By Daniel J. Levitin, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

With summer vacation over, we head back to work or school, to our normal routines. We begin the fall with a great sense of optimism about all we can accomplish. We vow to do things differently. Yet come Thanksgiving, we’ll find we didn’t get as much done as we thought we would. We procrastinated.

Everyone dawdles from time to time; it’s a universal trait. But not every procrastinator is the same.

Procrastination comes in two types. Some of us procrastinate in order to pursue restful activities — spending time in bed, watching TV — while others delay difficult or unpleasant tasks in favor of those that are more fun.

In this respect, the two types differ in activity level: The rest-seeking procrastinators would generally rather not exert themselves at all, while the fun-task procrastinators enjoy being busy and active all the time, but have a hard time starting things that are not so amusing.

The tendency to procrastinate has been linked to both genetics and the neurobiology of the brain. People are more likely to procrastinate if they are young and single (including divorced and separated). So are those with a Y chromosome, which could explain why women are far more likely to graduate from college than men.

Self-regulation and impulse-control problems in general are more likely to be found in males, who have a larger number of fatal and nonfatal accidents, a higher suicide rate, a higher incarceration rate and are more likely to seek and take risks. Variations in the structure of genes that regulate dopamine in the brain influence the extent to which we can control our attentional focus. One new study has shown that variations in a gene that regulates the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in turn affect our ability to experience a sense of reward.

And, as it happens, reward is an important part of the story of procrastination — for all of us. We tend to put off those things for which we will not get an immediate reward: projects with a long event horizon such as those undertaken by academics, engineers, writers, housing contractors and artists. The output of their work can take weeks, or months or sometimes years to complete. And then, after completion, there can be a very long period before they receive any praise or gratification. And so there is a very strong pull from the brain’s reward center to engage in something — anything — else that will deliver a more immediate sense of satisfaction. The Internet to the rescue!

The human brain long ago evolved a mechanism for rewarding us when we encountered new information: a little shot of dopamine in the brain each time we learned something new. Across evolutionary history, compulsively seeking information was adaptive behavior.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the 21st century. Whereas information came at us very slowly 1,000 years ago, now it comes faster than we can process it. We’ve created more information in the last five years than in all of human history before it. Each new Facebook post, Twitter feed or email is a bit of new information that causes our brains to release dopamine and to experience immediate, if fleeting, pleasure.

Getting new information through Web-surfing almost always feels more rewarding than having to generate new information in the work that is in front of us. It therefore takes increasing amounts of self-discipline to stay on task.

We can’t just blame evolution and dopamine, though; we make getting down to business more difficult than absolutely necessary by defining a task too broadly, with not enough detail. “Build a house” is not something you can easily start. But grading the site, preparing to pour a foundation and starting framing are executable steps that themselves can be broken into subcomponents such as hiring an excavator and setting stakes for the outline of the foundation.

Often our tendency to procrastinate is a nuisance and nothing more: We simply start things later than we might have and experience unneeded stress as the deadline looms. But it can lead to more serious outcomes. Many people, for example, delay seeing their doctors, during which time their condition can become so bad that treatment is no longer an option. Or they put off writing wills, filling out medical directives, installing smoke detectors or backing up their computers until it’s too late.

The keys to a productive fall season include prioritizing tasks, breaking down large tasks into smaller steps and undertaking unpleasant or difficult tasks early in the day (or after lunch or a nap). Also, exercising just a bit of self-restraint when it comes to social networking. Staying away from electronics for at least short stretches can create a state of focused and relaxed engagement, which some call “mindfulness.”

The sheer volume of options that we face in this age of information overload nearly guarantees that we won’t finish everything. But when the December break comes, we may find that we’ve at least managed to finish (or at least start) the things we care about most.

(Daniel J. Levitin is the author, most recently, of “The Organized Mind.”)

(c)2015 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Procrastination comes in different types. (Fotolia)

By David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

PITTSBURGH — A dramatically lower systolic blood pressure — that big number after the blood-pressure cuff has deflated — may be necessary to reduce risk of cardiovascular and kidney disease and even death.

Current guidelines to keep systolic blood pressure below 140 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) might need to plummet below 120 to reduce the health risks of hypertension.

Don’t panic and don’t let your blood pressure spike. Just stay tuned.

“I would say to wait for more information,” said Indu Poornima, the Allegheny General Hospital director of nuclear medicine and director of the hospital’s Women’s Heart Center. “But it’s always worthwhile to have a discussion with your doctor to see if the patient would benefit with a more aggressive target.”

