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August 16, 2021

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in

by Sara M Moniuszko

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide-range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas over workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework .

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy work loads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace, says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression.

And for all the distress homework causes, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night.

"Most students, especially at these high-achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school ," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely, but to be more mindful of the type of work students go home with, suggests Kang, who was a high-school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework, I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the last two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic, making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized... sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking assignments up can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

©2021 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Sport and Competition

Is too much homework unhealthy, a grassroots movement led by parents is backed by science..

Posted October 10, 2014

This is the question at the heart of the homework debate. The Washington Post education reporter Jay Mathews wrote a powerful article: “ Parents Saying No to Too Much Homework .” The story was inspired by a chapter in the new book, The Learning Habit: A Groundbreaking Approach to Homework and Parenting That Helps Our Children Succeed in School and Life . (Perigee, 2014)

The Learning Habit separates fact from fiction about homework and has started a grassroots movement led by parents. Instead of encouraging a homework revolt, it asks for parents to institute a regular, balanced homework routine . This includes having children stop doing academic homework after a reasonable amount of time. When children can’t understand the assignment, parents will not make the children sit for extended time and try to help them figure it out; they will write a note on the paper asking the teacher for extra help.

At the root of the movement is science. It’s not developmentally appropriate to ask a third grader to sit for 120 minutes and complete an academic assignment. It’s also not psychologically healthy to have a fourth grader in tears every night over homework. The focus on a "the whole child" approach is resonating with parents and administrators in school districts such as Barrington, Rhode Island.

So how much academic homework should a child have?

10 minutes per grade in school, and then children can move onto other activities. If they don’t understand the assignment or get frustrated, they should stop and read a book for the remaining time.

The facts are clear when it comes to academic homework . There is a point of diminishing returns, and it is anything over 10 minutes per grade. We now understand that the concept of “homework” involves balancing many opportunities that provide our kids with healthy learning experiences.. Activities such as neighborhood play, sports, dancing, family time, chores, and sleeping are equally important for whole-child enrichment. Additionally, children who participate in extra-curricular activities such as sports, dance, and clubs score higher on academic, social and emotional scales.

• All students work at a different pace.
• Think big picture. Forcing a child to complete a homework assignment, after they have spent a reasonable amount of time on it (10 minutes per grade), is not promoting balance.
• Keep academic homework time balanced and consistent. On nights children don’t have schoolwork, they will read. Reading is important for both ELA and Mathematics.
• No tears policy: When kids feel frustrated or don’t understand an academic assignment, they can choose to read a book instead and ask the teacher for extra help the next day.

GET THE FACTS ON HOMEWORK: Fact Sheet Balanced Homework Habit

For more information on The Learning Habit (Perigee) click HERE

Rebecca Jackson is a neuropsychological educator and the co-author of The Learning Habit

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Tips for Staying Caught Up on Homework While Sick

On January 24, 2024, I woke up with a headache and a 99.4 temperature. I did not have a class that day until 11 a.m., so I waited to see if it would go down. Long story short, I had the flu, and missed a week’s worth of assignments. Even as I was sick in bed, watching plenty of movies, what stayed on my mind the most was the homework that I needed to catch up on.

It is important to maintain an up-to-date status on schoolwork, even when sick. When students are ill, their mindset is typically on trying to get better, and justifiably so. However, that results in students having to make up work after they get back, on top of having to do all of the work that is assigned after they make their return. However, through this entire process, there are some things that students can do in order to work through their period of medical misfortune.

• Get in Contact with Your Teachers

Believe it or not, teachers want to do everything they can to help you succeed! Even though different teachers have different policies on late work, if you are sick, they will almost always aid you however they can. In an interview with one of SNU’s faculty members, Melany Kyzer, Ph. D., expressed how even though she does not accept late work, “if a student communicates with me ahead of time, I will work with them.” Even though it is wise to make sure your work is finished in a timely manner, teachers will give grace on assignments as needed, allowing for the best results to be produced.

• Work On What You Can

When I was out with the flu, my condition went up and down, and I certainly had days in which I felt better than others. On those days, I worked on homework. However, it is still important for the body to rest, so do not overwork yourself. I would recommend doing one normal-sized or two smaller assignments on the days in which you feel better in order to make some progress while still allowing yourself some rest.

