Are Some Jobs More Stressful Than Others?

Everyone has bad days on the job—a project that you put hours into bombs or a task you need to accomplish is difficult and stressful. But are some jobs harder overall on our mental health than others? Depression may be more likely to occur in some professions, research suggests. And according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, suicides in the workplace, while not commonplace, are on the rise. Their research, published in the March 16 online edition of the “American Journal of Preventive Medicine,” showed that 270 people committed suicide in the workplace in 2013, a 12% increase over 2012.




Men and those over 65 were more likely to commit suicide in the workplace than others. Law enforcement jobs -- police officers, firefighters, and detectives -- had the highest rate of workplace suicides with 5.3 suicides for every 1 million workers. Farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and forestry workers came in next with 5.1 suicides per one million. The authors also noted that minorities may be at a greater risk for workplace suicide compared to non-workplace suicides. Their research did not include military jobs.




This month’s “JAMA Psychiatry” also addressed the topic in a “Viewpoints” op-ed co-authored by two medical interns from New York who said that being a physician, especially a young intern, may leave some people vulnerable to mental illness and suicide. Doctors are twice as likely to kill themselves compared to non-physicians, and female doctors are three times more likely to do so than their male counterparts, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). According to AFSP, though, the workplace can be an ideal place for suicide prevention programs. Their Interactive Screening Program (ISP), for example, is an anonymous online survey that IDs at-risk people and connects them with support. The NFL and the Boston Police Department have used the program. The authors of the “Lancet Psychiatry” op-ed say some work programs, like one at the U.S. Air Force, have successfully addressed workplace depression and mental illness in a variety of ways. One initiative: The USAF designates certain supervisors as mental health “gatekeepers.” Their job is to identify at-risk employees and channel them to screening and mental health services.



Want more info on managing workplace stress? Read about APA’s Partnership for Workplace Mental Health. Learn more about the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s ISP program by contacting the Program Director at isp@afsp.org. Read Mayo Clinic’s article: Work-Life Balance: Tips to Reclaim Control.



by Mary Brophy Marcus, health writer, APA



For more news and wellness info from APA, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

The Power of Words: Addressing the Stigma of Mental Illness

Jenna Bowen, medical student, University of Wisconsin

Reviewed by Claudia Reardon, MD

Crazy.  Insane.  Deranged. Mad.  Lunatic. —Misused as nouns, adjectives and
lay-diagnoses, their use perpetuates stereotypes of the wide variety of people
who experience mental illness.

Maybe you know someone or, more likely, a number of people who
experience depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or other brain disorders.  According to the National Institute of Mental
Health, 1 in 4 American adults and 1 in 5 American youth experience a form of
mental illness every year. People with mental illness are teachers, accountants,
neighbors, sisters, fathers and friends. Anyone you know could be experiencing
mental illness, but afraid to come forward and be treated. Maybe that person is
you.

People living with mental illness continue to have an identity
that is beyond a diagnosis, similar to other medical conditions. While managing
mental illness may be challenging at times—similar to challenges faced by
people with diabetes, high blood pressure, or other medical illness— there is
greater difficulty in getting the treatment needed because of feelings of shame
and stigma surrounding mental illness. However, treatment for mental illness
works. Research shows the majority (65 percent to 80 percent) of individuals
with mental disorders will improve with appropriate treatment and ongoing
monitoring. People with mental illness need to know that they will continue
to be seen as people – your brother, best friend, daughter —and not “crazed” or
“insane” if they appropriately seek help for a treatable medical condition that
they happen to be experiencing.

Bring Change 2 Mind, an organization aimed to end stigma and
discrimination surrounding mental illness, offers recommendations to reduce
your impact on the stigma surrounding those with mental illness.

• Use "person first" vocabulary. When we say a person is
  schizophrenic, we make their mental illness fully define their identity.
  Instead, be clear that this is a disease that individuals manage and live with—
  "He is living with schizophrenia."


• Avoid the verb "suffers" when discussing mental illness.
  Instead, choose, "lives with mental illness" or "is affected by
  mental illness."


• There are many phrases and terms; "crazy,"
  "nuts", "psycho", "schizo", "retard"
  and "lunatic" that may seem insignificant, but really aren't.

