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Doctor shares her holy grail tips for overcoming eye sensitivity

<p>As the chill of winter sets in, many people find that their eyes become more sensitive and prone to dryness. This can be particularly challenging for those who already suffer from dry eye syndrome. </p> <p>Dr. Jacqueline Beltz is a leading Australian Ophthalmologist and the founder of <a href="https://www.okkiyo.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OKKIYO</a>, a beauty brand that makes PRIORITEYES mascara for people with sensitive eyes.</p> <p>Dr Beltz has shared her insights into dry eye syndrome and how winter can exacerbate symptoms, also sharing her top tips for managing eye sensitivity during the colder months.</p> <p><strong>Understanding Dry Eye Syndrome</strong></p> <p>The surface of the eye is covered by a delicate layer of tears, essential for comfort, vision, protection, and nutrition. The tear film comprises two main layers: an outer lipid (oily) layer and an inner aqueous (watery) layer. The lipid layer, produced by oil glands in the eyelids, prevents tears from evaporating too quickly, while the aqueous layer, consisting of water, electrolytes, and proteins, spreads tears evenly across the eye and helps them adhere to the surface.</p> <p>When the balance of tear production, evaporation, absorption, and drainage is disrupted, it can lead to dry eye syndrome. Symptoms may include redness, irritation, a gritty sensation, tired eyes, itching, excessive watering, and fluctuating vision. In severe cases, dry eye can be painful and significantly impact daily life.</p> <p><strong>How common is dry eye syndrome?</strong></p> <p>Dry eye syndrome is a widespread issue, particularly among older adults. According to the Blue Mountains Eye Study, 57% of adults over the age of 50 experience some degree of dry eye. This condition is notably more prevalent in women, with higher rates observed compared to their male counterparts. The increased prevalence in women is often attributed to hormonal changes, particularly during and after menopause. </p> <p>A more recent study, Optometry Australia’s 2022 Vision index found that over 85% of Australians are estimated to have experienced dry eyes at some point in their lives.  Of those affected, 55% say they only developed the condition following the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.  They reported that almost 1 in 5 (18%) of people experience dry eye symptoms frequently.  </p> <p>These statistics highlight the importance of understanding and managing dry eye, especially as we age.</p> <p><strong>DEWS II Study and Treatment Approaches</strong></p> <p>The DEWS II (Dry Eye Workshop II) study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and treating dry eye syndrome. According to the study, dry eye is a multifactorial disease characterised by a loss of homeostasis (or balance) in the tear film, accompanied by eye symptoms. Factors such as tear film instability, hyperosmolarity (increased saltiness), inflammation, and neurosensory (altered feelings or sensations) abnormalities play significant roles.</p> <p>There are two primary types of dry eye: aqueous deficient and evaporative. Most individuals have a combination of both. Aqueous deficient dry eye occurs when there is insufficient production of the watery layer of tears, often due to aging, hormonal changes, or certain medications. Evaporative dry eye is typically caused by environmental factors or conditions affecting the lipid layer, such as meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD).</p> <p><strong>Winter's Impact on Dry Eyes</strong></p> <p>Winter poses unique challenges for dry eye sufferers. Cold, dry air, indoor heating, and wind can all exacerbate symptoms. Here's how to combat these winter-specific issues:</p> <p><em><strong>1. Humidify Your Environment</strong></em></p> <p>Indoor heating reduces humidity levels, leading to increased tear evaporation. Consider using a humidifier to maintain moisture in the air, especially in bedrooms and living spaces. This helps keep your eyes hydrated.</p> <p><em><strong>2. Protect Your Eyes Outdoors</strong></em></p> <p>Cold winds can strip away the tear film. When outside, wear wraparound sunglasses to shield your eyes from the elements. This not only protects your eyes from the wind but also from UV rays, which can be strong even in winter.</p> <p><em><strong>3. Stay Hydrated</strong></em></p> <p>Dehydration can worsen dry eye symptoms. Drink plenty of water throughout the day to maintain overall hydration, which supports healthy tear production.</p> <p><em><strong>4. Optimise Your Diet</strong></em></p> <p>Certain foods can promote eye health. Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish like salmon and flaxseeds, have anti-inflammatory properties that can help manage dry eye symptoms. Incorporate these into your diet for added benefits.</p> <p><em><strong>5. Use a Warm Compress</strong></em></p> <p>A warm compress can help improve the function of the meibomian glands, which produce the oily layer of the tear film. This is particularly helpful for those with meibomian gland dysfunction, or MGD. Gently apply a warm, damp cloth to your closed eyelids for 10-15 minutes, followed by a gentle massage of the eyelids to encourage oil secretion. It is important to avoid rubbing or compressing the eyeballs.</p> <p><em><strong>6. Use Over-the-Counter Lubricant Eye Drops</strong></em></p> <p>Artificial tears can provide temporary relief by supplementing the natural tear film. Choose preservative-free options to avoid further irritation, and use them frequently.</p> <p><em><strong>7.  Remember to have regular eye checks</strong></em></p> <p>In Australia, Optometrists provide our primary eye health check ups. Dr Beltz recommends adults over the age of 40 see their optometrist once a year, but if you’re struggling with symptoms of dry eye in winter, an extra check up might help and your optometrist will be able to help you to come up with an individualised treatment plan.</p> <p><em><strong>8. Invest in Quality Eye Products</strong></em></p> <p>For those who wear makeup, using products designed for sensitive eyes is crucial. <a href="https://www.okkiyo.com/products/protect-and-preserve-mascara" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PRIORITEYES</a> mascara by OKKIYO has been specifically formulated to be gentle on sensitive eyes, avoiding common irritants while providing excellent performance.</p> <p><strong>Managing Dry Eye in Winter: A Recap</strong></p> <p>Winter can be tough on our eyes, but with the right strategies, you can manage dry eye symptoms effectively. Maintain a humid environment, protect your eyes from cold winds, stay hydrated, and incorporate eye-healthy foods into your diet. Regularly use warm compresses and opt for gentle, high-quality eye products like PRIORITEYES mascara.  </p> <p>Dry eye syndrome may be a common condition, but it doesn't have to dominate your life, especially during the harsh winter months. With these tips, you can keep your eyes comfortable and healthy all season long. For personalised advice and treatment, always consult with your eye care professional.</p> <p>Stay warm, stay hydrated and take care of your eyes this winter!</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p>

Body

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A guide to overcoming loneliness during the holidays

<div title="Page 1"> <div> <p>Navigating the holiday season during adulthood isn’t always smooth sailing. Often, the arrival of the festive period can bring with it a sense of loneliness. Whether it’s being away from family or missing out on celebrations, the holiday blues can be hard to shake and for many, the significance of togetherness during the holidays can accentuate feelings of isolation or detachment.</p> </div> <div> <p>Offering her insight on how to overcome these emotions, Jacqui Manning, resident psychologist at Connected Women, an organisation that facilitates friendships for women over 50 shares her top tips to help you enjoy a more connected and fulfilling holiday season.</p> </div> <div> <p><strong>Acknowledge Your Feelings</strong></p> <p>“It’s ok to admit that you feel lonely. In fact, it’s the first step to overcoming and accepting these feelings,” explains Jacqui.</p> <p>“Christmas is traditionally a time that is associated with togetherness and so recognising your emotions is the foundation for developing effective coping strategies. Reach out to the friends you do have, family or support groups and let them know you might need extra support during this time. You should also invest in your mental wellbeing, either by incorporating mindfulness techniques to help break any negative thoughts or creating a mindset of gratitude by reflecting on the positive aspects of your life. Both these techniques can shift your focus towards positivity.”</p> </div> <div> <p><strong>Invest in Yourself</strong></p> <p>If you’re feeling down, Jacqui suggests prioritising self-care.</p> <p>“Investing in yourself is an act of self-love and resilience. It shifts the focus from external pressures to internal fulfilment, fostering a deep sense of empowerment. This approach is particularly valuable during the holidays, as it allows you to create a positive and nurturing environment for yourself.”</p> <p><strong>Find New Connections</strong></p> <p>Prevention plays an essential role in mitigating the risks of social isolation before they take hold. When it comes to combating loneliness, it’s all about identifying the connections you might be missing and actively seeking ways to build them.</p> <p>Jacqui explains, “In the modern-day era that we are in, recognising the potential of technology is vital. If you don’t have anyone nearby, dive into the online world to explore nearby community meetups or virtual events; I assure you, you’ll discover something that aligns with your interests, and you'll find others who are in a similar situation to you,” Jacqui concludes.</p> </div> <div> <p>“Whether you want to relax in a bubble bath, use the holiday season as an opportunity to discover a new hobby or simply spend more time outdoors to connect with nature, remember that these intentional acts of self-investment are gifts to your own well-being. Taking time for yourself is not only a deserved treat but a crucial element of maintaining balance and happiness.”</p> <div title="Page 2"> <p>As the festivities draw near, it’s essential to tune in to your own needs, invest in self-care and actively seek connection, whether with new or pre-existing relations. These steps will not only contribute to your well-being but also serve to enrich and elevate your experience throughout the festive season.</p> <p><strong><em>About Connected Women</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Phoebe Adams is the co-founder of Connected Women, an organisation providing a community for women over 50 to connect and build meaningful friendships. With a rapidly growing community in Perth, Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne and Geelong, Connected Women provides a safe and welcoming space for women to come together and share experiences. To learn more about the organisation and how you can get involved, visit <a href="https://www.connectedwomen.net" target="_blank" rel="noopener">connectedwomen.net</a>.</em></strong></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> </div> </div> </div>

Family & Pets

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Back on course: overcoming low back pain for senior golfers

<p>As a retiree and avid golfer, I experienced the debilitating pain of a herniated disc in my lower back. I never thought golf could cause such agony, but I was determined to overcome it and return to the game I love.</p> <p>Low back pain is a common condition among senior-aged golfers, with reported prevalence rates of up to 50%. Which means if you're playing in a foursome with fellow seniors it's likely two of you have low back pain. </p> <p>Why? Because we are more prone to back pain due to age-related changes in the spine, such as disc degeneration, and arthritis. Additionally, poor swing mechanics, lack of flexibility, or poor physical conditioning increase the risk.</p> <p>The golf swing involves a complex sequence of movements that can sometimes place significant stress on the lower back, particularly the lumbar spine. The repetitive twisting, bending, and rotational forces can lead to various types of back injuries, including herniated discs, muscle strains, and degenerative disc disease.</p> <p>After being diagnosed with a herniated disc six weeks ago, my doctor recommended physical therapy treatments with a chiropractor and physiotherapist. I also found relief through regular massage and daily use of a TENS machine. Stretching and strengthening exercises can improve flexibility and core stability. I found simple Qi Gong exercises easy. Qi Gong has been described as like high-powered Tai Chi. The standing exercises appealed to me as I'm stubbornly averse to any exercise requiring laying on the floor.  </p> <p>Within weeks of therapy and home exercises, the pain had subsided enough for me to consider a gentle swing in the backyard. A few easy swings with the 7-iron and all felt good. No added discomfort.</p> <p>To prepare for a game, I enrolled in an online course called 'Pain Free Golf' by Croker Golf System. The course helped me adjust my swing to avoid re-injury.</p> <p>To further protect my lower back, I purchased two helpful devices. A ball pick-up device which attaches to the handle end of the putter ($10 approx. from the local pro shop) to enable retrieving my ball from the cup without bending forward. A second device I found was the 'easy tee-up' ($130 approx. - search “Easy Tee Up” online) which helps me tee up the ball without bending down to the ground.</p> <p>Now, six weeks after my herniated disc incident, I'm playing almost painless golf again, and my game has even improved. I never would have thought that a herniated disc would ultimately improve my golf game, but the experience taught me the importance of taking better care of my body and using the right resources to get back in the swing.</p> <p>To all fellow golfers, take care of yourselves and don't give up hope if you ever find yourself in the same situation. There are plenty of people and resources available to help you get back to playing the game you love - with no or low back pain.</p> <p><em>About the writer: Mike Searles is a Melbourne retiree who loves playing golf.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Body

