Life at Up Up and Away Investment Management International: Chapter 20 Where have all the old people gone?

Chapter 20

So where have all the old people gone?

If I had decided to eat out for lunch when working at Up Up and Away Canada in Toronto I frequently walked over to the food court at First Canadian Place because it had so much natural light. I am no fan of bunkers with bright fluorescent lighting which one finds so often in downtown Toronto. If you have been to the Scotiabank food court in Toronto you’ll know what I mean.

Over the past few years I noted I was just about the oldest person out of the thousand or so people that were eating there. In your mid to late fifties you really aren’t that old but eating at this food court was suddenly making me feel old.

Could it be that the older people, like Sally Self, were playing the game of looking busy and devoted hence eating at one’s desk was a necessity to perpetuate that image? Were the wise old people so desperate to save their job that they decided to be chained to their desk at lunch despite productivity studies showing a one-hour lunch off premises improves productivity. Image as opposed to reality! Sometimes this is important at largecorp. On the other hand it was probably the case that largecorp targets those in their mid fifties and greater as prime downsizing targets so there are just no old folks left in the office towers.

In fact, at Up Up and Away Canada in Toronto I was beginning to feel old to the extent I was one of 4 out of a thousand or so employees that had reached the age of 60. Based on my trips to Up Up and Away America in New York I noticed the lack of old folks there too except of course for the Senior Management Team and board of directors who wanted their hand in the cookie jar of executive compensation for the longest period possible. For these geezers it was out of the game by stroke, cancer or heart attack for them! However even then I recall a member of Up Up and Away’s Canadian board of directors that despite a severe stroke he was labouring to recover from he so very slowly returned to the board. The extra $6,000 per board meeting must have hastened his recovery! Who cared if he was setting himself up for another stroke! A man who should be packing it in yet instead he was inadvertently begging for a premature death! Up Up and Away Canadian SMT blessed mega terminations of healthy employees but keeping a crippled and mentally challenged stroke victim on its board was fine? Why? Because he was one of their own.

I began to detect a pattern in Up Up and Away employee terminations, and other corporate terminations for that matter, where the older ranks (far younger than 65) were particularly subject to the cull. These were people often with deep operational and practical knowledge that could get the job done in far less time than a newly hired employee could so from an efficiency standpoint culling the older employees did not make sense.

What did make sense was that older workers had higher salaries. Their health was not as robust as the younger employees. Since there were so many terminations the remaining older employees had far too much responsibility heaped on their shoulders and more were making disability claims based on workplace stress. Labour is but a commodity and older workers in direct dollar and measurable cost are more expensive.

And get terminated in your 50’s good luck in finding another job. Like society at large there is racism, sexism and there certainly is ageism. Largecorp chews you up and spits you out and occasionally hires a fresh set of recruits as soon as the post downsizing “hiring freeze” ends.

I find it ironic that there is no legal retirement age although most Canadians set it at 65 while our federal government has raised Canada Pension Plan entitlement to 67 yet the real retirement age and the end of the road age at largecorp is somewhere between 57-60 for the average employee. And just how many can afford being thrust into retirement?

Now if you are lucky to make it until 65 in the workplace and don’t retire and expect to get a severance package I have found that largecorp can make life difficult for you. My poor friend, Bill Mudsle, had reached 65 and suddenly all the staff that had been reporting to him were now reporting to another person. His office was taken from him and he was placed in a cubicle and he no longer had regularly scheduled meetings with the President. The reasons for these harassment tactics were always logically presented to Mudsle by Up Up and Away Canada. Eventually it became apparent it was not worth the humiliation of remaining nor of suing Up Up and Away Canada for constructive dismissal. He left. Can one honestly say Mudsle retired or was he constructively dismissed?

The treatment of Mudsle was disgusting. And no farewell party was organized by Up Up and Away Canada. His fellow employees organized cake and coffee at their own expense and a smaller group of his friends took him and his wife out for a farewell dinner. Oh but how the trumpets blared when a member of the SMT retired!

I knew that largecorp can be greedy, brutal and heartless but a lack of a formal Up Up and Away Canada send-off for Mudsle was downright mean. Mudsle told me at this farewell dinner he felt like he had been stabbed by a long icy cold knife.

