Latest news with #BrendanO'ConnorShow
RTÉ News
5 days ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
How carrying spuds and playing Wordle are signs of good health
Analysis: If you can balance on one leg while brushing your teeth, carry a bag of spuds up the stairs and name 20 animals in 30 seconds, you're doing well While ageing is inevitable, ageing well is something we can influence. It's not just about the number of candles on your birthday cake – it's whether you've got the puff to blow them out, the balance to carry the cake and the memory to remember why you're celebrating. As we age, our bodies change. Muscle mass shrinks, bones weaken, reaction times slow. But that doesn't mean we're all destined for a future of walking frames and daytime TV. Ageing well isn't about staying wrinkle-free – it's about staying independent, mobile, mentally sharp and socially connected. From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, have classical conductors cracked the key to healthy ageing? In gerontology, there's a saying: we want to add life to years, not just years to life. That means focusing on quality – being able to do what you love, move freely, think clearly and enjoy time with others. There's no one-size-fits-all definition, but some simple home tests can give you a good idea. No fancy lab required – just a toothbrush, a stopwatch and a sense of humour. Balance One fun (and surprisingly useful) way to test your balance is to stand on one leg while brushing your teeth. If you can do this for 30 seconds or more (eyes open), that's a great sign of lower-body strength, coordination and postural stability. A 2022 study found that people who couldn't balance on one leg for ten seconds had an 84% higher risk of death over a median follow-up of seven years compared than those who could. As such, balance is like a superpower for healthy ageing — it reduces falls, supports mobility and can be improved at any age. Grip Grip strength is more than just opening jars. It's a powerful indicator of overall health, predicting heart health, cognitive function and even mortality risk. Research shows that for every 5kg decrease in grip strength, the risk of death from all causes rose by 16%. You can test grip strength using a hand-dynamometer (many gyms or clinics have them), or simply take note of everyday tasks – is opening bottles, carrying groceries or using tools becoming harder? Floor-to-feet feat Can you sit on the floor and stand up without using your hands? This test is a true measure of your lower-body strength and flexibility, which are essential for daily activities and reducing the risk of falls. If you can do it, you're in great shape. From RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor Show, Prof Niall Moyna from DCU on how to age-proof your body If it's too tough, try the sit-to-stand test. Using a chair (no arms),see how many sit-to-stand transitions you can do in 30 seconds. This task is a good measure of lower limb function, balance and muscle strength, it can also predict people at risk of falls and cardiovascular issues. Mental sharpness Cognitive function can be measured in all sorts of complex ways, but some basic home tests are surprisingly telling. Try naming as many animals as you can in 30 seconds. Fewer than 12 might indicate concern; more than 18 is a good sign. Try spelling "world" backwards or recalling a short list of three items after a few minutes. This skill is an important strategy to enhance memory in older adults. Challenge yourself with puzzles, Sudoku, Wordle or learning a new skill. These kinds of "verbal fluency" and memory recall tests are simple ways to spot early changes in brain health – but don't panic if you blank occasionally. Everyone forgets where they left their keys sometimes. From RTÉ Radio 1's The Business, Liam Geraghty meets the crossword puzzle makers, the people behind those black and white puzzles that get the grey matter going Lifestyle matters There's no magic bullet to ageing well – but, if one existed, it would probably be a combination of exercise, diet, sleep and social connections. Some of the best-studied strategies include: Daily movement: walking, resistance training, swimming or tai chi keep your muscles and bones strong and support balance and heart health. Healthy eating: a Mediterranean-style diet — rich in whole grains, fruit, vegetables, fish, olive oil and nuts – is linked to better brain and heart health. Sleep: seven to nine hours of quality sleep support memory, immunity and mood. Connection: some research suggests that loneliness is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Stay engaged, join a club, volunteer, or just pick up the phone to a friend. Ageing well isn't about staying wrinkle-free – it's about staying independent, mobile, mentally sharp and socially connected If you can balance on one leg while brushing your teeth, carry a bag of spuds up the stairs and name 20 animals under pressure, then you're doing very well. If not (yet), that's OK, these are skills you can build over time. Ageing well means taking a proactive approach to health: making small, consistent choices that lead to better mobility, clearer thinking and richer social connections down the line. So tonight, give the one-leg toothbrush challenge a go. Your future self might thank you - especially if they still have all their teeth.