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Pilot’s holy grail tips to overcome your fear of flying

<p dir="ltr">A US pilot has shared her five top tips to help nervous travellers ease their pre-flight anxiety. </p> <p dir="ltr">The 32-year-old captain said there are a few things passengers can do, such as picking the perfect time to fly and selecting your seat carefully, to make air travel a breeze. </p> <p dir="ltr">The Boeing 737 pilot who calls herself “Captain Morgan”, said anxious travellers should always book a seat in the front of the plane.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Try to sit more towards the front of the plane,” Morgan said in a TikTok video.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You’ll feel the effects of turbulence less if you sit over the wing or towards the front.”</p> <p dir="ltr">She also said that flying early in the morning is bound to make a flight easier. </p> <p dir="ltr">“There’s usually less turbulence and airports and airplanes are less crowded, which gives you more personal space,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">For solo travellers, Morgan suggested a no-brainer way to distract yourself in the air. </p> <p dir="ltr">“If you can’t fly with a family member or friend, have someone on the ground you can text. Most planes have free texting. You’ll have someone for moral support and they can distract you from flying,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You can turn your phone to Airplane Mode but turn on the Wi-Fi. Then you text over the Wi-Fi with either iMessage or WhatsApp for free.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Morgan said you can mentally prepare yourself for what to expect by “learning the sounds the plane makes”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Familiarise yourself with the sounds of the airplane,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“For example, when you’re getting close to landing at the airport, the thud you hear is usually just the landing gear coming down.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Morgan said her number one tip for anxious flyers is to “introduce yourself to the flight crew”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“If the flight attendants know you’re nervous, they can check on you more during the flight,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“If you go talk to the pilots, they can tell you a bit more about the flight. For example, if we are expecting any turbulence. Just ask the flight attendant in the galley if you can meet and talk to the pilots. It might not be a long conversation but we can still chat.”</p> <p dir="ltr">She added, “More than likely we will give you a tour of the flight deck and answer all your questions.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: TikTok</em></p>

Travel Tips

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How to overcome the ‘Sunday scaries,’ according to a therapist

<p><strong>How to overcome your Sunday scaries</strong></p> <p>According to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, most Australians are working longer hours – spending more time on the job than on their household activities, caring for family, education, meals, personal care and leisure combined. If this grind sounds familiar, you probably don’t need scientific data to tell you how much Mondays can suck (though back in 2011, University of Vermont researchers used Twitter data to confirm indeed, we all hate. Mondays the most). In recent years, these Monday blues have crept into our off-the-clock hours, too: a phenomenon that’s increasingly coming to be known as the ‘Sunday scaries.’</p> <p><strong>Five reasons this ‘anticipatory anxiety’ happens</strong></p> <p>“The Sunday scaries is an overwhelming feeling of dread and anxiety about going to work or school the next day,” says clinical psychologist, Dr Renée L. Goff. Depending on your schedule, this anxiety doesn’t necessarily have to hit on a Sunday, but whenever you’re spending what’s meant to be personal time stressing about upcoming work.</p> <p>And what do the Sunday scaries feel like? “Some people describe it as a heaviness they can feel in their body, while others feel so jittery they could jump out of their skin,” Dr Goff says. “You’re also very aware of the time ticking away and the freedom of your weekend coming to a close.”</p> <p>It’s also extremely common. Based on different polls, 75 to 80 per cent of people experience the Sunday scaries, says therapist Amanda Stemen. But just because it’s widespread doesn’t mean it’s not manageable. Here’s how experts say you can ease your Sunday anxiety.</p> <p><strong>Structure your Sunday</strong></p> <p>“Structure can be a best friend when [you’re] feeling the Sunday scaries,” says psychotherapist, Angela Ficken. “Instead of sitting on the couch and watching the clock, go do something that you enjoy.” You might still get whiffs of that sense of dread, but that feeling is harder to hold onto when you are engaging in something that makes you feel good, she says. Plus, research tells us that adding structure to our days can help give us a greater sense of control and improve mental health. That’s why it’s not just important to structure your Sundays, but to be consistent with it, Ficken says.</p> <p><strong>Don’t forget to relax</strong></p> <p>The Australian Government Department of Health data shows just how little time we have during the week to tend to non-work activities – ­ but when you’re planning out your Sunday, try not to cram in too many errands and chores. If you’re feeling more stress in general, it’s important to make space for relaxing activities in your Sunday plan to ground yourself, says marriage and family therapist Naiylah Warren. And there’s no right way to relax. “Maybe a body scan meditation, maybe a mid-afternoon shower or bath, maybe an engaging movie or show,” Warren says. “[Whatever] feels like a helpful distraction to reground from the scaries.”</p> <p><strong>Pinpoint anxiety sources behind the Sunday scaries</strong></p> <p>Anxiety is a normal human experience, and one of the main ways to manage it is to identify your personal triggers. “Try to pinpoint what is really causing you to dread the week,” Dr Goff says. “Is it a deadline, meeting or presentation?”</p> <p>Even if there’s not a sole reason behind your Sunday anxiety, organising the stress you expect from the week ahead into bite-size chunks can help make it all more manageable. “Create multiple to-do lists,” Dr Goff recommends. One list for tasks that need to be completed immediately, another for tasks that are less urgent, and a final list for tasks that you’d like to complete at some point. “Seeing these can help put into perspective what is important and what you can let go of for now,” she says. “This can help decrease the anticipation of the stress and dread of the week.”</p> <p><strong>Create some excitement for the week ahead</strong></p> <p>Getting rid of the Sunday scaries isn’t just about tempering the doom-and-gloom of the week ahead, either. “Having something to look forward to also gives you something to think about that’s pleasing rather than only focusing on the dread you feel,” Ficken says. It’s a form of reframing your thoughts: instead of focusing on the awful things you expect from the week, build excitement over a coffee or lunch date with a friend you’ve been meaning to catch up with. “This gives you the opportunity to shift your thoughts to something fun and will help improve your mood.”</p> <p><strong>End your Sunday with the right energy</strong></p> <p>Whether you want glowing skin, a sounder sleep or a mental health boost, a great nighttime routine can come with major health benefits. But if you suffer from the Sunday scaries, you may want to build a special routine for these more anxiety-ridden evenings, Warren says. “This is an opportunity to give yourself proper wind-down time ­­– maybe you want to journal, do a face mask, read a few pages of your book – allow yourself to decompress so you can feel empowered and confident you’ll be ready for the next day,” she says. And do your best to honour this “you” time.</p> <p>That means, when possible, make Sunday night about your self-care – and leave the work emails for Monday morning.</p> <p><em><span id="docs-internal-guid-5bed761a-7fff-0943-dc43-615bbc260f03">Written by Leslie Finlay. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/healthsmart/conditions/mental-health/how-to-overcome-the-sunday-scaries-according-to-a-therapist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRA87V" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here’s our best subscription offer.</a></span></em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Mind

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Readers Respond: What was one struggle you had with your newborn and how did you overcome it?

<p dir="ltr">Though they may be bundles of joys, caring for newborns also comes with plenty of struggles, including sleepless nights, difficulties with breastfeeding, crying, and bouts of colic.</p> <p dir="ltr">When we asked about the struggles of looking after your newborn, here’s what you had to say.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Rosemary Moreland</strong> - My youngest had no idea about breastfeeding. It took a month of dedication to the art before he caught on.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Moira Thurgood</strong> - My second babe cried continuously for ten months. I just had to be patient and hope things would improve.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Christine Veitch</strong> - My first baby would scream and hold her breath with wind pain (when) I was breastfeeding her. I stopped eating peas and her wind went away.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Mick Gilbert</strong> - Colic, she eventually grew out of it nine months later…</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Marianne Prendergast</strong> - Colic with the first, eczema with the second, can’t remember if there was anything with the other two.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Lizze Bartlett</strong> - She didn’t sleep much and the longest would be an hour and a half.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Dan Robinson</strong> - My son had colic for 14 months and all you could do is hold him. Then he got quiet. It was a nightmare but my other two boys were great.</p> <p dir="ltr">To read what else you said, head <a href="https://www.facebook.com/oversixtys/posts/pfbid0PmxvkXP6vodU7iBwn5fbUxDMMhQZLvhxodgtDgEVi1FDibqc8zdVniM4y3XdcBDHl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7c8d7511-7fff-7598-12c3-3b48b70ad1c8"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Caring

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Solar curtailment is emerging as a new challenge to overcome as Australia dashes for rooftop solar

<p>Almost <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-reaches-3-million-households-with-rooftop-solar-20211108-p59721.html">a third</a> of Australia’s estimated <a href="https://www.ibisworld.com/au/bed/number-of-households/31/">ten million households</a> now have solar on the roof. But as the nation moving fastest to produce energy on our homes, we are also encountering teething problems, such as “curtailment” of output.</p> <p>This issue will be one we have to overcome as ever more Australians install solar. Our grids were designed primarily for large fossil fuel power stations transmitting electricity in one direction, while solar households both consume and export power.</p> <p>That means in some conditions, household solar may contribute to spikes in voltage levels outside of the acceptable range, especially as voltage levels are typically already high.</p> <p>To counter this, your solar system can stop exporting to the grid or even shut down temporarily if voltage levels are too high. This is called “curtailment”.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436513/original/file-20211209-21-qfm0ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436513/original/file-20211209-21-qfm0ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Solar technicians installing panels" /></a> <span class="caption">The rush for solar shows no signs of slowing – but curtailment could be a stumbling block.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <h2>So what’s the issue?</h2> <p>The average solar household lose less than 1% of its power production to curtailment – and even less for those with home batteries. While that sounds minor, an unlucky few households are losing as much as 20%.</p> <p>Why the drastic difference? It depends on factors like the house’s location, the local electricity network equipment, home wiring, the number of solar systems in the area, and the size of a solar system and inverter settings, which can vary depending on the date of installation.</p> <p>These findings are from <a href="https://www.racefor2030.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CANVAS-Succinct-Final-Report_11.11.21.pdf">our scoping study</a> in South Australia, conducted in partnership with AGL, SA Power Networks and Solar Analytics as part of the <a href="https://www.racefor2030.com.au/">RACE for 2030</a> research centre.</p> <p>We analysed two out of three modes of automatic curtailment, with further research underway to assess the third mode, which may account for greater overall curtailment.</p> <p>This issue is set to get bigger, as more and more solar systems are installed and export to the grid at the same time.</p> <p>Given the different ways solar households experience curtailment, this research also raises issues of fairness.</p> <p>Our research interviewed and ran focus groups with South Australians who have solar. We found most participants didn’t know about curtailment and hadn’t experienced it or noticed it.</p> <p>But when we described curtailment, most people found it off-putting and questioned whether rooftop solar owners should be made to absorb any losses, given the contribution of rooftop solar to the renewable energy transition.</p> <p>Not only that, our participants told us they believed the issue could slow down the adoption of solar and potentially undermine faith in the system.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436514/original/file-20211209-19-azcfvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436514/original/file-20211209-19-azcfvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Power pylons" /></a> <span class="caption">Australia’s rapid renewable transition means challenges to overcome for the grid.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <h2>Is this a problem for solar uptake?</h2> <p>The issue of curtailment means people may not get everything they expect out of their solar system. But this may not be a deal breaker, given <a href="https://ecss.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au/behaviour-survey-oct-2021/purchase-intentions/">earlier research</a> and our study both show that people hope to benefit in many different ways from installing a solar system.</p> <p>For instance, some want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and contribute to a cleaner grid. Others want to be less reliant on electricity providers and enjoy producing and using their own energy. And some just want cheaper electricity, and don’t mind whether they get these savings through selling their power or just buying less of what they need from the grid.</p> <p>The good news is that as the solar sector matures, new ways are emerging of maximising value from our solar, including:</p> <ul> <li>home energy management systems letting us time the use of appliances such as <a href="https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2021/09/06/unsw-study-channelling-rooftop-pv-into-water-heating-is-a-residential-super-saver/">hot water tanks</a> for daytime periods, when solar generates most power</li> <li>batteries letting us store power for use in the home when it is needed, such as in the evening</li> <li><a href="https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2017/09/virtual-power-plant/">virtual power plants</a> enabling households to be paid for allowing their solar and battery systems to help stabilise the electricity grid.</li> </ul> <p>While attractive in their own right, these options can also reduce how much your solar system is curtailed, and have the potential to help tackle challenges at a grid scale.</p> <p>Other changes to electricity and grid access and pricing could also help us better manage curtailment.</p> <p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-15/sa-power-networks-to-control-solar-exports-in-adelaide-trial/100070068">Flexible export limits</a> being trialled in South Australia and elsewhere would mean households could export electricity to the grid when it is needed, while occasionally being prevented from doing so when the network does not have capacity.</p> <p>Flexible export limits also mean households can install larger solar systems regardless of their location within the network. They could stop curtailment affecting solar households in unexpected and uneven ways.</p> <p>Other responses include <a href="https://discover.agl.com.au/solar/helping-to-maximise-your-solar-savings/">programs to reward households</a> for having their export curtailed, recognising it as a service to the market and the network.</p> <p>There is no single solution to the issue of curtailment. But the different solutions described above may contribute to the successful integration of more rooftop solar energy and pave the way for a more renewable grid.</p> <p>Now is the time to talk about the future of solar in Australia, and the ways we can value it, use it and manage it when abundant.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172152/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sophie-adams-1203744">Sophie Adams</a>, Research Fellow, School of Humanities and Languages, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-1414">UNSW</a></em>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/baran-yildiz-1259582">Baran Yildiz</a>, Senior Research Associate, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-1414">UNSW</a></em>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/naomi-stringer-1296976">Naomi Stringer</a>, Research Associate, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-1414">UNSW</a></em>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shanil-samarakoon-1295900">Shanil Samarakoon</a>, Lecturer, Centre for Social Impact, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-1414">UNSW</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/solar-curtailment-is-emerging-as-a-new-challenge-to-overcome-as-australia-dashes-for-rooftop-solar-172152">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Home Hints & Tips

