Valentine’s Day Potpourri

Living and Health

Here’s a variety of health and living news items that point to the need for you to stay current, read everyday and don’t be manipulated by popular press or ideas:

1) Healthy Living is Too Expensive: It’s much cheaper for governments to continue to ignore the health risks of smoking and obesity according to a study from the Public Library of Science Medicine. According to the research, lifetime health costs for healthy living is $417,000; for smokers, $326,000; and for the obese, $371,000. The conclusion appears to be let people choose to be as healthy as they want to be and to allow self-destructive behaviors continue.

Like all things in life, a healthy lifestyle coupled with preventive health care is a personal choice. People don’t need expensive and non-productive health programs telling them to not smoke, to take 30 minutes for a walk or to get regular health exams (even the uninsured can afford one checkup a year). Healthy people have already figured this out – government is “preaching to the choir” and hence, wasting tax dollars.

Plus the one biological element that will determine how long a person lives and how healthy that person will be in his or her lifetime is genetics. So pick your parents carefully.

2) Women Have High Serum Cholesterol: High serum cholesterol is defined as a number greater than 240 mg/dlt as determined by a blood test. According to the CDC and the NCHS National Health and Nutritional exam surveys from 2005-06, women, on average, have high serum cholesterol levels twice more often than men (22% to 10%). In the “heart attack” years between 40 and 59, women have a slightly higher incidence than men (19.2% to 18.8%). The only period of life when men exceed women (13% to 11%) is between 20 and 39.

Since more men die of heart attacks than women, maybe the idea of high serum cholesterol is not much of a risk factor (by itself). Perhaps the hype around prescription drugs to lower cholesterol as a preventive measure is just another well-marketed fear tactic advanced by pharmaceuticals for no other reason than profit? If a pharmaceutical company can get a “patient” in their 50’s started with a statin (cholesterol-lowering drug) regimen, that person will be “hooked” for at least 30 years on a very expensive monthly drug habit.

3) Time to Ask for a Raise: Since 1981, the cost of living when adjusted for inflation, has risen by 140%. If you were employed full-time in 1981, and was earning $26,000 per year, today your salary would need to be around $65,000 a year to have kept pace. If you are not earning at least $60,000 a year, your buying power has dropped significantly. That explains the need for households to have multiple low-paying jobs.

Inflation will reduce the buying power of a dollar by 95% every 40 years. A dollar saved in any kind of savings program in 1968 would have the buying power of 5 cents today. The only way you stay ahead (or at least even) is by reinvesting dividends and capital gains from your investments. It is really true when financial advisors say that the only way to make “real” money is to put your money to work by investing.

With the US Government and the banking industry pushing credit debt and “spend for today” mentalities, the middle-class economic structure will soon disappear and the poor will get poorer.

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GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2008 3 Minute Learning LLC

INSPIRATION

Everybody Needs A Lift

There are days that seem impossible. From the moment your feet slide out of bed and touch the floor, everything appears to go wrong. That’s why it is so important to have family and friends that are supportive. Those “kind of days” are also why it is great to have inspirational movies to enjoy and inspire.

Such a movie is The World’s Fastest Indian starring Sir Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins plays Burt Munroe, an aging inventor barely surviving on his pension check. The story of Munroe is based on actual events. It illustrates one man’s quest to fulfill his life-long dream: riding his re-tooled Indian brand motorcycle at top speed at the Bonneville Salt Flats (Munroe is from New Zealand and traveling half way around the world to the USA would be no small feat in itself).

This is a heart-warming, gently told story of Munroe’s quest. His demeanor and struggles are an inspiration. At every turn you’re pulling for him to complete his dream. His courage leads others to help and eventually he rides his home-made motorcycle on the salt packed course.

You watch this film because you want a piece of Munroe for yourself. You want to be understanding even under great duress. You want to be generous even when you have very little. You want to complete your life-long dream even against terrific odds.

Take a couple of hours to watch this DVD. Watch it with family, friends or even by yourself. You’ll feel good and you’ll feel invigorated. More importantly, you’ll find the courage to keep daily troubles and issues in perspective.

If is part of life. You can’t control everything. Not everything will move in a positive direction, no matter how noble the cause. You do your best. Inspiration helps keep your focus and perspective positive.

That’s the lesson from the story of Burt Munroe.

Visit www.3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2007 3 Minute Learning LLC

SIMPLICITY

We’re Not Dumb, Just Overwhelmed

Do you look at your cell phone, MP3 player, software for your PC or the remote control for your new HDTV and wonder “where do I start?” With every new device, more features are added, the manual becomes a little bit thicker and the learning curve seems to get steep again. And just when you thought you had everything under control!

