New Survey by Samsung Mobile Explores Family Attitudes Toward Text Communication
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) announced today the findings of a survey focused on family texting habits. The survey revealed that text messaging has broadened the lines of communication for many parents and teens, with over half of those reporting it has actually improved their relationship.
TEENS TEACH TEXT
Teens are text messaging far more than their parents; however, the survey suggests that teens are also passing their text know-how on to mom and dad.
* On average, teens send 455 text messages each month and receive 467 – that’s roughly 15 text messages sent and 16 messages received each day.
* On average, parents send 84 text messages each month and receive 96.
* Almost six in ten (57%*) moms and dads who text, say their kids have helped them become better texters.
* And teens are taking notice. When it comes to their parents’ skills, nearly seven in ten (66%) teens believe mom and dad are doing a fair or good job at texting.
RELATIONSHIP, MEET TEXT
As parents join the world of texting, the survey suggests that more parent-teen communication is being conducted by text.
* Nearly seven in ten (68%) American parents communicate with their kids by text message.
* Nearly six in ten (56%) teens, ages 13 – 19, report that they communicate more often with their parents since they began text messaging.
THE VERDICT: TEXTING IS IMPROVING RELATIONSHIPS
Not only are more and more parents and teens communicating through text, but for many, text messaging has actually played a role in improving their relationship.
* More than half (53%) of teens that text message think their relationship with their parents has improved because of text messaging.
* More than half (51%) of parents who text with their teens agree that they communicate more often with their kids now than they did before they began text messaging and that text messaging has actually improved their relationship.
“Finding a way to communicate with teenagers can be difficult for many parents,” said Bill Ogle, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung Telecommunications America. “What this survey shows is that communicating with teens the same way they communicate with each other, by text messaging, may be a great way for some parents to improve the lines of communication. And with more than a billion text messages now being sent each day, I think we will see this new trend in parent-teen communication continue to grow.”
The survey, commissioned by Samsung Mobile, was conducted by Kelton Research and included 300 American teens ages 13 – 19 and 500 American parents with children ages 13 – 19.
*All decimals are rounded to the nearest percentage point. This may result in certain numerical totals adding up to slightly more or slightly less than 100%.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Brain food - What you eat not only affects your body but also your brainpower
by Laura Deeley
Concentration, memory and problem-solving abilities are all affected by poor diet and can be improved by sticking to a brain-friendly diet. So, to keep your brain healthy and stave off disease, make sure you’re getting the following foodstuffs and nutrients for optimum brain health.
Water
Your brain is over 80 per cent water, which means the most important rule of good brain health is stay hydrated. Dehydration can impair learning and increasing the amount of water you drink each day can improve concentration and memory. The average adult needs 2.5 litres of water per day, however, it is a commonly held misconception that this should take the form of pure water rather than fruit juices, cordials or tea. In fact, this notion is debunked in a study by Dr Heinz Valtin, of Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire, who researched the effects of drinking plain water compared with mixed beverages and found that even weak beer still counts towards your 2.5 litres per day. However, too much caffeine can affect the absorption of Vitamin B, an important brain nutrient and affect the quality of your sleep, which is vital for optimum brain health.
Carbohydrates
The brain obtains the majority of its energy from the carbohydrate glucose. A steady supply of glucose is needed to maintain optimum concentration throughout the day and the best way to get it is to eat unrefined or ‘complex’ carbohydrates. These take longer to break down, releasing a steady flow of glucose into the blood stream. Recent research by Canadian scientists showed that eating carbohydrate-rich foods improved the memory of elderly adults within an hour of eating.
Find it in: whole-wheat pasta and brown rice, wholegrain foods, couscous and vegetables.
B Vitamins
The B Vitamins are vital for good brain health with B1, B6 and B12 being especially valuable. B1 (thiamine) helps with the transmission of electrical signals within the brain; B6 (pyridoxine) is needed for the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin – which improves mood and is commonly deficient in people suffering from depression and B12, which is a constituent of the myelin sheath, the protective covering for nerve cells which stops electrical interference in the brain. Studies show that a deficiency in vitamin B1 can have a detrimental affect on memory.
