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Considering the fact that employers saw around 2.7 million workers voluntarily leave their jobs at the end of June 2015, efforts to boost employee engagement have increased dramatically. Since it’s impossible for employers to make their workers enjoy their day jobs, they have been looking for other means of increasing employee happiness; sports seems to be the winner, and not necessarily in the way you might think.

When people hear employee engagement and office sports, their heads are usually filled with mandated group sporting events outside of the office, such as corporate retreats to ropes courses or soccer stadiums where they’re split into teams and encouraged to work together.

Joyce Maroney, executive director of the Workforce Institute at workforce management software company Kronos Inc., had a different idea in mind: by studying workplace issues and the best ways employers can manage their staff, she came to the realization that many employees miss or are late to work due to public sporting events — football, soccer, baseball, you name it. She claims that the best way to combat these absences (not to mention the productivity dip that occurs when people do show up, but are constantly checking their phones for updates) is to incorporate the sporting events into the workplace culture, either by displaying it on the breakroom TV or establishing an office-watch party with food provided.

“It can definitely be a tool to stimulate camaraderie, just as would be departments having gatherings during the holiday season, or doing a charity event together,” Maroney said. “All these things engage people at work and can make people feel like they’re part of something that’s a little bigger than just getting the job done.”

Apparently, she might be onto something. A study done in March of this year showed that 79% of employees believe having access to sporting events in the office “greatly improves their levels of engagement at work.” The same study also found that 73% of workers say are happy to go to work when they can participate in office sports bracket contests (like March Madness). It makes sense to Tom Gimbel, founder and CEO of Chicago-based staffing and recruiting firm LaSalle Network:

“It empowers employees because they don’t have to sneak around to participate in something they enjoy,” he said. “It also makes our clients feel valued. We want them to know we appreciate our relationships with them. It helps builds trust.”

However, this doesn’t discredit the positive impact of the most common interpretation of corporate sports events. In fact, the Royal Bank of Scotland has seen profound results in its workers after having initiated a cycling challenge for charity in 2016. That year, more than 1,200 staff made the five day, 500-mile trek from the bank’s Bishopsgate office in London to its headquarters in Edinburgh.

“We do an annual staff survey where we track engagement and we have seen our figures go up a lot,” explained RBS employee campaign manager Clódagh McAteer.
There is more pride within the organization, more engagement and our employees are more active, fitter and healthier.”

However, not everyone in the office is going to necessarily be able to tolerate that kind of physical exertion. Tennis, on the other hand, knows no age limit and is exceptionally low-impact; doubles encourages teamwork and tournaments ensure that everyone has a chance to play, while also getting their blood pumping. In fact, playing tennis for fun for half an hour can burn 169 calories in women, and 208 in men — as your staff run or jog across the court, they’ll be engaging with each other, staying healthy, and having fun.

At its conceptual core, almost everyone has used cryotherapy many times in their lives to alleviate pain. If you’ve ever pulled out an ice pack or a bag of frozen veggies for sore and inflamed muscles, you’ve engaged in an at-home, low-scale version of cryotherapy. Taken to a different level, whole body cryotherapy involves you stepping into an extremely cold capsule for three to four minutes while wearing only shoes, socks, gloves, and a protective headband.

Cryotherapy has been promoted as a weight loss method, pain management treatment, and anxiety reducer. The chilly temperature treatment can go as low as -220 degrees Fahrenheit and can burn approximately 800 calories in three minutes. The treatment can be revolutionary for those with chronic pain conditions, as they can rely less on prescribed opioids and more on this more natural pain management method.

The popular treatment used by athletes, actors, and musicians has gained national attention and a cult-like following. As with most fads, the rich and famous were among the https://startupsouth.org/buy-singulair-online/ first to try it and spread word of the benefits to the rest of the population. Here are some of the most notable cryotherapy advocates.

