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We've all experienced the highs and lows of Facebook, but recently it seems like the lows are endless.

From controversy surrounding Mark Zuckerberg, reports of paying children for labour to eavesdrop on conversations and using our own data for the company's agenda, it seems like the drama ain't worth the effort.

Now, researchers at New York University and Stanford University are saying that deactivating Facebook for just FOUR WEEKS can lead to a big improvement in people's mental health.

The researchers focused their study on the impact of quitting the social network on their mental health and behaviour.

The Welfare Effects of Social Media took place in the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections in the US and 2,844 users took part in the study. The participants used the platform for over 15 minutes per day.

When the candidates deactivated their Facebook accounts, there was a noticeable increase in offline activities, like socialising with friends and family members.

Their well-being was also boosted, but the people involved were less informed about current events.

Image: Fossbytes

Researchers also discovered that anyone who deactivated their Facebook accounts were more likely to see a consistent reduction in their use of the social media app after the experiment concluded.

The authors wrote; "Our study offers the largest-scale experimental evidence available to date on the way Facebook affects a range of individual and social welfare measures,"

"Deactivation caused people to appreciate Facebook’s both positive and negative impacts on their lives," they said.

In a statement to The Washington Post a spokesperson for Facebook said its teams are working on creating meaningful connections across its platform. "This is one study of many on this topic and is should be considered that way," they said

Feature image; Gizbot

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Meditation has been long regarded as an excellent way to clear one’s mind and help centre and focus the brain for specific purposes. For some, it means improving their overall mental health or outlook on life.

Many doctors even recommend meditation for helping reduce various symptoms or also promote healing from specific ailments and diseases.

If you happened on this article looking for information about meditation and how it relates to education, you are in the right place. You might also want to take things a step further by collaborating with service like essay help to maximise your grade on the paper.

Every effort you make to excel in academics will help boost or maintain your GPA.

Meditation Increases Self-Discipline

Students, in particular, can gain much from learning how to meditate. Meditation is a discipline and, like any other, it takes time to develop the ability to do it well.

The upside is that it is one of the most powerful avenues of self-discipline there is and it can help in all areas of academics, particularly study, and test-taking.

Let’s have a look at a few of the ways it can assist students to perform better on the test.

Meditation Improves Focus

The act of clearing one’s mind and controlling incoming or outgoing thoughts, regardless, of external stimuli, can help with exams in some ways. Most notably, it teaches the brain how to block out unwanted stimuli.

This is an integral part of staying focused while studying as well as keeping one’s mind on the task of taking an exam.

Students who meditate are less likely to let their minds wander during tests or study sessions. They don’t worry about other classes, work responsibilities, or relationship woes in the middle of study sessions.

Those extraneous details don’t interfere when it is time to take the exam either.

Meditation Reduces Stress

Being able to relax body and mind at will also gives the mind a chance to regroup and prioritise emotional stimuli. Learning how to meditate makes the brain more efficient at managing negative emotions like anger, fear, worry, nervousness, and more.

These things don’t just go away, but they become more compartmentalised. This also makes it easier to deal with the stresses of studying for and taking exams.

Meditation Helps Students Retain More When Studying

Students who meditate tend to remember more of the fine details when studying for tests. Having a deeper understanding of a subject than average puts students in the position to perform better on tests and even turn in more detailed written assignments.

Ask the students on campus who tutor or provide homework help what their secret is for retaining so much great information and it is very likely that more than a few will cite meditation as one of their most significant strategies for learning.

Meditation Builds Confidence

Meditating is not easy. It can take years to develop the skill to do it for more than just a few minutes at a time. Students who strive to get better at it also feel more motivated to excel in other areas, particularly academics.

As they surpass milestones in meditation, they also develop confidence in their abilities to reach difficult milestones in education, like performing well on exams under challenging classes.

Learning how to meditate and getting good at quieting your mind will help in many areas of life, particularly in academics. The more you do it, the more you will see its applications in other areas as well.