RTÉ News
6 days ago
- General
- RTÉ News
Why your long list of unfinished work tasks takes up so much time
Analysis: Modern work environments mean an ever-growing list of unfinished tasks so what can we do to fix this and reduce stress? You might be familiar with that niggling sense that you have not finished something. It might an email you intended to send before lunch, the meeting notes you promised to circulate, or the project that is edging towards completion. These unfinished tasks often nudge us while we are in the shower, on our commute or lie in bed at night, using valuable cognitive resources that could be spent elsewhere. From RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor Show, Senior Lecturer in Psychology Dr Trudy Meehan on why you should get rid of the to-do list The Zeigarnik Effect has been described as the tendency to remember and fixate on incomplete tasks more than completed ones. In the 1920s, a psychologist called Prof Bluma Zeigarnik observed that waiting staff remembered orders in restaurants much better when the order was unfulfilled. Once the orders were fulfilled, staff no longer remembered the details. She designed a series of experiments to test the phenomenon. Zeigarnik gave participants a series of simple tasks, such as drawing, folding and arithmetic. Some were allowed to finish the tasks and others were interrupted mid-way. Later, she asked participants to recall what they had done. Those who had been interrupted were significantly more likely to remember the details of the unfinished tasks, perhaps due to a cognitive tension that arises when we leave something undone. While the Zeigarnik Effect is intuitively compelling, research findings have been mixed over time. At best, some of us experience the Zeigarnik effect. People with a high need for achievement tend to remember unfinished tasks better, while those low in achievement need show the opposite pattern. People high in need for closure are more comfortable with ambiguity and therefore, unresolved tasks may create more stress for them. From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, workplace psychologist Patricia Murray on why you should say 'no' more at work Modern work environments offer ripe conditions for a long list of unfinished tasks to grow. Digital distractions are hard to ignore. While information is abundant, it is increasingly difficult to filter, verify, or make sense of it. Work can become fragmented as we rapidly switch between tasks. For many of us, the digital distractions, information overload and task fragmentation can stifle progress on more meaningful work tasks requiring sustained energy and attention. As human beings, our ability to pay attention is limited and selective. There is limited (if any) compelling evidence to suggest that we can successfully divide our attention across tasks. Paying attention to reminders (whether our own mental interruptions or digital banners) of unfinished tasks can draw attentional resources that could be used elsewhere. Our working memory system is also limited in capacity and there is a limit with how much information we can keep 'live' in our working memory. Thinking about the content of unfinished tasks could be using up prime mental resources and causing stress. From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, Do you put off simple tasks? You might have errand paralysis However, we can also consider how both workers and leaders can work with, rather than against, these aspects of human psychology. For many of us, it feels great to complete tasks that have been lingering. Practical solutions to achieve this may include breaking larger tasks into smaller incomplete steps and creating "open loops" on the truly important tasks to drive persistence. A daily shutdown ritual, like reviewing your to-do list and mentally 'closing the office', could reduce stress. When reviewing your unfinished task list, you should ask what can I complete quickly, delegate to others or simply delete? Leaders can use progress tracking and check-ins to relieve task-related tension and balance the drive for urgency with psychosocial risks such as reduced wellbeing or occupational burnout (of which emotional exhaustion and perceived inefficacy at work are key aspects). We should reflect on our own experience of unfinished tasks at work, and to consider adopting strategies to work with it - not against it The Zeigarnik effect began with a simple observation of everyday behaviour at work. While many factors influence our cognition, there is an opportunity for us all to reflect on our own experience of unfinished tasks at work, and to consider adopting strategies to work with it, not against it. Zeigarnik herself remained resolute in her pursuit of education, love, and the creation of new knowledge despite the great challenges, interruptions, and losses faced in her own life. As Oliver Burkeman reminds us in Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, our time is finite both in work and in life; so how will you intentionally choose your "unfinished tasks" in both work and personal life domains?