On Sept. 11, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute stopped its Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial, or SPRINT, when results showed that patients maintaining systolic blood-pressure levels below 120 experienced 30 percent fewer cardiovascular events — heart attacks, heart disease and strokes — than those following current guidelines of below 140, reporting 25 percent fewer deaths.

The Data and Safety Monitoring Board that monitors such studies recommended the trial be halted. It would be unethical to deny all 9,300 study participants the option of seeking better blood pressure control to reduce health risks.

The NHLBI now is analyzing results before publishing them in a medical journal while continuing part of the study focused on whether elevated blood-pressure levels affect cognitive function in older adults.

“We’re working hard to finish the paper and submit it to a journal. I don’t want to specify a date, but it will be within a few months,” said Lawrence Fine, NHLBI’s SPRINT project officer. “Once a paper of this kind with these kinds of results is published, I’m sure that any future guideline group will look at it and integrate it with other research into their recommendations for new guidelines.

“Our job is to provide research information to the larger scientific community and health professionals, so when you have a trial like this one that’s completed successfully, we feel we accomplished our mission,” he said.

During the study, participants were divided into two groups, one using medications to reach a targeted systolic rate of less than 140, which on average required two hypertension medications. The intensive-treatment group on average received three medications to keep levels below 120.

The trial involved 100 health centers in the United States and Puerto Rico, including a local University of Pittsburgh trial involving 140 patients. SPRINT didn’t include patients with diabetes or those who’ve had strokes or polycystic kidney disease because other studies have focused on those populations, with a current blood-pressure target below 130/80.

According to the institute, “high blood pressure, or hypertension, is a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and other health problems”; one in three adult Americans (about 78 million) having the condition. The World Health Organization and other medical organizations say high blood pressure poses the greatest risk for disease and death.

Blood pressure is measured as a ratio of systolic pressure — the pressure in arteries when the heart beats (or heart muscle contracts) — over diastolic pressure, which is arterial pressure between heart beats, according to www.Heart.org . High blood pressure generally involves the stiffening of blood vessels as people age, largely due to dietary and other lifestyle factors.

There’s evidence, however, that the risk of cardiovascular disease begins rising at 11|0, said Jackson Wright, a Pittsburgh-area native who led one of five research networks in the SPRINT study at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. He also directs the center’s clinical hypertension program.

“It’s very clear that relaxing treatment for blood pressure control over age 60 no longer is appropriate,” Dr. Wright said, noting the average trial participant age was 68, with 28 percent older than 75.

If SPRINT findings hold up, guideline targets should be lowered, he said. “The question obviously is what to do with patients at 120, and at what point do you use aggressive control with medications rather than changes in lifestyle?”

While awaiting study results, Dr. Wright said, “the last thing I want to do is relax blood-pressure control.”

SPRINT likewise begs the question of whether patients and doctors should take immediate action to reduce blood pressure or await study details.

“It’s hard to tell other health care providers how they should react, but this will prompt discussion for all patients over 50 with high blood pressure who don’t only have hypertension, but a high risk of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease or past cardiovascular events,” said Molly B. Conroy, site principal investigator for SPRINT at Pitt, where she’s an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology. “What this will cause me to do with patients with high blood pressure is to make them aware of the new impact treatment can have and start a discussion of whether intensifying medication would be appropriate,” she said.

Hypertension drugs — including ace inhibitors, diuretics, calcium channel blockers and beta blockers — especially for elderly patients can pose side effects including lightheadedness that boosts the risk of falling. They also can lead to fatigue and drain a person of stamina. Others might cause allergic reactions, while calcium channel blockers can cause ankles to swell, Dr. Conroy said.
The good news is that most of the drugs are available in generic form at reduced costs.

Dr. Poornima at Allegheny General Hospital said trial results don’t surprise her. She already has witnessed better results among her own patients at levels below 120/80. While it may be too early to put trial results into action, “it calls attention to goals of blood pressure being lower, and if that is demonstrated in the study, then it would mean changes in blood-pressure management,” she said.

Already, she said, she’s more aggressive in younger patients and those at higher risk for cardiovascular or kidney disease, with hopes that trial results will better explain the impacts of tighter control in different age groups and disease levels.

“I was expecting (SPRINT results) would be the case because I always believed you target levels closer to normal,” Dr. Poornima said. “That’s what we should aim for.”