Find it in: B1 – wholegrains, nuts, meat and eggs.
B6 – Fish, poultry, eggs, wholegrains and nuts.
B12 – Meat, fish, dairy products, eggs and yeast extract.
Good fats
Despite the fact that we’re constantly trying to lose it, everybody needs some fat in their diet. But it’s the type of fat that counts. Long-chain fatty acids, known as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are the building blocks of cell membranes and are thus crucial for brain development, making up 30 percent of the brain’s mass. Studies suggest that children who get low doses of Omega-3’s when they are babies develop lower IQs and there is growing scientific evidence that the omega-3 found in fish oils may help stave off dementia.
Find it in: Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can only be obtained from your diet. Try salmon, herring, sardines and tuna and cook with extra virgin olive oil.
Iron
Research shows that even a mild iron deficiency can reduce children’s ability to learn and studies have found that boosting iron intake improves concentration, mental sharpness and cognitive development. Women in their late teens and twenties are most prone to iron deficiency and one recent American study revealed that women with anaemia perform less well in cognitive tasks.
Find it in: Red meat, dark-green leafy vegetables, sardines, eggs, pulses, nuts, seeds and fortified breakfast cereals.
AND TWO TO AVOID
Saturated Fats
If you want to stave off Alzheimer’s keep trim by avoiding saturated fats.
Being overweight increases your chance of developing insulin resistance and research conducted by the University of Washington showed that people with insulin resistance have a 50 percent rise in brain and spinal cord inflammatory chemicals and beta-amyloid protein, both implicated in Alzheimer’s.
Find it in: meat and dairy foods, as well as cakes, pastries and deep friend food.
Caffeine
We often think of caffeine as a great pick-me-up, sharpening our minds and battling fatigue but new evidence suggests that rather than perking us up in the morning, what our 7am caffeine hit does is reduce the withdrawal symptoms from going without caffeine through the night. Caffeine aggravates stress by stimulating the production of adrenaline, which causes that jittery feeling. It also affects the quality of your sleep, making it harder to drop off. And research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that people who ingest caffeine levels equivalent to five cups of coffee per day have increased levels of anxiety and depression.
Find it in: coffee, tea, energy drinks such as Red Bull and Coca-Cola.
Concentration, memory and problem-solving abilities are all affected by poor diet and can be improved by sticking to a brain-friendly diet. So, to keep your brain healthy and stave off disease, make sure you’re getting the following foodstuffs and nutrients for optimum brain health.
Water
Your brain is over 80 per cent water, which means the most important rule of good brain health is stay hydrated. Dehydration can impair learning and increasing the amount of water you drink each day can improve concentration and memory. The average adult needs 2.5 litres of water per day, however, it is a commonly held misconception that this should take the form of pure water rather than fruit juices, cordials or tea. In fact, this notion is debunked in a study by Dr Heinz Valtin, of Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire, who researched the effects of drinking plain water compared with mixed beverages and found that even weak beer still counts towards your 2.5 litres per day. However, too much caffeine can affect the absorption of Vitamin B, an important brain nutrient and affect the quality of your sleep, which is vital for optimum brain health.
Carbohydrates
The brain obtains the majority of its energy from the carbohydrate glucose. A steady supply of glucose is needed to maintain optimum concentration throughout the day and the best way to get it is to eat unrefined or ‘complex’ carbohydrates. These take longer to break down, releasing a steady flow of glucose into the blood stream. Recent research by Canadian scientists showed that eating carbohydrate-rich foods improved the memory of elderly adults within an hour of eating.
Find it in: whole-wheat pasta and brown rice, wholegrain foods, couscous and vegetables.
B Vitamins
The B Vitamins are vital for good brain health with B1, B6 and B12 being especially valuable. B1 (thiamine) helps with the transmission of electrical signals within the brain; B6 (pyridoxine) is needed for the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin – which improves mood and is commonly deficient in people suffering from depression and B12, which is a constituent of the myelin sheath, the protective covering for nerve cells which stops electrical interference in the brain. Studies show that a deficiency in vitamin B1 can have a detrimental affect on memory.
