Donie's daily Blog update Tuesday

Smile! It could Lower Your Stress Levels, new research study shows

PEOPLE PLACED IN ANXIOUS SITUATIONS FELT BETTER WITH GRINS IN PLACE

   

Are you stressed out? Turn that frown upside down on your face and you might just feel better, new research contends.

Researchers at the University of Kansas subjected college students to anxiety-inducing tasks and found that those who smiled through them appeared to have less stress.

The study, led by research psychologists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman, is scheduled for publication in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science.

“Age-old adages, such as ‘grin and bear it,’ have suggested smiling to be not only an important nonverbal indicator of happiness but also wishfully promotes smiling as a panacea for life’s stressful events,” Kraft said in a journal news release. “We wanted to examine whether these adages had scientific merit; whether smiling could have real health-relevant benefits.”

To do so, they had 169 university students engage in tasks known to induce stress, such as tracing a star using their non-dominant hand while looking at a reflection of the star in a mirror. Another task had the participants plunge their hand into icy water.

The students performed these tasks under three conditions: not smiling; being explicitly instructed to smile; and while holding chopsticks in their mouth in a way that forced the face to smile.

The researchers included the chopsticks condition because they wanted to gauge the effect of “genuine” smiling (which involves the muscles around the mouth and eyes), and so-called “standard” smiles, which involve only the muscles around the mouth — the kind of smile induced by the chopsticks.

Kraft and Pressman used heart rate measurements and self-reported stress levels to assess how perturbed the participants were during the tasks.

The study found that participants who wore any kind of smile were less stressed during the tasks than those with neutral facial expressions, and stress levels dipped especially low for folks with “genuine” smiles.

According to the authors, this means that even forcing a smile during an unpleasant task or experience might actually lower your stress level, even if you’re not feeling happy.

So, Pressman reasoned, “the next time you are stuck in traffic or are experiencing some other type of stress, you might try to hold your face in a smile for a moment. Not only will it help you ‘grin and bear it’ psychologically, but it might actually help your heart health as well.”

Judge Mary Devins slams the ACC Bank for sending thugs  

‘to bully a customer for loan repayments not made’
   
Judge Mary Devins

A debt collector working on behalf of ACC Bank has received a suspended sentence for the assault of a Straide man while the bank have been slammed for sending ‘thugs’ out after customers who fail to make repayments. 

Aidan Faulkner of Crow’s Nest, Castlecohill, Clogherhead, County Louth was sent to the home of Patrick Ruane at Knockshanvalley Lodge, Straide on April 21, 2010 to seize Mr Ruane’s five-year-old Toyota Hiace after Mr Ruane missed three repayments on the van, totalling €843.

In the court hearing on July 6, 2011 Mr Ruane said he was ‘terrorised’ by the actions of Faulkner, who he described as a ‘bully’. The court heard how a headbutt from Faulkner to Ruane’s face left Ruane with a broken nose, a split lip and loosened some of his teeth. 

Faulkner, a former officer in the Defence Forces, said he was ‘extremely provoked’ and contested the charges.
Judge Mary Devins said then that the letter which Faulkner had brought with him to Ruane’s property on behalf of ACC Bank was ‘the worst drafted letter I’ve ever seen’ and it gave ACC no right to take the van, said Judge Devins.

Judge Devins found Faulkner guilty but the matter was adjourned for sentencing.

At last Friday’s court Myles Gilvarry, solicitor for Faulkner, said the case had received a lot of media attention, in national papers and on radio stations.

“Why are you telling me that,” interjected Judge Devins.
Mr Gilvarry said that the publicity had ‘greatly affected’ his client.
Judge Devins asked Patrick Ruane if he felt Faulkner should go to jail.

“In relation to ACC Bank they shouldn’t do what they do. I borrowed money from the bank and I met a lady who I did business with … very nice people. I didn’t think I would be meeting anyone like the way I did,” he said.

Judge Devins said that was exactly the issue she had – how suddenly a commercial transaction with people in suits who are very keen to lend money and then suddenly if there is a failure in repayments ‘how very quickly the people in suits get involved in what can only be described as thugs’. She said that Mr Ruane’s comment ‘is a very interesting comment on repossession cases generally’.

She added that ACC’s paperwork was completely faulty and wouldn’t stand up in court. 
“The repossession orders are, quite frankly, nonsense. They don’t make sense in English not to mind law,” she said.
She added that Faulkner had no right to be on the property that day and then ‘behaved in a thuggish manner’. 

“He had certain training which meant you were physically able to engage in that sort of behaviour and that training makes your behaviour on the day even more reprehensible,” she said.
However she said she ‘accepts’ that Faulkner was a ‘pawn’ that day and that if a custodial sentence should be issued to anybody, ‘those people are not before the court and it is those people in suits’. 

For the charge of assault she sentenced Faulkner to three months in prison, suspended for 12 months on the condition that there are no further convictions or offences in 12 months. She fined him €500 and directed that he pay €500 to Mr Ruane. The Public Order breach of trespassing was taken into consideration.

Claremorris hotel evacuated after bomb scare to hotel & three other venues

   

Late last night revellers in Claremorris were shocked on Saturday night when a bomb scare led to the evacuation of the night club at the Western Hotel in the town. Gardai cordoned off D’Alton Street for two hours until the premises were declared safe around 1am.

A call to the PSNI in Belfast using a recognizable code set alarm bells ringing and contact was immediately made with the Garda Siochana headquarters in Galway.

The call to Belfast stated that four bombs had been placed in venues in Claremorris, Galway (The Bentley, Eyre Square), Ballinasloe (Haydens) and another hotel in Tullamore and were timed to go off at 11.35pm.

Claremorris Gardai were informed of the scare and immediately went about closing down the approaches to the hotel.