Mind-over-body exercises are often recommended for individuals coping with high stress, or for athletes looking to improve their performance. Photo: BBC

Colorado, United States (BBN) - Stress and anxiety can wreak havoc on your financial life.
A pile of bills, a lost job or pay cut, no child care or in-person schooling, and a pandemic that feels never-ending can impact anyone’s psyche.
In fact, more than 4 in 5 Americans, or 84%, are feeling stress on their personal finances due the crisis, an October survey by the National Endowment for Financial Education found.
Here’s a look at six steps you can take to shake off those emotions, so that you don’t freeze up or make bad money decisions.
1. Recognize you are anxious or stressed
Pay attention to your body and your emotions. Are you breathing faster? Are you more rushed?
Once you recognize you are anxious or stressed, it may help to take a moment and a few breaths before you make a decision, said licensed marriage and family therapist Dr. George James, chief innovation officer and senior staff therapist at the non-profit Council for Relationships.
“When we are anxious, it can impact what we do,” he said. “It overwhelms our system and we make decisions or moves that maybe aren’t in our best interest.”
Reach out for help to the community you are involved with, such as a financial advisor, college friend or trusted family member, added James, a member of the CNBC Invest in You Financial Wellness Council.
2. Practice self-care
Self-care and self-kindness are key in time like this, and you don’t have to spend a lot of money on either, said financial therapist and coach Carrie Rattle, CEO and founder of New York-based Behavioral Cents, which provides financial coaching and therapy.
Self-care can mean good nutrition, sleep and exercise.
“Self-kindness is ensuring that, in this time of trauma, we are getting social interaction,” even by phone or Zoom, she said. “Don’t shut yourself off and live in your head.”
3. Pay attention to the present
People tend to get caught up in looking at everything that needs to be fixed, and don’t know where to start, Rattle explained.
Instead, think about one small thing you can do today to be smarter about your money. Attack it with an attitude of curiosity, rather than judgment, she said.
“When you pay attention to the present and you tackle one small behavior change, it is remarkably empowering,” she said. “It gives you control back in a world where very few of us have control.”
4. Get real about your finances
Look back at your finances over the past year, your income and your expenses.
This can help you become more knowledgeable about where you stand and will help you create a plan for the upcoming year, said certified financial planner Stacy Francis, president and CEO of Francis Financial, a New York-based wealth management practice.
“That is really important and powerful for not only, of course, staying on track financially, but often we think that we are either better off or worse off than we actually are,” she explained.
Catherine Lavelle, 47, didn’t realize how bad her finances were — and how that stress was impacting her— until she wanted to buy a middle-income apartment in New York City a few years ago.
“I was so good at being bad about money,” said Lavelle, admissions counselor for a New York state college.
After reviewing her situation, getting a handle on her credit card debt, hiring a financial planner and organizing her finances, she was able to bring her stress level down from what she called an 8 to a 1.
“I feel good about my finances for the first time in my life,” Lavelle said.
5. Set priorities
What do you need most and what can wait? What costs can be reduced in some way?
When there are too many priorities swirling around in your mind, you can lose focus, Rattle said. If you write them down on a piece of paper and prioritize them, you have clarity on what comes next.
6. Create an emergency fund
The pandemic is driving home the importance of having some cash stashed away in case of emergency.
“Anxiety comes from change,” said Francis, a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. “No one loves change.
“Unfortunately, with finances in 2020, a lot of that change was negative,” she added. “The best defense you can have against a negative financial surprise is to have a good offense.”
Ideally, try to save three to six months of living expenses to fall back on in the event something unexpected happens, Francis said.
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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Global leading experts on apparel technology, innovation and automation are coming to speak at Bangladesh Fashionology Summit to be held in Dhaka on February 12, 2018.

A total of 17 renowned speakers from 10 countries of the world are participating in the first ever fashion and tech summit to discuss about latest apparel products, technology and innovation that will shape the future of the industry.

The Speakers will share their expert opinions on Factory of the Future, Virtual Reality & Digitalization of Supply Chain, Fashion Tech & Sustainable Innovation, and Mass Customization & on Demand Manufacturing at the summit.