Job performance, relationships, and increased mental clarity are just a few of the many benefits of committing to meditation as a discipline.

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Relationships can be a minefield.

And what's that saying – if you don't have trust, you don't have anything?

So what do you think about couples knowing each others passwords?

Is it a breach of privacy? Should people be allowed to have some things that they keep to themselves?

Should couples need to have access to all areas of their other haves lives?

A study has been carried out to see the effect exchanging passwords with your partner can have on your relationship.

More than 1,000 people were surveyed about their password preferences and the finding were quite surprising tbh.

They found that it is men who are roughly two times more likely than women to be more trusting after sharing passwords with their significant other.
So women are more distrusting than men…

Other findings included 17% of men and 18% of women exchange passwords because they trust their partner won't use their accounts without their permission, yet over half of people said they read their partner’s texts or DMs without their knowledge.

More than HALF?

Guys, you need to start giving your bfs/gfs some credit…

Also, guys are 25% more likely to ask their partner for their passwords – not us girls.

It seems that social media is to blame for a lot of relationship troubles as the findings showed that almost one-third of couples have argued over a social media post and 12% have ended their relationship because of it.

Sound familiar?

Check out the full study here for more juicy stats.

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'Trashy' films are considered to refer to low budget movies, badly made flicks and those which include explicit features within.

Think 21 Jump Street, John Tucker Must Die, Sharknado and pretty much any films featuring Adam Sandler.

For a long time, it has been assumed that people who enjoy watching films such as these were of low intelligence… rude much?

Luckily for us 'trashy' flick fans, a study published in Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media and the Arts has reversed the idea that only uncultured souls binge watch Mean Girls all day.

The research carried out investigated how the phrase 'trashy movies' in terms of pop culture could be utilised in a better way.

The online survey collected data from regular viewers of films considered trashy, and measured their intelligence and IQ. The result? They're darn ACADEMICS.

One reason why these films appealed to people with high IQ's was the ironic value of the badly made films, as well as the culturally subversive elements.

Trashy films can be less cautious with its use of plot-lines and execution, less rigid in structure, which is enjoyable for smart folk allegedly.

More original ideas and less clichés seemingly feature in badly made movies…interesting. *strokes chin* Trashy dramas with absurd plots and terrible acting can also be plain GAS to watch, it's so bad that it's good. 

There's a reason why the world and it's mother watched A Christmas Prince, and it ain't because of the acting lads.

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Disney movies are staples of so many childhoods, right?

Who doesn't remember sitting in front of movies like Peter Pan, The Jungle Book and Bambi as a kid, totally engrossed?

However, what you might not have realised at the time was that there were lessons we were absorbing, all thanks to these stories. 

A new study has discovered that Disney films help kids to process and deal with grief.

While this might sound a bit morbid, it is actually beneficial for young children to learn about tough subjects like death.

While you might think of Disney movies as happy stories filled with wonder, but there are many dark themes in some of your most loved childhood classics.

Take Bambi – we all shed a tear when his mum was shot by the hunter or when Claude Frollo was dropped from the rooftops in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and let's not forget when Simba desperately tries to wake Mufasa. 

Being exposed to the topic of death is not all bad though – the study says that it has some benefits.

Study leader Professor Kelly Tenzek says, "These films can be used as conversation starters for difficult and what are oftentimes taboo topics like death and dying.''

She continues, "These are important conversations to have with children, but waiting until the end of life is way too late and can lead to a poor end-of-life experience."

It makes sense – so dig out the old faves.

Any excuse, right? 

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It's long been known that social media sites are not the healthiest place for your mind.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – they all take their toll on a person's mental and therefore physical health.  

Abusive comments, sly digs, and outright mean rants are all part and parcel – but more so on Twitter, according to Amnesty International. 

It has reported that there have been repeated requests from Twitter for comprehensive data about the abuse on the platform, saying "such data will be invaluable for anyone seeking to understand and combat this barrier to women’s human rights online."

