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Overtraining Syndrome Can Sabotage Performance

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Authored by Brady Holmer • March 12, 2019 • 10 min read

It’s two weeks away from marathon race day. Legs should feel fresh, mind should be focused, and fitness should be at an all-time high. This is what you’ve trained for the past several months, never missing a workout. It’s time for all of the hard work, dedication to diet, and mental preparation to pay off.

But things feel off. Nailing goal workouts is difficult. Running similar times requires more effort. Fatigue is chronic despite adequate rest. Muscle soreness lingers.

Taking a week off from training doesn’t help and on race day, a personal record feels impossible. You start the race with little enthusiasm, each of the 26.2 miles spent thinking about the finish line. Rather than running a fast time, the goal becomes simply to finish. The excitement of the race is gone.

These symptoms represent a classic case of “overtraining syndrome” or OTS. OTS is something that many athletes may suffer from but may know little about.

What is Overtraining Syndrome?

Training dedication is important. But if you overtrain, you may not even make it to the start line.

Overtraining and Overtraining Syndrome Defined

Operationally, overtraining is defined as a training imbalance where stress > recovery.1When high levels of physical activity or high-intensity training are paired with inadequate rest and recovery time, performance suffers.

A separate but related condition to overtraining is known as relative energy deficiency syndrome in sport (RED-S). This syndrome results from an imbalance between dietary energy intake and expenditure. RED-S is characterized by loss of general health, proper growth, and reduced sport performance.2 Many physiological functions such as metabolism, menstrual function, bone health, immunity protein synthesis, and cardiovascular health are negatively impacted by RED-S. This syndrome may be an early precursor to full-fledged overtraining syndrome.

Short-term overtraining is reversible with a proper rest period. In overtrained athletes, a rest period of one or two weeks can reverse many symptoms and lead to a performance rebound. This distinguishes overtraining from the more severe overtraining syndrome (OTS).

Overtraining syndrome results when overtraining continues for an extended period of time; some might call it burn out.

Since OTS is more severe than overtraining, recovery time is longer. It may take a rest period of weeks or even months to reverse OTS, maybe because it’s usually coupled with other types of stress: high altitude living, training monotony, suboptimal diet, and academic, occupational, or relationship strain.

Overtraining, or Under Recovery?

For athletes, the concept of overtraining might seem odd. You understand a high training load is needed to adapt and get better (known as “supercompensation”). However, too high of a training load with too little recovery is a poor way to achieve proper gains. Recovery is when the actual training adaptations occur, not during the training session. In fact, sometimes overtraining may not even be evidence of training too much, but recovering too little.

Your Brain and Body on Overtraining

It’s well documented that mental strain can have physical impact. When the mind wears down from overtraining (or stress outside training), it can impact performance negatively.

A woman sprinting, with an illustration of a bran behind her, showing what happens when you overtrain

Negative Mood States are Higher in OTS

The mental side of training and recovery are equally important as the physical. Overtraining can have wide-ranging effects on mental health and motivation, which can negatively impact day-to-day training and performance in competition.

One of the early signs of overtraining might be large emotional swings accompanied by more negative thoughts than normal. Mood changes likely occur due to alterations in endocrine hormones and changes in the nervous system.

Ultramarathoner and HVMN Athlete, Jeff Browning, has been there. He says there are a lot of puzzle pieces to running 100 miles and the mind is a big piece.

“I don’t let negative talk take root. I’ve learned to slay mental dragons by constantly switching to positive speak. That’ll give you an improvement in performance.”Jeff Browning

Overtrained athletes exhibit higher levels of negative moods like tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion. They also have lower levels of positive mood states such as vigor and motivation during training.3 One study observed that in a group of athletes suffering from chronic fatigue, 80% had levels of clinically significant depression.

Overtraining may also cause feelings of edginess with symptoms of insomnia, lack of appetite, restlessness, and sleep disturbances. This may seem counterintuitive, since overtraining is usually associated with chronic fatigue, but it likely results from a “hyper-aroused” state. A constant, high release of stress hormones characterizes sympathetic overactivity; this is one reason an elevated resting heart rate is observed in overtrained athletes.

Neuroendocrine Dysfunction

The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA) regulates a majority of our body’s hormonal system. As part of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), it helps respond and adapt to challenges by releasing stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline: think “fight or flight.”

Proper coordinated function of the hormonal and nervous system is critical for athletic performance, helping prepare the body for high-intensity exercise and competition by increasing heart rate and blood pressure and releasing catecholamines (hormones produced by the adrenal glands).

Overtraining syndrome causes central nervous system dysfunction; while release of stress hormones might remain high, their ability to cause the proper response in target organs is diminished. Hormones responding to exercise or low blood sugar are rendered ineffective.4,5

This is the “autonomic imbalance” hypothesis of overtraining. Sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system dysfunction and insensitivity to stress hormones results in impaired performance during racing and training.6 Overtrained athletes have a harder time performing. This suggests chronic fatigue can have effects in the brain as well as the body.

