“Stunts” and Ski Games1

2019 ◽  
pp. 109-115
Author(s):  
K. B. E. E. Eimeleus

This chapter discusses ski games. It explains that games on skis have great impact. In addition to benefiting mental health, they are an important factor in physical training and the development of dexterity, strength, and the well-being of participants. The educational significance is well-known to all, whether a person plays against others or plays within a team. Furthermore, many good qualities are fostered through participation in games: attention, presence of mind, self-confidence, fairmindedness, willingness to help one another, self-denial, and composure. On the physical side, games can show how proficiently one manage one's skis; physiologically, blood circulation accelerates, breathing intensifies, the nervous system gains strength, and a person grows strong and hardy. There is also the value of a game as entertainment, recreation, and as a means of mood enhancement. With these benefits in mind, the chapter suggests a few ski stunts and games.

Author(s):  
I B Meier ◽  
C Vieira Ligo Teixeira ◽  
I Tarnanas ◽  
F Mirza ◽  
L Rajendran

Abstract Recent case studies show that the SARS-CoV-2 infectious disease, COVID-19, is associated with accelerated decline of mental health, in particular, cognition in elderly individuals, but also with neurological and neuropsychiatric illness in young people. Recent studies also show a bidirectional link between COVID-19 and mental health in that people with previous history of psychiatric illness have a higher risk for contracting COVID-19 and that COVID-19 patients display a variety of psychiatric illnesses. Risk factors and the response of the central nervous system to the virus show large overlaps with pathophysiological processes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, delirium, post-operative cognitive dysfunction and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, all characterized by cognitive impairment. These similarities lead to the hypothesis that the neurological symptoms could arise from neuroinflammation and immune cell dysfunction both in the periphery as well as in the central nervous system and the assumption that long-term consequences of COVID-19 may lead to cognitive impairment in the well-being of the patient and thus in today’s workforce, resulting in large loss of productivity. Therefore, particular attention should be paid to neurological protection during treatment and recovery of COVID-19, while cognitive consequences may require monitoring.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 928-928
Author(s):  
Manuela E Faulhaber ◽  
Amie Zarling ◽  
Jeongeun Lee

Abstract Millions of American children under the age of 18 are being cared for by their grandparents and without the presence of the biological parents. The number of custodial grandfamilies has significantly increased over the last five years. Recent studies have shown that custodial grandparents (CPGs) are often facing specific challenges in life, such as lower emotional well-being, higher parenting burden and stress related to this unique situation. Despite these findings, few interventions take a strengths based approach to improve their mental health and resilience. We describe our efforts to address these issues by proposing intervention anchored in the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), emphasizing the importance of acceptance of challenging circumstances outside of one’s control and promoting resilience among participants. The program consists of a web based ACT program with online coaching meetings, six common core sessions and six separate sessions for each age group over a time period of six months. This program is unique in the sense that it utilizes both individual and group session techniques to facilitate the learning process. Main active ingredients of this program are to promote effective coping strategies, to reduce parenting stress among grandparents and to increase life skills (i.e., decision-making, proactivity) among grandchildren. We are hypothesizing that participating in the ACT program will help CGPs to improve self-efficacy, emotional well-being, higher self-confidence, social competence, lower depressive symptoms, and parenting distress, thereby leading to positive outcomes such as improved mental health and higher resilience.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (14) ◽  
pp. 2389-2396 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Stochl ◽  
E. Soneson ◽  
A.P. Wagner ◽  
G.M. Khandaker ◽  
I. Goodyer ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundAn increasing importance is being placed on mental health and wellbeing at individual and population levels. While there are several interventions that have been proposed to improve wellbeing, more evidence is needed to understand which aspects of wellbeing are most influential. This study aimed to identify key items that signal improvement of mental health and wellbeing.MethodsUsing network analysis, we identified the most central items in the graph network estimated from the well-established Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). Results were compared across four major UK cohorts comprising a total of 47,578 individuals: the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network, the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey, the Northern Ireland Health Survey, and the National Child Development Study.ResultsRegardless of gender, the three items most central in the network were related to positive self-perception and mood: ‘I have been feeling good about myself’; ‘I have been feeling confident’; and ‘I have been feeling cheerful’. Results were consistent across all four cohorts.ConclusionsPositive self-perception and positive mood are central to psychological wellbeing. Psychotherapeutic and public mental health interventions might best promote psychological wellbeing by prioritising the improvement of self-esteem, self-confidence and cheerfulness. However, empirical testing of interventions using these key targets is needed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Vaitsis ◽  
Socrates Basbas ◽  
Andreas Nikiforiadis