(c)2015 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, “high blood pressure, or hypertension, is a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and other health problems,” with one in three adult Americans having the condition. (Photo courtesy Fotolia/TNS)

By Alison Bowen, Chicago Tribune (TNS)

Commuters are sentenced to spend part of each day stuck in a compact space, all to get to work.

That time can be stressful, full of other drivers’ raging honks or crammed-in strangers’ blaring phone conversations.

But it doesn’t have to be drudgery — in fact, if you can believe it, some say it should be a time of Zen.

“We can say, ‘OK, I’m going to be in the car for an hour,'” said actor Jeff Kober, who teaches meditation in Los Angeles. “‘Now, what can I do to improve my quality of life during that hour?'”

Resist the urge to relinquish that hour to an inner monologue of traffic complaints, work worries and side-eye looks at coughing riders. Instead, treat it as a time when you can incorporate more contentment, either by getting more meditative or taking measures to create your own oasis.

“Because we’re essentially captive, why not make it into something really productive?” said Maria Gonzalez, who teaches the benefits of mindfulness in business as founder of Argonauta Strategic Alliances Consulting in Toronto.

She cautions that she doesn’t mean productive in the sense of pulling up work email. Relaxing your commute can include parts both physical and mental — focusing on breath, rearranging posture, tiny massages while waiting at a red light.

Plus, taking time to refocus thoughts and transform your mindset from zombielike zoning out to borderline pleasant can influence your life and workday.

“I can’t change the thoughts that are coming through me; I can’t change my emotions; I can’t change the way my body feels; I can’t change the traffic,” said Kober, who recently created a meditation guide for Buick’s “24 Hours of Happiness Test Drive,” geared toward curbing stress.

Experts say, however, that it is possible to change how you embark on, endure and exit your commute.

Before: First, build an enjoyable space for yourself within your commute.

If you drive, choose your car carefully — make sure it’s something comfortable that you enjoy spending time in. Try to keep it clean.

“Become conscious that a car itself is a destination,” said New York spine specialist Dr. Kenneth Hansraj.

“You would think better if you realize you’re spending all the best hours of your life in this machine.”

Then, think through how pleasant a commute can be. Sure, “pleasant” is not a word many would associate with it, but consider the possibilities.

“If we could just allow it to be what it is, which is slightly uncomfortable, we have an opportunity of being able to enjoy it sometimes, if the right song comes on the radio or somebody smiles at us from a car,” Kober said.

Consider setting a goal or an intention. Recognize that you’re putting expectations on it either way.

“The intention that naturally exists — my intention is to get done with this commute,” Kober noted. “So I’ve just doomed myself to an hour of discomfort, because my intention will not be met until I get out of the car.”

A goal can be to simply become present: paying attention to your surroundings in a way that acknowledges what’s around you. Clouds in the sky, feeling of the seat, your hands on the steering wheel.

Kober said that if you can focus your thoughts even just three times — at the very beginning, middle and end of a commute — you’ve accomplished something.

During: Those traveling by bus or train can listen to a 16-minute guided meditation led by Kober available on YouTube. An idea for those new to meditation might be listening to it once, during one commute, and noting any effects.

“See what the world looks like before you do the guided meditation; see if anything has changed (after),” Kober said. “See if it’s a little brighter.”

The easiest way to fold Zen into your commute? Simple breaths.

“Before you actually start driving, just focus on the breath,” Gonzalez said. “Take three mindful breaths. Be aware that you’re right there right now, as opposed to, ‘I wonder how long it’s going to take me today. I wonder how many meetings are going to be on my calendar.'”

Cultivating awareness can force your mind to slow down.

“You become aware that you’re right there, right now, and that’s incredibly powerful,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez added that this also stops us from our mind’s natural wanderings toward the past (How long was the commute yesterday? Will today be better?) or the future (I really don’t want to go to lunch with my boss today).

She acknowledges that this isn’t an easy task.

“We’re bombarded by unconscious thinking, thinking that just happens to us,” she said.

Finding one central focus is the key, she said. And good news — this doesn’t mean you have to give up scrolling Facebook.

Focus on one thing that relaxes you, and return to that if you’re distracted. So whether music, a book or even perusing social media makes you happy, home in, and if you get distracted, return to that thing.

“Just come back to what you’re reading, because how many times have we started reading something and we say, ‘Oh my God I’ve read this paragraph 10 times,'” she said. “The mind did not stay focused.”

