Technology advances by leaps and bounds and you can take several surprises if you are not attentive to the dangers that modernity contains.
Music The deaf generation
It has been proven that the noise levels to which we are exposed are 300% higher than 30 years ago. ? Many young fans of new music players should use a listening device when they turn 40 or 45 ,? says Jordi Coromina, director of the Teknon Medical Center in Barcelona, in Spain. ? Excessive noise they undergo will cause premature presbyopiacy (also known as tired ear), that is, aging of the auditory nerve ,? adds the specialist. It has been proven that, on average, the power of mp3 players is used at 100 decibels; It’s like listening permanently to a pneumatic hammer 5 meters away. In addition, young people usually go to bars and discos where music plays beyond 90 decibels. Although this does not represent a huge problem,
Solution There are portable players that have a? Governor? of volume, look for it in electronics stores. ? There are those that the maximum that allow you to increase is to 90 decibles, index that is still tolerable by the human ear ?. Another advantage is that they do not completely obstruct the sound of what is happening outside, which is very helpful when you walk down the street. Your iPod brings this function.
Money The price of living better
You are worried about recycling, you don’t use your car every day and you watched Al Gore’s movie An Incovenient Truth more than once . However, turn your house into an ecological home where all the energy consumed is? Green? It is impossible, at least today in Latin America. ? If we want our home to run on solar energy, we need to invest several million dollars and have available spaces, which sounds quite utopian ,? explains Martha Pahissa, director of the Terra Foundation. Also, so far, there is no electric company that provides completely green energy.
Solution ? What you can do at the moment is to carry out some tricks to help create a sustainable planet ,? advises Pahissa. Using energy efficient light bulbs or efficient appliances is a good start. This daily attitude can be complemented if you participate in ecological campaigns or be vigilant that energy and non-renewable resources are not wasted at home.
Work No at overtime
Four out of 10 employees work more than the hours agreed in their contract; and 50% of them do not receive some kind of remuneration for their additional effort. This was the result of the investigation carried out by the consultant Wage Indicator of the United States. But there is more disturbing data. For example, a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine of Japan (where there is a word that defines death caused by overexertion: karoshi) showed that staying overtime at work doubles the risk of having a myocardial infarction.
Solution According to a work done by the Microsoft company, on average we waste 16 hours a week in unproductive work or not related to our employment, especially in meetings that are useless. Although it seems incredible, Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to say that the key is in the theory of? Flow ?: concentrate fully on the task you do, because you will do it faster and better. In this way? The Governor? He never schedules meetings, but if one arises that interests him, he goes to it. Therefore, do not call staff to a meeting that is not urgent.
Health at full speed
Almost no one has time to sit down for coffee at the corner restaurant. The cause? We live at full speed. The world moves faster than before. A study by psychologists at the University of Hertford, in England, revealed that in the last 13 years the walking speed of human beings has increased 10%, which goes hand in hand with the same increase in anxiety.
Solution Create your own homework schedule, be more organized. ? Many times the stress is generated when we have the impression that we will not be able to finish all the pending work ,? says José Bustamante, a psychologist at the Martos Bellmunt clinic in Elche, in Spain. Therefore, it is essential to set realistic and attainable goals in the short term. The specialist believes that it is necessary to devote an hour to develop an action plan. ? In this way we will have an objective way to evaluate ourselves beyond the arbitrary anger or reward of the boss ,? he adds. If you feel too tense, it’s time to take a few days off. Keep in mind that simply leaving home or submitting to extreme experiences will not relax you on your own.
Relationships The price of pressure
In the offices of the 21st century we are always awaiting the arrival of new WhatsApp or faebook messages, rather than in the correct execution of our tasks. The pattern is repeated in the bed. ? We have banished the idea that a woman that if a woman does not enjoy sex is because the man does not satisfy her, but what is true is that for some of them sex becomes a task or an exam that in a moment to enjoy ?, reflects the psychologist José Bustamante.
Solution ? Sex is not the same as the gym, the more you try the more benefits you get ,? the specialist warns. ? The important thing is to get carried away. The more you think about it, the more likely you are to fail. There is nothing less erotic than to notice if you achieve an erection instead of admiring his body, his smell or the sensations that his caresses produce ?, he adds. Secrets range from the most important (that you need to increase the dose of passion) to the insignificant, but that accumulate to create a harmful distance for the relationship. So contact her, tell her that you are upset because you want sex but you don’t trust the result. When talking about it, you allow your partner to say:? Nothing happens ?. And that, paradoxically, will make it happen, because you will feel much more relaxed. Is it best to enjoy the moment? Bustamante advises. Pay attention to what you like and more excites you about it.
Technology Imperfect photos, irreplaceable photos
Before we had the guarantee of saving the negative and printing the images as many times as we wanted, but in the digital era the tangible has disappeared and every time we store more data without having a backup. The most immediate consequence is that our photos can be lost if our computer’s hard drive is damaged. A study conducted in 2008 by the Photo Marketing Association found that half of the owners of digital cameras kept their images on their laptop, 38% on CD and only 18% printed them. In a global investigation conducted by the Harris Interactive company, it was established that only one in four users made backup copies and that three out of five had lost their images at least once.
Solution ? An option to keep your images safe is? Besides saving them to a CD? rent a website where you can place them ?, explains Javier López Tazón, head of the technology supplement of the newspaper El Mundo , or a cloud service, in addition to printing the ones you appreciate most. Uploading all to your Facebook account is not a good solution. ? We must keep in mind that someday our hard drive will die, so always have a back up with all your data and personal things ,? he advises.