Research: Women feel fabulous at fifty! Three quarters say they feel more confident in their fifth decade than they did in their 20's

The old saying goes that life begins at 40, but now British women are feeling more fit and fabulous in their fifth decade, it seems.

After a lifetime of diets and body hang-ups, three quarters of women (76 per cent) feel more self-assured in their 50s than they did in their 20s, reveals a new study.

A third in their 50s (36 per cent) are happier than ever with their looks and one in seven (16 per cent) feel fitter and sexier than ever.

In fact, almost half (47 per cent) are so happy they love their body more now than they did in their 20s.

The research, of 40 to 74 year olds, found women in their fifth decade have stopped calorie counting and turned to exercise to stay in shape.

A third of women (33 per cent) have started to work out more in their 50s and 15 per cent are feeling more energised as a result.

Meanwhile, 45 per cent ditched diets for good on turning 50.

What's more, two thirds of women (66 per cent) spend less time and money on personal grooming once they hit 50.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2579996/Why-women-fabulous-fifty-Three-quarters-women-say-feel-confident-fifth-decade-did-20s.html#ixzz2xYbarcCO

Research: are you right-brained or left-brained? And what does it say about your personality?

Take the quiz ....

Are you rational and like to live by the rules? Or creative and curious? Now there's a quiz that will determine why this might be.

The idea is that we all have a dominant side of the brain - and this shapes our personality.

People who are right-brained tend to be creative, curious and intuitive, while those ruled by the left are logical, strategic and rational.

The quiz, created by the website Sommer + Sommer, involves determining which way a figure is dancing, picking an object that looks most pleasing to the eye and which shape most represents friendship.

Later, participants are asked to cross their arms, legs and squint - and see how side of the body reacts.

The idea comes from the idea that certain bodily functions are assigned to either the right or left side of the brain.

The brain's right hemisphere controls the muscles on the left side of the body, while the left hemisphere controls the muscles on the right side of the body.

In general, the left hemisphere is dominant in language: processing what you hear and handling most of the duties of speaking.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2569288/Are-right-brained-left-brained-And-does-say-personality-Take-interactive-QUIZ-out.html#ixzz2xJ0MDvio

Research: people decide to trust you within seconds

Scientists have discovered that it only takes saying 'hello' for someone to decide whether or not you can be trusted.

Researchers at Glasgow University have found that it takes around half a second to make a good first impression.

They discovered that people judge someone on how trustworthy or how dominant they are within the first 500 milliseconds of hearing their voice.

Psychologists from universities of Glasgow and Princeton in the US, have shown that a simple 'hello' is enough to allow most people to draw conclusions about personality type.

They also found that people will make these judgements, including how attractive they are, without seeing the person to whom we are speaking.

The findings echo a classic line in the film Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger.

At the end of the film, when Jerry expresses his love in a long-winded speech to Dorothy, she replies with the simple phrase: 'You had me at hello.'

A study played recordings of people saying 'hello' and asked test subjects to rank them according to 10 pre-defined personality traits including trustworthiness, dominance, attractiveness and warmth.

The study found that most of the recorded voices elicited the same response from participants and that these opinions were formed rapidly, after hearing the voices for only 300-500msecs.

This suggests that the tone of voice you use when saying 'hello' directly and immediately informs the first impression of the person to whom you are speaking.

The most important traits identified were trustworthiness and dominance.

This research sheds new light on the automatic judgments we make about strangers we meet +2

This research sheds new light on the automatic judgments we make about strangers we meet

The study found that males who raised their tone and women who alternated the pitch of their voices are seen as more trustworthy.

Dominance is partly indicated by lowering the pitch, but more so by changes in 'formant dispersion', which are adjustments of your voice caused by the structure of your throat.

The fact that the human mind is capable of coming to these conclusions so quickly and irrespective of visual cues implies that this is an ability that may have evolved in our recent history when decisions on who to trust and approach were crucial to our species' survival.

Dr Phil McAleer, from the Voice Neurocognition Laboratory, Glasgow University, who led the study, said: 'It is amazing that from such short bursts of speech you can get such a definite impression of a person.

'And more so that, irrespective of whether it is accurate, your impression is the same as what the other listeners get.

'It is perhaps also consistent that we are most attuned to recognising signs of trustworthiness and dominance, two traits that would have been central to our survival as we evolved.'

This research promises to help in the drive to improve the efficiency of voice-operated systems and learning aids, and to shed new light on the automatic judgments we make about strangers we don't meet face to face - from conductors making announcements on trains to business people making 'cold calls'.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2579998/You-hello-People-judge-trustworthy-half-SECOND.html#ixzz2xIzAyui8 

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