Billie

Distraction during work may be fun, but it is not productive. A new study called ‘The Cost of Interrupted Work’ determined exactly how long it takes to regain your concentration and that turns out to be a lot longer than expected.

There are moments when you are completely in work mode. Then your keyboard works overtime and every so often you can cross a task off your to-do list. You’re on track to have the most productive day of your career – until you’re suddenly distracted by a colleague, a ringing phone or the neighbor’s dog.

You can learn to concentrate

There is no concentration anymore and although you might think that such an interruption only lasts a few minutes and therefore has little impact on your working day, the opposite is true. According to ‘The Cost of Interrupted Work’, not only is there an 18% chance that you will postpone your interrupted task to another day, but it would also take an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to resume the task.

However, the scientists also found that those who are used to being constantly interrupted while working adapt their way of working. They usually work faster to compensate for the time they will lose in the future. Sounds positive, but it is anything but. People with this way of working have a higher workload, more frustrations, more stress.

Shielding yourself as much as possible from all kinds of distractions while at work therefore seems to be the best way to be productive and avoid stress. A few hours of focused work per day could boost your entire work experience and general productivity.

Thousands of cases of breast cancer could be prevented every year, according to research by the Lancet breast cancer commission, led by the University of Cambridge. To reduce the risk of the disease, women can do something themselves. “Drink less alcohol and breastfeed more,” the scientists said.

Thousands of cases of breast cancer could be prevented every year if women drank less alcohol and breastfed more, according to a new report focusing on the disease in Britain. The latest figures show that 55,900 women in the country are diagnosed with the disease every year. According to the researchers, one in four of these is due to “modifiable risk factors”. These can be reduced by lifestyle changes.

The experts estimate that 4.7 percent of breast cancer cases in Britain are linked to not breastfeeding. Breastfeeding for a year can reduce the risk of the disease by four percent. The longer a mother breastfeeds her baby, the lower the risk. Britain has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, with only one in 200 mothers breastfeeding for 12 months. It is not entirely clear how breastfeeding reduces the risk of cancer. It is thought that it has something to do with the changed structure of the breasts and because the mother is temporarily less exposed to certain hormones.

Furthermore, the researchers discovered that women who drink wine every day are 9 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than non-drinkers. That risk can increase by up to 60 percent among the heaviest drinkers. “The report highlights that many cases of breast cancer are preventable, but not enough people are aware of modifiable risk factors and the steps they can take to minimize their chance of developing the disease,” it concludes.

Is an evening of watching television on the couch the ultimate form of relaxation for you? Then this habit could disrupt your night’s sleep. Researchers have discovered that ‘couch sitters’ have to get up more often to urinate, as can be read in the journal Neurourology and Urodynamics.

A team of Chinese scientists examined data from the American National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. That study ran from 2011 to 2016 and included a total of 13,294 adults. The researchers found that 32 percent of respondents suffered from nocturia: the need to urinate two or more times a night.

They investigated whether this phenomenon was linked to the age, gender, BMI, cultural background, education level or general health of the individuals, but in their search they came to a different conclusion. The risk of nocturia appears to be 48 percent higher in people who watch five hours (or more) of television per day compared to those who spend less than an hour in front of the TV.

The scientists say that watching TV for a long time (read: little exercise) is linked to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The lifestyle disease is a risk factor for nocturia. Sedentary behavior in itself leads to more fluid accumulation in the legs, which can also result in nighttime urination. “Moreover, watching TV is usually accompanied by consuming a drink, which leads to an increased fluid intake,” the researchers conclude.

The study is receiving some opposition. “Did the people have to get out of bed more often at night to urinate because they watched television all day, or did they watch television all day because of other factors and then simply go to the toilet more often? This question remains unanswered in this study,” underlines James Catto, affiliated with the National Institute for Health and Care Research in Great Britain. The expert concludes that nighttime urination occurs frequently in the elderly due to functional changes of the lower urinary tract and that it is not necessarily a cause for concern. If it worries you, it is better to consult a doctor.