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TheLastWord
How to help out RSAs
Want to motivate retail sales
associates to sell more of your
product? Keep making quality mattresses
and don’t skimp on training
sales associates about your products’
features and benefits.
In a recent online survey conducted
by BedTimes’ sister publication,
Sleep Savvy, sales associates
reported that “feeling good about the
products” and “product training from
92 | BedTimes | May 2009
vendors” were among the factors that
most motivate them to do a good job
on the sales floor. The top motivational
factors as ranked by the 225
respondents:
1. Co-workers who are honest and
ethical
2. Feeling good about the products
3. Feeling good about the company
4. Good working environment
5. Product training from vendors
Lack of sleep may have link to diabetes
PeoPle w h o av e r a g e leSS t h a n Six h o u r S o f SleeP a night may
be more at risk of developing diabetes, according to
a new study.
Researchers examined six years of health records
of nearly 1,500 people participating in the Western
New York Health Study and found that people who
slept less than six hours a night were more than 4.5
times more likely than their more well-rested counterparts
to shift from normal blood sugar levels to
impaired fasting glucose levels.
A normal fasting blood glucose level is less than
100 mg/dL. A fasting blood glucose level between
100 mg/DL and 125 mg/DL is considered impaired
fasting glucose, commonly called prediabetes because
people with the condition often develop Type 2 diabetes.
“This study supports growing evidence of the association of inadequate
sleep with adverse health issues,” says study researcher Lisa Rafalson, a National
Research Service Award fellow and research assistant professor at the
University at Buffalo in New York.
Married women more rested
Women who are
happily married
sleep more soundly,
according to researchers
at the University of
Pittsburgh reporting
in the January issue of
the journal Behavioral
Sleep Medicine.
The researchers examined findings
from the Study of Women’s Health
Across the Nation, a multisite,
multiethnic study
of 2,148 women in the
United States.
Using a scale to measure
marital happiness
and another to measure
sleep disturbances, researchers
found that women who were
happy in their marriages slept better
than their less satisfied counterparts.
Workers distracted
by technology
So m e 70% o f h u m a n reSource professionals
report that employees are
too distracted at work, according
to a newsletter from the Society
for Human Resource Management,
based in Alexandria, Va.
Technology is the culprit—the
Internet, handheld devices and
email all impact workers’ concentration.
Too much email tops the
list of distractions.
The group recommends that
management screen company
email, set guidelines to reduce
internal emailing and restrict the
sending of personal emails.
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