FIRED AND REHIRED: So you got downsized. It's happening a lot this year — 579,260 US job cuts reported so far, according to outplacement consultants Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc. — but experts say you shouldn't see it as career death. In fact, it can be a rebirth.

"A majority of people end up telling you it's the best thing that ever happened to them," said Marc Cenedella, CEO of jobs site TheLadders.com.

How to get beyond the trauma:

— Get rid of the negativity. Write an angry letter to your boss, then rip it up. Take a week of vacation. Get relaxed and refreshed so you can be positive in interviews later.

— Make a plan. Interested in a new field? Here's your chance. Investigate retraining programmes, take classes. "Reassess what you want to do with your career," said Tony Santora, senior executive at Right Management, an employment consultancy. Take note of your strengths.

— Update your resume. Cenedella advises seeking out a professional resume writer. Work on talking up your achievements in the past.

— Network, network, network. "Over 50 percent of the jobs out there are found through networking," Santora said. Reach out to friends, family, former colleagues. Use online sites like LinkedIn.com. Call up trusted recruiters.

— An interview is not a chat with friends, said Cenedella. Remember to sell yourself hard and be aggressively positive about past work experiences and achievements.

NO REST FOR THE WEARY: Can't sleep? Welcome to the 3 a.m. club.

A survey in the September issue of Consumer Reports found that 44 percent of US adults are what the magazine calls "problem sleepers". That means, for at least eight nights out of the month, they toss and turn before finally drifting off, wake up in the middle of the night, or get up before planned.

Almost one-fifth of those surveyed use drugs to counteract sleeplessness at least once a week, and 24 percent of those said they had sleep-medication dependency problems.