Most US women face stroke risk

Viewing disturbing news footage on television could intensify stress and trauma, according to a latest study.A month before the terrorist attacks on 9/11 in the US,sleep and memory researcher Ruth Propper, at Merrimack College in North Andover,Massachusetts,US,began teaching a class in which students had to record their dreams on the mornings that they remembered them.On the day after the attacks she distributed a questionnaire to the class asking them about their activities the day before,including how much television they watched.The researchers say their dream analysis shows that viewing television coverage of a traumatic event can intensify stress and trauma. Some psycholgists,however, object to this conclusion,contending that dreams do not necessarily reflect a person's mental state.

Experiencing a mild traumatic brain injury may increase the risk of developing a sleep disorder, and a good portion of these appear to be based on disturbances in the body's normal circadian rhythm, according to the results of a new study."As many as 40 to 65% of patients with minor traumatic brain injury complain of insomnia,"L.Ayalon, of the University of California,San Diego, and colleagues write in the medical journal "Neurology".