Latest news with #discomfort
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Research finds 89% of female rugby players experience pain wearing boots
Wearing boots designed for men causes discomfort for a majority of female rugby players, according to new research which finds as many as 89% of athletes experience pain from wearing shoes not built for women's feet. With the Women's Rugby World Cup coming to England in just over two weeks' time IDA Sports, a footwear brand designed for female athletes, called out what it describes as the 'iniquity' of boot design that leaves women not only lacking comfort when playing but exposed to a heightened risk of injury. After scanning nearly 1,000 feet, of amateurs and players from across Premiership Women's Rugby, and surveying a further 330, IDA Sports found that comfort was the driving factor behind a player's boot choice, but one that was rarely met. While 78% said comfort was a top priority, nearly nine in 10 spoke of discomfort. 'The findings of our many years of research and development … illustrate the inequities that women athletes face when it comes to footwear,' said Laura Youngson, co-founder and chief executive of IDA Sports. 'We hope that the findings of this study will not only draw attention to the impactful data, but push more brands to invest in women athletes as we have proudly done over the last seven years.' Some 45% of players surveyed said they specifically experienced pain under the first metatarsal bone, above their big toe. This is conventionally the location for a stud on a boot intended for a man. Youngson has said that female players will often file down the stud under the toe to reduce the pressure on the bone and IDA Sports adopted a different template for the studs on its female-centred boots. Sports scientists have also drawn attention to the risk of injury from studs not adapted specifically for women. Women's feet and arches are shaped differently to men and women also run in a different way. Studs under the metatarsal can risk injuring the bone, but also possibly increase the chance of damaging ligaments. Dr Matt Whalan, a consultant to Fifa on female health in football and a principal partner at Figtree Physiotherapy, explained these risks to the Guardian in a 2020 interview. 'The simplest thing to do is to look at the contact with the ground and the step/pivot/twist,' he said. 'There's maybe a 10-kilo weight difference between male and female footballers and we're going to put them in a same boot, that has the same traction, the same stiffness and that needs the same muscle capacity to control the traction that that boot will give. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion 'If you've got a stud that is 15mm long and you're leaning really hard and having to change direction but you're 10 kilos lighter, do you need studs that long to get the same sort of traction? When you're getting a lot of traction that you don't need then that's when you start to put things at risk.'
Yahoo
28-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google CEO is the newest billionaire: He tells Gen Z the secret to success is putting yourself in uncomfortable situations
As a newly minted billionaire, CEO Sundar Pichai says that embracing discomfort is key to personal and professional growth—a mantra that helped him advance from a little-known product manager to CEO of the $2.3 trillion tech giant. While climbing the logical paths up that ladder may seem right, he tells Gen Z that listening to your heart will help you find your true calling. The path to success is never easy—even for the world's top leaders. In fact, for Google CEO Sundar Pichai there were times he felt that stinging feeling that other people in the room were better than him. But he assures Gen Z that feelings of discomfort are all part of the process. 'At various points in my life, I've worked with people who I felt were better than me,' Pichai recently told Lex Fridman's podcast. 'You want that feeling a few times, trying to get yourself in a position where you're working with people who you feel are kind of like stretching your abilities, is what helps you grow. 'Putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, and I think often you'll surprise yourself,' he added. For Pichai, this mantra has helped him climb the ranks at the tech giant after starting out as just a product manager in 2004. Within a decade, he had caught the eye of cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin before being named CEO in 2015. And while he admits there is always an element of luck to success, he encourages Gen Z to do what they love—even if it seems irrational at first. 'You're thinking about what you want to do, your brain is telling you something. But when you do things, I think it's important to listen to your heart, and see whether you actually enjoy doing it.' Success in the workplace centers around the people Finding the right people to work with is not only important for personal growth, Pichai added, but also for making sure work gets done, something that's been crucial in turning Google into a multitrillion-dollar giant. 'You find mission-oriented people who are in the shared journey, who have this inner drive to excellence, to do the best, and motivate people, and you can achieve a lot that way.' The drive for excellence at Google may also mean the willingness to work far beyond the nine-to-five, according to Sergey Brin. In an internal memo seen by the New York Times, the cofounder encouraged the company's AI-focused workers to be in the office 'at least every weekday'—with 60-hour workweeks being the 'sweet spot of productivity.' And while Pichai has publicly said in the past that he anticipated the future of work to be focused around flexibility, the AI arms race has put pressure on tech giants to be ahead of the game. Still, amid the high-stakes environment, Pichai told Fridman he prefers staying calm as a manager, believing that the best employees are usually the first to know when they've messed up—and overreacting can just make matters worse. 'At times, you're working with people who are so committed to achieving, if they've done something wrong, they feel it more than you do, so you treat them differently,' Pichai said. 