High-intensity, high-volume training may also result in reduced cognitive processing speed.7 For sports and race situations requiring decision making and composure, this is dangerous.

Heart Rate Variability as a Biomarker for Overtraining

A popular biomarker for athletes to indicate recovery status, heart rate variability (HRV) might be useful to detect potential overtraining. The applications of HRV are discussed at length in a recent HVMN podcast episode: “What You Can Learn From Heart Rate Variability” ft. Jason Moore.

HRV is a measure of the variability in the time between heartbeats (the beat to beat interval) and reflects autonomic nervous system balance–the balance of parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system activity. Increased HRV generally indicates a good balance, whereas a reduced HRV may indicate a shift towards greater sympathetic activity due to chronic stress and overtraining.

Along with an elevated resting heart rate, lower HRV is found in athletes who are overtrained.8 This could indicate nervous system imbalances as a result of overtraining/under recovery. Regardless, the underlying problem is too much stress.

Effects on Mental Health

A daily self assessment of mood and well-being might be able to point out a possibility of overtraining or a path toward OTS. Athletes know their bodies well, and a simple mood check-in might be a quick way to assess recovery status.

Feeling a bit off during a workout? Less motivated to train? Recognizing changes in mental state during training can indicate when to dial back the intensity or take extra recovery time.

How Overtraining Influences Performance

A heads-down training approach is something to be admired, and it’s a way many athletes train in hopes of better performance on race day. But it’s a thin line. Overtraining, and not allowing enough recovery time, can actually impair performance.

Training, Racing, and OTS

While no true biomarkers for overtraining exist, one sure sign of overtraining is “an inability to sustain intense exercise and/or a decrease in sport-specific performance.”9

In other words…you’ll suck on race day.

In the short and long term, a state of overtraining in endurance athletes has been shown to decrease time to fatigue by 27%, reduce power output by 5.4%, and increase trial time by 9.8%10,11–it kills performance measures

Along with reducing performance and work output, overtraining increases the effort required to sustain the same level of intensity: running at the same speed feels harder, lifting a lighter weight seems more difficult.

Athletes report a higher rating of perceived exertion (RPE) for the same workload when they are overtrained versus well-rested.12

While endurance athletes are often the subject of overtraining talk, it is important to realize that no athlete is immune. Overtraining syndrome has been observed in endurance athletes, strength athletes, and elite judo athletes.13,14,15

The Immune System Suffers in Overtrained Athletes

Of all the things athletes want to prevent, arriving at the starting line sick or losing training time due to illness are high on the list.

Overtraining severely impairs immune system function, leading to increased risk of illness and infection.16 Being around group of teammates or training partners in gyms, sporting facilities, and public venues only increases this risk by exposing athletes to more pathogens and infectious bacteria.

Depressed immune function and higher rate of infection are consistent findings in studies of overtrained athletes. In particular, athletes training at high volumes seem especially prone to upper respiratory tract infection (URTI),17 a viral infection of the nose, throat, and airways.

The immune system is less able to fight pathogens during overtraining16 due to a lower number of immune cells fighting bacteria. Even the most elite athletes are at risk. Olympic athletes classified as chronically fatigued are shown to have higher levels of infections leading up to the games,18 a period where they are undergoing strenuous training.

Recovery and nutrition strategies targeted at improving immune function may prevent illness during overtraining. Increasing dietary carbohydrate and intake of certain polyphenols (plant micronutrients) are effective in supporting sport19 performance and anti-viral capacity of athletes.

A female runner with her hands on her head, resting after a difficult training session

Preventing and Treating Overtraining Syndrome

Taking adequate recovery time to bounce back from overtraining presents a major setback, so preventing overtraining should be one of every athlete’s goals.

However, if you’re feeling overtrained or suffering symptoms of OTS, the first step is to immediately reduce training volume. This might involve low-intensity training or active recovery. In some cases, an extreme amount of rest may be necessary to prevent full-fledged overtraining syndrome from developing.

Below are some strategies to optimize recovery, prevent the onset of overtraining syndrome, and treat symptoms if you find yourself in an overtraining rut.

A male cyclists making a turn on the road, showing how to prevent overtraining.

A Well-Planned Training Program is the Key to Success

The best way to prevent overtraining is to stick to a well designed training program. Athletes in all sports tend to overperform on the easy days and underperform on the hard days.20 Don’t make this mistake

Having a coach or a training partner to provide accountability and support throughout training can be helpful here. A support system can also keep you accountable if you need a few days off. Training partners can encourage the need to rest and remind you bigger things are down the road.

The Importance of Getting Enough Zs

The scientific literature is consistent: the body needs sleep. Inadequate sleep negatively affects areas of performance such as memory and attention, injury risk, speed, and endurance.21 Sleep is often sacrificed by athletes in favor of training or other lifestyle demands, such as travel, competition schedules and work.

Overtraining is associated with sleep disturbances.22 Athletes should pay extra attention to sleep time and sleep quality, following some key strategies to enhance sleep hygiene and promote optimal recovery.

