May 2, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders looked at the effect of exercise on suicidal ideation and behaviors. “Our study aimed to investigate the effect of exercise on suicidal behaviors (suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths) in those with mental or physical illness,” study author Dr. Nicholas Fabiano told us. “Our secondary objective was to determine if those with mental or physical illness were able to adhere to exercise regimes as people with comorbidities are often perceived not to be adherent to exercise regimes due to the nature of their illness.”
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September 30, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
50% of people who are pregnant or postpartum report feeling dissatisfied with their bodies.
A small survey of 161 women aged between 18 and 45 who were either pregnant or postpartum found that more than half were unhappy with how they looked either during or following pregnancy.
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September 6, 2022
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology looked at physical and mental activity, disease susceptibility, and risk of dementia. “In the present study, we aimed to assess the associations between physical and mental activity and the subsequent risk of dementia,” study author Huan Song told us. “We further hoped to explore whether such associations would differ for individuals with different susceptibility to dementia.”
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May 11, 2021
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Psychiatry Research looked at changes in body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorder, and exercise addiction symptomatology during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was a longitudinal study of 319 health club users. “The study was initially about exercise addiction, eating disorders, and body image, but when COVID-19 hit, we changed the scope to see if there were any differences pre vs post the first lockdown in the UK last spring,” lead author Mike Trott told us,
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December 27, 2019
by Tina Arnoldi
A recent study in JMIR found that data from Fitbit and smartphone devices could help identify college students experiencing loneliness. The results suggest “fine-grained behavioral features” from mobile and wearable devices can distinguish between high and low levels of loneliness. Students
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March 21, 2019
by Kimberly Lucey
A new study has found just spending 20 minutes at an urban park can lead to an improvement in overall mental health and well-being. Adding more green to our most populous cities has a direct and positive impact on mental health, according to Dr. Gavin Jenkins, the study's co-author.
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August 15, 2018
by Kimberly Lucey
Exercising is well known to have strong ties to positive mental health, however the benefits diminish when working out becomes excessive. We interviewed the medical director for St. Francis Hospital who responds to a recent study regarding exercise and mental health.
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March 26, 2018
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study finds that people who stop exercise develop depressive symptoms and could be a whole new subtype of depressive symptoms. This is baffling researchers because those with depressive symptoms who stop exercise aren't displaying any signs of inflammation in the body.
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The benefits of exercise have been explored for decades. The profit of a holistic approach to psychotherapy that incorporates a physical regime may improve outcomes in mental health treatment (Weir, 2011). Three exercise routines per week, lasting 20-30 minutes in conjunction with psychotherapy and a concurrent medication regime has been associated with enhanced mental health treatment.
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Everyone gets depressed from time to time, and often it passes and our mood brightens again. But when struggling with clinical depression, your mood can be depressed for weeks, months, or even years, resulting in real loss of functioning and quality of life. Almost 1 in 10 Americans is affected by depression every year, and 17% of us will experience a major depressive episode at least one time in our life. Additionally, depression is a major cause of disability, with an annual cost of about $40 billion in lost productivity and treatment costs (Craft & Perna, 2004).
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