Find it in: B1 – wholegrains, nuts, meat and eggs.
B6 – Fish, poultry, eggs, wholegrains and nuts.
B12 – Meat, fish, dairy products, eggs and yeast extract.
Good fats
Despite the fact that we’re constantly trying to lose it, everybody needs some fat in their diet. But it’s the type of fat that counts. Long-chain fatty acids, known as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are the building blocks of cell membranes and are thus crucial for brain development, making up 30 percent of the brain’s mass. Studies suggest that children who get low doses of Omega-3’s when they are babies develop lower IQs and there is growing scientific evidence that the omega-3 found in fish oils may help stave off dementia.
Find it in: Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can only be obtained from your diet. Try salmon, herring, sardines and tuna and cook with extra virgin olive oil.
Iron
Research shows that even a mild iron deficiency can reduce children’s ability to learn and studies have found that boosting iron intake improves concentration, mental sharpness and cognitive development. Women in their late teens and twenties are most prone to iron deficiency and one recent American study revealed that women with anaemia perform less well in cognitive tasks.
Find it in: Red meat, dark-green leafy vegetables, sardines, eggs, pulses, nuts, seeds and fortified breakfast cereals.
AND TWO TO AVOID
Saturated Fats
If you want to stave off Alzheimer’s keep trim by avoiding saturated fats.
Being overweight increases your chance of developing insulin resistance and research conducted by the University of Washington showed that people with insulin resistance have a 50 percent rise in brain and spinal cord inflammatory chemicals and beta-amyloid protein, both implicated in Alzheimer’s.
Find it in: meat and dairy foods, as well as cakes, pastries and deep friend food.
Caffeine
We often think of caffeine as a great pick-me-up, sharpening our minds and battling fatigue but new evidence suggests that rather than perking us up in the morning, what our 7am caffeine hit does is reduce the withdrawal symptoms from going without caffeine through the night. Caffeine aggravates stress by stimulating the production of adrenaline, which causes that jittery feeling. It also affects the quality of your sleep, making it harder to drop off. And research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that people who ingest caffeine levels equivalent to five cups of coffee per day have increased levels of anxiety and depression.
Find it in: coffee, tea, energy drinks such as Red Bull and Coca-Cola.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The art of mind control - Meditate your way to a healthier body
by Francesca Steele
In a monastery in northern India, Tibetan monks sat quietly in a room, deep in meditation. Although the room was a chilly 39 F, the men - using a yoga technique known as Tum-mo - were scarcely clothed, but seemed unaffected by the cold. Nearby, other monks soaked large sheets in freezing cold water and placed them on the shoulders of the meditators. Within an hour, the sheets were dry.
Scientists who have studied the monks - some of whom were capable of raising the temperature of their fingers and toes by 17 F - have yet to determine how the meditative process was able to generate so much heat. But they agree about one thing - the mind can manipulate the body in to doing quite unexpected things. Can we train it to better control our bodies when they are cold, injured or under stress?
Herbert Benson, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Boston believes so. He has developed a "relaxation response" which he describes as "a physiological opposite to stress". It can produce changes in metabolism; breathing rate, heart rate and thermoregulation, and Benson's team have used it to treat anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heartbeat irregularities, excessive anger, insomnia and even fertility problems. "I want to investigate what advanced forms of meditation can do to help the mind control physical processes once thought to be uncontrollable", he says.
The human brain, which is made up of three parts - the fore, mid and hind brain - controls our actions via the central nervous system. The mid and hind brain unconsciously regulate autonomic processes related to essential body functions such as respiration, heart rate and digestions and the forebrain controls cognitive and conscious functions such as memory, language and motor function. When you decide to lift a pencil, your conscious brain makes hundreds of decisions that result in an instruction to your hand. If we can make the unconscious and the conscious brains better in tune with each another perhaps, we can encourage our bodies to alter previously automatic responses.
Studies in which breast cancer sufferers used guided imagery techniques to ‘imagine’ themselves better, showed that positive thinking encourages the body's white blood cells to fight the cancer cells more effectively. "One of the major contributors to maintaining health and removing disease is the attitude of the patient ", says Professor Oakley Ray, a psychologist from Vanterbilt University in Tennessee. "Words can have the same effect as drugs".