Be an advocate for those that you know, and the many that you
don’t know, who are living with some form of mental illness by breaking down stigma,
and being conscious of language surrounding brain disorders. To learn more check
out:

·        
Bring
Change 2 Mind

·        
NAMI
– Stigma Busters

·        
Resource Center to Promote Acceptance, Dignity and
 Social Inclusion Associated with Mental Health (SAMHSA)

·        
Mental
Health Terminology:  Words Matter

Study highlights lack of access to mental health care

By Arshya Vahabzadeh,MD 

 @VahabzadehMD



A new study from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics once again highlights that too many people living with mental health conditions are not getting needed care.



Study authors Laura A. Pratt, PhD, and Debra J. Brody, MPH, found that nearly 8% of Americans aged 12 and up had depression (moderate or severe depressive symptoms in the past 2 weeks). The rate of depression was twice as high among people living below the poverty level, 15%.



 Far more alarming, the study showed yet again that people with depression are going untreated. While nearly 90% of people with severe depressive symptoms reported difficulty with work, home, or social activities related to their symptoms, only about one-third (35.3%) had seen a mental health professional in the past year, according to the study. Among those with moderate depressive symptoms, only 1 in 5 had seen a mental health professional.



While there are many reasons people don’t get needed mental health care, including mental health stigma and lack of access, discrimination in mental health coverage by insurance companies shouldn’t be among the reasons. Federal law now requires that insurers cover mental health illnesses the same as physical ailments, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.





However, many people don’t know their rights when it comes to getting mental health treatment. To address this glaring problem, the American Psychiatric Association has released a new poster --

available to mental health professionals -- that explains in simple terms your rights under the law and what to do if you think your rights are being denied. Download a copy at www.psychiatry.org/parity.

Adult Bullying in the Workplace

By Brad Zehring, DO

I would rather be a
little nobody, then to be an evil somebody - Abraham Lincoln

Typically, when bullying is talked about it is in the
context of children or adolescents during some level of schooling. Rarely do we
think about bullying as an adult issue. However, much more attention has been
focused on adult bullying – more specifically, adult bullying in the workplace.

According to various sources, citing research and survey’s, it
has been reported that as many as 1 in 4 adults will face some form of bullying
in their career.  It is important to
point out the differences between constructive criticism, workplace conflict,
and bullying. Workplace bullying focuses on the person rather than the
performance or task being completed by the person. In addition, the person
being targeted feels powerless to stop it. Making the situation worse, is when
the adult being bullied goes to management to report the offense and the abuse
is minimized or discounted altogether. Complicating the issue further is the
difficulty verbalizing what is taking place or being unaware that what is
occurring is bullying, leading to worsening suffering.

What are some forms
of workplace bullying?

As discussed earlier, workplace bullying can be described as
an extreme pattern where the person is isolated apart from his/her performance
or task. Some examples of workplace bullying are: being left-out of
work-related social events, coworkers refusing to help when asked, coworkers
leaving the room when you enter or routinely arriving to meetings late that
when you call them, being yelled at, put down, or disciplined in front of your
coworkers. These are some of the ways that workplace bullying presents, but it
is not an exhaustive list.

How workplace
bullying is harmful

For individuals who are being bullied in the workplace,
their desire to go into work day after day is diminished and their satisfaction
in their performance and with their employer decreases.  Many reports discuss the loss of productivity
when job satisfaction decreases. Beyond the psychological stress (depression,
anxiety, PTSD, etc) – which should not be minimized, stress from bullying can
lead to physical illness such as stroke, heart attacks, chronic fatigue or dissatisfaction
in an person’s personal life – including leading to suicide. There are many reports
documenting poor job satisfaction negatively affecting all areas on one’s life.
Feeling accomplished and satisfied in a career can lead to a happier personal
life and vice versa.



How to prevent or
deal with workplace bullying

While recognizing or speaking up about workplace bullying
can be a difficult task - it is important not to be silent about bullying experiences,
whether personal attacks or witnessed attacks on colleagues, or isolate from
those that may be able to help. Currently, states are working on anti-bullying
bills to encourage healthy workplace environments, but fostering a workplace
for your coworkers that doesn’t tolerate bullying is key. Many organizations
provide or contract with mental health professionals willing to discuss,
advise, and help an individual navigate the process. It is important to
document your concerns and be specific and concise with the message you are
trying to convey if you feel you are being bullied. Despite how difficult it
may be, it is important to approach the bully or go to your supervisor with a
calm demeanor and discuss your concerns rationally. Lastly, it is important to
have an open mind about the situation. Sometimes it may be that the “bully”
does not realize how his/her actions have affected you. Approaching them, or
the situation, calmly will provide an environment for understanding and
increase the probability for change.