'Occasionally, there are people who you need to clearly let them know, like, 'That wasn't okay,' or whatever it is, but I've often found that not to be the case.' Fortune reached out to Pichai for comment. Striving toward the billionaires club Though Pichai has been the leader of one of the biggest public companies in the world for just shy of a decade, he's only just now joining the billionaires club—a far cry from Brin and Page, who are among the top 10 wealthiest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The net worth of Brin and Page is about $163 billion and $174 billion, respectively, compared with Pichai's $1.1 billion. While there is no perfect path to emulating the success of Google, Page told college graduates in 2009 that they should think about solving problems that can ultimately allow them to be lazier: 'Technology, and especially the internet, can really help you be lazy,' he said to University of Michigan students. 'Find the leverage in the world, so you can be more lazy.' Much like those who graduated into the Great Recession, today's young people are facing their own set of daunting challenges, thanks in part to AI reshaping the job market. However, Page isn't a believer in giving up. 'Overall, I know it seems like the world is crumbling out there, but it is actually a great time in your life to get a little crazy, follow your curiosity, and be ambitious about it,' Page said. 'Don't give up on your dreams. The world needs you all.' This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Times
30-06-2025
- Health
- New York Times
7 Exercises to Soothe Your Sore Neck and Shoulders
For thousands of years, humans have hunched over to light fires, care for our children and harvest plants. But the modern version of this position — curving forward from focus or fatigue, then lifting our chins to stare at our screens — can lead to pain for many people. This neck and upper back discomfort is often called 'tech neck' or 'text neck.' And experts say that it's not necessarily the position itself that is a problem, but the amount of time we spend in it. 'The important thing about posture is it's not such a binary good and bad,' said Claire Hsing, a physical therapist in Boulder, Colorado. Our bodies can be comfortable in many different positions, but few of them are ideal to hold for long periods of time, she said. Brad Callan, an assistant professor of physical therapy at Pacific Northwest University School of Health Sciences, sometimes uses a simple exercise to illustrate that point: He asks his patients to stretch their thumb far away from their hand. Then he tells them to imagine holding it that way for eight hours. 'That's what you're doing to your neck every day,' he tells them. Tech neck hasn't been rigorously studied, but experts say there are changes you can make that will likely offer some relief from the discomfort. First, check that your work station allows you to sit with good posture, Dr. Callan said. You should be able to keep your pelvis neutral, meaning you're not arching or rounding your back, he said. Stretches that release tension in the muscles along the neck and the tops of the shoulders can help, too, Dr. Hsing said. It's also important to strengthen the muscles in your mid-back and along your spine, and improve your mobility in these areas. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Forbes
25-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why Your Best Career Moves Happen In The Discomfort Zone
Kirsten Ludwig, Brand Builder, Advisor + Thought Leader | Founder at IN GOOD CO | Podcast Host GOOD THINKING + Lit From Within. getty I got fired, went through a divorce and lived through a global pandemic that turned everyone's world upside down. If you'd told me 10 years ago that these would become some of the most important experiences of my career, I would have thought you were joking. But here's what I've learned: We've been sold a lie that success means eliminating discomfort from our lives. Every productivity hack, every life optimization strategy and every piece of career advice seems designed to help us avoid the hard stuff, the uncertain stuff and the things that make our stomachs flip. When I look back on everything I'm actually proud of—starting my own company, the brand campaigns that moved the needle and the personal growth that made me who I am—it all happened in the spaces that scared me most. The day I got fired started like any other. Then I had a routine meeting that slowly revealed itself as anything but. During the walk to my car afterward, I tried to process what had just happened to my carefully constructed career plan. The initial response was predictable: panic, shame and the voice insisting this meant I wasn't good enough. But after the shock wore off, something interesting happened: The discomfort of not knowing what came next forced me to confront what I actually wanted, not just what felt safe. The following months of uncertainty—pitching clients from my kitchen table and learning to trust my own judgment without a corporate safety net—revealed capabilities I didn't know I had. The discomfort of starting over became the foundation of everything that mattered afterward. The same pattern shows up in corporate environments: The brand strategies that move the needle aren't the ones that feel comfortable in the boardroom. They're the ones that make executives ask, "Are we sure about this?" I remember one campaign with two options: the safe choice that tested well, or the bold choice that made everyone nervous but felt true to what the brand could become. The safe choice would have been forgotten within a quarter. The bold choice changed how people thought about the entire category. This is the paradox of brand building: The moves that feel risky are often the only ones that create genuine differentiation. Safe brands don't get talked about. They don't move market share in meaningful ways. The brands we remember are built by people willing to be uncomfortable in service of something bigger than quarterly metrics. A Personal Reconstruction Project When the pandemic began in 2020, personal discomfort became unavoidable for most of us. For me, it was compounded by a divorce. Everything I thought was solid suddenly became uncertain. I was tempted to rush back to comfort, to re-create what was familiar. But something about the scale of the disruption made that impossible. There was no going back; I could only go through. So I made a different choice: to sit in the uncertainty longer than felt comfortable. To rebuild intentionally instead of reactively. The result wasn't just recovery—it was discovery. The discomfort of not knowing who I was becoming led to becoming someone I actually liked. The Pattern Behind Everything That Matters Once you start looking, you see it everywhere: All meaningful change requires a period of not knowing. The space between who you were and who you're becoming is inherently uncomfortable. But we've become so comfort-obsessed that we've lost our tolerance