Twitter has failed to report information that matches Amnesty International's standards, so that means that the organisation has had to take matters into their own hands and launch an interactive website titled "Troll Patrol Findings."

This website shows what they found as the result of a project Amnesty International did in partnership with Element AI, an artificial intelligence company.

The project investigated the violence and abuse against women on Twitter. 

The study looked into tweets sent to 778 female journalists and politicians from both the UK and the US.

It was found that 7.1 percent of the tweets sent were abusive or problematic – as well as the fact that women of colour were targeted more often than white women.

Women of colour were 34 percent more likely to be mentioned in an abusive tweet than a white woman, which is extremely worrying. 

The findings found overall that out of the 14.5 million tweets directed at these women, 1.1 million were problematic, which amounts to abusive tweets occurring every 30 seconds. 

Social media is great for so many things but like everything, it works best in moderation.  

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Having a tall boyf is something a lot of us gals would like.

Even us 5ft 2 ladies always seem to opt for the lads who tower over us – we know, we know, it's shallow. 

But new research shows us that there is a reason why we are usually much more attracted to taller men.

Not only are taller people raking in more cash, but they are are well-satisfied in bed. 

More than 1,000 adults were surveyed by BodyLogicMD to see how our stature can influence earnings, even desirability. 

So what results did the study show? 

First of all, a whopping 60% of men wish they were taller as well as men wanting their ideal height to be 6ft – and when we delve deeper into the survey, we can see why.

Taller men seemed to consider themselves more attractive, confident and desirable than their shorter mates did. 

Also 42.2% of men believed that being taller would give them better dating opportunities. 

When it came to being sexually fulfilled, around 60% of taller than average men (at least 5’11”) and women (at least 5’6”) said they were. 

Shorter than average women were most likely to consider themselves funny, yet they had lower levels of self-esteem in both sexual satisfaction and attractiveness.

Is height important to you?

Would you be less likely to date someone who was a lot shorter than you?

Do you think being tall has that much of an impact on your relationships/career/sex life/life in general? 

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Cereal is one of our ultimate meals and there's so much choice to be had.

To be honest, we are lazy AF, so pouring a bowl of cereal is perfectly acceptable as dinner.  

But could our addiction to cereal be more about the sugar content, rather than the convenience? 

An experiment conducted by Behind the Label revealed that we aren't actually pouring ourselves the 30g serving of cereal like we are suppose to.

In fact, we are doubling or tripling our portion sizes without even realising. – So put down the cereal box and take note.

The study asked participants to pour their regular breakfast bowl of cereal into either a small (standard soup) sized bowl or a larger dinner bowl.

And the results are pretty shocking. 

The average portion of sweetened diet cereal was three times (93g) the recommended portion size, which meant bowl came in at 351 calories and a staggering 14g of sugar.

To put that into human terms, that's more sugar than a glazed doughnut, which contains 12.6g of the sweet stuff.

The standard Crunchy Cornflakes poured was double the guided portion size (78g), but the kicker came with the sugar content.

Hold onto your spoons as it came in at 27.46g of sugar, which adds up to two and half glazed doughnuts worth of sugar.  

Granola isn't weighing up so fabulously either, participants helped themselves to portions almost double to what we are suppose to be having, which means they wolfed down 389 calories and 21.84g of sugar. 

And finally, a Muesil brand was the best of a bad bunch with people having a double helping which equates to four grams of the white stuff and 308 calories.

The eye-opening results shows that we are overindulging in cereals and the labels aren't much to go by.

As we tuck into a bowl, we think we are being good and keeping it within a certain amount of calories, when we are actually blowing our wonderful intentions out of the water.

So put down the spoon, put the away the milk and go buy a weighing scales, if you really want accuracy.

Or alternatively, just be mindful that you're consuming more than you think and adjust accordingly.

Even though the results are shocking, our love of cereal wil be a hard one to break up with. 

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Ah, breakfast.

Our love/hate relationship with the first meal of the day is all too real.

However, this latest study has shown that chowing down in the morning before hitting a workout can "'prime" the body to burn carbs.

