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Skift
a day ago
- Health
- Skift
Take That Summer Vacation: 5 Musts for Avoiding Burnout
As August rolls around, it's easy to convince yourself that there's no time to take a summer vacation. That's one of many unhealthy decisions planners under stress can make. Talk to experts who specialize in burnout and they'll describe it as a slow burn. It's not immediate. By not addressing what they're feeling and not taking steps in the moment to de-stress, over time, planners will find themselves in a spiral. Into depression, a cycle of self-medicating or overeating, or worse. Here are 5 proactive strategies for avoiding burnout: 1. Know the Signs It's important to be able to identify warning signs early on. Stress manifests itself in various forms — from chronic exhaustion to nagging anxiety to difficulty concentrating. Recognizing when your behaviors start to change because of stress is the first step, said Rebecca Schwartz, Ph.D, an associate professor at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell. Learn more from her in 8 Ways to Avoid Burnout. 2. Create Boundaries Setting boundaries is important in any profession, but even more so for meeting planners. Long hours and big stretches of time away from home can take their toll, and it's up to each individual to create healthy boundaries. When you're not traveling for a program, resist the urge to do any work outside of regular hours. Use all your vacation, and don't skip lunch. Learn to say no. If you're short-staffed and your company won't give you resources, don't do three people's jobs, or you will find yourself doing them permanently. Find more advice at Setting Boundaries: 10 Strategies for Planners. 3. Be Proactive One of the biggest sources of stress is last-minute changes. That final week heading into a meeting can challenge even the most seasoned planner. The first line of defense is the contract. Use language that highlights any late changes that may significantly affect cost and the ability to adhere to the selected event date. Make sure that everyone understands that changes have implications, and can jeopardize the event schedule. Check out this article for contract strategies to avoid last-minute changes. It's also essential to arrive on site fully prepared. Office supplies, first aid, electronic supplies — getting caught without an essential item can create undue stress. Creating your own 'black box' will help. 4. Practice Self-Care Taking care of your health, especially when you're on the road, is essential for avoiding burnout. With so much riding on the success of an event, many planners find themselves sacrificing their personal health routines, including diet and exercise, because there just aren't enough hours in the day. A lack of sleep is another common challenge, and can end up causing brain fog and making you feel sluggish. What's worse, sleep deprivation can also cause hormonal imbalances that can spike your appetite. It might not even be possible to get a good night's sleep every night when you're on site at a meeting, and that's where fitness hacks come in. Don't miss these 7 Fitness Hacks for Event Travel. If you do a lot of long-haul travel, that's even more challenging. Time zone changes can tempt you to give into the one-two punch of alcohol and coffee — the two biggest contributors to jet lag. It's a recipe for burnout. We asked fellow travelers and flight attendants for advice on how to survive long-haul travel here. 5. Eat Right The key to eating well on the road is to plan ahead, and many planners bring healthy snacks with them — but it's not always possible. There's nothing like having just a few minutes between flights and trying to seek out something healthy to eat in between the pizza, hot dogs, and jumbo bags of chips and candy. You'll find containers of celery and carrots with hummus, or yogurt, but that doesn't equal a healthy meal. The good news is that healthy food does exist at airports, and you can research where to go in advance so you don't miss out if time is limited. These tips on where to go to find healthy airport food can help. Explore the Skift Meetings Toolkit Level up your skills in minutes and start streamlining the way you plan meetings and events. Hundreds of articles in nine key categories: Accessibility & Inclusion | Budgeting & Cost Savings | Careers & Personal Development | Contracts & Duty of Care | Event Technology | Ideas & Inspiration | Logistics & Operations | Marketing & Promotions | On The Road For more suggestions for managing job stress and avoiding burnout, check out Skift Meetings Toolkit, our new how-to hub, with hundreds of information-packed articles about meeting planning.