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Overcoming the barriers to reef recovery

<div> <div class="copy"> <p class="has-drop-cap"><strong>The Great Barrier Reef has been impacted by three mass bleaching events in the last five years. </strong>Foremost, it is being challenged by climate change, particularly ocean warming. There are still areas of the reef that are doing well and demonstrating quite a high level of resilience, but other areas are not. As the climate continues to warm, we predict that these bleaching events will continue to become more frequent and more severe, and this raises concerns about the reef’s long-term outlook.</p> <p>Most corals already live close to what we call their upper thermal limit – the upper temperature of what they can tolerate. When seawater temperatures rise just a degree or so above that upper limit, it begins to cause stress and damage to the coral.</p> <p>Corals also have symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae that live inside their tissues. When a higher water temperature is combined with a high irradiance stress on those days when it’s very calm and very sunny, those two factors together are detrimental to the algae that live in the coral tissues, and it causes a breakdown of that symbiosis. That’s what leads to coral bleaching – and if the water is hot enough, it impacts the coral animal tissue as well.</p> <blockquote class="has-text-color has-weekly-blood-red-color"> <p>When you dive below the surface, all of the noise from the world above is quietened, and it allows you to be completely immersed in an entirely different environment.</p> </blockquote> <p>That’s the mechanism by which temperature causes damage to the corals. If that persists for long enough those corals will often die. And of course, having fewer corals left on a reef impacts the ability of that reef to recover.</p> <p>Many people hear the word coral and think of colourful rocks. It’s important to understand that these are colonial animals. Hundreds or thousands of individual coral polyps make up the larger colony. Through time, as the animal grows, it lays down layers of limestone and that’s what builds the structure of the reef. The living part of the coral is actually the thin veneer of tissue covering the outside of what looks like rock.</p> <p>Since childhood, I’ve always wanted to immerse myself in the underwater world. I grew up in the state of Maryland, on the east coast of the USA, and spent quite a lot of time in the summers on the Chesapeake Bay. It’s certainly not tropical but I found it fascinating and enjoyed exploring my environment. Then I did a bit of travelling to some tropical locations, and I fell in love with reefs. They are so otherworldly, with all their incredible diversity and beauty and colour. They really are quite alien. When you dive below the surface, all of the noise from the world above is quietened, and it allows you to be completely immersed in an entirely different environment that is so fascinating, with so many behaviours and life forms to observe.</p> <p>I’ve been captivated by the connectedness of the reef ecosystem – how these organisms all rely on one another and work cohesively together. Of course, the flashy beautiful fish and charismatic creatures are attractive, but the corals have really enthralled me.</p> <p>I realised early in my studies that corals are the foundational species of the reef ecosystem. They are the giant sequoia, if you like – the massive trees that build the “forest” of the reef. I became very interested in understanding how the system works – how it changes, recovers and maintains its communities – and also wanted to ensure that it will be maintained for future generations.</p> <p>The more that I learned about these ecosystems, the more I saw the challenges that they faced. Many of the reefs in the Caribbean are degraded – I saw how they have been ravaged by diseases and bleaching in the last 15 years. Understanding the drivers of coral diseases became the focus of my dissertation work – and really prompted me to start thinking about how to apply my knowledge and skills to develop ways to help.</p> <blockquote class="has-text-color has-weekly-blood-red-color"> <p>[From] that early life history stage when the coral larvae have just settled onto the reef… it’s likely that fewer than one in a thousand survives to adulthood, maybe less.</p> </blockquote> <p>After my dissertation work in the Caribbean, I saw an opportunity for a postdoctoral position at the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.aims.gov.au/" target="_blank">Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)</a> here in Australia. It’s been a dream to come here and study the corals of the Great Barrier Reef.</p> <p>One of the key things that we’re working on is trying to overcome the bottleneck in the survival of corals – that early life history stage when the coral larvae have just settled onto the reef. It’s likely that fewer than one in a thousand survives to adulthood, maybe less. In a joint reef resilience project with BHP in Woppaburra Sea Country (the Keppel Islands) I’m working towards identifying ways to overcome that bottleneck by reducing the high mortality during a coral’s first year of life. At a broader scale, we’re really trying to nail down the know-how for generating corals reliably and consistently at scale.</p> <p>Corals have a unique way of reproducing – at least from a human perspective. Obviously, they are attached to the sea floor. So, corals can’t go out and find mates. What most corals have evolved to do is synchronise the spawning of their gametes. They release their eggs and sperm into the sea in a highly synchronous event that only happens once a year for most species.</p> <p>These are animals, remember, and they reproduce like animals, with eggs and sperm released into the water. When the corals on the reef are healthy and densely populated, those eggs and sperm float and then mix at the surface of the ocean – the eggs become fertilised by sperm, and those fertilised eggs develop in the sea. Over the course of a few days to a few weeks, they develop into microscopic larvae that are less than a millimetre in size. Those larvae get moved around by currents, and hopefully get taken to a reef somewhere, where they’ll settle down, attach to the sea floor, and then grow into an adult coral.</p> <p>A single adult coral can release thousands to millions of eggs and sperm. They synchronise this release using a suite of cues from the environment, based on the lunar cycle, the tide and the time of sunset, down to the minute.</p> <p>Once they settle onto the reef they metamorphose into a single, tiny polyp. Over time, that single polyp divides, then divides again, and grows into a larger colony. So most colonies of corals have grown from a single tiny larva that settled into one polyp that grew over many years.</p> <p>At this time of year, the majority of the species of corals that live on the Great Barrier Reef will spawn. It’s interesting because they all spawn around the full moon, over several days, but they’re highly synchronous within a species. One species might spawn at 10 minutes after sunset. And then the next species will spawn 20 minutes after sunset. And then the next 30 minutes after, so that increases the likelihood that they’ll be able to fertilise eggs of the same species right around the same time.</p> <p>It’s not an exact science but we’ve become pretty good at predicting those times, and we expect them to go in a certain order.</p> <p>In general, the corals that we collect for the research we do are synchronised to their natural cycle, and we let them spawn naturally. But there’s a lot of interest in the research community at the moment in manipulating these spawning times. By adjusting the day length and the solar and lunar cycles, it will allow us to have a broader window of opportunity to do our work that is currently constrained to once per year.</p> <p>In my research, many of the corals that are generated from spawning go back out onto the reef. We then track how those corals perform through time and across different reef sites and environments.</p> <p>When a reef is supplied with trillions of larvae each year, then that reef can usually recover on its own. But problems exist when reefs are not getting adequate supplies of larvae because they don’t have adult populations producing them; the reefs may have been degraded, and there aren’t enough individuals spawning to generate the larvae required. Bleaching can also impact a coral’s ability to spawn. If a coral has severely bleached, even if it doesn’t die, it often won’t spawn, or if it does spawn, the eggs and sperm are of poor quality.</p> <blockquote class="has-text-color has-weekly-blood-red-color"> <p>A single adult coral can release thousands to millions of eggs and sperm. They synchronise this release using a suite of cues from the environment, based on the lunar cycle, the tide and the time of sunset, down to the minute.</p> </blockquote> <p>The newest research has suggested that those latent effects of bleaching can persist for several years. While it might seem that the coral has recovered, there can be lingering impacts on their ability to reproduce, which affects the recovery of the reef.</p> <p>What we can do is go out and identify where the adult corals are located, put them together, spawn them, and increase the odds that each larva that’s developed in that process can then settle and survive. That overcomes the bottleneck that would be found naturally that limits the recovery potential of the reefs.</p> <p>The tools that we have currently are insufficient to address the scale of coral decline globally. At AIMS, I’m involved in two big programs focused on developing new and innovative methods to improve the resilience of coral reefs affected by climate change: the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program and the Australian Coral Reef Resilience Initiative. My hope is that we can develop a toolkit of strategies to implement on reefs that aren’t recovering naturally and that require accelerated adaptation to ocean warming, while we work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. </p> <!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --> <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=171406&amp;title=Overcoming+the+barriers+to+reef+recovery" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> <!-- End of tracking content syndication --></div> <div id="contributors"> <p><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/marine-life/overcoming-barriers-to-coral-reef-recovery/">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/dr-carly-randall">Dr Carly Randall</a>. Dr Carly Randall is a marine scientist with the Australian Institute of Marine Science specialising in coral ecology and reproductive biology. She is currently investigating drivers of post-settlement coral mortality to improve coral restoration methodologies.</p> </div> </div>

Domestic Travel

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5 ways you can use your home to overcome low interest rates