Although, the benefits of a positive attitude are still contested in cancer treatment, one area where the healing properties of positive expectation are widely accepted is the use of placebos in drug trials. Volunteers react physically to substances that contain nothing, as if they contained the actual drug. As the Canadian neuroscientist and placebo expert Mario Beauregard observes, "The psychophysiological responses elicited by placebos seem to suggest a mind/body interaction that is guided by subjective factors, such as expectation, beliefs, meaning and hope for improvement". The effect is very specific and depends on the information given to the recipient. For example, a placebo will have the opposite effect on heart rhythm and blood pressure when it is given as an inhibitor than when it is administered as a stimulant.
Baroness Susan Greenfield, one of Britain's leading neuroscientists believes the NHS, for example for Parkinson ’s disease, could better harness the placebo effect where it has already been shown to be just as effective as medicinal drugs: "The central nervous system and the immune system are closely linked. It is quite amazing that if I whisper in your ear "You've passed the exam" that triggers changes in your heart rate and blood pressure. Tapping into something cognitive, which is predicated on the values of higher expectations, has very real physical consequences."
So can we implement this mind over matter approach in our daily lives? Fortunately, it does not require years dedicated to a technique such as Tum-mo - simpler techniques can retrain the brain and body just as effectively. Scientists have found that in people who are depressed, angry or stressed, the right frontal cortex of the brain is more active that the left. Over time, brains develop what is known as a ‘set point’. If a person's set point is tilted to the left then the tendency is for lots of activity in the left frontal cortex, making for a happy person. If it is tilted to the right the opposite occurs. But the set point can change: volunteers who undertook a short course of Buddhist-style meditation moved their set point to the left. They also developed remarkably superior responses to influenza.
And it can work the other way round. Neurolinguistic programming – altering your behavioural patterns to retrain your brain - is advocated by some, the hypnotist Paul McKenna, for example, as a way of beating depression and addiction. By repeating mantras to yourself, or practicing conscious repetitive actions such as tapping each time you think about the relevant topic, you can manipulate your mind.
So, unless your goal is to become a human radiator, you can retrain your brain to be happier – and your body to be healthier – without too much difficulty. "The brain is the source of everything we do", says Lady Greenfield. "And it is a creature of habit. You can change your habits."
In a monastery in northern India, Tibetan monks sat quietly in a room, deep in meditation. Although the room was a chilly 39 F, the men - using a yoga technique known as Tum-mo - were scarcely clothed, but seemed unaffected by the cold. Nearby, other monks soaked large sheets in freezing cold water and placed them on the shoulders of the meditators. Within an hour, the sheets were dry.
Scientists who have studied the monks - some of whom were capable of raising the temperature of their fingers and toes by 17 F - have yet to determine how the meditative process was able to generate so much heat. But they agree about one thing - the mind can manipulate the body in to doing quite unexpected things. Can we train it to better control our bodies when they are cold, injured or under stress?
Herbert Benson, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Boston believes so. He has developed a "relaxation response" which he describes as "a physiological opposite to stress". It can produce changes in metabolism; breathing rate, heart rate and thermoregulation, and Benson's team have used it to treat anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heartbeat irregularities, excessive anger, insomnia and even fertility problems. "I want to investigate what advanced forms of meditation can do to help the mind control physical processes once thought to be uncontrollable", he says.
The human brain, which is made up of three parts - the fore, mid and hind brain - controls our actions via the central nervous system. The mid and hind brain unconsciously regulate autonomic processes related to essential body functions such as respiration, heart rate and digestions and the forebrain controls cognitive and conscious functions such as memory, language and motor function. When you decide to lift a pencil, your conscious brain makes hundreds of decisions that result in an instruction to your hand. If we can make the unconscious and the conscious brains better in tune with each another perhaps, we can encourage our bodies to alter previously automatic responses.