Telegraph
15-06-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
This neuroscientist has the secret to tackling inflammation
Imagine a future where you no longer have to take a pill for your ill. No more monthly prescription charges or time-consuming trips to the doctor. No debilitating side-effects; all you'd need is an hour-long operation to insert a tiny electrical device in your chest and neck to calm the inflammation in your body. Inflammation is a natural process, and a certain amount is healthy and necessary. When a person becomes ill or injured, their immune system sends out its 'first responders' – inflammatory cells which start to heal the injured tissue. For example, a fever is evidence that your immune system is working properly. However, if this process continues for too long, inflammation can harm healthy tissues, and lead to chronic illness. Dr Kevin Tracey is a professor of neurosurgery at the Zucker School of Medicine in Long Island, New York, and the president and chief executive of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. 'Inflammation causes or contributes to the conditions that kill two thirds of people on the planet,' he says. 'Of the 60 million that die per year, 40 million die from inflammatory conditions such as heart disease, stroke, or cancer.' The key to fighting inflammation, according to Dr Tracey, is stimulation of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve, which runs down your neck and into your chest and abdomen, is an anatomical 'superhighway' comprising a complex network of more than 200,000 fibres connecting the brain to vital organs. It is part of your parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for the body's 'rest and digest' functions. Dr Tracey is something of a pioneer in this area, which he investigates in his new book, The Great Nerve: The New Science of the Vagus Nerve and How To Harness Its Healing Reflexes, and he claims to be one of the most highly cited living scientists in the world. Scientists have known about the vagus nerve since the 16th century, but for Dr Tracey, a breakthrough came in 1998 when a laboratory experiment gone wrong led to an unexpected discovery. He and his colleagues accidentally injected a rat with an inflammatory toxin – and an anti-inflammatory drug simultaneously injected in its brain had a restorative effect. Until then, scientists thought that the brain and immune system did not communicate. The groundbreaking discovery on that that day gave way to to Dr Tracey and his colleagues realising that the vagus nerve wasn't just something that impacted the brain; it also controlled inflammation and, as a result, all areas of our health – from gut health to joints – and stimulating it could reduce harmful inflammation. 'It's obvious, at least to me, that this mode of treatment will soon be able to help millions who are suffering with inflammatory illnesses,' says Dr Tracey. A new era of medicine Thanks to ongoing research into the vagus nerve, the next decade could see vastly improved treatment of inflammatory illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. In fact, Dr Tracey's new bioelectronic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis – which like all vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) treatment works on the premise of 'turning off' an inflammatory molecule called TNF – is awaiting regulatory approval. Since Dr Tracey's initial breakthrough, research into the vagus nerve has accelerated, giving rise to a field known as 'bioelectronic medicine', where treatments use electrical signals rather than drugs. A pacemaker is an example of bioelectronic medicine, as is VNS, which some experts describe as 'a pacemaker for the brain'. VNS involves the implantation of a device that sends regular, mild pulses of electrical energy to your brain stem through your vagus nerve in your neck. After reaching your brainstem, the electrical charge is discharged to different areas of your brain to change the way brain cells work. 'Vagus nerve stimulation has saved lives,' says Dr Tracey. 'Many patients who turn to VNS have tried everything – they have run out of options. 