Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are one of the leading causes of air pollution. They pose an immediate environmental risk to the average individual. VOCs can be both natural and manufactured. They are dangerous because of their volatility, which means the toxins evaporate into the air at room temperature. VOCs are released into the indoor air that we breathe and can cause exposure.
Beyond the danger of their short- and long-term effects, VOCs are particularly hazardous because most of the time, you cannot see or smell them. Learn the following about long-term exposure to VOCs and how you can reduce your risk.
You Can Be Exposed Through Everyday Activity:
Individuals can be exposed to VOCs in a variety of ways. Smoking cigarettes or being in the presence of secondhand smoke, using common household cleaners, working with commercial building and crafting chemicals, or using products that contain formaldehyde or benzene all increase your exposure to VOCs.
There are two ways to be exposed to VOCs. First, you can become exposed by inhaling air that contains volatile compounds. In addition, you can become exposed when your skin comes into contact with products that contain and release VOCs. Formaldehyde is one of the largest contributors to environmental pollution via VOCs because of the significant amount of residential, commercial, and personal products that contain it.
Long-Term Exposure Can Cause Serious Issues:
The danger of VOC exposure varies depending on the amount of VOCs in the air, the length of time you have been exposed, and how often you are exposed to it. Short-range exposure can garner a variety of symptoms, including headaches, dizziness, irritation to the eyes, and memory issues.
Being exposed to VOCs for longer periods can induce more serious symptoms. They can include consistent eyes, nose, and throat irritation; nausea; loss of coordination; prolonged periods of fatigue; damage to your liver, kidneys, and central nervous system; and in some cases, even cancer.
It’s Possible to Reduce Your Risk:
To limit your risk of VOC exposure, it is advised to reduce the amount of time you spend breathing in air that contains VOCs. Likewise, limit the time you spend using chemicals that contain and release VOCs, such as household cleaners or commercial crafting supplies. Whenever possible, buy and use naturally sourced cleaning supplies, cosmetics, or other personal items.
Taking measures to improve air quality can also help to reduce symptoms and any long-term damage. The installation of features such as air-cleaning ventilation systems can improve your air quality. These systems help take out the air that contains VOCs inside your home and replace it with preconditioned fresh air.
Volatile organic compounds are an immediate threat and can cause harmful long-term symptoms. However, there are ways you can protect your health. Start by limiting your exposure to air that contains VOCs. In addition, install ventilation systems to replace contaminated air inside your home. It doesn’t take a lot to make a difference, but it can save you from some serious health concerns in the long run.
I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.
You must have heard someone say “you are what you eat” at some point in your life but have you ever wondered what exactly does it mean?
We’re all aware that the food we consume fuels our body, yet we tend to focus only on the long-term effects of our eating habits instead of the short term consequences of the decisions we make during lunchtime. Perhaps, our eating choices have a profound effect on our mental performance and productivity levels throughout the day. But how exactly does FOOD have the power to do that? And how can you control your productivity by watching what you eat? If you want to find the answers to all such question, keep on reading this article and we guarantee a lot of things will become clear to you.
The Link Between Food And Productivity
Our diets have a much greater impact on our productivity than we realize. In fact, eating the wrong foods at the wrong times can turn your day upside down. Essentially, whatever you eat has a way of making its way to your bloodstream and eventually reaching your brain. This is because almost every food item that we eat is broken down into glucose in our bodies. Glucose is a simple carbohydrate that can easily cross into the bloodstream to fuel our entire body and keep our brain awake. So when our body is short on glucose, like on an empty stomach, our brain finds it hard to concentrate, focus and perform.
But since everything we eat is eventually broken down into glucose, what difference does it make if we eat a bowl of vegetable salad or two scoops of ice cream? Well, here’s the thing: the ability of a certain food to fuel our body and brain depends on the rate at which it can release glucose into our blood, also called the glycemic index (GI).