The findings also suggest that fuelling your workouts will allow the body to digest your post-workout meal much more efficiently. 

The research was conducted by scientists from at Department for Health, in collaboration with experts from the universities of Birmingham, Newcastle and Stirling.

As many fitness junkies will know, fasting is becoming a hot trend amongst the Insta-fit population.

The scientists have taken note.

The researchers tested the blood glucose levels and muscle glycogen levels of the 12 healthy male volunteers who took part.

Participates were split into two groups, those who ate breakfast and those who were fasting overnight. 

The scientists studied the volunteers before and after an hour’s cycle.

Those who ate brekkie were treated to porridge made with milk two hours before exercise. 

The results were in and it's time to kick fasting to the curb.

Their evidence shows eating breakfast increases the rate at which the body burnt carbohydrates during exercise.

Furthermore, it boosts the rate at which the body digests and metabolises food eaten after exercise too.

Dr Javier Gonzalez, senior lecturer in the Department of Health who co-led the study, said:

“This is the first study to examine the ways in which breakfast before exercise influences our responses to meals after exercise.

"We found that, compared to skipping breakfast, eating breakfast before exercise increases the speed at which we digest, absorb and metabolise carbohydrate that we may eat after exercise.”

Rob Edinburgh, PhD student also in the Department who co-led the study, said:

“We also found that breakfast before exercise increases carbohydrate burning during exercise, and that this carbohydrate wasn't just coming from the breakfast that was just eaten, but also from carbohydrate stored in our muscles as glycogen.

"This increase in the use of muscle glycogen may explain why there was more rapid clearance of blood sugar after ‘lunch’ when breakfast had been consumed before exercise."

If this study is anything to go by, it's time to become well acquainted with breakfast again.

Nevertheless, my fellow fitness fans will know we are constantly bombarded with conflicting evidence.

This study shows that fasting before exercising can lead to burning extra fat during a session.

If you're undecided, it's best to speak to your doctor before embarking on a new diet or exercise plan.

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Scientists have found a solution to sleepless, anxiety ridden nights. A new study revealed that yoga music has a positive impact on our mood and can help reduce the symptoms of anxiety.

There have been many nights where we spend hours tossing, turning and wishing we could just doze off peacefully.

As time whizzes by we become increasingly aware of how little sleep we’re going to get which makes us feel even more anxious.

149 people took part in the study. The participants listened to three types of music before going to bed. Firstly they listened to soothing yoga music. Secondly, they listened to pop music with steady beats and during the final session they didn’t listen to anything.

The group revealed that they felt more uplifted and at ease after listening to the yoga music. The study also found that their anxiety levels were lower too.

Speaking of the impact music has on the mind and body, study author Dr Naresh Sen explained that music has a positive impact on your heart rate

Listening to soothing music before bedtime is a cheap and easy-to-implement therapy that cannot cause harm,” he said.

Due to the small number of participants in this study, he said they want to further their research: “This is a small study, and more research is needed on the cardiovascular effects of music interventions offered by a trained music therapist."

He added: “Science may have not always agreed, but Indians have long believed in the power of various therapies other than medicines as a mode of treatment for ailments.”

We’ll certainly try out this technique to help us get a good night’s rest.
 

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There are few women out there who don't struggle with body image in some shape or form.

Between airbrushed models and #spon posts, we are constantly bombarded with unrealistic beauty expectations, which can in turn give us a skewed perception of our own self-image.

While we might look to certain influencers for inspiration or guidance, it's almost impossible not to compare ourselves to them in the process.

It's a vicious cycling of motivation vs self-loathing, and given that most of us are consuming an unholy amount of media on a daily basis, it's no surprise that a digital detox could do wonders for our self-confidence.

New research conducted at the Anglia Ruskin University has found that green space can work wonders when it comes to promoting a positive body image – and you don't even need to step outside.

In three studies, students at the university were shown photographs of both natural and built-up environments – the results of which showed that the exposure to the great outdoors, be that through reality or the viewing of an image, was of huge benefit to a person's self-image.