<p dir="ltr"><strong>While record low interest rates may be great news for home buyers, they are generally horrible news for Australian retirees who rely on their savings income.</strong></p> <p>The good news is that the family home - whether it is owned or rented - does provide a number of significant opportunities to generate income for retirees in a low interest rate environment.</p> <p>We’ve outlined five ways this could be the case:</p> <p><strong>1. Downsizing from the home</strong></p> <p>Just over half of the 40 people who responded to a<span> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/downsizing.com.au/">poll on our Facebook page</a>, stated they were considering downsizing from the family home, so they can release home equity to boost their retirement savings, because of low interest rates. </p> <p>Fortunately, it is these very same low interest rates that are also making it easier for downsizers to sell the home, because they are<span> </span><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/bubble-fears-are-back-property-prices-threatening-to-get-out-of-control-20191001-p52wia.html">breathing life into the property market.</a></p> <p>As we have reported previously, the Australian Government has a downsizing superannuation incentive. Australians aged over 65 are using this incentive to boost their super by, on average, around $200,000. </p> <p>Using the incentive, a 65-year-old adding $220,000 to their super would be able to draw an additional tax-free income of $15,000 per year until age 88 - a pretty handy amount when interest rates are as rubbish as they currently are.</p> <p><a href="https://www.downsizing.com.au/news/602/How-much-money-you-can-make-from-downsizing">Find out more about the government’s incentive here</a>.</p> <p>Downsizing has a number of benefits, including allowing people to move into alternative, age-appropriate accommodation, often located within a supportive community. </p> <p>Downsizing from the family home however may come with costs, in particular stamp duty on the new home and agent’s costs when selling the old home. </p> <p>The stamp duty impost can usually be avoided however by moving into a lease or licence retirement village unit or a land lease community.</p> <p>In addition, downsizers need to consider the fact that the released equity does count towards the pension assets and income tests, which could impact on eligibility for a part or full pension.</p> <p><strong>2. Unlocking the equity in the home</strong></p> <p>There are both commercial and government ‘reverse mortgage’ schemes in place to help retirees to unlock the equity in their home, while still living in the home.</p> <p>The government’s expanded<span> </span><a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/pension-loans-scheme/who-can-get-it">Pensions Loans Scheme</a>, came into effect on 1 July 2019 and allows retirees to access a fortnightly amount representing 150 per cent of the maximum pension payment, via a government loan secured against their home.</p> <p dir="ltr">A 5.25 per cent interest rate will apply to the loan, which will need to be paid back to the government when the home is eventually sold.</p> <p dir="ltr">However,<span> </span><a href="https://www.downsizing.com.au/news/573/Why-seniors-need-to-think-carefully-before-leaping-into-the-Pension-Loans-Scheme">as outlined in this story</a>, there are downsides to this scheme. </p> <p>One of the biggest downsides is that it encourages elderly people to stay in their existing home, when this home may not have the necessary ageing-in-place safety features that a newer home may have. It could also lead to loneliness, as older people are left isolated in their home.</p> <p><strong>3. Working from home</strong></p> <p>OK - this is a bit of a controversial one... but stay with us.</p> <p>There is clear evidence that an increasing percentage of older Australians are staying in, or re-entering the workforce, because they either need the money or the mental stimulation.</p> <p>In August 2019, around 15 per cent of Australians over 65 were still working part-time or full-time, up from 10 per cent in August 2009 and just 5.4 per cent in August 1999.</p> <p>Part-time work is the most popular option for Australians aged over 65 (compared to the 1990s when there were more elderly Australians in full-time work). In July 2019, there were 345,000 Australians aged over 65 undertaking part-time work, compared to 256,300 in full-time work. </p> <div><img src="https://img.seniorshousingonline.com.au/50b860f80fa8f41d56d22b98bba15a203a26c5f8" alt="" width="800" height="475" /><em>Chart showing increasing number of Australians over 65 still working</em></div> <p>These seniors are no doubt taking advantage of a number of tax incentives to supplement their retirement or pension income.</p> <p>For instance, the Australian Government’s Age Pension<span> </span><a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/seniors/programmes-services/work-bonus">Work Bonus</a><span> </span>increases the amount an eligible pensioner can earn from work before it affects their pension rate. </p> <p>From 1 July 2019, the amount fortnightly income from work that is not assessed and is not counted under the pension income test, increased from $250 to $300.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the<span> </span><a href="https://www.superguide.com.au/smsfs/no-tax-retirement-sapto">Seniors and Pensioners Tax Offset</a><span> </span>(SAPTO) allows Australians over 65 to take advantage of a $2,230 tax offset for annual incomes up to $32,279 (in 2017/18) and then a lower offset amount which extinguishes at an income level of $50,119.</p> <p>These helpful tax breaks mean that seniors may be able to undertake part-time work at home, to overcome the low interest rates, but at the same time minimise their tax burden and keep access to the pension.</p> <p><strong>4. Move to a rental community</strong></p> <p>There are potential benefits in moving to a rental community, including the possibility that you can claim<span> </span><a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/rent-assistance">Commonwealth Rental Assistance</a> and also don't have to pay stamp duty to move in.</p> <p>For instance, an increasing number of Australians are deciding to move to senior-specific rental communities in regional areas, where the living costs are lower. </p> <p>Often, the rents in these villages are low enough to allow pensioners to be able to pay for both their accommodation and other living expenses. This means you may no longer be need to be reliant on savings income, in a low interest rate environment.</p> <p>The downside, of course, is that senior Australians may not want to have to move some distance to get into a village.</p> <p>This story explains more about the<span> </span><a href="https://www.downsizing.com.au/news/543/Are-rental-villages-a-solution-for-Australias-pension-problem">increasing popularity of rental villages</a>.</p> <p>Other forms of seniors rental housing includes land lease communities (where you own the dwelling and rent the land underneath it) and leasehold retirement villages.</p> <p><strong>5. Use your garage for a profitable hobby</strong></p> <p>A number of land lease communities are now offering<span> </span><a href="https://www.downsizing.com.au/news/530/Homes-with-a-dream-garage-how-grey-nomads-are-transforming-retirement-communities">super-sized garages</a>, which can be used for any number of potentially profitable hobbies, including arts and crafts, collectables or your unique brand of home-made food.</p> <p>Of course, the danger is that you'll end up spending more money on your hobby, than you ever get back at the markets or online!</p> <p><em>Written by Mark Skelsey. Republished with permission of </em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.downsizing.com.au/news/606/Five-ways-you-can-use-your-home-to-overcome-low-interest-rates" target="_blank"><em>Downsizing.com.au</em></a><em>. </em></p>

Retirement Income

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Ways for overcoming the blues

<p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As we move through life, we will all eventually face challenges that will test our ability to cope and thrive. Empty nesters may take some time to adjust to a smaller, quieter household. Couples may go through relationship upheavals, such as divorce or remarriage. Perhaps the shift from working life into retirement can challenge your self-worth or sense of purpose. At the extreme end of the scale, the loss of a spouse or someone close to you can be a shattering experience that you many find difficult to move on from.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s not until you are actually in the midst of such situations that you will know how you will react. So what can you do if you find yourself on a downward spiral?</span></p> <p><strong>Manage your self-expectations</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Self-esteem and motivation are notoriously fickle aspects of human nature. Once they are seriously dented, it can test our will, sap our energy and create a cycle of disappointment about not being able to achieve or ‘perform to our usual standards’.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first step to combating this is to give yourself a break and set goals that are a little easier to achieve. Focus on making small wins on even the most trivial of everyday tasks to give yourself a chance to get momentum.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Speaking to someone, such as a family member, friends or a professional can be helpful when feeling down. You should never feel that you are alone.</span></p> <p><strong>Moving on from trauma</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you are struggling with a loss and with the challenge of re-adjusting your life, it’s important to look for new connections and interests that will re-activate and stimulate your sense of purpose. Taking a cooking or fitness class, joining a bushwalking or reading club, looking for opportunities to volunteer or use your skills to help others – such activities may be the kick start you need to form new relationships and new goals in life.</span></p> <p><strong>Ask for help</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Perhaps most importantly, you should never feel that you need to face such challenges alone. If things degenerate into depression, then professional help is essential. Sharing and confiding in friends and relatives can also be important in helping you crystallise your feelings and gain moral support.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you need further ideas on what to do or how to get assistance, here are some useful resources:</span></p> <p><a href="http://www.beyondblue.org.au"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Beyondblue.org.au</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><a href="http://www.lifeline.org.au"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lifeline.org.au</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><a href="http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Blackdoginstitute.org.au</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><a href="http://www.mensline.org.au"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mensline.org.au</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">  </span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Written by Tom Raeside. Republished with permission of </span><a href="https://www.wyza.com.au/articles/health/top-tips-for-overcoming-the-blues.aspx"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Wyza.com.au.</span></a></em></p>

Caring

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Against the Odds: Surviving the world's worst tsunami and overcoming trauma