Speaking of resting, this is the most surefire way to get better. Even though students are stressed about the assignments they may have to do when they get back, the best way to get back is to rest your body and mind. This could take many forms, whether it be watching movies, doing a relaxing activity, or just sleeping your sickness off. Doing this will not only allow you to be at your best when you return to school but also possibly speed up the healing process as well.

It is difficult to be able to complete every assignment that is given out while a student is out for multiple days, or in my case, a full week of class. However, these tips can help to reduce the problem that comes from being sick. It allows students to lighten their load for when they get back while also obtaining some grace from their teachers and letting their bodies heal from whatever sickness afflicts them. Being sick is certainly a pain, but it should not keep students from excelling in the classroom or being the best version of themselves that they can be.

Photo by Kristine Wook on Unsplash

How to Study when Sick: Tips for the Freshman Flu

Introduction weeks are over, classes are about to start and the freshman flu lurks in hidden corners. While being sick is a chore, falling ill right at the start of the school year can be a major setback. It's safe to say that runny noses and fever dreams don't help with productivity. But who says that finals can't rhyme with the flu? If you're like me and happen to be both bed and book-ridden here are a couple of tips to get you through your first couple weeks of classes.

Pomodoro it

The Pomodoro method consists of working in 4 sets of 25 min with a 5min break in between each round and a longer break ranging from 15 to 30 min after 4 sets. The division of the Pomodoro into 25/5/15 is completely up to you. Many people customize their Pomodoro timing to best fit their workflow. The most important aspect is that alternation between mid-sized work sessions and short breaks which can keep you focused on the task at hand for longer. What makes the Pomodoro Method perfect for studying when sick is that each task is naturally divided into feasible increments. You can even take 5 min naps during your breaks! Check out the best timers for the Pomodoro method in our article about improving study habits .

Yeah, it's tempting to stay holed up in your room surrounded by textbooks and/or tissues. However, sometimes a breath of fresh air is exactly what you need to get some energy. Just taking a 5 min walk (bonus points if it's during your Pomodoro break) can help clear your head and potentially your sinuses. If you don't feel like going outside, take some time to stretch and relax your muscles. Exercise is a great way to get your blood flowing which will make you feel better.

Drink some water

I'm pretty sure that water is in every listicle out there from dealing with skincare to depression but it's worth the emphasis: don't forget to drink water and stay hydrated! Water helps produce saliva and mucus which are both very handy when fighting a sore throat or a dry nose. Water also helps regulate your body temperature. Our bodies are 60% water so it's needless to say that it plays a vital role in the basic maintenance of our bodies. No matter the pace you've decided to study at you need to stay hydrated in order to maintain said pace and eventually get better.

Proactively study

When you're sick, you don't have the leisure to passively intake information and hope it sticks. Start by dividing all you have to study into small realizable steps and ordering them by priority. This will help you get through the day without feeling overwhelmed. Make flashcards and test yourself on key terms. Instead of repeatedly reading information, by writing it down you engage with the material in a different way. Have a group video call where you explain and present some of the information with your friends. Again, this is another way of engaging with the material: if you can explain a concept well then you probably know it. Don't focus as much on rote memorization as much as contextualized understanding.

Healthy snacks

Studying and being sick are both physically draining activities that when combined tend to have a negative effect on each other. Along with water, food is what will get you through a last-minute cram session without crashing. Why healthy? Though it is tempting to eat your exhaustion and stress away, you do still need to take care of yourself. Food is fuel so you'll need the best kind if you plan to study when sick.

A cozy environment may induce napping but comfort is always worth it. Grab some tea, coffee or hot water, blankets and whatever painkillers you're on to create an environment that's both studious and soothing. Studying when you're sick is hard enough. There's no need to make it worse by sitting at a badly lit desk for 5 hours straight surrounded by empty packets of tissues. Create a space you want to be and study there.

