All Work and No Play ...< July 3, 2002 > The face of summer vacation is changing: For every flip-flop, there is a laptop. For every palm tree, there is a Palm Pilot. In this era of portable computers and mobile phones, people are finding it harder to get away from work, even on vacation. Two recently released surveys bear out this trend. One survey of more than 1,300 randomly selected workers was conducted by CareerBuilder, a job search and recruitment firm. Just over half of those polled said they planned to stay in touch with work while on vacation, up from 40 percent last year. A second survey of 645 business executives, conducted by the American Management Association (AMA), found that one-quarter of the executives planned to be in daily contact with the office while on vacation, and more than 60 percent planned to check in at least once a week. What happens when your connection to work is not just 24/7, but 365? "You're not going to gain all the benefit you could from time away from the office," says Arthur Brief, an organizational psychologist and professor at the Tulane University School of Business. Among the benefits you may miss out on, he says, are relief from stress and anxiety. Instead of feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, you could return home feeling pretty much like you did when you left. In addition, you could pay a physical price for mixing pressure with pleasure. Brooks Gump, an assistant professor of psychology at the State University of New York in Oswego, has researched the health benefits of vacationing. Gump's study, part of a larger trial, included more than 12,000 middle-age men who were at high risk for heart disease. He found that the more often these men took annual vacations, the less likely they were to die from heart disease during a nine-year period. Gump thinks that going on vacation may have given these men a chance to let down their guard. But when you pack a cell phone with your sunscreen, you bring along the threat that someone from work could call with a crisis. Despite the drawbacks, taking work along on vacation is a new fact of life for many people. Some are required to check in by their bosses, while others choose to do so rather than risk having a project grind to a halt in their absence. Still others simply want reassurance that their jobs will still be waiting when they return. Given this reality, how can you minimize the downside?
Always consult your physician for more information. Online Resources:(Our Organization is not responsible for the content of Internet sites.) American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons |
For more information on keeping it safe this summer ____________. Simple Steps Help Curb Summer Sports InjuriesIt is summertime, and sometimes, with recreation and fun come injuries. Bicycling, basketball, roller sports, soccer, and baseball/softball are all in the sports hall of infamy when it comes to spring and summer recreation injuries. They accounted for an estimated 2.2 children's broken bones, dislocations, and soft tissue injuries treated at US emergency rooms, physician’s offices and clinics in 2000, at an estimated cost of $33 billion, says the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The academy is not suggesting kids retire from these sports but urges children and their parents to follow some important guidelines:
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