<p>Over60 spoke with prolific author John Maddocks about his book <em>Against The Odds</em>.</p> <p>What exactly is <em>Against the Odds</em> about? Well, on Boxing Day, 2004 I was smashed by the Indian Ocean tsunami in southern Sri Lanka. I survived - I'm not entirely sure how - but the resort I was staying at and others nearby were destroyed. In fact, thousands of people died all around me in what turned out to be the worst hit part of Sri Lanka. There was nuclear-level destruction right across the area. The disaster was sudden, violent, catastrophic.</p> <p>Getting out of there was a challenge, but when I managed to return home, I was haunted by apocalyptic dreams and terrifying memories. The whole event kept running through my mind like a movie on a loop. I didn't know it, but I had classic symptoms of severe traumatic stress. </p> <p>Luckily, a friend mentioned a trauma psychologist who had treated Thredbo landslide survivor Stuart Diver, and seeing him became the first step in a race to avoid PTSD that involved using approaches at the cutting edge of neuropsychology.</p> <p>I'm a travel writer, so there's nothing I love more than heading off on new adventures. But sometimes travel can go horribly wrong. In my case it meant facing the immediate, unexpected prospect of sudden death. But despite that, surviving against the odds, overcoming trauma and living on borrowed time has turned out to be liberating and exciting. '<em>Against the Odds</em>' is available on <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07CZCHX8S/">Amazon</a></em> and Smashwords as an ebook or in print at <em><a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/against…/prod9781925739947.html">Booktopia</a>, <a href="https://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Against-Odds-John-Maddocks/9781925739947">Fishpond</a>, <a href="https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/books/against-the-odds-john-maddocks/p/9781925739947">Angus and Robertson</a> or <a href="https://themoshshop.com.au/products/against-the-odds-by-john-maddocks?_pos=1&amp;_sid=ee08cd75c&amp;_ss=r">The Mosh Shop</a></em>.</p> <p>You can also listen to the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/nightlife/the-writer-john-maddocks/10017398"><em>ABC Radio Nightlife</em></a> program interview I did.</p> <p><span>The following is a harrowing extract from "</span><em>Against the Odds: Surviving the world's worst tsunami and overcoming trauma</em>".</p> <p>Miriam and Preethi were the owners of Mangrove Garden in Tangalle, Sri Lanka, where we were staying.</p> <p>I walk out of our cabana into the quiet pre-dawn of Boxing Day. Low lighting spread throughout the gardens allows me to distinguish the outlines of the other cabana rooms and the new two-storey building workers have been rushing to complete over the last few days. It is due to be occupied by tourists for the first time tomorrow.</p> <p>The sky is clear and there is no wind. As I walk on the sand I see a lone fisherman strolling along the edge of the lagoon near the point where water sometimes overflows down the beach.  </p> <p>The sunrise is as spectacular as Miriam described. Colours change from red to gold as the sun’s orb slowly rises above the horizon, enlivening the colours of the sand and the trees.</p> <p>I walk further to photograph a small fishing boat that has been pulled up onto the beach. A European man passes me on the beach, stopping occasionally to pick up shells. A local dog appears from behind some coconut trees and straggles behind him. Waves lap the shore and the ocean seems to be calmer than usual.</p> <p>When the sun is well above the ocean I return to the resort and notice that the light is perfect for photographing the restaurant, which is attractive because of its thatched roof and open design. Half-a-dozen tables and chairs are spread along the front and there is a bar in the corner. Timber panelling conceals the kitchen at the rear of the building.</p> <p>While composing the photo I am delighted to see a squirrel dart across the roof. The sun behind me is still so low that I have to avoid my shadow creeping into the foreground. As I take the shot, I have no way of knowing that in exactly two hours both the restaurant and my camera will be destroyed.</p> <p>As it is approaching 8 am, I sit in the restaurant and order a pot of tea. One of the young male staff members is cleaning the tables. He looks tired from staying up all night at the wake for his uncle who died several days earlier.</p> <p>The temperature is already in the 30s. Miriam walks past the restaurant on her way to the beach, and we exchange greetings. I ask for another cup and saucer and take tea back to Cheryl in our room. The sun is highlighting the orange bagged-brick of our cabana and even the corrugated asbestos roof appears brighter in the early morning light.</p> <p>Inside there is a timber-lined 5-metre-high cathedral ceiling. The bed is a queen-sized polished concrete base 60 centimetres high with a latex mattress on top.                                                                               </p> <p>While walking to the cabana I have no idea how significant the design, building materials and position of our room will be to my survival that day.</p> <p>I wake Cheryl and give her the tea. Then I lie down on the bed and fall asleep.</p> <p>“John, wake up! Wake up!” Cheryl shouts.  “Something terrible is happening!”</p> <p>She is already out of bed and rushing to the window. The extreme urgency in her voice jolts me out of my deep tropical sleep and into full consciousness in seconds. I hear a roaring, rumbling, hissing sound outside that is as loud as a low-flying jet plane.</p> <p>As I reach the window I see water half-a-metre-deep tearing across the ground in front of our building. One of the boys on the staff is running frantically in front of it.</p> <p> “We have to get out of here,” Cheryl screams above the noise as she opens the door of our room. “I’m going!”</p> <p>We have seconds in which to make vital decisions. There is no time to deliberate.</p> <p>“No, no! Don’t go outside! Shut the door!” I shout back and Cheryl slams the door closed.</p> <p>Now the water of a second wave is up to our windowsill and is pouring in under the door. Thinking that perhaps this is as high as the water will reach, I try to close the window. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse a massive, 10-metre-high wall of water. A surge of gut-wrenching, fear-induced adrenaline races through my body.</p> <p>“Quick, get on the bed, get on the bed,” I shout above the deafening roar of water.</p> <p>We jump onto the bed, which is the highest point in the room. As we turn to face the front window, the glass smashes in and the window frames break away. The door of our room is snapped off its hinges by the enormous pressure of the water, then flicks up onto a torrent and comes flying towards us. I deflect it with my shoulder just as the mass of water slams me against the back wall and knocks Cheryl off the bed.</p> <p>Cheryl has her eyes open under water and looks out through the space where the front window used to be. Strangely, the water is perfectly clear and she sees trees and building debris racing past.</p> <p>As Cheryl surfaces she screams “We are going to die! We are going to die!” I have never heard this chilling tone in her voice before.</p> <p>“We are not going to die!” I yell, trying to overcome my feeling of terror.</p> <p>Cheryl can barely swim, so I grab her as the torrent surges higher and try to keep her head above the water. I push off the bed towards the ceiling, holding Cheryl up in front of me. When I surface we are less than 30 centimetres from the apex of the cathedral ceiling and the water is still rising. I can’t avoid gulping down some seawater as I struggle to keep us both afloat. </p> <p>“Please, please – no more! No more!” Cheryl gasps. She knows at that moment that this is how her life will end. She remembers reading that drowning is a pleasant way to die. She even visualises her floating body being retrieved later and identified by our children.</p> <p>“We are NOT going to die!” I shout again. “It’s not my karma to die now!”</p> <p>For some reason I don’t think about dying throughout the disaster. Pumped with adrenaline, I focus entirely on survival. The tsunami is so powerful, and the situation so fast moving and chaotic that I lose any sense of self. I am simply acting on instinctive, primal responses to fear that must be embedded in the human nervous system. But some recess of my mind seems to be ice cold, diamond hard.</p> <p>I desperately try to keep our heads above the ocean swirling in our room. I think that if it gets any higher I will try to swim out the window underwater with Cheryl.</p> <p>Time slows. We cling to each other near the ceiling for what seems like long minutes. We wait for the inevitable surge of water that will fill this air pocket and drown us. At any moment the cabana could collapse and bury us under tons of bricks and timber. </p> <p>But miraculously the water doesn’t rise further. It subsides slightly and I grab the latex mattress that has floated up. We hang onto it as we swirl around. The door, a cupboard and a travel bag are whirling around the room with us. Then the water subsides a little more and, shortly afterwards, all the water drains out of the room in a rush and we are on the floor.</p> <p>We look at each other, dazed. We are surrounded by a soggy mattress, some broken cane furniture and a few items that have been dislodged from our open bags. I notice my medical kit in its distinctive green and purple container. The door of the room is lodged on the concrete bed base but all the windows, including the frames, have gone completely, torn out by the force of the water.</p> <p>The roof of the building gives a threatening creak, as if it’s about to cave in on top of us. I follow Cheryl quickly out the door onto our veranda. The steps have been washed away and the veranda roof is leaning at a sharp angle, as if poised to drop. I look down the veranda to the room adjoining ours, but instead of seeing bricks I look through a cavernous space where the end wall had been and see the receded sea in the distance. Then I notice that the restaurant, which had been in front of and to the left of our building, has gone. The only indication that it had ever existed is a concrete slab.</p> <p>I glance towards a nearby cabana built in line with ours and some 20 metres away. A concrete slab and some ornate concrete veranda posts lie where the building had been. A middle aged German man has been staying there and I briefly wonder what has happened to him.</p> <p>As I try to comprehend the level of devastation I turn towards the lagoon at the rear of the property and see that the small ayurvedic clinic behind our cabana is also gone. But further back a new two-storey brick building, which was completed only a few days ago, is still standing. The bottom has been gutted, with the doors and windows gone, but there are half-a-dozen young guys who work at Mangrove Garden on the roof. God know how they got up there.</p> <p>I take a welcome piss off the end of the veranda. My heart is thumping in my ears and I have a lifetime’s worth of adrenaline pumping through my body. As I’m urinating I hear someone calling to me, and look up to see Preethi sliding down a tall coconut tree behind our cabana. The tree is 15 metres high, but he is wet and has lost the sarong he usually wears around his waist. As Preethi reaches the bottom dressed only in his shirt and underwear he looks at me and asks “how are you still alive? The water went metres over the roof of your room.”</p> <p>         “If I’d known the fucking waves were so big here I would have brought my surfboard,” I tell him.</p> <p>         “What was it? What was it that happened?” he asks in disbelief.</p> <p>         “It’s called a tsunami,” I say. “We all have to get out of here now, because it could come again.”</p> <p>Preethi is in shock, having just watched the destruction of nearly everything he has worked for in the last five years. I don’t know it then, but when Preethi was clinging to the top of the coconut tree for dear life he watched two of the resort staff get washed into the lagoon and then swirled out the lagoon mouth into the Indian Ocean.</p>

Travel Trouble

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How you can overcome jet lag

<p>Long flights across many time zones often leave us feeling fatigued, sleepy, irritable and generally out of sorts. And it’s not just because of poor sleep on the plane and dehydration from the altitude – the feelings persist for several days.</p> <p>Jet lag is caused by our 24-hour body clock lagging behind the rapid change of clock time over the flight. Our body clock has a strong effect on the times across the day we feel alert and when we feel sleepy. The body clock consists of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/keeping-time-how-our-circadian-rhythms-drive-us-17">circadian rhythms</a>.</p> <p>For a person who regularly sleeps from 11pm to 7am, all of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-bob-geldof-this-is-why-you-dont-like-mondays-828">circadian rhythms</a> will become aligned to ensure best sleep during those times. In the middle of the sleep period, around 4am, the body drops to its lowest body temperature (known as Tmin). This is also the time when melatonin hormone secretion is highest.</p> <p>The alignment of these rhythms is not caused directly by the timing of our sleep period, but indirectly by the timing of darkness during sleep and visual light stimulation when we are awake.</p> <p>Once the body clock becomes stabilised, it is resistant to change. So, after less than a day in the air, our body clock is still on home time when we arrive at our destination. This is where the problem arises.</p> <p><strong>Flying westward</strong></p> <p>Take the example of flying from the Sydney to London. At this time of year, there is a nine hour time zone difference between the two cities. If you arrive in London at 7am in the morning, your body clock will be telling you it’s 4pm.</p> <p>By 1pm London time, you’re likely to want to take a nap. But try not to fall into a deep sleep; your body will be telling you it’s 10pm so you’ll have to resist the urge to sleep through until 7am your body clock time. This, of course, would mean waking up at 10pm London time ready to start your “day”.</p> <p>If you manage to stay awake until early evening, you will still be woken up early the next morning by your early timed body clock and early “wake-up zone”, making you feel tired the next day. Until you can shift the timing of your body clock later by about eight to nine hours, your jet lag will continue to cause extreme tiredness in the late afternoon and disturbed sleep at night.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47360/original/ctzmkb33-1398833045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption">Lowest body temperature shifts from 4am Australian time to 7pm UK time (orange arrow pointed to the left). She must now delay her body clock by nine hours (bottom orange arrow pointed to right).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leon Lack/The Conversation</span></span></p> <p><strong>Resetting your body clock</strong></p> <p>The good news is you can re-time the body clock. The strongest effect is from appropriately timed visual light stimulation.</p> <p>But take care to get the timing right so you move your body clock in the right direction. Light stimulation before your body reaches its lowest body temperature (Tmin), usually about 2 hours before your typical wake-up time, will delay your body clock to a later time. However, light after Tmin will shift your body clock earlier.</p> <p>For a Sydney to London trip, you would need to delay your body clock by about nine hours to most quickly align your body clock to London time. Fortunately, normal daylight can be used as it occurs before Tmin up to about the Tmin time. So spend the day outdoors if possible. Even a cloudy day is better than staying indoors.</p> <p>However, after your body clock has been delayed by a few hours from outdoor light, your Tmin will now have moved “out of reach” of the delaying effect of daylight, since only light administered close to Tmin has a strong re-timing effect. Your body clock re-timing may stop well short of the eight to nine hour delay needed for full re-alignment.</p> <p>In that case, it would be useful to use artificial indoor light stimulation in the later evening to complete the jet lag cure.</p> <p><strong>Flying eastward</strong></p> <p>Flying across many time zones in the opposite direction (eastward) can present a more challenging re-adjustment. Flying across seven time zones to the US West coast, for instance, requires an advance of the body clock (re-timed earlier).</p> <p>This is the same type of change needed when we <a href="https://theconversation.com/spring-forward-fall-back-how-daylight-saving-affects-our-sleep-25025">go onto daylight savings time</a> in the spring. That causes some disruption of sleep and daytime alertness for a few days in many people. Now multiply that change by seven times and it will give you some perspective on this jet lag disruption.</p> <p>Upon arriving at your US West Coast destination, your body clock timing will be seven hours too late. The time of your Tmin may be as late as 11am instead of 4am. Your body won’t be ready for sleep until the wee hours of the morning and it will want to sleep most of the day away (an extreme example of the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07448481.1986.9938970">delayed sleep pattern</a> of many adolescents).</p> <p>Again, light can be used to re-time your internal clock. To maximise the re-timing effect you should avoid very early bright light up until about 10am because being before your Tmin it might shift your clock in the wrong delay direction. Instead you should get bright light preferably for several hours starting around 10am.</p> <p>Then, as your body clock becomes timed earlier the beginning of the light stimulation can start earlier (8-9am) to complete the re-alignment job.</p> <p><strong>Overcoming jet lag</strong></p> <p>One way to reduce the time taken to overcome jet lag in your destination is to do some re-adjustment of your sleep period and light exposure before leaving on your trip. <a href="http://re-timer.com/product/jet-lag-calculator/">Jet lag calculators</a> can work out the specific times for your light exposure before and after the trip.</p> <p>Taking <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12076414">melatonin</a> can also assist this re-timing process: a low-dose (0.5-1mg) short-acting preparation (available over-the-counter in the US or by doctor’s prescription in Australia) taken at the desired bedtime in your destination. In conjunction with appropriately timed bright light, melatonin can greatly reduce the duration of your jet lag.</p> <p>But should you even attempt to re-time your body clock? That depends on how long you’re staying in the new time zone. If your stay is short (one to three days), it may be less disruptive to not go through any re-adjustment but simply keep your body clock on “home” time. That way you also avoid re-adjusting again when flying home. Most airline flight crew follow this rule.</p> <p>But if your stay overseas is going to be at least a week and if you want it to be more pleasurable, you can minimise jet lag by appropriately timed light stimulation and melatonin.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25616/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em>Written by <span>Leon Lack, Professor of Psychology, Flinders University</span>. Republished with permission of </em><a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-jet-lag-and-how-can-you-overcome-it-25616" target="_blank"><em>The Conversation</em></a><em>. </em></p>