for the normal discomfort that comes with anything worthwhile. We interpret chest tightness and the urge to procrastinate as warning signs instead of growth signals. The most successful people haven't eliminated discomfort—they've learned to distinguish between productive discomfort and destructive discomfort. They lean into the uncertainty that comes with meaningful challenges while avoiding genuinely harmful stress. Why Comfort Is Actually The Riskier Choice Your comfort zone isn't protecting you from failure—it's protecting you from the person you could become. While you're avoiding discomfort, the world changes around you. Markets shift, technologies evolve and yesterday's valuable skills become today's table stakes. The real risk isn't taking chances—it's becoming irrelevant while waiting for certainty that never comes. Every day you choose comfort over growth is a day your competitors are choosing differently. The Practical Framework This isn't about chaos seeking. It's about developing intentional discomfort tolerance: • Notice your avoidance patterns. What conversations are you postponing? What projects feel too risky? Your avoidance often points toward your next growth opportunity. • Start small but consistently. Choose one uncomfortable thing per week—the email you're avoiding, the conversation that needs to happen or the creative risk you keep talking yourself out of. • Reframe the sensation. When you feel chest tightness or the urge to procrastinate, recognize it as your growth edge, not a warning sign. Your body is alerting you to significance, not danger. Your Move Look at your calendar this week. Look at your to-do list. How much of your professional life is designed to keep you comfortable? The career moves you'll be proudest of five years from now are probably the ones that feel slightly terrifying today. Your best work, your biggest impact and your most meaningful connections are all waiting for you on the other side of the thing that scares you most. Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Khaleej Times
22-05-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Why embracing discomfort might be the healthiest thing you can do
A few months ago, I stood shivering on the edge of the Atlantic in the west of Ireland. My heart pounded. Every cell in my body screamed: Don't do this. All I could think about was returning to the hotel where dry clothes, a fire and warm food awaited me. Still, I jumped in. My breath caught, my skin burned, and for a few seconds, I was utterly overwhelmed. But then something unexpected happened: my mind went quiet. I was entirely present — something I hadn't felt in months, maybe even years. That freezing plunge reminded me of something no podcast or self-help book ever could: discomfort is not the enemy — it's the gateway to growth. In fact, our obsession with comfort — and all its illusions of satisfaction and wholeness, may be the very thing making us sick. Recent studies show that the average westerner now spends 93 per cent of their entire life indoors — either at home, in an office, or in a car. Then, with a few taps on a screen, we can summon food, entertainment, transport, even human connection. We rarely need to wait, struggle, or even sit alone with our thoughts anymore. And yet, we're more anxious, depressed, addicted and miserable than ever before. We have become so accustomed to instant gratification that the very idea of not having immediate access to what we want can send us into spirals (e.g. think of that moment of dread when your phone dies on a long trip and you realise you'll have to sit with the discomfort of your own being). This is the paradox at the heart of the comfort crisis: the more we try to buffer ourselves from discomfort, the more alienated and unwell we become. This is because our brains are built for survival, not happiness. For most of human history, discomfort signalled threat like hunger, cold, pain or exclusion. So, we evolved to work in ways that would minimise it. However, that same survival wiring has been hijacked in a hyper-convenience world. The dopamine reward system is overstimulated by ultra-processed food, endless scrolling, mindless shopping, and instant gratification — all offering quick hits of pleasure with long-term costs. This is because real pleasure comes not from escaping discomfort but from overcoming it. Think of how satisfied you feel after a long day in the garden: physically tired, but deeply content. From a biological perspective, your brain thinks you've taken steps to survive, and rewards you with the feel-good chemicals needed to keep going. Hence, cold plunges, challenging workouts, or uncomfortable conversations can all feel strangely satisfying because they mimic survival challenges. When we're not actively creating the hardship part of the dopamine equation, our brains will seek it out wherever they can. Because of this, many of us are overwhelmed by a vague, restless anxiety we can't quite name. Then, on top of that, our prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for long-term thinking, emotional regulation, and meaning-making — is constantly overridden by the limbic system's urgent demand for 'more,' without a sense of what purpose that 'more' serves. This is because purpose is not something we perpetually seek — it's something we actively create through hardship. It regulates our nervous system, develops our resilience and reminds us that we're alive. Without it, we drift — detached from ourselves, reality, and each other. In my view, the modern hunger for identity through political, social, or psychological suffering is a poignant reflection of this very real need for discomfort in our lives. This isn't to dismiss genuine trauma or injustice. But for some, the desperate need to prove their suffering is a away of reclaiming that friction in lives that otherwise feel numb. In that sense, the search for something to rail against is actually a search for meaning. It's a sign of life, but it also suggests we're culturally disoriented about the real challenge. So, what can we do? Well, we don't need to become monks or masochists. But we do need to reintroduce deliberate difficulty. It can be whatever works for you — from moving your body daily and taking cold showers to finally starting that business, having that complicated conversation or simply sitting with your agitated and bored self instead of turning to a screen. Above all, it involves intentionally resisting the urge to smooth every edge of life and letting ourselves be uncomfortable from time to time. Because, if nothing else, discomfort won't kill us. But avoiding it might.