So you've written 5 to-do lists, went boxing, ate some carrots, drank 5L of water, incarnated hygge and you still don't feel okay... what now? Most of the time students are victims of the belief that every occasion is the last. If you're too sick to study and can't make it to class then don't go. There's no point in worsening your physical and mental health for something that definitely won't impact your life as much as you think it will. You can take resits, or ask for an extension or even god forbid take that class again. Nothing is worth ruining your health for, not even the illusion of a college degree.

If it's really bad, don't forget to take advantage of your health insurance and go to a doctor. Don't have Dutch health insurance yet? Check out Swisscare International Student Insurance if you’re a student within the EU/EEA.

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Does working while you are sick make you sicker?

A man who's supposed to work five days a week only ever turns up for four. So, he gets paid for four. "Why do you only work a four-day week, Joe?" his boss asks him. "Because I can't manage on three," replies Joe.

Sick leave is an important issue. No one is healthy all the time, but there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave . If people work when ill, they may be more likely to make mistakes, which could be dangerous. There's also the risk of passing an illness on to coworkers, which could be a big deal as we face outbreaks of swine flu .

Even so, sick leave tends to be discussed in pretty simplistic terms. Businesses talk about the money they lose through absenteeism, and web sites offer workers tips about how to fake a sick day.

But research from Denmark says taking time off when you're sick may protect you from more serious illness. The researchers thought that by turning up to work while sick, employees might not give their bodies enough of a chance to recover properly from illness. They asked nearly 12,000 workers how often they went into work while feeling unwell.

During the previous year, about 42 percent of workers said they'd never gone into work feeling sick, or had only done it once. Another 50 percent had gone to work feeling sick between two and five times, and 8 percent had done it six times or more.

Over the next year and a half, the researchers checked which employees had records of long periods of sick leave (two weeks or more). They found that people who went to work while sick had a higher risk of being off sick for at least two weeks during the study.

It's possible that people were making themselves sicker by not taking time to recover, but there could be other explanations. If someone has poor health, they might not want to stay home from work every time they get sick. That type of person might struggle into work more often, and may also be more likely to take longer periods off of work. Another possibility is that people who go to work when sick are generally less careful about their health, and more likely to get seriously ill in the future.

Whether you take a sick day depends on the physical demands of your job, the financial implications and how seriously ill you are. The research so far doesn't give a definite answer about whether working when sick can be harmful, but it's a possibility.

The CDC currently recommends you stay home if you get sick with the flu.

What you need to know. It's not certain that working when sick can lead to health problems in the long run, but it is a possibility. If you have flu symptoms , stay home.

— Philip Wilson, patient editor, BMJ Group

ConsumerReportsHealth.org has partnered with The BMJ Group to monitor the latest medical research and assess the evidence to help you decide which news you should use.

Keep up to date with our swine-flu coverage and recommendations .

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Health News

Could your car make you sick? Study highlights potentially cancerous toxins in vehicles

Americans may be breathing in cancer-causing chemicals while driving, recent research suggests.

A study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology has sparked discussions about the potentially harmful toxins that could be lurking in the cabins of vehicles.

"Certainly the indoor air quality can cause health symptoms ," Dr. Ken Speath, M.D., the division chief and medical director for occupational and environmental medicine at Northwell Health on Long Island, New York, told Fox News Digital.

'FOREVER CHEMICALS' FOUND IN US DRINKING WATER, MAP SHOWS 'HOT SPOTS' OF HIGHEST LEVELS

It is important to be mindful of what you're breathing in at home, at the office, at school and even in cars, according to Speath, who was not involved in the study.

"There can be situations where levels of harmful chemicals get high enough to potentially cause health harms," he said.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"A car is a closed small space — so whatever is in the air is certainly going to be breathed in."

The peer-reviewed study looked at 101 owned vehicles in the U.S., model year 2015 or newer.

The researchers concluded that harmful flame-retardant chemicals — including those suspected of potentially causing cancer and some neurological issues — may be polluting the air inside vehicles.

DRIVING DANGERS: 9 TOP DISTRACTIONS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO ACCIDENTS, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS

"Flame retardant chemicals, which are intentionally added to vehicle interiors to meet flammability standards, are released into the cabin air from the materials to which they were applied," lead author Rebecca Hoehn, a scientist at Duke University, told Fox News Digital.

