As you work through The Oxygen Plan, remember that sleeping is a green activity; as O2 loaded as it can get, and is just as important as taking care of your physical and mental health, in your waking hours. However, if you do suffer from insomnia, your mind may be signaling the need for a better way (more Oxygen-infused experiences) to juggle the people, places and things in your life that all seem to come alive, with the stress they bring, when your head hits the pillow! Chasing the red, CO (carbon monoxide) monster every night is exhausting and is in sharp contrast to the kind of natural fatigue that precedes deep sleep.

Adversely, too much sleep can be as harmful as too little sleep. According to the Mayo Clinic, oversleeping on a regular basis can lead to depression, weight gain and a variety of other health problems. These results may be the yellow issues, representing harmful CO2 or carbon dioxide experiences, in a bad sleeper’s night. The right balance and subsequent actions can kick a yellow experience into a sublime green one, when you compare the effects of your daily physical and mental activities with the amount and kind of sleep you need. The quality, or kind of sleep you need, is just as important as how long you sleep. Sleep apnea, for example, causes people to wake up frequently, preventing deep and refreshing sleep. According to experts, if you cannot fall and stay asleep within 15 to 20 minutes after you lie down in bed, getting up and/or leaving the bedroom to do something else that relaxes you, is good advice. Sleep will come when we are tired enough.
Sleep is a peacefully private activity, restful and rejuvenating, and plays an important role in your mental and physical health, as it lets your body rest and your brain recharge after each day is over. It is nature’s way of putting the cares of the day aside as it prepares us to welcome the next day, alert and refreshed. The number of hours of sleep you need generally depends on your age and can vary from person to person. According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic, people who consistently get enough sleep have a stronger immune system and are less likely to get sick. When we sleep, our bodies produce proteins called cytokines. These proteins help fight infections; higher levels enable us to better fight off infection and illness. These proteins also enhance mental and physical energy and better memories.

As one works through The Oxygen Plan, it’s not uncommon to concentrate on the stressful people, places and things we encounter daily or frequently, when we are wide awake at work and/or play. It’s also not uncommon for personal stressors to suddenly seem to loom larger than ever when our brains are trying to put us to sleep! Diverting our thoughts or developing new ways of dealing with sleeplessness and its causes, can be aided by the steps of The Oxygen Plan. Examining something so easily taken for granted as the need to sleep, can be added to the mix of seeking those positive choices that enhance the best of who we are and the “greenest” we can be — asleep or awake.

Take a look and see: Click Here

No surprise, as stress has been known to be an independent risk factor for heart disease for quite some time. Back in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, stress and heart disease were first linked using descriptions of the “Type A personality.” Individuals, it was thought, who were hard driving, competitive and goal oriented were found to have a higher risk and rate of heart disease. Later, researches found that one component of the Type A personality was largely responsible for the increased risk: hostility or unexpressed anger. Still later, a study I had the privilege of being involved in documented for the first time that stress was also an independent risk factor in heart disease. That study found that increased stress was not only associated with increase heart disease risk but with increased health care costs as well.

What these new reports tell us is that stress specific to work is yet another aspect of stress that we as individuals need to attend to. In the bigger picture, it is anther deadly reason for employers to attend to work-place stress. As productivity demands increase and as health care costs continue to soar, we can’t afford to ignore stress.

Consider Sony Pictures Entertainment and how it gets more out of its people by demanding less ("The Productivity Paradox" by Tony Schwartz, Harvard Business Review, June 2010, pages 65-69). Sony Pictures understands that people don’t work like computers, operating continuously at high speeds. Rather, Sony Pictures understands that human beings perform best only at intervals between periods of rest, or at sub-peak performance more consistently over longer periods of time. The author correctly posits that "employees can increase effectiveness by practicing simple…methods that refuel their energy", such as taking a daily walk and turning off email at certain times to improve concentration. The author concludes that if companies "allow and encourage employees" to do this, "they will be rewarded with a more engaged, productive, and focused workforce (p. 67)."

