The Consequences of Alcohol Abuse in Seminole County Florida Research Paper

The Consequences of Alcohol Abuse in Seminole County Florida - Research Paper Example Etiology, Prevalence and Effect of the Alcohol Abuse in the Nation and in the Seminole County Florida The Etiology of the Alcohol Abuse The alcohol abuse is commonly recognized as a medical problem. The exact reason behind the alcohol abuse is yet not confirmed. Alcohol abuse is also known as alcoholism and it basically rises due to the surroundings and the alcohol practices in the family or friends. But in most of the cases, the reason behind alcoholism is a psychiatric problem such as, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, isolation, poverty, and shyness among others. The other reason for alcohol abuse can be the acceptance and the desire to feel the same outcomes repeatedly due to the alcohol intake (HelpGuide, 2011). Prevalence of Alcohol Abuse According to the survey among the students of Florida in 2006, it was noticed that 58.4% students have tested alcohol at least once in their life time. The report also stated that the rate of consumption of alcohol among the studen ts of the middle school was 40.4% and for the students of the high school the rate was 72.0%. Comparing this report with the 2010 statistics, it was observed that the usage of alcohol is relatively lower than the year 2006. The statistics for the Seminole County students have revealed that prevalence of indulgent drinking reduced by 1.5% points among the students of middle school and among the ‘high school students’ the reduction was 3.4% points. This survey was done in relation to the youth of Florida and their alcohol habits (Florida Department of Children & Families, 2006; Florida Department of Children & Families, 2010). The Effects of Alcohol Abuse on the Health of the Nation The effects of the alcohol abuse have a huge impact on the health of the nation. The economy of a country gets affected by the cost for alcoholism. Alcohol abuse creates problems in the families worldwide, and it also affects the country and its economy. The families of the sufferer spend a lo t for the diseases caused by the alcohol abuse. A survey in the US says that the cost for drunk driving is wasting a considerable part of the economy of the country, also many people died due to such act. The other affect on the nation is the social and the medical cost for the alcohol abuse, as alcoholism can damage the society and its properties. Even in the workplace the alcohol abused employees affect the environment of the office. And the organization also generally has to pay the medical cost for the alcohol abused employee. Not only the costs, the alcoholism also affects the employment and the job potential. Due to the alcoholism an employee can harm the process of a work in the work place. The increase in alcoholism would increase the violence in the society. Alcohol abuse has become a threat to the nation all over the world (MacPherson, 2007). The Aggregate Population at Risk Alcoholism or alcohol abuse is a problem which involves not only a particular group of people rathe r affects almost everyone in the society. Alcoholism is a threat to the society and it includes the users as well as the non users of alcohol. In a particular society the effect of alcoholism is active for the dependent users and the effect is passive for the non users. Whenever a person drinks heavily his or her family, friends, and child get affected. When a person is

Health and Social Care Essay Example for Free

Health and Social Care Essay P2: Describe the Origins of Public Health Policy in the UK from the 19th Century to the Present Day. 1837- The law started registering births, marriages and deaths and began to notice differences in areas. This was because of diseases going round and many people were dying. They wanted to figure out where about the illnesses were most common. 1848- The Liberal government brought the Public Health Act into law. 1849- Unfortunately, a massive amount of 10,000 people died from the disease cholera. 1853- Vaccination for smallpox was made compulsory and started by Edward Jenner; this was because a great amount of people were getting ill and dying from it. 1870- The government forced local authorities to educate people about diseases, so that they then knew and could learn about them and help to prevent any more. 1875- Public Health Act forced local authorities to provide clean water, have proper drainage and appoint medical offices for each area. This was to improve deadly diseases and illnesses which were continuing to harm people. 1906- In this year free school meals law came about. 1907- Medical school examinations for children were introduced. 1918- The British Prime Minister Lloyd George promised soldiers returning home from the war, ‘Homes fit for Heroes’. It was important for people to have a good home environment. 1921- The local authorities were required to set up TB clinics. 1934- The government passed the free school milk act and local councils were encouraged to give poor children free school meals. This was because they were unfortunate and were not getting the correct amount of food and drink and it could have affected their health. 1942- Sir William Beveridge published a report on the best way of helping people on low income. 1944- Clement Attlee created the NHS based on the proposals of the Beveridge Report white paper published. 1948- On the 5th July the new NHS was launched. 