Features
Shift work and brain damage: Insomnia
Insomnia, which is defined as having both poor sleep quality and impaired sleep related activities of daily living (ADL), was reported by 18.5 percent of night-shift workers compared with 8.4 percent of daytime workers.
Workers 60 years old or older had a lower prevalence of short sleep duration, impaired sleep-related activities of daily living (ADL), and insomnia than those 30 to 59 years old.
Female workers had a lower prevalence of short sleep duration but a higher prevalence of the other three sleep outcomes (poor sleep quality, impaired sleep related ADL, and insomnia) than male workers.
Obese workers had a higher prevalence of short sleep duration and poor sleep quality than those who were normal weight/underweight.
Current smokers had a higher prevalence of short sleep duration, poor sleep quality and insomnia (but not impaired sleep-related ADL) than non-smokers.
Workers who worked 48 hours or more per week had a higher prevalence of short sleep duration, poor sleep quality and insomnia than those who worked less than 48 hours per week.
Workers who frequently used sleeping pills had a higher prevalence of poor sleep quality, impaired sleep-related ADL and insomnia (but not short sleep duration) than those who did not.
A higher prevalence of all four sleep outcomes (short sleep duration, poor sleep quality, insomnia, and impaired sleep-related ADL) was observed among workers who were widowed, divorced or separated; workers who reported fair or poor health; workers with symptomatic depression; and workers who had a physician diagnosed sleep disorder – than among workers who did not have those characteristics.
Although our study was not subject to limitations of earlier investigations with smaller sample sizes, it was subject to other limitations inherent in the kind of investigation we conducted. We describe those limitations in our paper.
As we note there, they are mitigated to some degree by the consistency of our methods and findings with those of other well-designed studies in the literature.
Particularly in light of the likely continuing increase in non-traditional working schedules, work-based prevention strategies and policies should be adopted to improve the quantity and quality of sleep among workers. Unfortunately, there is no single ideal strategy to successfully address the sleep risks of every demanding shift-work situation.
Instead, interventions often need to be customised to the specific employer and worker. These include designing new shift schedules with frequent rest breaks, avoiding night shifts that exceed eight hours, improving one’s sleep environment, taking a long nap before a night shift begins, accelerating the modulation of circadian rhythms using bright lights, improving physical fitness, engaging in stress reduction activities, and strengthening family and social support.
Sources of further information and recommendations from NIOSH can be found on the Work Schedules: Shift Work and Long Hours topic page. What challenges have you found with night shifts, and what approaches have you used?
Geoffrey Calvert, MD, MPH, FACPDr. Calvert is a Team Leader and Senior Medical Epidemiologist in the NIOSH Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
Emotional Surgery as a remedy
This NeuroSoft Technology seduces your emotions by inducing brains cells to rectify the negative conditions that might be hiding, waiting to cause sudden death.
This is a Multi-Trillion Dollar NeuroSoft Technology invented by a Computer Programmer and a Software Engineer with very deep knowledge in Neuroscience,Virtual Surgeries, Visual Arts and Psychology.
Robert Grimmond-Thompson –is a Super Creative Genius with super Type “A” Brain.
Emotional Surgery is the Art and Science of using colour coding frequencies for Surgery. It is a self-induced type of surgery to reassure the mind- removing things that are not good from the human mind -Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), etc. This therapeutic programming software promotes brain cell coordination, seducing the brain by inducing the neurons.
The system of Emotional Surgery works because the inventor, Robert Grimmond Thompson, impregnates his coded Software PeTStar ver.8.31 with 980 Trillion special light rays consisting colour codes that have different wavelengths and vibration frequencies and codes which affect your mind, cells, electrical impulse and body chemicals differently.
The system communicates with special cells in your body for good health. He empowers the human brain with very high levels of creative intelligence coding frequencies- engaging the highest form of stealth colour codes with radiant energy acting on the retina.
This ambitious and intriguing imagery of optical information received through this technology communicates to the brain to direct the various bodily functions to respond accordingly using optimum energy fields.
Robert Grimmond-Thompson – An EMOTIONAL SURGEON, NEUROKINETICS NETWORK ENGINEERING SURGEON, an American trained, Software Engineer, Computer Programmer, PC-Specialist, a Painter, Medical Graphic Arts Specialist, an Inventor and Innovative Technologist, etc.
He is an accomplished Artist and the number one (#1) Health Discoveries and Research Personality Award Winner in the year 2017 (The BRITISH COUNCIL –ACCRA, GHANA).
PTSD STATISTICS
Seventy per cent (70%) of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives. This equates to approximately 223.4 million people. Up to 20 percent of these people go on to develop PTSD. As of today, that equates to approximately 44.7 million people who were or are struggling with PTSD.
…to be continued.
Robert Grimmond Thompson
Attention-Deficit or Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is often mistaken for laziness or indiscipline. In consulting rooms across Accra and in reports from school teachers, the pattern repeats: children who are bright but forgetful, parents who feel helpless, teachers who see incompleteness.
Research is clear-Barkley (2015) and others describe ADHD as a difference in the brain’s regulation of alertness, impulse and working memory, not a lack of effort.
The family’s role begins with structure. Regular sleep, predictable meal and homework times, and a simple visual list (uniform → books → water → corridor) provide the external scaffolding of these children need. Praise what is completed—“You opened the book and wrote the first sentence”-instead of rebuking what is missing.
Schools can help by seating the child front-row and centre, giving short written plus verbal instructions, allowing brief movement breaks, using quiet nonverbal cues and, where possible, grading effort and method as well as neatness. These adjustments reduce conflict and raise submission rates without lowering standards.