'The advantages over medication are that it's more targeted than a pill, it has a short half-life – you can turn the treatment on and off – and it has fewer side-effects than many drugs,' he adds. Where VNS does work, it works miraculously. Dr Tracey tells the story of a lorry driver in one of his trials whose hands and feet were so affected by rheumatoid arthritis, he was unable to work. A week after being implanted with a vagal nerve stimulator the size of a pain-killing tablet, the driver was back to his normal life, even playing tennis. 'Meeting him was one of the happiest days of my professional life,' says Dr Tracey. 'Few scientists have the privilege of inventing something and then shaking hands with a patient it has helped. We're now getting emails from patients who are desperate for help. In one rheumatoid arthritis trial, we had room for 242 participants, but 20,000 people applied.' Should this new treatment be patented by the FDA in the United States, the chances of it rolling out internationally are high. 'There will be a surge of patient demand,' says Dr Tracey, who believes it could help 1,500,000 to two million rheumatoid arthritis patients in the US, and 17 million worldwide. 'Just imagine: a one-hour surgery rather than a lifetime on toxic drugs.' Farther into the future, says Dr Tracey, there may even be a VNS treatment for dementia. 'The link between Alzheimer's and inflammation is often talked about, but not well understood,' he says. 'But there is some evidence that VNS can enhance learning or memory.' Will VNS become mainstream? Even Dr Tracey accepts that VNS is not a fail-safe treatment, and that it only benefits about two thirds of patients. He knows that many traditional doctors still raise their eyebrows. 'Early advocates of VNS may be criticised by those defending the status quo, and who will say the 'effect' size of VNS is too small,' he says. 'Other, less benign forces may also hinder the adoption of vagal nerve stimulation, because this idea has the potential to disrupt the pharmaceutical industry.' He is keenly aware that it's not in the interests of big pharma to invest in trials for a product that will make their products redundant – hence Dr Tracey's trials are funded by venture capital. 'I actually wrote my book for doctors to read, as well as for laypeople,' he says. 'My mission is to shorten the adoption curve of a new technology. I'm an introvert rather than an extrovert: I don't want the limelight personally. But I want the facts to be in the limelight.' In Dr Tracey's eyes, the facts are clear: it's a low-risk treatment, with a high reward for those who do respond. 'I expect that vagus nerve therapy, like every other therapy, will not work in 100 per cent of patients,' he says. 'VNS has three possible outcomes. Those who respond are in remission, and others are much better and need less medication.' On those who do not respond at all, he says: 'There is still more work to do. But I fully expect that millions of people with inflammatory conditions will soon be helped by this therapy.' He dreams that it will become a preventative treatment, for conditions such as atherosclerosis, diabetes or cancer. 'For those people who have exhausted the gamut of drug treatments, VNS represents hope – from the woman whose arthritic hands are so twisted she cannot do up her blouse, to the man unable to work or play with his small children because of the debilitating pain in his wrists and hands. 'VNS is not a cure-all, but for many patients, it's a possible. And as a neurosurgeon and scientist, I love to chase the possible.' DIY stimulation of the vagus nerve for stress and anxiety What about the miracle cures we see everywhere on the internet, from meditating to breathwork and plunging into ice-water? Dr Tracey has a healthy scepticism. 'A clinical trial of one or two subjects is more like a fairy tale with a happy ending than scientific proof that the cold makes you healthier and stronger,' he says. 'In some cases, there is deep science, in others, not that much.' Regulated breathing seems to have more evidence than meditation or coldwater plunges. 'These things are important, but it's important not to overhype, or oversell them. It devalues the science that we do know. I don't want to dilute my vagus nerve work for over 30 years,' he says. On the other hand, says Dr Tracey, if these methods work for you, they work for you. He meditates, takes cold showers, and practices deep breathing every morning.


