2017
https://blackgirlnerds.com/bgn-tv-killjoys-spoiler-free-season-3-preview/
Dutch, Johnny, and D’avin have had quite the journey since we met them in the pilot episode, “Bangarang”. Life was simple at first, they took no bribes, took no sides, and the warrant was all. Finding out that their corner of the J (star cluster) had been compromised by an alien parasite that thrives in […]
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In today’s society, it seems many entrepreneurs feel it has become tougher to balance their work-life—but why? It could be many things, pressure to complete projects and meet deadlines can have you pulling all-nighters in front of your computer or perhaps taking out your phone while you have dinner with family. In the past, if someone wanted to get work done on the weekends or work late, they would either have to stay in the office until they got their tasks done, or drag themselves into the office on the weekend.
With the endless amounts of technology that you gorge yourself in, it seems impossible to escape from work and focus on your well-being. Fortunately, I am here to save you from the endless amounts of emails and pdf documents that your smartphone is berating you with even as you read this.
Creating a healthy work-life balance can take time, but it’s worthwhile knowing you can reserve time just for work and time to enjoy being alone and with friends and family.
(Image: iStock.com/Ridofranz)
1. Put Down the Phone
You heard me, put down the phone and step away! By having your smartphone on all the time, you aren’t giving yourself the necessary time to turn “off.” The endless notifications you look at during the day only increases your stress levels. According to The Telegraph, the Future Work Centre reported that constant access to email is associated with higher levels of stress. There comes a point in the day where you need to step away from the constant notifications your phone is sounding off and focus on things that matter most to you—whether it’s your dog, recreational activities, a television show, or your family, you need time to de-stress from work and focus on something that brings you joy.
Start today by following the rule of “no phones at the dinner table” and enjoy some precious time with your loved ones.
(Image: iStock.com/PeopleImages)
2. Exercise and Meditate
Whether it’s running out in the open, playing a game of basketball, or doing yoga, find an activity to burn off some steam. Work can be a very stressful environment, so it’s important for you to find time to implement exercise into your day. According to the American Psychological Association and the Stress in America survey report, 37% of adults report exercising less than once a week or not at all. Furthermore, only 17% of adult’s report exercising daily. Many people associate their lack of exercise due to the levels of stress they face, yet 43% of adults who exercise to manage stress levels say they have skipped exercising in the past month due to stress levels. With that being said, 53% of adults say they feel better about themselves after they exercise.
Yoga, for example, is a great way to keep your stress levels down. It gives a place to relieve yourself of the work environment and lets you have an hour to yourself to think, de-stress, and rejuvenate. You’ll notice quickly how scheduling one hour of exercise every day will bring a tremendous change to your mind and body, thus making you a more mindful business owner.
Image/Credit: svetikd
3. Don’t Shut Yourself In
Do you often find yourself coming up with excuses to stay in when you’re stressed, rather than go out and socialize? Although it’s important to have down time and create time for yourself, it isn’t healthy to be alone and locked inside your home or apartment every night. Make time throughout the week to go out and experience something fun—whether it’s a concert, a movie or just going out to dinner. Your business is like a child and it’s understandable that you want to take care of it and be available as often as possible, but it’s not a living, breathing being, you can (and should) walk away at the end of the work day and go out and enjoy yourself or spend time with people you love.
(Image: iStock)
4. Don’t Burn Yourself Out
This is way easier said than done, right? Although a strong work ethic is important, you need to keep realistic expectations for yourself so you don’t burn out and fizzle. You want your work to showcase your abilities, so if you take on too much work at once the quality of your work might decrease. Another important aspect of not burning yourself out is to not working extremely late into the night. It’s OK if you have one or two late nights a month, because life is full of unexpected events, but it’s important not to constantly play catch-up with your work. While in the office, it’s imperative you stay focused and on task so you don’t constantly have to bring work home. By staying on task, you can keep your work life at work and your personal life separate.
At the end of the day, the work and personal life should never constantly intermix. At times, it will be necessary to make sacrifices for work, but it’s extremely important for your health to maintain a healthy work-life balance. These four tips will help you start your path to a more balanced life, but don’t be afraid to branch out and try other techniques that will make you happier and less stressed. Every entrepreneur is different in their own way, that’s why you should start by identifying what’s bogging you down and create a game plan to correct it so that you can enjoy life a little more.
In a clip that immediately started making news last week, The Bachelorette broke down in tears and said something black women all across the country could agree with: “you have no idea what it’s like being in this position.”
The Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay (Image: ABC)
If you’re not familiar with the world of first-impression roses, two-on-one dates, and fantasy suites, let me give you some background. Rachel Lindsay, a Dallas attorney, is the first black bachelorette in the 13-season history of the ABC series.