Increase sleep duration by getting seven to nine hours of quality sleep each night (recommended for all adults).

Athletes may need even more sleep due to higher training volumes, as it’s necessary to restore mental and physical functions.

Research indicates that sleep extension improves several measure of performance in athletes.23

Sleep can treat overtraining symptoms too, and is perhaps the best recovery tool available to athletes. Take a few rest days and focus on sleep if you find yourself experiencing training fatigue.

It can help to optimize sleep environment with a cool, dark room, free of electronics and artificial light–all are shown to increase sleep quality. Adding a nutritional supplement such as Yawn from HVMN into to a sleep routine can further promote high-quality sleep. Ingredients like magnesium glycinate, L-glycine, and L-theanine promote sleep and enhance the recovery process in athletes who may need help getting some proper shut-eye.24

Fuel for Success

Optimal performance and recovery require proper fueling at every stage of training. Inadequate carbohydrate and protein intake, in addition to long term negative energy balance, impair recovery and lead to symptoms of overtraining. Even with proper planning, studies show that many athletes fail to meet a sufficient calorie intake to maintain energy balance25 and might suffer from vitamin and nutrient deficiencies.

Protein is vital for tissue restoration, muscle building, immune function, and recovery from hard training sessions. Athletes in training need more protein to support training and recovery needs. Increased protein intake can also prevent unintended loss of weight in the form of lean muscle mass.

Up to 1.7g/kg of bodyweight in protein should be consumed for athletes in a variety of disciplines such as endurance and strength training to prevent muscle breakdown and support immune system function.

Adequate intake of carbohydrates to support training intensity and promote recovery is another important factor in preventing overtraining. While low-carbohydrate diets may have a place in some programs, sufficient intake of carbohydrate to support high-volume and high-intensity training in athletes is recommended.

Studies provide evidence that less adaptation to training occurs in glycogen-depleted endurance athletes, and that symptoms of overtraining can be prevented by a high carbohydrate intake during times of high training load. Athletes consuming a high carbohydrate diet containing 8.5 g/kg of carbohydrate during a period of high training maintained better performance and mood compared to a group consuming a lower carbohydrate diet containing 5.4 g/kg throughout the same training program.26

What if you are feeling overtrained, sluggish, or in a slump? Try to eat yourself out of overtraining by increasing your calorie intake, consuming high-quality protein sources, and eating foods rich in a variety of nutrients. Energy insufficiency is often a cause of overtraining, and giving your body what it needs can get you back to training.

Track Biomarkers

Staying in touch with yourself on a day-to-day basis will let you become aware when things seem off. Take a daily mood assessment before and after training. Is your attitude or willingness to train more negative than usual?

As discussed above, heart rate variability (HRV) tracking can also let you know if you’re overtraining. Getting your blood work done to test for possible endocrine or metabolic imbalances may be a more in-depth but worthwhile assessment of training status.

Could Ketone Esters Help Prevent Overtraining?

Recently, an increasing number of athletes are experimenting with the ketogenic diet and exogenous ketones (such as HVMN Ketone) as tools to enhance endurance sport performance and recovery. Strategic use might help athletes avoid overtraining, but there is still a lot of work to be done to understand their full potential.

Early studies suggest that ketone esters might accelerate muscle replenishment.

For example, athletes who added beta-hydroxybutyrate or BHB (the ketone ester present in HVMN Ketone) to a post-workout meal, set themselves up for enhanced muscle protein synthesis, indicated by increased signaling of the growth regulator mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1).27

Another possible application for ketone esters is to help the body store carbohydrate in the muscles as glycogen. Replenishment of muscle glycogen was accelerated following ketone ester supplementation when coupled with in IV infusion of glucose.28 The jury is still out here, as another research group didn’t see the same effect on glycogen when the ketone ester was taken with a post-workout shake.27 Because of the powerful effect of ketones on the body, it’s certainly likely that adding ketone drinks to regular nutrition could boost muscle recovery.

Overtraining is a Delicate Balance

Like rain clouds in the distance, overtraining threatens any athlete in a hard training block. Dedication and overuse is a thin, looming line that many athletes don’t realize they cross until it’s too late. For many athletes, it’s probably easier to push harder than pull back.

But perspective is necessary. If you’re worried about overtraining, speak to a coach or friend and hold yourself accountable to get necessary recovery time. Learn to listen to your body for whispers of overtraining. It’s a complex scenario involving mental health, nervous system function, and physical symptoms that decrease performance in the short and long term.

Importantly–don’t beat yourself up about it. A black hole of overtraining can be a dark and lonely place, so getting help is one of the best ways to treat OTS. Be patient, recover properly, know it’s a process and take the necessary steps to try and prevent overtraining before it’s too late.

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You Are Not Alone: Empty Nest Syndrome Is Common. Here’s How to Cope.