At The Oxygen Plan, we couldn’t agree more! The HBR article derives its assumptions and conclusions directly from the human performance curve, a widely accepted and understood principle that states as performance demands and/or stress levels increase, human performance will inevitable suffer.

Understanding and appreciating this curve is the responsibility of any organization’s leadership if that organization is to thrive. At The Oxygen Plan, we’ve integrated behavioral science and business to develop tools that help individuals and organizations better manage stress toward improved performance, with employees becoming more engaged and focused. Or as we like to say, we help people and companies "live in the green." Sometimes, less IS more!

Of all the seasons, spring and especially summer, hold the promise of good times to come in the greater outdoors (or in a place with refreshing AC!). Depending on what and who your “oxygenators” are, the balmy days of summer invite us to do our green things in the green, literally.

The onset of summer also signals the longest school break in the year, for kids who are counting down their last official days in the classroom.

Yet, when the thrill of not having to go to school for roughly two months begins to wear off, parents will invariably hear the universal sound of boredom coming from the mouths of their little darlings: “THERE’S NOTHING TO DO!”

This is actually a cry for oxygen; for mobility, for diversion; for nurturing and fun experiences that differ from those found in school books or classrooms.

The first step for any parent who values their sanity is to sweetly reply, “Sure there is!” (Just make sure you have back-up plans in your bag of tricks.) If you’ve just begun The Oxygen Plan, this may be the perfect time to set or review your Life Rules!

Arranging play dates for your kids would seem to be one of the first, less stressful things you can do, rather than embarking on full-fledged, cross-country camping expeditions. You know what you — and your kids — can handle!

When kids play with their friends, they are participating in solid, green opportunities to imagine and pretend without having to hurry home and do homework. If you or a neighbor has a backyard pool, consider the fact that your kids are not just flopping around and splashing water on dry adults, but that they are also exercising muscles in a different way and absorbing the benefits of inhaling and exhaling oxygen in a natural way, in a natural setting.

Schedules — yours and theirs — necessarily change, and so do eating habits. Chances are you’ll be cooking on the grill more and relying on simple fare at meal time. Eating outside, or anywhere that is not the kitchen, is a fun change for kids. Make it fun for you and your grown-up friends, too! Indulge in some delicious cooling drinks or whip up a new mango salsa.

Think of days spent at the zoo or the local park as educational experiences. (Just don’t tell the kids that they might learn something if they go. That’s a sure-fire way to sabotage their enthusiasm.) If they do go to summer camp — and like the experience — they’ll be absorbing life lessons every day, anyway.

And if there are visits to friends and family on the horizon, remember that you love your kids, but cannot always obsess over what they will say, when they will say it and to whom! There’s no excuse for outright bad manners, but they are young and preciously unworldly!

Your own Oxygen Plan for the summer should, above all else, give you the green experiences which have nurtured you, all along. Summer break can be challenging for parents, but it doesn’t have to be a test of endurance; nor does it have to be action-packed each and every moment.

Remember your commitment to yourself; to live in the green and welcome refreshing experiences that enhance the best you! Whatever gets you there will keep you there this summer and all year round.

At The Oxygen Plan, we note that Stress displays itself in a number of physical and emotional ways, including sharp changes in mood and demeanor; changes in appetite and bodily appearance; muscle tension and body aches; changes in sex drive; general fatigue, migraine headaches, upset stomachs and gastric illnesses.

We also note that stress is also linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, cirrhosis of the liver, accidents, and sadly, suicide. We are also dedicated to helping individuals and companies reduce and better manage their stress, effectively reducing economic and human costs.

Thank you to MSNBC and author Eve Tahmincioglu for publishing the article. Take a look: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37402529/ns/business-careers/

Click Here to view the press release.

Often, however, we fall short in our resolutions. We lose motivation. We don’t have time. Things come up. Our resolve fades as old habits return. We finish out the year and try again next year. How frustrating!

The Oxygen Plan Stress Test and The Oxygen Plan provide you with a way to not only think and reflect upon our health, jobs and relationships, they provide you with a way to critically assess your life and a tried and true way to make real changes in your life that are permanent.