The organizer of the summit Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) is also going to arrange the first ever Digital Tech Fashion Show during the event.

In the fashion show some of the most creative and innovative fashion design with digital and tech twists brought from around the world will be displayed.

The BAE is also going to exhibit the operation of Cobots during this fashion and tech Summit.

The Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) Mr. Mostafiz Uddin said: "By organizing the Bangladesh Fashionology Summit we endeavour to bridge the gap between the present and future of Bangladesh apparel and textile industry through technology, innovation and knowledge sharing."

He also said: "We are bringing together under one roof the most inspiring and innovative thinkers from across the globe to initiate the much-needed conversations around technology, digitalization and innovation in the apparel and fashion industry.”

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Photo: Buzzkenya.com

Leicester, UK (BBN) - The next time your sister nicks your food, snaps at you or embarrasses you, forgive her fast.

In fact, you should probably be thanking her instead.

Research from De Montfont University and Ulster University claims that having a sister makes you happier and more optimistic, reports indy100.com.

The study quizzed 571 young people aged 17 to 25 on their lives and found that those who grew up with sisters were more likely to be happy.

Participants filled in psychological questionnaires that were used to assess a range of issues, including mental health and a positive outlook.

It turns out sisters encourage their siblings to be more open and communicative about their feelings, which promotes good mental health, the researchers believe.

Professor Tony Cassidy, who helped carry out the study, said:

Sisters appear to encourage more open communication and cohesion in families.

However, brothers seem to have the alternative effect.

Emotional expression is fundamental to good psychological health and having sisters promotes this in families.

It could be that boys have a natural tendency not to talk about things.

With boys together it is about a conspiracy of silence not to talk. Girls tend to break that down.

Cassidy said the findings were even more pronounced in families where parents had split up, adding:

I think these findings could be used by people offering support to families and children during distressing times.

We may have to think carefully about the way we deal with families with lots of boys.

Similarly, a study by from Brigham Young University that involved 395 families with more than one child found having a sister makes you a kinder person.

The research also shows that brothers bring benefits too, as long as the relationship is more loving than combative.

According to ABC News, lead researcher Laura Padilla-Walker said:

Sibling affection from either gender was related to less delinquency and more pro-social behaviours like greater kindness and generosity, volunteering and helping others.

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It's time to change the way you think about these acne myths. Photo: NDTV

New Delhi, India (BBN) - Spot a zit on the face and you're bound to go berserk. You go through every pimple zapping product you can get your hands on and steam your face constantly, all in the hope of flaunting a clear face again.

Since you read these beauty tips online, they're bound to be true, right? Not really. Following everything you read might just do more harm than good, especially if it's something that just isn't true, reports NDTV.

Here are 5 common acne myths that we've all believed were true at some point, which we're finally busting today.

1. "YOU AREN'T WASHING YOUR FACE ENOUGH"
It's time to change the belief that unclean skin is the root cause behind acne because it really isn't. In fact, when skin is over washed, that can cause more skin damage and coarseness than a tiny pimple. Don't overdo it when washing your face, twice a day is more than enough.

2. "WHAT YOU EAT DOESN'T MATTER"
It really does. If you don't think those sugary milkshakes and countless Chinese takeouts don't make a difference to your skin, think again. In recent times, acne has been linked to gluten, dairy and excess sugar intake so keep an eye on your diet if you find yourself breaking out for no good reason.
3. "ACNE PRONE SKIN DOESN'T NEED MOISTURISER"
This myth sounds so realistic, that's why it's the most commonly believed one. Most acne prone skin has abundant facial sebum; hence, many say that moisturising it only makes it oilier. In actuality, leaving this skin type dry causes it to produce sebum as a form of natural lubrication. So don't listen to the rumours, just find a lightweight, non-clogging moisturiser instead.
4. "POPPING THE PIMPLE GETS IT OUT"
Yes, it can be tempting to just dive in and pop the red zit residing on your face for the past week but hold your horses. Pimple popping by an untrained individual opens the skin, allows bacteria to enter and doesn't even get all the pus out. The result: a bloody, red mess that will leave a scar which will take months to fade. So keep your hands down already.
5. "THE STRONGER THE PRODUCT, THE BETTER"
In theory, it can seem like a good idea to break down a pimple with highly acidic products. Practically, that doesn't work. Acne products often contain acids which, in the right quantity and prescribed by a specialist, can ease the problem. When too strong and too harsh, they can cause chemical burns. Now that's far worse than a pimple, don't you think?
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Cooking is more than a hobby, a passion for some people but for those of us who are clueless about culinary science new age technology can be quite a boon. Photo: Shutterstock

