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Work-Related Anxiety: How To Tackle Stress

Bikki Sharma
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Work-Related Anxiety: How To Tackle Stress

INDIA: Work anxiety is induced by stress caused at work which leads to anxious behavior. Stress-induced anxiety creeps in when you’re constantly worrying about something specific, like an imminent deadline or you just have a formless feeling of dread.

If you are an anxious person, the other thought that can cause worry is that of getting fired. Consequently, it will spiral out of control and you might find yourself in the middle of a full-blown panic attack.

Hence, work anxiety can have negative effects and must be given due attention to prevent low outcomes both for employees and employers.

Work Induced Anxiety: Study

A study conducted by the American Institute of Stress has observed workplace stress to be of common occurrence today, U.S. News reported. Overall, 83% of workers in the U.S. suffer from stress related to their work.

This overwhelming, work-related stress is associated with an array of negative consequences, according to the institute:

  • About 1 million U.S. workers miss work each day because of stress
  • 120,000 deaths are recorded annually in the U.S. due to work-related stress which leads to $190 billion in health care costs on a yearly basis
  • The U.S. economy suffers an annual loss of up to $300 billion because of workplace stress

“The fact that more than 80% of workers in the U.S. experience work-related stress shows that working in a stressful environment is the rule, not the exception,” said Colleen Cira, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder and executive director of the Cira Center for Behavioral Health in Chicago.

With intermittent COVID-19 lockdown, most people are wrestling with anxiety associated to work from home due to the pandemic. This, in addition to the usual workplace worries about deadlines and annual evaluations.

Research published in 2020 in the Journal of Applied Psychology underscored that feeling of anxiety associated with the pandemic can prompt a “fight or flight” response.

According to the researchers, “The fight response is triggered when the threat is deemed surmountable, while the flight response is triggered when it is believed that the threat is difficult to overcome. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to prompt a flight response, as it is an immediate threat, it is unclear how long it will persist, and there are a multitude of unanswered questions regarding its impact.”

Signs Of Anxiety

Here are some common symptoms in terms of anxiety disorders and anxiety in general:

  • Unnecessary or irrational worrying
  • Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
  • Unwarranted startle reaction
  • Getting jittery
  • Tiredness or fatigue
  • Feeling like there’s a lump in your throat
  • Shaking or trembling
  • Dry mouth
  • Excessive Sweating
  • A pounding/racing heart

In addition to these general symptoms of anxiety, there are also some signs to watch out for like taking an unusual amount of time off work, focusing too much on negative aspects of the job and overreacting to situations.

Effects Of Work Anxiety

Living with work anxiety takes a toll on one’s life affecting the individual both within and outside the workplace. Here are some common effects of anxiety:

  • Declining job performance, quality of work and productivity
  • Relationships with coworkers and superiors affected
  • Personal life impacted
  • Relationship with your romantic partner affected
  • Developing problems with concentration, fatigue and irritability
  • Turning down opportunities due to phobias (e.g., fear of flying, fear of public speaking, fear of speaking in meetings)
  • Reduced job satisfaction
  • Developing clinical levels of anxiety (e.g., a diagnosable disorder)
  • Avoiding innovation

Coping With Work Anxiety

Practicing mindfulness exercises or attending yoga classes every now and then may not be enough to reduce workplace anxiety. You must also evaluate how you place yourself in the workplace system and communicate and deal with others.

Using and implementing these interpersonal strategies will help you lower the level of anxiety in the office and help you stay calm, focused, and productive:

  • Be sure to make time for yourself away from work
  • Find things that make you happy
  • Take lunch breaks and share a meal with others outside of your work area
  • Go for walks outdoors on your breaks when possible
  • Change your scenery to get out of an emotional rut
  • Focus on life outside of work such as hobbies and friends
  • Reflect on the good things in your job and your life
  • Examine what you fear will happen and ask yourself whether it is an irrational fear

Making Amends

To experience work anxiety from time to time is a common thing, but if your job becomes the root source of stress and nothing that you have tried provides relief, this might be a sign of a deeper problem. Rather than simply assuming that the problem is you, consider things about your job that are making you unhappy and causing stress.

Clinical anxiety can have devastating effects if left undiagnosed and chronic stress at work can precipitate later anxiety disorders. Consider reaching out to your employer or a mental health professional to explore your options.

