Breakfast, Is it Really for Champions?

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. People who skip the morning meal tend to struggle more with weight problems, as well as low energy all day long.

Why? The hours between dinner and breakfast are usually the longest span between any of the meals in the day. While sleeping, the body still needs fuel to keep your body in working order. That fuel comes from glucose stored in the blood, liver, and muscles. By morning, the glucose is depleted.

“Breakfast skippers” can feel fine and full of energy in the first few hours after waking up, because the body and mind are refreshed after a night’s sleep. But that energy fades as the increasing demands of the day add stress to a body already running low on fuel. By lunchtime, even if you eat a healthful meal, regaining the energy that you would have had if you had eaten breakfast is close to impossible.

Remember: Mom was right. Be sure you and your family get a good breakfast every morning.

Telemarketing Tips

Getting sales leads can often be a difficult chore for a managed IT services firm, which is why many such companies tend to resort to having their operations outsourced to an expert third party in the telemarketing industry, thus relieving the hassle of targeting and reaching out to IT industry prospects.

IT buyers are not ordinary prospects; they can be demanding, busier than other prospects, and highly scrupulous, so it is not easy to go about impressing or swaying them. There are however a number of tips to help close a deal with an IT prospect, one of which is to break topics into smaller pieces. A busy manager is going to have an attention span of barely thirty seconds, so sub-topics need to broken into thirty second talks at most if you want to be able to emphasize to them why it is that your offer is the best they will get.

You also need to watch out for signs that your prospect is getting bored. There are verbal and non-verbal cues you need to pay attention to over the phone, such as coughs, interruptions and sighs. Gauge your customer’s interest carefully and work hard to get it back if you fear it is on the wane.

Importance of Brain Injury Prevention

Brain injury is a common problem with young children, but a problem that can be avoided with a few preventative measures from parents. Brain injuries can be caused by trampoline accidents when children land on their head or neck, sports injuries are another common area that can result in brain injury and brain injuries among the skateboarding community are also very common.

Many of these injuries can be prevented if parents to make sure their child wears a helmet anytime they are riding their bicycle, a skateboard or scooter and when skiing – water or snow. Avoiding pediatric brain injury can be done by making sure your baby or toddler is in the right car seat, booster seat or other appropriate child restraints for your child’s age, height and weight.

Getting your child or teenager to wear a helmet when it just isn’t “cool” can be a real challenge. One way to make it work is to show them the professional athletes who are wearing helmets doing the same activities your child loves to do – cycling, skateboarding and even skiing.

Even the smallest accident that involves a head injury can cause irreparable brain damage. Be sure to follow the same safety measures on a daily basis – no bicycling or skateboarding without a helmet and never go on a car ride without buckling up. Place infant seats, booster seats and other small child restraints in the back seat where they are safe from the air bags should they be deployed. Finally, lead by example. If you are on a family bike ride, be sure to wear your helmet and ever ride in the car without your seatbelts properly buckled. 

How to Deal with Extreme Cold

Cold weather can have a seriously adverse effect on our health, compromising a respiratory system that may already be in some distress and also causing frostbite and hypothermia. People who have lung problems can find extreme cold particularly troublesome, with higher virus levels causing illness and aggravating systems further, and cold air constricting airways.

The best prevention is staying indoors and out of the cold altogether, but the reality is that sometimes this is just not possible. Hypothermia can even be triggered inside by seemingly just mildly cool temperatures between 60 to 65 degrees. Thermostats should be set over 65 degrees and friends and neighbors should check on the elderly on a regular basis in order to make certain that their homes are heated to an adequate degree.

Symptoms of hypothermia include drowsiness, slurred speech, slow heartbeat, the appearance of being in a coma or sometimes even dead, forgetfulness, a weak pulse and shallow breathing. Hypothermia should not be attempted to be treated at home. 