International Travel

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How to overcome 3 common barriers to mature age employment

<p><span><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/welcome-to-the-minefield-that-is-21st-century-retirement-20190409-p51c98.html">Retirement isn’t for everyone</a>. Growing numbers of Australians have consciously decided to <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/australians-delaying-age-of-retirement-working-longer/news-story/3fa00e382d5dc98a804a99536535505e">continue working</a>, although they are old enough to retire Some realise they are <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/too-poor-to-retire-more-australians-than-ever-will-work-past-70-20160408-go1ubf.html">too poor to retire</a>. Some have retired, but have become bored with the retired lifestyle. They’ve decided to come out of retirement and return to work.</span></p> <p><span>Some seniors are facing obstacles to continued employment after retirement age, despite the fact that experts have documented how older workers could significantly <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/retirement-income/older-workforce-could-boost-australia-economy/">boost Australia’s economy</a>. Common <a href="https://nationalseniors.com.au/uploads/201208_PACReport_Research_BarriersMatureAgeEmployment_Full_1.pdf">barriers to mature age employment</a> include the following:</span></p> <ul> <li><span> </span><span>Illness, Injury and Disability</span></li> <li><span> </span><span>Outdated Skills</span></li> <li><span> </span><span>Age Discrimination</span></li> </ul> <p><span>Let’s discuss solutions for these common problems senior Australians face as they seek to remain in the workforce.</span></p> <p><strong><span>How to prevent a disability that could keep you from working</span></strong></p> <p><span><a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/health/body/back-pain-explained/">Lower back pain</a> is one of the most prominent <a href="https://www.woombyechiro.com.au/single-post/2017/05/18/Lower-Back-Pain---top-causes-of-Disability">causes of disability</a> in Australia. According to <a href="https://physioworks.com.au/Injuries-Conditions/Regions/lower_back_pain">J. Miller and Z. Russell at Physioworks</a>, lower back pain is one of the most frequent reasons Australians miss work or seek a doctor’s care.  So educating yourself about how to prevent lower back injuries is one step you can take to empower yourself to remain in the workforce longer. </span></p> <p><span>We’ve posted a helpful list of things you can do to <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/health/body/beat-lower-back-pain/">prevent lower back pain</a>. Familiarizing yourself with the items on this list, and implementing these suggestions, could help you to prevent serious lower back injury.</span></p> <p><span>Researchers have determined that people who stick to a regular exercise programme endure less back pain. In general, regular exercise is an important key to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12424867">preventing and treating</a> a broad variety of injuries and disabilities. If your goal is to continue working past retirement age, it is essential for you to implement and adhere to an <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/the-exercises-you-need-to-do-to-stay-fit-over-60">exercise programme</a> that includes aerobic activity, strength training, and balance building exercises. </span></p> <p><span>If you’ve previously been sedentary, it’s wise to speak with your GP about this. Your GP is well equipped to advise you on how to incorporate a selection of proper exercises into your daily routine.</span></p> <p><strong><span>How to overcome outdated skills</span></strong></p> <p><span><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/the-secret-to-lifelong-success-is-lifelong-learning">“Lifelong learning”</a> has become one of the most vital buzzword phrases of the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/03/continuous-learning-changing-world-work/">fourth industrial revolution</a>. </span></p> <p><span>In the past, it was standard for people to gain education in childhood and young adulthood. Then, later in adulthood, people applied what they’d studied as they pursued careers where that education could be put to good use.</span></p> <p><span>Experts at the World Economic Forum are warning us that this clear-cut transition from academic life to work life is fading. This is because shifting technologies are now creating constant demand for workers to acquire new skills. This, in turn, is making old skills obsolete at a rapid pace.</span></p> <p><span>Nowadays, what you know is becoming less relevant to remaining employable than ever before – because in the current technologically driven environment, much of what you know will inevitably become outdated soon. Today, your capacity to learn new skills is a critical key to remaining employable.</span></p> <p><span>Formal training is the most straightforward way to acquire the skills you may need for continuing to be employable. <a href="https://www.training.com.au/">College and university courses</a> are available for every type of instruction you could possibly desire. This could be an especially beneficial option for you if you never earned a university degree in the first place.</span></p> <p><span>Some other possible ideas for <a href="https://www.hays.com.au/blog/jane-mcneill/HAYS_1380884">upskilling</a> include participating in webinars, listening to podcasts, attending live events, starting a blog, reading and participating in social media.</span></p> <p><strong><span>How to combat age discrimination</span></strong></p> <p><span><a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/age-discrimination-in-the-workplace-and-how-it-affects-you">Age discrimination</a> is a <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/people-human-resources/recruitment-hiring/ageism-employers-illegally-specify-age-limit-job-applications/">sad reality</a> that some older Australians are dealing with – despite the fact that ageism is illegal in Australia. The relevant law is the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00341">Age Discrimination Act 2004</a>. According to this legislation, it is unlawful to discriminate against individuals on the basis of their age.</span></p> <p><span><a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/age-discrimination/publications/know-your-rights-age-discrimination-2012">Knowing your rights</a> is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself from age discrimination. Australian law specifies that employers must give fair consideration to all applicants for all jobs, apprenticeships and traineeships, regardless of age. Employers may not refuse to hire you or consider you for a job on the basis of your age.</span></p> <p><span>Additionally, you can <a href="https://www.cio.com.au/article/576064/7-ways-mitigate-age-discrimination-your-job-search/">mitigate age discrimination</a> by choosing stylish, up-to-date clothing to wear to work; emphasizing all your relevant work experience; leveraging your professional network; and looking for a senior-friendly company that would be an excellent cultural fit for your skills and expertise.</span></p> <p><span>Of course, these are not the only barriers you may face as you seek to remain employed past retirement age – but these are 3 of the most common obstacles senior citizens must typically overcome as they pursue ongoing employment. If you can successfully overcome these hurdles, there are many <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/partner-content/articles/how-hiring-older-workers-is-good-for-business/">benefits</a> to your continued employment – both for you, and for your employer, who will benefit from your lifetime’s worth of accumulated expertise.</span></p>

Retirement Life

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How to overcome responsibility anxiety for ageing parents

<p>Looking after ageing parents and finding appropriate care for them can be one of the most stressful times of our lives. We often aren’t prepared for the rapid decline in our parent’s health or mobility and once the initial shock subsides, dealing with the practicalities of that parent’s care often leaves us bewildered and confused about what to do next.</p> <p>A chief concern is usually about the ageing parent’s health and safety. We worry about how they will care for themselves in their own homes carrying out simple tasks such as cooking and cleaning.</p> <p>Quite often the task of caring for them falls on an adult child or their siblings. Becoming a carer can be tough. There is the physical cost of caring, the time involved - which may come at the expense of work or other recreational activities - and then there is the emotional/psychological burden.</p> <p>The mind often ticks over with questions like “Why hasn’t mum or dad answered the phone today?” “Is my visiting twice a week really enough help?” And, “Am I giving enough care or the right kind of care?,” causing undue stress and anxiety.</p> <p>Family members often don’t realise the cumulative effects that this anxiety can have over time. It can have a serious impact on the person’s own mental and physical wellbeing, says clinical psychologist at Victorian Counselling and Psychological Services, Damon Ashworth.</p> <p>“If feeling stressed is stopping you sleeping, making you sick, or if it’s starting to impact on your work performance or socialising, you really need to take action to protect your own health and wellbeing,” says Ashworth.</p> <p>Find our top tips to reducing anxiety and restoring balance and harmony in this difficult life stage.</p> <p><strong>Get informed </strong></p> <p>Find out as much as you can about your parent’s daily life. Cover off things like what they like to eat, the style of clothes they like to wear and what they like to include on their shopping list. Enquire about the easiest way to help them get these things. If your parent is happy, this contentedness will be passed on to you.</p> <p><strong>Ask for help</strong></p> <p>Doing everything yourself is almost certainly a recipe for psychological burnout. “Set limits on what you can do yourself. Enlisting the help of a carer to come around to help your parent can reduce the burden and stress you feel and mean you have more time to take care of yourself,” advises Ashworth.</p> <p><strong>Take time out to look after you</strong></p> <p>If you’re stressed and anxious it’s unlikely you can properly care for yourself or anyone else. You need time out for self-care activities too, says Ashworth. “Make sure you are exercising, doing something that relaxes you like meditation, visualisation or reading. Or if you are really struggling, see a psychologist,” he says.</p> <p><strong>Trust the experts </strong></p> <p>Trust the experts, but trust your own judgement too. “You need to trust that carers have done the training and have professional qualifications to do what they’re doing, but trust your judgment as well. If you don’t like the care being provided it’s ok to find someone else you like better if that puts your mind at ease,” says Ashworth.</p> <p><strong>Breathe to avoid panic attacks </strong></p> <p>Anxious people take quick, shallow breaths, explains Ashworth. Simple breathing exercises can restore a calmer state and avoid panic attacks and hyperventilating. “If you feel a panic attack coming, sit down, breathe slowly into your stomach, and take in long, slow breaths,” advises Ashworth.</p> <p><strong>Why choose in-home service provider Just Better Care?</strong></p> <p>Just Better Care’s staff will take the time to get to know your parent, identifying the best ways to support them to live independently in their own home and community. Services can include personal care, domestic assistance, transport, home maintenance and social support. A tailored in-home care plan can be developed to ensure your parent is receiving the care they need, when they need it, while giving you peace of mind.</p> <p> </p> <p>For more information about how Just Better Care can work with you to understand the support your parent needs, visit www.justbettercare.com or call 1300 587 823.</p> <p>How have your dealt with the stress of helping ageing parents? Let us know in the comments below.</p> <p><em>Written by Dominic Bayley. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.wyza.com.au/articles/lifestyle/relationships/how-to-overcome-responsibility-anxiety-for-ageing-parents.aspx">Wyza.com.au.</a></em></p>

Caring

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Jimmy Barnes’ struggle to overcome “nightmare” childhood: “It shocks me I managed to live through it”

<p>Legendary rocker Jimmy Barnes has revealed in a new interview that he turned to self-harm for decades, as a way to overcome and deal with his “nightmare” childhood.</p> <p>“It shocks me I managed to live through it,” the singer told <em><a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/movies/jimmy-barnes-shares-first-look-at-working-class-boy-film-about-his-harrowing-childhood/news-story/d5303bbd2ed71384e115c1751a6c4550">The Courier Mail</a></em>.</p> <p>Jimmy shared his tumultuous upbringing in his 2016 best-selling memoir, <em>Working Class Boy</em>, where he revealed his childhood was filled with family violence, alcoholism and poverty, and in the prologue of the book, he shared that he had attempted suicide in his hotel room in Auckland in 2012.</p> <p>The singer wrote that he woke up in his large hotel suite, where he was staying with his wife of 37 years, Jane, not remembering that he had tried to take his own life by drinking the contents of the hotel minibar dry.</p> <p>“Tied around the clothes rail is the dressing gown cord, just where I must have left it,” Jimmy shared in the memoir.</p> <p>“The rail, the cord and me with the cord around my neck waiting to die. But I didn’t. It’s not that easy to die, apparently,” he wrote.</p> <p>Now a documentary film with the same title as his book has been made.</p> <p><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcouriermail%2Fvideos%2F10156098314482702%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p> <p>“If it all hadn’t come out in the book, at some point it would have all washed over me and dragged me down,” the Cold Chisel front man admitted to <em>The Courier Mail</em>.</p> <p>“It probably would have a long time ago if I hadn’t been constantly trying to dodge the past having the distractions of drugs, drink and rock ‘n’ roll,” the 62-year-old added.</p> <p>“I’m surprised none of that didn’t kill me sooner.”</p> <p>Working on the documentary meant Jimmy had to return to his childhood home in South Australia, as well as Scotland, where he was born. His son David Campbell also makes an appearance in the film.</p> <p>The revered rocker said it was emotionally overwhelming returning to his “nightmare”.</p> <p>“When we were standing in the paddock across the road from the house we grew up in … it was like looking at a nightmare,” he told <em>The Courier Mail</em>.</p> <p>“I remembered being dragged down the road, our parents fighting over us – you could feel it, taste it again,” he added.</p> <p>“The director Mark Joffe was trying to talk to me and I couldn’t hear him … I looked at the street and almost every house I looked at had something about it that made me afraid,” Jimmy explained.</p> <p>“After writing about it and reliving it for the shows, to go there again made it more intense, more real but in a way, it helped put a bit of closure to it.”</p> <p>Along with son David Campbell, the documentary also features his wife Jane, plus Cold Chisel bandmates Don Walker and Ian Moss, who share their reflections.</p> <p>“I wouldn’t tell anybody else to get to where I am by doing what I did, but I can’t regret any of it, it has made me who I am,” the rock singer says in the trailer of the film.</p> <p>“And I’m starting to like who I am.”</p>