New Delhi (BBN) - Cooking is an art that stimulates our senses and can help one to relax after a long day at work. Cooking can be a great stress buster and also a way to strengthen the familial bond over food.

It is more than a hobby, a passion for some people but for those of us who are clueless about culinary science new age technology can be quite a boon, reports Hindustan Times.

Here are some apps which will help you improve your capabilities in the kitchen and become a master chef of your house.

YOUTUBE
YouTube is a popular platform to watch any video for entertainment and learning. There are a number of food channels which you can follow to master the art of cooking like Vahchef, Manjulika’s kitchen and Nisha Madhulika.

INSTAGRAM
Instagram is popular among millennial to upload their stories and photographs. One can find a number of food bloggers who keep uploading colourful dishes along with recipes. You can follow their recipes and cook delicious dishes at home. Some of the popular bloggers you can follow are Damn Delicious, Diethood, Food of Mumbai and The Big Bhookad.
PINTEREST
Pinterest is a social media app to discover information on the World Wide Web, mainly using images and on a shorter scale, GIFs and videos. Here you can search for cooking and food videos all over the world and learn exotic dishes sitting at home.
BIGOVEN
BigOven is a diverse recipe app to make cooking simple and interesting for you. With a collection of 3,50,000 recipes, the app includes grocery list function, a clipper tool to save recipes from websites, and more. It allows you to upload unlimited numbers of recipes along with more features. Its interface includes views for recipe details, shopping lists, meal planning, and nutritional values to help one understand minute details of cooking.
ROPOSO
Roposo ‘TV by the People’ is an Indian social media platform that allows users to express, connect, and interact with the world. With its channel Hungry TV, people can curate cooking videos, upload them and learn a variety of dishes from the uploaded videos. It has tools which create realistic videos with music, voice-over applications and GIF stickers. These tools help one to provide instructions for cooking and simplify it for the beginners.
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Princess Diana was a style icon known for her unique sense of dressing and her collection of handbags. Photo: HT

California, US (BBN) - An exquisite jewelled evening bag owned and used by Princess Diana in the 1980s has been sold for $15,186 at an auction in the US. The satin-lined silver bag was passed on to Kensington Palace Senior Housemaid Sheila Tilley.

“The bag is heavy and solid, and no picture can behold its beauty. An exquisite item demonstrating Diana’s fabulous style and refined taste,” according to RR Auctions, reports Hindustan Times.

“I write to confirm that I was in the employ of their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana. The duration of my service at Kensington Palace was from 1981 to 1983,” Tilley wrote in a letter of provenance that accompanies the bag.

“It (the bag) came into my possession when the Royal Butler, Alan Fisher, distributed a few of Diana’s unwanted items to staff who were present at the time in the kitchen,” Tilley added.

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Photo: Flickr/Felix Leupold

Washington, US (BBN) - Sometimes it's the big things that make us happy - the birth of a child, an impressive promotion, winning the lottery.

But other times, it's the small things. Think capturing the most beautiful photo of a flower garden on your way to work, or hugging a friend you haven't seen in a while, reports Business Insider.

It's the second type of happiness boosters that we're focusing on here. Below, Business Insider has rounded up seven tweaks to your daily routine — all of which take 10 minutes or less — that can make you happier, healthier, and more productive. Read on for ideas you can implement starting today.

JOT DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS
Author and investor Tim Ferris recommends jotting down your thoughts in a journal every morning.