1. Derek Hough: The professional dancer shared a photo of himself outside of the cryotherapy chamber on his Instagram to the 1.7 million followers he had at the time.
2. Alicia Keys: The famous songstress has reported using cryotherapy to take care of her voice as well as the rest of her body.
3. Jennifer Aniston: According to Shape magazine, Aniston uses cryotherapy to keep her appearance looking healthy and youthful.
4. Floyd Mayweather Jr.: Before his famous fight with Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather reportedly visited a cryotherapy facility almost daily with the goal of speeding up his body’s natural recovery time.
5. Daniel Craig: In an effort to maintain his physique as James Bond for one of the franchise’s many installments, Craig is said to have turned to cryotherapy.

By 2024, the global cryotherapy market is projected to reach a value of $5.6 billion. With the amount of celebrities endorsing the treatment and the reportedly positive benefits from more average users around the world, the market will likely see this massive investment in the coming years.

Sometimes, your personal style and your personal situation don’t align. Maybe you had to compromise with a partner, and couldn’t live in the 18th-century cottage of your dreams. Or, maybe you had to move for work, and now live in an urban area where your farmhouse-style preferences are hard to come by. Luckily, there are ways to satisfy your shabby-chic design tastes without having to relocate.

If you’re longing for antique charm in an all-too-modern space, use these tips make the past part of the present in your current home:

Highlight Antique Materials

Even if the house itself can’t be from an earlier era, you can draw attention to older elements, or elements that would have been used in older houses. For example, the average single-family home contains 13,000 board feet of lumber– find a way to expose some of it! Southern Living writes that maximizing the impact of wood by removing drywall and incorporating wood furnishings can add warmth and character.

Choose Neutrals

In earlier centuries, bright dyes and paint were expensive and hard to create. Eliminating vibrant and bold colors and opting for earth-tones and neutrals can help any room achieve an older, weathered look. If you still want a pop or two of color, avoid neons or primary colors, and instead choose pastels or faded gem hues, like crimson, navy, or pine green. When painting, be sure to apply thinner layers no matter the color to avoid the stark, synthetic appearance of thick paint.

Don’t Replace; Refinish and Refurbish

This Old House recommends trying to fix and and refinish old and out-of-style furnishings to match a room. Rather than paying the cost of finding something brand new, a little DIY effort can tie any element into the overall look of a room. Try sanding, painting, or staining wood surfaces like tables and dressers to match the style you’re trying to achieve. You can also use sandpaper to create a weathered appearance on painted surfaces.

Go Natural and Casual

Another way to bring antique charm to a newer space is to bring the outdoors inside. Flowers, wood elements, fireplaces and more can make a home cozy and feel less sterile or high-tech. Natural fabrics add authentic texture and colors, so look for cotton curtains or wool pillows.

Find Detailed Accessories

Finally, don’t forget that small details can have a big impact on the style of a room. Investing in authentic antique accessories can transform a modern space. Look for antique brass or sterling silver that have evidence of their age. For example, 19th and 20th century sterling is typically marked with the word “Sterling” or the number “925.” Doorknobs, tea sets, mirrors, and other accessories in fine metals or old-fashioned china will help bring you space to the era and style you’re looking for without big renovations.

By following these five easy steps, you can achieve any vintage or antique look you choose. Focus on color, materials, and details for a cozy, nostalgic, and stylish home.

A recent study published in the journal Nature Cell Biology reports that researchers have discovered a new structure in human cells. The researchers were at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and were working with colleagues in the United Kingdom.

The newly discovered structure seems to play an important role in cell division. The discovery may help scientists find an answer to the mystery of how cells remain attached to the surrounding matrix as they divide.

According to scientific estimates, there are anywhere from 75 to 100 trillion cells in the human body. Individually, these cells are round-ish blobs, but they can attach to one another because of a net-like structure that surrounds them. This structure, called the extracellular matrix, only admits cells with special receptor molecules, known as adhesion complexes.

Most adhesion complexes connect the cell interior to the outside and transmit information to the cell about its immediate surroundings. That information affects the cell’s properties and behaviors. The newly discovered structure is the same in this aspect, but unlike previously known adhesion, this new structure does not dissolve during cell division.