How to "Bully-Proof " Kids

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Williams’ death reminds us that a patient’s relief might be a warning sign

By
H. Steven Moffic, MD

One
of my favorite movie moments is when Robin Williams signs on as an edgy D.J. by
exclaiming "Good Morning, Vietnam" from the 1987 movie of the same name.
Sometimes, I played the audio over and over, as if it could promise a good day.
As he did so often, he found a way to not only lighten the sadness, but to do
it in such a way that might be constructively critical.

Surely,
the real life mornings were not often happy ones, as so many of our troops died
or ended up with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from that war. It is a
lesson we are still learning, so that movie and his role is worth seeing again
soon.

Now,
after his reported suicide, that good morning seems more like a final good
night.

Although
he is probably best known for his manic comedy, he also played many serious
roles. Most ironically now, he won an academy award in 1997 for playing an
empathic therapist in the film “Good Will Hunting.”

Indeed,
beloved entertainers like Robin Williams have a therapeutic role of sorts for
society in the sense that they provide some relief—even if briefly—for the
grief and stress of everyday life. For playing that societal role, such people
become a repository for our hopes, dreams and demons. As we know for so many
famous entertainers, it is not easy for them to have a successful private
life—a private life that the public also tries to invade, as if they were
related to us.

What
we do know publicly is that Williams suffered from chronic depression and
intermittent substance abuse. It is reported that he received treatment,
including entering rehab just last month. Obviously, money to get the best
treatment was not an issue, though how good the treatment was will remain
unknown. We do know, however, that wealthy VIPs often receive treatment just as
poor as low-income folks without resources. We also know that occasionally
depression is a terminal illness, though that ending is not predictable.

Beyond
the public information, and despite the understandable curiosity, this is not
the time, nor should it ever be the time, to speculate about his diagnosis and
reasons for committing suicide. In fact, the so-called "Goldwater
Rule," called that for the inappropriate professional speculation about
presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, ethically prohibits such speculations
on the part of psychiatrists like myself.


Given
this professional ethical principle, as well as the family's request for
privacy, is there anything we can still learn from this apparent tragedy? The
most intriguing detail that caught my attention was his last tweet and
Instagram on July 31. Reportedly, he had wished his daughter a happy 25th
birthday.

Why
might this positive communication be of importance to us?

It
reminded me of the only patient I ever had who committed suicide, long ago,
when I was a resident in training. In the second session, the depression of
this elderly man seemed to be less severe, but after that session he walked
into Lake Michigan and drown. In the psychological autopsy, I never forgot the
warning that when a depressed patient starts to seem better, they actually can
be at higher risk for suicide.

Risky
time

Why
is that time of apparent improvement a risky time? The person can have more
energy, then plan and complete a suicide. They may also feel relief at their
decision, causing others to paradoxically feel relief. That is one of the
reasons why it is so common to hear of the genuine surprise that the suicide
occurred, as the person seemed to be happier.

What
this means, not only for professionals, but for the public, is not to take at
face value if a depressed person seems better. Be sure there is a sound
explanation for the apparent improvement. 

Our
only consolation must be that entertainers like Robin Williams keep on living
in the form of their life’s work, like the movie “Good Morning, Vietnam,” that
is so ubiquitously available nowadays. Even so, it would not be surprising if
at the times we laugh once again at Robin William's humor, that the laughter
will also be accompanied by some tears of grief.

Bio

H. Steven Moffic, MD, is a Life Fellow of the APA. Currently, he blogs regularly for Psychiatric Times, Behavioral
Healthcare, and The Hastings Center's Over 65.



This blog was originally published in Behavioral Healthcare.
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Spreading Hope!

By Matt Goldenberg
D.O.

@docgoldenberg 

“You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person,
I guarantee you, you'll win, no matter what the outcome.” 

I whole-heartedly agree with that statement. However, I
cannot take credit for those words. Those are the words of Robin Williams, or
more specifically, the words of his character in Patch Adams.