1970- Margret Thatcher became the new Secretary of State and demanded cuts on four main areas: further education fees, library book borrowing charges, school meal charges and free school milk. 1980- Black Report came about, discussing inequalities in health between the rich and poor. It aimed to reduce child poverty, reintroducing free schools meals and milk, improving housing, employment, schools and more. 1998- Acheson Report, Acheson was asked to review inequalities in England and identify priority ones for the development of health. 1999- â€Å"Saving Lives Our Healthier Nation† this was what the Labour government released as a health strategy. P1: Describe key aspects of public health strategies. There are many strategies that have been used and have had a positive and a negative outcome when tried out in cities. Firstly, monitoring the health status of the population, this is where tracking changes and alerting people to potential problems would happen. An example for this would be ‘Census’ this where every 10 years since 1801 the nation chooses one day to do the census survey. In the survey it consists counting all people and households. Overall it’s the most complete information source that the population that the nation has. The most recent census survey was held on the Sunday 27 March 2011. Identifying the health needs of the population is a strategy that can and has been used within the population. In this strategy we are identifying implications of trends and patterns to services. A good example is in schools or any type of educating/studying places or just general talks where people are being taught about diabetes, better dieting and exercise. This would help peoples health increase more by having the knowledge about this. In addition, another strategy that has been used around the population is to develop programmes which would then try and reduce risks and screen for diseases. Doing this would reduce ill health by looking at and identifying people that are at risk and then promoting health. Years gone by the population have tried this strategy; for example, doing cancer research, advertisement programmes to let people know and smear tests. Controlling communicable disease, this is where programmes and schemes are made and brought out that are immunisation programmes which are there to reduce the impact of diseases. The nation for many years and are continuing on doing the same have TB injections. This is an example of controlling the communicable disease. These injections are there to immune human bodies to illness and disease which is called Tuberculosis. Furthermore, another strategy when it comes to public health is promoting the health of the population. Many companies and groups of people have experimented on trying to accomplish this. By doing this they have been promoting health activities to improve their health and their fitness. A lot of the programmes are basically trying to engage people so they understand they need to improve their health so they don’t turn obesity and generally just too improve and increase their fitness level. Planning and evaluating health and social care provision this is where the nation is accessing and impacting of health services. In every city there needs to be health services to help anyone that is in need. One of the services that are in many cities is the contraception service. These are companies that give tips and advice to young people that are sexually active. They also hand out free condoms so young girls don’t get pregnant when they are not ready and don’t want too. Finally, target setting, this is where targets are all set to reduce disease and to improve health. For example, pregnancy is a target where the nation wants to reduce how many young girls get pregnant. To reduce this contraception is purchasable in every supermarket, pharmacy’s etc†¦ In addition, there are companies that give away free contraception to reduce teenage pregnancy. Not only does contraception help prevent pregnancy but prevents people catching sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, Chlamydia and syphilis. M1: compare historical and current features of public health. Things that happened years ago have all changed to nowadays; either by a few changes but still very similar or dramatically changed in a positive way. Firstly, access to medical care. Years ago medical care in the 19th century was not very good. The hospitals were very basic, many beds in a large room (ward) there were very rarely curtains around the beds for privacy because in those days clothes were short and extra material would be made into clothing. Also, they may not have been very clean, they were hygienic to work in but for people that were very ill they may of made that person more poorly. Clinics were similar; they had the basic bed to check patients on and the small amount of medicines. Not all the time did they have the correct suitable medication for patients. So some patients may have had to suffer for longer than what they should off because it was hard to get medication that was going to cure what the patients had. They had doctors but not many; there would probably be one in each area. For them it would be hard work because if hundreds of people became ill they would have to try and cure and help all of them as soon as possible before anything spread to others or if it became worse. Nowadays, everything has improved since the 19th century. Hospitals are extremely huge with thousands of beds and many nurses and Doctors that are there to help and make people better. The beds and wards are much more advanced now; each bed is a medical bed than can be adjusted electrically. There are also curtains and clean beddings on each bed and gets changed more regular than what it would of years ago. Millions of pounds have been spent on machinery