Brain Cell

EnHansen Performance senior coach and facilitator, Kristen Hansen states in an article for HR Daily that understanding just a few key principles of neuroscience can help managers motivate their teams to better performance.

“Neuroscience now sheds light onto what it is that makes people more or less motivated to achieve a particular goal,” she told HR Daily.

And despite the complexity of the topic, it is actually quite simple for managers to employ on a day-to-day basis. “You actually don’t need to know very much about neuroscience to be able to impact motivation.”
The first thing to keep in mind is that the key driver of the brain is to “minimise threat and maximise reward”, says Hansen, an executive and leadership coach and trainer who specialises in neuroscience.
“Everything starts from there. The brain scans the environment five times every second, non-consciously, for whether stimulus in the environment is a threat or a reward.
“If it is a threat, it impacts the thinking capabilities, because the brain goes into ‘fight or flight’ mode, and essentially that reduces the field of view the brain has – it reduces the ability to see options and creativity.
“If the brain is recognising reward, however, it becomes more open to opportunities, more creative. It is more able to have insights, which essentially means new ways forward.”

Create a safe place

Managers who want to motivate their teams must first ensure that people feel “safe”, Hansen says. They can do this by adopting what she calls the SPARC! model, which comprises:

• Status – “If you’re a manager you can give someone status by asking their opinion, seeking permission to give feedback, and giving them positive encouragement, and recognition.”
• Perceived fairness – “The brain requires fairness both in how ‘self’ is treated and how ‘others’ are treated. It very quickly puts someone into a threat space if they perceive they are being unfairly treated.”
• Autonomy – “Managers can give people autonomy very simply by allowing them to make work choices, and by allowing them to have flexibility in work design – in the ‘how to’ of projects – rather than explicitly explaining how to do things.”
• Relatedness – “This is about caring who that individual is, relating to them, finding similarities, and being interested in who they are holistically.”
• Certainty “Managers can provide certainty by ensuring that people are up to date with projects, with management decisions, with expectations of their role and communication. It’s a key one because a lot of people, if they’re feeling uncertain, are in a threatened state.
  “Particularly during restructuring, for example, people need to know what’s going on. It’s important to give people even a small amount of certainty, such as, ‘I’ll get back to you tomorrow at nine AM, even if I may not know more’. It gives them more certainty than saying, ‘I don’t know anything, and I’ll let you know when I know something’. It lets them at least think, ‘My manager will touch base with me tomorrow. I can let that worry go for now.’”

Brain-based coaching

Another way that managers can improve motivation and performance is through solution-oriented questioning, Hansen says.
“Basically, brain-based coaching produces action. Allowing people to have questions around their thinking can help them relax and reflect, which will then allow them to have insight.”
Asking an employee questions such as, “How important is it for you to resolve this?” and “How long have you been thinking about this”? helps their brain not just to try and solve the problem, but to reflect on their thinking.
“That space quietens the brain to allow for insight,” Hansen says. “And insight in itself produces some action, some potential.
“If I suggest, ‘You do this’, you’re just going to do it. You don’t have any insight to what you think the next step is, and you’re not overly motivated, compared to if you came up with the idea yourself, which could be way more creative than what I suggested you do.”

Help workers find “the zone”

A third way managers can motivate their teams is by helping them work in their “zone”.
“Helping people get into the ‘zone’ allows people to be at their peak motivation level,” Hansen says.
This comes about when they have the right balance of challenge versus skill in their work.
“If somebody has enough challenge in their role and just enough skill to do it, they’re most likely to be in the zone.
“If the challenge is too high or the skill is too high for the challenge, they’re not in the zone. Essentially, the brain wants to be excited by challenge, because we get a hit of the neurochemical dopamine when we are excited by a challenge or something novel. When it’s not the same old repetition or the same old job we’ve done 100 times, we’re more motivated to perform.
“But if the job is way too challenging, we’re actually experiencing adrenalin, which then releases the hormone cortisol through our system and that impacts negatively both our motivation to perform and our ability to perform.”
Hansen adds that new developments in neuroscience, which allow people to use biofeedback and neurofeedback to “know whether they’re in the zone, and what it takes for them to get into the zone”, are proving extremely useful for organisations keen to foster peak performance, particularly at the executive level.

