Here are some interesting articles I found on the web recently:
Work-life balance is a moving target
It requires constant re-evaluation: Re-assessing your beliefs about work and what causes you stress, zeroing in on your emotions, reprioritizing, considering alternatives, & implementing changes. There's more in this article that you can do and that employers can do to support their employees.
In decision-making, knowing when to abandon a losing strategy is more important
Solving complex problems is a push and pull operation: It requires you to move toward a strategy that is good and away from a strategy that's bad. But, avoiding options that are taking you in the wrong direction turns out to be more important. And this process is mediated by the basal ganglia, a set of sub-cortical structures that support the prefrontal cortex, or the executive brain.
Negative mood may increase your risk of bodily inflammation
The stressful event is never the problem. How you respond to life's stressors can affect your risk of inflammation. When you react calmly to stressors, your risk of inflammation is reduced. People who live in a constant negative state have higher rates of inflammation. Chronic inflammation can lead to various health problems, such as heart disease and obesity.
Phone anxiety is more common that you think
76% of millennials and 40% of baby boomers have anxious thoughts when their phone rings. "They can often go days, weeks or even months without directly speaking to others on the phone." Here's an article that offers some explanations for why phone anxiety is so prevalent, and some ideas for overcoming it.
How email can be damaging to your health and your business
The volume of email is causing us stress, making us unhappy and increases employee turnover. Bad in-box habits are not to blame. Our instinct to connect is one of the strongest motivational forces. When social interaction is thwarted, such as when we don't answer an email immediately, we naturally experience a feeling of distress. "Overwhelming e-mail communication constantly exposes you to exactly this form of social distress." You can read more here.
Here's why social media is habit forming
To train an animal to keep pressing a lever, give it a food reward every time it presses the lever. You can train a human in the same way. Likes are rewarding and humans will continue to post to keep getting those likes.