Business Management Tips to Help Reduce Operating Cost

The economic downturn has seen many businesses look for all kinds of ways to cut down costs. Some have dismissed their workers, others have closed shop, and many more have re-negotiated salaries while others have cut down daily operational costs to minimum.

In my view, one of the ways in which any business can reduce its spending is by re-evaluating the amount of money that goes into communication. As much as communication is important, sending physical letters and traveling across continents for business meetings and browsing the internet can take a lot of company time. Remember that time is money.

The first step would be to computerize office communication. Instead of sending physical documents through the post office, scan and email them to your customers, suppliers as well as business partners. Sensitive information can be encrypted so that no one can intercept and read them. Documents that can be sent on e-mail include invoices, sales agreements, letters of recommendation, sales application forms as well as the usual letters with various requests.

It would also be advisable to set aside a room where employees can access internet away from their workstations. Explain to your workers the aim of setting aside a 'cyber cafe' in a public room so that they can support you in the effort to cut down costs.

As you go electronic, do not forget to invest in a reliable storage for your data. Electronic storage will maintain a paperless office as much as it is helping to cut down costs. Remember to backup all your communication as you go electronic.

Center of Column

Headaches - Type of Headaches and Their Management

Headaches are one the most common afflictions in life, with up to 90% of people reporting having suffered from headaches at some point in their lives. Most headaches, other than being painful and bothersome, do not signify anything more serious. However, some type of headaches are signals of more serious conditions and require immediate medical attention.

A large community based study of headaches in Singapore (Ho KH, Ong BK. A community based study of headache diagnosis and prevalence in Singapore. Cephalalgia 2003 Feb;23(1):6-13) found that the overall lifetime prevalence of headaches in Singapore was 82.7%, and this did not vary between racial groups. The types of headaches were classified into: migraines (9.3%), episodic tension type headaches (39.9%), chronic tension type headaches (2.4%) and unclassified headaches(31.2%).

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

Because the brain itself does not have any pain receptors, the pain in headache is actually from several structures in the head and neck region. These include the scalp and neck muscles, meninges (brain lining), extra-cranial arteries, large veins, cranial and spinal nerves. Pain from sinuses, eyes and temporomandibular joint can also radiate to the head to cause headaches.

TYPES OF HEADACHES

Causes of headaches may be classified as being Primary (where it is not caused by an underlying condition) or Secondary (where an underlying condition exists).
A. PRIMARY HEADACHES

Tension Type Headaches

Tension headaches are the most common types of headaches experienced. The pain is described as being a mild to moderate constricting, pressing or tight pain on both sides of the head. It is generally not made worse by routine physical activity, such as walking, and there is usually no significant associated nausea or vomiting.

Tension headaches are thought to be caused by muscle tension origination in the neck, shoulders, forehead and skull. These muscles tighten due to poor posture, stress, eye strain or fatigue, resulting in a headache.

Tension type headaches respond well to simple pain killers, such as paracetamol or NSAIDS (non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drugs). Caffeine has also been shown to help. Patients with chronic tension-type headaches may occasionally need to consider prophylactic treatment.

Migraine Headaches

Migraines usually begin more frequently in the young, and are characterized by severe, throbbing pain, typically on one side of the head. There is usually associated nausea and vomiting, and increased sensitivity of light and sound. The pain on migraine is generally made better by resting in a darkened room.

Acute migraine attacks may be treated with oral pain-killers and migraine-specific medication (ergotamine and triptans). If vomiting is significant, injections may be required for pain relief and nausea control. For patients who get frequent migraine attacks, there is a role for prophylactic treatment which your doctor may recommend.

Cluster Headaches

Cluster headaches are the least common type of primary headaches and occur almost exclusively in males. They are usually extremely painful and have a pattern of occurring in "clusters", usually at the same time of the day for several weeks. They are usually described as constant, deep and excruciating, always located on one side of the head. There may be associated symptoms such as a runny or blocked nose, nausea or droopy, red, teary eye.

Cluster headache sufferers often feel compelled to pace up and down the room or rock in a chair. This is unlike the migraine sufferer who usually wants to curl up in bed and be still.

B. SECONDARY HEADACHES

Secondary headaches are the symptom of an underlying condition and it is thus important for them to be recognized and not dismissed. Conditions which may cause secondary headaches include infections of the brain and meninges (lining of the brain), strokes, tumours, bleeding in the brain from some form of trauma, sleep apnoea, very high blood pressure, acute glaucoma and rhino-sinusitis.

DIAGNOSIS

Your doctor will make an assessment of your headache by conducting a clinical interview, followed by a thorough neurological examination. If there are symptoms or physical signs suggestive of a more serious secondary cause, your doctor may recommend a referral to the Emergency Department or imaging investigations in an outpatient setting.

SIMPLE MEASURES FOR HEADACHES

Most primary headaches respond to simple measures.

Pain-killers: Pain killers such as paracetamol and NSAIDS (non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drugs) are often sufficient to control most headaches. For migraine and cluster headaches, specific medication such as ergotamine and triptans may be used.

Sleep: Having insufficient good quality sleep can contribute to headaches. Make sure that you get a good nights rest to enjoy more headache-free days.

Cold Therapy: An ice pack or cold pack placed over the painful area during an acute headache attack, can temporarily provide some relief by numbing the soreness and reducing tension.

Adequate Rest and Reduction of Anxiety: Tension and migraine type headaches are often precipitated by stress. Stress management methods, exercise, meditation etc, can all help reduce and possibly prevent such headaches.

Healthy Eye Care: Eye strain from prolonged reading or computer work can trigger headaches. Ensure that you have properly prescribed glasses to correct for any vision problems, as short or long sightedness can aggravate eye strain.

Civil Engineering Overview Center of Column

Anger Management Quiz

Most of the tension that people attribute to stress is really low-grade anger, which is usually unaffected by anger management techniques. Every publication and TV news magazine worth noting has run multiple pieces on the explosion of stress in our times. They talk about frenzied time pressures, long work hours, and congested commutes. They list our fragmented social schedules at home and increasingly complex financial worries. We've read all about these things, how they feed the insatiable monster of stress.

They feed an insatiable monster all right, but it isn't stress; it's low-grade, mostly unconscious anger or resentment that can thoroughly deplete physical and mental resources. You can come home from a hard day of resentment and feel like you've loaded a ton of bricks. Your muscles ache from the continuous low-grade arousal; you're drained of energy, with no enthusiasm, interest, or enjoyment possible.

You've read headlines about many studies showing dangerous ill-health effects of anger. Some call it the heart attack emotion. What the stories usually don't tell you is that the harmful effects of anger come not from frequency or intensity - how often you get angry or how angry you get. They come from duration: how long it lasts. Unhealthy levels of anger are those that last longer than a few minutes. In other words, the culprit is sustained reactions to emotional pollution, which will almost certainly make you resentful, as your emotions will seem manipulated by your environment.

Long-lasting low grade anger or resentment can cause:

o Depression

o Destruction of T-Cells (which depress the immune sys¬tem); if you're resentful a lot you probably have lots of little aches and pains, get colds and bouts of flu

o Hypertension--increased threat of stroke

o Heart disease

o Cancer

o Shortened life span.

Low grade anger ruins health, work, and relationships. To find out if your stress is really low-grade anger, take the Anger Management Quiz.  

Civil Engineering Overview