in the hospitals that help prevent patients getting more ill than what they are. For e.g. Ventilators they help people breathe if they are not capable to do so themselves while there body is mending itself. Clinics that we have in the days have improved over the years. If anyone has a problem they can walk in to a clinic or make an appointment at the Doctors/Pharmacy to be checked out. Most often, people that need medication are prescribed for their medicines and can get it straight away. Or if not straight away, within in the next day or so if it is needed to be ordered in. There are many more Doctors in each area, so it is easier for people to be seen to when they have a problem or not feeling very well. This is good because if there was an illness going round and a lot of people were getting it, the Doctors could help prevent other people catching it by asking them to come in and be immune with medicine so they do not become ill. Housing in the 19th century was extremely poor. In March 1840, the government were so concerned about sanitation and living conditions that they set up a Parliamentary Health Select Committee to report on Health of Towns. Its findings revealed the scale of overcrowding; this was causing extreme filth and diseases that resulted up in a widespread death. There would be a bunch of houses probably in a group of 10 that were in a block, usually with a down stairs and upstairs. For middle class people families would be living in 1 room together or if they had enough money and they were lucky they would get half of a house. All the houses would share the toilets which were outside the buildings. This caused a lot of disease because of all the natural waste of other people that others had to be around and had to use the toilet after when they wasn’t clean at all. People would become very ill and then it would spread to others which caused a large amount of people in an area to have a serious illness which most probably would lead to death. These days, housing has increasingly changed. They are much cleaner and people own them there self and do not have to share unless it isn’t their property and it’s a home that holds many people. People also rent houses that they can then say its there’s until they move out and is then owned by someone else. People have money for cleaning products to clean their house which is good because if nothing was cleaned people could become poorly from filth that can cause infection’s and diseases that people could then catch. Each and every house has either 1 or more toilets within the household. Neighbours do not have to share a toilet outside the house like they used too, they all just share within their house mates, which is so much cleaner. However, even though the housing conditions have improved by a lot in the past years, there are still some areas that are poorly looked after which affect people living around there. There are council houses all over each city that people live in but they do not own it it’s the councils and usually these houses are not in the best condition because people in it cannot afford to look after it properly. Many new drinks were invented in the 19th century and early 20th century. India Pale Ale was first made about 1820. Pimms was invented in 1823. The first golden lager was invented in Bohemia (Czech Republic) in 1842 by a man named Joseph Groll. The widget for beer cans was patented in 1985. Back in the day there were quite a few drinks about and people would happily drink them. Even if they didn’t know what was inside of them. It was mainly work men that consumed the most. After work they would head to a bar of somewhere that sells alcohol and they would have a few people they went home to see their family. Through the 1800’s young children could drink there was no law to say there was a restricted age on drinking alcohol. However in 1923 a law was passed in Britain banning the sale of alcohol to people under 18. People may not of known how much they could drink until it would become dangerous. People were drinking non-stop at some points a then became very poorly. In Britain these days, the same law is around for the no drinking unless 18 years or over. However, when buying alcohol now if the person looks under the age of 25 years the person that is selling the alcohol needs to ask for an ID to make sure they are not selling it to someone that is under aged. Britain has also been known to be called ‘Binge Britain’ this is because so many people binge drink every week. Every night and especially on the weekends a lot of people end up in hospital getting their stomach pumped because they have consumed too much alcohol and have passed out because they are so dehydrated and their body cannot handle any more of the bad liquid. Income from the 19the century to now has changed massively. Years ago people would work hard and for long hours of the day and get paid such small amounts. In the 1800’s wages and average living standards were extremely low and 45% would actually amount to very little. In 1834 the weekly wage of an average agricultural worker was nine shillings. Its the equivalent of 45p and would be worth just under  £48 today. A lone mother would get just over four shillings a week, roughly the equivalent of 20p, which would be worth an estimated  £19 today. This could of and most probably effected peoples health because they may not off been able to afford certain products for themselves or their family. Someone may have been poorly and needed particular items to make them better and if they couldn’t be bought then that person would have to suffer, Nowadays wages are different to what they used to be.