Donald Rumsfeld: Former US Defense Secretary And Chief Architect of Iraq War, Dies At 88

Bikki Sharma
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0
Donald Rumsfeld: Former US Defense Secretary And Chief Architect of Iraq War, Dies At 88

New Delhi: Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who led the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s, died at the age of 88, according to a statement released by his family, Wednesday.

”It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Donald Rumsfeld, an American statesman and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. At 88, he was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico,” the statement read. However, the time specifying his demise was not mentioned.

His term as George W. Bush’s defense secretary from 2001-2006 was his second, after serving as the youngest secretary of defense in U.S. history under former President Gerald Ford from 1975-1977. He was a forceful man and oversaw the Pentagon’s response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, under George Bush’s Republican government.

In a separate statement, Bush praised Rumsfeld as “a man of intelligence, integrity, and almost inexhaustible energy” who “never paled before tough decisions, and never flinched from responsibility”.

In 2003, Iraq was invaded by the U.S. forces orchestrated by Rumsfeld claiming, Iraq had harbored weapons of mass destruction, but nothing was confirmed. Following the fallout of the conflict, Rumsfeld resigned after three years strongly defending his record. However, many experts believe otherwise and blamed him for his decisions which led to many difficulties in Iraq and the wider region.

 Iraq And Afghan War

Rumsfeld administered the U.S. intrusion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the 2003 defeat of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. However, failing to keep a stable law and order in the aftermath, Iraq slid into bedlam with vicious Sunni and Shia Muslims. American troops stayed in Iraq until 2011, long after he left his post.

Numerous historians and military specialists reprimanded Rumsfeld for choices that prompted challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan. For instance, Rumsfeld demanded a small invasion force in Iraq in 2003, dismissing the perspectives of numerous commanders. The power was then deficient to balance out Iraq when Hussein’s administration fell.

As he did in Iraq, Rumsfeld, in 2001, sent a small troop to Afghanistan, and immediately overthrew the Taliban from power and afterward failed to set up rule of peace and law or catch Osama bin Laden, who stayed elusive for one more decade.

After Rumsfeld’s demise, Iyad el-Baghdadi, president of the Kawaakibi Foundation, a research and activist group focused on liberty in the Arab world tweeted, “Donald Rumsfeld was a war criminal who presided over illegal wars that involved wholesale massacres of civilians, systemic torture and plunder, and massive corruption. The country he helped break has still not recovered. This is his legacy. May he burn in hell for all eternity.”

In November 2006, after Democrats established their majority in the Congress by riding a flood of antiwar opinions, Bush concurred and decided that Rumsfeld needed to go. He left office in December, supplanted by Robert Gates.

‘Torture Device’ Or Weight-Loss Tool? DentalSlim Diet Control Criticized

Bikki Sharma
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‘Torture Device’ Or Weight-Loss Tool? DentalSlim Diet Control Criticized

World-first weight-loss device that uses magnets to prevent people from opening their mouths enough to eat solids, in order to fight the global obesity epidemic is being widely criticized.

DentalSlim Diet Control, an intra-oral contraption device, is developed by researchers at Dunedin. For the device to function, it is installed to the patients’ upper and lower back teeth by dental professionals. It uses “magnetic devices and custom-manufactured locking bolts,” so they cannot open their mouth wider than 2mm. The device, however, allows freedom of expression and doesn’t restrict breathing.

Findings Of The Research

Senior researcher and professor Paul Brunton, University of Otago pro-vice-chancellor of health sciences, said the tool would be an effective, safe and affordable tool for people battling obesity. It can be repeatedly fitted and removed by the dentist in case of unforeseen circumstances.

“It is a non-invasive, reversible, economical and attractive alternative to surgical procedures. The point is, there are no adverse consequences with this device,” Brunton said.

It was observed in a Dunedin-based trial that participants on average lost 6.36 kg in 14 days and were inspired to continue their weight-loss journey. The main barrier to weight reduction was seen to be adhering to healthy habits and this device helped them stick to a low-calorie diet for a certain period of time.

Recent studies showed 1.9 billion adults worldwide are overweight and 650 million are obese, which accounted for about 2.8 million deaths a year. It is estimated that by 2030, about 57% of the world’s adult population will be overweight or obese. The device could be particularly helpful for those needing to lose weight before a surgery, and for diabetes patients for whom their weight-loss journey could initiate remission.