"People in these vehicles may be exposed to these chemicals."

Seat foam was the only material the researchers measured, Hoehn said, but other interior materials could also contain the chemicals.

"Considering the average driver spends about an hour in the car every day, this is a significant public health issue ," Hoehn warned.

"It’s particularly concerning for drivers with longer commutes, as well as child passengers, who breathe more air pound for pound than adults."

The chemicals detected in the car cabins included a flame retardant called tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), which is currently being investigated as a potential carcinogen by the U.S. National Toxicology Program.

Other flame retardants — tris (1, 3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) — were also detected. 

These are "two Californian Proposition 65 carcinogens linked to neurological and reproductive harms," according to a press release.

Higher concentrations of the flame retardants were found during warmer weather.

"We found that the same cars, sampled in both winter and summer, had higher concentrations of flame retardants in the cabin air during the warm summer months," Hoehn told Fox News Digital.

Flame retardants are added to vehicles to meet the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS 302), which mandated their use in the 1970s, the release stated.

Flame retardants have been the "focus of concern for some time," Speath told Fox News Digital.

More information is needed to determine the health risks these chemicals pose in humans, he said.

THESE MEDICATIONS COULD MAKE DRIVING DANGEROUS, THE FDA WARNS

"A number of these have been demonstrated in studies to have health harms in animals," he said.

"That doesn’t necessarily mean that would be true for humans, but it raises that possibility, so we need to study these chemicals more in relation to their effects on humans."

Emanuela Taioli, M.D., PhD, the director of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, was also not part of the study, but shared her reactions.

"This is a very relevant finding, since it may prompt changes in cars’ upholstery, as well as in other parts of the car where there is foam," she told Fox News Digital via email.

"We also want to know more about this finding and monitor whether it is replicated by other investigators."

Stephen Showalter, a home inspector and indoor environmental air consultant with Showalter Property Consultants in Maryland, said he typically interviews clients about their history of illness, then tests for potential sources of sickness in buildings, cars, RVs and boats. 

Mold is a common culprit when it comes to health issues triggered by one’s environment, he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

TOXIC CHEMICAL POISONING: HAVE YOU BEEN AFFECTED? HOW TO KNOW

Dr. Daniel Johns, a member of the International Society of Environmentally Acquired Illnesses and a chiropractor who practices in Annapolis, Maryland, echoed Showalter’s concerns about mold-related health issues.

Johns also cautioned that cars can be a daily source of mold exposure.

"Any water that leaks from a window, sunroof or convertible can get into the carpet and cause mold growth," he said during an interview with Fox News Digital. 

"Mold can start growing on a wet surface within 24 to 48 hours."

For families with small children, spilled sippy cups could play a role when it comes to mold in cars , Johns warned.

"The water seeps into the upholstery and doesn't get noticed or properly dried out, and the whole seat can become moldy," he said.

"Every time you sit on the seat, it releases a mold spore cloud into the car. Once that happens, you can't clean it away. The upholstery must be removed and replaced."

The impact of these potentially harmful pollutants can vary from one person to the next, experts told Fox News Digital.

People metabolize chemicals and toxins in different ways, according to Taioli. 

"Metabolism happens through enzymes that the body produces," he said. 

"Each of us has a different genetic profile that defines our metabolic capacity. As a consequence, the same amount of toxin may be metabolized better/faster by some, and worse/slower by others."

While further research on car-borne chemicals is needed, experts say people can take measures to limit exposure.

"People may be able to reduce their exposure by ventilating their cars," Hoehn advised. 

"For example, rolling down the windows to let out contaminated air , or pulling in fresh air with climate control systems, should reduce concentrations. 

Controlling your vehicle’s cabin temperature may also reduce exposure, she added. 

"Parking in a garage or shade instead of full sun may reduce the cabin temperature and limit the extent of flame retardant release," Hoehn said.

The researchers also called for action from regulatory agencies and vehicle manufacturers. 

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"Ultimately, reducing the amount of flame retardants added to vehicles in the first place would provide the greatest reduction in exposure risk," Hoehn noted.