Studies in which breast cancer sufferers used guided imagery techniques to ‘imagine’ themselves better, showed that positive thinking encourages the body's white blood cells to fight the cancer cells more effectively. "One of the major contributors to maintaining health and removing disease is the attitude of the patient ", says Professor Oakley Ray, a psychologist from Vanterbilt University in Tennessee. "Words can have the same effect as drugs".
Although, the benefits of a positive attitude are still contested in cancer treatment, one area where the healing properties of positive expectation are widely accepted is the use of placebos in drug trials. Volunteers react physically to substances that contain nothing, as if they contained the actual drug. As the Canadian neuroscientist and placebo expert Mario Beauregard observes, "The psychophysiological responses elicited by placebos seem to suggest a mind/body interaction that is guided by subjective factors, such as expectation, beliefs, meaning and hope for improvement". The effect is very specific and depends on the information given to the recipient. For example, a placebo will have the opposite effect on heart rhythm and blood pressure when it is given as an inhibitor than when it is administered as a stimulant.
Baroness Susan Greenfield, one of Britain's leading neuroscientists believes the NHS, for example for Parkinson ’s disease, could better harness the placebo effect where it has already been shown to be just as effective as medicinal drugs: "The central nervous system and the immune system are closely linked. It is quite amazing that if I whisper in your ear "You've passed the exam" that triggers changes in your heart rate and blood pressure. Tapping into something cognitive, which is predicated on the values of higher expectations, has very real physical consequences."
So can we implement this mind over matter approach in our daily lives? Fortunately, it does not require years dedicated to a technique such as Tum-mo - simpler techniques can retrain the brain and body just as effectively. Scientists have found that in people who are depressed, angry or stressed, the right frontal cortex of the brain is more active that the left. Over time, brains develop what is known as a ‘set point’. If a person's set point is tilted to the left then the tendency is for lots of activity in the left frontal cortex, making for a happy person. If it is tilted to the right the opposite occurs. But the set point can change: volunteers who undertook a short course of Buddhist-style meditation moved their set point to the left. They also developed remarkably superior responses to influenza.
And it can work the other way round. Neurolinguistic programming – altering your behavioural patterns to retrain your brain - is advocated by some, the hypnotist Paul McKenna, for example, as a way of beating depression and addiction. By repeating mantras to yourself, or practicing conscious repetitive actions such as tapping each time you think about the relevant topic, you can manipulate your mind.
So, unless your goal is to become a human radiator, you can retrain your brain to be happier – and your body to be healthier – without too much difficulty. "The brain is the source of everything we do", says Lady Greenfield. "And it is a creature of habit. You can change your habits."
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
SLEEP
There’s nothing more annoying, or exhausting, than lying in bed unable to get some shut-eye. Here are some simple tricks that sleep experts recommend to help us get a good night’s rest
Sleep
I go to bed at the same time every night, but can't get to sleep
Go on a sleep diet. If you’re worried about not getting enough sleep, limiting the amount of time you spend in bed sounds counterintuitive. But sleep experts believe that one of the worst things you can do if you suffer from insomnia is to reinforce your associations between the bedroom and sleeplessness.
Try going to bed an hour later, when you may be tireder, and if that doesn’t work, an hour after that. Lack of sleep won’t kill you in the short term, and it could break the distressing pattern that you have established.
Check that your room is actually suited to sleep. Is it dark enough? The body responds to light and regards it as a stimulus for wakefulness, not rest.
And try hopping into a hot bath an hour before hopping into bed. According to Professor Jim Horne, sleep expert at Loughborough University, take a warm bath an hour before bed. Your body temperature drops at night, to conserve energy, which is why being too hot can keep you awake. Getting out of the warm water tricks the body into cooling down fast and makes you feel sleepy.
I always wake up in the early hours of the morning and can’t get back to sleep
If you’ve been lying awake for 15 minutes, get up. Then do a jigsaw. It’s exactly the right kind of systematic, unstimulating activity to relax your brain rather than to stimulate it. If you don’t have any jigsaws, try an online jigsaw site such as www.jigsawland.com or www.puzzlehouse.com, but an actual jigsaw is better because the act of looking downwards can make the eyelids feel heavier. If you have a lifelong phobia of jigsaws, then do the ironing or stack the dishwasher. Just don’t read a book, do a crossword or watch television.