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3 obstacles to reaching your goals and how to overcome them

<p><em><strong>Susan Krauss Whitbourne is a professor of Psychology and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She writes the Fulfilment at Any Age blog for Psychology Today.</strong></em></p> <p>Motivating yourself to perform at your best seems like it would be the best way to accomplish your goals. However, think back on the goals you’ve set and whether you actually met them or not.</p> <p>The three main obstacles to achieving your goals are time, money, and ability. We'll take each of these in turn.</p> <p><strong>1. Time</strong></p> <p>Perhaps you got to work super-early with the intention of clearing out your inbox. However, while browsing that inbox you’re unhappy to learn that a project you thought was finished now needs another hour or two of revising and recalculating. Or perhaps it’s your day off or the start of a long weekend, and you have a set of to-dos that you feel you absolutely must get done. Just before you begin, though, you get a phone call from a friend who needs your help immediately. It’s also possible that you get distracted, and don’t get started as early as you would have liked. So much for your day’s plans.</p> <p><strong>2. Money</strong></p> <p>It might not be unexpected time demands that tear you from your goals, but money. You’re driving along on a lovely day, enjoying the scenery and the music you’re rocking on your car stereo. As you make your way down the road, you miss a curb and all of a sudden two tires are gone and there’s a huge dent on your bumper. In addition to the time you’re fated to lose, you know this is going to cost you plenty. There goes that savings you were intending to put toward a new refrigerator.</p> <p><strong>3. Ability</strong></p> <p>Finally, consider the situation in which you’re starting out on a craft or home repair project. You get all your equipment together, read the instructions, and you’re off and running. Halfway through, though, you find that you made a mistake early on which you will now have to correct. Your choice is to go back and start over or to fix it as well as you can as you complete the project. Agonising, you worry that the mistake will come back to haunt you and you are tempted to go back to square one.</p> <p>These three obstacles can each be overcome as long as you're willing to consider adjusting your goals as each obstacle presents itself to you. New research by University of Heidelberg’s E.A. Arens and colleagues (2018) shows the dangers not of failing to achieve your goals, but of setting them too high and then not adjusting when circumstances get in the way of your "best-laid plans." In what they label as “The Perils of Aiming Too High,” the German researchers examined the role of depressive beliefs in the goal-setting process. They noted that earlier research on depressed individuals found, alternatively, that the depressed set overly high goals or goals that are pessimistically too low. Arens et al. believe that it’s not the goal-setting per se that plagues the depressed, but the failure to adjust to changing circumstances such as the friend in need or the curb that just got in your way.</p> <p>In the words of the Heidelberg research team, “A key aspect of developing and maintaining an adaptive goal is the ability to make a realistic assessment to what extent the current behaviour meets the objectives set” (p. 13). The depressed, they reason, may fail to detect a “goal mistake.” Using an experimental design to test their proposals, Arens and colleagues compared undergraduates tested as being high and low in depressive symptoms in their ability to adjust to feedback as they completed a cognitive task. During this task, participants set goals for themselves, which they were allowed to adjust up or down in response to feedback about their performance. The simple question the researchers tested was whether those high in depressive symptoms would respond differently than students low in depressive symptoms in goal adjustment.</p> <p>The cognitive task used in this study was one that lent itself well to goal monitoring. While seeing a series of single digits presented to them on a computer screen, participants had to add the digit in front of them with the one they just saw. They then clicked the correct number by using the computer mouse. Then they see the next digit, but rather than adding it to the total they had calculated, they had to add that digit to the one they saw prior to computing the total. The researchers gave participants the incentive of .05 Euros for each correct addition. If the participant made an error, the result was not to lose money, but to be exposed to the unpleasant sound of an explosion. The longer the interval between digits, the easier the task, so the researchers were able to manipulate difficulty by presenting the digits either at one per 1.5 seconds or one per 3 seconds.</p> <p>Now onto the measurement of goal adjustment. Prior to completing their actual task but after a practice trial, participants rated the minimum percentage correct they would consider acceptable. Halfway through the addition task, they estimated their percentage correct thus far. Then they had the opportunity to revise their goals. The worse their self-rated performance, the more their remaining goals should have been revised downward. This difference between perceived performance and revised goal became the measure of self-monitoring. If you are good at adjusting your goals based on how well you think you’ve been doing, this means you’ve got that ability to adapt to changing circumstances that could, in the view of the authors, protect you from feeling depressed.</p> <p>The findings showed that the participants with high scores on the depressive symptoms scale indeed had a pattern of goal setting that supported their pessimistic views of themselves and their abilities. In the difficult version of the task, they set higher goals than did those with low scores on the depression scale, meaning that by definition they set themselves up for failure. When they had the opportunity to revise their goals, they did, but their actual performance on the task then suffered. As the authors concluded, “inappropriate high standards (i.e., goals that cannot be reached) may be an important factor leading to frequent negative evaluations which in turn can contribute to a pessimistic and depressive mood” (p. 15). Furthermore, setting those high standards constantly creates a conflict between “the present and the intended state.” Continuing to experience such discrepancies leads the individual constantly to be set up for failure and then actually to fail.</p> <p>Let’s turn now to the ways you can use the results from this study to inform your own goal-setting behaviour for each of those obstacles:</p> <p><strong>1. Time</strong></p> <p>If you regard the difficult task in the Arens et al. study to be comparable to the situation in which your day is jam-packed, the findings would suggest that when you realise you’re running behind, you figure out a way to finish things tomorrow or the next time you have a chance. That's all you have to do; there's no need to change your goals per se but instead the time frame for achieving them.</p> <p><strong>2. Money</strong></p> <p>If the situation is one in which you’re going to have an unexpected expense, similarly, you would be best off not berating yourself for the costly error but instead reworking your expectations. Plan on getting the refrigerator after you accumulate some cash in your bank account.</p> <p><strong>3. Ability</strong></p> <p>Returning to the home craft or repair project, once you catch the error, the German study suggests that you don’t start over, but instead realise that no one is perfect, and mistakes like these are inevitable.</p> <p>Reaching your goals is an important part of feeling fulfilled. Being able to adapt those goals when they require adjustment will help you keep on track in that path to fulfillment.</p> <p><em>Written by Susan Krauss Whitbourne. Republished with permission of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/" target="_blank">Psychology Today</a></strong></span>. </em></p>

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"Get through this so you can do this": Inspirational Sophie Delezio overcomes new challenge

<p>Sophie Delezio made headlines twice as a little girl after miraculously escaping two horrific car accidents.</p> <p>Now, the 17-year-old has spoken to the <em>Today</em> show about how she approaches life with a positive attitude and the one challenge that she recently passed with flying colours.</p> <p>“Knowing that I can't change who I am, I just have to push through and get on with life,” she told Today's co-host Georgie Gardner.</p> <p>“Each surgery I have makes it easier for me to move and do certain things so that attitude ‘get through this so you can do this’.”</p> <p>Sophie finished the required 120 hours for her NSW driver’s licence in only eight months after driving to and from school every day.</p> <p>She revealed that she wanted to finally <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/health/caring/2018/04/sophie-delezio-exciting-news/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>have her licence</strong></span></a>, so she could feel independent without the assistance of her parents Ron and Carolyn or a carer.</p> <p>“I need help most of the time just to drive me around because it's harder for me to catch transport so just the fact that I'd be able to take myself places and not having to ask for that extra assistance,” she said before taking her driver's licence test.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="498" height="630" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7817667/1_498x630.jpg" alt="1 (123)"/></p> <p>Despite the challenges she has faced, Sophie has a positive outlook on life.</p> <p>“Everyone goes through hard parts in their life and yeah there have been struggles that I have had to overcome but that happens to anyone in any situation,” she said. </p> <p>“The main thing is that I've overcome them.”</p> <p>In 2003, Sophie suffered third degree burns to 85 per cent of her body after a car smashed through the wall of her day-care centre in Sydney while she was napping.</p> <p>After the crash, Sophie was left fighting for her life in a coma for three months and lost an ear, the fingers on her right hand and both feet.</p> <p>In 2006, another car accident occurred, and Sophie was thrown 18 metres from her wheelchair as she crossed the road.</p> <p>She suffered a bleeding on the brain, a heart attack and severe injuries including a broken jaw, fractured shoulder and a tear to her lung. She also lost her sense of smell.</p> <p>In an interview with <em>Woman’s Day</em> earlier this month, Sophie revealed how her past trauma has not deterred her from learning how to drive.</p> <p>“I'm in heaven as long as I'm the one in the driver's seat and in control. I just love to drive. I enjoy the way it makes me feel... free,” she said.</p> <p>Since her tragic accidents, Sophie has undergone countless surgeries, including multiple operations to stretch her scalp to allow hair follicles to be implanted.</p> <p>Now, Sophie has thick brown hair after finding a hairdresser who could give her hair extensions.</p> <p>Sophie owns three pair sof prosthetic limbs, one she wears for running and flat shoes, and two with adjustable soles for heels.</p> <p>Last year, she proved her courage and determination once again after going skydiving in New Zealand, describing it as “one of the coolest experiences of my life”.</p> <p>Sophie is currently in her final year of high school and plans to study in the UK next year.</p> <p>“I'm always telling myself I need to crack down and study, but I'm also here to live life, and the busier I am, the better,” she told the magazine.</p>

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How to overcome anxiety in 30 days