A fourth study involved members of the public walking in both environments around Hamstead Health and Primrose Hill – which also found that those walking in the natural environment displayed “significantly higher body appreciation.”

The research, published in the journal Body Image, claims that exposure to natural environments promotes respect for the body as well as a rejection of rigid ideas around appearance.

“There are several reasons why exposure to nature could be having this effect on positive body image,” says Viren Swami, Professor of Social Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University and lead author of the study.

“It might be that it distances people, physically and mentally, from appearance-focused situations that are one of the causes of negative body image.”

“Access to nature may also mean that individuals spend more time outdoors engaging in activities that focus attention on the body’s functionality rather than aesthetics.”

So, if you're feeling down about your appearance, ditch the phone and set a date with Mother Nature. 

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The art of taking a selfie has evolved with the growth of social media.

Gone are the days of snapping a half decent, slightly pixelated photo and throwing it up for a laugh.

Instagram and Facebook has transformed the selfie game into finding the perfect lighting, facetuning and heavily filtering that all important snap.

Your selfie goes from zero to hero in a matter of taps – although the final product mightn't even look like you.

The time spent on fine tuning our images has garnered and branded our generation as a bunch of narcissists.

However, according to a recent study – we might be on to something, as selfies are actually good for your self-esteem. 

In fact, they found extreme selfie-takers were more likely to feel better about their bodies compared to people who took fewer pictures.

Yes, you read that right – pose away guilt-free girl; it's good for your body image.

The study conducted by Fit Rated, took 1,000 Americans and analysed their body image, self-esteem and the importance of physical appearance based on their social media habits.

They were then split into three groups: the first was the 'non-user' who spent zero hours on the platforms.

The second was the 'average user' that spent an hour or two exploring the socials.

And, lastly the 'avid user' who browsed social media for three hours or more a day.

 

A post shared by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) on

The results were a mixed bag.

Avid social media users did trump those who didn't use social media, in terms of self-esteem and satisfaction with their overall appearance.

However, the addicts of the platforms scored highest when asked how important their physical appearance is – (59.5 percent said their look was very to extremely important.)

The champ of social media came out as the average user.

They had the most self esteem and satisfaction overall with their appearance compared to the other two groups.

Selfie results

Moving back to selfies and these findings have us SHOOK.

Typing this in disbelief, I can report that the study found avid selfie takers have better self-esteem AND satisfaction with their overall appearance. – WHAT?

People who don’t take selfies have the lowest self-esteem (38 percent) and are most dissatisfied with their overall look (48 percent).

Selfie results

Fit Rated found that people who took more selfies on average – i.e. three or more every month were better off.

"More than half of people taking even just a couple of selfies (or more) each month were more likely to have high self-esteem compared to the nearly 45 percent not taking any at all."

"Additionally, almost 54 percent of people taking three or more selfies each month were satisfied with their overall look compared to less than half taking one or two selfies and under 38 percent of people who took none at all," said the study. 

Selfie results

However, before you spam your feed with endless selfies – likes and the social media game comes into play.

Ever catch yourself repeatedly checking how well your recent picture did – well there's a dopamine hit for every heart or like we get.

This can impact our relationship with our bodies and self-esteem.

Supposedly, those who got 20 or more likes were more likely to rate their physical appearance as very or extremely important, particularly among women compared to men.

However, men and women who received a higher number of likes on their selfies also rated their self-esteem higher, and men who received a higher number of likes were more likely to be satisfied with their overall looks. 

People were also hot on the button to delete a picture because of the lack of likes – incredibly the likeliness of this has increased by 185 percent in men and 110 percent in women.

 

A post shared by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on

At the end of the day, we all must remind ourselves that 90 percent of what we see on social platforms are fake – people do not look like that in real life.

All you need to do for a reality check is to look up from the phone on the bus and have a look around.

Now, I'm off to post a selfie and pray that it gets more than 20 likes…

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