The research indicates that mental health issues are likely to be a primary contributor to infant mortality and poor child health, above poverty, malnutrition or low socio-economic status.

A collaboration between researchers at the Karolinska Instituet in Sweden and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) assessed the mental health of 720 women in the third trimester of pregnancy from two rural sub-districts of Bangladesh for symptoms of antepartum depression (Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale) and antepartum anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory) and followed them until 6-8 months postpartum.

Infant birth weight of 81% babies born at term was measured within 48 hours of delivery and baseline data provided socio-economic, anthropometric, reproductive, obstetric and social support information. Lead researcher Hashima-E- Nasreen explains, “18% of the women we studied in two rural areas of Bangladesh were diagnosed as having depression and one-quarter as having anxiety during pregnancy, and these women were much more likely to give birth to very small babies. This is a worrying problem, since low birth weight is strongly associated with infant death, which may in turn perpetuate the cycle of mental health problems and underdevelopment.”

The study raises awareness of the significance of depression and anxiety leading to poor health in South Asian countries. It suggests that one way to reach the internationally-agreed Millennium Development Goal to reduce child mortality in the developing world would be to invest in mental health support services in this area.

Editor’s Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

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While overall quit rates for the study were high, participants with anxiety diagnoses were much less likely to quit smoking..

Study results also showed that anxiety diagnoses were very common among participants more than a third of them met criteria for at least one anxiety diagnosis in their lifetime. Out of all 1,504 study participants, 455 had had a panic attack in the past, 199 social anxiety disorder, and 99 generalized anxiety disorder (some reported having more than one diagnoses). Other research has shown that up to 25 percent of the more than 50 million smokers in the U.S. had at least one anxiety disorder in their lifetime. And yet, very little research has addressed smoking in this population..

Lead author Megan Piper says it surprised her that the nicotine lozenge and patch alone or in combination failed to help patients with an anxiety history to quit smoking. In the general population, the lozenge and patch especially when combined have been very effective in helping patients quit smoking. Bupropion (Zyban) alone, or in combination with the nicotine lozenge, also did not increase cessation rates among patients with a history of anxiety disorders..

“Further research is needed to identify better counseling and medication treatments to help patients with anxiety disorders to quit smoking,” Piper says..

Smokers in the study with anxiety disorders also reported higher levels of nicotine dependence and withdrawal symptoms prior to quitting. Smokers often experience craving, negative feelings and difficulty concentrating in the minutes or hours after finishing a cigarette, and those feelings can be heightened simply because the smokers know they’re about to attempt to quit. In addition, participants with a history of panic attacks or social-anxiety disorder experienced more negative feelings on their quit day than did smokers in the study without this history..

These findings suggest that clinicians should assess anxiety-disorder status when helping patients quit smoking. While anxiety medications alone haven’t boosted cessation rates, Piper is planning further research to test other quit-smoking counseling interventions and medications with patients who have had an anxiety diagnosis..

Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison

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People who engage in regular physical activity outside work – however intense – are less likely to have symptoms of depression, according to new research published in the November issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. However, the study showed that people who exert themselves at work, by doing lots of walking or lifting, are no less likely to be depressed than people with sedentary jobs.

Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College London teamed up with academics from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the University of Bergen in Norway to conduct the study. They asked 40,401 Norwegian residents how often they engaged in both light and intense physical activity during their leisure time. Light activity was defined as an activity that did not lead to being sweaty or out-of-breath, while intense activity did result in sweating or breathlessness. The residents were also asked how physically active they were at work, underwent a physical examination and answered questions regarding symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The team found an inverse relationship between the amount of leisure-time activity and symptoms of depression. In other words, the more people engaged in physical activity during their spare time, the less likely they were to be depressed. People who were not active in their leisure time were almost twice as likely to have symptoms of depression compared to the most active individuals. Interestingly, the intensity of the exercise did not seem to make any difference. Even people who took light exercise, without breaking into a sweat or getting out-of-breath, were less likely to show symptoms of depression.

However, the researchers found no such relationship between workplace activity and symptoms of depression. Nor did they find any consistent relationship between physical activity and anxiety.

Lead researcher Dr Samuel Harvey, from King’s, said: “Our study shows that people who engage in regular leisure-time activity of any intensity are less likely to have symptoms of depression. We also found that the context in which activity takes place is vital and that the social benefits associated with exercise, such as increased numbers of friends and social support, are more important in understanding how exercise may be linked to improved mental health than any biological markers of fitness. This may explain why leisure activity appears to have benefits not seen with physical activity undertaken as part of a working day.”