As a bonus, this serves as a separation from work.

“This moment means there is a point of separation, and you’re going home,” Gonzalez said.

Keeping your brain on topic helps calm it, she said. And training it to do that can carry over into other moments, work and otherwise.

“As you’re doing this, you’re gaining a benefit, because you’re seeing how you can apply this in your day,” she said. “Going into a stressful meeting or a deadline, now you know what to do.”

Of course, don’t relax so much that you fall asleep.

After: Effects of a commute can persist after you settle into your cubicle chair or your couch at home.

New York masseuse Dot Stein, known by the name of her business, Dr. Dot, which employs masseuses around the world, crafted car-focused massage techniques. Designed to ease pain in the head, ears, jaw, neck and shoulder, they’re targeted at places that tense up while traveling.

She knows of what she speaks — Stein built her career giving musicians massages, building up a lot of on-the-road experience.

For example, she said, during driving, stress can tighten the scalp. After your commute, or even during if you’re on a bus or train, slowly massage your temples. Grip small handfuls of your hair and tug, she said.

And the ears also need comfort — honks and screeching tires take a toll.

Squeeze earlobes as if you’re ironing out the folds of your ears with your fingertips, Stein advised. Place a palm over each ear, and use your hands to move your ears up and down

From the moment you leave home or work, traveling to the other, think of your commute in a fresh way. Besides, experts point out, you’re expending energy either way. You might as well make it positive.

“If I have determined that that’s just wasted time, then there’s no way I’m ever going to be OK with it,” Kober said. “I’m just going to be waiting until it’s over.”

(c)2015 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Obviously, you have to pay attention while driving, but you can create a climate in which you no longer dread the experience. (Darren Baker/Fotolia)

By Lindsay Ellingson, Byrdie (TNS)

Need a quick workout that mixes several styles together? Here are four sequences that will tone your whole body and elongate your muscles at the same time while incorporating Pilates, ballet and yoga. Mary Helen Bowers, founder of Ballet Beautiful, taught me the ballet sequences, which I do constantly.

Power passe
1. Start lying on your side with your legs straight and slightly out in front of you.
2. With your toes pointed, draw your top leg into passe position at your knee.
3. Keep your hips open, with your knee drawing backward as you extend your leg straight up.
4. Lower your leg into starting position, and repeat the sequence 20 times.
5. Next, circle your leg.
6. Bring both legs slightly forward to form a V shape.
7. Lift your top leg and slowly circle it forward for one minute. Then reverse the direction of your circle for one minute.
8. Repeat the whole sequence on your other leg.

Ballet beautiful hips and thighs sequence
1. Lie on your side with knees bent, legs forming a 90-degree angle.
2. Keeping your knees together and toes pointed, lift your top foot up toward the sky.
3. Extend you leg upward in the direction of your foot.
4. Bend your knee, bringing your top leg in to meet the bottom leg again, and repeat this sequence 10 times.
5. Next, come back to starting position for clamshells. This time, keep your toes together and open your knees.
6. Slowly and with control, raise and lower your top leg 10 times. (Note: If you want to make this more challenging, you can raise your feet and hover the bottom leg as well.)
7. Repeat the whole sequence three times, and switch legs.

Anti-gravity glute lift
1. Start on your hands and knees, in tabletop position, with hips over knees and shoulders over wrists.
2. Keeping your hips square and your foot flexed, press one leg up toward the sky, knee bent at a 90-degree angle.
3. Raise and lower your leg 12 times.
4. Next, maintain the same form, but open your leg to the side. Do this 12 times.
5. Repeat the whole sequence three times on each leg.

Core balance bicycles
1. Start sitting up straight with your hands and feet on the ground, knees bent, arms slightly behind you, and fingers facing inward.
2. Raise your whole body up, lifting your chest toward the sky. Keep your core engaged and your arms straight (but not locked), and hold this pose for a few breaths.
3. Lower down and raise your legs to tabletop position.
4. Lean back slightly to fire up your core, and extend your legs straight out.
5. Alternate bicycling out your legs for one minute, and repeat. (Note: For a more advanced sequence, balance without the support of your arms on the ground.)

And don’t forget to grab a crease-free hair tie to keep your hair out of the way during this power Pilates workout.

Get the latest celebrity beauty news, runway trends, health and fitness tips, as well as product suggestions from the experts at Byrdie.com.

(c)2015, Clique Media Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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