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Happy 'Leave the Office Earlier Day'

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The survey of 1,575 U.S. workers indicates that 38 percent of managers and 40 percent of entrepreneurs vacation with their laptop computers and PDAs to stay digitally tethered to their desks.

"I've heard that e-mails have surpassed all other means of communication," says Zach. "We'll e-mail the person next to us rather than talk with them."

If you're wondering whether you're ready to rise from your cubicle and shout "Hurrah, for Leave Work Earlier Day," consider some of these new products and studies, all of which suggest that you don't really have a job. Rather, the job has you.

1. Is E-mail Making You Dumber?
A nonstop barrage of e-mail can cause a greater loss of IQ than smoking a small amount of marijuana, at least in the short term, a British study shows.

SPAM-weary workers suffered as much as a 10-point loss to their IQ — the equivalent of missing a whole night's sleep and more than double the four-point fall from marijuana — according to a study of 1,100 Britons, carried out by TNS Research and commissioned by Hewlett-Packard.

In 80 clinical trials, Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at the University of London, monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day. "This is a very real and widespread phenomenon," Wilson says.

The trend of constantly responding to messages is called "Infomania," and Wilson says that it affects men more than women. The good news is that your brain returns to normal when the technology is removed.

Persistent Infomania could cause permanent impairment. So, if you want to warn your friends and colleagues, it might pay to do it face to face, if you can pry them away from their computers.

2. Is It Time for Hide-and-Seek Alarm Clock?
Tired of complaining about work? Maybe you're just not getting enough sleep, and you're not alone.

The typical American adult sleeps 6.8 hours per night during the week and 7.4 hours per night on weekends, according to the National Sleep Foundation. The downward trend of people getting a recommended eight hours of sleep has slipped from 38 percent in 2001, to 30 percent in 2002, to 26 percent in 2005.

Need a solution to get out of bed, even when your body is screaming for more ZZZs? Meet Clocky — the first alarm clock that will challenge even the doziest sleepers not to hit the snooze button more than once.

Clocky is equipped with a set of wheels, and once you hit the snooze button, this softly padded clock rolls off your night table, bounces onto the floor, and hides in your bedroom, forcing you to get out of bed to find the damn thing.

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