Ferris uses "The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal" by Julia Cameron, and emphasizes that the process of writing matters more than the final product. What's more, journaling allows you to get fears and worries out of your head so you can stop fixating on them.
Another journal option is the "Five Minute Journal," which comes with inspirational quotations and thought-provoking questions.
You can switch things up and journal in the evening if that's more convenient.
CHAT WITH A FELLOW COMMUTER
A 2014 study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, found that people are much happier during their commutes when they engage another passenger in conversation.
Still, most people surveyed said they expected their commute to be less positive and productive if they talked to a stranger.
If you can get over the fear that you'd be bothering someone else, you might be doing them — and yourself — a favor.
TAKE ONE BEAUTIFUL PHOTO ON YOUR WAY TO WORK
That's a tip from Mo Gawdat, who is an executive at Alphabet's moonshot lab, X, and the author of "Solve for Happy." Every day during his walk to the office, Gawdat searches for something beautiful and snaps its photo.
The idea behind searching for one perfect photo is that it prevents Gawdat from thinking distressing thoughts, since he's fully engaged in searching for beauty. He calls it a form of meditation: Instead of focusing on his breath, or a spot on the wall in front of him, he's focusing on the world around him.
PLAN SOMETHING JOYFUL FOR TOMORROW
Forcing yourself to be happy generally backfires.
A 2014 study, published in the journal Emotion, found that the key is "prioritizing positivity," or structuring your day so that it includes activities that are likely to make you happy.
To schedule your days to maximize happiness, study co-author Lahnna I. Catalino told Scientific American you should "reflect on the activities that bring you contentment or joy and make time for these events in your daily life. For some people, this could mean regularly setting aside time for gardening and cooking; for others, it could mean making time to connect with good friends."
The idea is not to force yourself to feel any specific way at any given moment.
SET ONE PRIORITY FOR THIS EVENING
It's tempting to waste the hours after you get home from work — you're tired and there aren't any hard deadlines to meet like there are at the office.
So productivity expert and author Laura Vanderkam recommends setting one (simple) priority for every weekday evening. Maybe you want to go for a walk with your family after dinner, or call a friend, or read 100 pages of a novel, or go to a gym class.
Vanderkam said: "It is very easy to come home after work and just feel like, well, I'm too tired to do anything. But you have several hours then that are going and you will never get that back."
CONSIDER OUTSOURCING A CHORE
A recent cross-cultural study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that people who spend money to save time tend to be happier than those who don't. Think paying for a meal-kit service or hiring a house cleaner.
Interestingly, few people surveyed said they would spend a hypothetical sum of money on services that would save them time, suggesting that most of us aren't aware of this connection.
Ordering takeout for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day might be going overboard. But sending out your laundry today and having a Task Rabbit assemble that bookshelf tomorrow might save you a headache in the long run.
LIST THREE THINGS YOU'RE GRATEFUL FOR
The "three good things" exercise was developed by psychologist Martin Seligman and colleagues. Here's how it works, according to UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center:
Every night before bed, write down three things that went well for you, along with an explanation of why they went well. The good things can be as seemingly small as your partner taking out the garbage or as big as getting a promotion. Make sure you include as much detail as possible, as well as how the event made you feel.
Seligman and colleagues found that people who used the three good things exercise felt happier and less depressed for six months.
Again, you can do the same exercise in the morning, if that works better for you.
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Bill Gates, Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Photo taken from Linkedin

Washington, US (BBN) - Reading is my favorite way to indulge my curiosity. Although I’m lucky that I get to meet with a lot of interesting people and visit fascinating places through my work, I still think books are the best way to explore new topics that interest you.

This year I picked up books on a bunch of diverse subjects. I really enjoyed Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick, reports gatesnotes.com.

I recommend it to anyone who wants a compelling history lesson on how ISIS managed to seize power in Iraq.

On the other end of the spectrum, I loved John Green’s new novel, Turtles All the Way Down, which tells the story of a young woman who tracks down a missing billionaire. It deals with serious themes like mental illness, but John’s stories are always entertaining and full of great literary references.

