Helge Hasselmann highlights a new cohort study in JAMA Psychiatry, which finds a bidirectional relationship between physical activity and depressive symptoms; strengthening the case for exercise as a recommended intervention for people with mild depression.
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Meg Fluharty summarises a recent systematic review looking at exercise for antenatal depression. The review finds preliminary evidence to suggest that exercise may be effective in reducing depression during pregnancy, but the quality of included trials is low to moderate.
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The evidence-base supporting the use of exercise for depression is ever growing. Susie Johnson reports on a recent systematic review that adds to the discussion, but it’s not without its own limitations.
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Falls are estimated to cost the NHS more than £2.3 billion per year (College of Optometrists, 2011) and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This fact alone should be giving us the drive to look for ways to prevent falls in healthcare settings. A systematic review recently published in BMC Nursing (Bunn et al, 2014) is [read the full story…]
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies are often perceived to be as effective as conventional treatments, more “natural”, less expensive, have fewer side-effects and are easily available without a prescription. But do these perceptions match up with the reality? Can CAM therapies be helpful additions to conventional treatments? This alludes to an interesting sociological question [read the full story…]
Some mental health interventions feel intuitively right. Exercise for depression is a great example. Of course, people suffering from low mood, poor motivation, lethargy and all of the other symptoms of depression will benefit from a jog around the park and some fresh air, right? The logical explanation for how this might help is fairly [read the full story…]
In the UK alone it’s estimated over two million adults have type 2 diabetes. That clearly warrants some serious research into its prevention and treatment, including the valuable role of exercise. We also know the effects of diabetes are not confined to physical problems, linked as it is to reduced quality of life as well [read the full story…]
Depression is a common problem in older adults with some data suggesting significant symptoms are present in over 40% of nursing home residents (Teresi, 2001). Clearly physical exercise has a number of benefits particularly with regards to cardiovascular health. Some of you may remember the Mental Elf blog back in September 2012 with positive results from [read the full story…]
People with serious mental illness have mortality rates 2-3 times as high as the general population. The primary cause of death is cardiovascular disease, which in turn is due to an extremely high prevalence of obesity (twice that of the overall population). Physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, and weight gain from psychotropic medication are all factors [read the full story…]
Here at Mental Elf HQ, several new pieces of research relating to yoga have come our way. This blog is the first in a series examining the mental health effects of engaging in yoga. Yoga is a form of exercise (largely comprising physical postures and breathing) which originated in India over 5,000 years ago. Many [read the full story…]