capital punishment :: essays research papers

What is the most effective way of punishment? Human life is very important it doesn’t mater what sex you are or what you have done. If something can be fixed then that’s what you should always try to do first. Capital punishment should not be used in today’s society. If a person is found guilty and then later on new evidence is uncovered you can’t bring that person back to life. Imprisonment should be a last resort; there are other sentencing alternatives, which can work, in the best interest of the offender and society. Most offenders that commit murder is â€Å"out of the spur of the moment† and are very unlikely to re-offend. Instead of imprisoning and offender for the rest of his life and cost the government $80,000 a year to keep them locked up we could send him to deterrence program and also to a rehabilitation program to ensure that he is mentally stable and can be released back into society closely watched, without re-offending. It would be much more convenient to spend our money on preventing the offenders from re-offending then to just send them straight to prison. Prison is an ineffective way of punishment, instead of preventing the offender from re-offending when they get out of prison it just teaches them how to be a better criminal. For example if you put a dog with other wild dogs it will become more vicious and probably mentally instable from what it has gone through but if you take the same dog and introduce him to a safe and friendly environment and teach it how it should behave I guarantee that that dog will not re-offend. The government is spending its money in the wrong area. Just because they are imprisoned it doesn’t mean that they wont re-offend when they get out. I know that most people in today’s society believe in eye for an eye and most victims want the offender to suffer like they did but revenge is never the way to go. Revenge is not part of the law system. The aims of punishment are:  · To punish the offender in a just way  · To help with rehabilitation  · To stop the offender from re-offending  · To protect the community What I have suggested above covers all of four criteria’s and not only that I believe it to be a more

Family Systems Essay

Family systems theory was founded by Dr. Murray Bowen. He suggested that the connections and reactions found within a family system creates interdependence on one another. He based his theory on the natural emotional connections with the family. He continued to build upon it as time went on. After Bowen there were several other theorists who used Bowen’s theory as a base, and built off of it. Bowen created his theory based on eight major concepts. They are as follows; Differentiation of Self, Nuclear Family Emotional System, Triangles, Family Projection Process, Multigenerational Transmission Process, Emotional Cutoff, Sibling Position, Societal Emotional Process. The core concept in Bowenian theory is Differentation of Self, this says that the more developed someone’s â€Å"self† is that less impact society and others will have on them. â€Å"The basic building blocks of a â€Å"self† are inborn, but an individual’s family relationships during childhood and adolescence primarily determine how much â€Å"self† he develops† (thebowencenter.com) This concept can be seen as a self-esteem issue. Bowen says that someone with a poor sense of self will quickly conform to others thought and opinions. While someone with a secure sense of â€Å"self† is able to keep that secure thorough social influences. He created a scale that meas ured differentiating self it was measured 0-100. 0-25 were the people with the lowest sense of self, these people liked to be â€Å"comfortable† and did so with self-sacrifice. While people above 60 were rare, they had an extreme sense of self, and were free from societal emotional control and did not control others. The second concept is, Nuclear Family Emotional System which is based on four basic relationship patterns;. marital conflict, dysfunction in one spouse, impairment in one or more children, and emotional distance. Marital conflict is caused by the externalizing of anxiety and emotions caused by family stress. Each spouse presents this in different ways but, the common behaviors include; need for control, knit picking, and resistance to each other. Marital conflict can lead to a breakdown in the family system as well as a marriage. Secondly, dysfunction in one spouse is when one spouse tries  to conform the other to think and act the way they do. The controlling spouse in this situation over bears the other spouse making them act and think in ways they may otherwise not. This can lead to anxiety, tension, and possibly psychiatric or mental dysfunction. Thirdly, impairment in one or more children, can cause excessive attention to the impaired child, causing them to act out and interna lize family tension more then the other children, because they feel like the spotlight is on them. The last relationship pattern is emotional distance. This is a basic pattern seen when the relationships within the family become to intense and people start to distance themselves to lessen the intensity of the relationship. The third concept is Triangles, which are a single relationship with three people involved. Triangles can be great when there is no tension, but can cause a break down in the family system when tension is present. Triangles in tension