Another good book I read recently is The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein. I’ve been trying to learn more about the forces preventing economic mobility in the US, and it helped me understand the role federal policies have played in creating racial segregation in American cities.
I’ve written longer reviews about some of the best books I read this year. They include a memoir by one of my favorite comedians, a heartbreaking tale of poverty in America, a deep dive into the history of energy, and not one but two stories about the Vietnam War. If you’re looking to curl up by the fireplace with a great read this holiday season, you can’t go wrong with one of these.
The Best We Could Do, by Thi Bui. This gorgeous graphic novel is a deeply personal memoir that explores what it means to be a parent and a refugee. The author’s family fled Vietnam in 1978. After giving birth to her own child, she decides to learn more about her parents’ experiences growing up in a country torn apart by foreign occupiers.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond. If you want a good understanding of how the issues that cause poverty are intertwined, you should read this book about the eviction crisis in Milwaukee. Desmond has written a brilliant portrait of Americans living in poverty. He gave me a better sense of what it is like to be poor in this country than anything else I have read.
Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens, by Eddie Izzard. Izzard’s personal story is fascinating: he survived a difficult childhood and worked relentlessly to overcome his lack of natural talent and become an international star. If you’re a huge fan of him like I am, you’ll love this book. His written voice is very similar to his stage voice, and I found myself laughing out loud several times while reading it.
The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Most of the books I’ve read and movies I’ve seen about the Vietnam War focused on the American perspective. Nguyen’s award-winning novel offers much-needed insight into what it was like to be Vietnamese and caught between both sides. Despite how dark it is, The Sympathizer is a gripping story about a double agent and the trouble he gets himself into.
Energy and Civilization: A History, by Vaclav Smil. Smil is one of my favorite authors, and this is his masterpiece. He lays out how our need for energy has shaped human history—from the era of donkey-powered mills to today’s quest for renewable energy. It’s not the easiest book to read, but at the end you’ll feel smarter and better informed about how energy innovation alters the course of civilizations.
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Mind games: Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Photo: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

London, UK (BBN) - Sorry to break it to you, but there’s bad news. Your brain is shrinking (probably).

None of us is getting any younger and time is increasingly taking its toll on our brains; our neurons are getting smaller and we’re losing connections between them, reports The Guardian.

But should we accept this pattern of degeneration as inevitable? Is there anything we can do now to optimise our brains and protect them against the ravages of ageing?

When we talk about healthy brain ageing we are really discussing one of two things: how to minimise ongoing damage to the hardware of the brain, mostly by keeping its blood supply as good as possible; or how to improve the operation of the brain’s software.

Many ways of doing this have been suggested, but few have scientific weight behind them. There is currently no magic bullet to protect the brain, but one area that has been best researched, and about which we can say with reasonable confidence, “this will help”, is mental activity.
There is plenty of evidence that older people who stay mentally active, by learning a new language, doing crosswords or taking part in other intellectually challenging activities, preserve full cognitive function for longer.
However, we need to be careful about the direction of causality. It may be that people who are cognitively intact get more pleasure from cognitively challenging activities than people whose faculties are starting to fail.
For this reason, it’s difficult to run rigorous studies to test the effectiveness of brain-training programmes, which use increasingly challenging but enjoyable puzzles or games designed to build up cognitive function.
People will choose and adhere better to a regime of activities that they find more enjoyable, so it is tricky to determine scientifically whether any particular brain training package or cognitive pursuit is really actively supporting healthy brain function.
What is clear is that people who have spent more time doing cognitively demanding activities over a lifetime are, to some extent, buffered from the physical effects of brain ageing and degenerative diseases.
We call this buffer “cognitive reserve” – a back-up reservoir of brain function that can protect from the consequences of brain damage, allowing us to continue to perform well.
For example, people with a higher IQ, longer education or cognitively challenging employment have been found to have a lower risk of developing dementia. This is despite the fact that their brains actually show normal amounts of age- and disease-related damage.
In fact, postmortem studies have found that people with higher cognitive reserve who do get dementia exhibit less severe symptoms even when they have more brain damage than those with lower cognitive reserve.
Yet there’s still much to discover about the potential of cognitive reserve for optimising the brain’s resilience.
The more we understand about its role in protecting our brain and how to boost our reserve, the more effective we will be in designing interventions to keep the human brain healthier for longer.
The good news is that cognitive reserve isn’t exclusive to those who have the IQ of a genius or who’ve devoted their life to theoretical physics.
We think it can be built up throughout life, so taking part in cognitively challenging activities, learning new skills and continuing to “use it or lose it” probably applies no matter how old you are – crucially, it’s never too late to start.
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Photo: Shutterstock

San Francisco, US (BBN) - Any hiring manager will tell you that when it comes to your résumé, proper spelling is critical to making a good impression.