Work/Life Balance for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs need to try and squeeze everything that they can out of any given day, but they still need to try and keep some semblance of balance. The good news is that achieving a work/life balance is possible for entrepreneurs providing they follow a few simple tips.

You need to prioritize the main three areas that are of the highest degree of importance to you and take the time to focus on them over the weekend and during the week. Make good use of your mobile phone too; you can take the dog for a walk and be sending emails at the same time, or send texts while relaxing on the beach. You do not have to sit at your desk all day, every day.

Entrepreneurs do not generally take long holidays, but fitting in the occasional long weekend can be a good method of balancing out your life. Be sure to have guidelines so that work does not overtake everything else; stay away from your computer and shut off your phone during dinner time and family time.

Make a positive impression every day at your workplace

Often the little things go a long way in impressing your boss and your co-workers. Here are a few habits to cultivate if you want to polish your image to a bright shine:

• Keep your desk neat. Cut back on the clutter. A clean workspace shows that you’re organized and have things under control.

• Be sincere and generous with compliments. Show appreciation to co-workers (and even your boss) for their good work.

• Do your homework before meetings. Know what’s on the agenda and be ready to discuss the topics being addressed.

• Return phone calls and emails promptly. It makes co-workers and customers feel valued.

• Be on time. Don’t make others wait for you, or wonder where you are. Show up for work, meetings, and other commitments promptly.

• Wash the dishes. If your organization has a group kitchen, share the duties of washing dishes, making coffee, cleaning up, and such.

Children and Sleep

It has been determined by many professionals that the three most important phases to healthy childhood development are: loving parents or caretakers, proper nutrition and adequate sleep. While sleep may not be as apparent as love, safety and nutrition, it is no less an important factor in proper childhood development.

Children and families in general are much busier today than they were in years past. With increased school and work responsibilities, after school activities, day care and all of the other pulls a family has to endure, naps are missed and sleep schedules overall are not being kept. Naps are being missed, bedtimes are pushed back to later and mornings are starting earlier to accommodate these busier schedules. It may not seem like a big deal to miss a nap or go to bed an hour or two later, but overtime this missed sleep does add up.

Sleep plays a very big role in whether or not children are alert, drowsy, calm or stressed – all of which can play a bigger role in their temperament, social behavior and learning. Healthy sleep – something we all require, but especially children includes:

·         The correct amount of sleep

·         Uninterrupted sleep

·         The right number of naps for the child’s age

·         A routine sleep schedule

If any of these are missed, sleep deprivation is inevitable

When our children benefit from the appropriate amount of healthy sleep, during wake times they will experience optimal alertness – a state which allows them to be more receptive, allowing them to easily interact and deal with their environment. A child who is optimally alert is bright-eyed, calm, pleasant, attentive and with wide eyes will take in all that is around them. A child who is less than optimally alert will have altered states of alertness and temperament.

In order for child to grow, thrive and develop properly, he or she must get the correct amount of sleep, it’s really just that simple. Each child is unique in their needs so learn what best suits your child by paying attention to their behavior with various amounts of sleep. 

Choosing the right pet for your family

Adopting a pet is one of the kindest acts you can perform, but it is important to be honest about exactly what it is you are looking for in a pet. You also need to ask a few questions, such as how healthy the animal is, if it has a history with children if there are young children in your family, and if there is already a pet in your family, how it is likely to respond to the newcomer.

You also need to know if the pet is already housebroken, whether it has been neutered or spayed yet and whether there are any behavioral issues that will need to be taken into account. It is also a good idea to work out the budget you can afford to spend on a pet.

Almost every dog can be taught to become a wonderful family pet, and while some may need more effort and time to do so, if you have chosen carefully and prepared your home in the correct manner, you are much more likely to end up with a successful pairing. Almost every dog can be taught to become a wonderful family pet, and while some may need more effort and time to do so, if you have chosen carefully and prepared your home in the correct manner, you are much more likely to end up with a successful pairing.