What’s your stress number? Take the Oxygen Plan Stress test and find out! Learn where you are doing well (green), where you can improve (yellow) and where significant change is needed (red). Critically assess you life with the stress test, then use The Oxygen Plan to make gradual, sustainable change where needed. By eliminating red, minimizing yellow and becoming more green and filled with life-giving oxygen, you will enjoy improved health, better job satisfaction and enriched relationships.

Get started and truly enjoy a Happy New Year!

Thanks,
Eric

Most people think of debt as a financial depletion.

The truth is that in physical training and exercise lingo “oxygen debt” is a bonafide term used to describe what happens when we suddenly stop intense physical exercise, activity or exertion and continue to breathe very heavily. We may call it “trying to catch our breath”.

Whether we are faithful members of a trendy gym or prefer to shape up with a home-video workout, we all know what this feels like. In essence, when this happens, our bodies are quickly taking in extra oxygen to “repay” the oxygen debt we’ve just rung up.

“Oxygen debt” occurs when the demand for restorative oxygen is greater than the supply. In layman’s terms, it means that when our neuro-muscular and respiratory systems work hard (generally in physical exercise), we breathe in great amounts of oxygen, but can’t absorb enough of it to balance the level of physical exertion we have experienced.

Technically - for those who like to get up-close-and-personal with explanations - “oxygen debt” results when our anaerobic energy system takes over, producing undesirable amounts of lactic acid (which we excrete), to calm us down. The amount of oxygen “owed” to our bodies to recover this imbalance is called the “oxygen debt”.

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Comparisons, of course, can be drawn in other aspects of our lives, that don’t necessarily involve physical activity, but emotional or psychological activity, instead. Naturally, our advice is to dole out your personal oxygen supply, carefully, to those people, places and things with which you enjoy positive relationships and associations.

Don’t over-extend yourself and risk throwing your hard earned success from mastering The Oxygen Plan into happiness shortages or imbalances in your overall well-being.

Be careful out there.

What is “Stress?” First, “stress” is NOT only something or someone “out there.” “Stress” is what we experience when demands placed upon us exceed our ability to cope.” Demands can be: internal vs. external or environmental, physical vs. emotional, self vs. other – related, functional vs. dysfunctional and motivating vs. defeating. ‘Coping’ is our ability to tolerate ‘stress’ without developing symptoms. Conversely, the development of symptoms is what we experience when we are ‘stressed.’ The severity and/or persistence of symptoms leads to HEALTH RISK. Health risk in the workplace means loss of productivity in the workplace and increased health care costs to employees and employers alike. More on that in a moment, after a word or two about symptoms and health risk.

Symptoms and related health risk can develop in response to: Acute events (sudden or traumatic situations), chronic or persistent difficulties and/or accumulated impact of seemingly minor events over time. Symptoms can also develop in advance or in anticipation of something we see in our future but cannot avoid.

Health risk is determined by: personal medical & psychological histories, family medical & psychological histories, your own unique way of responding to stress and how often & how severe that response is. Stress, as defined, can mimic virtually any disease. Stress can: aggravate or exacerbate existing illnesses or risks and trigger earlier and/or more severe onset of illness.

Please note, however, that stress can be good! It can be motivational, productive and functional. BUT, when stress is sudden, severe, accumulates, produces effects over time, is chronic and/or produces symptoms, it produces personal health risk. In turn, personal health risk brings personal costs to not only to health but to home and work. Financially, the impact in the workplace – be it a small family business or large corporation - is staggering. Consider the following:

Stress accounts for:

• 7.6% ($104B) of total direct US healthcare costs ($1.4T; 2001)
• 217 million work days lost costing $17B each year
• Indirect costs commonly exceeding direct costs (estimates exceed $105B 1990 dollars; behavioral health issues among workers ages 15-44 represent the 5th leading cause of short-term disability & the 3rd leading cause of long-term disability)

But there is good news in terms of personal health risk and cost and health care cost reduction in the workplace. Research clearly demonstrates that treatment works. Similarly, organizations can respond and significantly increase productivity & employee satisfaction while reducing health care costs.

