#TITLE#

6 lighting hacks for healthier,more productive workplaces

It’s summer and there’s light all around us — we take it for granted till those dark winter months come together. The sheer lack of sun can be depressing. Every year we experience this longing for summer,craving those long,bright days once we feel energetic and in a fantastic mood. The sad news is,we’ve again passed the longest day of 2015,but the good news is that the right artificial lighting in your office can help you through. Good lighting creates pleasant working conditions in a practical and atmospheric way. Satisfaction and efficiency will improve if you make sure you have enough daylight intake and a well-lit office area. Additionally,your productivity will be positively affected by well-designed illumination. Artificial lighting that does not just help you see,but also meets your biological lighting needs,is the future of office lighting. Here are six lighting hacks to keep you healthy and awake through those dark winter days.

1 Create atmospheres where your thoughts can develop

We’re all attracted to light,and there isn’t any other medium that’s as big an influence on our bodies and minds as mild. Both daylight and artificial light play a key role in our health and wellbeing. Increasingly,companies face the question of how they could improve staff wellbeing and create a lively,creative and motivating atmosphere. The design of the office area plays a vital role,as evidenced by a study from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering. The research shows that in businesses with a high standard of interior design,productivity can increase by up to 36 per cent. Who wouldn’t like to see their efficiency skyrocket? Additionally,in depth research from the Light Right Consortium,arrived at the conclusion that light raises productivity. Only around 70 per cent of the interviewees said that working at workstations with only downward lighting was comfy. In contrast,91 per cent saw a lighting atmosphere with direct/indirect lighting and a high quantity of vertical lit surfaces pleasing. Moreover,if the desk lighting is individually controllable,people feel motivated and operate with greater accuracy. TIP: Create a lighting atmosphere with direct and indirect lighting. Avoid having only downwards-directed illumination.

Two Light for individuals,not just tasks

Lighting is often just regarded as a requirement to enable us to see,but in fact it has many more qualities than the obvious ones. We should move away from just thinking of lighting for jobs and focus on producing light settings for individuals. Today,most men and women work indoors,and spends nearly the entire day inside,in an unnaturally dark atmosphere. Our light intake is responsible for feeling and sleeping well,and affects our productivity. When there is a shortage of natural light to help us tell the time of day,then our circadian rhythm (body clock) loses its pace,with tiredness and listlessness because of this. It’s a lot more than just illumination. It arouses,attracts,enables communication,sets a mood,and has psychological qualities. If this knowledge transcends into our built environment,pleasant atmospheres are made. Think of a trip to a theater,a restaurant,or nightclub. These experiences are formed by light. Good lighting accentuates the mood and desirability of spaces,consequently leading to people’s sense of health. Every construction and distance expresses and communicates an identity,and sometimes also a corporate value. Superior lighting should be a part of this,because what other component can enhance a feeling as much as lighting can? TIP: Create a Combination of different lighting. Use illumination that supports a space’s individuality

3 From homo sapiens to homo officunus

In today’s world,we spend many hours working in biotopes — surroundings made by humans. Instead of trying to accommodate ourselves to our creations,we should adapt these biotopes to our needs. Sufficient light is one of those needs. So how can you make a setting that increases your satisfaction and productivity? Here are a few tips: Take the biological quality of lighting into account. It affects our sleep-wake cycle and this has a big influence on the health and productivity. Adapt the lighting to the daytime and year,as well as to the individual needs of the user. Vertical surface illumination,preferably on large wall surfaces,is vital to create a sense of depth and space. Additionally,it gives a visual resting point for the eyes and provides a pleasant atmosphere to the working environment. Too often,office surroundings are insufficiently lit,not only from the perspective of biological lighting demands but also from an architectural one,where the space feels smaller because of insufficient lighting. The chart below shows how office workers analyzed their working environments — revealing which aspects are important to them and how satisfied they are with every facet. As you can see,lighting is rated the most important of all the aspects mentioned,but there’s plenty of space for it to improve.