This event gave me the resolve never to go down to largecorp’s sinister ambitions without a fight. If Up Up and Away Canada planned to take me out it would be time to make them pay. Perhaps a pre-emptive strike was in order?

COVID-19 Civil Unrest in Montreal

Thousands protest in front of Premier Legault’s Montreal office

By Chelsey St-Pierre and Beryl Wajsman The Suburban
3 hrs ago
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Photo by Gina Conforti

Photo by Gina Conforti

Thousands of protesters – estimates put the number at close to 5,000 – gathered Sunday in front of premier Legault’s head office in Montreal.

The group leading the protest, Action Coordination, advocates that the lock-down measures have caused more damage to public health than the damage the government intends to avoid.

Many families with children attended as it was also advertised as a holiday gathering. There was a large police presence on site. The majority of protesters were not wearing masks and were warned on several occasions by officers using loudspeakers to respect sanitary regulations and distancing or police would use enforcement procedures authorized by the emergency health regulations.

Multiple arrests were made on site. According to an eyewitness, one arrest included a mother accompanied by her three children. Protesters marched east on Sherbrooke, yelling out “Liberté” and “un peuple uni ne sera pas vaincu”(a people united shall not be defeated.) There were drums and pots and pans being used as noise makers.

Onlookers living in proximity watched from their windows as the crowd marched by, some offering encouragement and others yelling out angry words.

Breaking news story – Updates to follow

The New Mutated COVID-19 Virus: Is the Gambit Finally Up?

You no doubt have heard about the new mutated COVID-19 virus in the United Kingdom which Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom said yesterday may be 70% more transmissible than the current COVID-19 virus.

Imagine what this could mean if it does so come to pass that it is that highly transmissible. Hospitals creaking at the seams as we are told by the media and the politico-medico COVID elite may collapse. It is my belief that COVID-19 is less deadly than we are led to believe but it is contagious and if it becomes 70% more contagious before mass vaccinations can develop heard immunity we are in serious trouble.

Yes the borders are being closed to anyone returning from the United Kingdom but in a matter of days I would suspect it will be in Canada.

How much longer can a shut down last? How much longer will government money last. What is the solution? At least with the Titanic there were lifeboats. So are we down to a “final solution” of everyone for themselves?

If this mutated virus is in fact 70% more contagious, we are in deep you know what.

PM of United Kingdom Indicates New Strain of COVID-19 is a Rapid Spreader!

Speech

Prime Minister’s statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 19 December 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a statement at the coronavirus press conference.Published 19 December 2020From:Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street and The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MPDelivered on:19 December 2020 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

Good afternoon,

I am sorry to report that the situation has deteriorated since I last spoke to you three days ago.

Yesterday afternoon, I was briefed on the latest data showing the virus spreading more rapidly in London, the South East and the East of England than would be expected given the tough restrictions which are already in place.

I also received an explanation for why the virus is spreading more rapidly in these areas. It appears this spread is now being driven by the new variant of the virus, which we first learned about earlier this week.

Our advisory group on New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats – NERVTAG – has spent the last few days analysing the new variant.

There is no evidence the variant causes more severe illness or higher mortality, but it does appear to be passed on significantly more easily.

NERVTAG’s early analysis suggests the new variant could increase R by 0.4 or greater. Although there is considerable uncertainty, it may be up to 70% more transmissible than the old variant.

This is early data. It is subject to review. It is the best we have at the moment, and we have to act on information as we have it because this is now spreading very fast.

The U.K. has by far the best genomic sequencing ability in the world, which means we are better able to identify new strains like this than any other country.

The Chief Medical Officer last night submitted our findings so far to the World Health Organisation and we will continue to be totally transparent with our global partners.

There is still much we don’t know. While we are fairly certain the variant is transmitted more quickly, there is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more severe illness. Equally there is no evidence to suggest the vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant.

Our experts will continue their work to improve our understanding of the variant.

So we are learning more about this variant as we go.

But we know enough already to be sure that we must act now.

I met ministers on the Covid Operations Committee last night and again first thing this morning, and Cabinet met at lunchtime to agree the following actions.

First, we will introduce new restrictions in the most affected areas – specifically those parts of London, the South East and the East of England which are currently in tier 3.

These areas will enter a new tier 4, which will be broadly equivalent to the national restrictions which were in place in England in November.