I want to discuss the disease called depression. I will start by first
discussing the diagnosis and the signs and symptoms of depression. I will then
follow up with my thoughts on the various treatment options for depression and
the strategies I employ with my patients to improve their outcomes. None of my
thoughts and suggestions should serve in place of a formal consultation with a
mental healthcare provider. However, I hope shedding light on mental health
diagnoses like depression will lift the veil and social stigma on these chronic
diseases that impact so many people.



Psychiatry has come a long way in the last decade. This is a time of continued
discovery and increasing public awareness. The leaders of our professional
organization, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), have suggested that we
as mental health professionals are under a microscope. I agree that we are
and I also strongly believe that we are up for the challenge. School shootings
and celebrity suicides and overdoses have increasingly put a focus on mental
health. Psychiatry has significantly improved the outcomes, treatment options
and the prognosis of patients with mental illness. However, we still are unable
to decrease the prevalence of the diseases we treat or prevent them. We know that
the brain changes during an episode of depression and our treatments help it to
return to normal (see the image below). Although we are getting closer, we
still currently do not have widely accessible blood or imaging tests that can
confirm our diagnosis or localize the area of disease.

I can say with certainty, however, we are able to accurately
diagnose patients. We are able to identify medications, psychotherapies and
other treatments that patients with a specific diagnosis or cluster of signs and
symptoms often benefit from. There is strong evidence that our treatments
decrease symptomatology and disability and improve quality of life, clinical
outcomes and a patient’s prognosis.



Psychiatrists are trained to view the patient as a “whole person”. Psychiatry
is a field of medicine whose assessment by definition includes all of the
biological, psychological and social aspects of a patient’s life. We listen for
the psychological and social factors that can contribute to disease.
Oftentimes, the “whole story” can be more telling than only focusing on
specific symptoms of a given disease. There is a saying, throughout all fields
of medicine, that “most patients have not read the textbook.” In other words,
patients usually do not present exactly as the textbook says they should.
Stress and psychological factors can mimic chest pain, shortness of breath,
gastrointestinal problems and a whole host of other diseases. If we do not step
back and get the whole story, we can miss the root cause or the exacerbating
factors of many manageable diseases which are of the mind.



Many of the diseases we treat, such as depression, are chronic illnesses which
require lifelong treatment. Our treatments can improve a patient’s mental
health and coping skills and decrease their symptomatology and substance use.
We know through decades of research that these are modifiable risk factors for
suicide. Therefore, Psychiatrists have the training and tools necessary to
decrease a patient’s risk of attempting suicide. Our treatments have the
potential to not only significantly improve the lives of our patients, but also
the lives of their families and everyone who comes into contact with them.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is misleading, misinformed or both.

I
hope this information and the blogs to follow will give you hope. Mental
illness can include symptoms which can be devastating and complications which
can be life-threatening.
However, it is important to state again, these are treatable diseases. If you
or someone you know, would like to talk to someone, call your primary care
doctor or your insurance company for a referral to a Psychiatrist. A true
multi-disciplinary team also includes therapists, psychologists, nurses and
social workers. You are never alone. You can call the national suicide helpline
24 hours a day, seven days a week (1-800-273-TALK (8255) or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org).
There are also local crisis lines likely available in your area and are an
internet search away. If you are ever feeling unsafe, or fearing for the safety
of a loved one, you can call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.

It is time for everyone to understand that there is no shame in getting help
for depression, much as there is no shame in getting help with diabetes or high
cholesterol. Even if you have never suffered from depression, there is
a lot you can learn.

Together we can raise awareness and spread truth and hope. I know that if we
spread knowledge, and ignore the misinformation, we will overcome the
complacency and ignorance that is so pervasive today. That is how we can best
honor those we have lost. That is how we can best prevent the next death from
mental illness and addiction.

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Depression & Cancer

By Brad Zehring, DO @DrZehringDO

“Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It
cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my
soul”  - Jim Valvano

But, what
happens when it does?

Depression
is a multifactorial disorder that requires acknowledgement of the biological,
psychological, and social aspects of a person’s life. Professionals in the
mental health community describe this as the biopsychosocial model. It provides
an understanding of the factors influencing a person’s mental and physical
state of being.

When mental health professionals talk about depression they
often do so in regards to Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). According to DSM 5
(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), 5 out of 9 criteria
are needed to diagnose MDD. It requires a depressed mood or anhedonia (lack of
enjoying what was previously enjoyed) for greater than 2 weeks including:
disturbances in sleep, guilty/hopeless/worthless feelings, poor concentration,
low energy, changes in appetite (weight loss or weight gain), psychomotor
agitation or retardation, and suicidal ideation.

