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Burnout Comes in Three Varieties
As of this month, more than 10 million people in the United States are unemployed, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Given that there are so many people looking for jobs, it’s curious that a large percentage of American workers want nothing more than to quit. As of this past December, 1.7% of all employed people left their jobs. That rate has been climbing -- albeit slowly -- since 2009. “Burnout syndrome” -- that is, the fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy that comes with work-related stress -- may play a significant role in this trend. Some level of stress is an inevitable part of every work experience. But at what point do those stressors become overbearing?
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Floods or Family Conflict? Bad Dreams Differ By Gender
NPR: I think it's safe to say most of us do not enjoy nightmares - that cold sweat, sitting up straight in bed, our pulse racing. But when Antonio Zadra, professor at the University of Montreal, began working on a study about nightmares he found that the narrative animating those bad dreams tended to be very different between men and women. He is coauthor of a new study that has a lot to say about the differences in the way we dream. He joins us now from Montreal. Welcome to the program. ANTONIO ZADRA: Thank you for having me. MARTIN: So, what were the differences you noticed in the nightmare scenarios of men and women?
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A Happy Life May Not Be a Meaningful Life
Scientific American: Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl once wrote, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” For most people, feeling happy and finding life meaningful are both important and related goals. But do happiness and meaning always go together? It seems unlikely, given that many of the things that we regularly choose to do – from running marathons to raising children – are unlikely to increase our day-to-day happiness. Recent research suggests that while happiness and a sense of meaning often overlap, they also diverge in important and surprising ways. ...
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Expand Pre-K, Not A.D.H.D.
The New York Times: THE writing is on the chalkboard. Over the next few years, America can count on a major expansion of early childhood education. We embrace this trend, but as health policy researchers, we want to raise a major caveat: Unless we’re careful, today’s preschool bandwagon could lead straight to an epidemic of 4- and 5-year-olds wrongfully being told that they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Introducing millions of 3- to 5-year-olds to classrooms and preacademic demands means that many more distracted kids will undoubtedly catch the attention of their teachers.
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Marriage Quality May Influence Heart Disease Risk
Chicago Tribune: Ambivalent hearts may be at higher risk for heart disease, according to a new study of married couples with mixed feelings for one another. "The most intriguing finding was that within a couple, only if both of them felt ambivalent towards their partner did you see this elevated (heart disease) risk," said Bert Uchino, a psychologist at the University of Utah and lead author of the study. The health of both spouses "is interdependent - it isn't what one says or does; it's what both do within the relationship that matters" when it comes to heart health, Uchino told Reuters Health.
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Now! Later. No, Right Now! Maybe in a Bit.
The Huffington Post: Procrastination and impulsivity are both bad habits. They cause problems in school, at work, in life. But psychologically, they would seem to have little in common. Impulsivity, after all, is all about now -- wanting and needing something immediately, urgently -- and not waiting for later. Later is the province of procrastinators, who will happily delay until tomorrow what could -- or should -- be done today. Yet these two character traits do coexist, and that has long puzzled psychological scientists.