Foods with a low glycemic index like oats or healthy salads release glucose slowly yet sustainably in the blood, regulating blood sugar levels and optimizing brain activity. On the other hand, foods with a high GI such as white rice an ice cream rapidly release glucose in the bloodstream, providing a burst of energy which the body can use immediately. However, the downside is that you’ll be left unfocused and distracted only after a few hours of eating.
Moreover, starchy and sugary foods with high GI can impact sleep cycles and actually kill productivity. A sudden spike in blood sugar level increases insulin production in the pancreases which, in turn, floods the brain with hormones like serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that also acts as a precursor for the sleep hormone melatonin and regulates circadian rhythms which manage the internal clock of the body and the sleep-wake cycles. Thus, aligning your diet with the circadian rhythms allows you to harness your full potential and make the most of the day.
How To Improve Cognitive Performance With Food
Now that we have established the link between food and productivity, let’s learn how you can attain a greater mental efficiency by watching your diet and tweaking your lifestyle. Here are some research-based strategies worth giving a try.
Watch What You Eat
Perhaps, the most important thing you need to do is to keep a check on what you eat. Processed and junk foods spike blood sugars and have a negative relationship with productivity. Instead, make such healthier foods readily available and stack them in plain sight since you’re more likely to eat the first thing you see when you’re hungry. Here are some brain fueling foods you should consider:
Fish: A classic brain-food, fish is rich in omega 3 fatty acids that are known to optimize brain function and development and maintain overall energy levels.
Dark Chocolate: Dark chocolate has a high content of caffeine that is a well-known concentration booster.
Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds rich in Vitamin E and other antioxidants reduce cell inflammation and prevent cognitive decline.
Fruits and vegetables: Most fruits and vegetables have a low glycemic index and hence are excellent brain power foods. Carrots, avocados, and blueberries are some choices you can opt for to increase your brain activity.
Don’t Skip Breakfast
In a study published by Roy Baumeister in his book, all children in a class were asked to skip breakfast before coming to school. Then, half of them were fed with a healthy breakfast after coming to school and it was observed that these children displayed better learning patterns and behavior than the other lot. When the unfed children were given a healthy snack during mid-day, their performance also improved. This study perfectly depicts the significance of eating proper breakfast every morning so make sure not to skip on this important meal even if you’re running low on time.
Have Small Meals Throughout The Day
Since unregulated blood sugar levels can suppress productivity, it’s wise not to let your glucose levels hit the bottom throughout the day. Thus, feast on small and frequent meals during the course of the day to maintain consistent blood sugar levels. You can have small portions of meals during lunch and dinner time and supplement them with 2 healthy snacks at mid-day and evening to fuel your brain more efficiently.
Plan Your Meals Beforehand
Last-minute eating decisions are not always the best ones since you’re more likely to cave in on unhealthy food cravings that are quite an inefficient source of energy. Hence, it’s good to plan your meals before you get hungry so that you don’t make unhealthy food choices later on. You can prepare your weekly meals over the weekend to save time on weekdays and stay away from ordering unhealthy food out of sheer laziness. Or you can order weekly meal sets from healthy food delivery services like ActivEats if you don’t have the time to cook for yourself.
Perhaps, the key to productivity is in your own hands and making subtle changes in your lifestyle and eating habits like those mentioned above can be a step closer to achieving maximum productivity.
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Caregivers make up a critically important part of the healthcare system, around 9.5 million people are involved - either family members, or trained professionals. Taking up such a spot requires a great deal of heartfelt desire to help, support, and sacrifice.
Whatever the noble cause to start, the reality can be quite harsh, everything that involves human-human contact becomes a challenge, sooner or later.
The caregiving position encompasses two sides:
Visible or physical - bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, transferring, feeding, etc.
Invisible or psychological - empathy, support, listening, sympathy, care, compassion, patience - and all these qualities are doubled or tripled depending on the case.
This is just a short list of theoretically crucial requirements. However, in practice, everything is even more demanding. Those who are willing to apply for the home care assistant jobs, need to be aware of all the aspects of such an occupation, including the flip side.