"If flammability standards for vehicles could be revised to meet fire safety guidelines without the use of added flame retardants, risk of flame retardant exposure from personal vehicles could be greatly reduced."

Having your car’s air quality and surfaces tested is one way to reduce the risk of exposure to allergens, toxins and chemicals, experts told Fox News Digital.

To prevent mold in a vehicle, Showalter recommends keeping your windows up when it rains or snows to prevent water from permeating the carpet or fabric.

He also cautioned about leaky air conditioners, which can foster mold growth in vehicles, and about leaving wet items in the car.

Lastly, before buying a used car, he said it is important to check the vehicle’s history to make sure it doesn’t have flood damage, which can lead to mold and other issues.

If you think you are experiencing illness due to chemical exposure in your car, home or office, it’s best to see a health care professional to discuss your symptoms.

Fox News Digital reached out to several major car companies for comment.

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health .

Original article source: Could your car make you sick? Study highlights potentially cancerous toxins in vehicles

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Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in.

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas about workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework. 

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says, he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy workloads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold , says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace , says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression. 

And for all the distress homework  can cause, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says, homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night. 

"Most students, especially at these high achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends, from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no-homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely but to be more mindful of the type of work students take home, suggests Kang, who was a high school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework; I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial 

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the past two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic , making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized. ... Sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking up assignments can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

More: Some teachers let their students sleep in class. Here's what mental health experts say.

More: Some parents are slipping young kids in for the COVID-19 vaccine, but doctors discourage the move as 'risky'

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A severe geomagnetic storm has hit Earth. Here's what could happen.

By Allie Weintraub

Updated on: May 10, 2024 / 8:35 PM EDT / CBS News

A severe geomagnetic storm  that hit Earth has the potential to knock out power and electronics this weekend, but it could also bring a spectacular light show from the aurora borealis as far south as Alabama and Northern California.

After days of heightened solar activity, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center issued Thursday its first watch for a G4 storm — the second-strongest rating on a scale from G1 to G5 — in nearly 20 years. It then upgraded it to a G5 on Friday. 

The prediction center reported in a social media post that "extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions" were "observed" for the first time since October 2003. Friday's G5 conditions were first observed at 6:54 p.m. Eastern Time and could continue through the weekend, the agency said. 

The G5 storm in 2003 caused power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa, according to prediction center. 

"Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth's surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations," the NOAA said in an earlier statement. "[The Space Weather Prediction Center] has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action."

Risks to the power grid

A G5 geomagnetic storm is considered "extreme" and has the potential to cause widespread voltage control problems to the power grid, damage transformers, and even cause complete blackouts. According to the  NOAA , in a G5, "high frequency radio propagation may be impossible in many areas for one to two days, satellite navigation may be degraded for days," and "low-frequency radio navigation can be out for hours"

These types of effects on power systems were first noted in 1940 and have been reported throughout the years, with incidents including a power blackout in 1958, equipment tripping and voltage stability issues in 1972 and a nine-hour blackout in Canada in 1989, according to NOAA.

The last time there was a G5 or "extreme" geomagnetic storm was in October 2003, when it caused power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.

Effect on satellite and radio operations

As of Friday afternoon, NOAA had also observed a moderate solar radiation storm that could expose people in high-flying aircraft to "elevated radiation risk" and could cause infrequent issues with satellite operations. 

With a G5 storm, "satellite navigation could be degraded for days," it warns.

Radio blackouts have also been detected with an R3 designation, meaning that the blackouts were "strong" on a scale from R1 (minor) to R5 (extreme). At this level, wide blackouts of high-frequency radio communication is expected, as well as loss of radio contact, for about an hour on the sunlit side of Earth, as low-frequency navigation signals decline for roughly an hour.

Expansion of northern lights

The same phenomenon that causes these disruptions is also responsible for making the aurora borealis viewable in places you normally can't see them. 

"Earth's magnetic field guides the electrons such that the aurora forms two ovals approximately centered at the magnetic poles," NOAA said . "During major geomagnetic storms these ovals expand away from the poles such that aurora can be seen over most of the United States."

Vivid displays were visible over parts of Europe and the U.K. on Friday night.