That means:

Residents in those areas must stay at home, apart from limited exemptions set out in law. Non-essential retail, indoor gyms and leisure facilities, and personal care services must close. People must work from home if they can, but may travel to work if this is not possible, for example in the construction and manufacturing sectors. People should not enter or leave tier 4 areas, and tier 4 residents must not stay overnight away from home. Individuals can only meet one person from another household in an outdoor public space.

Unlike the November national restrictions, communal worship can continue to take place in tier 4 areas.

These measures will take effect from tomorrow morning.

All tiers will continue to be regularly reviewed in line with the approach previously set out, with the next formal review point taking place on 30 December.

Second, we are issuing new advice on travel.

Although the new variant is concentrated in tier 4 areas, it is nonetheless present at lower levels around the country.

We are asking everyone, in all tiers, to stay local.

People should carefully consider whether they need to travel abroad and follow the rules in their tier.

Those in tier 4 areas will not be permitted to travel abroad apart from limited exceptions, such as for work purposes.

Third, we must, I am afraid, look again at Christmas.

As Prime Minister, it is my duty to take the difficult decisions, to do what is right to protect the people of this country.

Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, and the potential risk it poses, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned.

In England, those living in tier 4 areas should not mix with anyone outside their own household at Christmas, though support bubbles will remain in place for those at particular risk of loneliness or isolation.

Across the rest of the country, the Christmas rules allowing up to three households to meet will now be limited to Christmas Day only, rather than the five days as previously set out.

As before, there will be no relaxation on 31 December, so people must not break the rules at New Year.

I know how much emotion people invest in this time of year, and how important it is for grandparents to see their grandchildren, and for families to be together.

So I know how disappointing this will be, but we have said throughout this pandemic that we must and we will be guided by the science.

When the science changes, we must change our response.

When the virus changes its method of attack, we must change our method of defence.

As your Prime Minister, I sincerely believe there is no alternative open to me. Without action, the evidence suggests infections would soar, hospitals would become overwhelmed and many thousands more would lose their lives.

I want to stress we are not alone in this fight – many of our European friends and neighbours are being forced to take similar action.

We are working closely with the devolved administrations to protect people in every part of the UK.

Of course there is now hope – real hope – that we will soon be rid of this virus.

That prospect is growing with every day that passes and every vaccine dose administered.

The UK was the first country in the western world to start using a clinically approve vaccine.

So please, if the NHS contacts you then get your vaccine – and join the 350,000 people across the UK who have already had their first dose.

Yes, Christmas this year will be very different, but we must be realistic.

We are sacrificing our chance to see loved ones this Christmas, so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them at future Christmases.

As sure as night follows day, we will beat back this virus.

We will defeat it.

And we will reclaim our lives.Published 19 December 2020

Life at Up Up and Away Investment Management International: Chapter 19 The over 60 white man club and long live global inclusion and the hypocrisy of HR

Chapter 19

The Over 60 White Man Club and long live global inclusion and the hypocrisy of HR

I have mentioned in a previous chapter some of the strange productivity schemes invented or pirated by the CRAP Human Resources Department to increase productivity.

Up Up and Away management in New York was burbling like a baby over a new programme it had developed or rather pirated as it sounded like some mutation of the affirmative action campaign in the United States in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

The programme went by the name of “Global Inclusion and Celebration of Differences”. The idea was to make everyone feel appreciated and wanted despite ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or race. Differences were to be celebrated in a public and visible fashion. The intended result was to be a diversified workforce that respected groups other than their own groups. The idea was to celebrate differences. This rather erroneously assumed segregation existed! The result especially after the “MeToo” movement and Black Lives Matter was that WASP dominance was on the way to extinction except of course for the Senior Management Team and board of directors. As my HR contact jokingly stated, “We no longer hire white males. You gotta be a person of colour, have a physical infirmity, be in the LGBTQ community or a woman to be hired.” I wondered if this was a joke.

Accordingly, there was the Black Business Association, the Kansas City Bible Study Group, the Muslim Business Group, the Asian Employees Group and of course the LGBT Group. I rather lost track of all the diverse groups. One member of the Senior Management Team was to act as “management sponsor” of each group.