The economics of business is straightforward: either charge high prices for your product or find more customers. In consumerism, many of the things we buy go down in price over time unless more features are added. Companies can’t always charge more so they try to appeal to customers with a litany of options. Hence, more buttons, more menu options and an increased likelihood that we’ll never use all the options.

To be honest, we have to feel fortunate that until the mid-1980’s, there was only one communication company (AT&T) and basically, one computer company (IBM). By having a monopoly, AT&T set the standards for all phone calls. Regardless if you were calling across the street or across the world, the communication standard was set and quickly understood. Think about it: with one finger, you could instantly make a phone call from anywhere in the world even if you had no idea how to understand the native language. The numbers, the circular wheel to dial the numbers and the receiver were all standard. Making a call was simple; expensive but simple.

We are fortunate that there was only one standard for telephones. If it was hard to complete calls in the early 1900’s, people were too busy working to bother learning seemingly useless devices. In early 20^th century America, everyone you wanted to talk to was either with you or down the street! A complex telephone would have disappeared and radically changed the next 100 years.

The easy-to-use telephone and its singular standard allowed the adoption of the device to proliferate. There was no battle of VHS versus Betamax, HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray or Apple versus PC. The telephone was simple and quickly learned even by 3 year olds. When AT&T was dismembered into the “baby bells”, the standards didn’t change. As a result, consumers didn’t need to re-learn how to use the phone. But they did benefit from more competition and lower prices.

Recently I purchased a new portable phone for my kitchen. The manual was less than 4 pages and what I needed to do first was obvious. After charging the battery, I connected one wire, placed the phone on the wall mount and stated making phone calls. A very simple process taking only minutes of my time to complete.

Compare that scenario with our household buddy, the PC. Most PC experts warn that if I wanted to upgrade my current operating system to Windows Vista, I should expect that it will take 6 to 8 hours. I can also anticipate that it may not load properly or that older programs or devices may no longer be compatible. Yikes; no wonder there’s a Geek Squad!

Do I really have time for this? The wiring in my home is at least 15 years old and the copper wiring that connects my house to the rest of the world could be even older. Yet my “fresh out of the box” phone worked immediately after the battery was charged. Simple and I didn’t feel stupid.

The point is that we are not dumb but victims of unnecessary complexities. Do we really need a cell phone that comes with a 100-page user manual? The personal PC has been around for over 25 years. By now it should be simple enough for anyone at any age (at least over age 3) to use it for email.

But let’s not pick on PC’s as the cause of our newfound dumbness. Niche marketing and products have made everyday shopping a time-consuming challenge. Have you shopped for toaster or a pair of pants recently? There are lots of choices and in most cases too much information to make a quick decision. Even my simple phone purchase was part of the 800 or so available online.

How much research do we need to do everyday to make our choices? Can’t you picture someone sitting in their car trying to filter all this information and feeling paralyzed? Do you feel like you are running out of time?

I am not advocating monopolies or living a deprived life. But the next time you are feeling overwhelmed, start your recovery by limiting your time and effort regarding your choices. The difference in quality or features doesn’t justify your anxieties of feeling dumb!

Health Tip

Sleep is important. Lack of sleep is linked to mental illness, heart disease and accidents. People fail to get enough sleep any given night because of many reasons (see story above as an example).

For people who live in cold climates, one significant reason for having a hard time falling asleep is because of cold feet (no, not personal commitments but the actual parts of you body). When the body is attempting to “wind down”, it attempts to evenly distribute heat to keep you warm while sleeping. If your feet are cold, the body reacts as though it is launching into survival mode hence keeping you awake.

You need to keep your feet warm prior to bedtime. You can double up on socks, wear insulated slippers, keep a blanket over your feet or keep them near a hearting source. A very relaxing technique is a warm foot soak, maybe in one of those small, portable whirlpool devices. Whatever you choose, get those feet warm!

Next, make sure you don’t lose body warmth. Use a blanket warmer (not an electric blanket that can overheat you) on your bed to gently warm the sheets (flannel sheets are an excellent choice in cold weather). Make sure it has an automatic timer so it shuts down during the night. You don’t want to overheat your body. Many blanket warmers come with a 10-hour timer so you can start it several hours before bed and will continue several hours after you have fallen asleep.

If the blood circulation to your feet isn’t as good as it once was you may need to wear wool-blend socks to bed. Again depending how well you retain body warmth, flannel pajamas may also be necessary.

Ironically, while your bed needs to be warm, keep your bedroom cool. This contrast in temperature helps with breathing and your body’s ability to control its temperature. If your room is too warm, you will wake up in a cold sweat and may not get back to sleep very easily.

Finally, your bed is your friend. Don’t use it to toss and turn, run the day’s activities through your mind or formulate a to-do list for tomorrow. See it as one of the best moments of the day as you crawl into the gentle warmth of your cocoon.

Visit www.3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2007 3 Minute Learning LLC