In This Issue

Stress Management in Tough Times
                          
  With rising unemployment rate, failing business frequency and falling stock market, people are becoming anxious and worried about their financial future. American Psychological Association recommends the following measures to reduce the stress levels of those who are anxious about their financial future.

1.      Pause but don’t panic: There are many negative stories in newspapers and on television. Pay attention to what is happening around you, but refrain from getting caught up in doom-and-gloom type, which can lead to high levels of anxiety and bad decision-making.

2.      Identify your financial stressors: List down all factors that cause financial stress. Come up with specific ways to educe expenses, discuss these steps with family members and implement the plan.

3.      Ask for help from your creditors: If you are facing problems paying your bills, ask for help from your banks, utility companies or credit card providers to reduce or waive interest, to reduce or waive fees or to reschedule repayments.

4.      Watch behavioral changes: In tough times, there is a tendency to resort to unhealthy behaviour such as overeating, smoking, drinking or gambling to relieve stress. Financial stress can also lead to more arguments and conflicts between couples. If you face any of these difficulties, seek help from friends or professionals.

5.      Convert challenges into opportunities: Take to walking for commuting short distances, instead of driving. It saves money as well as improves health. Learn to cook your favourite dishes at home. It will not only save on restaurant bills, it will also help you save on medical bills. Learn a new skill that could provide an additional source of income.

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Best friends are major distraction at work 

        A study into workplace relationships has found that having a close friend at work can be a major distraction.
     Respondents cited excessive chatting, having too much fun and an inability to separate work from play as contributing to a lack of focus. Giving critical feedback, wanting to avoid showing favouritism and issues with confidentiality, were among the other difficulties with having a best friend at work, according to the research.
     “When faced with a work-related problem, many people will prioritise their friendship over their responsibilities to their organisaton, which businesses may find concerning,” said Dr. Rachel Morrison, a psychologist and lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology.
     People naturally want to make their friends feel special. But this conflicts with organizational norms that are set up around fairness and equality. Difficulty in managing these expectations can create tension in the relationship.
     Respondents also experienced a great deal of anxiety about speaking to close friends about substandard work. A basic rule of friendship is being non-judgmental and accepting your friends’ weaknesses, but giving critical performance feedback conflicts with this.
     There are also issues related to confidentiality clauses which means friends have to refrain from sharing information. This can be really challenging for close friendships that have norms of openness and disclosure.
     People must learn to appreciate the difference between being friendly with colleagues and having friends as colleagues.

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Girls have a better sense of
taste than boys

    A study conducted jointly by Danish Science Communication and University of Copenhagen, revealed certain new facts about the taste preferences of children and youngsters.
     Girls are better at recognizing tastes than boys: The study revealed that girls are better at recognisjng all concentrations of both sweet and sour tastes. Boys need an average of 10% more sourness and 20% more sweetness to recognise the taste.
     Every third schoolchild would prefer not to eat sweet things: Another sensational finding is that every third schoolchild would refer non-sugary soft drinks.
     Boys like it wild, girls prefer more muted flavours: Boys tend to like more extreme flavours while girls prefer flavours which are not too strong.
     Yes, I like fish: As many as 70% of the pupils said that they like fish. And this applies to both girls and boys.
     The world becomes more sour and exciting for teenagers: The study showed that the ability to recognise tastes increases gradually with age and the greatest shift is seen at 13-14 years; when children become markedly more sensitive to sour tastes. At exactly the same time, their love of very sweet flavours starts waning Those who prefer sour flavours are also more open to tasting new foods.
     The results provide food for thought for both the food industry and the parents, according to Bodil Allesen-Holm, the project head, who is also the head of Sensory Laboratory at the Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen.
   It is quite clear that children do not necessarily prefer sweet things. One could easily develop more varied food products and snacks for children. Healthy snacks could easily be developed for boys with slightly extreme and sour flavours.

