Posts

tired

Long Covid Symptoms Comparable To Parkinson’s And Stroke, According To New Study 

/in , /by

The World Health Organization defines long Covid as symptoms that are lasting at least three months after initial infection. The illness has become an ongoing battle for many individuals around the world from the pandemic, and while health experts and scientists have learned more about it in the past four years, there’s still a lot unknown regarding the intricacies of long Covid. 

A lot of the research surrounding long Covid has been focused around the symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog. Now, a new study from Australia published in the Australian Journal of Primary Health showed how limited individuals suffering from long Covid are in their daily life. 

Embed from Getty Images

Long Covid impacts about 6% of people who have been infected with Covid-19. There have been more than 200 symptoms recorded. For some people, it lasts a few months, for others known as “long haulers” it can stretch into years. 

Past studies have shown that long Covid reduces quality of life to levels that parallel chronic fatigue syndrome, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, and Parkinson’s disease. 

This new study specifically surveyed 121 adults across Australia that are living with long Covid and initially were infected with Covid-19 between February 2020 and June 2022. Most of the individuals were aged 36 to 50 and were never hospitalized and able to manage their illness at home. 

Researchers asked the participants to complete two surveys that are used in health research to measure disability and quality of life known as the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule and the Short Form Health Survey. 

Both of the surveys work to paint a full picture of people’s lived experiences to show researchers what it truly means to live with these symptoms and how they impact their everyday life. 

The people who were surveyed with long Covid reported worse disability than 98% of the general population in Australia. 86% of the individuals with long Covid met the criteria for serious disability compared to 9% of Australians overall. 

Embed from Getty Images

Reports show that people, on average, have trouble with daily activities about 27 days a month and are unable to function for about 18 days. While those surveyed said they could meet some basic needs, they didn’t have the ability to contribute to their homes, workplaces, and communities. 

Overall quality of life scores were 23% lower than the general population. 

Another study that surveyed people across 13 countries found similar levels of disability, and found that women have higher disability scores than men. 

Long Covid has no specific diagnostic test, and individuals suffering with it are often met with skepticism by their health professionals when it comes to their symptoms and its daily impact. 

There are some advancements being made to take long Covid more seriously, but so many are still suffering in the meantime. A 2023 parliamentary long Covid inquiry estimated hundreds of thousands of Australians are living with long Covid, and around the world the numbers are much higher. 

The researchers are stating that there needs to be developed services that are based on real peoples lived experiences. There needs to be accessible tools for people to manage fatigue, brain fog, and the ways in which long Covid impacts everyday life. 

work

How The US Housing Market Is Reacting To 2024 Remote Work Trends

/in /by

The Covid-19 pandemic left America with a new standard of working. Many businesses and individuals not only started working remotely due to quarantine regulations, but continued to do so after quarantine was over. Now, experts in the real estate industry are discussing how the housing market is adapting to these work trends.

Read more

President Biden Announces New Vaccine Mandate For Working Americans 

/in , /by

President Joe Biden announced this week that he would be imposing a new stringent set of vaccine requirements for federal workers, large employers, and health care staff in an attempt to slow the spread of Covid-19. 

The new requirement is set to apply to over 100 million Americans; about two-thirds of the workforce in the nation. 

“We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us. Vaccinated America is growing frustrated with the 80 million people who have not received shots and are fueling the spread of the virus. While America is in much better shape than it was seven months ago when I took office, I need to tell you a second fact: We’re in a tough stretch and it could last for a while,” Biden said.

Embed from Getty Images

The new plan requires the Labor Department to force businesses with 100 or more employees to either get everyone vaccinated or get tested once a week. Companies that refuse could face thousands of dollars in fines per employee who refuses to comply.

Biden also signed an executive order that requires every government employee to be vaccinated against Covid-19, and they can’t opt for regular testing. The same standard will also be applied to employees of contractors who do business with the federal government. 

“300,000 educators in federal Head Start programs must be vaccinated, governors need to require vaccinations for school teachers and staff. The 17 million health care workers at facilities receiving funds from Medicare and Medicaid will also need to be fully vaccinated, we’re expanding the mandate to hospitals, home care facilities and dialysis centers around the country. We have the tools to combat the virus if we come together to use those tools,” Biden said.

Embed from Getty Images

The new “emergency temporary standard” from the Labor Department will also require all large employers to give their employees paid time off to receive their vaccines if they haven’t done so yet.  “If businesses don’t comply, the government will take enforcement actions, which could include substantial fines up to nearly $14,000 per violation,” according to officials.

“Each employer will decide exactly what they want to do, but what we’re saying through the Department of Labor rule making process is a minimum of testing once a week or full vaccination,” a senior administration official said.