Before landing this historic gig, she was one of the final three women—and a fan favorite—on the previous season of The Bachelor with Nick Viall. The next season’s lead is usually picked from one of the previous runners-up, and the black contestants don’t usually get very far. After 21 seasons, we’re still waiting for the first black bachelor.
There are a number of think pieces about The Bachelor franchise, its lack of diversity, and its fraught relationship with race. And there are a lot of watchful eyes looking to see if Lindsay, and the most-diverse bunch of suitors ever, can change that.
You can count my two eyes among that bunch. I’ve been following both shows (and, yes, I’m ashamed to admit, Bachelor in Paradise—which had its own racially tinged scandal last week) for the last three years.
Like the rest of Bachelor Nation, I became a fast fan of Lindsay’s. I particularly appreciated how open she and Viall were, breaking the taboo in their conversations about race. I loved that on her hometown date she took him to a black church. And I wished all of America was watching when her family gently but firmly pushed back after Viall said he was colorblind with a reminder that though that may be true, the world is not, and that if he were to end up with their daughter he’d need to learn how to face that.
So for me it was a matter of when, not if, race would come up this season. And it didn’t take long. Just four weeks in, Lindsay was forced to acknowledge the pressure that comes with being the first black, or the only black, when there was a confrontation between two of her suitors and afterward the white man described the black man as “aggressive.”
I think her tears resonated with black women everywhere, who have often had to temper their emotions as they navigate the realities of constantly feeling judged as examples of their entire race and gender. How Lindsay ultimately deals is still to be seen—or, quite literally, to be continued—but it’s a conversation we’ll be having long after the final rose.
In a reverse move certain to cause some confusion, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has released revised PSA guidelines.
The task force, which recommended against routine PSA screening in 2012, now says men ages 55 to 69 should decide individually with their doctors whether and when to undergo the testing. It continues to recommend against prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, testing for men age 70 and older, saying potential risks outweigh any rewards of routine screening for this age group.
The 2012 recommendation was based on evidence that PSA screening resulted in overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment that could leave men with urinary incontinence and sexual impotence. (Note about 70 percent of men with elevated PSA do not have prostate cancer when they are biopsied.) In addition, many PSA-detected cancers grow so slowly that some men are likely to die from something else instead.
“We were very concerned in 2012 that many, many men were being treated for prostate cancer,” said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and chair of the task force.
But new research, some of which suggests a small net benefit from screening, led the USPSTF to adjust its recommendation. “The new evidence allowed us to say that we think now the benefits do outweigh the harms,” Dr. Bibbins-Domingo said. “There is probably a small benefit overall to screening. The right decision is not a one-size-fits-all decision. The right decision isn’t screening all men, it’s making all men aware of the benefits and harms, and then allowing each man to make the best decision for himself. Now we can recommend that men have a conversation with their doctors about whether screening is right for them.”
PSA tests can detect prostate tumors at their most treatable stage, and several studies have reinforced not only the benefits of the tests, but also ways to lessen screening harms, including unnecessary biopsies and treatments.
One study in particular, the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer, found PSA testing cuts the chances of developing advanced prostate cancer by about 30 percent and the risk of dying from the disease by about 20 percent.
Some doctors are praising the USPSTF’s change of heart. “I view this as a victory for PSA screening for prostate cancer,” William Catalona, M.D., a professor of urology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine told NPR. “PSA screening saves lives. And having the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force discourage PSA screening has sort of created a whole generation of family practitioners and internists who feel that PSA screening is a bad thing to do for patients. If this were to continue, we would lose all these gains in reducing the prostate cancer death rate.”
Otis Brawley, M.D. the American Cancer Society’s chief medical officer, agrees with the USPSTF’s revised guidelines, though for different reasons than Dr. Catalona.
“Prostate screening has been a contentious issue ever since the prostate specific antigen test became available some 30 years ago,” Dr. Brawley wrote today in a CNN commentary. “PSA has been shown to have a high false-positive rate and a high false-negative rate—literally missing as many prostate cancers as it finds.”
But, he told NPR, “I really do think that there is a pendulum in a lot of things that we do in medicine. And the pendulum here may be getting to the right place where we realize there are harms and there are benefits, and individuals need to weigh these harms and benefits and tailor a decision that’s right for them.”
The recommendation does not specify how often men might want to have their PSA levels screened. It is directed at men with average risk and those at increased risk of prostate cancer, such as black men, who are about two times as likely to succumb to prostate cancer as the general population, or men with a strong family history of the disease. But Dr. Bibbins-Domingo said further study is needed to figure out whether to screen these high-risk men more aggressively than those in the general population.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types among men in the U.S., with nearly 13 percent being diagnosed with it over the course of their lifetimes, according to the National Cancer Institute. Roughly 180,000 American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year; at least 26,000 die annually from the disease.
This post originally appeared on BlackHealthMatters.com.