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Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

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Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#21

Post by prophesi »

taneq wrote: post #12

I'm interested to see how VR affects overall mental health among gamers. There seems to be some crossover between heavy duty gamers and mental health struggles (just from my own observation) and VR is starting to be a natural progression for gaming. And VR gaming is often a real work-out, focusing on a lot of movement as well as physical dexterity.

I'm interested in this as well. I had a friend play Beat Saber for 3 hours straight, burning literally thousands of calories. He said he felt amazing for the rest of the day.

On the flip-side, I personally experienced some serious post-binge depression after playing Talos Principle VR for a few hours. It's not very physically engaging, with a somber atmosphere throughout. I felt so weird taking off the headset and jumping back into reality.

Though I think both scenarios just go to show how powerful VR could potentially be in the medical field.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#22

Post by itschekkers »

Original Article author here - happy to help with any questions people have.

Also sorry about the paywall - you can get the article either through sci-hub here http://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30227-X or you can email me and i'll send you a copy direct!

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#23

Post by ArtWomb »

taneq wrote: post #12

I'm interested to see how VR affects overall mental health among gamers. There seems to be some crossover between heavy duty gamers and mental health struggles (just from my own observation) and VR is starting to be a natural progression for gaming. And VR gaming is often a real work-out, focusing on a lot of movement as well as physical dexterity.

Somewhat related: VR exposure or immersion therapy is being investigated as a viable treatment in post-traumatic stress disorder.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#24

Post by Kyrztyn »

This study was flawed from the start. They asked people if they were ever “diagnosed” with depression when there is no clear cause of depression. Depression can be lifelong, short term situational, caused by drugs, etc.

It also relied on self reported physical activity! Ha!

It is worthless to extract anything regarding mental heath and exercise from this study.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#25

Post by markroseman »

pjc50 wrote: post #17
diss wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it could mean that mental health professionals push exercise significantly more as a treatment. A lot of people see psychologists and doctors about mental health.

They already do .. badly. There was an excellent thread on twitter the other day along the lines of "I went to my doctor saying I was suicidal and got sent away with this worksheet" - a whole collection of completely inadequate responses to acute mental health issues.

That would be the "fuck if I can help you" non-response. Around here it happens a lot because it takes so long to get into a psychiatrist that unless you admit to suicidal ideation, intent and a plan, you're not going to get help fast. A lot of family docs have their hands tied.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#26

Post by [deleted] »

raverbashing wrote: post #11
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #2

This is sure to quickly fill with personal anecdotes, I can attest to experiencing this phenomena myself, but I wonder what we can do with this information? I think it's already in the "everybody knows" category, so how do we get those who need it the most to take advantage of it? The extreme presentation of these conditions typically impedes one from becoming physically active, thought I do look forward to the succe…

I think most people associate "physical exercise" with having to spend an hour at the gym or something similar. What they should be thinking is: going for a walk around the block, not getting the car for close by errands, not taking the elevator, going for a bike ride, etc

[deleted]

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#27

Post by markroseman »

Kyrztyn wrote: post #24

This study was flawed from the start. They asked people if they were ever “diagnosed” with depression when there is no clear cause of depression. Depression can be lifelong, short term situational, caused by drugs, etc. It also relied on self reported physical activity! Ha! It is worthless to extract anything regarding mental heath and exercise from this study.

I'd consider the value to be motivational ammunition for an intervention that generally has few downsides and multiple possible benefits for the person affected. Your point about stigma does counterbalance that somewhat.

In other words, would I put the overview on the coffee table in my wife's office (she's a psychiatrist) for her patients to see? Yes.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#28

Post by Kyrztyn »

itschekkers wrote: post #22

Original Article author here - happy to help with any questions people have. Also sorry about the paywall - you can get the article either through sci-hub here http://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30227-X or you can email me and i'll send you a copy direct!

Awesome.

Question:

Why are you wasting your time?

Do you wish to apply a blanket cure for the unknown multitude causes of mental health issues?

Why do you think reductions in the self reported “mental health” of the general population is useful for people who have been hospitalized with mood disorders?

Don’t you think that people who lie about how much exercise they do also might be lieing to themselves about their mental health?

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#29

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

themodelplumber wrote: post #19

I personally find that exercise only contributes to good mental health outcomes when it is part of a system that monitors and directly, daily, addresses issues of physical exhaustion. Experiencing exhaustion and a desire to push through it was my personal #1 link to depression and anxiety. I found that just laying in bed and relaxing has a much higher likelihood of vanquishing my depression and anxiety than exercise…

For the exercise itself I find that it's not the exhaustion, but the mental effort it takes to really push hard sort of resets my mental processes - I train powerlifting, so those 30 seconds where I'm going "this bar is going to kill me if I don't keep going" really changes my mental affect once I get out from under the bar.

Re: Association between physical exercise and mental health: a cross-sectional study

#30

Post by a_wild_dandan »

raverbashing wrote: post #11
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #2

This is sure to quickly fill with personal anecdotes, I can attest to experiencing this phenomena myself, but I wonder what we can do with this information? I think it's already in the "everybody knows" category, so how do we get those who need it the most to take advantage of it? The extreme presentation of these conditions typically impedes one from becoming physically active, thought I do look forward to the succe…

I think most people associate "physical exercise" with having to spend an hour at the gym or something similar. What they should be thinking is: going for a walk around the block, not getting the car for close by errands, not taking the elevator, going for a bike ride, etc

This is such an important distinction to actually effect change. The vast majority of folks who go from 0 to Gym Rat will quickly peter out, reverting to sedentariness. Small lifestyle changes are far more effective.

Likewise for diets. Those who spend their New Years resolution momentum eating baked chicken and broccoli for a week or completely cutting out carbs will shortly find themselves failing completely and binging ice cream or whatever. Rarely do you see sensible advice like "keep your same diet habits, but cut out soft drinks", or "if you engage in late night boredom-eating, try binging vegetables instead."

Unfortunately, humble and incremental changes in habit seem antithetical to our society's affection for (unrealistic) sweeping, dramatic transformations.

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