In recent years, the relationship between transportation and subjective well-being has been a major subject. Well-being is a factor that can affect travelers’ psychology and transport mode choice. For this reason, policymakers have attempted to improve travelers’ subjective well-being and promote sustainable modes of transport. For a better understanding of these factors, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted to identify the travel eudaimonia aspect of subjective well-being (comfort, safety, autonomy, self-confidence, physical, and mental health), for the various means of transport in the city of Thessaloniki. During the survey, 300 valid questionnaires were completed. The collection of the above data was followed by statistical analysis. The aim of the analysis was to identify the factors of travel eudaimonia that contributed to the mode choice. For that reason, four ordinal regression models were developed to determine how travel eudaimonia affected the usage frequency of the four available means of transport in the city of Thessaloniki (i.e., private car, bicycle, public transport, walking). Walking was rated higher than other modes in all factors, whilst cycling was rated high in physical and mental health, self-confidence, and autonomy, but low in comfort and safety. Public transport scored very low in all factors, demonstrating the poor quality of service provided by the city’s public transport. Moreover, from the ordinal regression models’ results, it could be demonstrated that travel eudaimonia factors had a significant role to play in mode choice. Recognizing the impact of these factors on transport mode choice is particularly useful for policymakers, researchers, and engineers, as it helps them to make informed decisions about what improvements are needed to promote sustainable modes of transport (mainly walking, cycling, and secondarily, public transport).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Batchelor ◽  
Sarah Gulshan ◽  
Halpana Shritharan ◽  
Elen Williams ◽  
Claire Henderson ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Digital mental health interventions offer a novel, accessible and self-paced approach to care delivery to family carers, i.e., relatives and close friends who support a loved one with psychosis. We co-produced COPe-support, a psychoeducational intervention delivered via an enriched online environment with network support from professionals and peers. In addition to rigorous investigation of the effectiveness of COPe-support on carers’ wellbeing and mental health outcomes, it is imperative to understand carers’ experiences in using the digital intervention and its associated online implementation and facilitation strategies. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore (1) carers’ experience and perceived acceptability of COPe-support and its different components, and (2) how they found engagement with COPe-support affected their own wellbeing and caregiving. METHODS We conducted a qualitative study, individually interviewing 35 carers after their use of COPe-support for 8 months through an online randomised controlled trial across England. A semi-structured guide with open-ended questions was used to explore carers’ experience and perceived acceptability of the intervention, and their ideas to improve the provision. All interviews were conducted remotely through mobile phone or internet communication media, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. We used the thematic analysis framework approach to analyse the data. RESULTS Three key themes were identified: (i) remote, flexible and personalised, (ii) impacts on well-being and outlook on caregiving, and (iii) future implementation and integration with existing services. Overall, carers identified COPe-support as a helpful resource for themselves and for their caregiving role. Participants’ experiences, usage and activity on COPe-support varied a great deal and differed amongst carers of various ages and level of computer literacy. CONCLUSIONS Carers found COPe-support a flexible source of knowledge and support from professionals and peers which they can personalise to suit their own needs and convenience. Participants described gaining self-confidence, hope, and a sense of connectivity with others in a similar situation which helped ameliorate isolation and perceived stigma. Most importantly, COPe-support promoted self-care in the carers themselves. While nearly all participants had a positive experience with COPe-support and supported its wider implementation as a beneficial adjunctive support resource for carers in the future, they suggested some improvements. These include having more graphics and visual-audio content materials, improving the navigation and building in more interactional and customisation options to suit various users’ style (e.g. emoji reactions, live online chat, opting in-and-out of updates and choosing frequency of reminders). Any future scale-up of such an intervention should also consider factors pertinent to reaching more carers and integrating the digital resource with other conventional services. CLINICALTRIAL Current Controlled Trials registration ISRCTN 89563420.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 304-309
Author(s):  
Sara Moqbil ◽  
Sylwiusz Niedobylski ◽  
Katarzyna Laszczak ◽  
Konrad Warchoł ◽  
Eryk Mikos