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Posted by Silvernest Team on May 9, 2019 11:24:51 AM

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Image credit: Rebecca Siegel on Flickr

Well, here you are: The last kiddo has left home and you’re feeling pretty blue. Maybe you’re worrying all the time. You’re probably a little lonesome (or a lot). You may feel like it, but you are not alone.

The Empty Nest Is Actually Full—of Emotions

According to GoodTherapy.org, empty nesters may experience insomnia, anxiety and/or panic—as well as feelings of extreme grief, isolation/loneliness, guilt and purposelessness. They may even lose interest in activities they once enjoyed. Psychology Today notes that “…parents often struggle with a profound sense of loss, not just because they miss their child, but because their very identities have been significantly impacted.” In other words, if your parenting role has changed so dramatically, who are you?

In two-parent families, empty nest syndrome is at least a team experience—one partner can offer support and empathy when the other is struggling. For divorced, widowed or single parents, however, there may unfortunately be an even greater sense of isolation and loneliness.

If you are struggling with empty nest syndrome, the good news is you are not alone. Most parents experience at least some of these feelings in varying degrees. Here are five suggestions for coping with empty nest syndrome and finding your groove again.

Five Ways to Cope with Empty Nest Syndrome

1. Participate in Activities That Include Others.

Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, we all need friends. If you’re already involved in a community group, don’t stop now! If you’ve been too busy, go ahead and sign up for those art classes, start a band, look into university extension programs, or join a new class at the gym. The excitement and energy of taking up a new hobby or learning something new is a real balm for feelings of loss, and being around other people can help stave off social isolation.

See real Silvernest stories

2. Find New Ways to Feel Valued and Needed.

One of the rewards of parenting is the feeling of being important to another person. While nothing will ever replace the love between a parent and child, you can find some fulfillment in helping others. Look for a volunteer organization that aligns with your values and sign up! Offer to read books at a nearby school, or hold babies in the NICU at your local hospital. Sign up to work at a local food bank or community garden. Or use your skills to help others—knit blankets for hospital patients, teach home repair skills… the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

3. Embrace a New Adventure.

If your time and budget allow it, why not enjoy all that traveling you put off during the busy parenting years? Some empty nesters even decide to sell their homes and travel full-time! While that might not be the right choice for you, having a trip to plan and look forward to (and then enjoy) can be very therapeutic.

4. Embark On an Encore Career.

If you’ve reached retirement age, becoming an empty nester might inspire you to re-enter the working world. Encore careers can take on many forms — a coaching or consultative role in your former industry, professionalizing one of your skills (such as giving art lessons), or even joining the staff at a nonprofit. These “second-act” jobs can be a great way to recharge your spirits, stay engaged and extend your retirement income.

5. Discover the Benefits of Homesharing.

Sometimes an empty nest means you’ve got unused space in your home. Homesharing offers a wonderful way to put that space to work and have some company around the house. In homesharing, your renter (or “housemate” pays rent or does household chores (or a combination of the two) in exchange for living space.

Some homeowners find housemates by asking around among friends and neighbors, or by advertising in the community, online or on social media. Silvernest uses unique roommate-matching technology and other tools to make homesharing simple and worry-free. We’ve helped build happy homesharing agreements between people of similar ages or across generations.

There’s Hope Ahead.

Those “empty nest” feelings are normal and natural. While you’ll always miss having your kids around, the most intense emotions usually ease with time. However, if you find yourself too depressed or anxious to fully participate in your life as you once did, please seek out professional support. A trained therapist or, if need be, psychiatrist can help you work your way through this transition to a brighter future.

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7 Keys to Increase Productivity

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We’ve all had those days when we feel like we are not accomplishing anything no matter how hard we work. Looming deadlines, increasing workload, multitasking, and stress could all disrupt a person’s productivity. “Work smarter, not harder” has become a famous motto among the workforce. And this statement actually has merit. Sometimes, when we wear too many hats, take on too much work, instead of becoming more productive, our productivity actually decreases. So what can we do to increase our productivity?

1. Have a healthy breakfast… or skip it!

healthy breakfast foods

I don’t mean to confuse you, but there are studies showing that skipping the most important meal of the day can benefit various brain functions. Intermittent fasting has been gaining popularity lately, and there are scientific studies to back it up. However, if you want to give this a try, it is best to ask for a doctor or a nutritionist’s advice first. For anything to work, one has to have the know-how and the right motivation. On the other hand, if you are a huge fan of breakfast and could not possibly start a day without it, by all means, eat! Fuel your body with the right food. Make healthy choices.

2. Take that coffee break

people laughing over coffee

Though it might be tempting to just keep plugging away at work and skip your breaks in order to meet your deadlines, it would not be a very good idea. You need to relax and take a breather. This will give your brain a much-needed break and you a chance to walk around and enjoy a nice cup of joe, maybe even socialize with your other harried co-workers.