"If you happen to be in an area where it's dark and cloud free and relatively unpolluted by light, you may get to see a fairly impressive aurora display," Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center, told reporters Friday. "and that's really the gift from space weather, is the aurora."

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Allie Weintraub is an editor on the growth and engagement team at CBS News. She has previously written and produced stories on a range of topics for outlets including ABC News, Inside Edition Digital and Courthouse News Service.

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Perspective

When pto stands for 'pretend time off': doctors struggle to take real breaks.

Mara Gordon

A survey shows that doctors have trouble taking full vacations from their high-stress jobs. Even when they do, they often still do work on their time off. Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

A survey shows that doctors have trouble taking full vacations from their high-stress jobs. Even when they do, they often still do work on their time off.

A few weeks ago, I took a vacation with my family. We went hiking in the national parks of southern Utah, and I was blissfully disconnected from work.

I'm a family physician, so taking a break from my job meant not seeing patients. It also meant not responding to patients' messages or checking my work email. For a full week, I was free.

Taking a real break — with no sneaky computer time to bang out a few prescription refill requests — left me feeling reenergized and ready to take care of my patients when I returned.

But apparently, being a doctor who doesn't work on vacation puts me squarely in the minority of U.S. physicians.

Research published in JAMA Network Open this year set out to quantify exactly how doctors use their vacation time — and what the implications might be for a health care workforce plagued by burnout, dissatisfaction and doctors who are thinking about leaving medicine.

"There is a strong business case for supporting taking real vacation," says Dr. Christine Sinsky , the lead author of the paper. "Burnout is incredibly expensive for organizations."

Shots - Health News

Health workers know what good care is. pandemic burnout is getting in the way.

Researchers surveyed 3,024 doctors, part of an American Medical Association cohort designed to represent the American physician workforce. They found that 59.6% of American physicians took 15 days of vacation or less per year. That's a little more than the average American: Most workers who have been at a job for a year or more get between 10 and 14 days of paid vacation time , according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

However, most doctors don't take real vacation. Over 70% of doctors surveyed said they worked on a typical vacation day.

"I have heard physicians refer to PTO as 'pretend time off,'" Sinsky says, referring to the acronym for "paid time off."

Sinsky and co-authors found that physicians who took more than three weeks of vacation a year had lower rates of burnout than those who took less, since vacation time is linked to well-being and job satisfaction .

And all those doctors toiling away on vacation, sitting poolside with their laptops? Sinsky argues it has serious consequences for health care.

Physician burnout is linked to high job turnover and excess health care costs , among other problems.

Still, it can be hard to change the culture of workaholism in medicine. Even the study authors confessed that they, too, worked on vacation.

"I remember when one of our first well-being papers was published," says Dr. Colin West , a co-author of the new study and a health care workforce researcher at the Mayo Clinic. "I responded to the revisions up at the family cabin in northern Minnesota on vacation."

Sinsky agreed. "I do not take all my vacation, which I recognize as a delicious irony of the whole thing," she says.

She's the American Medical Association's vice president of professional satisfaction. If she can't take a real vacation, is there any hope for the rest of us?

I interviewed a half dozen fellow physicians and chatted off the record with many friends and colleagues to get a sense of why it feels so hard to give ourselves a break. Here, I offer a few theories about why doctors are so terrible at taking time off.

We don't want to make more work for our colleagues

The authors of the study in JAMA Network Open didn't explore exactly what type of work doctors did on vacation, but the physicians I spoke to had some ideas.

"If I am not doing anything, I will triage my email a little bit," says Jocelyn Fitzgerald , a urogynecologist at the University of Pittsburgh who was not involved in the study. "I also find that certain high-priority virtual meetings sometimes find their way into my vacations."

Even if doctors aren't scheduled to see patients, there's almost always plenty of work to be done: dealing with emergencies, medication refills, paperwork. For many of us, the electronic medical record (EMR) is an unrelenting taskmaster , delivering a near-constant flow of bureaucratic to-dos.

When I go on vacation, my fellow primary care doctors handle that work for me, and I do the same for them.

But it can sometimes feel like a lot to ask, especially when colleagues are doing that work on top of their normal workload.