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE Recent studies have shown that changes in the microbiome, probiotic and antibiotic supplementation, can significantly modulate various forms of neuropsychiatric disorders - such as depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders. There is growing body of evidence pointing to a bidirectional correlation along the brain-gut microbiota line. This axis is connected through endocrine, immune and neuronal pathways. The nerves that make up the enteric nervous system transmit modifications occurring in the gastrointestinal tract and through the vagus nerve to the central nervous system (1). The main purpose of this review is to update recent information on the correlation between the gut microbiota and mental health.  STATE OF KNOWLEDGE Interactions between the gastrointestinal system and brain function have become an important field of psychiatric research in recent years. Probiotics are thought to be a potentially valuable player in the treatment of many neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the role of specific gut microbiota species in the development of these disorders remains unclear. CONCLUSIONS Increasing knowledge of the correlation between gut microbiota and mental health may improve the quality of treatment for patients with neuropsychiatric conditions. Further research on larger groups is needed to assess whether probiotics can modify altered psychological well-being and be integrated into current, conventional treatments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Abu Yazid Abu Bakar ◽  
Nurul Anis Azizi ◽  
Siti Khadijah Hashim

The aim of the study conducted in order to help and to give exposure for the group members on          how to build self-confidence in facing society. Three objectives of the study are 1) to build self-        confidence among group members on how to face society, 2) to encourage and to give support in        self-motivation towards well-being among group members and 3) to give awareness for the group            members that this life needs courage and positive thoughts which are more meaningful. The      method of this study was conducted a group counselling session involving six mental health   patients who are recovered and still under doctor observation at the Hospital Canselor Tuanku Mukhriz (HCTM), which is under the Day Care Community Psychiatry, Medical Centre and     Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). The findings show that the responsiveness of respondents’ self-management is still lacking as they are still in the process of recovering and monitoring from Psychiatrists and Counsellor Officers at HCTM for time to time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 2624
Author(s):  
Mohammad Nami ◽  
Bharathi S. Gadad ◽  
Li Chong ◽  
Usman Ghumman ◽  
Amogh Misra ◽  
...  

COVID-19 has catastrophically affected the world’s panoramic view of human well-being in terms of healthcare and management. With the increase in the number of cases worldwide, neurological symptoms and psychological illnesses from COVID-19 have increasingly upsurged. Mental health illness and affective disorders, including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, phobia, and panic disorders, are highly impacted due to social distress. The COVID-19 pandemic not only affected people with pre-existing mental and affective illnesses, but also healthy individuals with anxiety, worrying, and panic symptoms, and fear conditioning. In addditon, the novel coronavirus is known to impact the central nervous system in the brain, resulting in severe and certain long-lasting neurological issues. Owing to the significance of neurological and psychological events, the present perspective has been an attempt to disseminate the impact of COVID-19 on neural injury through inflammation, and its interrelation with psychological symptoms. In this current review, we synthesize the literature to highlight the critical associations between SARS-CoV-2 infection and the nervous system, and mental health illness, and discuss potential mechanisms of neural injury through psycho-neuroimmunity.


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