3. CBD Oil

cbd oil tincture dropping into bottle

Adderall has been making the rounds around colleges and even workplaces. However, if you prefer a more natural approach to boost your concentration and productivity, why not give CBD oil a try. It has been known to increase alertness, help calm nerves, and boost your mood. So when you find yourself stressed with your head all over the place, why not try popping a CBD gummy, a flavored tincture, or even straight up CBD oil to help ease your stress and calm your nerves. Unlike its addictive cousin, THC, CBD will not get you high.

4. Don’t multitask

desk with productivity tools

Multitasking is not something the human brain is built for. It has proven to cause loss of productivity. Doing too many things at once will take away your concentration from the crucial things that need doing. This will make your work prone to errors and cost you time that you were trying to save by multitasking in the first place. Do one thing at a time before moving on to the next task. This way you can ensure each task is accomplished properly. Try doing the tasks that take the least amount of time to accomplish first. This will get these tasks out of the way and allow you to focus on the more complicated ones.

5. Take exercise breaks

Isn’t it ironic that a post about being productive is talking about breaks a lot? That’s because taking breaks in between tasks is a good way resetting your brain and preparing it for the whole new task ahead. Exercising will send a rush of much-needed oxygen to your brain and will help loosen your muscles that might have bunched up from getting the previous task done. Taking a brief walk, or a short stretch will allow your brain to stop thinking about work and “breathe”. This will help bring your focus back to where it is supposed to be – your looming tasks.

6. Use tools

Using online tools or apps to track your work and tasks for the day is one easy way of getting your day organized. When you have your day organized, you won’t need to spend extra time trying to remember what to do next; you would already have it laid out for you. Most of these tools are free and can be linked to your personal or work email. Just make sure that the apps abide by your company rules and risk profile.

7. Say no to meetings

work meeting people around conference table

Meetings take time. And a lot of the time, these meetings are not even really necessary. If you have a lot of things to do, and someone schedules a meeting, try to find out if your presence is necessary for the meeting. Or if the items on the agenda could be discussed through email, that would be a better venue. You only get so many hours in a day, after all.

This article originally appeared on MadeByHemp.com

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3 Things Even The Best Restaurants Can Get Wrong

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Due to the extremely time-intensive and experience-led nature of any good restaurant, we can often feel that the ones that really ‘do a great job’ are watertight. We imagine that for something so complex to work, especially for any length of time, they must be doing something right. And to a certain extent, that’s completely true. However, even the best restaurants can suffer from issues that leave them less popular than they might be.

A restaurant is one of the most popular kinds of business to start, own and operate, but also a business most likely to fail within its first two years. This is because there are so many moving parts, and because it’s a guest-experience that fights with takeout delivery, an increased awareness of home cooking and of course, the social scene of the local environment, a restaurant can find itself on its knees if it does not pay attention to every little thing.

This means that if you want to build a restaurant that will stand the test of time – or you wish to take inspiration from the greats – it’s also important to know how you might get things wrong. Let us consider how you could do that:

Impeding The Waiters

It’s not uncommon for us to think of waiting or waitressing as a fairly low-level job. In some States, they aren’t even guaranteed an hourly wage. This is of course preposterous. So is the first assumption. Waiting staff have an incredibly hard job to do. Not only are they the frontal ambassadors for your restaurant, but they must also be able to build a rapport with their guests, communicate their desires perfectly, upsell and suggest menu items, navigate the floor with heavy plates of food, and upkeep their personal grooming to an extensive degree, but they need to do all this quickly, quickly, quickly. Make things easier for your waiters. First, pay them hourly of course. Split the tips evenly each and every night. Ensure that the restaurant floor plan is logical and open enough to allow free and direct movement to the right tables. The more you help your staff maintain the flow of the room, the more successful each service will be.

Requiring Anything Less Than A Gold Standard Of Hygiene

Even big restaurants, especially those that are independent, can be caught out by health inspectors. One simple mistake by a chef can cause the hygiene star rating of an establishment to tank. We needn’t patronize you and tell you how this might affect business. But you might be surprised as to just how granular this could be. Imagine two people looking at restaurants to visit around town. Will they prefer to pay for a star jump in hygiene? Often, yes. Will anything less than five-stars seem suspicious? Absolutely. You need to continually ensure your staff are fully trained and are kept accountable to their hygiene standards, each and every night. To that degree, you can uphold your reputation.

Keep Things Fresh

Often, restaurants find a ‘winning formula’ and then stick to it. However, times move on. Tastes change. A head chef should never rest on their laurels, but instead consider their menu as if it was fashion. Sure, certain staples are timeless. But modern tastes must always be accounted for, unless you’re running a niche historical food place. Change with the seasons. Celebrate local product. Always. Stay. Relevant. Or your competition will.

With this advice, we hope you launch your career in cuisine with strength.

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5 Ways to Make Money with the Extra Space in Your Home

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Posted by Kate Cygan on May 13, 2019 4:34:18 PM

make-money-extra-space-blog

For most people, our homes are our biggest tangible assets. So it seems like a no-brainer to put them to work and make a little money if we can. Airbnb is a big success story, but not everyone wants to rent out their homes for vacationers. Luckily, turning your house into a short-term vacation rental isn’t the only way to make money with your extra space—and we’ve got five creative ideas that prove it.