"You end up putting people in kind of a sticky situation, asking for favors, and they [feel they] need to pay it back," says Jay-Sheree Allen , a family physician and fellow in preventive medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

She says her practice has a "doctor of the day" who covers all urgent calls and messages, which helps reduce some of the guilt she feels about taking time off.

Still, non-urgent tasks are left for her to complete when she gets back. She says she usually logs in to the EMR when she's on vacation so the tasks don't pile up upon her return. If she doesn't, Allen estimates there will be about eight hours of paperwork awaiting her after a week or so of vacation.

"My strategy, I absolutely do not recommend," Allen says. But "I would prefer that than coming back to the total storm."

We have too little flexibility about when we take vacation

Lawren Wooten , a resident physician in pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco, says she takes 100% of her vacation time. But there are a lot of stipulations about exactly how she uses it.

She has to take it in two-week blocks — "that's a long time at once," she says — and it's hard to change the schedule once her chief residents assign her dates.

"Sometimes I wish I had vacation in the middle of two really emotionally challenging rotations like an ICU rotation and an oncology rotation," she says, referring to the intensive care unit. "We don't really get to control our schedules at this point in our careers."

Once Wooten finishes residency and becomes an attending physician, it's likely she'll have more autonomy over her vacation time — but not necessarily all that much more.

"We generally have to know when our vacations are far in advance because patients schedule with us far in advance," says Fitzgerald, the gynecologist.

Taking vacation means giving up potential pay

Many physicians are paid based on the number of patients they see or procedures they complete. If they take time off work, they make less money.

"Vacation is money off your table," says West, the physician well-being researcher. "People have a hard time stepping off of the treadmill."

A 2022 research brief from the American Medical Association estimated that over 55% of U.S. physicians were paid at least in part based on "productivity," as opposed to earning a flat amount regardless of patient volume. That means the more patients doctors cram into their schedules, the more money they make. Going on vacation could decrease their take-home pay.

But West says it's important to weigh the financial benefits of skipping vacation against the risk of burnout from working too much.

Physician burnout is linked not only to excess health care costs but also to higher rates of medical errors. In one large survey of American surgeons , for example, surgeons experiencing burnout were more likely to report being involved in a major medical error. (It's unclear to what extent the burnout caused the errors or the errors caused the burnout, however.)

Doctors think they're the only one who can do their jobs

When I go on vacation, my colleagues see my patients for me. I work in a small office, so I know the other doctors well and I trust that my patients are in good hands when I'm away.

Doctors have their own diagnosis: 'Moral distress' from an inhumane health system

But ceding that control to colleagues might be difficult for some doctors, especially when it comes to challenging patients or big research projects.

"I think we need to learn to be better at trusting our colleagues," says Adi Shah , an infectious disease doctor at the Mayo Clinic. "You don't have to micromanage every slide on the PowerPoint — it's OK."

West, the well-being researcher, says health care is moving toward a team-based model and away from a culture where an individual doctor is responsible for everything. Still, he adds, it can be hard for some doctors to accept help.

"You can be a neurosurgeon, you're supposed to go on vacation tomorrow and you operate on a patient. And there are complications or risk of complications, and you're the one who has the relationship with that family," West says. "It is really, really hard for us to say ... 'You're in great hands with the rest of my team.'"

What doctors need, says West, is "a little bit less of the God complex."

We don't have any interests other than medicine

Shah, the infectious disease doctor, frequently posts tongue-in-cheek memes on X (formerly known as Twitter) about the culture of medicine. Unplugging during vacation is one of his favorite topics, despite his struggles to follow his own advice.

His recommendation to doctors is to get a hobby, so we can find something better to do than work all the time.

"Stop taking yourself too seriously," he says. Shah argues that medical training is so busy that many physicians neglect to develop any interests other than medicine. When fully trained doctors are finally finished with their education, he says, they're at a loss for what to do with their newfound freedom.

Since completing his training a few years ago, Shah has committed himself to new hobbies, such as salsa dancing. He has plans to go to a kite festival next year.

Shah has also prioritized making the long trip from Minnesota to see his family in India at least twice a year — a journey that requires significant time off work. He has a trip there planned this month.

