scholarly journals Association Between Improvement in Baseline Mood and Long-Term Use of a Mindfulness and Meditation App: Observational Study

10.2196/12617 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. e12617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Argus J Athanas ◽  
Jamison M McCorrison ◽  
Susan Smalley ◽  
Jamie Price ◽  
Jim Grady ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional State ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
User Input ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Emotional Transition

Background The use of smartphone apps to monitor and deliver health care guidance and interventions has received considerable attention recently, particularly with regard to behavioral disorders, stress relief, negative emotional state, and poor mood in general. Unfortunately, there is little research investigating the long-term and repeated effects of apps meant to impact mood and emotional state. Objective We aimed to investigate the effects of both immediate point-of-intervention and long-term use (ie, at least 10 engagements) of a guided meditation and mindfulness smartphone app on users’ emotional states. Data were collected from users of a mobile phone app developed by the company Stop, Breathe & Think (SBT) for achieving emotional wellness. To explore the long-term effects, we assessed changes in the users’ basal emotional state before they completed an activity (eg, a guided meditation). We also assessed the immediate effects of the app on users’ emotional states from preactivity to postactivity. Methods The SBT app collects information on the emotional state of the user before and after engagement in one or several mediation and mindfulness activities. These activities are recommended and provided by the app based on user input. We considered data on over 120,000 users of the app who collectively engaged in over 5.5 million sessions with the app during an approximate 2-year period. We focused our analysis on users who had at least 10 engagements with the app over an average of 6 months. We explored the changes in the emotional well-being of individuals with different emotional states at the time of their initial engagement with the app using mixed-effects models. In the process, we compared 2 different methods of classifying emotional states: (1) an expert-defined a priori mood classification and (2) an empirically driven cluster-based classification. Results We found that among long-term users of the app, there was an association between the length of use and a positive change in basal emotional state (4% positive mood increase on a 2-point scale every 10 sessions). We also found that individuals who were anxious or depressed tended to have a favorable long-term emotional transition (eg, from a sad emotional state to a happier emotional state) after using the app for an extended period (the odds ratio for achieving a positive emotional state was 3.2 and 6.2 for anxious and depressed individuals, respectively, compared with users with fewer sessions). Conclusions Our analyses provide evidence for an association between both immediate and long-term use of an app providing guided meditations and improvements in the emotional state.

scholarly journals Association Between Improvement in Baseline Mood and Long-Term Use of a Mindfulness and Meditation App: Observational Study (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Argus J Athanas ◽  
Jamison M McCorrison ◽  
Susan Smalley ◽  
Jamie Price ◽  
Jim Grady ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional State ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
User Input ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Emotional Transition

BACKGROUND The use of smartphone apps to monitor and deliver health care guidance and interventions has received considerable attention recently, particularly with regard to behavioral disorders, stress relief, negative emotional state, and poor mood in general. Unfortunately, there is little research investigating the long-term and repeated effects of apps meant to impact mood and emotional state. OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate the effects of both immediate point-of-intervention and long-term use (ie, at least 10 engagements) of a guided meditation and mindfulness smartphone app on users’ emotional states. Data were collected from users of a mobile phone app developed by the company Stop, Breathe & Think (SBT) for achieving emotional wellness. To explore the long-term effects, we assessed changes in the users’ basal emotional state before they completed an activity (eg, a guided meditation). We also assessed the immediate effects of the app on users’ emotional states from preactivity to postactivity. METHODS The SBT app collects information on the emotional state of the user before and after engagement in one or several mediation and mindfulness activities. These activities are recommended and provided by the app based on user input. We considered data on over 120,000 users of the app who collectively engaged in over 5.5 million sessions with the app during an approximate 2-year period. We focused our analysis on users who had at least 10 engagements with the app over an average of 6 months. We explored the changes in the emotional well-being of individuals with different emotional states at the time of their initial engagement with the app using mixed-effects models. In the process, we compared 2 different methods of classifying emotional states: (1) an expert-defined a priori mood classification and (2) an empirically driven cluster-based classification. RESULTS We found that among long-term users of the app, there was an association between the length of use and a positive change in basal emotional state (4% positive mood increase on a 2-point scale every 10 sessions). We also found that individuals who were anxious or depressed tended to have a favorable long-term emotional transition (eg, from a sad emotional state to a happier emotional state) after using the app for an extended period (the odds ratio for achieving a positive emotional state was 3.2 and 6.2 for anxious and depressed individuals, respectively, compared with users with fewer sessions). CONCLUSIONS Our analyses provide evidence for an association between both immediate and long-term use of an app providing guided meditations and improvements in the emotional state.