The average job recruiter spend less than 10 seconds reviewing an individual résumé, and résumés with typos and spelling mistakes are often the first to land in the reject pile, reports Business Insider.

Business Insider spoke to two résumé coaches — Dana Leavy-Detrick of Brooklyn Resume Studio and Jared Redick of the San Francisco-based Résumé Studio — who shared the most common spelling mistakes they've encountered over the years.
"You wouldn't want to show up to an interview with mismatched socks, or a crooked tie — and errors in the résumé are on the same level," Leavy-Detrick told Business Insider. "They stand out as a flaw in your overall presentation, and lack professionalism."
Here are nine common spelling mistakes you should delete from your résumé immediately:
'LED' VS. 'LEAD'
Confusing "led" with "lead" is by far the most common spelling mistake people make on their résumés, said Jared Redick, a career coach and résumé writer with the San Francisco-based Resume Studio.
It's easy to see where the confusion comes from. "Led" is the past tense of the verb "lead," pronounced "leed." But when used as a noun, "lead" — the stuff you find in batteries and ammunition — is pronounced identically to "led."
Redick said he's seen the mistake pop up in the résumés of top executives at Fortune 50 companies, proving no one is immune from bad spelling.
'MANAGER' VS. 'MANGER'
Here's one that spell-check won't catch: Hastily typing "manger" instead of "manager."
It's a highly common mistake because of the frequency of the word on a typical résumé, Dana Leavy-Detrick, a résumé coach with Brooklyn Resume Studio, told Business Insider.
Of course, "manger" is a perfectly valid word to put on your résumé, so long as your job experience includes work at a horse stable.
'DEFINITELY'
Way too many people flub the spelling of "definitely" on their résumés, incorrectly spelling it "definately," Redick told Business Insider.
'IMPLEMENT'
For some reason, a lot of Leavy-Detrick's clients have trouble getting their i's and e's straight, she told Business Insider. "Implement" is the proper spelling, not "impliment."
'JUDGMENT'
Another common mistake résume-writers make is adding an extra e to judgment, spelling it "judgement," Redick said.
While the spelling technically isn't incorrect, the "judgement" is almost exclusively used in British English.
'IDENTIFY' VS. 'IDENTITY'
Leavy-Detrick says she catches some job-hunters saying "identity" on their résumés when they mean "identify."
Even a thorough review might not prevent this error from making it into a final draft — the shape of the letters f and t are so similar that it's easy for our eyes to gloss right over them.
'AFFECT' VS. 'EFFECT'
How to distinguish "affect" from "effect" can be difficult even for highly educated English speakers, and the usage error pops up time and time again on résumés, Leavy-Detrick told Business Insider.
Simply put, "affect" is almost always used as a verb, as in, "The weather affected my plans." Meanwhile, "effect" is generally used as a noun, as in, "The diet pills did not have an effect."
Not surprisngly, the two words are among the most looked-up words in the dictionary.
'ENSURE' VS. 'INSURE'
Another pair of words people have trouble distinguishing between is "ensure" and "insure," Leavy-Detrick said.
To "ensure" something is to make sure that something is the case.
To "insure" is to provide or obtain insurance.
'COMPLEMENT' VS. 'COMPLIMENT'
A woman walks through the 2014 Spring National Job Fair and Training Expo in Toronto, April 3, 2014.Aaron Harris/Reuters
Here's another case of homophones doing us in. "Complement" and "compliment" are pronounced identically, but mean totally different things.
"Complement," when used as a verb," means to complete or enhance something by adding something else. A "compliment," on the other hand, is a nice remark.
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