1. Emotional breakouts
People who are full of compassion are emphatic, they feel what others feel and co-live the pain. Apart from making you a great listener, it can also devastate you from the inside. Obviously, the majority of the clients have a sad story when reaching you, and they share their pain, as it’s just natural.
That’s the moment when you need to learn to build walls to defend your world from crushing. It doesn’t mean being ignorant about someone’s feelings, but not letting them go through you. Even if it sounds cruel, it’s a vital step to save your psychological health.
Think about the doctors, they see a lot, but they never cross the border of empathy, as it will lead to a breakout. Listen, analyze, and sympathize, but never let it inside. Emotionally-proofed people will work more efficiently, as their emotional state will not get the lead.
2. Physical challenge
The lightest cases of caregiving will get by with shopping, cleaning, and cooking, which don’t require a high level of physical strength. It is quite a pleasant experience, as the person you are looking after can make a great friend, talker, and listener - just one more person to learn from.
However, the prevailing number of care receivers have more severe issues and will require bathing, toilet assistance, washing, etc. In this case, you will make the main force. If you don’t have enough muscle endurance and strength, you both will suffer - your client and you, as the probability of injuries gets too high.
In order to prevent such situations from happening, you need to be physically prepared - going to the gym is the best variant. Remember, your health is the foundation of your life and daily performance, your most precious resource. Don’t let it deteriorate, otherwise, your career will end up quite soon.
Related: Is Medical Assistant A Good Career Path In 2021?
3. Mood swings
We all know about kids experiencing mood swings due to hormonal changes, and they find it hard to control their emotions. However, they are not alone in this problem.
The elderly can undergo even more severe mood changes. There are various reasons for that - reaction to pain, health problems, terminal illnesses, inability to accept the changes in body and lifestyle due to aging, etc.
While young people mock at grumpiness of the seniors, it’s worth digging more, to see the reason for such negativism. The majority of the clients used to be cheerful and easy-going a few decades before, however, the life lessons could be too hard for many.
It is important not to flinch and be understanding, just change the topic, tell a joke to ease the tension, etc. It will help greatly if you deepen your knowledge of the psychology and behavioral changes of seniors.
4. Awkward moments
Dressing/undressing, washing/bathing, toilet assistance - these are the most painful moment for people you help. Nobody is used to being suddenly limited in such easy activities and motions, this is the hardest truth to accept. It may cause excessive shyness or an overwhelmingly protective reaction.
After it becomes a regular routine, things will get simpler, yet it takes time to adjust.
5. Personal care
A good caregiver is a healthy caregiver - psychologically and physically, as only the balance of both will work. Physical exercises, proper nutrition, and sound sleep - the three most important cornerstones for efficient functioning during the day:
Some people dismiss the necessity of physical exercise, saying that they have enough at work. However, that’s pretty faulty thinking. Planned and scheduled physical training creates the resources (strength and endurance) you use while working.
Proper nutrition consists of healthy proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Just snacking around will not provide your body with the necessary energy, thus, you will quickly get exhausted.
Sound sleep takes about 7-9 hours; if you reduce the time frames to 5-7, your body will not recover after a physically exhausting say. The state of tiredness will accumulate and will lead to health problems and chronic fatigue.
Taking care of others is honorable, yet taking care of yourself must be a high-priority task.
6. Financial reward
The profitability of caregiving depends on many factors. The average salary of caregivers is around $26, however, it varies according to the state, the services provided, the license, and your skills.
While some people think that caregiving is an underqualified position, that is nothing but a common misconception. The more knowledge you have, the better your profile will be. Use every chance to grow within your professional world, and go as far as having a caregiver certification.
Attend supplemental training related to medicine, psychology, and physiology. Surely, it’s not possible to be a jack-of-all-trades, however, knowing the basics will definitely increase your chances for better pay, and it will help to grow and instill your confidence, which is a sound ground for your work.
Caregiving is sometimes called paid-for care, sometimes as a sacrifice, and sometimes as a work out of despair; however, none of the variants is right. Being a caregiver is a choice and a personal decision. When taking on such a position, you become a co-engine for another person, their help, friend, assistant, and consolation. Yet it’s always important to remember the ‘you’ part, and not to work at the expense of your resources.