Effect of Emotions in a Lexical Decision Task

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Maire ◽  
Renaud Brochard ◽  
Jean-Luc Kop ◽  
Vivien Dioux ◽  
Daniel Zagar
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Sequence Effect ◽  
Emotion Induction ◽  
Before And After

Abstract. This study measured the effect of emotional states on lexical decision task performance and investigated which underlying components (physiological, attentional orienting, executive, lexical, and/or strategic) are affected. We did this by assessing participants’ performance on a lexical decision task, which they completed before and after an emotional state induction task. The sequence effect, usually produced when participants repeat a task, was significantly smaller in participants who had received one of the three emotion inductions (happiness, sadness, embarrassment) than in control group participants (neutral induction). Using the diffusion model ( Ratcliff, 1978 ) to resolve the data into meaningful parameters that correspond to specific psychological components, we found that emotion induction only modulated the parameter reflecting the physiological and/or attentional orienting components, whereas the executive, lexical, and strategic components were not altered. These results suggest that emotional states have an impact on the low-level mechanisms underlying mental chronometric tasks.

scholarly journals Feasibility and Enjoyment of Exercise Video Games in Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 559-559
Author(s):  
Sara Freed ◽  
Briana Sprague ◽  
Lesley Ross
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Xbox Kinect ◽  
Game Developers

Abstract Interventions using exercise video games, or exergames, have shown short-term cognitive and physical benefits to older adults, though long-term effects are less promising. Enjoyment of exergames may promote exergame use after the intervention period, though little work has examined older adults’ views of exergames before and after gameplay experience. We invited 20 older adults between 65 and 84 years of age (M=73.30, SD=5.95) to play two Xbox Kinect games, Just Dance and Kinect Sports Rivals, for twenty minutes. In our presentation, we will present qualitative and quantitative findings of this pilot study, including findings that older adults reported that they were not likely to play similar exergames in the future and that they did not find the exergames to be more fun compared to other ways of exercising. We will discuss implications for game design and research relevant to game developers, manufacturers, and researchers. Part of a symposium sponsored by Technology and Aging Interest Group.

Explosions and Human Health: The Long-Term Effects of Blast Injury

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Finlay ◽  
Michelle Earby ◽  
David J. Baker ◽  
Virginia S.G. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Blast Injury ◽  
Mass Casualties ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Emergency Responders ◽  
Response Strategies

AbstractThe immediate patterns of injury from explosions are well documented, from both military and civil experience. However, few studies have focused on less immediately apparent health consequences and latent effects of explosions in survivors, emergency responders and the surrounding community. This review aimed to analyze the risks to health following an explosion in a civil setting.A comprehensive review of the open literature was conducted, and data on 10 relevant military, civilian and industrial events were collected. Events were selected according to availability of published studies and involvement of large numbers of people injured. In addition, structured interviews with experts in the field were conducted, and existing national guidelines reviewed.The review revealed significant and potentially long-term health implications affecting various body systems and psychological well-being following exposure to an explosion. An awareness of the short- and long-term health effects of explosions is essential in screening for blast injuries, and identifying latent pathologies that could otherwise be overlooked in stressful situations with other visually distracting injuries and, often, mass casualties. Such knowledge would guide responsible medical staff in implementing early appropriate interventions to reduce the burden of long-term sequelae. Effective planning and response strategies would ensure accessibility of appropriate health care resources and evidence-based information in the aftermath of an explosion.Finlay SE, Earby M, Baker DJ, Murray VSG. Explosions and human health: the long-term effects of blast injury. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012;27(4):1-7.

