Work stress -- a study

Here's another reason to learn those office mantras and take out that stress ball from your drawer. A study by researchers at the University College London reported that people with high job stress over a long period of time have double the risk of developing the dreaded metabolic syndrome, a health condition linked to diabetes, obesity and deranged blood cholesterol levels. They further suggest that this link may help explain the relationship between stressors of everyday life and heart disease. The study on 10,308 participants aged 35 to 55 defined work stress as being in the lowest third of work social support, and having high job demands and low job control. Compared with those who never reported work stress, those who reported work stress three or more times over a 14-year study period had double the risk of metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, the researchers noticed that the risk increased as the stress level increased. The mechanism underlying the relation-ship between work stress and metabolic syndrome remains unknown, but it may have something to do with the biochemical "fight-or-flight" responses of your body to stress.    

What is truth or lies?

What is truth or lies ? When we tell a story a thousand times , what is said will be the truth. That is what happen to folklores. Now I used to look at the moon to see whether is there a fairy or not. Since young I was told that there is a beautiful fairy living there waiting to be reunited with her lover. My mum used to tell me that we should not point our fingers at half moon , otherwise my ears will be cut off by the moon. All these folklores were proven wrong when the Americans landed on the moon. There goes all our beliefs. Nowadays there are so much lies in the cyberspace and it has become so scary. When we read the news on the. Net we do not know whether is the truth or not. The latest story about a  Ex-Indonesian VP saying that DS Anwar have  broken his promise on the GE13 with Our PM Najib  was written extensively in the news media and on the net and it was denied by Ex-VP that he had said these things. How can such extensive lies can be created without a blink of an eye.  These evil ghost writers which are paid to spread lies. Another accusation is DS Anwar have RM300 slashed away in 22 accounts  by a current MP in the parliament. Such stories have been repeatedly said and repeated until lies become the truth. This stupid MP should reign and seal his lips forever.   I am not a big fan of DS Anwar but I think these pro-UMNO bloggers or supporters have over killed him and make us have a deep sense of pity on him. Wah he has advocated is meritocracy and his beliefs and it maybe a different opinion but when we debate we should concentrate on his ideals and philosophy and not to have personal attacks on his personality.  We should try to engaged and persuade and not to discredit the person and kill his ideals by spreading lies. We have to agree to disagree. What is wrong with Malaysia? It has become an unbelievable country. A country full of lies and half truth. We have to stop the rot ,otherwise it will hit the core and there is no chance to recover from this sickness. Tell the truth and let the Rakyat decide in the GE13 and concentrate to mange the country well. Namaste

The fresh morning air.

The fresh morning air

Today is Saturday . I had a very good night of sleep. Usually, i am still still sleeping at this time on working days.

I had a good Japanese dinner with my wife and friends last night.  My daughter M was not free as she had a college  outing. 

Yes. The air was fresh as I lie in bed writing this feeling. Most of the time , i am rushing through my life . Either working or tired out flat on my bed. It is really a rare occasion having the leisure time to smell the fresh air. The feeling is like resting after a marathon. It is the same feeling after every heavy week of work.

Years will just pass if we rush through life. Just like driving  our car  very fast and when we look outside our car windows ,the scene out there is blur and unattractive. Our mind's focus is on our next activity instead of the present. If we slow down our car, the scene outside will be more clearer and attractive。We can see more details and be aware of the irony in life. If we gets deeper insight, we realized life is a big joke.

So much twisted and turn , ups and downs , yet the end is the same. Impermanence.

What is out purpose in life? Winning a rat race ? Getting rich and famous ? It is the fresh morning air.fresh and full of zest. Starting of a race through the marathon of life. When we gets nearer to the end of the day, we will realize  the staleness of the whole process. However, it depends on what we do in the day. If we have enjoyed the process, we will still be fresh as if we still have the morning air with us.

Let us ponder moment and dwell deep inside us to decide how we should  to spend today . Rushing through or slow down the scenes and enjoy the moments  before our time is over. It is our choice whether to end our day with freshness of the morning air still  inside us.

Namaste

Life on a fast lane....

Every morning, I took the fast lane to work.  Do you know which is the fast lane ?  A lot of people is confused over this lane. It is the lane on our right hand side. The middle lane is the moderate lane and the slow lane is the far left lane. Many a times, people us the right lane as the slow lane  and some people use the left lane as the fast lane.  This concept is totally wrong. We can only cut from the right hand and if left lane become the fast lane, then we have cut from the left.  That is where accidents happens.

On Wednesday, it was a gloomy day and it was drizzling.  After getting out from my house,  I switch on the front line because it was dark.  I started slowly and kept to the left  and I gradually start to move to the right , which is the fast lane.   Suddenly, one car started to honk me.  I look behind and I could not see the car clearly as the car was painted black , the weather was gloomy and the driver did not switch on his front light.  The driver cut from the left  and drew parallel to me and wind down his car's window and shouted at me and I also wind down my window and asked him what is he shouting about ?  Suddenly, he drove his car into my lane and step on the brake and I just slow down my car to avoid hitting him and he just drove off after protesting in that stupid manner.

