WASHINGTON, Nov 16: The violent and sexual media you consume during the day may infiltrate your dreams at night, new research suggests.
People who reported consuming violent media within 90 minutes of bedtime were 13 times more likely to have a violent dream that night, the study found.
Those viewing sexual media were six times more likely to have a sex-related dream, researchers said.
Researchers at Ohio State University in the US found that the more violent media content participants reported consuming on a regular basis, the more often they had violent dreams in general.
The same link was found between sexual media content and sexual dreams, although the connection was not as strong.
“The media we consume can have an impact on us even when we are sleeping. We knew our violent and sexual media consumption had an impact on our waking lives. Now we have evidence of how it may influence our dreams,” said Brad Bushman, professor at Ohio State University.
The study involved 1,287 people aged 10 to 60 – half were students at schools in Istanbul, Turkey and rest were adults recruited from social networking sites that discussed media. They completed a survey about their media consumption and dreams.
All participants were asked whether they had viewed any violent or sexual media content within 90 minutes of going to bed the night before the study, and whether they had any violent or sexual dreams that night.
Slightly less than half of participants (45 per cent) reported consuming violent media before bed that night, whereas slightly less than one-quarter reported exposure to sexual media content.
Whether they had consumed violent or sexual media content was not associated with whether they dreamed that night.
However the fact that violent and sexual media use was related to a huge increase in related dreams showed the power media may have on our sleeping lives, Bushman said.
“The magnitude of the increase in violent and sexual dreams linked to media consumption was surprising,” he said.
Participants were asked the number of hours they spent consuming media – including TV, internet, DVDs, movies, video games and music – on any devices on weekdays and on weekends.
Next, they were asked to rate whether the media they consumed contained violence and whether it contained sex on a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (always).
They were then asked whether they dreamed and whether their dreams included violent content and sexual content. Again, they rated how often on a scale of 1 to 5. Overall, 67 per cent of participants said they dreamed at least sometimes.
Over 80 per cent of participants said they were exposed to violent media content at least sometimes, whereas half said they were exposed to sexual media content at least sometimes.
About 80 per cent of those surveyed said they had violent dreams sometimes, whereas slightly less than half said they had sexual dreams sometimes.
The study was published in the journal Dreaming. (AGENCIES)
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ENGLISH-REPORT
India slips two spots in English
proficiency rankings: Report
BEIJING, Nov 16:
India has slipped two spots compared to last year in English proficiency rankings while China has improved its ranking, according to a new report.
India is placed at 22nd spot in the new report released by Swedish education company EF Education First here yesterday. In 2015, India was placed at 20th spot by the same study.
Meanwhile, General English proficiency in China has improved year-on-year, but is still lingering at the intermediate to basic level, the report said.
China which in recent putting an emphasis on English education rose eight places to 39th among 72 countries and regions figuring well above Pakistan which was placed at 48th spot.
In China residents of Shanghai and Hong Kong were found to be the most proficient in English, state-run China Daily reported.
The report is based on the EF Standard English Test results of 950,000 adults from 72 countries and regions across the world.
The test, which consists of reading and listening, was developed by Education First.
Elsewhere in the world, the report found that adults from the Netherlands are the best English speakers among people from non-English speaking countries.
The Danes and Swedes ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Singapore ranked first in Asia for English proficiency followed by Malaysia, Philippines and India. (AGENCIES)
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CINEMA-SONAKSHI…
I don’t have any regrets in
my career: Sonakshi Sinha
NEW DELHI, Nov 16:
From playing the quintessential ‘desi girl’ to doing action-packed characters, Sonakshi Sinha has come a long way in her career and the actress says she is now ready to push her limits as a performer.
Sonakshi, who made her debut with Salman Khan-starrer “Dabangg,” became known for her roles in big-budget commercial films in the beginning of her career but she has no regrets.
“I have grown with every film. I learn something from every person I work with. I really believe in learning from experience. I have had a really eventful and fruitful journey since I started. I don’t have any regrets in my career,” she told PTI in an interview.
“When you start with film like ‘Dabangg’ you are automatically put in that commercial bracket. I was picked up for my looks. Those were the kind of films that were offered to
- I was happy to be a part these films. These films gave me a
chance to work with the best people in the industry.”
After starring in commercial entertainers like “Rowdy Rathore” and “Action Jackson”, Sonakshi surprised with her performance in “Lootera”, which won her critical acclaim.
The actress, 29, says she is now in a zone where she just wants to do roles that push her limits.
“I have made a decision that now I want to roles that push my limits. I want to show something new from me to the audience. Next I am playing a journalist in ‘Noor’ and then I am playing a character with a grey shade in ‘Ittefaq’. There are a lot of interesting things happening.”
Sonakshi ventured into action films with her last release “Akira” and now she is a part of “Force 2”.
The actress says the shift was not intentional and she chose the films because they offered her a chance to play strong independent women.
“I love action films in general. I didn’t like boys having all the fun. I feel it is a great time for actresses as action roles are being written keeping them in mind. The kind of feedback I am getting in action genre has been very positive and I would love to do more of such projects.” (AGENCIES)
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NOTES-INK
Banks start using indelible ink to
check repeat money exchange
NEW DELHI, Nov 16:
To stop repeat money exchangers thronging banks with invalid currency notes, banks have started applying indelible ink mark on the right hand index finger of customers in the select metro cities.
SBI and few other banks in Delhi have started using indelible ink. As per the government statement, 11 branches of SBI are using the method to weed out customers queuing up again and again to exchange invalid currency notes.
As per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for exchanging notes, concerned bank branches and post offices would put indelible ink mark on the right index finger of the customer so as to identify that he/she has exchanged the old currency notes once.
The move comes amid reports of long queues and chaotic scenes at banks and ATMs across the country for past several days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week announced the withdrawal of old Rs 500/1000 notes in the biggest crackdown on black money, corruption and counterfeit currency.
The notes withdrawn accounted for 86 per cent of the cash circulating in the Asia’s third-largest economy.
The indelible ink is supplied to the bank/post offices by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) in coordination with the banks and consultation with RBI.
This procedure is being introduced to begin with in the metro cities and expanded to other areas later, the RBI said in a statement.
Identified bank branches are provided with black indelible ink bottles of 5 ml each and the cap of the bottle includes a small brush for applying the ink.
According to SOP released by the RBI, indelible ink can be applied by the cashier or any other official designated by the bank before the notes are given to the customer so that while the exchange of notes is taking place, a few seconds elapse which will allow the ink to dry up and prevent removal of ink.
Indelible ink on the index finger of the left hand or any other finger of the left hand cannot be used. (AGENCIES)
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