Most employees were totally dispirited by the vicious and continual rounds of termination and were not enthusiastic about being manipulated so that some SMT sponsor could claim glory for the management of the group it acted as executive sponsor for.

The reality of this Global Inclusion and Celebration of Differences was a greater fragmentation of the employee base with employees sticking to their group and thinking it superior to the other groups. Diversity in a defensive and destructive sense was the result the Human Resources Department brilliant minds reaped.

I shouldn’t be too hard on the poor Human Resources Department here. Nor should I accord any concern by Up Up and Away New York management about any concern for whether its employees were LGBT, Muslim, Black or Chinese. Their only goal was to secure cheap labour and to satisfy clients that were looking for a service provider that Up Up and Away was progressive towards its diverse employee base. What a joke! One had only to look to the board of directors of Up Up and Away in New York to see it was comprised of older white men with a token black, oriental and female. Even that amount of tokenism was lacking in the Canadian SMT at Up Up and Away. The SMT of New York and Canada were united by their greed so really there was no need to “celebrate” any diversity amongst themselves. Money is a great unifier!

No, the real reason for this promotion of diversity was a powerful group of mostly US governmental type agencies and largecorps demanding that its service providers have a diversified workforce that was not discriminated against. So to the uneducated concerning Up Up and Away it was an attempt to celebrate employee (and not management) diversity. For the educated about largecorp and to the eager MBA graduates toiling for largecorps it was a calculated show to retain and increase a client base.

Up Up and Away had only one goal and that was to increase profit and if it meant putting on a show for existing and potential clients so a Las Vegas show was in order! A Cirque de Soleil SMT produced show.

The increasing ranks of unmotivated and cynical employees viewed this with a good sense of humour. Why would Up Up and Away give a shit about employees when it decimated them in rounds of downsizing?

The Global Inclusion and Celebration of Differences programme was a dismal failure despite a legion of newbie brownnosers that tried to shine brilliantly by establishing these groups. Although the whole programme might have and should have been destroyed by a “Newark (or Detroit) Race Riot State of Mind” it died a slow and deserved death over the period of three years.

I recall that the Up Up and Away Human Resources Department required each employee to attend two Global Inclusion and Celebration of Differences events as part of the employee’s performance appraisal goals. Their desperation to make the programme a “success” was clear to most employees.

For an interlude let me tell you I attended an LGBT group event. The LGBT group was sponsored by a homophobic member of the Up Up and Away Canada’s SMT. It had an evening event with a drag queen performer. There was mortification on the poor SMT sponsor’s face. It was quite clear he had no place at such debaucheries. I rather enjoyed the anti-corporate mood of the evening. There are funny moments at largecorps!

Then for a moment it struck me. I was a minority at Up Up and Away Canada. An old white man in his 60’s with only three others in my category. I was sorely tempted to form a true minority group within Up Up and Away’s Canadian operations: “The Over 60 White Man Club”.

I conferred with my three other colleagues on this point and I think the result was that to form such a group would amount to employment termination. Yet being surrounded by a 65% Chinese workforce that had its own Asian inclusion group any trumpeting of anything white was totally and incredibly politically incorrect but had a brash and truthful reality to it. No racism involved. We just wanted to highlight our identity just like all the other groups! For us aged white men it was global disclusion!

Now one of my three colleagues were terminated at age 65 so our group at Up Up and Away in Canada would have been me and two men one of whom was a Up Up and Away dutiful slave but because he had absolutely nothing else in his life than a miserable existence with Up Up and Away he was unwilling to sacrifice his less than fulfilling Up Up and Away Canada life for a life of nothingness in retirement so our club never got off the ground. The other old man wanted nothing to do with the group as he had a bad gambling addiction and was afraid of losing his paycheque.

At least 4 of us old white men experienced the contradictions and racism inherent in the Global Inclusion and Celebration of Differences programme. God help you if you were a white man “regular low to mid level” employee.

Oh, by the way one manager had said in a meeting what was important was that “All Lives Matter”. He was branded a racist and terminated

Life at Up Up and Away Investment Management International: Chapter 18 An eager beaver fool

Chapter 18

The eager beaver fool

When I joined Up Up and Away Canada it was new to the Canadian marketplace as an investment manager. When you join a new player in the market your enthusiasm can be extremely high particularly when you start winning business in a significant and impressive way.