situations, have insiders and outsiders. The outsiders are trying to get in and the insiders are trying to get out. An example I found of this was a child whose parents were focusing on what was wrong with his so much that he started to rebel. He felt under so much pressure that he was trying to get â€Å"outside† the triangle to relieve some of the pressure. Triangles play an important role in family systems as well as in therapy. The fourth Bowenian concept is, Family projection process which is the process of the parents transmitting there emotional problems to the child. The projection process follows three steps. â€Å"(1) the parent focuses on a child out of fear that something is wrong with the child; (2) the parent interprets the child’s behavior as confirming the fear; and (3) the parent treats the child as if something is really wrong with the child.† (thebowencenter.com) This process can cause the child to feel insecure when attention is not focused on them. There are so many different situation that fall under this projection umbrella. An example could be, a mother feels depressed therefore, she feels the child is depressed and treats the child accordingly. This can also be seen in extreme cases where a mother favors a certain child, and the father sees the child-mother combination as one unit and take his anger towards the mother out on the child. The fifth concept is, Multigeneration al transmission process which says â€Å"how small differences in the levels of differentiation between parents and their offspring lead over many generations to marked differences in differentiation among the  members of a multigenerational family.† (Schara, Blog 2013) Bowen feels that the way people react to situations and relationships is based on a multigenerational transmission of behaviors and emotions. The sixth concept, Emotional cutoff, is simple. Simply speaking people emotionally cutoff other family members instead of resolving the conflicts within the relationship/s. The seventh concept, Sibling position, says that your birth order effects the way you view the world. Oldest siblings tend to be leaders, where youngest siblings tend to be followers. This isn’t always true because can be effected by parental emotions and behaviors. Bowen used psychologist Walter Toman’s research to help him form his theory on sibling position. Examples used; if an oldest sibling is focused on by the parents growing up, then they may not be able to take leadership or make their own decisions. This leaves the â€Å"leadership† role to the younger sibling therefore, putting them in the â€Å"oldest† leadership type role. Where people are in sibling position can effect their marriage, their parenting skills, and of course the family dynamics. The last concept in Bowenian theory is, societal emotional process. This concept tells us how the emotional system controls behavior on a societal level. This is similar to that within a family system, which can be progressive or regressive. Societies go through progressions and regressions constantly. If a society is going through a progression, or regression, it can effect the entire society including all of the major branches and boiling down into the individual family systems. All of these major concepts in Bowenian theory are based on the emotions and behaviors of each individual and their effects on the family system. Bowen was a big believer in the family being seen as one cohesive unit and working towards homeostasis. The basic techniques used in Family systems theory are; detriangulation, nonanxious presence, genograms, coaching, reframing, power differential, and the purser-distancer concept. All of these techniques are used to reach the common goal of homeostasis within the family system. In regards to Detriangualtion, this is when a therapist breaks up a triangular relationship between three people in the family. By having one person within the triangle take a stand on an issue, that is not agreed upon by the other two people in the triangle. Therefore, creating a sense of self within that one person and breaking the give and take relationship in the le. â€Å"In Bowenian family therapy, it is argued that a  conflict between two people will resolve itself in the presence of a third person who can avoid emotional participation with either while relating actively to both.† (Bowen 1978) As a Bowenion therapist you must take on the role of the non-anxious presence. This is when a therapist keeps a sense of calm throughout the session regardless of the circumstances. A non-anxious presence can bring peace to the family involved and help them to open up in session. A n anxious therapist can inflict unneeded chaos and stress for obvious reasons. A building block tool used in the Bowen Family Systems therapy is a genogram. When the family comes in for intake, most therapists will create a genogram. This is a multigenerational map of the family that documents mental illness, substance abuse, medical issues, relationships, and some events tied to specific family members. A genogram can give the therapist a sense of what they need to address within the family system. Family Systems theory uses coaching as a way to help the families through tough times, and provides them with tools to succeed as a family unit. Coaching can help by giving families a way to understand each others interworking’s and hopefully see each other through clearer light. The goal of coaching a family would be to establish a stronger sense of self while strengthening the family system. Reframing takes place when the family needs to change the way they look at each other or the unit as a whole. Reframing a relationship takes hard work but can bring about peace and reduce tension within the family. In order to reframe a relationship or many the therapist must reinterpret a families situation to make them more open to solution. â€Å"Reframing is a type of communication that can help family members better understand the concerns and intentions behind the misconstrued words.