Controversial DentalSlim Diet control

Inventions always come with pros and cons and so did DentalSlim diet control device. Many did not agree to the benefits the device offers, rather within two hours of the University of Otago announcing the apparatus on Twitter, it was ridiculed.

Some called the apparatus “Evil,” “Harmful,” and “Disturbing”. Others saw it as just clamping the mouth shut as they said obesity was induced both by biological and socioeconomic disadvantages and cannot be resolved by a device like this. Quite a few described the DentalSlim Diet Control as a “torture device.”

Today In History: Assassination In Europe Sparked The “Great War”

Bikki Sharma
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0
Today In History: Assassination In Europe Sparked The “Great War”

Archduke Francis Ferdinand, also known as Franz — the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was gunned down by an 18-year old student named Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914, and it changed the world.

Hundred and seven years ago, on this very day, an enraged Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, while in a motorcade. The fatal shooting was the second attempt upon the lives of the couple during the day, and is believed to have been the result of a political conspiracy, The Times reported.

The killings initiated a chain reaction that led to the outbreak of World War I by early August. On June 28, 1919, five years to the day after Franz’s death, the Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany and the Allied Powers, officially marking the end of World War I.

What Caused World War I?

The causes of World War I or the Great War have been debated since it ended. However, Germany shouldered much of the blame for the conflict, which saw four years of unprecedented slaughter. But a series of complicated factors, including the immediate provocation in the form of the murder of Franz, propelled Europe into the conflict the world had ever known.

First of all, there was a feeling of extreme nationalism that inflamed racial pride among people belonging to different countries and embittered rivalries between States. Secondly, the alignment of powers into mutually suspicious groups was fraught with dangerous consequences to international peace. Thirdly, in an age riven with imperialist ambitions, economic stakes characterized by struggles for markets led to hostilities among States.

After the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Soon after, Europe and much of the world, entered into war, one country after another, siding with previously established alliances — either with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and their allies) or the Allies (France, Britain, Russia and others, including the United States, eventually).

Ominous End Of The Great War

After more than four years of bloodshed, the Great War ended on Nov. 11, 1918, soon after Germany, the last of the Central Powers surrendered to the Allies.

At the Paris peace conference in 1919, the allied leaders together stated their desire to build a post-war world safe from future wars of such a diabolic scale. The Versailles Treaty, signed in June 1919, tragically failed to achieve this objective. The then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s grand dreams of an international peace-keeping organization faltered when it was put into practice as the League of Nations.

Even worse, the harsh terms imposed on Germany, the war’s biggest loser, led to widespread resentment of the treaty and its advocates in that country — a resentment that would culminate into a much devastating conflict, the Second World War, two decades later.

Fatty Western Diet Associated With Chronic Pain: Study

Bikki Sharma
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0
Fatty Western Diet Associated With Chronic Pain: Study

Painful chronic disorders are a common occurrence in diabetic and obese people induced by fatty western diet, a study concluded.

Undoubtedly, there are health benefits that fat provides but excess omega-6 fatty acids can influence neuropathic pain. A typical western diet with a high concentration of fat can increase the risk of painful disorders common in people with conditions such as diabetes or obesity.

Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio studied the effects of omega-6 fatty acids by measuring the role of these dietary lipids in pain conditions which revealed that the substances themselves seem to cause pain and inflammation.

Fatty Acids And Pain

The major cause of disability around the world is caused by chronic pain. However, fat reduction is often advised to keep a check on diabetes, auto-immune disorders and cardiovascular diseases. The role of dietary lipids, or fatty acids till now, in painful conditions, has been relatively unknown.

In a recent paper, Dr. Boyd and his colleagues used multiple methods in both mice and humans to understand the role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in pain conditions. As per the results, typical western diets high, in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats are a significant risk factor for both inflammatory and neuropathic pain.

Omega-6 fats that are found in foods with vegetable oils have their benefits. But Western diet linked with obesity is characterized by higher levels of those acids in foods from onion rings to corn chips, than its healthy counterpart — omega-3 fats, which is found in fish and sources like flaxseed and walnuts.