Up Up and Away Canada required a client to have an asset base of $600,000,000 but its initial wins were accounts in the billions. The local investment management firms in Toronto were getting blasted off their feet by Up Up and Away Canada. As Up Up and Away in New York had many clients with subsidiaries in Canada those subsidiaries were flocking to Up Up and Away Canada. It was easy money!

So why was Up Up and Away Canada kicking ass in the market? Primarily because it had a small, highly motivated and driven Canadian employee base willing to go the extra mile and be part of a winning and growing corporation. This contrasted with the Canadian investment management firms that were rather clubby and old boyish and took savage competition as anti-Canadian. They realized rather late that Up Up and Away Canada was a powerful, aggressive and competitive force. In a matter of years Up Up and Away Canada had established itself as a major player in the market. The Toronto old boys club were caught with their pants down! Their mismanagement in failing to realize the threat of Up Up and Away Canada in the Canadian marketplace resulted in them losing many accounts and then terminating hundreds of jobs.

When you work for a gangbuster firm new in the market and you had a charismatic and down to earth CEO that gave a damn about employees and did not hesitate to promote and praise employees you give it your best.

I will admit I was caught up in the euphoria for 5 or so years staying late often arriving home in the early morning. I was negotiating big time high value contracts and getting a pat on the back and a promotion or two and was participating in the incentive plan which was of course chicken shit in comparison to what the Canadian and New York Senior Management Team was raking in. I was enjoying myself. I felt I was contributing, so I busted my butt.

I recall initially how small Up Up and Away Canada was. We all knew each other and celebrated our successes. We had regular quarterly update meetings with a free lunch thrown in. We would celebrate wins. We would celebrate promotions. There were separate adult and children’s Christmas parties. There were golf tournaments with clients. Money and success were flowing. Then the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008 suddenly changed everything.

By 2008 Up Up and Away Canada in Toronto had expanded to Montreal and Vancouver and was becoming a Canadian largecorp. Up Up and Away in New York had decided to outsource to Up Up and Away Canada a whole host of administrative functions due to the cheap Canadian dollar. India was not quite in fashion then as an outsourcing destination. Unfortunately after a few heady years Up Up and Away’s Canadian CEO had been terminated. His generosity and spirit were a bit alien to the tough New York boys particularly as Canadian operations had somewhat peaked and Up Up and Away Canada had little room for growth after capturing so much of the marketplace.

The mass terminations started a few months after the Lehman Brothers collapse. In one particularly spooky moment I was talking to my Up Up and Away American friend, Anne Kolodny, who had a solid Up Up and Away American Human Resources Department contact. That contact had advised her a big termination event had been planned in New York and Philadelphia for the next day. Offices were being booked for hundreds of New York and Philadelphia terminations. We said we would touch base the next day. Anne was terminated before we could have our conversation. I was devastated. A long-term friend and brilliant lawyer gone in the bat of an eyelash. I suppose in your late 50’s you have a bull’s eye on your forehead.

Morale at Up Up and Away started to plunge. I gave a moment’s reflection about my performance which was always solidly rated yet my boss Sally Self had never acknowledged or thanked me. Not only that I had filled in for her maternity leave and for those of colleagues ( and three disability leaves) without so much as ever receiving thanks for that hugely stressful feat. Can you imagine playing outfield on the baseball diamond on the parent’s association baseball championship for my son’s school with a Blackberry stuck to my ear trying to close out a deal in Scotland while filling in for a maternity leave?

My attitude began to change quickly. I felt abused and manipulated let alone massively overworked. I decided to be 9-5. And like when I was working with CRAP it really didn’t make a difference. Perhaps it was because our new hire, Shalla Makmood, announced she was pregnant several weeks after we hired her. Sally and Shalla were both young mothers and that sort of left me with no common connection to Self and Shalla really played that connection up. If Shalla was 9-5 I was going to play that game. What a fool I had been to fritter away my time for 5 years on late night deals. I felt I had cheated my children out of a father. No more. Fuck off Up Up and Away!.

If You are travelling and ill best not to lie!

Read the link below and think again by lying about your condition if you or your spouse thinks you are COVID contaminated and you conceal that before you board a plane. If anyone on that flight is sickened or dies it could be a possibility the knowing wife (0r husband) may face a manslaughter charge as an accessory to the death. Aside from criminal responsibility bear in mind a civil suit could wipe out the liar’s family wealth.