5 Ways to Turn Your Home Into Income

1. Share Your Garage or Workshop for Projects

Your unused space doesn’t need to be fancy to earn a little extra income. Your garage or workshop might be a real lifesaver for a weekend mechanic, local artist or a group of musicians needing rehearsal space. To find these creative neighbors, try reaching out on your neighborhood email list or in your church bulletin, posting on the local Craigslist or just putting up some flyers in the coffee shop near your home.

2. Offer Your Home as a Potential Filming Location

Similarly, your home doesn’t have to be a mansion to be useful as a filming location for movies, commercials or TV shows. Lots of productions need “real” homes that look lived-in and authentic. Your state or local film commission may maintain a database of homes that are available as film locations—especially if you live in an area with significant film/TV production like Toronto, Chicago, New York City, L.A. or Atlanta. You can also list your home on referral sites like SetScouter.com, which help location scouts find available properties easier.  

3. Rent Out Extra Parking Space in Your Driveway or Yard

If you live in a big city, downtown area or anywhere near a sports venue, beach or other popular destination, you know that parking is at a premium. Depending on demand, you can make some extra money by charging people to park in your driveway or even (temporarily) in your yard. Covered parking would likely generate the most money, but people will pay for parking convenience even without special amenities. If you live in a congested business district, you might even find a renter looking for an ongoing monthly deal. Finding parking space renters might be as easy as putting a sign in your yard or taking a flyer to a few office buildings nearby.

4. Share Your Empty Storage Space with a Neighbor

Surely you’ve noticed the proliferation of storage places across the country. But who said people have to store their stuff in a big commercial building? You might have an empty bedroom or extra space in your garage or basement. Maybe you own a warehouse, or your property includes some empty space or an RV pad. Someone in your area is probably looking for space to store things like ski equipment, holiday decorations, heirlooms or even a boat. They might as well rent your extra space! Check out Neighbor.com. Their platform makes it safe and easy to find and connect with potential renters, with free background checks, secure automated payments and a $2 million host guarantee. Also check out Stache.com. By shopping around with both Stache and Neighbor, homeowners can ensure they get the best deal possible.

5. Share Your Home With a Housemate

If you’ve got an extra bedroom, in-law suite or basement room, homesharing might be a perfect solution. Having a housemate—in other words, a compatible renter—can bring in some pretty considerable income while also providing companionship and even some help around the house. 

Making money from your extra space might be simpler than you think. With today’s connected communities and helpful technology tools, it’s easier than ever to put extra space to work. It just takes a little creative thinking and willingness to be flexible. We hope these innovative ideas have opened your eyes to the potential in your home.

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Restoring Your Home After A Fire

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It’s during the summer months that you can find that your home is just a bit too warm, so you end up going out a lot. But when we are going through those incredibly hot southern summers, it can switch our brain off from time to time, and this is where our lack of judgment can mean that we burn our food, or even worse, suffer a fire. And when this happens, it can feel devastating. While you’re more than relieved that everybody is okay, you’ve still got to deal with the cleanup. What can you do to make sure that you rebuild and restore your home effectively after a house fire?   

Assessing The Damage

After you’ve called the insurance company, you should think about bringing in a professional fire restoration contractor. They can recommend a structural engineer to examine the property so you can get the ball rolling. It’s important that you contact the insurance company right away because the claims process can take a long time. Once you’ve secured the property, you can get on with addressing the structural repairs. This follows with the assessment of the electrical system, and then it’s time for the cleanup.

Restoring The Property

In terms of a house fire, there are two main sorts of damage apart from the fire damage itself. There is soot damage and smoke damage.

You’ve got to be careful when it comes to soot damage, even if the fire didn’t completely gut your property. Soot can be very dangerous to your health. You’ve got to be careful not to breathe it in. And when you are cleaning up the property, you have to start from the top and work down to the bottom because soot could fall from objects while cleaning. Because soot can be oily and stain carpets, you have to make sure that the carpet is secure. Once you are confident that the search has been removed from all of the high up areas, you can vacuum it all up. Be sure that you protect yourself in terms of the appropriate breathing apparatus.

Smoke damage is a different beast. It’s something that you can see for the most part, but you can smell it more. Even if you don’t see particles deposited, you will always be able to smell it. And when you are attempting to clean up specific materials, it’s important to go for the textiles first. And if you’re wondering what are textiles, they consist of items that don’t break, so this could be blankets, clothing, toys, sports equipment, and so on. Cleaning these can be difficult to get rid of the smoke residue and the odor, but there are some homemade techniques that you can use. To begin with, you can use a bucket of warm water with non-corrosive detergent on surfaces, and in terms of clothes, a good quality washing powder should do the job. Because it can be a lot of money to replace all of these items, you naturally want to be able to recover most of it. But if there are items damaged beyond repair, especially in terms of clothes, this is something that you need to discuss with your insurance company.