Commonly, an unhealthy diet consisting of high omega-6 fats includes processed snacks, fast foods, cakes, and fatty and cured meats, among others.

Lowering omega-6 and increasing omega-3 lipids, greatly reduced these pain conditions, the research concluded. Moreover, the authors demonstrated that patients with Type 2 diabetic neuropathic pain, with skin levels of omega-6 lipids, were strongly associated with reported pains and the need for taking analgesic drugs.

In an editorial accompanying the paper, Duke University researchers Aidan McGinnis and Ru-Rong Ji wrote, “This comprehensive and elegant study from Boyd et al. may serve as a foundation for new clinical trials and ultimately provide new avenues for the clinical treatment of neuropathies.”

Record-Breaking Heatwaves Blanket US

Bikki Sharma
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Record-Breaking Heatwaves Blanket US

UNITED STATES: Much of the Western United States continues to remain affected by the scorching heatwaves with temperatures exceeding 104°F. Furnace Creek, in California’s Death Valley, recorded a maximum temperature of 127.7°F on June 17, which is a new world record for the month and only 34.16°F off the all-time global temperature record, 129.92°F.

With temperatures way above 100°F for days on end marked yet another climate extreme for residents of the region already suffering through a devastating drought and with memories of last year’s horrific wildfire season still imprinted on people’s minds. Spanning across a six-day period during the middle of June 2021, a dome of hot air languished over the western U.S., causing temperatures to skyrocket.

The heat extended much farther than the Southwest. Salt Lake City, Utah, saw its all-time record when temperatures hit 107°F on June 15, the last day of a three-day streak of high temperatures over 100°F. From June 13-19, high temperatures averaged 100°F. Billings, Montana, also reached its all-time high of 108°F.

The Full Picture

This extreme heatwave occurred over parts of the country stuck in a deep drought. Over 20% of the country is in the worst two categories of drought (D3-4: Extreme and Exceptional). The vast majority of the land located in areas also recently saw record-setting temperatures.

Drought and heat are natural dance partners. Drought conditions become extreme when temperatures soar, and vice-versa, hot temperatures turn even hotter by a drought-stricken landscape. When the ground absorbs incoming sunlight, some of that energy converts soil moisture into water vapor, which carries heat away from the surface. Less moisture in the soil means less solar energy being used to evaporate water. Instead, that energy heats both the ground and the air.

Naturally, one consequence of hot temperatures and a dry region is a heightened risk for wildfires. And during the middle of June, that risk turned to reality as wildfires sprung up in California, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Montana. While the North American summer monsoon is normally expected to tame down wildfire risk across the Southwest, the wildfire season is just beginning for the rest of the West.

Climate Change

It’s always difficult to immediately quantify how much impact climate change has had on a climate extreme, but there is plenty of evidence to show that high temperatures and heatwaves have become worse due to climate change.

According to the Climate Science Special Report, which made up the scientific basis for the fourth National Climate Assessment, not only have temperatures risen in the past but they are projected to continue to increase due to the release of greenhouse gases.

In particular, as noted in the aforesaid report, extreme temperatures are expected to increase even more than average temperatures across the contiguous U.S. Events like this heatwave might be rare now, but they are expected to become more common by the end of the century.

Marijuana Consumption May Lead To Ideation of Suicidal Thoughts: Study

Bikki Sharma
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Marijuana Consumption May Lead To Ideation of Suicidal Thoughts: Study

INDIA. Delhi: Cannabis (marijuana) consumption is being associated with an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study revealed.

Data gathered from over 280,000 young adults aged between 18 and 35, showed marijuana use is being linked to higher rates of suicidal ideation, suicide planning and suicide attempt. 

Another report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) stated, “Young adults with acute use of marijuana have a higher tendency of suicidal thoughts and are at higher risk of attempting suicide.”

Director of NIDA and study author, Nora Volkow said, “Regardless of whether you had a history of depression or not, cannabis significantly increased the risk of suicidal behavior. It wasn’t a small effect. It was a large effect.” “I expected an association, but it just took me aback,” she added.

A case study published in Hindawi Journal reads, “A thirty-two years old man entered the emergency room asking for psychiatric consultation. He had smoked cannabis a few hours before. Soon after, he had experienced hopelessness and the impulse to commit suicide by fall. Pervasive suicide ideation, anxiety, agitation, and fear were present. He reported no recent stressful life events and was astonished by his suicidal thinking. He did not see any plausible reason to wish to die. He had never suffered from any significant medical illness or psychiatric disorder.”

