Saturday, April 21, 2007
9/11 Dreams Study Suggests TV Coverage Boosted Stress
A study of Americans’ dreams in the weeks before and after Sept. 11, 2001, suggests that TV coverage of the terror attacks actually increased viewers’ stress levels. The finding probably applies to most major traumatic news stories, including this week’s massacre of students and faculty at Virginia Tech, one expert said. Researchers found that each additional hour of daily 9/11-linked TV viewing raised an individual’s stress level by 6 percent, as reflected in dreams laden with grim images from that day’s events. But there was also some good news from the study—stress levels began to decline the more people talked over the tragedy with family members and friends.
Page 1 of 1 pages