4 Get the best spot in the house

Are you based in a co-working space? And is there a flexible desk coverage? Choosing the right spot in the home can go a long way. Pick a place with a great deal of daylight. It’s recommended that around three per cent daylight reaches a individual’s working area. However,in the majority of offices this isn’t the case. Daylight gives an emotional quality to some space and the option to look out is an additional bonus. If you can,choose a spot near the window. But make sure thatthere is sun shading to prevent harsh reflections on your computer screen. About 80 per cent of information is taken in through our eyes. Until recently it was believed that our eyes used two kinds of photoreceptors — rods and cones — to receive light,but a decade ago,a third type,called ganglion cells,was detected. Unlike rods and cones,these cells don’t contribute directly to our sight; they are nevertheless light dependent and help to regulate our circadian rhythm. So light isn’t just a requirement for viewing,but is also an important zeitgeber (timer) and a regulator for our bodies. Unfortunately,we often don’t get the light consumption we actually need,especially during the darker period of the year,resulting in the winter blues or seasonal affective disorder (SAD) — a kind of depression associated with a lack of light. It leaves people feeling stressed and lacking energy. Many people who suffer from SAD benefit from bright light treatment. In a workplace setting,light treatment makes people feel more alert and energized. It’s found that an illumination which goes up to 2000 lux at the working area in the morning and the afternoon,reduces the physiological reaction of stress and gives an energising effect to the body. If you want to check the amount of lux at your desk,then download a lux meter program. It’s not very exact,but it gives you an idea on how small light we actually have indoors. Not only is a greater quantity of lighting required,but also the color temperature of the lighting plays a role. At noon the sky’s colour is a very trendy 10000K but at sunset it is a much warmer 2000K. Additionally lighting should reflect indirectly into the eyes from large surfaces,like walls and ceilings. TIP: Attempt to grab enough daylight at any time of the year. You should have at least half an hour of daylight a day

6 Light,java,action!

A deadline and stilla great deal of work ahead,no time to sleep! As lighting can disrupt your sleeping routine,it may also boost your own activity. If you’ve followed the above-mentioned advice for biologically effective illumination than you are already on the right path. If you will need to pull an all-nighter,increase the light intensity and the amount of bluish white light in the room. Almost done with your job? You may also have experienced that when you work late on a computer or tablet it is difficult to sleep afterwards. The cause of this is the high blue content of the backlit screens. So use this lighting hack consciously. There are a number of applications you can install that correlate the screen’s brightness and color,to the daylight of where you are. F.lux,by way of instance,works on many systems,or the Twilight program lowers the amount of blue lighting on your Android phone. TIP: Have different lamp types and color temperatures at your working area. Warm light sources at your desk could be combined with general and indirect lighting with different color temperatures,such as 3500K and 5000K.

Real Estate Short Sale Investing

Before I begin, you should know my name is Ross Treakle and I interview real estate investors as part of my job.  In each interview I try and pick and pry at each investor to get the highest quality information so that my subscribers can hear up to date, high content interviews.

Below I have taken an exert from the very first interview I ever conducted.  I conducted this interview with my brother, Graham “Mr. Banker” Treakle.  Graham is a short sale investor with special insider knowledge as he has worked in some of the nation’s largest banking institutions. USDA Florida!

 
I always start off every interview asking the speaker to speak briefly about there particular area of expertise.  Below is Graham’s answer to what a short sale is and why banks accept short sales.

“We’ll go over the numbers, Ross. A short sale is pretty simple. If you have a property that’s worth $150,000 and let’s say it has a first mortgage for $100,000 and a second mortgage for $40,000-what that means is the total debt on that property, or the total mortgages, is $140,000. Being a real estate investor, I wouldn’t want to buy a $150,000 house for $140,000. It doesn’t make sense. Housing Markets!

A short sale is when you get the bank to not take $140,000, you get them to take less, like $110,000. The banks are going to do this for several reasons. First, they’re going to have a lot of expenses that are associated with a foreclosure. They’re going to have realtor’s costs, foreclosure costs, holding costs, repair costs-they’re going to have all sorts of fees associated with a foreclosure.

Inevitably, the bank is only going to recoup somewhere around 70% of the value of the property. That’s why banks will take short sales on foreclosures. The natural follow-up to that is, “Why are foreclosures such a hot commodity right now, and why is there a lot of buzz about them?” There are several reasons to that too, and it’s really scaring the banks right now.

The first one is: when I was at the bank and someone had equity in their home and I found out they had equity, I would call them up and say, “Hey, Mr. Smith, I see you have $30,000 in equity in your home. How would you like to get a home equity line of credit?” Or, “How would you like to pay off that car with a home equity loan?”
So banks are constantly calling these homeowners to use equity in their home because there are some potential tax savings in structuring your finances that way. That’s one of the things.  Alabama Rates!