Sunday World
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Bono opens up on relationship with his father – ‘I didn't think I was a very good son'
The Ballymun native, who hit superstardom with U2 in the 1980s, told he how became close friends with his father after he passed away, which he described as 'not so smart'. U2 frontman Bono has paid tribute to his 'courageous' father who he said he 'finally has the approval of', more than two decades after his passing. His memoir Stories of Surrender, which has now been turned into a movie, largely tells the story of Paul Hewson and his father, Brendan Robert Hewson "My father Bob, who I played every night, just by turning my neck and then I would have his voice,' he told the Brendan O'Connor Show this morning. "I always loved my father but I really learnt to like him. I realised how funny he was and how I might have missed some of his humour in my teenage years. "And then there is this other father, which I am now and the fear of becoming a father because I didn't think I was a very good son,' he said. Bono News in 90 Seconds - May 24th 2025 The Ballymun native, who hit superstardom with U2 in the 1980s, told he how became close friends with his father after he passed away, which he described as 'not so smart'. "But we got on great in one sense. We would go to Finnegan's and sit there and not speak to each other but there were looks and glances exchanged,' he said. He said that he felt his brother was closer to their father and more useful to him as he got ill. However, the Live Aid performer and philanthropist said that he feels he now 'has his father's approval' and that he can 'move forward' with his life. "I have always felt the blessing of my mother and I still get memories, even though I was 14 when she passed. "It's amazing the amount of people in Rock n' Roll who lost their mothers as a teenager, whether it was Paul McCartney or John Lennon,' he said. He said his father was very clever, but was taken out of school and later got a job in a Post Office. "He had all these other dreams but he just put them aside because in Ireland at that time, it just was dangerous to have those kind of dreams. "People would leave Ireland to follow those kind of dreams and we forget this. My mother was totally non-ambitious, she would tell him to take more time off. "We were just not materially very ambitious and that's very impressive. They put their friends first,' he said. He added that his father 'really lived his life' and 'laughed a lot' . "He had this beautiful voice and he had the Coolock musical society,' Bono added. When asked if he thought his father was jealous of his life, the U2 singer said: 'I don't think so, I just think he couldn't say, 'wow you got to do all the things I wanted to do'. He just couldn't say that,' he said. The Dublin artist also spoke of a third father, after his own father and himself as a father. That is his faith, represented through a father in heaven, or God, which he said he is still involved in a conversation with. "It gets more and more fascinating. I am more and more in awe,' he said. "The Americans have ruined it with awesome, we have all ruined it. But awe is an extraordinary word.' He described his father as a 'very courageous man', who was a catholic, that married a protestant woman against the wishes of his family. "His own family did not turn up at the wedding. He raised us, me and my brother Norman, in the Church of Ireland, if that's what my mother wants,' he said. The 65-year-old recalled how his father would drop them at a protestant church and would then walk 100 metres up the road to attend a catholic church. "I have found myself completely comfortable around Catholicism, with its mysticism… genuinely this sense of awe and wonder. And I love that aspect of Catholicism. "And yet I also feel really comfortable in the Evangelical world, particularly a black church in America where people are up freestyling scriptures, the poetry of them, they are conversant with those scriptures. "I need them. I'd be comfortable in a Synagogue, or in Islam with Sufi singers really take me.. I am in that sense a religious person,' he said. "And if I don't look like one and you bump into me late at night and I'm not acting like one, I would understand you being dismissive of my faith, but it is everything to me and our family share it.'
Irish Independent
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘We became close friends after he passed… I didn't think I was a very good son' – Bono on relationship with his father Bob
Bono's memoir, Stories of Surrender, which is now the subject of a documentary, largely tells the story of the singer and his father, Brendan Robert Hewson. 'I always loved my father but I really learnt to like him. I realised how funny he was and how I might have missed some of his humour in my teenage years,' Bono told the Brendan O'Connor Show earlier today. 'And then there is this other father, which I am now and the fear of becoming a father because I didn't think I was a very good son,' he said. Bono, who hit superstardom with U2 in the 1980s, told how became close friends with his father after he passed away, which he described as 'not so smart'. 'But we got on great in one sense. We would go to Finnegan's [pub] and sit there and not speak to each other, but there were looks and glances exchanged,' he said. He said that he felt his brother was closer to their father and more useful to him as he got ill. However, he added that he feels he now 'has his father's approval' and that he can 'move forward' with his life. 'I have always felt the blessing of my mother and I still get memories, even though I was 14 when she passed,' he said. 'It's amazing the amount of people in rock n' roll who lost their mothers as a teenager, whether it was Paul McCartney or John Lennon.' He said his father was very clever, but was taken out of school and later got a job in a post office. ADVERTISEMENT 'He had all these other dreams but he just put them aside because in Ireland at that time, it just was dangerous to have those kind of dreams,' Bono said. 'People would leave Ireland to follow those kind of dreams and we forget this. My mother was totally non-ambitious, she would tell him to take more time off. 'We were just not materially very ambitious and that's very impressive. They put their friends first.' He added that his father 'really lived his life' and 'laughed a lot'. 'He had this beautiful voice and he had the Coolock musical society.' When asked if he thought his father was envious of his life, the U2 singer said: 'I don't think so, I just think he couldn't say, 'wow, you got to do all the things I wanted to do'. He just couldn't say that.' He also spoke of religion, saying: 'It gets more and more fascinating. I am more and more in awe. The Americans have ruined it with that word 'awesome', we have all ruined it. But awe is an extraordinary word.' Bono described his father as a 'very courageous man' – he was a Catholic and married a Protestant woman against the wishes of his family. 'His own family did not turn up at the wedding. He raised us, me and my brother Norman, in the Church of Ireland, if that's what my mother wants,' he said. The 65-year-old recalled how his father would drop them at a Protestant church and would then walk 100 metres up the road to attend a Catholic church. 'I have found myself completely comfortable around Catholicism, with its mysticism… genuinely this sense of awe and wonder. And I love that aspect of Catholicism,' Bono said. 'And yet I also feel really comfortable in the Evangelical world, particularly a black church in America where people are up freestyling scriptures, the poetry of are conversant with those scriptures. 'I need them. I'd be comfortable in a synagogue, or in Islam. I am in that sense a religious person.'