There seems to be truth to the maxim “Liar Liar your pants are on fire”.

https://sfist.com/2020/12/18/california-bound-passengers-on-united-flight-being-informed-of-possible-covid-exposure-after-man-dies-onboard/?fbclid=IwAR2bdUGUqwZro_-Q7wpOMjEKO9zi4lUACv33bTjywEXJ135g4U65cJqsU90

So Where Goes Donald Trump?

Do you recall President Donald Trump stating if he lost the election he would move from the United States? As he is not an essential worker the borders to Canada will be closed for him. Aw, what a shame! As he is not an imperial lifelong ruler it is doubtful Russia or China will welcome him. He is now a refugee from power. Well not exactly yet until his coup d’etat plans fail. Was it , “Stand back and stand by” or “Stand by and stand back ?”

As a travel agent and an entrepreneur I have a plan. With my secret sources I have an idea I have yet to work out with my non existent North Korean sources. But whomever the current leader of North Korea is will welcome the Trumper as a “special advisor for global relationship building” for the North Korean government.

Trump will receive a special permit to build a golf course at an unspecified North Korean location and build a resort to build up a sadly lacking North Korean tourist industry where guests will be assured complete privacy from spying.

There will be a television show “Feeding the Sharks” where political dissidents will be offered the chance to win freedom by swimming a lap in a shark infested pool. If they survive they will win their freedom. Not quite “The Apprentice” but a great idea for a reality show.

Melania Trump will be offered a fashion contract to design new uniforms for the North Korean army.

Barron Trump will be honorary comrade of the North Korean Young Pioneers to teach them golf to compete with the successful war mongering South Korean golfers.

American beef farmers, faced with a growing American vegetarian market, will be offered North Korean grants to teach bovine breeding and management to North Korean farmers to ease the burden on the North Korean bourgeois dogs being currently slaughtered for meat protein to try and mitigate the current North Korean famine.

It is going to take money to “relocate” DJT but I am planning a crowd funding effort to make this happen.

If I only had this idea years ago I could have starred on “The Apprentice” so I am trying to fraise funds on “Shark Tank” assuming they give me air time.

As for Mike Pompeo and Vice President Pence I am still working on plans for those esteemed gentlemen. But for Pence it may be a reinforcement training for subservience to political leaders and for Pompeo a training position for how to be a political bully in international politics.

Stay tuned!

Symptoms of COVID Distress: Don’t fall prey to the PIG embedded in COVID

I had written yesterday rather tongue and cheek about COVID Fatigue (CF). With CF one can experience a range of emotions but CF will mean you are not mentally distressed to the degree you require help from mental health professionals. As a journalist I simply can’t give you a diagnosis if you are suffering from COVID Distress (CD) as that you must obtain from a mental health professional. There are a multitude of phone lines and on-line tools to assist you in recovering or mitigating CD. However actually seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist in these days of COVID is very difficult given the rising caseload they are dealing with.

With so many resources being thrown to plague management an already inadequately funded mental health system is struggling to deal with CD and for that matter even the regular health system is faltering due to cancellation/reduction of very serious surgeries. COVID-19 is a merciless pig sucking up resources and in effect transferring mortality to the population not infected by COVID because of its inadequate resources.

One common theme I hear from what I read on COVID and mental distress it causes that the root cause may be isolation. If you are alone and not connected to any social group on a regular basis this loneliness can steamroll into something far more ominous.

What are some of the warning signs of CD?

Feelings of sadness
Feeling there is nothing to look forward to or that the future looks hopeless
Feeling a sense of failure
Being dissatisfied are bored
Feeling guilty
Feeling of being punished
Being disgusted or hating yourself
Blaming yourself for everything bad that happens
Thoughts of suicide
Crying or wanting to cry but having the inability to do so
Being irritated frequently
Losing interest in other people
Difficulty making decisions
Feeling of looking ugly or unattractive
Difficulty concentrating
Being fatigued
Difficulty sleeping
Poor appetite
Weight loss
Very worried about physical health
Lack of interest in sex

Of course, having serious thoughts of killing yourself is an alarm bell for immediate help. What if phone line or online help is not available one solution is simply to go to the ER room of your local hospital.