“To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.”
Seneca

 “Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money.”
Cicero

“Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.”
Schopenhauer

 “A great mind becomes a great fortune.”
Seneca

“ Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good.”
Plato

 “Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form.”
Karl Marx

 “The worker of the world has nothing to lose, but their chains, workers of the world unite.”
Karl Marx

 “Veiling truth in mystery.”
Virgil

 “To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.”
Saint Augustine

“ The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.”
Aristotle

New medical recommendations dispel the myth of “economy class syndrome,” the notion that cramped leg room in the cheap seats on long flights can lead to deep vein thrombosis, or blood clots in the legs.  The clots can travel through the bloodstream to block blood flow to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism, deadly in as many as 30 percent of sufferers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sitting in roomier first class seats won’t lower the risk of developing DVT, but sitting in an aisle seat will, according to the American College of Chest Physicians.

“Traveling in economy class does not increase your risk for developing a blood clot, even during long-distance travel; however, remaining immobile for long periods of time will,” said Dr. Mark Crowther, one of the authors of the guidelines, in a statement. “Long-distance travelers sitting in a window seat tend to have limited mobility, which increases their risk for DVT.”

Doctors say the best way to prevent DVT is to move around as much as possible, even on long, cramped flights. The ACCP guidelines say passengers on flights of 6 hours or more should get up and walk around frequently, and stretch their calves. For travelers at an increased risk of DVT, the guidelines recommend wearing below-knee graduated compression stockings.

People should also watch for the symptoms of a blood clot in the legs, such as tenderness or pain in the calf, warmth, redness or swelling. Serious signs of a pulmonary embolism can include shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, stabbing pain in the chest and an unexplained cough.

Written by: Carrie Gann
Original article: ABC News

Smooth sailing for Street Bump app

By Michelle Hammond Thursday, 02 February 2012 in StartUpSmart

Pot Hole in Road

Street Bump is an app that focuses on an ever-present problem for all drivers: potholes. The app takes advantage of the sensors on smartphones to report potholes automatically.

Developed in the United States, the Android app users the accelerometers and GPS technology in the user’s phone to register when and where the user’s car has experienced a pothole.

The app is currently in prototype form, and focuses on simply recording and uploading data from those sensors.

The ultimate goal is to use Street Bump data to determine where potholes and other dangerous street features are located, so steps can be taken to address them.

The Street Bump app has the potential to be picked up by local councils throughout the world, helping them solve a simple yet ongoing problem.

Apps that engage users in productive tasks – such as reporting potholes – help not only the user but the wider community. Can you think of any others?

By Isla Whitcroft

Dr Arabella Onslow has lost an incredible 10st – seven in 14 months

Whenever her patients visited GP Lady Arabella Onslow for advice about weight or healthy lifestyle issues, she began the conversation with the same few words.

‘I know how hard this is. But this isn’t about me,’ she would say as she explained the need for regular exercise and smaller portions. ‘This is about you.’

For as she was handing out this lifestyle advice, Dr Onslow was grossly, even dangerously, overweight.

At her heaviest, the 41-year-old weighed 22st.

At 5ft 8in, this gave her a BMI of 46.2 (officially morbidly obese) and put her at high risk of a host of weight-related conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and osteoarthritis — the very same enemies she warned her overweight patients about each day in her NHS surgery in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria.

‘As a GP you listen to patients with all sorts of problems, and while not all of them are connected with weight, a lot can be — such as breathlessness, bad joints and diabetes,’ says Dr Onslow, whose father was the Earl of Onslow.

‘But when I had to tell a patient they would benefit from losing weight, I felt they were judging me. You could hardly ignore the fact I was obese.

‘I knew that at the very least I was giving tacit approval to someone who was overweight. If their own doctor, the person they went to for health advice, could be that fat, then surely it was OK for them to be fat, too.’

Indeed, it was the thought of the potential harm she might be doing indirectly to her patients that spurred her on when she finally decided to lose weight.

It seems to have been a real motivation, for Dr Onslow has lost an incredible 10st — seven in 14 months.