Surge In Marijuana Abuse

According to the World health Organization (WHO), close to 147 million people, i.e. 2.5% of the world population, indulge in marijuana use compared to the 0.2% consuming cocaine and 0.2% taking opiates. In the recent decade, marijuana abuse has shown an exponential growth than cocaine and opiate abuse.

The most rapid surge in marijuana abuse since the 1960s has been in North America, Western Europe and Australia. Marijuana has become a closely linked part of youth culture and the age of initiation is usually lower than that for other drugs. An analysis of cannabis markets shows that low prices coincide with high levels of abuse, and vice versa.

Prolonged Cannabis Use: Health concerns

Cannabis is the most abused psychoactive drug under international control. According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC, 2015), an estimated 181.8 million people aged 15-64 years used cannabis for nonmedical purposes globally (uncertainty estimates 128.5–232.1 million). There has been an alarming increase in the demands of treatment disorders induced by cannabis, like, selective impairment of cognitive functioning, schizophrenia, epithelial injury of the trachea and major bronchi.

The health consequences of cannabis use in mid-income and developing countries are mostly unknown because of limited and non-systematic research. However, there is no reason a priori to expect that biological effects on individuals in these populations would be substantially disparate from what has been found in developed countries. Moreover, people in different countries may have different consequences like cannabis-induced hallucinations, memory impairment, psychosis increased tendencies of suicidal thoughts, given the cultural and social differences.

Undisputed Science

Elinore McCance-Katz, an American physician, academic, and government official who served as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Mental Health and Substance Use pointed out that hospitalizations more than doubled for serious mental health disorders among 18- to 25-year-olds nationally from 2012 to 2018.

McCance-Katz referred to a study that showed a 77% increase in suicide deaths from 2010 to 2015 among Colorado 10 to 19-year-olds with marijuana in their systems.

Ebbs And Flows Of Camaraderie: Russia-India-China

Bikki Sharma
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0
Ebbs And Flows Of Camaraderie: Russia-India-China

INDIA. New Delhi: Asserting both India and China have responsible leadership and are capable of solving their internal matters, Russian President Vladimir Putin underlined the need to debar interference of any extra-regional powers in the process.

Russia has been publicly critical of The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), a four-nation alliance between India, the U.S., Japan and Australia, which the Chinese are apprehensive about and believe is aimed at containing China’s Influence in the Indo- Pacific region. Moscow, however, remains critical that no nation should make partnerships with other countries.

Balancing Strategies

Soon after the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), India which followed a Soviet-centric defense procurement needed to energize its bilateral ties, which was affected by the signing of the “Declaration of Strategic Cooperation” in 2000. Also, Russia could see the U.S. hegemony in the international arena and cast Moscow as the leader of the supposed trilateral grouping of Russia-India-China against the U.S.-led unipolar world.

India’s apprehension about this unipolar moment made it an early proponent of this strategic triangle. China, meanwhile, saw India as its only competition in the Asian front and adopted a dismissive attitude towards Indian capabilities, coupled with an emerging China-Pakistan nexus, which prevented the success of this trilateral.

With the dawn of economic liberalization, India saw a global market with opportunities for defense procurement which included dealings with France and Isreal. As the deeper engagement was established with the West, the logical corollary was following rapprochement diplomacy with the U.S. China saw this rapprochement as an attempt of containment.

Impact of Quad on Russia-India-China trio

During a press conference with the Indian News Agency PTI, Putin clarified that India, like any sovereign nation, has the right to choose its foreign policy and can become a member of the Quad that China opposes vehemently.

High-level cooperation is imperative not only for the trio but holds importance on the global front as well. Furthermore, Russia-India-China ties are not only limited to advance weapon systems and technologies but are multifaceted.

It is true that China is a major player in the Asia Pacific and both India and Russia are highly dependent on China for their economies — trade and investment. But, considering economic partnership and military sales, India is no less crucial to Russia, especially when the country is facing Western sanctions.

Russia is yet to realize the immense potential Indo-Pacific seeks to promote in the Asian geopolitics and cannot simply see China as the undisputed player on this front.  

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