† (Jeanty, Jacqueline) An example of reframing, is a child who is constantly badgering their mother about quitting smoking. Once the situation is reframed it is easier to see that the child is scared and cares deeply about the mothers health, which is why they continued to badger. Power Differential,

Doublespeak: Nineteen Eighty-four and George Orwell Essay

The definition of language is expressing our wants or needs to other people. Whether we realize it or not, language is a very important part of our everyday lives. Through our body language, eyes, tone or volume of our voice, words, or appearance, we can communicate things that we want (or sometimes not want) to other people. Unfortunately, language can sometimes be confusing and open to misinterpretation. One instance of this is doublespeak, a vague type of speaking that deliberately shields the meaning of the word, or making the word nicer without ruining its true meaning. Wherever doublespeak is used, ignorance and chaos is sure to follow. Doublespeak is often used by people in power such as senators, presidents, CEOs, and prime ministers. Typically, the speaker may use more complex words which the general public might not know the meaning of. It pretends to communicate, when in reality it leaves the intended audience with little to no idea of what was said and the public becomes ignorant. The term was inspired by George Orwell’s dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place in a totalitarian world where the public has become limited to the thoughts of serving The Party, and only The Party. It has become so restricted to the point where a new language has been created in order to stifle the thoughts of its people. This language, Newspeak, is a diminutive version of the English language generated to prevent its oblivious nation with coming up with such foreign concepts as freedom, love, and resistance. The district of Airstrip One is plagued by never ending war, constant surveillance by a being called â€Å"Big Brother,† which is never clear if he actually existed or just a symbol to represent The Party. The Party also used excessive amounts of doublespeak. For example, at one point, the protagonist Winston remembers the chocolate ration to be forty-three grams a week, only to hear the woman on the newsreel inform him that chocolate rations had gone up to twenty-three grams. While this novel is a bit more extreme, there are many similarities to the world that George Orwell created, and our own, the most notable being the excessive amount of doublespeak. William Lutz uses multiple examples of doublespeak used in real life in his essay The World of Doublespeak. He describes an incident in 1978 where an airplane had crashed in Pensacola, Florida, airport where twenty-one people got injured and three people died. The plane was also destroyed in the incident. Because the plane’s insured value was better than the book value, National Airlines received a tax insurance benefit of 1.7 million dollars on the accident. Later in their annual report, they claimed that the 1.7 million dollars was due to an ‘involuntary conversion of a seven-twenty-seven,’ which explained the money effectively without even mentioning the deaths of the three people or the crash in general (Lutz, 179). He also mentions that â€Å"the U.S. navy didn’t pay $2,043 apiece for steel nuts; it paid all that money for ‘hexiform rotatable surface compression units† and that â€Å"the U.S. Air Force paid $214 apiece for Emergency Exit Lights, or flashlights.† Both examples use complex words. While the authors of each example might be trying to compose each statement with the greatest intentions, they both come off stale. In his essay Politics, Propaganda, And Doublespeak, George Orwell states â€Å"people who write in this manner usually have a general emotional meaning- they dislike one thing and want to express solidarity with another- but they are not interested in the detail of what they are saying. A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?† (Orwell, 170) If the authors of the examples had asked themselves such, what they were trying to say might have been a bit clearer to the average member of the public. Sadly, the authors probably did not have these intentions in mind, for this type of doublespeak is purposely meant to mislead. This is the same type of doublespeak that keeps people ignorant, like in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Some aspects of the novel are already upon us. Doublespeak can intentionally and successfully deceive the general public with its vague tendencies. If it continues to be used in excess, we can very possibly end up with a world very similar to Nineteen Eighty-Four- full of chaos and ignorance. Doublespeak is a misuse of language and abuse of communication by those who are in control, and it must be eliminated.