(The author is a Certified Contact Tracer (Johns Hopkins School of Public Health) and certified in COVID-19 Training For Healthcare Workers (Stanford University)

A Harvard Health Letter (12May20) Reminder on Blue Light!

Blue light has a dark side

What is blue light? The effect blue light has on your sleep and more.

Updated: July 7, 2020Published: May, 2012

Although it is environmentally friendly, blue light can affect your sleep and potentially cause disease. Until the advent of artificial lighting, the sun was the major source of lighting, and people spent their evenings in (relative) darkness. Now, in much of the world, evenings are illuminated, and we take our easy access to all those lumens pretty much for granted.

But we may be paying a price for basking in all that light. At night, light throws the body’s biological clock—the circadian rhythm—out of whack. Sleep suffers. Worse, research shows that it may contribute to the causation of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

What is blue light?

Not all colors of light have the same effect. Blue wavelengths—which are beneficial during daylight hours because they boost attention, reaction times, and mood—seem to be the most disruptive at night. And the proliferation of electronics with screens, as well as energy-efficient lighting, is increasing our exposure to blue wavelengths, especially after sundown.

Light and sleep

Everyone has slightly different circadian rhythms, but the average length is 24 and one-quarter hours. The circadian rhythm of people who stay up late is slightly longer, while the rhythms of earlier birds fall short of 24 hours. Dr. Charles Czeisler of Harvard Medical School showed, in 1981, that daylight keeps a person’s internal clock aligned with the environment.

Is nighttime light exposure bad?

Some studies suggest a link between exposure to light at night, such as working the night shift, to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. That’s not proof that nighttime light exposure causes these conditions; nor is it clear why it could be bad for us.

A Harvard study shed a little bit of light on the possible connection to diabetes and possibly obesity. The researchers put 10 people on a schedule that gradually shifted the timing of their circadian rhythms. Their blood sugar levels increased, throwing them into a prediabetic state, and levels of leptin, a hormone that leaves people feeling full after a meal, went down.

Exposure to light suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that influences circadian rhythms. Even dim light can interfere with a person’s circadian rhythm and melatonin secretion. A mere eight lux—a level of brightness exceeded by most table lamps and about twice that of a night light—has an effect, notes Stephen Lockley, a Harvard sleep researcher. Light at night is part of the reason so many people don’t get enough sleep, says Lockley, and researchers have linked short sleep to increased risk for depression, as well as diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

Effects of blue light and sleep

While light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light at night does so more powerfully. Harvard researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).

In another study of blue light, researchers at the University of Toronto compared the melatonin levels of people exposed to bright indoor light who were wearing blue-light–blocking goggles to people exposed to regular dim light without wearing goggles. The fact that the levels of the hormone were about the same in the two groups strengthens the hypothesis that blue light is a potent suppressor of melatonin. It also suggests that shift workers and night owls could perhaps protect themselves if they wore eyewear that blocks blue light. Inexpensive sunglasses with orange-tinted lenses block blue light, but they also block other colors, so they’re not suitable for use indoors at night. Glasses that block out only blue light can cost up to $80.

LED blue light exposure

If blue light does have adverse health effects, then environmental concerns, and the quest for energy-efficient lighting, could be at odds with personal health. Those curlicue compact fluorescent lightbulbs and LED lights are much more energy-efficient than the old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs we grew up with. But they also tend to produce more blue light.

The physics of fluorescent lights can’t be changed, but coatings inside the bulbs can be so they produce a warmer, less blue light. LED lights are more efficient than fluorescent lights, but they also produce a fair amount of light in the blue spectrum. Richard Hansler, a light researcher at John Carroll University in Cleveland, notes that ordinary incandescent lights also produce some blue light, although less than most fluorescent lightbulbs.

Protect yourself from blue light at night

Use dim red lights for night lights. Red light is less likely to shift circadian rhythm and suppress melatonin.
Avoid looking at bright screens beginning two to three hours before bed.
If you work a night shift or use a lot of electronic devices at night, consider wearing blue-blocking glasses or installing an app that filters the blue/green wavelength at night.
Expose yourself to lots of bright light during the day, which will boost your ability to sleep at night, as well as your mood and alertness during daylight.