“Federal employees will have 75 days to get vaccinated or risk being fired. The expectation is if you want to work in the federal government or want to be a contractor, you need to be vaccinated,” press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Additionally, Biden announced a slew of new health and safety measures as a means of slowing the spread of the Delta variant. The Defense Production Act will be evoked in order to accelerate the production of rapid Covid tests. The administration is hoping to send 25 million free tests to US health clinics. 

Biden overall unveiled a six-pillar plan to cobatting the pandemic. According to reports, “The six pillars of Biden’s plan include: vaccinating the unvaccinated; further protecting the vaccinated through booster shots; keeping schools open; increasing testing and requiring masks; protecting the economic recovery; and improving care for those with Covid-19.”

Newspapers

This Journalist Is Virtually Sharing Her Family’s Farm With The World Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic

/in , /by

Recently, the Guardian called upon its writers to discuss what life back home in quarantine was like. For Phoebe Weston, the coronavirus pandemic meant moving back home to her family’s farm in Sevenoaks, Kent, located in the lower part of England.

Read more
Woman Working Remotely

How To Transition To Working Remotely

/in , /by

This week, hundreds of thousands of workers were told by their employers to stay home for the time being in light of the current coronavirus pandemic the world is enduring. Working remotely can definitely have its perks, but it can also be difficult to make the transition from doing work in a work environment, to the place where you go to escape your daily occupational duties. 

The best and worst part about working remotely is the fact that you get to enjoy the comfort of being in your own space all day. In order to make the transition easier, you should try to stick to your regular daily schedule when it comes to the beginning and ending of your work day. This way, you’re still splitting your day by professional and personal time, even though you’re not in a typical professional work environment. 

Embed from Getty Images

Start by writing out a loose time schedule of what you normally do throughout a given day and when it gets done. For instance, you can block off the first hour of your day for responding to emails, the next for writing up a project report, and then break for lunch; obviously these are generalized examples. This way you can detach yourself physically and mentally at the end of the day when it’s time to “clock out” and your schedule is complete.

When giving yourself a break, separate yourself from the part of your home that you’ve set up as your work space. Don’t utilize your break time to do some household chores, really take time to just relax in your own area and mentally unwind, again, the goal is to still separate professional time from personal time. 

Speaking of work spaces, if your residence allows, try to find a dedicated and isolated area of your space that you can exclusively make your home office. If you have a spare room that you barely utilize anyway, whether it be a guest room or storage area, try to set up there. Most of us turn to the dining room table when we have to work remotely, however, having all of your work supplies, papers, folders etc. stacked up on your dinner table can make the entirety of your home feel like your office. Instead, find a space that’s isolated enough so that your obligations are out of sight and out of mind by the time you finish your day. 

Embed from Getty Images

If your job will be requiring any kind of video conference calls or meetings, as most do now when in situations like this, then make sure you’re still dressing in a professional manner. Even if you know the video call will only last 15 minutes, dressing the part for your job will not only give you extra points among your boss and co-workers, but it will likely help you get into the right mindset to work from home as well. 

Finally, make sure you’re setting boundaries for yourself. This is not only to ensure that you’re getting your work done in an efficient manner, but also so you’re able to disconnect and wind down from your obligations when it comes time to do so at the end of the day. It can become easy for your professional and personal life to blur together when you’re working remotely, but remember, you wouldn’t answer a work email at 8 p.m. if you were still in an office, so don’t do it now. 

Allow yourself to enjoy the fact that working from home is kind of amazing. You have access to all of your own food in the fridge that you don’t have to worry about any sneaky co workers taking, you’re guaranteed to be in a space that you know is clean, because you do it yourself, and so on. So while it may take you a minute to adjust, understand that for now this is the safest and best option for all of us, so throw on some sweatpants and answer that email. 

Lady Cooking in Kitchen

Budget-Friendly Hobbies For After You Clock Out Of Work

/in , /by

When it comes to working a standard 9-5 job, life can quickly feel very routine and repetitive. We often find ourselves craving something more, but where do we start? So often when it comes to spicing up our lives with some new hobbies or activities, the financial burden of it all can pose as a major roadblock, however, there are plenty of budget-friendly activities that the average individual could easily invest their free time in as a means of enjoying life outside the office and home.

Cooking is one of the easiest hobbies to get into. Obviously we all need to eat, but in an age where we can access any meal we want in a matter of seconds and have it hand delivered to us all thanks to an app, has made cooking seem like a mundane activity, but it shouldn’t be! Instead of using your phone’s to order a meal and spending money that could otherwise be saved, use it to follow one of the countless cooking tutorial pages available on social media apps such as Instagram or YouTube. Cooking can also be done on a budget if you keep up with your local grocery store sales and use the internet to specifically search for recipes involving this week’s best sale items. 