Combating burnout how to maintain your business and your sanity

Combating burnout how to maintain your business and your sanity Entrepreneurs often wear multiple hats on the job. They range from moms who offer coaching services while the baby sleeps to small business owners who left corporate America and now employ a small workforce. No matter where you fall on the spectrum of entrepreneurs, you might be at risk of experiencing burnout. When you work alone or with a small group of people, you can quickly start to feel isolated and spread thin. Let’s take a look at the burnout phenomenon and a few strategies you can use to stop the burn before it begins. Importance of entrepreneursCorporate America is important to the success of our country. However, many experts would argue that entrepreneurs are the true backbone of our economy. From the first black female self-made millionaire, Madam C.J. Walker, to tech guru Bill Gates, entrepreneurs have been using their passions to create empires for centuries. According to a 2014 study by Alexander S. Kritikos, entrepreneurs boost economic growth by introducing i nnovations, cause competition among competitors, and provide new job opportunities. When you’re making strides in your business, it can be easy to forget about the need to care for yourself. Bottom lines and profit margins are essential to your success, but if it’s all you think about, you might be headed towards a raging case of burnout.The risk of burnoutYou’ve probably heard of (or even experienced) burnout. It’s the state of physical or emotional exhaustion that can make you feel disconnected from who you are as a person. Believe or it or, burnout is an actual medical diagnosis that might be precipitated by depression and other mental health triggers. For many people, burnout happens when workplace stressors become too much to handle. Those born with the entrepreneurial spirit have a few things in common that might place them at a higher-than-average risk of burnout. While research on this condition is plentiful in large corporations, data specific to small business and entrepreneurship isn’t. One study surveyed over 300 members of the entrepreneur networking organization, Business Networking International, to get a better understanding of what makes entrepreneurs burn out. The study looked at everything from job fit to beliefs about work. The majority of those in the survey reported feeling like they fit in their chosen profession and possessed a high level of harmonious passion. However, 25 percent of entrepreneurs felt moderately burned out, and three percent felt strongly that they had a case of burnout.It’s interesting to point out that the higher levels of passion the participants reported equated to a higher level of burnout. A smaller portion of study participants said they felt obsessive passion and destiny beliefs about their current professional roles. These individuals also self-reported more severe burnout symptoms.Strategies to combat burnoutThe good news is that once you recognize your risk of burnou t, you can create a few intentional practices that will decrease your chances of feeling the burn. Here are a few strategies that can protect your small business from burnout:Develop a flexible mindsetPassionate people tend to migrate towards fixed mindsets about their job fit, which can quickly lead to job stress. Adopting a flexible mindset just means that you can envision more than one perfect career for your life. This allows you to view your job as one part of who you are, not the only thing that makes you a unique individual. This isn’t a natural mindset to break. If you suffer from a fixed mindset, the first thing you need to do is to recognize areas of closed-mindedness. Once you see one of these areas, challenge your thinking to be more flexible. Another strategy is to acknowledge your efforts more than your traits. For instance, instead of identifying how smart you are, consider how hard you work instead. This can also help you notice other people’s efforts a t work, too.Switch up your workHave you ever noticed that doing the same thing for a few hours (much less a whole day) can zap your energy? Creative people who are tasked to write compelling copy or create the next masterpiece day after day can feel exhausted when they do the same task for too long. Switching between tasks actually promotes creativity and can increase productivity.To minimize this precursor to burnout, limit your time on any one task. Block out separate times on your calendar for creative work and the more mundane - but just as critical - tasks. Some experts believe that spending about two hours on work that requires a lot of thought will help you be most productive.Find work-life balanceIf you did a random survey, you would probably find that many people have had to talk about work-life balance with their boss. Finding this critical balance has long been a desire of workplace cultures big and small. Many businesses boast that they’ve found the perfect mix, but when you speak with their employees, it seems they’ve missed the mark.As a small business owner, it’s critical you find the perfect balance for yourself and your staff. This means you need to create a few rules for successful work-life balance. Here are a few we love:No job is worth your health: That’s right, even your own business isn’t worth sleepless nights, panic attacks, or recurrent nightmares. If you’re sick all the time from working too much, it’s time to find balance. Be open to new opportunities: This rule goes back to the â€Å"flexible mindset† we talked about above. Maybe you went into business with one objective in mind, but you keep getting asked about a new product or service line that could be your new â€Å"best seller.