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American schools are full of sleepy children (Go To Top)

     London: American schools are full of sleepy fifth- grade students too tired to learn because of lost sleep due to fights with parents over bedtimes or staying up late to watch television, says a new study from Ball State University. According to News Wise,a survey of 199 fifth graders found that majority of students regularly experience sleep loss and feel sleepy during the day at least two-to-four times weekly. Almost half admitted to having trouble waking up in the morning on school days. The lack of a good night's sleep on a regular basis may leave some children suffering from negative changes in their behavior throughout the day, said Denise Amschler, a professor of physiology and health science. "Sleep affects the health and well-being of children and plays a key role in preventing disease and injury, stability of mood and the ability to learn.If this study is a good indication, youngsters are not getting enough quality sleep. Elementary school-aged children require an average of 10 to 11 hours of sleep each night, and most aren't getting it", she said. The study observed that 48 percent of students admitted to arguing with their parents at least twice every week about when they should go to bed, 31.7 percent indicated staying up late two-to-four times per week without their parents' permission and 30.2 percent said they were staying up late five-to-seven nights per week when parents thought they were asleep. " The presence of televisions and computers in children's bedrooms may play a key role in their decreased sleep time and subsequent daytime fatigue", Amschler said.

McCartney's wife to learn martial arts to protect their daughter (Go To Top)

     London: Sir Paul Mccartney's wife Heather Mills is protective about her 16-month-old daughter and is determined to protect her According to Femalefirst, she is prepared to put her martial arts training into practice if anyone crosses her boundaries. I'd love to talk about my baby but she deserves her privacy so I protect her like a wild woman from the jungle. I'm becoming proficient at martial arts now so if needed I'll use it, especially after what happened to poor John (Lennon) and George (Harrison)," she was quoted as saying.

Married couples will be in minority in Britain by 2031 (Go To Top)

    London: The UK government has predicted that legally married couples in Britain will be in minority by 2011. According to the government's estimates, by year 2011 just 47 percent of couples will be wed, which will be the first time married couples are in the minority, and by 2021 the number will have dropped to 44 per cent and to 41 per cent by 2031. By 2031 there will be more unmarried men than married men, whereas the number of divorced pensioners and those who choose live-in relationship, will increase. The number of women who have never married will be up from 28 percent today to 39 percent by 2031, while almost 50 percent of men will never have tied the knot, the Government says. "People are beginning to move away from types of relationship they believe are set by institutions. It used to be that you would go to school, get a job, get married and then have children, but now-a-days young people do things differently. As many will have been brought up in single parent families they may not see the point," The Mirror quoted relationship expert Juliette Cole as saying. Experts said that there is a projected increase in the number of over 65s splitting up. In 1991, just three percent of pensioners were divorced but by 2003 that had doubled and is expected to keep climbing to around 14 per cent by 2031. "Older people are taking a look at younger people and realising they don't have to be stuck in failing relationships any more," said Cole. The top three reasons men gave for their marriage break-up was drifting apart, stress at work and bad sex, whereas women put blame on drifting apart, their own infidelity and rows over their roles in the marriage.

Britney and Kevin take cooking lessons (Go To Top)

     London: Britney Spears and her dancer husband Kevin Federline are reportedly planning to take cooking lessons together. According to Ananova, the couple, who married in September last year, are learning how to cook so that they can treat each other. "We play house. We cook. We are actually going to get lessons soon from a chef," the report quoted Federline as saying to Contactmusic.com.

Jane Fonda to undergo hip-replacement surgery (Go To Top)

     Washington: Veteran actress Jane Fonda reportedly plans to have a hip-replacement operation, once she has finished the publicity rounds for her upcoming autobiography and the comedy Monster-in-Law, publicist Pat Kingsley confirmed. No specific date has been set, but the 67-year-old Fonda will likely go under the knife in May or June, reports Eonline. Kingsley also revealed that the two-time Oscar winner underwent outpatient arthroscopic surgery on her left knee last Thursday. Fonda will be recovering at home for the next few weeks before making the PR rounds.

Bruce Willis is thrilled to have sex at 50 (Go To Top)

     London: Bruce Willis might be approaching 50 but he has a reason to be happy for he is having the best sex of his life as he and is thrilled he can still do it. "You're in less of a hurry. You know a few more tricks. For me, you make it more about the woman. And just the simple fact that at 50 you can still do it. That's a nice little bonus by itself," he was quoted as saying.

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