"This is the first time in 11 years I'm making it to India in summer so that I can have a mango in May," the peak season for the fruit, Shah says.

Wooten, the pediatrician, agrees. She works hard to develop a full life outside her career.

"Throughout our secondary and medical education, I believe we've really been indoctrinated into putting institutions above ourselves," Wooten adds. "It takes work to overcome that."

Mara Gordon is a family physician in Camden, N.J., and a contributor to NPR. She's on X as @MaraGordonMD .

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Someone San Diego Should Know: Annette Hubbell

She conveys the greatness of historical figures through solo performances

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Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who participated in a network of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad, stood on the stage alone talking about her life. “On my underground I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger,” she said proudly.

Portraying Tubman was Annette Hubbell, an author and actress who depicts historical figures in a unique way — alone on stage through first-person accounts of their lives.

“The power of storytelling can bridge gaps and foster understanding,” she explained. “True stories can teach us, motivate us and inspire us.”

Since 2009, while otherwise in retirement, Hubbell has performed mostly one-person shows about 400 times in theaters, schools, churches, libraries and club meetings.

She does it because she enjoys “being” those she portrays and communicating who they really were.

Hubbell has conducted extensive research on each of her historical figures and uses their actual words as much as possible.

Her material is taken from the book she authored, “Eternity Through the Rearview Mirror,” which chronicles the lives of 17 historical figures, in first person, using many of their own words. They range from Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Beecher Stowe to Johnny Cash, Galileo Galilei, and Johann Sabastian Bach.

“My stories are true,” Hubbell said. “I write what they actually said.”

It took Hubbell more than five years to write the 230-page book that includes 41 pages of footnotes. Research took up most of the five years.

“I used the internet, source documents, biographies and autobiographies, interviewed experts and visited sites,” Hubbell said. “Accuracy was extremely important.”

Her performances have received positive reviews over the years. A trailer of her work can be found at:

www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=K42l-ULMRqU

“The captivating artistry of Annette Hubbell is absolutely unique. Her talents on stage draw audiences into the amazing worlds, varied time periods and fascinating lives she re-creates. Annette may be consistently counted on to be accurate, educational and thoroughly entertaining,” wrote Wayne Scott, President of LifeHouse Theater in Redlands.

“I’ve found myself a niche,” Hubbell said. “There are not many people doing this.”

Born in 1948 and raised in San Diego, Hubbell has never taken acting lessons or even acted until 2009. She has a bacheor’s degree in marketing from San Diego State and an MBA from Cal State San Marcos. She began as a secretary at Fotomat and worked her way, through education and experience, to become general manager of a water district.

In 2007, Hubbell and her husband, Monte, since deceased, traveled east on a vacation and attended a re-enactment performance near Gettysburg. That gave her the idea to take up acting.

“I wrote some of my lines in shorthand on my palm for my first performance,” she recalled.

Today, Hubbell, 75, lives in Poway and is retired except for acting.

She performs Women Warriors, where she portrays historical figures from her book. Each portrayal is 20 minutes in length, which allows her to tailor performances to the times allotted.

Her only negative experience occurred when she was scheduled to perform March 21 three requested historical figures, including Harriet Tubman, at a local library.

Two weeks before the engagement, Hubbell received a request to change the performance. “I am sorry for asking this request at such short notice, but our administration was uncomfortable with you performing a Black character as a White woman,” wrote a library administrator.

Hubbell refused, and the library canceled her performance.

“I was quite taken aback,” Hubbell said. “Since I’ve been performing these characters, there has never been a hint of offense, even from anonymous surveys. And why should there be? Am I only to honor White women? How could we ever explore our common humanity with these kind of restrictions?

“I did not choose them for their station in life, their gender, their ethnicity. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I chose them solely for the content of their character.”

Following this experience, Hubbell said she may begin portraying men depicted in her book. “Maybe some good can come from this. It opened my eyes.”

About this series

Goldsmith is a Union-Tribune contributing columnist.

We welcome reader suggestions of people who have done something extraordinary or otherwise educational, inspiring or interesting and who have not received much previous media. Please send suggestions to Jan Goldsmith at [email protected]

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