Look to Health and Laughter in This Dicey Economic Time

Money on Monday: Look to Health

A recent commenter on the Frederick Douglass/Barack Obama pointed to the instability of finance and manufacturing as viable areas of work. He suggested investigating the health field. I think this is good advice and want to extend the idea of looking to the health industry per ce by encouraging all to look to a variety of health interventions for possible work and also for improving your own health in general. With the market going south big time and personal and national anxiety escalating, one of the most critical aspects of this whole financial mess is controlling stress. There are thousands of sites that provide helpful tips and advice. Here are a few I like.

Stress Relief a good non-profit organization with sound information.

Heart Math

Heart Math products and information from the Institute of Heartmath are top notch. A few years ago when in a tangle from my divorce, I was introduced to Heartmath's computerized biofeedback program. My blood pressure was sky high and I was a mass of quivering nerves, not sleeping and really afraid--how in the world was I to care for a minor child when I was on the verge of "retirement" age myself? One session with this biofeedback program was amazing and even now several years later I can see the program working in my visual memory and I feel calmed. That's biofeedback and Heartmath's work is really great.

This site approaches the issue of stress from a variety of issues--from workplace stress to post-traumatic stress disorder: www.stressfocus.com.

Laughter - the Best Medicine

And that brings me to another way to reduce stress and anxiety--having fun and laughing Laughter as Medicine--especially on this day with the market dropping further. Laughing promotes vascular health. Even the anticipation of laughter promotes hormones that fight stress http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/04/08/anticipation-of-laughter-protects-health/2129.html.  And laughing helps weight as well. http://www.dietriffic.com/2008/09/24/using-laughter-to-improve-your-health/

Ok here is a great book that is being reissued tomorrow-- "Fabulous Fun with Puzzles." It is a puzzle book first published 50 years ago in 1947, and  is just as challenging now as it was then. There are word games, braintwisters, math games, word and letter puzzles and more. Time Inc. Home Entertainment is selling it for $13.95 in all bookstores. I have a feeling that we will all be sticking close to home this winter and Fabulous Fun is a great way for everyone in the family to have fun together.

I have to admit when I tried a few of these, I was really stumped. And then I was determined to solve at least a few...I'm still trying. At the very least I had fun trying and I certainly did feel diverted from the dreary financial picture.

So let's laugh a little while we do some yoga, and tackle some fun puzzles, because it really is the best medicine (trite as that old proverb is) for the bitter pill we are having to swallow now from the inept presidenc.

Comments

[Virginia]

Janet, well you gave me a really good feeling and that is almost as good as a bewlly laugh!! Come back and visit often.

[Janet Wendy Spiegel]

Oh - I love this article. Great resources and I can't wait to go to all of them.