Embed from Getty Images

Botany is the study of plants, and before you roll your eyes at the thought of studying the exciting world of vegetation, just hear me out. Not only do houseplants add an earthy and bohemian element to any space, they also provide a direct source of clean air and require you to utilize the areas of your home that bring in the most sunlight, promoting a sense of overall positive energy. Working as an indoor botanist for your own personal plant collection can also be extremely cheap, especially if you’re starting from the bottom and growing your new friends from seeds. 

The same logic can be applied to more “scientific” hobbies such as astronomy. If you are located in an area of the world with a particularly spectacular view of the night sky as it goes through its many celestial transitions throughout the year, why not learn more about the amazing universe that you bare witness to every night? Amateur telescope kits offer a more in depth look at the sky without breaking your bank as well. 

To shift into more general hobbies that will fill your time outside of work, consider making a list of personal goals/missions that you’d like to see yourself accomplish either within the coming weeks, or even more long term. These “self missions” can include things like quitting smoking, exercising, trying to engage with the natural world more, or maybe learning a new skill such as botany or cooking. Whatever it is, take your time and find something that you know you’d be passionate about. Go to the local library and do some good old fashion research on the subject as well. 

Embed from Getty Images

While we may be discussing finding a hobby to do when business hours are over, why not make that hobby finding something better to do career wise? If you’re in a situation where simply picking up a new weekend activity won’t cure the overall feeling of dread that comes with working five days a week, dive into that. Make your “self mission” one in which you’re no longer working for money but working for pleasure, and the money is just an added bonus. 

Obviously, that’s much easier said than done, however, if you turn advancing your career into your new hobby, then there’s no rush to just quit and start a new life, in fact, I’d encourage the opposite of that. For example, if you’re working as a data analyst at some firm in the city, but your real dream is to own your own bakery, turn that dream into a weekend reality. 

Make a list of general steps that you would need to take to get to that goal and then within each step, break down the realities of what you’d need to do to check that box. So if one of your steps to owning a new bakery would be to learn more about what it takes to run a business, a “sub-step” to that goal could be taking some night/weekend classes on business. Don’t worry about how overwhelming your list of steps may look when they’re all written down. Visually, it’s nothing more than a bunch of words, symbolically, it represents the things you need to accomplish in order to reach a more fulfilling life. So what are you waiting for?

Woman with Morning Ritual

How To Adopt A Healthy Morning Ritual

/in , /by

When you hear the words “morning routine” do you immediately feel joyful, or a sense of dread? Most working Americans would choose the latter, as their mornings are typically filled with frantically making sure everything they need for the day is together, taking care of their bodies/hygiene, and avoiding any thoughts about work until they actually have to clock-in at the ripe hour of 9 AM. 

When we first wake up, it’s easy to get caught up in the fact that we’re getting up due to an alarm, and not by choice, which is frustrating. However, getting caught up in the misery of waking up early for a job can cause our entire system to absorb those thoughts of negativity and become “sluggish.” Instead, it’s important to take a sort of “mind over matter” approach when it comes to waking up. 

“Emotions are not hard-wired reflections of our external reality. They’re actually guesses our brains make based on previous experiences. Anytime you feel miserable it’s because you are experiencing an unpleasant effect due to physical sensations,” according to Lisa Feldman Barrett, a neuroscientist who wrote the book How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain.

Embed from Getty Images

So to emphasize Barrett’s point, when you wake up and automatically get caught up in how upset you are to be awake, your brain is telling the rest of your body to focus on that negativity and try to run on it. Instead, wake up in the morning and think about what you need at that moment to feel more motivated to get ready and go to work. The first thing you should do for the best physical, mental, and emotional outcome in the morning is drink a tall glass of cold water, after that, figure out what you personally need to do to have the most relaxed, yet productive, morning. 

Get the idea of a morning “routine” out of your head and instead think of it as a ritual to prepare your mind, body, and soul for the day in its entirety. Make a list of things that you can do in the morning to keep yourself centered and relaxed. Remember, like Barett said, our brains are just telling us to be miserable in the morning because that’s how we’ve hardwired it to think. Instead emphasize activities in the morning that promote calmness; this could include simply making the bed, savoring a cup of coffee, reading through the newspaper, or even meditating. 

Regardless of what you specifically need to center yourself, carve out enough time in the morning so that you can leisurely go about your ritual with no real rush or urgency. Even if it means waking up 15 minutes earlier than normal, your mental health will thank you for the less frantic, and more relaxed morning. 

Mindfulness and self-awareness are the two obvious things that should be at the forefront of your ritual. When it comes to major tasks that you need to accomplish throughout the day beyond the realm of work, you need to plan out when each task most efficiently fits into your schedule while still allowing you the luxury of leisure. 