Additional Cleaning

In terms of soot and smoke damage, you’ve also got to be aware that your home should be protected from future damage. Mold is one of those things that may not enter your mind because of the severity of the fire. But if there’s minimal damage to your walls and ceiling, you can use a solution of hot water and bleach to wipe down the walls and prevent mold and mildew growth. It’s also important to realize at what point you should bring in a professional. Some homes will need to be treated right away by a professional. And again, this is something that you will have to discuss with your insurance company, but you can also look at local contractors that provide services for cheap. It’s difficult to find the right contractor because your insurance company will have specialized ones that they use. Generally, it’s far better for you to have an expert deal with it that comes highly recommended, rather than finding a cheap contractor that may not do everything to a high standard.Restoring your home after a fire is a long process, and can be emotionally draining. But you have to remember that, despite the hardships you are going through, and the time that it may take to get the home back up to code, that you shouldn’t lose heart.

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Startup Success 101: 5 Ways to Make Your Capital Work Harder

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There’s nothing quite like having that Eureka moment of a new business idea. However, it doesn’t take long to realise that turning concepts into profits is hard work. In many cases, the hardest challenge revolves around getting through the initial phases. If you can do this, your hopes of success become far, far greater. Keeping a firm grip on the outgoings and overheads will make a monumental difference.

So, how can you make your capital work harder? Here’s all you need to know.

Work From Home

Formulating ideas and putting them into action could take months. Rather than paying for commercial spaces, you should try working from home. This instantly reduces the costs while you can take the DIY approach even further. Use 123inkjet Canon cartridges to do your own printing, and use call redirecting to handle your own calls. As long as you continue to maintain a positive work-life balance, you’ll be fine. If it worked for Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and co. it can work for you too.

Outsource

Aside from removing the costs of running an office, outsourcing can reduce direct staffing costs. You can hire freelancers to complete the works that you require, which is cheaper than full-time staff or contractors. Meanwhile, you can use this as an opportunity to try out new people, keeping on the best and losing the rest. For the sake of productivity as well as your finances, this could be the smartest move of all. Outsource wherever possible for increased success.

Embrace Digital Marketing

Marketing is one of the most significant strands of any business venture, and efficiency is vital. Essentially, there’s little point in gaining $1m of sales if you spent $2m on marketing. Digital campaigns require creativity to stand out from the crowd, but allow you to achieve great results on small budgets. When supported by free resources such as Google My Business and on-page SEO, you will see great results. Better still, it’ll enhance offline sale and offline sales at once.

Sell Online

A few years ago, the costs of setting up an eStore were quite high. Nowadays, it’s far cheaper. For a small business, the annual costs are probably lower than a monthly rental in a real world location. However, you can also use eBay stores and Amazon stores to sell items in a trusted place. This helps you build the client base before directing them directly to your venture and can work wonders for long-term prospects. Besides, this is the ultimate way to increase your potential audience size.

Avoid Unnecessary Ideas

When starting a new business, it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing things because it’s the done thing. Whether working from home or a commercial setting, saving time will ultimately save you money. Replace unnecessary meetings with emails and group chats. Get rid of any activity that doesn’t actively benefit the company. Be happy to say no before trialling ideas that you know will fail. When all of these issues are under control, the waste of time and money will fall.

When your business actively makes its capital work harder, fewer sales are needed to turn a profit. If that doesn’t encourage you to make a change, what will?

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3 Good Reasons to Do a Camping Trip Soon

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With more and more of us living in cities and other built-up urban environments, the natural world isn’t necessarily something that plays a prominent role in our everyday lives, as a rule.

Still, there is undeniably something deep within the human psyche that draws us towards the natural world. That must be part of the reason why nature documentaries are so popular, and why so many people are so concerned with environmental issues.

In order to reconnect with nature, many people go on camping trips when the opportunity arises.

If you’ve been thinking about investigating roof boxes for your car, dusting off your tent, getting back to nature and doing a camping trip of your own recently, here are a few reasons why you should go ahead with that plan.

Time spent in nature helps you to reset your body and mind

An incredible number of people in today’s world apparently suffer from disrupted circadian rhythms, and various hormonal and mood issues – not to mention health problems – as a direct result of this.

There are many reasons for this, including the prevalence of bright artificial light in the evenings, and abuse of caffeine, nicotine, and other stimulants.

The interesting thing is, research has shown that when people go camping in nature without artificial lights for a few days, their circadian rhythms are radically reset, and they are brought into much better alignment with the natural cycles of night and day.

Time spent in nature help you to reset your body and your mind in a variety of ways. It helps to get you back to a healthy baseline.

Time spent in nature helps you to radically destress and gain a sense of perspective on things

People who spend more time in nature appear to be healthier, happier, and more stress free, than their counterparts who live in built-up urban settings and spend all their time there.

This has been a consistent finding among researchers of various types.

When you get out in nature, you can see your everyday situation from a different perspective, and can better identify solutions to issues that might have been hidden from you before.