(Source: King’s College London: British Journal of Psychiatry)

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As researchers explained, tension headaches have an increasing incidence in the population. This type of disorder is usually treated with analgesics, that relieve symptoms temporarily. One of the main causes of this type of headache is the presence of trigger points. Recently, new strategies for controlling this disabling pain are being studied.

Physiological improvement

Researcher Cristina Toro Velasco — leader of the study, under Professor Manuel Arroyo Morales supervision — has shown that a 30-minute massage on cervical trigger points improves autonomic nervous system regulation in these patients. Additionally, patients exhibit a better psychological state and “reduce the stress and anxiety associated to such a disturbing disorder.”

Similarly, patients report a perceived relief from symptoms within 24 hours after the massage. This might mean that massages may reduce the pain caused by trigger points, which would involve an improvement in the general state of patients.

The results of this pioneer study were published in American Journal of Manipulative Physiological and Therapeutics.

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Further, the rate of psychological distress among university students surveyed (83.9 percent) is almost three times higher than in the general population (29 percent).

The study, published in the November edition of Australian Psychologist, found rates of serious mental illness among the sample (19.2 percent) were more than five times higher than in the general population (three percent).

Study author Dr Helen Stallman, a clinical psychologist and researcher with UQ’s Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, said she was not only worried and surprised that so many students were distressed but that only one-third (34.3 percent) of the most seriously affected reported consulting a health professional.

Her study of almost 6500 Australian university students found the typical profile of a distressed student to be undergraduate students in their second, third or fourth year, and aged between 18 and 34.

Dr Stallman said the seriously affected group reported reduced capacity or total impairment for 10 days of the previous month.

The study found 83.9 percent of students surveyed reported elevated distress levels with 64.7 percent of these exhibiting mild to moderate symptoms mental illness. Only 16 percent of the sample were classified as not having any mental distress, Dr Stallman said.

Dr Stallman said of the 34.3 percent of the serious group who reported seeking help, most (67.3 percent) visited their general practitioner while only 9.3 percent consulted a psychiatrist, 20 percent a psychologist and 30.4 percent a counsellor.

The study revealed a number of protective factors associated with a lower the risk of mental health problems among students.

These included: students living in a situation where there was a higher connectedness and interrelatedness such as in university housing or with parents or a partner.

“Both life experience and experience as a student also seem to be protective factors,” Dr Stallman said.

“Older students and postgraduate students seem more resilient, perhaps because of increased coping strategies, or at postgraduate level, self-selection of students who have effective coping measures.”

Dr Stallman said the study highlighted a need for universities to be proactive in promoting the mental health and wellbeing of students in addition to specific traditionally targeted areas such as alcohol abuse.

Source:
University of Queensland

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In the study, CU-Boulder psychology Professor Yuko Munakata and her research colleagues found that “neural inhibition,” a process that occurs when one nerve cell suppresses activity in another, is a critical aspect in our ability to make choices.

“The breakthrough here is that this helps us clarify the question of what is happening in the brain when we make choices, like when we choose our words,” Munakata said. “Understanding more about how we make choices, how the brain is doing this and what the mechanisms are, could allow scientists to develop new treatments for things such as anxiety disorders.”

Researchers have long struggled to determine why people with anxiety can be paralyzed when it comes to decision-making involving many potential options. Munakata believes the reason is that people with anxiety have decreased neural inhibition in their brain, which leads to difficulty making choices.

“A lot of the pieces have been there,” she said. “What’s new in this work is bringing all of this together to say here’s how we can fit all of these pieces of information together in a coherent framework explaining why it’s especially hard for people with anxiety to make decisions and why it links to neural inhibitors.”

A paper on the findings appeared in the Aug. 30 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. CU-Boulder professors Tim Curran, Marie Banich and Randall O’Reilly, graduate students Hannah Snyder and Erika Nyhus and undergraduate honors thesis student Natalie Hutchison co-authored the paper.

In the study, they tested the idea that neural inhibition in the brain plays a big role in decision-making by creating a computer model of the brain called a neural network simulation.