‘I began to put on weight during my late teens, and from my early 20s onwards the weight just piled on,’ says Dr Onslow, who is single.

‘When I had to tell a patient they would benefit from losing weight, I felt they were judging me. You could hardly ignore the fact I was obese,’ said Dr Onslow

‘I come from a family of bon viveurs and didn’t want to give that up.

‘My portion sizes were enormous and unhealthy, doused in fat. An example would be a pasta dish on to which I would pile cream and maybe cheese, and then eat enough for four.

‘I loved to cook, but I would eat while I was cooking — chunks of cheese or crisps — and then have my main meal.

‘Another issue was that I really hated exercise. I was sent to a mainly boys’ school when I was 11. I never, ever got picked for teams, and when I did sport I would feel humiliated and left behind.

‘As I got older, this metamorphosed into a loathing of all types of exercise.’

Over the past few years, Dr Onslow’s weight gain was starting to have an effect on her health.

‘I come from a family of bon viveurs and didn’t want to give that up. My portion sizes were enormous and unhealthy, doused in fat,’ said Dr Onslow

‘My knees were hurting and I got breathless when I walked,’ she says.

‘My world began to shrink, too. For example, I worried about getting on a plane because I had to ask for a second seat belt, and when I walked into a restaurant I had to think about whether I would fit on to the chair.

‘My family were worried about me, but I rebuffed any attempts to discuss the matter.

‘However, in 2006 my younger sister Charlotte plucked up the courage.

‘She said I was very overweight and it wasn’t good for me, and she kept on telling me until I got the message.

‘At the back of my mind was the knowledge that I wasn’t providing the best example that I could to my patients. I really care about them and I wanted to be the best doctor I could for them.’

How a doctor’s lifestyle choices affect patient care is an issue that has only recently begun to be explored by the medical profession.

‘In the past, people accepted what doctors said without question,’ says Michael Wilks, of the British Medical Association and chairman of the Sick Doctors Trust, which helps medics suffering from addictions.

However, this dynamic is breaking down — which is a good thing — and people are more likely to look at their doctor with questioning eyes.’

Indeed, a survey carried out by the Department of Health two years ago found that fewer than half of those questioned would readily accept health advice from a health professional who appeared to have an unhealthy lifestyle. A third would actively not accept that advice.

‘Like it or not, doctors are role models,’ says Dr Wilks.

‘Obesity is a visible condition, but equally, if a patient knew their doctor smoked or drank heavily, then it could weaken their authority if they were giving advice on these matters.’

‘It wasn’t until I joined a Rosemary Conley slimming class in 2010 that I realised where I was going wrong,’ said Dr Onslow

Not all the experts are convinced doctors’ own lifestyles matter.

‘Doctors must be trustworthy, competent and professional, but this does not mean they must lead healthy lifestyles or be thin or good-looking,’ says Dr Daniel Sokol, a medical ethicist at Imperial College, London.

According to the Royal College of General Practitioners, as long as the doctor acts professionally, there is no dilemma.

‘When the patient leaves the consulting room, they must feel that the doctor has listened to them, addressed their needs  and was kind,’ said a spokesman.

‘This is the best way to  ensure that the next time they visit their GP, they can trust them enough to talk about their eating, drinking or any other personal concerns.’

However, a GP’s lifestyle can affect their ability to do their job, as a survey published in the journal Obesity suggested.

This found that doctors who were overweight or obese were far less likely to diagnose obese patients than doctors who were a more normal weight.

Thirty per cent of doctors with a normal BMI were likely to talk to their obese patients about weight loss, while only 18 per cent of the heavier doctors would.

It took 14 months of cutting back drastically on portion size, cutting out fats and exercising, but Dr Onslow is down to a size 12, with a BMI of 24.9

The normal weight doctors were also more likely to give advice on diet (53 per cent versus 37 per cent of the heavier doctors) and exercise (56 per cent versus 38 per cent).

This is something with which Dr Onslow identifies.

‘I can see in hindsight that my idea of what constituted normal weight was massively skewed,’ she says.

‘For example, when I weighed 22st, if I saw a patient who weighed 18st I found myself thinking they weren’t that overweight — while, of course, they were.

