Why do some people find it so difficult to relax?

Image Source: naldzgraphics.net

Workaholics tend to see time off as time wasted. They typically feel that every minute has to be devoted to attaining the goals they have set for themselves. They may be corporate presidents or college students, but they share an inability to relax.

An excessive and compulsive drive for achievement may be based on a distortion of a deeply ingrained work ethic. Counselors have found that one way to persuade workaholics to relax is to convince them that time off will improve their productivity, that giving themselves time to refuel will enable them to perform twice as well.

For many, taking it easy is something they must actually learn to do. They have to consult "leisure counselors," who may advise them to try to discover the hidden benefits of leisure by seeking out activities as far removed as possible from the daily routines of the job. A counselor might also recommend that dedicated workaholics join a leisure-oriented club or make a list of things they have always secretly wanted to do.

Do people with different personalities have different brains?

Image Source: quora.com

Although science is a long way from connecting every human trait to a telltale wrinkle in brain tissue, researchers have discovered fascinating links between brain structure and the ways different people behave. The British psychologist Hans Eysenck has proposed that a key to the difference between the extroverted and introverted personality - one outgoing, the other reserved - lies in the cerebral cortex, a part of the brain much involved in learning, reasoning, and planning. Activity here can be viewed in brain scans. In the extrovert, the cortex is quiet and seems to welcome noisy, exciting situations that arouse it. The introvert's level of cortical arousal, in contrast, is already high, so the introverted personality does not need much outside stimulation and seems to prefer peace and quiet.

Some support for Eysenck's theory can be found in our daily experience. Extroverts can fall asleep quickly and introverts can't, suggesting that the extrovert's cortex slips easily into a quiet state. Furthermore, the fact that extroverts tend to be less sensitive to pain seems to indicate that their cerebral cortexes are harder to arouse.

Why Do I Laugh at Funny Things?

Humans are not the only animals who have the ability to laugh. Smiling and laughing have been observed in non-human primate species during social play. This type of behavioral response serves as a signal to the group by spreading positive emotions, decreasing stress, and contributing to the cohesiveness of the group.

Humor-evoked laughter in humans can be divided into these stages. When listening to a joke, the first part of the humor is the punch line, an incongruous ending. Second, your mind begins to problem-solve in order to interpret this incongruity or surprise. Finally, the brain is able to appreciate these steps, which together form humor and evoke a response of laughter.

The neurotransmitter dopamine (a brain chemical) is responsible for allowing the brain to progress through the stages of humor. Dopamine allows us to feel good when we laugh. Some studies have demonstrated an improvement in health for chronically ill patients when they are exposed to funny stimuli. Thus the old adage “Laughter is the best medicine" probably has a note of truth in it.

World's stingiest woman - Hetty Green

Back in the late 1800s, the world's richest woman was also the world's stingiest. Though she had millions in the bank, she dressed like a street hag and lived like a pauper.
As a child, Hetty Robinson learned to read from the financial pages, which she would recite to her wealthy Father. At age 30 she inherited one million dollars and, over the course of the next 50 years, she shrewdly manipulated stocks and bonds until her fortune grew to nearly $100 million.
Her financial wizardry and infamous stock manipulations confounded such formidable tycoons as Jay Gould and J. P. Morgan and earned her the ignominious title "The Witch of Wall Street." But though she was a genius at making money, when developed an unparalleled hatred of spending it.
When she turned 33, she married Edward Green, another millionaire, but made him sign a prenuptial agreement not to claim any of her money. When he went broke speculating on stocks, they separated, and Hetty, though she had vast wealth, raised her two children under dingy conditions, moving from one cheap hotel to another to avoid paying personal property taxes.
To save money on clothes and laundry soap, she wore the same black dress every day and washed only the bottom portion that touched the ground. Hetty's reluctance to spend money reached horrifying proportions shen her son, Ned, injured his knee. She took him to a charity ward to be treated. Unfortunately for Ned, a doctor recognized his millionaire mother and demanded payment. She refused to pay and treated the boy's injury herself. After two years, his leg had to be amputated.
She was far too cheap to pay rent for an office. Instead she conducted her financial dealings from the bank where she kept her fortune, threatening to withdraw it if the bank officers refused to let her use an available desk. When she was feeling particularly unhappy, she would sometimes sit on the marble floor of the bank's vault and admire her notes and securities, which she filed in the specially make pockets of her petticoat. For her meals she would warm up a bowl of oatmeal on the radiator or take out a ham sandwich, unwrapped, from one of her voluminous pockets.
Hetty's lifelong stinginess even played a role in her death in 1916 at the age of 81. She suffered a stroke while arguing over the price of milk. Her son Ned hired nurses to care for her before she died, but had them dress in street clothes for fear that Hetty's condition would worsen if she realized money was being spent to pay nursing bills.
As a final irony, Ned, who inherited much of his mother's vast fortune, became an extravagant spender. He threw his millions away on lavish parties, expensive jewelry, yachts, even diamond studded chamber pots.

Going over the top

On the afternoon of October 24, 1901, several thousand people watched as a large wooden barrel careered through violent rapids towards Niagara's Horseshoe Falls. Swept along by the current, the cask disappeared over the edge. Seconds later the barrel rose up to the surface in the calmer waters 54 m (160 ft) below: it had survived its battering. And miraculously, for the fist time in Niagara's long history of daredevils, so had its passenger.

Strapped and cushioned inside, school teacher Anna Edson Taylor had just celebrated her 43rd birthday with a death-defying plunge into the history books. Taylor was shocked and badly shaken and had a gash in her head; but she was alive, conscious, and within a few days had fully recovered.

Anna Taylor's bravery did not bring her the cascade of riches she had hoped, and she died penniless in 1921. She is buried in a 'stunters' section of Niagara Falls' Oakwood cemetery, remembered still as the first person - and only woman ever - to survive the Niagara fall. Her advice to potential imitators was: 'Don't try it!'

Is Helping Others Good For You?

The warm feeling you get from making someone feel better may prolong your own life. A 14-year study of 2,700 people in Tecumseh, Michigan, found a decline in the mortality rate of men who did volunteer work, compared with that of men who didn't. Another study, at Harvard, showed a rise in disease-fighting antibodies in the saliva of students seeing a film about the work among Calcutta's (now Kolkata) poor of Mother Teresa (died in 1997), one of the most admired altruists of this or any other era.

From surveys of people regularly involved in helping others, the picture emerges of altruism lightening depression and bringing increased energy. Many volunteers speak of a "helper's calm" much like the runner's high that comes with exercise. Helping people, like exercise, seems to have a calming effect on the brain and body and may reduce heart stress by curbing anger and irritability.