The immediate effect of Sinapis nigra and Zingiber officinale as thermogenic substances during footbaths: A Randomized Controlled Cross-over Trial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Vagedes ◽  
Silja Kuderer ◽  
Eduard Helmert ◽  
Katrin Vagedes ◽  
Matthias Kohl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Zingiber Officinale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Primary Outcome Measure ◽  
Warm Water ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Stimulus Perception ◽  
Late Evening ◽  
Short And Long Term

Objective: Warm footbaths infused with Sinapis nigra (mustard, or MU) or Zingiber officinale (ginger, or GI) are used for various thermoregulatory conditions, but little is known about how they are perceived by individuals, both short- and long-term. We analyzed the immediate and long-term effects of MU and GI on warmth and stimulus perception in healthy adults. Methods: Seventeen individuals (mean age 22.1±2.4 years; 11 female) received three footbaths (mean temperature was 40 ± 0.2 ℃, administered between 1:30-6:30pm) in a randomized order with a cross-over design: 1. with warm water only (WA), 2. with warm water and MU and 3. with warm water and GI. Warmth and stimulus perception at the feet were assessed at the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th minute of the footbaths, in the late evening (EVE), and the following morning (MG). We further assessed well-being (at EVE and MG) and sleep quality (at MG). The primary outcome measure was the warmth perception at the feet at the 10th minute of the footbath. Results: At the 10th minute of the footbath, warmth perception at the feet was significantly higher with MU and GI compared to WA. The immediate thermogenic effects pointed to a quick increase in warmth and stimulus perception with MU, a slower increase with GI, and a gradual decrease with WA. Regarding the long-term effects, warmth and stimulus perception were still higher after GI compared to WA at EVE and MG. No differences were seen for general well-being and sleep quality. Conclusion: Thermogenic substances can significantly alter the dynamics of warmth and stimulus perception when added to footbaths. The different profiles in the application of GI and MU could be relevant for a more differentiated and specific use of both substances in different therapeutic indications.

scholarly journals Exposure to and recall of violence reduce short-term memory and cognitive control

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (32) ◽  
pp. 8505-8510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Bogliacino ◽  
Gianluca Grimalda ◽  
Pietro Ortoleva ◽  
Patrick Ring
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Exposure To Violence ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Urban District ◽  
Term Memory

Previous research has investigated the effects of violence and warfare on individuals' well-being, mental health, and individual prosociality and risk aversion. This study establishes the short- and long-term effects of exposure to violence on short-term memory and aspects of cognitive control. Short-term memory is the ability to store information. Cognitive control is the capacity to exert inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Both have been shown to affect positively individual well-being and societal development. We sampled Colombian civilians who were exposed either to urban violence or to warfare more than a decade earlier. We assessed exposure to violence through either the urban district-level homicide rate or self-reported measures. Before undertaking cognitive tests, a randomly selected subset of our sample was asked to recall emotions of anxiety and fear connected to experiences of violence, whereas the rest recalled joyful or emotionally neutral experiences. We found that higher exposure to violence was associated with lower short-term memory abilities and lower cognitive control in the group recalling experiences of violence, whereas it had no effect in the other group. This finding demonstrates that exposure to violence, even if a decade earlier, can hamper cognitive functions, but only among individuals actively recalling emotional states linked with such experiences. A laboratory experiment conducted in Germany aimed to separate the effect of recalling violent events from the effect of emotions of fear and anxiety. Both factors had significant negative effects on cognitive functions and appeared to be independent from each other.

Evaluation of Six Family-Support Programs: Are They Effective?

