In This Issue

Are subliminal self-help tapes
really effective ?
                           
      Subliminal  tapes are recorded with ordinary classical music but they contain some embedded self – help messages that cannot be detected consciously.
      In a study conducted by Pratkanis, volunteers were recruited to test the effectiveness of subliminal tapes.  They were asked to take tests to measure their memory and self-esteem. Then they were given either self-esteem improvement tapes (the message `I radiate an inner sense of confidence’ was recorded behind background classical music) or memory improvement tapes ( the message `My ability to remember  and recall is increasing daily’ was recorded behind background classical music).
            The intriguing aspect of this study is that only half of the volunteers were given the correctly labeled tapes.  One fourth of the volunteers were given self-esteem improvement tapes mislabeled as memory improvement tapes and one fourth of the volunteers were given memory improvement tapes mislabeled as self-esteem improvement tapes.
            After 5 weeks of listening to the tapes, the volunteers took tests to measure their memory and self-esteem.  The tests showed that the tapes had no appreciable effect, positive or negative, on either self-esteem or on memory.
         But the volunteers who received self-esteem improvement tapes and the volunteers who received memory improvement tapes mislabelled as self-esteem improvement tapes felt that their self-esteem had risen. Similarly, volunteers who received memory improvement tapes and volunteers who received self-esteem improvement tapes mislabeled as memory improvement tapes, felt that their memory has improved.

“What you expect is what you believe, but not necessarily what you get” is once again proved by Pratkanis'  study.

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   Noise could trigger heart attacks 
                            
      Researchers from Charitie University Medical Centre in Berlin, Germany found that exposure to chronic noise increased the risk of heart attacks.  They have called for the level requiring workplace ear protection to be lowered from the current 85 decibels to somewhere between 65 and 75 decibels.  They believe this is especially important for the people with existing cardiovascular disease.
             The NaRoMI (Noise and Risk of Myocardial Infarction) study was designed to determine the association between chronic noise and the risk of heart attacks and to assess the risks of subjective annoyance and objective noise levels in the environment and the workplace.
             The researchers led by Dr.Stefan Willich, Director of the Institute for social medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at the medical centre found that general environmental noise, such as that of traffic affected both sexes, increasing the risk of heart attack by nearly 50% for men and by about three fold for women.  Workplace noise levels increased the risk for men by nearly a third, but did not affect women’s risk.
            A mechanism that might explain the link was that noise could increase psychological stress and anger, leading to physiological changes in the body such as increased levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline, which are associated with increased blood pressure and plasma lipids, according to Dr.Willich.
            It is particularly important to focus on people with known cardiovascular disease to improve prevention for them either by not exposing them chronically to heavy noise or by lowering the threshold for protective wear.

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Exercises keeps your mind healthy

    We know that exercise is good for our body.  It decreases the  risk of heart attacks, strokes and various cancers, lowers blood pressure and increases immunity.  But do you know that exercises is also good for your mind ? 
     Researchers led by psychologist Penny Mc Cullagh, PhD found that exercises has the following benefits for the mind.
     Exercise was a beneficial antidepressant both immediately and over the long term.
   Although exercise decreased depression among all populations studied, it was most effective in decreasing depression for those most physically and/or psychologically unhealthy at the start of the exercise programme.
    Although exercise significantly decreased depression across all age group in the older people (ranging from 11 to 55), the decrease in depression was greater.
    Exercise was an equally effective antidepressant for both genders.
    Walking and jogging were the most frequent forms of exercise that has been researched, but all modes of exercise examined, anaerobic as well as aerobic, were effective in lessening the depression at least to some degree.
    The greater the length of the exercise programme and the larger the total number of exercise sessions, the greater is decrease in depression with exercise.
    The most powerful antidepressant effect occurred with the combination of exercise and psychotherapy.

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  Job hopping stunts career growth

      A survey conducted by research and analytic firm Evalueserve finds that job-hopping can severely hamper career growth as well as wealth creation, but multiple career steps within the same company accelerates professional growth.
     Salary may be higher at the time of switching to a new firm, but thereafter the person hardly gets any value addition.  A young professional should be choosy with his first job and see all angles before joining a firm so that he can stay put for at least a couple of years in the same organization.
      Fast, frequent job changes are mostly made for wrong reasons such as preferring money over career growth or succumbing to peer pressure.  Spending more time in the same organisation, provides better exposure to various functions within the organisation and therefore provides better overall learning and career growth.
     Job hopping is largely done in two circumstances, primarily for career progression and secondly for compensation.  In the first instance, the candidate is considered as a responsible and mature person.  In the latter case, the candidate is considered as professionally immature and highly myopic person.
    While hiring people, loyalty to the previous organization is considered as a strength whereas, having worked in three companies,  in the last ten year is considered as a weakness.

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Loud music makes you drink more in
less time

       Commercial  venues are already aware of the effects, music can have on in-store traffic flow, sales volumes, product choices and consumer time spent.  A new study on the effects of music levels on drinking in a bar setting, has found that loud music leads to more drinking in less time.
       Previous research had shown that fast music can cause fast drinking and that music versus no music can cause a person to spend more time in a bar.  This is the first time the effects of loud music on alcohol consumption was studied.
      The researchers led by Nicolas Gueguen, a professor of behavioral science at the University de Bretagne-Sud in France conducted their experiment discretely in two bars for three saturday evenings.  The subjects (40 males aged 18 to 25 years) were unaware that they were being  observed. With permission from the bar owners, the researchers manipulated the sound levels from 72dB (considered normal) to 88dB (considered high).  Results showed that high sound levels led to increased drinking within a decreased amount of time.
      Gueguen offers two explanations for why this may have occurred.  One, high sound level might have caused higher arousal which led the subjects to drink faster and to order more drinks.  Two, loud music may have had a negative effect on social intercourse in the bar, so that patrons drunk more because they talked less.
     In France, alcohol consumption is associated with the majority of total car accidents and more than 70.000 people in a year die because of chronic alcohol consumption.  “We need to encourage bar owners to play music at more of a moderate level and make consumers aware that loud music can influence their alcohol consumption,” observed Gueguen.

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Providing toilets and safe water is top route to reducing world poverty

       Installing toilets where needed throughout the world and ensuring safe water supplies would do more to end crippling poverty and improve world health than any other possible measure, according to the United Nations University.
      “Water problems, caused largely by an appalling absence of adequate toilets in many places, contribute tremendously to some of the world’s most pressing problems, foremost among them the inter-related afflictions of poor health and chronic poverty,” says Zafar Adeel, Director of the UN Universities Canadian-based International Network on Water-Environment and Health.
       Globally, almost 900 million people lack access to safe water and 2.5 billion people live without access to improved sanitation.  Diseases due to poor water, sanitation and hygiene, account for an estimated 10% of the total burden of illness.  Improving domestic water supply, sanitation can reduce illness rates by more than 25%.
       The results of providing safe water and better sanitation are significant, especially for women and girls- improving household health, reducing the time spent to collect water, providing a safe and dignified environment for practicing sanitation.  This means that there is more time to tend to crops and livestock, more time and resources to spend on improved food preparation, more time to attend school and an opportunity to participate in the local economy- all mechanisms which work towards breaking the cycle of poverty.

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