‘Luckily, however, my professionalism and training took over and I gave them the correct advice according to weight guidelines.’

Dr Onslow managed to lose the first three stone in 2006 by cutting down on portion sizes, but then her weight loss stalled.

‘It wasn’t until I joined a Rosemary Conley slimming class in 2010 that I realised where I was going wrong.

‘I started to look at thin people and see how they ate and behaved.

‘Invariably they ate small portions, regular meals, never snacked and took exercise.’

It took 14 months of cutting back drastically on portion size, cutting out fats and exercising, but Dr Onslow is down to a size 12, with a BMI of 24.9.

‘Looking back, I was plagued by myriad niggling ailments that restricted my life and prevented me from doing fun things such as going to the theatre or travelling.

‘I don’t think I am a better doctor because I am no longer obese. But I do think I am a better role model for my patients.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2094132/Lady-Arabella-Onslow-At-22-stone-GP-hardly-role-model-patients-took-action.html#ixzz1l5vAdIMV

Copyright: Isla Whitcroft – Daily Mail |  www.dailymail.co.uk

“PHILISOPHICAL QUOTES”

I have no need for good souls: an accomplice is what I wanted

Sartre

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend

Henri Bergson

There is nothing so absurd that some philosopher has not already said it.

Cicero

Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so.

Aristotle

Philosophy begins in wonder.

Plato

There must always remain something that is antagonistic to good.

Plato

Newspapers are the second hand of history.

Schopenhauer

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.

Epictetus

Read this article in full here.

SetUpSmart

http://goo.gl/LUJTW

Calm beneath the waves

If your practice is experiencing a shortage of doctors or your doctors are taking time off for a holiday, extended leave, conference or family event then,

CALL OR EMAIL SUE

This is the perfect opportunity to ensure that your practice continues to provide quality health care to your patients. Our doctors have been providing locum relief in the Brisbane area for many years.  They understand the role of a locum, how to fit in with you and your staff and the way you run your practice.

If your practice requires the services of a doctor for a short or a long term, we can help.

BELOW IS A LIST OF THE DOCTORS WE HAVE AVAILABLE

(we have male and female VR GPs available Brisbane North)

•      F             30 January to 3 February
•      F             13 February  onwards for several weeks full time or part time
•      M           13 – 17 February, 5 March – 5 April, 24 April onward
•      M           20 February – 13 April & 23 April onward with a view to permanent placement

Call Sue on 1300 137 142 to have a chat about your specific needs. If these dates don’t suit, let us know your requirements and we will secure a doctor for your upcoming vacancy.

Preparation is always better than desperation.

As Dr Gill Jenkins explains “We all find certain topics embarrassing and may have difficulty discussing them with our doctor – for women, physical problems in intimate areas such as the breast and genitalia, and emotional problems regarding sexuality and relationships are particular issues.” Men on the other hand are as conscious of thier appearance as women, worrying over the same sort of problems but sometimes less able to openly ask for help.

Common Embarrassing Issues:

How to Overcome Embarrassment:

The hardest part is opening the conversation about your cause of embarrassment. Remember, you’re not alone – your doctor is trained in talking about difficult topics, won’t be embarrassed or laugh, and almost certainly has seen patients with similar problems.

Give your doctor a chance to get you to open up – most doctors are experienced in reading the body language of someone who has difficulty starting the conversation, and will give them several ‘openings’ to discuss things. This may take several appointments before you have confidence, but that’s not unusual.

Doctors recognise the classic behaviour of patients initially consulting about something seemingly trivial and then hesitating, getting up to go and with their hand on the door, saying ‘whilst I’m here doctor…’ – the doctor will then expect you to sit down and start again.

If you really can’t discuss that embarrassing topic, try writing it down at home and take the note to your doctor- they should be used to this and won’t laugh, no matter how silly or personal you may feel it sounds. If you can’t face the doctor, send it as a letter or email and then come in to discuss it.

Alternatively, you may feel more comfotrtable by telling other members of the healthcare team such as the practice nurse to begin with. They can then make a note for your GP. (BBC Health, 2011)

Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/support/embarrassment/embarrassment_index.shtml