It’s not exactly clear why this is the case, but throughout history, many notable people have reported that walking in nature has been a key for helping to inspire them to come up with solutions for complex problems.

Time spent in nature helps you to experience the wonder of the world at large

There is just something majestic and awe-inspiring about a beautiful natural environment, and the fact that such an environment isn’t the product of human artifice.

When you are spending time out in nature, you put yourself in a position where it’s much easier for you to experience the wonder of the world at large, and to regain some of the childlike sense of enthusiasm and curiosity that we typically lose sight of as we get older.

Nature is something to experience, and not just something to understand. And in order to experience it properly, we have to give up a little bit of our control, and just marvel at the sights and sounds that surround us.

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Live Smart: Making A Smart Home Work For You

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Your home is your haven; it enables you to have quality time to yourself, and helps you escape the modern world. In this respect, you need to have your home work with you to make life easier. And a smart home is one of those things that everybody ponders, but may not necessarily think it’s easy to implement. But when you think about what a smart home can do, like regulate your heating, put the television on, it makes you maximize your downtime with major efficiency. But upgrading to a smart home can be difficult. But upgrading in this respect doesn’t necessarily mean putting everything through the internet; it could also help you to minimize certain expenses. So, with this in mind, how can we upgrade our home so that it becomes smarter?

Minimizing Your Expenditure

If you worry about money, you’ve got to ensure that your home is energy efficient. There are numerous ways you can do this, such as by getting solar panels, or other alternative forms of generating energy. If you are interested in this, you can look at the solar panel installation process to get an idea of it. But when it comes to money worries, if you can make your home smarter by installing a smart meter, as well as a few upgrades to minimize your water use, like a low-flow shower head, all of these things will add up to a significant saving. If you install a smart meter that can tell you exactly how much you are spending on your energy each and every day, it becomes an ingrained habit to turn the heating down by one degree or so, so you can see exactly how much you are saving. And it’s not just these practices, you can use natural cleaning products or make your own for very cheap, or install energy efficient light bulbs. There are so many different ways for you to upgrade your home, but also save you money.

Choosing Your Assistant

Whether it’s Alexa, Siri, or Google’s Assistant, it doesn’t take much effort to connect to these so you can control your lights, the heating, or any electrical items. It can take a while to get accustomed to this. But when you think about the efforts you have to put in now, this will make life easier for you further down the line. When you upgrade to a smart home, you’ve got to make it work for you. But this requires a lot more effort at the very beginning. And picking your assistant certainly comes with a lot of questions, but you need to decide what aspects of life you need to make easier. Heating is a great example because if you’ve had a long day in work, and you live by yourself, by getting the heating to come on 20 minutes before you walk through the front door, it’s going to make your property a lot more welcoming, especially during a dark and dreary winter.

Of course, there are so many different components of a smart home, but you’ll have to decide which ones you really want. Some people don’t feel comfortable with a smart home, but if you decide that you need to make life a bit easier, picking an assistant, but also minimizing your expenditure are two simple aspects to make life so much simpler.

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Easy Steps To Protect Your Business & Secure Your Website

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Business and your website security will extend far beyond protecting any sensitive data behind a particular firewall. Hackers are looking more and more at attacking websites and as a result, can be a threat to an entire business system. The goals that they have range from small disruptions to the day, to large and costly takedowns that can really impact the website and then the business as a result (through like data hacks and breeches). Cyber attacks can lock you out of a website, until you pay a ransom, sadly are things that are on the rise. But there are steps that you can take to protect the website that you have the data that you have. You can keep customer information safe and clear, and protect online assets with smart security choices.

So with all of that in mind, here are some of the ways that you can protect your business, as well as your website, and all of the data that comes along with it.

To start with, you have to think about the basics. And some of the basics of website security starts with having preventative measures in place that will help to keep the hackers out in the first place; there are a few things that can be simple to do. For example, start off with the following:

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  • Automate any of the operating systems that you have and auto-updates for your website, so that ‘human error’ is eliminated.
  • Make sure that you use strong passwords, change them regularly, and even use two-step authentication if needed.
  • Keep email systems secure and make sure employees know what to look out for (such as not opening attachments from people that they don’t know, and so on).

Security Protection

Malware is a term for all  threats that are used to attack computers, online data, and other online systems. These things, like viruses, can get into a system and cause a lot of problems, as well as steal vital information. They can lock systems, websites, and even bring down a network. So steps need to be taken to make a difference to reduce the threat of this. So maintaining up-to-date software for viruses and firewall systems, will help to add another layer of protection from attacks. The whole thing around computer security systems can cybersecurity can feel really overwhelming as you don’t know where to start. So if that sounds like you, then you could click here to learn more about how you can get started with your IT services and how to manage them.

Secure Hosting Service

If you are able to use the right web hosting service then it can be a great way to reduce the risk of any security worries. This is definitely of importance when it comes to have an ecommerce platform, so it is worth doing your research to make sure that you choose a secure host for your website. You’ll have the added back-up and help from them a host too, so it is worth having.

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