Couples and caregivers should share roles: one grounds, one pivots, and both protect rest. Shame-“bad parenting, bad child”-needs replacing with fact: different wiring, needs scaffolding.
Outcomes improve not by promises of perfection but by daily routines, clear limits and warmed connection. One homework slot kept, one instruction chunked, one calm repair after blurting-these small wins shift the family climate and let the child be seen beyond the label.
Resource
• CPAC (award-winning Mental Health and Counselling Facility): 0559850604 / 0551428486
Source: REV. COUNSELLOR PRINCE OFFEI’s insights on special needs support, relationships, and mental health in Ghana. He is a leading mental health professional, lecturer, ADR Expert/Arbitrator, renowned author, and marriage counsellor at COUNSELLOR PRINCE & ASSOCIATES CONSULT (CPAC COUNSELLOR TRAINING INSTITUTE) – 0551428486 /0559850604.
WEBSITES:
https://princeoffei22.wixsite.com/author
https://princeoffei22.wixsite.com/website
After two weeks of hectic activity up north, I drove to the Tamale airport, parked the car at the Civil Aviation car park as usual, paid the usual parking fee and boarded the plane for Accra.
Over the last two weeks, I had shuffled between three sites where work was close to completion.
One was a seed warehouse, where farmers would come and pick up good quality maize, sorghum and other planting material.
The other was a health facility for new mothers, where they were given basic training on good nutrition and small scale business.
And the third was a set of big boreholes for three farming communities.
The projects usually ran on schedule, but a good deal of time was spent building rapport with the local people, to ensure that they would be well patronised and maintained.
It was great to be working in a situation where one’s work was well appreciated. But it certainly involved a lot of work, and proactivity. And I made sure that I recorded updates online before going to bed in the evening.
When the plane took off, my mind shifted to issues in Accra, the big city. The young guys at my office had done some good work. They had secured five or six houses on a row in a good part of the city, and were close to securing the last.
When we got this property, unusually, Abena greeted them casually, and appeared to be comfortable in the guy’s company.
I was quite disappointed to hear that, because until the last few weeks, it seemed as if Abena and I were heading in a good direction. Apart from the affection I had for her, I liked her family. I decided to take it easy, and allow things to fall in whatever direction.
Normally I would take a taxi to her house from the airport, and pick her up to my place. This time I went to my sisters’ joint, where they sat by me while I enjoyed a drink and a good meal.
“So Little Brother,” Sister Beesiwa said, “what is it we are hearing about our wife-to-be?”
“When did you conclude that she was your wife-to-be? And what have you heard? I’ve only heard a couple of whispers. Ebo and Nana Kwame called to say that they have seen her in the company of—”
“Well said Little Brother,” Sister Baaba said. “By the way, Nana Kwame called an hour ago to ask if you had arrived because he could not reach you. Someone had told him that Jennifer had boasted to someone that she had connected Abena to a wealthy guy who would take care of her.”
I was beginning to understand. For some time, Abena had been asking me what work I was doing up north, and after I had explained it to her, she kept asking. So I think Jennifer fed her with false stories about me in order to get her to move to the Ampadu guy. Jennifer must have been well compensated for her efforts.
“In that case,” Sister Beesiwa said, “you should be glad that Abena is out of your way. She is easily swayed. Anyone who would make a relationship decision based on a friend’s instigation lacks good sense. I hope the guy is as wealthy as they say?”
“Who gets wealthy running a supermarket chain in Ghana?” Sister Baaba said. “Our supermarkets sell mostly imported products. Look at the foreign exchange rate. And remember that Ghanaians buy second-hand shoes and clothes. Supermarkets are not good business here. Perhaps they are showing off that they are wealthy, but in reality they are not doing so well.”
“Amen to that,” I said. “I’m beginning to understand. For some time, Abena had been asking me what work I was doing up north, and after I had explained it to her, she kept asking. So I think Jennifer fed her with false stories about me in order to get her to move to the Ampadu guy. Jennifer must have been well compensated for her efforts.”
She said that David Forson was only an agricultural extension worker in the north who did not have the resources to take care of a beautiful girl like her. And apart from being wealthy, the guy comes from an influential family, so Abena had done much better leaving a miserable civil servant like you for him.
“Amen to that,” I said. “I’m beginning to understand. For some time, Abena had been asking me what work I was doing up north, and after I had explained it to her, she kept asking. We would be able to sell all five houses to one big corporate customer, and we had already spoken to a property dealer who was trying to find a buyer in order to get a good commission.
That was going to be my biggest break. I had asked the boys to look for a large tract of land on the outskirts of the city where we could develop our own set of buildings, blocks of storey houses and upscale apartments. Things were going according to plan, and I was quietly excited. However, things were not going so well regarding my relationship with Abena.
My buddies Ebo and Nana Kwame had called to say that they met Abena and her friend Jennifer enjoying lunch with a guy, and Ebo believed that Jennifer was ‘promoting’ an affair between Jennifer and the guy. They were of the view that the promotion seemed to be going in the guy’s favour, because only an agricultural extension worker in the north who did not have the resources to take care of a beautiful girl like her.
And apart from being wealthy, the guy comes from an influential family, so Abena had done much better leaving a miserable civil servant like you for him.
“As I’ve already said, I will stop by her place, but I will mind my own business from now. Hey, let’s talk family. How are our parents? And my brothers-in-law? And my nephews and nieces? Why don’t we meet on Sunday? I’m going to drop my bags at my place, and go to see Mama and Dad.”