Secondly, inflation is outpacing wage growth. That means what it takes for you to buy milk and eggs today is going to increase faster than how much your earnings are going to increase on average. For instance, if you have someone who’s making $100,000 a year, let’s say inflation is 3% and your raise every year is 1.5%. So inflation is growing at twice the rate your salary is. That’s another component. That means folks are earning less and less, relative to the goods they’re going to have to buy.
The next thing is that a lot of folks may recall this brief refinance boom we’ve been going through, which is pretty important. People went out and got a lot of mortgages called “Adjustable Rate Mortgages,” which have an extraordinarily low interest rate to start, let’s say 3% in some cases. But in a couple of years, maybe two to five, depending on the term of the Adjustable Rate Mortgage, their rate is going to go up, it’s going to adjust upward.

So people went out and bought more house than they could normally afford, or they refinanced, got the low payments, and bought a car that they couldn’t afford if their payment had to adjust upward. What’s going to happen here in the next two to five years is that all of these ARMs are going to be adjusting upward, and that’s pretty critical because people aren’t going to be able to afford them.

They aren’t going to be able to afford them because they didn’t count on it, and also because inflation is outpacing wage growth. All of this sounds great, but you may say, “How is that going to affect my business?” 

Here’s the way it affects your foreclosure real estate business. If you’re in a judicial foreclosure State, where properties that are in foreclosure go through a judicial process before a foreclosure is complete; or a non-judicial foreclosure State, where the properties go through a trustee as they’re going through a foreclosure-you’re going to see less and less equity in these properties. 

So if you know, like I said earlier, that banks are going to take short sales because of the numbers-meaning they have to pay all of these expenses-and the foreclosed properties aren’t going to have a lot of equity in them, you have to be able to negotiate short sales effectively if you’re going to be working in the foreclosure market. 
The foreclosure market represents the most motivated sellers. Traditionally, with motivated sellers, you’ll find really good deals. That’s why banks are going to take foreclosures on the conditions that are spurring on all these foreclosures. It’s an amazing phenomenon that we’re working on right now.

Folks might also ask about a common [inaudible]. Well, what if we’re in a real estate bubble? If we’re in a real estate bubble, that means values are going to go down, which means folks are going to owe more than what their property is worth. Again, negotiating short sales is going to be critical to your success in the foreclosure business. If we’re not in a bubble, that’s fine too.

We already [backed out] the numbers; still negotiating short sales is going to be critical to your real estate business because people are borrowing up to, and sometimes above 100% of the value of their property. Whatever way you slice it, as far as having a skill, negotiating short sales is probably, in my opinion, one of the most lucrative skills that someone can have as a real estate investor.”

I hope the above information gives you some insight into the world of real estate investing and short sales.  Graham has worked very hard at becoming an expert on this topic and is a resource you should inevitably add to your business. 

Silk pillowcases have actually gotten more popular over the last few years. A great deal of people, particularly ladies, pick silk pillowcases because of their numerous benefits. Wondering why choose silk pillowcases over the normal cotton or microfiber? Is it really worth the buzz? What benefits do you get from using it?

Prevents Wrinkles And Fine Lines|Wrinkle Prevention

Did you know that duplicated compression and creasing of the face during sleep can ultimately turn into wrinkles? Silk pillowcases can help prevent wrinkles due to their smooth surface area. It causes less friction and yanking on the skin compared to traditional cotton pillowcases.

Farewell early morning sleep creases, bye-bye wrinkles and fine lines.

Relieves Skin

Aside from avoiding wrinkles, it can also relieve the skin and help avoid and relieve acne. The mild material offers relief for sensitive skin and skin conditions such as eczema and other skin inflammations.

Due to silk's smoothness, it likewise absorbs less moisture from the skin, helping in keeping the skin good and hydrated. This makes it perfect for the dry, cold weather, and those who have dry skin.

Less Tangles and Frizz

Aside from the skin benefits, the advantages to the hair is also one of the major selling points of silk pillowcases. Say bye to bad reasonable days, fly-away hair, and frizzy hair. Due to its smoothness, sleeping with a silk pillowcase reduces the friction from tossing and turning while sleeping. This indicates that frizz is reduced, there is less hair breakage, fewer tangles, and a smoother and silkier hair when waking up. Aside from the hydration advantage supplied to the skin, this also applies to the hair.

If you have dry, damaged, chemically-treated hair, silk pillowcases ought to belong of your toolbox in restoring your hair's strength and minimizing additional breakage and damage.

Less Allergens, Cleaner Pillow

As pointed out previously, silk pillows soak up less wetness. Due to this, it is less likely for dust mites and other germs to prosper in the product. It brings in less irritants in contrast to other products and can remain cleaner in between washes.

Visit the site at brand link