Women Regret Lost Loves More Than Men, Study Finds

Frank Sinatra famously belted, “Regrets, I had a few ... too few to mention” -- but if they had to mention their greatest regret in life, women cited a lost love more than twice as often as men in a Northwestern University study.

The study conducted by a professor at the Kellogg School of Management showed 44 percent of women described a lost love as their biggest regret, compared to just 19 percent of men.

Men, at 24 percent, regretted work-oriented choices more than anything else.

“Past research on regrets focused on samples of college students, which made it difficult to glean insights into the wider population,” said Neal Roese, the researcher who, with a colleague, called 370 adult Americans during the study.

He said the study offers a more thorough look into the "psychology of regret to further understand how regret connects to life circumstances and its impact on decision making.”

The study also showed events that lead someone to inaction haunt people the longest.

Surely, there’s a Sinatra song for that one.

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/23/study-woman-regret-lost-loves/#ixzz1HU41wP4l

Most locked-in patients 'happy'

The majority of people with locked-in syndrome are happy, a small French study suggests.

The disease "traps" people in their own body, able to think, but incapable of moving or talking.

The study of 65 patients, published online by the British Medical Journal, found 72% reported being happy - with just 7% wanting help to commit suicide.

Experts said it showed it would be unwise to make assumptions about people's mental state.

The findings could also have implications on the assisted suicide debate, the researchers said.

However, they warned that there could be some bias in the study with the most unhappy patients refusing to take part.

The participants, from the French Association for Locked in Syndrome, responded by blinking or moving their eyes.

About half of those questioned, 55%, had recovered some speech and 70% had recovered some limb movement.

The majority, 72%, said they were happy and 68% said they never had suicidal thoughts.

The longer people were locked-in, the more likely they were to be happy.

Researchers at the University of Liège, Belgium, said: "We suggest that patients recently struck by the syndrome should be informed that, given proper care, they have a considerable chance of regaining a happy life.

"In our view, shortening of life requests are valid only when the patients have been give a chance to attain a steady state of subjective wellbeing."

Dr Adrian Owen, from the Centre for the Brain and Mind at the University of Western Ontario, said: "This is an extremely important study with a clear message - we cannot, and should not, presume to know what it must be like to be in one of these conditions.

"I think most of us feel that life in a lifeless body would not be a life worth living, but this study demonstrates that this is not always the case.

"On the basis of the results, it would be unwise for us to make assumptions about the mental state of those individuals."

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12551753