Embed from Getty Images

For example, if you’re the type of person who enjoys going to the gym, for a walk, on a run, etc. throughout the week, think about when in your day, ideally, would you love to see those goals accomplished. If going for a morning walk sounds like something that would center you and prepare you for the busy day ahead, then put it in your ritual. However, if it’s something that you want to ensure you have plenty of time for and that you know will help you unwind after a long day, as opposed to prepare you for it, then save it for after you’ve clocked-out. 

Avoid traditional means of waking up and getting out the door, such as chugging caffeine/caffeinated products as a means of getting a quick pick-me-up, because it likely will help for the first few hours of your morning but leave you with that lovely 2 o’clock lagging feeling. Again, water is the best thing you can put into your body first thing in the morning, not just health wise either, energy wise as well. 

Also avoid the stresses in your life that are within your control. Prepare your lunch the night before your work day so it’s one less thing to worry about in the morning. If you want to take a cup of coffee to go for your commute, after you’ve had a tall glass of water of course, think about also making it the night before and either letting it sit in a pot that’s equipped for scheduled brewing, or putting in the fridge for an iced coffee approach. 

Showering is another thing that can wait until the evening if you can manage it, which will also help alleviate some of the personal hygiene items on your morning ritual list. 

Regardless of what your morning ritual consists of, again, just be mindful and go into it positively. Working everyday can be hard, but you’ll find, as you grow older, there are plenty of things to come home to that make it all worth it. So instead of waiting for those moments of joy, take control, and start making them yourself, and do it first thing in the morning while you’re at it.

Income Inequality

The Cultural Impact of Income Inequality

/in , /by

Over the past several decades, as tax cuts and other economic policies have benefited wealthy Americans at the expense of lower and middle-class Americans, the gap between the wealthy and the poor has continued to widen. A number of factors account for this; not only have wages remained virtually stagnant since the 1970s despite accelerating economic growth overall, but the cost of living has also increased, as have expenses for education and health care. This radical transformation in the country’s economic landscape has not only had effects on the financial world, but on the broader cultural environment that informs human behavior in society. Nearly every aspect of life is affected, from entertainment to politics to our shared system of fundamental values. 

Perhaps the most striking example of the broader impacts of income inequality is the fact that rich people live longer lives than poor people. For some groups of disadvantaged people, life expectancy is shorter than it was for their parents, pointing to the extreme effects of these people’s inability to earn as much as their parents did. A number of factors account for this difference in life expectancy; one possible explanation is racism in the healthcare industry, as minorities are both likely to receive less in wages and face discrimination in hospitals and doctor’s offices. Another factor is the fact that people are not able to retire as young as they used to be able to; many workers continue their jobs into their 60’s and 70’s, opening them up to stress and work-related health complications in old age. Additionally, as healthcare costs increase, many lower-income individuals may delay or opt out of doctors’ visits over financial concerns, leading to exacerbated illnesses and early death.

The type of work people engage in, too, is shaped by income inequality. While human societies have virtually always been divided by class, with lower classes working in service of the upper classes, the widening income gap between the classes has led to an explosion of service-related jobs, such as manicure and massage therapy. These types of jobs often employ immigrants and workers who did not receive a college degree, and are characterized by low pay and poor working conditions. Nail salons in particular are plagued by poor and illegal working conditions, leading to a statewide investigation by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. 

Embed from Getty Images

This category of work, which many call “wealth work,” also applies to jobs like driving an Uber or delivering food. Though these jobs are beneficial to those without a college education, particularly in the aftermath of the collapse of the American manufacturing industry, they also point to a cultural shift towards more rigid definitions of class, which makes it hard for lower-class individuals to advance in their careers. What’s more, these jobs are often performed with a certain degree of anonymity, as they are performed through an app or in urban business centers far from the worker’s place of residence, in contrast with the more personal interactions between the classes of several decades ago.

The gap in income between the classes correlates with an increase in polarization in American politics; as the Right has moved further to the political right under authoritarian leader Donald Trump, the Democratic Party as a whole has moved to the left in recent years, with once-taboo leftist policy positions like a substantial raise of minimum wage, entirely socialized medicine, the cancellation of student debt, and the idea of a universal basic income becoming topics of open discussion. The wealthy class has also transformed politics through the use of substantial political donations, with Donald Trump having raised well over $100 million for his re-election campaign this year alone. Wealthy donors, including oil executives and Wall Street titans, have successfully lobbied to cut taxes on the super-rich and roll back regulations which are meant to protect customers but impose costs on large companies. On a large scale, the effects of these policy changes have been to further disenfranchise the lower and middle classes in service of the upper class, as evidenced by the rapidly declining quality-of-life of most Americans.