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edna W. Comer ◽  
Mark W. Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Family Support ◽  
Parent Education ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Support Programs ◽  
Evaluation Design ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Multiple Strategies ◽  
Program Description

Family-support programs employ multiple strategies in an effort to strengthen families and promote the well-being of children. The multidimensionality of these programs—viewed by many experts as a strength—renders them particularly difficult to evaluate. As a result of this complexity, little information is available on the effectiveness of family-support programs. The authors examine outcome research from six family-support programs. Each of the programs was subjected to rigorous program evaluation. The findings from this research are summarized across six dimensions, including program description, intervention strategies, target population, evaluation design, outcome measures, and observed outcomes. Findings from these six programs suggests that there are positive outcomes for young children and their parents. The authors caution that too few studies that involve manualized interventions, and broad assessment over time of randomized groups have been conducted. In these six evaluations, however, program families demonstrated enhanced child, parent, and family functioning. Additionally, these programs appear to improve parent education and produce gains in both immediate and long-term effects on housing and income.

Change in the rocky reef fish fauna of the iconic Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve in north-eastern New Zealand over 4 decades

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 1496
Author(s):  
David R. Schiel ◽  
Tony Ayling ◽  
Michael J. Kingsford ◽  
Christopher N. Battershill ◽  
J. Howard Choat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reef Fish ◽  
Fish Species ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Fish Fauna ◽  
Rocky Reef ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Reef Fish Species

Marine reserves exhibit increases in targeted fish species, but long-term effects on biodiversity are poorly understood. Factors other than reserve status may affect decadal changes, including environmental change. We examined the fish fauna at the iconic Poor Knights Islands over 4 decades (1974–2016) before and after implementation of a no-take marine reserve in 1998. We document a substantial increase in commercially and recreationally targeted Chrysophrys auratus, which was virtually absent before 1994 but by 2016 had reached up to 11 fish per 500m2 (220 per hectare). There were also large changes to the fish community, including the decline of subtropical and coastal wrasses, some species with no change and others that increased significantly. Many declines occurred >20 years before the arrival of abundant C. auratus, suggesting the changes do not represent a trophic cascade. Furthermore, this normally benthic-feeding fish has adopted a mid-water foraging behaviour targeting planktivorous fish. The increase in C. auratus appears to be linked both to reserve status and catch regulations in the wider region. Overall, the data point to long-term environmental fluctuations from the late 1970s having a negative effect on the abundance of more than half the reef fish species at these islands.

The Long-Term Effects of Solitary Confinement From the Perspective of Inmates

2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (6) ◽  
pp. 652-674
Author(s):  
Liat Tayer ◽  
Tomer Einat ◽  
Anat Yaron Antar
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Behavioral Disorders ◽  
Physical Aggression ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Solitary Confinement ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Mental And Behavioral Disorders

This qualitative study analyzes the effects of solitary confinement on prisoners and the strategies used by them to cope with its difficulties. The findings indicate that solitary confinement is perceived as unfair and as intensifying hostile emotions and physical aggression, and that it is related to a range of long-term physiological, mental, and behavioral disorders. Three strategies are used to cope with the difficulties of solitary confinement: keeping to a ritualistic routine, a religious lifestyle, and physical exercise. We conclude that solitary confinement exacerbates the difficulties of detention and affects prisoners’ health and well-being for short and long terms.

The Banco de Avío

2021 ◽  
pp. 442-464
Author(s):  
Eric Van Young
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Textile Industry ◽  
The State ◽  
Development Bank ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Silver Mining ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Textile Sector

At Alamán’s initiative a law of 1830 established the Banco de Avío, a government-funded development bank for the spurring of industrialization, especially in the textile sector, with which his name has forever been associated. His views of industrialization as a development strategy as opposed to a renewed reliance upon silver mining are discussed, as well as the short- and long-term effects of loans made to textile entrepreneurs and the cronyism employed by Alamán both in organizing the Banco itself and in allotting its capital as loans to industrialists. The state of the textile industry in Mexico before and after the Banco is described.

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