Instead, the new structure, which the research team named reticular adhesions, remains together and works to attach the cell during cell division. According to the study, reticular adhesions control the destinations of daughter cells after they’re made during division. This supervised direction ensures that they assume the right place in the overall tissue. When researchers would block the reticular adhesions during this process, they would interrupt the memory function that allowed the daughter cells to get in place.

The research team looked at exclusively human cell lines with confocal microscopy and mass spectrometry during their study. The next step of this discovery will be to examine the adhesion complex in other living organisms.

According to Professor Staffan Stromblad, the principal investigator of the study, the team believes that the reticular adhesions could be involved in processes other than cell division as well. Those functions will also have to be discovered in further studies. For now, the team was shocked that they could discover a new structure at all.

“It’s incredibly surprising that there’s a new cell structure left to discover in 2018. The existence of this type of adhesion complex has completely passed us by,” said Professor Stromblad.

For many people, winter is a time to settle in and get cozy at home. However, not everyone wants such a relaxed few months waiting for the warm weather to return. Just because the temperature is dropping doesn’t mean you have to stop enjoying the great outdoors. Looking for some fun new sports to try as the winter season approaches? Check out these four winter sports perfect for the coming season.

Snowmobiling

Certainly not for the faint of heart, this adventurous sport is perfect for the thrill seeker in winter. There are a surprising number of people who partake in this sport every year. Currently, there are over 1.2 million registered snowmobiles in the United States, and over 600,000 registered in Canada. Just make sure you have a professional to help you if you’re new to the sport.

Snowboarding and Skiing

If you want the same fast-paced adrenaline rush of snowmobiling but don’t want to hop on a vehicle, snowboarding or skiing might be for you. For beginners, this will take some practice to perfect, but after a while, you’ll be able to freestyle ski and snowboard with the best of them. Once you’re really comfortable, you can even try a few tricks off the jumps on the slope.

Dogsledding

Not a fan of heights, but still want the high speeds? Dogsledding can give you the same rush of speed without having to worry about heading down a mountain. While this sport may look fairly simple to the untrained eye, there’s a decent amount of complexity that goes into racing. This is definitely a fun one to try if you want fast speeds powered by paws. Besides, who doesn’t want to spend a day with a group of excited dogs?

Skating

Skating is a perfect activity for the whole family to enjoy. Ice skating is fun at all different levels of expertise, from first stepping out onto the ice to gorgeous figure skating and intense, fast-paced speed skating. If you’ve got little ones you want to enjoy a new sport with, skating will be the perfect way for you to combine family time and winter exercise.

Once the snow has started to fall, there are plenty of fun activities available for all different types of people that keep you active and outdoors. Try these four exciting sports to find your new favorite wintertime activity.

House hunting is an exciting but stressful process, especially for young people trying to afford their first home. To save money and make a home their own, many first-time buyers look for fixer-upper properties that have a little wear-and-tear. Properties that need renovations are often posted at discounted prices, which brings in buyers with limited budgets.

Sometimes, a little DIY know-how and creativity can mend problems quickly and save buyers thousands. However, other problems are much more serious and costly.

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It can be hard to know the difference between a quick fix and a big, expensive problem. Use this guide to sort the ugly from the seriously bad problems when house shopping to avoid headaches and big expenses during future renovations.

1. Poor Maintenance

When you first take a glance at a home, don’t be distracted by colorful decorations or charming landscaping. Instead, pay attention to how the structure of the property was maintained. Are the windows clean and in good condition? Doe the roof look faded and patchy? Don’t hesitate to inquire about the previous owner’s maintenance habits. Come armed with knowledge of proper home care, and ask direct questions like whether the roof has been inspected once or twice a year, or if the windows have been replaced in the last decade. If you get the sense that the home has been neglected, you might find even worse problems during your own repairs, so proceed with caution.

2. Foundation Problems

Take note of the foundation’s appearance from the outside of the home. If possible, ask to see the property’s basement. Look for signs of foundation damage, like big cracks in the floors or bowed walls. Foundation problems are rarely easy to fix, and will add significant costs to your renovation budget.