RTÉ News
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Bono defends his decision to accept Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden
U2 frontman Bono has spoken out against criticism of his decision to accept the Medal of Freedom from then-US President Joe Biden earlier this year. Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor Show on Saturday morning, he said that he accepted the medal on behalf of those who couldn't. "Being a conscientious objector with somebody else's conscience is quite a stretch," he said. "I've worked with Joe Biden for 25 years. I've worked with him when he was in the Senate on Drop the Debt. I've worked with him on universal access to antiretroviral drugs, on increasing aid flows. This is a man who I have deep respect for and a real relationship with. "There are other aspects to that which are just inaccurate and people just not understanding. These are complex affairs and I should be flattered. I am grateful that people expect such a lot of me, but I've been doing this for 25 years. And anyone who thinks that I'm not shocked and appalled by what's going on in Gaza and to the children of Gaza . . , " The US Presidential Medal of Freedom was formally given to the singer last January. Mr Biden presented the highest American civilian honour to Bono, real name Paul David Hewson, at the White House along with a total of 19 people from across politics, sports, entertainment and other fields. The awards are given for "exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavours". Bono added that "competitive empathy" was much more prevalent now than ever. "It's strange, this competitive empathy that's going around. 'I feel this wound more than you,' and 'my emergency is more important than your emergency'. Outrage," he said. "When I was younger, I had a lot of rage. An outrage, in some respects, was enough to write a certain kind of song. But as I got older, I demanded more of myself. "I looked towards outcomes. And so, I became that most boring of all things, a single-issue protagonist fighting with, working with both sides," he added. Having turned 65 two weeks ago, Bono says he is taking a step back from activism. "It might be bewildering, but I was trying not to speak about stuff that I didn't really understand, and even my understanding of development issues has, I would say, decreased," he said. "The governance of it, the in-depth understanding of the subject that you need to have, meetings where you can sit across from lawmakers and really talk in depth, is one that I am not sure I'm capable of whilst being in U2 at the level that that now demands. "I'm also the wrong sex, perhaps. Actually, more importantly, I'm the wrong ethnicity. It would be just Africans doing this for themselves now. "There's an extraordinary woman, Ndidi (Okonkwo Nwuneli) who has taken over the One campaign, and I'm backstage now," he added. On Thursday night in London, U2 became the first ever Irish band to become recipients of the Ivor Novello Academy Fellowship in London. Having published his autobiography, Surrender, in 2022, which then became a one-man stage show, Apple TV+ will air a new film entitled Bono: Stories of Surrender on 30 May. Asked how the rest of the band felt about him singing U2 songs without them during the theatre production and in the film, Bono said, "I dread their memoirs. I don't know. Edge has definitely seen the film. He thought my head looked even bigger on the screen, if that was possible. Larry's more a Western man. "I don't think Larry believes anything I do outside of U2 exists and that's the way it should be. Adam, yeah, he was good but all of this is really the absence of a new U2 album and everybody knows that and it is extraordinary to have Apple pay for this and get my little family opera on record. "But I understand. It's the band who gave me permission to sell my wares in other ways, whether it's activism or telling my story but I thought it would help with them because when you get to a certain level of recognition, inevitably you turn into a bit of a caricature and that doesn't suit U2 either so I wanted to explain to people the ordinariness behind all this extraordinary success that U2's had. "I wanted to let people in and take off the armour." The first time the singer performed his one-man show was at the Olympia theatre in Dublin in late 2022, and asked did he have any first-night nerves, Bono said, "My mother's only remaining sister, Olive, was there so that mattered a lot. "We were having drinks afterwards and only in a country like Ireland would the Taoiseach come up and say, `do you want anything up at the bar, there?'" "I said, `I'll have a pint' and my Aunty Olive said, `G&T, please', and he went around the table and took the orders and I said, `Olive, that's the Taoiseach there - Leo Varadkar 'and she said `oh isn't that great! Will he remember all the orders?' Bono added, "On that first night, I didn't want to blow it; I didn't want to screw it up and of course there is some level of narcissism involved in thinking that people might be interested in your story."