Forbes
01-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The 4+4 Blueprint: Inside The Hofstra BS/MD Experience
Choosing to become a doctor is more than just selecting a job—it's a lifelong commitment to healing, educating, and positively impacting patients' lives. As anyone who dreams of donning a white coat understands, the journey to become a doctor is long and complex but immensely rewarding in the end. The Hofstra 4+4 Program: BS-BA/MD offers a transformative opportunity for students who have already chosen their path and are eager to dedicate themselves to their medical career from the start. Facilitated by the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, being a student in this program does not prove a shortcut; rather, it delivers a carefully designed and immersive experience that prepares students for the challenges and rewards of being a physician today. The Hofstra 4+4 Program gives students early access to clinical opportunities and a strong support ... More system to help them through the process. The eight-year program emphasizes mentorship as it balances academic challenges with personal development and practical experiences. This program carves the path to transform its matriculants from a high school senior into an empathetic, well-rounded physician ready to make an impact. The Hofstra 4+4 Program: BS-BA/MD consists of four years of undergraduate education followed by four years of medical school training, seamlessly integrated into a single pathway. What distinguishes this program is not only the efficient process but also the underlying philosophy of cultivating outstanding physicians who are technically and empathetically skilled. Graduates emerge as leaders who grasp the humanistic impact of their work in medicine. Entry into this program is highly competitive. Each year, nearly 2,000 driven students from all over the country submit applications, yet only 10 to 15 are offered this coveted position. This results in a 0.5% acceptance rate, making it one of the most competitive routes to medicine available. Here's a rundown of what was required for students applying in 2025/26: In addition to these quantitative prerequisites, competitive applicants must also have enthusiasm, perseverance and a well-defined vision for their medical career ahead. The application process for the Hofstra 4+4 Program: BS-BA/MD consists of multiple steps. It's a comprehensive system to get to know the candidates as personally as individuals and academically. The program's aim is to choose students who are genuinely prepared for this commitment. Here is a general timeline, with the dates and requirements subject to change from year-to-year: This is a challenging process to say the least, but each phase is a checkpoint to guarantee that the program is choosing not only the brightest students but also the most dedicated to the core values of medicine. One of the most compelling features of the Hofstra 4+4 Program: BS-BA/MD is the level of flexibility it offers. Unlike students in traditional pre-med programs who feel restricted in the classes outside of the core sciences they are required to take, students in this program are encouraged to pursue outside interests. With 165 majors available, students can choose whatever sparks their interest, whether it's biology, psychology, economics or even dance. Previous students have used this flexibility to explore areas they never thought they would take a class in, let alone major in. This program facilitates this freedom of academic discovery while also making sure students fulfill all the medical school requirements. However, the benefits don't end there. The program encourages students to: These initiatives all go beyond academics; they focus on developing well-rounded individuals who can contribute their distinct thoughts and experiences to the medical field. Taking on the requirements of the BS/MD program may seem daunting at first, but the students in this program are never alone in the process. From the first day on campus, students are assigned a compatible medical school advisor to navigate coursework, research opportunities and extracurricular activities. The advisors will also provide guidance on MCAT preparation and medical school readiness. Beyond providing logistical support, the advisor will also serve as a support system throughout the med school journey as they help find opportunities that align with the student's individual passions and goals. Additionally, the community of peers will provide invaluable support. Upperclassmen often mentor under students, offering tips and establishing an open support network. The program organizes group bonding activities, such as bowling and ice skating, where participants can unwind and make lifelong friendships. Another major benefit of the Hofstra 4+4 Program: BS-BA/MD is its affiliation with Northwell Health, one of the largest healthcare providers in New York. This paves the way for a plethora of opportunities, including research at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and clinical experiences at Northwell's hospitals and outpatient centers. With early exposure to shadowing and research opportunities, it gives its students an advantage by allowing them to be present and work in the setting they will become so familiar with later in their career. After the students matriculate to the Zucker School of Medicine, they will immerse themselves in the unique, case-oriented curriculum that combines scientific knowledge with clinical application. Students will engage in experiential learning via small-group discussions, training in procedures like ultrasound and participate in clinical rotations. To remain in the program and have a smooth transition into medical school, students must uphold certain standards, which might change from year-to-year: It's a high standard to reach, but these expectations ensure students are ready for the rigors of medical school. The Hofstra 4+4 Program: BS-BA/MD focuses on education, but it also prioritizes developing compassionate and cultured humans. Students will have the opportunity to engage in extracurricular activities like sports, community service and study abroad. These experiences will foster students' emotional and ethical development, preparing them to be the best doctor they can for their future patients. Many students talk about how the most fulfilling part of the program is the balance built into the curriculum, with challenging academic courses combined with the opportunity to have an enriching college experience. If you are ready to dedicate yourself to a career in medicine, the Hofstra 4+4 Program: BS-BA/MD provides a direct and rewarding journey. It integrates the stability of a secured medical school position with the freedom to develop and pursue your passions and gain the skills essential for success as a doctor.