<p><em><strong>Bev Aisbett is Australia’s bestselling anxiety expert. In her book, 30 Days 30 Ways to Overcome Anxiety, Aisbett outlines practical steps you can take each day to help reduce and eventually conquer your anxiety. Here, she shares Day One.</strong></em></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">DAY 1 – You are not broken. You are not being punished.</span></p> <p>Your EMOTIONAL BAROMETER needs adjustment. Your THINKING THERMOMETER is overheated.</p> <p>Think of a car. If you run it on watered-down petrol, fail to maintain it properly, let it overheat and run it into the ground, would you be surprised if it stopped working properly or started to give you ‘trouble’?</p> <p>Well, that’s all that’s happening to you!</p> <p>If you have spent a lifetime (consciously or unconsciously) feeding yourself thoughts of DOOM and GLOOM, if you CRITICISED and JUDGED yourself harshly, and/or if you expected the WORST and LAMENTED the past, you were creating a ‘PERFECT STORM’ which translates to ANXIETY. You couldn’t help it — it’s just the way you did things; nonetheless, that’s why you’re ANXIOUS.</p> <p>Mystery solved! It’s just STRESS! And you don’t handle stress WELL, do you?</p> <p>So please let go of the idea that you have some HORRIBLE, INCURABLE DISEASE that has appeared out of NOWHERE, or that you can do NOTHING about this, or that you are TRAPPED FOREVER!</p> <p>You now need to MANAGE your anxiety. And that’s what we’re about to start doing. Are you BEATING YOURSELF UP for having anxiety?</p> <p>Are you telling yourself you’re WEAK or STUPID, or that you’ve LOST EVERYTHING because you feel this way?</p> <p>Why are you TURNING on yourself? Is that going to help you feel LESS ANXIOUS? NO! So CUT that OUT!</p> <p>For Pete’s sake, how could you do it any other way if you hadn’t yet LEARNED how to? Would you expect a person with no carpentry skills to build you a perfect piece of furniture? NO!</p> <p>Actually, if you’ve experienced any SHOCKS, LOSSES or TRAUMA in your past (especially in childhood) or if you are HIGHLY SENSITIVE (most anxious people are!), it would be more surprising if you DIDN’T feel anxious!</p> <p>Most of us fumble our way through life by TRIAL and ERROR, without any real road map on how to manage our emotional wellbeing.</p> <p>Few of us are taught emotional intelligence. We learn from those who have influence in our lives but who are not necessarily IDEAL mentors!</p> <p>All that’s happening is that you now have evidence that whatever you’ve been doing hasn’t been WORKING FOR YOU, so it’s time to gain some more EFFECTIVE skills!</p> <p>Learning any new skill can feel ODD or AWKWARD at first. You’re sure you’ll NEVER get the hang of it! But eventually you do, don’t you? Especially if you REALLY want it.</p> <p>‘Of course I want it!’ I hear you protest. ‘Why would I want to stay feeling like this?’</p> <p>Well, people get used to FEELING BAD. Feeling bad becomes a HABIT and it can feel strangely COMFORTABLE, simply because it’s FAMILIAR. When breaking any HABIT, you need to be COMMITTED to moving on and that means stepping away from the old, unhelpful patterns that have kept you STUCK.</p> <p>Nothing BAD is happening. There’s a HUGE difference between THINKING that something BAD is happening and something bad ACTUALLY HAPPENING!</p> <p>You’re just out of BALANCE. Let’s get you SORTED.</p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">WORKING DAY 1</span></strong></p> <p><strong>1. FORGIVE yourself for feeling this way.</strong></p> <p>Actually, there’s NOTHING to forgive! See it that way. YOU HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING WRONG! YOU ARE NOT BEING PUNISHED!</p> <p>I absolutely promise you that nothing BAD is happening! Yes, the sensations may be unsettling but there is no actual DANGER. It’s just the way you’re INTERPRETING the sensations that causes you to feel anxious. What if you didn’t FEAR it?</p> <p><strong>2. It’s important that you give yourself HOPE and OPTIMISM now.</strong></p> <p>Look FORWARD to feeling better. Get EXCITED about that!</p> <p><strong>3. Acknowledge that you arrived at ANXIETY via a lot of NEGATIVITY, WORRY and PESSIMISM.</strong></p> <p>Acknowledge this but DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP ABOUT IT!</p> <p><strong>4. Go EASY on yourself today!</strong></p> <p>Be COMPASSIONATE. Say: ‘I simply didn’t KNOW how to handle this. Soon I will – isn’t that GREAT?’</p> <p><strong>5. Really PICTURE getting better.</strong></p> <p>Visualise yourself on HOLIDAY or at an OUTING or SOCIAL OCCASION and see yourself ENJOYING it.</p> <p><strong>6. Find an image that generates a FEELING of RELIEF, OPTIMISM or PEACE.</strong></p> <p>Place it where you can see it and say ‘THAT’s my default position from here on.’</p> <p><strong>7. Now imagine that you’ve ARRIVED at this place of contentment.</strong></p> <p>Ask yourself:</p> <ul> <li><em>What will I be doing differently?</em></li> <li><em>What will I have let go of?</em></li> <li><em>How will my outlook have changed?</em></li> </ul> <p>Write down your answers.</p> <p><strong>8. Isolate what it is you’re REALLY afraid of.</strong></p> <p>Perhaps deep down you don’t think you’re GOOD ENOUGH. Something like that is usually at the heart of anxiety, so it’s not actually the ANXIETY that needs healing; what needs attention is a CORE BELIEF about yourself that causes you to DOUBT yourself and your WORTH. Write down what you discover.</p> <p><strong>9. See your ANXIETY as an EPISODE, rather than a CONDITION.</strong></p> <p><strong>Your mantras for day 1</strong></p> <ul> <li>‘I am a GOOD person whose thoughts get a little CARRIED AWAY. I am not being PUNISHED.’</li> <li>‘Nothing BAD is happening. I just have a THOUGHT that there is.’</li> <li>‘When I don’t add ANXIOUS thoughts, anxiety is just PHYSICAL DISCOMFORT.’</li> <li>‘I am about to learn some new SKILLS that will help me feel BETTER.’</li> <li>‘I am willing to HELP MYSELF feel BETTER.’</li> </ul> <p><img width="128" height="199" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7816139/anxiety-book-cover_128x199.jpg" alt="Anxiety Book Cover" style="float: right;"/></p> <p><em>Bev Aisbett, </em>30 Days 30 Ways to Overcome Anxiety<em> (HarperCollins Publishers 2018), reproduced with permission of HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Ltd Available in bookshops and online now.</em></p>

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Man overcomes stammer to finally make wedding speech to wife years later

<p>Tony Robinson, a 53-year-old truckie from the UK, has dealt with a stammer from the age of six. Believed to be brought on by the trauma of his parents’ divorce, the speech impediment dashed his dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian, and Tony settled for a job as a truck driver to avoid talking to people.</p> <p>Now, after 47 years of struggling, he’s finally overcome his stammer after participating in a TV documentary putting six stammerers through an intensive four-day program.</p> <p>To show just how much he’s improved, Tony appeared on ITV’s <em>This Morning</em> program, confronting his fears and finally delivering his wedding speech to wife Paula – live, in front of millions of viewers.</p> <p>“I’m sorry I was unable to do this speech at [our] wedding,” he begins. “As you know I was scared and nervous.”</p> <p><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FThisMorning%2Fvideos%2F10156207581732122%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=476" width="476" height="476" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p> <p>How beautiful is that? Social media erupted with joy after the segment went to air, with one Twitter user admitting they were “in floods of tears,” while another described it as “the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in 2018 so far”.</p> <p>“Tony, you had me and my wife in tears watching you struggle but had us clapping and crying at the end,” one man wrote. “So proud of you and we don’t even know you ... keep up the good work, you are an inspiration to others.”</p> <p>Tony and his family were absolutely overwhelmed by the response to his appearance on the show, with his daughter taking to Twitter to thank everyone for their kind words.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">I’m his daughter Jasmin Marie Robinson And I’m with him right now and he wants to thank you all very much it means the world to him Yours faithfully Jasmin Robinson And Mr Tony Robinson <a href="https://t.co/ztvpeUXcRj">pic.twitter.com/ztvpeUXcRj</a></p> — Jasmin Robinson (@jazzwatermelon) <a href="https://twitter.com/jazzwatermelon/status/950865216811732992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2018</a></blockquote> <p><em>Image credit: ITV.</em></p>

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How to overcome temptation

<p><em><strong>Paul Stillman is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Cognitive and Brain Sciences at the Ohio State University. Melissa J. Ferguson is a Professor of Psychology at Cornell University.</strong></em></p> <p>For breakfast this morning, I had to choose between a chocolate doughnut versus a bowl of oatmeal. (The doughnut was delicious.) Throughout the day I will have to fight off urges to check Twitter, skip the gym, and watch “Game of Thrones” late into the night. At every moment, temptation beckons.</p> <p>Giving in to these siren calls can be unhealthy. It wrecks our aspirations, longevity and moral compass. What are we to do?</p> <p>In movies and cartoons, the struggle for self-control is often portrayed as the devil on one shoulder, encouraging impulsive behaviour, and the angel on the other, urging control.</p> <p>The metaphor of the devil and angel fits well with how psychologists have explained self-control: the push and pull between our impulsive, emotional system (that draws us toward indulgences) and our deliberative, logical system (that considers the long-term).</p> <p>But psychologists have also argued that these two systems do not act simultaneously. We <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617705386" target="_blank">conducted a series of new studies</a></strong></span> to untangle when the devil and the angel show up once you’re confronted with a temptation.</p> <p><strong>How much rides on how tough that angel is?</strong></p> <p>The consensus among psychologists has been that when we see that doughnut, our <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01116.x" target="_blank">impulsive system acts first</a></strong></span>, quickly giving rise to automatic urges. The more controlled system (sometimes) intervenes later in an effort to inhibit the temptation. From this standpoint, the devil arrives as soon as there is trouble to be had, and the angel arrives late to the game and must conquer the devil.</p> <p>This implies that self-control depends largely on the angel. And, in fact, modern society champions the power of the will – the idea that the most successful people are those who can control and override their animal urges so that reason and rationality can prevail. This suggests very clear remedies for personal failings: greater willpower and a tougher psyche.</p> <p>But is this true?</p> <p>In our new research in press at Psychological Science, we used a computer mouse-tracking tool to better understand how people make self-control decisions. With over 650 volunteers, we recorded how people moved their computer mouse while they decided between short-term temptations versus long-term goals: healthy versus unhealthy food.</p> <p><strong>Clicking through a temptation minefield</strong></p> <p>Like a modern-day version of a Ouija board, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430214538325" target="_blank">this mouse-tracking tool</a></strong></span> can reveal a person’s inner cognitive processes while he or she makes choices. We asked our subjects to simply click on the option that they should eat in order to be healthy.</p> <p>Our subjects overwhelmingly clicked on the healthy options – but we were not interested in their ultimate choice. We wanted the information contained in how they got there. As they clicked on the healthy option, how closely did they veer their mouse toward the temptation along the way?</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="499" height="375" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/44743/temptation-in-text-image_499x375.jpg" alt="Temptation In -text Image"/></p> <p>It turns out that this spatial “tell” predicted their real choices. Those who had strayed closer to the temptations were more likely to choose a candy bar over an apple at the end of the study when offered an actual snack.</p> <p>The way that people moved their mouse also revealed how they made decisions. Rather than the devil beckoning us to temptation early before our angels of higher reason can intervene, it appears that both temptations and long-term concerns compete from very early on. If we do have two conflicting systems – a fast, impulsive system and a slow, deliberative system – we would expect people’s mouse movements to initially veer strongly toward the temptation, before reversing course back toward the goal.</p> <p>Contrary to this, however, we find this “impulse-then-inhibit” trajectory occurs in just a minority of trials in which people are successful at self-control.</p> <p>Much more common were movements that were smooth and curved – ones that sometimes drifted toward the temptation, but gradually head back toward the goal.</p> <p>In other words, people’s successful decisions do not (usually) unfold as first an impulse toward the temptation and then effortful inhibition. Instead, our decisions appear to be simultaneously informed by both temptation and goal.</p> <p><strong>Willpower can’t do it all</strong></p> <p>Despite the prevailing wisdom, then, people with good self-control are not those who are skilled at resisting impulses, but those who are less likely to experience full-blown impulses in the first place. These data suggest that the common idea of a quick devil followed by a slow angel may not reflect how successful decisions actually unfold in the majority of cases.</p> <p>This new work shows that a focus on willpower and inhibiting impulses may often be too little too late. Instead of steeling oneself against temptation, it may be more fruitful to put in work beforehand – by focusing on the small decisions that can help us avoid tempting impulses altogether. Other psychologists, such as <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ayelet.fishbach/research/" target="_blank">Ayelet Fishbach</a></strong></span> and her colleagues, have argued for exactly <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.4.493" target="_blank">this approach of preventative control</a></strong></span>. For example, one might avoid situations that are likely to trigger impulses, like the candy aisle.</p> <p>We of course cannot create a world without any temptations, but we might consider more seriously a pre-emptive strategy rather than trying only to increase our willpower. By the time the devil appears on our shoulder, it is often too late. Better to work on ways of avoiding him altogether.</p> <p><em>Written by Paul Stillman and Melissa J. Ferguson. Republished with permission of <a href="http://theconversation.com/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Conversation</span></strong></a>. <img width="1" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82473/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation"/></em></p>

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