Group items tagged

Citation Schwartz, Tony. "Relax! You'll Be More Productive." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Feb. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Summary So as people of a world in which the 9 to 5 job is a dream for most, we probably all know that more time worked means more work done, which means that all that time was spent more productively than if we had worked less... Right? According to a study of around 400 employees, this may not be true. More work and less sleep increases chances of burning out on-the-job. Harvard conducted a similar study, but they researched what sleep deprivation was costing us. The amount? $63.2 billion a year. Cheri D. Mah, who is a researcher for Stanford, found that 10 or more hours of sleep for basketball players increase performance. Similar tests were performed on those doing different jobs - night shift workers, accountants and athletes. All did better, especially with longer hours to sleep. Vacations did wonders, too. The reason for this is that humans are not build to expend energy continuously. We need breaks, and especially sleep. Through all of these studies, researchers have found that 90 minutes of consecutive work and then a break is the most ideal for maximization of productivity.

I thought this was really useful information to know, because a lot of people that I know like to keep working even though they're tired or sleep deprived. Well, knowing that their performance overall is affected by sleep deprivation to the point where the quality drops dramatically, maybe would encourage them to take the time to rest a little bit and refresh themselves. It also shows how vital sleep is to our overall health.

Singer, Natasha, and Peter Lattman. "Workout Booster, and a Lawsuit." The New York Times. Nytimes, 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/business/death-after-use-of-jack3d-shows-gap-in-regulation.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&src=recg  Recently, GNC, a dietary supplements retailer, has been running a special on it's website for a supplement called Jack3d. However, due to a federal health issue last April, the FDA isued a warning on the stimulant called dimethylamylamine, or DMAA. This drug raises blood pressure and the heart rate, and has been linked to the deaths of two soldiers. In December 2011, after the deaths of two soldiers who used Jack3d, the Defense Department removed products containing DMAA from stores on military bases including more than 100 GNC stores. The parents of these soldiers have filed lawsuits against the producer, marketer, and seller of Jack3d. Although the lab that creates Jack3d has filtered out the DMAA, there are still sites everywhere that sell this supplement, now labeled a drug. It was originally made as an inhalant for nasal congestion. Now it's in what some people are eating. Just last month a woman running the London Marathon collapsed late in the race. The cause? DMAA "on the balance of probabilities, and in combination with extreme physical exertion, caused cardiac failure which resulted in her death." This drug needs to be taken off of the market completely, or other people could suffer the same fate.

My dad often use GNC products after he works out, and hearing that they sell a dietary supplement to make you stronger doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary. However, this doesn't seem like your average protein powder. Normally here at ASIJ after strength class, some people take protein powders. Knowing that companies are knowledgeably selling protein powders that contain a drug that can kill you is not something you want to hear about. This is an article that talks about drug use...but the people that buy it aren't the abusers. The sellers are. If people have the power to do what is right and not sell something harmful then that's the way it should be. Unfortunately, life is not like that.