’ll spend more time with the hoop moving and less time stopping to pick it up.

You’ll want to choose a hoop that fits your body. If you stand the hoop on the ground in front of you, the top should reach between your belly button and mid-chest.

Hula hoops for adults are available at many sporting goods stores and online at http://www.YourHoop.com, http://www.CanyonHoops.com and http://www.HoopGirl.com.

The average cost is between $25 and $35. It’s best to store your hoop by lying it flat in a cool place. Hanging it from a hook can cause it to droop.

HOW TO HOOP

Hula hooping classes are offered at gyms, Ys and community centers. Classes may differ. Some focus entirely on dance moves, while others combine strength training (using the hula hoop while doing lunges and squats) and an aerobic workout.

If you are new to hooping, look for a beginner’s class that will spend some time teaching you the basics of twirling the hoop around your waist.

You also can hula hoop on your own. Do several basic moves, as described below, and you have your own workout.

Basic move (known as the pump). This is the classic “just keep it going!” move. Stand inside the hoop with one foot forward and one foot back at a comfortable, shoulder-width stance with your knees slightly bent.

Hold the hoop with two hands and position it so that it’s at waist height and resting against your back. Holding the hoop, wind it to one side as far as it can go.

Then let it go in the opposite direction. To keep the hoop going, move your hips forward and back. It may take you a while to master this basic move, but eventually you’ll be able to keep the hoop moving in time with your hips’ motion.

You can keep your feet close together and make tiny hip movements or take a wide stance and make more dramatic hip movements. If the hoop starts to wobble, you might need a big hip movement to bring it back into balance.

Variations. Once you have mastered the basic move, there are a number of other moves you can add. You can vary the pace of the hoop—going faster so that it rises up on your body.

Or alternate between fast and regular speeds. You also can change direction of the hoop every few minutes. Other variations include moving your feet in dancelike steps while you hoop…turning in a circle while the hoop turns the other way…and moving your arms up and down as you hoop.

You’ll find that a hula hoop workout is great when done to music that gets you moving.

Hula hooping is not recommended for women who are pregnant or for people with spine injuries. People who are in poor health should consult with a physician before beginning any new exercise program.

Source: John Porcari, PhD, is program director of the clinical exercise physiology program and executive director of the La Crosse Exercise and Health Program, University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.