Individuals and enterprises alike can adopt strategies for managing health risk and cost. The formula is simple: Stress management = health risk & cost reduction. Here is where The Oxygen Plan Stress Test and the Oxygen Plan come in.

First, The Oxygen Plan Stress Test https://my.theoxygenplan.com/stress-test. By taking the stress test, individuals can determine stress levels in their personal, social and work lives. Combining individual results across a group or an entire enterprise can assist that group or enterprise in assessing the aggregate stress levels across that group or enterprise – the first step in determining the risk and cost of stress in the workplace. The results of the stress test alone give a clear indication of the health of the organization – green, yellow or red. Combined with aggregate and confidential financial data, organizations can instantly see the potential for improving the health and financial performance of the organization. Adopting The Oxygen Plan provides the opportunity to realize that improved health and financial performance.

So, step up to the challenge of evaluating the health of your organization – take The Oxygen Plan Stress Test - move your organization into the green!

Sources of Information

1. 1999 Surgeon General’s report on Mental Health
2. 2003 Presidents New Freedom Report on Mental Health
3. 2005 National Business Group on Health report on Behavioral Health Workplace Strategies
4. 2005 Institute of Medicine report on Improvement of Quality of Mental Health Care
   Scientific publications (references available)
]]> http://www.theoxygenplan.com/do2se/2009/11/stress-in-the-workplace-what-it-costs-what-you-can-do-the-oxygen-plan-stress-test/feed/ http://www.theoxygenplan.com/do2se/2009/10/focusing-on-green-habits/ http://www.theoxygenplan.com/do2se/2009/10/focusing-on-green-habits/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:53:35 +0000 Sondra Samuels http://www.theoxygenplan.com/?p=700 Since my last blog I have lost 15 pounds, and several inches from my waist, arms and hips. It has been amazing! And the big deal for me is not the weight. I mean sure, I have felt like a little bit of a dough girl since having my babies - who are now, uhm….. 10 and 8. But the truth of the matter is that today, impressing the crowd with my new physique, as evidenced by everyone telling me how great I look, isn’t the truly fulfilling part like I thought it would be.


No. The really fulfilling part to me is that I finally got results! The change I have been after for years has finally arrived. And it has come because I no longer focus on my bad habits: you know, the yellow and red ones. The ones that are toxic. The ones that keep me on a train destined for more of the same. And the ones that have held me back from living my best life. Instead, for the last few months, I have been focusing on Green Habits: habits that I know are good for me; habits that give me oxygen, a sense of well-being, energy and power.

Ask my friends. I almost never talk of yellow and red habits anymore. Today, it is all about the green and what makes me feel good. And when it comes to my well-being, that focus has remarkably manifested into better health - and ridiculously fast!

So practically speaking, here is how focusing on Green habits worked in my weight loss:

• Today I almost never eat yellow and red foods such as “bad carbs,” like white flour, white sugar, and processed foods. In fact, I really jumped started my weight loss by just giving up carbs for a short time. And the key is that I don’t focus on NOT eating them. My FOCUS instead has been on eating green foods - vegetables, lean meats and drinking plenty of water.
• In the past, I worked out to lose weight. Today, I work out to simply feel good. I have made it a green habit that I CAN’T NOT DO! Instead of only thinking of my size, as in the past, I now focus on my health. I focus on the “feel good chemicals” that get released in my body every time I exercise (endorphins, serotonin and dopamine). I focus on the stress that goes away every time I exercise. I focus on how my heart and lungs are getting more efficient, my muscles stronger, and my body more flexible, every time I exercise. And as a 43-year old woman, it is important to me that my bones are becoming tougher - not more vulnerable.

Focusing on green habits is a way of life for me now. I don’t have time to think about what, “I’m not doing,” or what I “should be doing.” Instead, I focus on habits that are green for me. And I do them - over and over and over again. And the results - when it comes to my health - I am fast becoming the best me!

Warmly,

Sondra

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