Depression affects your entire body. But, the physical
aspects of depression are often overlooked. It is common for people with
depression to experience weight changes, digestive problems, headaches, back
pain, muscle and joint pain, and disruptions in sleep cycle. Many symptoms that
are present in cancer.

Depression has been linked with many health problems,
including cancer. Cancer is a heavy word. The enormity of the word brings many
images to the forefront of our imagination: radiation, chemotherapy, losing
hair, sickness, weakness, and death - among others. There is so much symptom
overlap between cancer and depression it can be hard to recognize the etiology
of the symptoms.

It is important that health care professionals, family
members, and other caretakers
are vigilant with a person’s mental well being after they are diagnosed with
cancer. Even if a person has never experienced depression previously, their
risk of depression is increased when they find out they have cancer. Research
shows that the incidence of depression increases proportionately with the
cancer’s progression. It is believed those with depression have increased
likelihood of depression because of increased immune response (cytokines)
within the body.

It is important not to assume that someone with cancer has
an appropriate depressed mood due to his or her circumstances.  This is why it is important to screen for
depression in those diagnosed with cancer. Screening for depression can help
“tease out” symptoms related to depression and symptoms related to the cancer. Treating
depression in patients with cancer can help them focus on their treatment and
have the motivation to do everything needed to possibly achieve remission.
Proper treatment gives them the ability to focus on their future. Cancer alone
is enough, but when combined with untreated depression the results can be
deadly.

After recognizing depression in someone with cancer, there
are ways to treat depression in parallel with cancer treatment. There are two
forms of treatment. One involves medication and the other involves
psychotherapy, or talk therapy. The typical medications for depression are
antidepressants like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) and
Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRI). These medications have
been around for a long time and are generally well tolerated. They take
anywhere from 2-6 weeks for clinical efficacy. These medications should be
monitored with cancer treatment, as there can be drug interactions and side
effects that may not be present in someone taking these medications without
cancer. In addition to medications, psychotherapy can be effective. More
specifically, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help people change their
negative thoughts about cancer and their future. For the most efficacious
treatment a combination of both should be implemented.

Cancer is a serious illness and a well-developed
multi-disciplinary approach is necessary to best treat the patient. Cancer can
cause a lot of different disturbances in physical and mental health. It is
important to have health professionals, like psychiatrists
and psychologists, part of the treatment team to ensure proper treatment of the
whole patient.

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How Psychotherapy Changes the Brain

By Serina Deen, MDMPH



When I first see patients for evaluation, they often tell me
that they’ve debated starting a “biological” treatment such as medication,
versus a “psychological” treatment such as psychotherapy. I’m happy to report
that as brain imaging technology advances, we’re finding that this distinction
may be obsolete. 

Psychotherapy is also “biological” in that it can lead to
real functional and structural changes in the brain.   In fact, sometimes psychotherapy and
medication produce surprisingly similar changes in the brain.  We still have a lot to learn about the topic,
but below are some examples of what researchers have been finding so far.

Functional Changes in
the Brain:

In one study, researchers at UCLA found that people who
suffered from depression had abnormally high activity in an area of the brain
called the prefrontal cortex.  Those who
got better after they were treated with a type of therapy called interpersonal
therapy (IPT) showed a decrease in activity in the prefrontal cortex after
treatment.  In other words, IPT seemed to
“normalize” brain activity in this hyperactive region.



Another study looked at people who have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), who tend to have an overactive area of the brain called the
caudate nucleus.  Treatment with a type
of therapy called cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) was associated with a
decrease in the hyperactivity of the caudate nucleus, and the effect was most
evident in people who had a good response to CBT.  In other words, the better the therapy seemed
to work, the more the brain activity changed.

Changes in Brain
Volume:

People with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) suffer from debilitating
fatigue.  People with CFS tend to have a
decrease in a type of brain tissue called grey matter in the prefrontal cortex
of the brain.  Researchers in the
Netherlands gave people with CFS 16 sessions of CBT, and found significant
increases in gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex.  This seems to suggest that the CFS patients
were able to “recover” some gray matter volume after CBT.