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Included in an organization’s objective is to deliver consistent, high-quality products or services to its clients. This is difficult to achieve if employees are not working at their best. Fortunately, workplace drug testing can help make sure that employees are functioning at peak performance levels. Make use of the drug test cups that can provide you with maximum exposure.
Here are the other benefits of workplace drug testing using drug test cups:
1. Drug test cups are user-friendly:
Drug testing can be a very tedious process that could rob an organization’s valuable work hours. However, using drug test cups can eliminate this problem.
Drug test cups are user-friendly because they are:
Easy to use:
You could choose from a wide range of variants for drug test cups. Each has a distinct feature that makes it easier to use. Such features include a larger cup opening, a slanted top for female use, and a mess-proof design. Instructions are also provided on the packaging to make the procedure more hassle-free.
Fast-acting:
Aside from being easy to use and understand, drug test cups also provide accurate results within minutes. This is a great advantage considering that drug test procedures done in laboratories could take 24 to 72 hours to yield results.
If you are interested in availing drug test cups, then you can find some from Confirm BioSciences at https://www.confirmbiosciences.com/products/urine-drug-test-cups/.
2. Drug test cups are more convenient:
You may be hesitant about conducting drug tests when you know that your time and money could be allotted for more economical purposes.
Using drug test cups guarantees convenience for everyone in an organization because they can help you save on two things:
Time: Having your employees undergo drug tests can take up a lot of time. The use of drug test cups can help eliminate this problem. Instantly, the employers can conduct drug tests on site with the need of only one sample and one test to take. Thus, the time for extra visits to a drug-testing laboratory can instead be allotted to more productive uses.
Money: In the field of business, time is considered money. Administering drug tests in the workplace using drug test cups can lessen expenses. On average, drug test cups are priced at 7 USD per piece, which is far less than testing in a clinic which costs around 30 USD per lab test.
3. Drug test cups maintain safety in the workplace:
Drug testing not only detects the presence of drug substances, but it also helps ensure the safety of the person tested and everyone else in the workplace. A pre-employment background check is essential in keeping an organization secure, and workplace drug tests is an essential part of that. Even regular employees who have been with a company for decades must still undergo drug testing.
Drug tests can maintain safety in the following ways:
Establishing trust:
Certain occupations require employees to collaborate and work together as a team. Through the efficient use of drug test cups, everyone in the workplace can feel more comfortable when they know that they are working with people who won’t bring them harm. This will establish a professional environment that promotes peace of mind and camaraderie.
Eliminating legal and financial liabilities:
By establishing a safe workplace, employers can avoid legal and financial liabilities. If everyone undergoes drug testing, those suffering from drug addiction and abuse can be identified and can later be offered the help they need. This works on two levels since it prevents the concerned employee from further spiraling into addiction, while also protecting the rest of the employees from potential harm.
4. Drug test cups ensure the safety of employers:
Drug testing in the workplace ensures the safety of both the employees and their employers. The state and performance of a company can be significantly affected by the condition of its top executives, which is why their health and well-being should always be a priority.
There are several ways in which an employer can guarantee their own protection and make good use of drug tests in the workplace:
The practice of pre-employment drug testing:
Although pre-employment drug testing can require additional costs to the never-ending expenses of an organization, they actually serve more good than harm to the employers by meticulously screening the employees. Highly-problematic workers could disrupt the productivity of an organization faster than a bullet could leave a gun.
The enhancement of company status:
Maintaining a good reputation is a must in the field of business. Aside from the protection against various workplace hazards, drug testing is a great factor in keeping an organization’s name in high regard. Trust and confidence can then be acquired not only from the employees but also from potential clients.
Indeed, drug testing provides various benefits to employers, employees, and clients of an organization. Through the use of drug test cups, this procedure can be accomplished quicker and more efficiently, without spending too much. Most importantly, it can help detect drug abuse and possibly save lives.
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