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  Shaming some kids makes them
 more aggressive

  Early adolescents with high self-esteem are more likely to react aggressively when they feel ashamed than their peers with lower levels of self-esteem, according to researchers from VU University and Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
     The researchers measured self-esteem by assessing the degree to which participants were satisfied with themselves and the way they led their lives. Sample statements included, “Some kids like the kind of person they are,” and “Some kids are not very happy with the way they do a lot of things.” They were asked if they were like that.
     Narcissism included grandiose views of themselves, inflated feelings of superiority and entitlement, and exploitative interpersonal attitudes, assessed by questions such as “without me, our class would be much less fun;” “Kids like me deserve something extra;” and “I often succeed in getting admiration.”
     The narcissistic kids were more aggressive than others, but only after they had been shamed. “Narcissists seem highly motivated to create and maintain a grandiose view of self. They tend to interpret social situations in terms of how they reflect on the self, and they engage in self-regulatory strategies to protect self-esteem then they need to. As shameful situations constitute a threat to grandiosity, narcissistic shame-induced aggression can likely be viewed as defensive effort to maintain self-worth.
     “It could be that narcissistic kids with high self-esteem are more vulnerable to shameful events than are kids with low self-esteem. Young teens with low self-esteem apparently don’t feel the need to protect their punctured egos,” said Brad J Bushman, a University of Michigan psychologist.
     The advice for parents and teachers is that don’t shame a child who has a high opinion of himself.

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Does a younger dad mean a
healthier child?

       A new study from Tel Aviv University suggests that waiting until a man can give his son all the advantages may have disadvantages too.
     In several consecutive studies researchers found that older dads are more likely to have boys with autism and lower IQs. Most recently they found that the older a father’s age, the greater the chance, that his son will display poor social abilities as a teen.
     “There is a growing body of data showing that an advanced age of parents puts their kids at risk for various illnesses. Some illnesses, such as schizophrenia appear to be more common, the older parents get. Doctors and psychologist are fascinated by this, but don’t really understand it,” says Dr. Mark Weiser from Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine.
     Dr. Weiser studied data relating to more than 450,000 male teens, aged 16 and 17. Controlling for the variables of IQ, mother’s age, socioeconomic status and birth order, he found that the prevalence of poor social functioning increased by 50% in boys with fathers 45 years old and up.
     “The findings are interesting for clinicians who are looking at the bigger picture of how parental age affects the mental functioning of offspring and what mechanisms are at play in that functioning,” says Dr. Weiser.

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More than 2000 children die everyday from unintentional injury

       According to World Health Organisation, more than 2000 children die every day as a result of an unintentional or accidental injury. Tens of millions more are taken to hospitals with injuries that often leave them with lifelong disabilities. Adopting preventive measures could save at least 1000 children’s lives every day.
     “Child injuries are an important public health and development issue. In addition to the 830,000 deaths every year, millions of children suffer non-fatal injuries that often require long tern hospitalization and rehabilitation,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan.
     The report finds that the top five causes of injury & deaths are:

1. Road crashes kill 260,000 children every year.
2. Drowning kills 175,000 children a year.
3. Burns kill 96000 children a year.
4. Falls – 47000 children fall to their death every year.
5. Poisoning – 45000 children die from unintended poisoning every year.

 “When a child is left disfigured by a burn, paralyzed by a fall, brain damaged by a near drowning or emotionally traumatized by any such serious incident, the effects can reverberate throughout the child’s life. Each such tragedy is unnecessary,” says Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of WHO’s department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability.
     The report outlines the impact that proven prevention measures can have. These measures include law on child-appropriate seatbelts and helmets; hot tap water temperature regulations; child-resistant closures on medicine bottles; lighters and household product containers; separate traffic lanes for motorcycles or bicycles; draining unnecessary water from baths and buckets; redesigning nursery furniture, toys and playground equipments; and strengthening emergency medical care and rehabilitation services.

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