Similarities and
Differences to Medications

Psychotherapy sometimes seems to work in similar ways as
medications, and other times appears to have different mechanisms of action.

In the study mentioned previously about people with
depression, both IPT and the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) showed a
decrease in prefrontal cortex activity.  And
with OCD patients, both CBT and the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) produced
similar decreases in activity in the caudate nucleus. 

However in a different study, the antidepressant Venlafaxine
(Effexor) produced changes in different parts of the brain than IPT in
depressed patients.  This shows that there
is variability in how different treatments work in the brain.

How Psychotherapy
Produces Brain Change

We now know that the brain keeps changing, even after we
become adults.  Learning leads to the
production of new proteins, which in turn can change connectivity in our brains
in a process called neuroplasticity.   Indeed, researchers in Germany showed that
certain neurochemicals involved in neuroplasticity increased in depressed
patients who got better after a course of interpersonal therapy. 

Picking a Treatment
that Works Best for You

Even though we know that both medication and psychotherapy
can change our brain, we still have a long way to go in learning exactly how
that happens and when to use what treatment. Given a specific mental illness,
sometimes medications work best, sometimes psychotherapies are the best option,
and sometimes it’s a combination of the two. 
In addition, there are different types of psychotherapies that work for
different illnesses, just as there are many different types of
medications.  If you’re considering
seeking help for mental illness, it would be helpful to talk with a trained
professional about what would work best for you. 





Read tips on what to expect during your first visit with a psychiatrist  

"Let's Talk Facts" brochure on Psychotherapy

Brain Awareness blog post from NIMH Director Tom Insel, MD

APA Releases List
of Five Uses of Psychiatric Medication to Question

Six tips for talking to your doctor about medication

For more information about psychotherapy

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Need a New Year’s Resolution? Try Exercise!

By Ahmed Raza Khan, MD, MPH

Follow@AhmedRazaKhanMD

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Physician at Stanford University
School of Medicine



Most people know that exercise is beneficial for cardiac health and is prescribed by physicians for the prevention and alleviation of various medical complications. But what if I told you exercise can also significantly benefit your mental health in more ways than one? Let’s take a look at some of the ways exercise can improve mental health and how to incorporate this into your new year’s resolution list!

Exercise and Depression Prevention:More than 350 million people in the world suffer from depression and it is the leading
cause of disability worldwide.  Exercise
has often been considered as a supplemental tool in treating depression, but
recent evidence points to exercise playing a role in the prevention of future
depressive episodes. These recent findings show that even low levels of
physical activity (e.g., walking less than 150 minutes a week) can prevent
future depression. There has been significant research in the last few years
that links cardiovascular health’s role in the origin of depression. This would
certainly be a plausible explanation for why exercise may prevent depression.



Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention:Alzheimer’s
disease is a chronic, degenerative disease of the brain that affects over
25 million people in the world. This illness leads to a progressive mental
decline, steering its victims to dependence on caregivers and, eventually,
death. Amyloid plaques are abnormal clusters of protein fragments that are
found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and are thought to
play a major role in its progression. Recent studies have found that people who
exercised at or above the levels recommended by the American Heart Association
had significantly lower numbers of amyloid plaques than those who exercised
less. This was the case for even those who carried the APOE-e4 gene
variant, which is an established risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. When
people with the APOE-e4 gene variant were compared, those with higher levels of
exercise had lower levels of amyloid plaques.



Improving Cognitive Functioning:Exercise has been shown
to increase cognitive functioning in rats. As rats get older, their memory
tends to diminish and this appears to be due to a drop of nerve synapses in the
hippocampus, the memory center of the brain. But after 12 weeks of voluntary
running, both memory and hippocampus nerve synapses were restored in these
rats.



Consistency in Exercise:Recent neuroscientific
studies have shown that the cognitive benefit of exercise may have a window of
time. In fact, rats that improved their cognitive functioning by exercise, had
this improvement dissipate in 3-6 weeks of inactivity. This is similar to what
is seen with muscle mass or heart rate when exercise is withdrawn. This
evidence intimates that exercise is beneficial for the brain and should be
performed consistently.



The American Heart Association is a great
resource for planning the amount and type of exercise one needs. They recommend
at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity at least 5 days a
week for a total of 150 minutes or at least 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic
activity 3 days a week for a total of 75 minutes. An easy target to remember:
30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

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