Mental Health Archives - Dr Amin Azhari - دکتر امین اظهری

COVID-19 vaccination boosts mental health along with immunity

Getting vaccinated for COVID-19 measurably improved the psychological well-being of participants in the Understanding Coronavirus in America study, a large longitudinal look at the impact of the pandemic on individuals in the United States. Vaccination was associated with declines in distress and perceived risks of infection, hospitalization, and death. The study, appearing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, validates the intuitive but previously unanswered questions of whether becoming vaccinated reduces perceived risks associated with COVID-19, and whether the reduction of these fears leads to improvements in mental health and quality of life.

Psychologic distress and anxiety increased sharply across the population following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several factors contributed, such as widespread job and income loss, food insecurity, social isolation, caregiving burdens, substance abuse, and racialized discrimination. Depressive symptoms persisted and increased into 2021 for those experiencing an accumulation of stress exposures. Not surprisingly, many individuals are also experiencing anticipatory fears that contribute to rising mental health problems.

Data from a nationally representative study of 8,090 adults who were interviewed regularly between March 2020 and June 2021 revealed declines in COVID-related risk perceptions and psychological distress following vaccination. Specifically, adults who received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine between December 2020 and June 2021 reported a 7% relative reduction in mental distress, as measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire 4 (PHQ-4) distress scores, from average levels in the survey period immediately prior to vaccination.

Reductions in distress were partially explained by declining risk perceptions following vaccination. Becoming vaccinated was associated with a 7.77 percentage point decline in perceived risk of infection, a 6.91 percentage point decline in perceived risk of hospitalization, and a 4.68 percentage point decline in perceived risk of death. Adjusting for risk perceptions decreased the vaccination−distress association by 25%.

Release date: 15 February 2022
Source: Elsevier

Poor sleep linked to feeling older and worse outlook on ageing, which can impact health

Poor sleep in the over 50s is linked to more negative perceptions of ageing, which in turn can impact physical, mental and cognitive health, new research has revealed.

A study led by the University of Exeter and found that people who rated their sleep the worst also felt older, and perceived their own physical and mental ageing more negatively.

Lead author Serena Sabatini, of the University of Exeter, said: “As we age, we all experience both positive and negative changes in many areas of our lives. However, some people perceive more negative changes than others. As we know that having a negative perception of ageing can be detrimental to future physical health, mental health, and cognitive health, an open question in ageing research is to understand what makes people more negative about ageing. Our research suggests that poor sleepers feel older, and have a more negative perception of their ageing. We need to study this further – one explanation could be that a more negative outlook influences both. However, it could be a sign that addressing sleep difficulties could promote a better perception of ageing, which could have other health benefits.”

Researchers surveyed 4,482 people aged 50 and over who are part of the PROTECT study. Run by the University of Exeter and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, PROTECT is an innovative online study in which participants take regular cognitive tests and complete lifestyle questionnaires. The study aims to understand what helps people stay cognitively healthy in later life.

As a result of such comments, the team decided to conduct a questionnaire looking specifically at sleep. In the research, published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, participants were asked whether they had experienced a list of negative age-related changes, such as poorer memory, less energy, increased dependence on the help of others, decreased motivation, and having to limit their activities. They also rated their quality of sleep. The participants completed both questionnaires twice, one year apart.

Release date: 22 November 2021
Source: University of Exeter

Nutrition in rehabilitation

Women’s mental health has higher association with dietary factors

Women’s mental health likely has a higher association with dietary factors than men’s, according to new research from Binghamton University.

Lina Begdache, assistant professor of health and wellness studies at Binghamton University, had previously published research on diet and mood that suggests that a high-quality diet improves mental health. She wanted to test whether customization of diet improves mood among men and women ages 30 or older.

Fast food, skipping breakfast, caffeine and high-glycemic (HG) food are all associated with mental distress in mature women,” said Begdache. “Fruits and dark green leafy vegetables (DGLV) are associated with mental well-being. The extra information we learned from this study is that exercise significantly reduced the negative association of HG food and fast food with mental distress,” said Begadache.

The paper, “Customization of Diet May Promote Exercise and Improve Mental Wellbeing in Mature Adults: The Role of Exercise as a Mediator,” was published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine .

Release date: 07 Jun 2021
Source: Binghamton University

Waking just one hour earlier cuts depression risk by double digits

Waking up just one hour earlier could reduce a person’s risk of major depression by 23%, suggests a sweeping new genetic study published May 26 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

The study of 840,000 people, by researchers at University of Colorado Boulder and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, represents some of the strongest evidence yet that chronotype–a person’s propensity to sleep at a certain time –influences depression risk.

It’s also among the first studies to quantify just how much, or little, change is required to influence mental health.

As people emerge, post-pandemic, from working and attending school remotely– a trend that has led many to shift to a later sleep schedule–the findings could have important implications.

Release date: 28 May 2021
Source: EurokAlert

Public Health

Childhood air pollution exposure linked to poor mental health at age 18

A multidecade study of young adults living in the United Kingdom has found higher rates of mental illness symptoms among those exposed to higher levels of traffic-related air pollutants, particularly nitrogen oxides, during childhood and adolescence.

Previous studies have identified a link between air pollution and the risk of specific mental disorders, including depression and anxiety, but this study looked at changes in mental health that span all forms of disorder and psychological distress associated with exposure to traffic-related air pollutants.

The findings, which will appear April 28 in JAMA Network Open, reveal that the greater an individual’s exposure to nitrogen oxides across childhood and adolescence, the more likely they are to show any signs of mental illness at the transition to adulthood, at age 18, when most symptoms of mental illness have emerged or begin to emerge.

Release date: 28 April 2021
Source: Duke University

Is your job killing you?

A new study from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business finds that our mental health and mortality have a strong correlation with the amount of autonomy we have at our job, our workload and job demands, and our cognitive ability to deal with those demands. Read more in Journal of Applied Psychology .

Release date: 19 May 2020

Source: Indiana University

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