As soon as I’m in bed, I can’t help thinking about all the things I’ve got to do, and that keeps me awake
Create a worry zone some time during the day, when you write down all the things that are niggling you, all the jobs that you have to do, and jot down an action plan for addressing them. Even if you don’t end up addressing them, this first step will help to improve your state of mind as you go to bed.
If I wake in the night, I panic that I’m not going to get back to sleep again
Repeat the word “the” to yourself. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Researchers at the Department of Psychological Medicine, Glasgow University, have examined mental strategies to help people to deal with intrusive thoughts when in a drowsy state. They have found that occupying the short term memory with a meaningless phrase blocks out competing thoughts very effectively. They recommend repeating “the” every few seconds, until you nod off again.
Listening to a bland and repetitive background noise — an electric fan, the hum of a computer, boring conversation on the radio—is a technique that works on a similar principle. It is something that your brain can focus on, without being able to get a troublesome “grip” on.
I’ve tried counting sheep, but it doesn’t work
No, studies suggest that counting sheep is too boring, allowing your mind to wander to other worries. Instead, try imagining a restful landscape, with lots of beautiful features such as waterfalls and beaches.
This takes up much more brain space than the same manky old sheep passing by, according to researchers at Oxford University.
From Times Online
Sleep
I go to bed at the same time every night, but can't get to sleep
Go on a sleep diet. If you’re worried about not getting enough sleep, limiting the amount of time you spend in bed sounds counterintuitive. But sleep experts believe that one of the worst things you can do if you suffer from insomnia is to reinforce your associations between the bedroom and sleeplessness.
Try going to bed an hour later, when you may be tireder, and if that doesn’t work, an hour after that. Lack of sleep won’t kill you in the short term, and it could break the distressing pattern that you have established.
Check that your room is actually suited to sleep. Is it dark enough? The body responds to light and regards it as a stimulus for wakefulness, not rest.
And try hopping into a hot bath an hour before hopping into bed. According to Professor Jim Horne, sleep expert at Loughborough University, take a warm bath an hour before bed. Your body temperature drops at night, to conserve energy, which is why being too hot can keep you awake. Getting out of the warm water tricks the body into cooling down fast and makes you feel sleepy.
I always wake up in the early hours of the morning and can’t get back to sleep
If you’ve been lying awake for 15 minutes, get up. Then do a jigsaw. It’s exactly the right kind of systematic, unstimulating activity to relax your brain rather than to stimulate it. If you don’t have any jigsaws, try an online jigsaw site such as www.jigsawland.com or www.puzzlehouse.com, but an actual jigsaw is better because the act of looking downwards can make the eyelids feel heavier. If you have a lifelong phobia of jigsaws, then do the ironing or stack the dishwasher. Just don’t read a book, do a crossword or watch television.
As soon as I’m in bed, I can’t help thinking about all the things I’ve got to do, and that keeps me awake
Create a worry zone some time during the day, when you write down all the things that are niggling you, all the jobs that you have to do, and jot down an action plan for addressing them. Even if you don’t end up addressing them, this first step will help to improve your state of mind as you go to bed.
If I wake in the night, I panic that I’m not going to get back to sleep again
Repeat the word “the” to yourself. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Researchers at the Department of Psychological Medicine, Glasgow University, have examined mental strategies to help people to deal with intrusive thoughts when in a drowsy state. They have found that occupying the short term memory with a meaningless phrase blocks out competing thoughts very effectively. They recommend repeating “the” every few seconds, until you nod off again.
Listening to a bland and repetitive background noise — an electric fan, the hum of a computer, boring conversation on the radio—is a technique that works on a similar principle. It is something that your brain can focus on, without being able to get a troublesome “grip” on.
I’ve tried counting sheep, but it doesn’t work
No, studies suggest that counting sheep is too boring, allowing your mind to wander to other worries. Instead, try imagining a restful landscape, with lots of beautiful features such as waterfalls and beaches.
This takes up much more brain space than the same manky old sheep passing by, according to researchers at Oxford University.
From Times Online
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