“We found that if we increased the amount of inhibition in this simulated brain then our system got much better at making hard choices,” said Hannah Snyder, a psychology graduate student who worked with Munakata on the study. “If we decreased inhibition in the brain, then the simulation had much more trouble making choices.”

Through their model they looked at the brain mechanisms involved when we choose words. They then tested the model’s predictions on people by asking them to think of the first verb that comes to mind when they are presented with a noun.

“We know that making decisions, in this case choosing our words, taps into this left-front region of the brain, called the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex,” Munakata said. “We wanted to figure out what is happening in that part of the brain that lets us make these choices. Our idea here, which we have shown through the word-choosing model, is that there’s a fight between neurons in this area of the brain that lets us choose our words.”

They then tested the model’s predictions that more neural inhibition in the brain makes it easier to make choices by examining the effects of increased and decreased inhibition in people’s brains. They increased inhibition by using a drug called midazolam and found that people got much better at making hard choices. It didn’t affect other aspects of their thinking, but rather only the area of making choices. They investigated the effects of decreased inhibition by looking at people with anxiety.

“We found that the worse their anxiety was, the worse they were at making decisions, and the activity in their left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was less typical,” Munakata said.

There are two ways in which the research could be helpful in improving treatments for anxiety, according to Snyder. While specific medications that increase neural inhibition are currently used to treat the emotional symptoms of anxiety disorders, the findings suggest that they might also be helpful in treating the difficulty those suffering from anxiety have in selecting one option when there are too many choices.

“Secondly, a more precise understanding of what aspects of cognition patients are struggling with could be extremely valuable in designing effective approaches to therapy for each patient,” she said. “For example, if someone with an anxiety disorder has difficulty selecting among multiple options, he or she might benefit from learning how to structure their environment to avoid choice overload.”

The work was done in CU-Boulder’s Center for Determinants of Executive Function and Dysfunction, which brings together researchers from different areas of expertise on campus and beyond including experts on drug studies, neuroimaging and anxiety. The center is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Editor’s Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

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“Many of us deal with depression, disappointment, loneliness and unfulfilled expectations during the holiday season,” said Stefanie C. Barthmare, a psychotherapist with the Methodist Weight Management Center in Houston. “When our ideal holiday expectations are not met, we feel bad. That’s when many of us resort to eating more food, more often, to keep the deeper stuff at bay.”

Compulsive overeaters use food to deal with stress. Daily anxiety, challenges and frustrations are often softened by things like cookies, chocolate and nuts, all common holiday gifts. This problem, often beginning in childhood, may continue into adulthood and appear to go unnoticed because it’s just a normal part of the holiday season. Unfortunately, dangerous weight gain may be the result. Gaining the weight then brings on feelings of guilt and shame and, eventually, more bingeing. Learning to deal with and manage these difficult feelings requires patience and persistence, especially when food is used as a way to cope.

“Quite frequently, even the feeling of fullness does not prohibit one from eating vast amounts of food,” Barthmare said. “The food might initially help ease anxiety or difficult feelings, however, then it becomes a way of always managing feelings and then causes excessive weight gain.”

Barthmare says because the compulsive eating behavior gets established a little at a time, the consequences are gradual, thus the motivation to change is lower. The time to begin changing the pattern is now because most of us gain anywhere from 5 to 15 pounds during the holiday season.

“Changing this destructive pattern requires support from those around you, and an awareness of what is going on with your body,” Barthmare said. “Structured meal times, menus planned with a full-range of a person’s schedule, needs and lifestyle all need to be taken care of for you to successfully breakthrough and stop compulsive eating.”

Editor’s Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Methodist Hospital, Houston, via Newswise.

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The research was carried out by Shaheen Lakhan and Karen Vieira from the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation, a non-profit charity organization for the advancement of neurological and mental health patient welfare, education, and research, based in Los Angeles, USA. Lakhan said, “Our review and summary of the literature on herbal remedies and dietary supplements for anxiety should aid mental health practitioners in advising their patients and provide insight for future research in this field. We found mixed results – while passionflower or kava and L-lysine and L-arginine appeared to be effective, St John’s Wort and magnesium supplements were not”.

Of the studies included in the review, 21 were randomized controlled trials. Of these, 15 showed positive effects from either a nutritional or herbal remedy and any reported side effects were mild to moderate. According to Lakhan, “For all three of the herbal supplements we reviewed, more research needs to be done to establish the most effective dosage and to determine whether this varies between different types of anxiety or anxiety-related disorders. Herbal medicines hold an important place in the history of medicine as most of our current remedies, and the majority of those likely to be discovered in the future, will contain phytochemicals derived from plants”.