† Remember that success means being open to new things, even when it’s not what you planned for. Cultivate outside interests: All work and no play is a dangerous way to live. You mus t have hobbies and passions outside of work if you want to have an overall sense of wellness. Turn off the email notifications on your phone at least one day a week and leave the job at the office.Get up and movePhysical activity isn’t only good for your body. It’s an excellent way to calm stress and anxiety. No one says you have to be the next marathon runner, you just have to create a regular exercise routine that gets you at least 30-minutes of activity each day. Join the gym or find a local yoga or pilates class. If working out around the house fits into your schedule more comfortably, take a 30-minute walk around your neighborhood each day.Thriving, not just survivingNo one wants to merely exist in life. You want to be happy, productive, and above all else, satisfied with your work life. After all, you didn’t leave the cubicle to head into another stressful workplace culture. Use these tips to decrease your risk of burning out as an entrepreneur.About the A uthor:Jori Hamilton is a writer from the Pacific Northwest who has a particular interest in social justice, politics, education, healthcare, technology, and more. You can follow her on Twitter @ HamiltonJori.

Ways to Improve Reading-Comprehension Skills

Ways to Improve Reading-Comprehension Skills Any person with top-notch reading-comprehension skills has done quite a bit of reading in their lifetime, which means that  they were not simply born an expert reader; instead they were taught at an early age – or learned somewhere along the line – the power of stories, the richness of their own language, and how both add meaning, joy, and purpose to their lives. Developing, then possessing, this very important skill helps the student excel in school, regardless of their level or grade. (Having superb or even average reading-comprehension skills also benefits the working adult in many ways – from understanding contracts they’re signing, prescriptions of medicines they may be taking, etc.) Various Strategies to Develop One’s Reading-Comprehension Skills Comprehension Monitoring. This technique involves pre-reading, then reading, followed by the post-reading of a text. Though it seems a bit of work, this method is quite effective. Students can first skim a text looking for and then defining keywords that may otherwise interrupt the flow of reading. After they read a text, it may help the student to write observations or orally summarize what they have just read. Diagramming. It may benefit a student to create an outline of the story, passage, chapter or section they have just read when it is the most fresh in their minds. This will help them concentrate on certain transitions, points, arguments and so on that comprises a story or passage of a text; this is also very beneficial to the student because this exercise allows the information to be stored in their long-term memory – instead of directing their focus on another task after the reading of something, allowing the information to be lost in their short-term memory (and possibly lost forever), because it was not immediately recalled. You may like these articles: How to Improve Ones Study Skills What is Proofreading? A Literary Technique That Works Wonders Harper Lee and Her Second Novel Yasar Kemal Is a Master of Word Question or prompt answering. Immediately after reading a text, a student can ask themselves questions or touch on certain points to a sort of exercise their reading-comprehension skills. Some could be: Explain briefly what was read. Why was it important to read? What are its implications? What was the meaning or purpose of reading the passage, section, chapter that was assigned? Read aloud. Some students, those who learn best as auditory learners, may learn and remember best when they hear something read out loud. Even if it themselves reading it aloud. Discussing the content. Some students who are oral learners may be fully engaged when they can discuss a subject openly with another person after reading something. They may need to verbally process information in order to store it for long-term use. Think thematically about the text. Too often a student, at any level, may read a text without picking up on key themes that are incorporated into it. They may look or focus on the wrong aspect of the text; in these cases, the student may want to conduct research, (perhaps by reading a simpler text, one that is broader in nature) to learn more about a subject that maybe a more advanced textbook may be overlooking or generalizing. Read, read, read. The more a student reads, the better they will improve their reading-comprehension skills. It’s very simple. It is a skill they will have to use all throughout their lives, so it’s best to accept this fact of life as early as possible. Reading every day stimulates one’s mental capacity for taking in and making sense of information, as well storing it for comprehension.