I know when we are irritated or angry , we say silly things and acted stupidly.  This drivers action reflects exactly that.  I told myself not to be upset by his action and he might have forgotten the incident and I am still holding on to its memory. It was a stupid thing to do.

As usual, I kept to the right lane and proceed to work and when I hit the Penang bridge,  there were a lot of slow drivers packing the right lane and I have to shift between lanes  and overtake on the left lane to make sure I reached office in time. It was a nasty things to do as it could post danger to the other drivers.  What can we do when there is a heavy traffic on the road ? Either we have to do all the wrong things or to be late for work.  It is a dilemma in our daily life.

Life is full of choices , we can choose to follow the rules or break the rules , it is up to us. But, at the end of the day, we should not harm or hurt others.  They also have their choice and have their life.

Namaste.

Blood pressure - the correct level : study

Doctors will tell you to keep your blood pressure low by exercising, taking your medications regularly, and having regular pressure checks.

However, if you have a condition called heart failure, you should be careful not to go overboard with blood pressure lowering, as a report in the American Heart Journal states that lower blood pressures appear to raise the risk of death in patients with heart failure.

The report, based on data from 5,747 patients with moderate heart failure, showed that those with a systolic blood pressure (the top blood pressure reading) of lower than 100 mm Hg had a higher mortality rate than those with pressures between 130 and 139. And it gets more complicated: mortality fell as blood pressure rose from 100 mm Hg, but then increased slightly at 120 to 129, before falling again at 130.

In contrast, low diastolic blood pressure (the bottom blood pressure reading) was also linked to increased mortality, but in this case, mortality consistently fell from below 60 mm Hg to above 89 mm Hg, which conferred the lowest risk.

Hence, while blood pressure targets for the general population remain the same, those with heart failure may require more meticulous blood pressure monitoring from their health care provider. 

 S

I woke up in the middle of the night.....

I could not sleep well last night and I was already up by 4.20am.  Correctly, it was early morning instead of middle of the night.  How shall we describe it ?  Middle of the night is like 9pm so how shall we describe it .  Not important now , if you can understand my meaning but the fact is that I am deprived off my sleep.

Enough sleep is very important and it help us in our focus.  I have drank 3 cups of coffee to stay awake and yet ,  I am afraid that I could not sleep tonight. Too much caffine will keep me awake.  To some people, it has no impact at all. They can sleep anytime and anywhere even when they are standing. For my wife, she can fell asleep  while reading a book. If I took away the book, her hands is still in the same position as holding the book.  It is quite funny and I always laugh in silence.

Lately, I am in the habit of sleeping before 11 pm and getting up around 7am with one or two interruptions to go to the toilet. Of course, sometimes, with no interruptions. I hope there is nothing seriously wrong with me. The nights after the yoga sessions ie 4 times a week makes me sleep better. I am quite aware of this pattern and deep inside , I have recognize it as one of the benefits of practicing yoga.

At one point of time, our Ex-PM Mahatir said that he do not know why people want to stand on their heads instead of on their feet?  Our learned Mahatir may not be aware that this is a way to de-stress and lets the body calm down and gradually , we can fell asleep easily.  Dr Mahatir still lives in his own time and domain and never have the chance to practice yoga.

Anyway, we need 8 hours of good sleep to replenish or rejuvenate ourself and remained focus in our work.  Any short of sleep will make us edgy and non responsive. We will be slow in our actions because the body cannot connect with the mind or vice versa.  The health or well being of the body-mind connection can be achieved through several means like meditation, yoga, qigong, Taichi and many other means.

Namaste.

The haze has gone...

The haze has gone ...

Happy days are here again as the sky clear because of the strong wind and rain. The heat was unbearable during the hazy days and the Governments were at each others throat.  Now it has calm down and we can see clearly now when the haze is gone.

Hazy days is like our problem days when we cannot find a solution. The trouble seems to get bigger every moment and wild thoughts raced across our mind kicking dust and dirts making the problem seems bigger.

Like I say before some problem can be solved  by time and some by evolutions and some can be solved internally within one's self.

People have short memory and when we are in trouble, we forgot that the problem can be solved in some way or another. Worrying make the problem bigger and seem more serious. If only we can control our thoughts and be aware that the problem have occurred before and how it was resolved. It is the power of the mind.

Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night struggling with my thoughts. The mind was fresh as monkey mind start to jump around. It dance around for an hour before I fell asleep again. In the morning, the problem have became smaller as if the haze is cleared. Yes, I should be aware that  worrying over a problem only weaken us and make our time unproductive.

The haze will come and go again. It is a matter of time and like this process. The problem will come and go and there will a solution whether we want it or not.

Namaste.