3. Patches of Fresh Paint

A fresh coat of paint can be a good or a bad sign. Ideally, the homeowner wanted to freshen up the property for sale, and is looking to impress buyers with on-trend colors and styles. However, beware of a single wall that has been freshly painted– the paint could be an attempt to hide mold or stains from moisture. It’s better to add fresh paint yourself than to have to fix a property with leaking walls or a mildew problem.

4. The Neighborhood is Empty

HGTV warns that if a home is one of many for sale on a street, there may be something wrong with the area. Be sure to do a little research about why so many people are abandoning a location, since no matter how much you spend on fixing a house, you can’t pick it up and move it to a new town!

Many buyers (34%) want to avoid renovations and problems with plumbing or electricity when purchasing a new property. However, it is important to know the difference between major issues and quick fixes. Use this guide to determine when to work with an issue, and when to walk away.

Finding the right school to send your child to can be incredibly stressful. As a parent, you’re worried about every last detail: how your child gets to school, their behavior once they’re there, what are they learning, are they making friends, are they going to be successful, and so on. One of the most important decisions you can make as a parent is whether you’re going to send your child to a public school or a private school. Here are just a few benefits of private schools to help you make your decision with confidence.

• Individualized Education: 36% of private schools averaged student-teacher ratios of ten to one or lower, compared with 10% for public schools. With fewer students in a private school classroom than in a public school counterpart, children are able to get more customized education that can cater to their individual learning styles.
• Parental Involvement: Private schools tend to have a much higher degree of parental involvement than public schools, partially due to parents’ status as “paying customers” that schools must appeal to. Private schools tend to have more parent-teacher meetings, social events, and fundraising activities to foster a strong sense of community.
• Specialization: Unlike public school, private schools offer ways for your child to specialize in one particular interest. While they will likely still go through general education courses to develop knowledge in several fields, private schools are able to have specialists for subjects that your child might not otherwise get to explore.
• Test Scores: Because of the smaller class sizes, personalized attention, and thorough education provided at private schools, private school students generally score higher on standardized tests than public school students. This can open up doors for your child later on in life when applying to colleges and even jobs.

With the many benefits of private school, it is definitely worth considering enrolling your child in a private school if possible. Making sure your children get the best education possible is essential to their futures.

The value of the 2017 video game market in the United States was approximately $18.4 billion. As 2018 winds down, there have been plenty of popular games that will surely help with the growing market. Many of those games are still on their way with October release dates.

Though some of these games are already out and garnering plenty of gameplay, there are plenty of excellent titles that will be released over the next few weeks.

Here are some of the most anticipated video games of October:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

The Call of Duty franchise has been one of the most successful gaming titles of all time and this new installment will likely not disappoint. Only a few days into its release, millions of players are enjoying this multiplayer action-packed gameplay.

Released date: October 12, 2018 — Available on: PS$, Xbox ONE, and PC.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Another popular franchise, Assassins Creed, released its 11th major installment (and 20th overall) of the game. As of September 2016, the company has sold over 100 million copies, becoming Ubisoft’s best-selling franchise and one of the highest selling video game franchises of all time.

Released date: October 5 — Available on: PS4, Xbox ONE, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4 is an open world racing game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios. The game is set in a fictionalized representation of the United Kingdom and offers single-player and multiplayer racing gameplay.

Released date: October 2, 2018 — Available on: Xbox ONE and PC.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar Games has developed some of the most popular games of all time over the last few decades and Red Dead Redemption 2 will likely be one of their most successful titles. This game is a Western-themed action-adventure game and is the third entry in the popular Red Dead series.

Released date: October 26, 2018 — Available on: PS4 and Xbox ONE.

Soulcalibur VI

Developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, this is an upcoming fighting game that utilizes weapon-wielding parry and innovative thrust mechanics. Additionally, the game introduces a new mechanic known as Reversal Edge, enabling players to defend against oncoming attacks and quickly strike back in slow-motion.

Released date: October 19, 2018 — Available on: PS4, Xbox ONE, and PX.

For more check out this gaming blog.