Notes:
Nutritional and herbal supplements for anxiety and anxiety-related disorders: systematic review
Shaheen E Lakhan and Karen F Vieira
Nutrition Journal (in press)

Source:
Graeme Baldwin
BioMed Central

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Balancing your time between work and life can be a tricky playing field. Especially if you also have kids to look after, you might feel like there are balls coming at you from all angles.

But there are many benefits to finding a healthy balance between earning a crust, developing a career and enjoying your personal life with your family. And it is possible, even if you have kids!

War and Peace? The work–life conflict

Realising that work can interfere with your personal life is an important part of knowing where to find balance. It’s a tricky balancing act, especially for parents, because we want to hang out with our kids but at the same time we need to earn enough money to take care of them.

Some people delay having kids, or have fewer kids than they might like to, so that they have enough time left over to develop their career. Others choose to take time off to have kids now and concentrate on career opportunities later. It’s about making the choice that’s right for you.

Sisters are doing it for themselves

Women have it even tougher in the work–life balancing act. Most Australian women now participate in the workforce, but they continue to take most of the responsibility at home. For women, working and being a mum means juggling many balls at the same time: domestic chores, babies and earning a living.

After having a baby, women will often leave the workforce or need to cut back hours, and sometimes they feel this can interfere with their career goals. To avoid losing sight of career goals, it’s important to weigh all the pros and cons, but also to be aware of your rights as working parents (and that goes for all the dads out there, too).

So where are the answers?

Families are an important part of life in Australia, and there are laws in place to help parents balance their work and family commitments. Did you know your boss is legally required to consider your requests for flexible working conditions to allow you to have a good family life?

So talk to your boss. If you feel you’re copping the blunt edge of the stick, don’t be afraid talk to someone about what is fair and what is legal. You can find the answers you need.

For those struggling with cash flow, the government may assist you. Make sure you’re aware of any financial assistance the Australian government provides. You’ve probably heard of the baby bonus scheme or paid parental leave for new parents, but there are other types of assistance like childcare support which might help you find the balance you need to cope with a slightly older family.

The right job

Look for job options which complement your life better, whether this means being able to work from home or finding something that allows you to pick up the kids. Job hunting is not an easy task, and finding the energy to update your CV or write an application will be difficult if you’re already torn between work and family. But in the long term, it might be a good investment in work–life balance.

Look in the papers or online job sites like SEEK to start brainstorming other ways of earning a living. Consider things like travel time, shift work and salary, which may affect your work–life balance.

Remember: Quality is just as important as quantity

If job switching isn’t an option right now and you are a little bit stretched between work and family, then make the most of the time you have. Find quality activities to enjoy with your kids or friends, and turn boring everyday routines like eating meals and cleaning up after them into family routines.

What’s the point?

There are endless reasons for maintaining a balance between work and family. To start, there is the added bonus of not wanting to constantly tear your hair out from stress. Not balding? Priceless.

Seriously, though, mental health problems like stress and anxiety about work will affect both you and your family. You might find yourself stressing at the kids when you get home. But if you are happy with your work, you can make a living happily and look after your family without having to worry about putting food on the table.

It’s also been shown that kids of working parents are more likely to attend early childhood education (preschool), and this leads to better performance at school. So don’t worry about getting the little tuckers out into the world. Just like work is an important part of your life balance, kids benefit from time away from the family, making new friends and learning new things at preschool!

Do the people have the power?

It might be easy to feel that your boss has all the power. At the end of the day, the boss decides whether or not you get flexible working hours or other work conditions you might request. But your boss has to consider requests and grant them if they are reasonable. So don’t be afraid to communicate with your employer if you’re having trouble finding a balance.

If you feel you are not being heard or your situation is unfair, you can always refer to your rights as a worker and talk to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission or your trade union for advice.

Wanna be my bestie?

It’s true that finding and maintaining a balance between work life and personal life is a challenge. However, it is not an impossible one. As you can see, the choices are yours, and the power is in your hands to change what you can or find ways to cope with what you cannot change.

Work life and personal life don’t have to be in conflict. Give them a chance and they may even become great friends!

More information

 
For more information on what effects work–life balance, including careers, gender and parents, see Work–life Balance. 

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