Self-management of mood and/or anxiety disorders through physical activity/exercise

Introduction Physical activity/exercise is regarded as an important self-management strategy for individuals with mental illness. The purpose of this study was to describe individuals with mood and/or anxiety disorders who were exercising or engaging in physical activity to help manage their disorders versus those who were not, and the facilitators for and barriers to engaging in physical activity/exercise. Methods For this study, we used data from the 2014 Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada—Mood and Anxiety Disorders Component. Selected respondents (n = 2678) were classified according to the frequency with which they exercised: (1) did not exercise; (2) exercised 1 to 3 times a week; or (3) exercised 4 or more times a week. We performed descriptive and multinomial multiple logistic regression analyses. Estimates were weighted to represent the Canadian adult household population living in the 10 provinces with diagnosed mood and/or anxiety disorders. Results While 51.0% of the Canadians affected were not exercising to help manage their mood and/or anxiety disorders, 23.8% were exercising from 1 to 3 times a week, and 25.3% were exercising 4 or more times a week. Increasing age and decreasing levels of education and household income adequacy were associated with increasing prevalence of physical inactivity. Individuals with a mood disorder (with or without anxiety) and those with physical comorbidities were less likely to exercise regularly. The most important factor associated with engaging in physical activity/exercise was to have received advice to do so by a physician or other health professional. The most frequently cited barriers for not exercising at least once a week were as follows: prevented by physical condition (27.3%), time constraints/too busy (24.1%) and lack of will power/self-discipline (15.8%). Conclusion Even though physical activity/exercise has been shown beneficial for depression and anxiety symptoms, a large proportion of those with mood and/or anxiety disorders did not exercise regularly, particularly those affected by mood disorders and those with physical comorbidities. It is essential that health professionals recommend physical activity/exercise to their patients, discuss barriers and support their engagement.

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Reducing Allostatic Load in Depression and Anxiety Disorders: Physical Activity and Yoga Practice as Add-On Therapies

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00501 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Luciana D'Alessio ◽

Guido Pablo Korman ◽

Mercedes Sarudiansky ◽

Laura Ruth Guelman ◽

Laura Scévola ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Anxiety Disorders ◽

Allostatic Load ◽

Yoga Practice ◽

Depression And Anxiety

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Physical Inactivity, Self-Management, and Living Well With COPD

American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine ◽

10.1177/1559827617700596 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 303-306

Author(s):

David B. Coultas

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Behavior Change ◽

Physical Inactivity ◽

Self Management ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Short Term ◽

Optimal Method ◽

Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽

Specific Patient

Physical inactivity is an underrecognized and undertreated lifestyle behavior among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is independently associated with a number of adverse health-related outcomes. Pulmonary rehabilitation with exercise training provides an efficacious intervention with short-term improvements, but it is an infrequently used modality and does not consistently result in longer term increases in physical activity. Similarly, pedometer self-monitoring with coaching has demonstrated short-term increases in physical activity. However, further research is needed to determine the optimal method to support long-term behavior change that will have the greatest benefit. While available evidence suggests that reversing physical inactivity is an essential component of self-management to optimize health, it is only one component of a complex set of interventions needed to support patients in adapting to their chronic condition. In the future, this support will ideally start with identification of specific patient phenotypes, which describes their adaptation to the condition based on patients’ knowledge, skills, confidence, symptoms, and impairments. This information will then be used to tailor education and behavior change strategies over the long term to promote sustainable physical activity and other healthy lifestyles.

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Use of Physical Activity Self-Management Strategies by High School Students

Pediatric Exercise Science ◽

10.1123/pes.2014-0089 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 168-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Stewart G. Trost ◽

Jan Hutley

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

High School Students ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Management Strategy ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Strategy Use ◽

Self Management ◽

Use Of Self ◽

School Students ◽

Fourfold Increase

Teaching adolescents to use self-management strategies may be an effective approach to promoting lifelong physical activity (PA). However, the extent to which adolescents use self-management strategies and their impact on current PA have not been studied previously. The aims of this study were 1) to describe the prevalence of self-management strategy use in adolescents; and 2) to determine relationships between self-management strategy use, PA self-efficacy, and PA participation. 197 students completed questionnaires measuring use of self-management strategies, self-efficacy, and PA behavior. The most prevalent self-management strategies (>30%) were thinking about the benefits of PA, making PA more enjoyable, choosing activities that are convenient, setting aside time to do PA, and setting goals to do PA. Fewer than 10% reported rewarding oneself for PA, writing planned activities in a book or calendar, and keeping charts of PA. Use of self-management strategies was associated with increased self-efficacy (r = .47, p < .001) and higher levels of PA (r = .34 p < .001). A 1-unit difference in self-management strategy scores was associated with a ~fourfold increase in the probability of being active (OR = 3.7, 95% CI = 1.8-7.4). Although strongly associated with PA, a relatively small percentage of adolescents routinely use self-management strategies.

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A Personal Health System for Self-Management of Congestive Heart Failure (HeartMan): Development, Technical Evaluation, and Proof-of-Concept Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.24501 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mitja Luštrek ◽

Marko Bohanec ◽

Carlos Cavero Barca ◽

Maria Costanza Ciancarelli ◽

Els Clays ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Heart Failure ◽

Congestive Heart Failure ◽

Patient Monitoring ◽

Self Management ◽

Personal Health ◽

Psychological Profile ◽

Depression And Anxiety ◽

Proof Of Concept ◽

Monitoring Methods

BACKGROUND Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a disease that requires complex management involving multiple medications, exercise, and lifestyle changes. It mainly affects older patients with depression and anxiety, who commonly find management difficult. Existing mobile apps supporting the self-management of CHF have limited features and are inadequately validated. OBJECTIVE The HeartMan project aims to develop a personal health system that would comprehensively address CHF self-management by using sensing devices and artificial intelligence methods. This paper presents the design of the system and reports on the accuracy of its patient-monitoring methods, overall effectiveness, and patient perceptions. METHODS A mobile app was developed as the core of the HeartMan system, and the app was connected to a custom wristband and cloud services. The system features machine learning methods for patient monitoring: continuous blood pressure (BP) estimation, physical activity monitoring, and psychological profile recognition. These methods feed a decision support system that provides recommendations on physical health and psychological support. The system was designed using a human-centered methodology involving the patients throughout development. It was evaluated in a proof-of-concept trial with 56 patients. RESULTS Fairly high accuracy of the patient-monitoring methods was observed. The mean absolute error of BP estimation was 9.0 mm Hg for systolic BP and 7.0 mm Hg for diastolic BP. The accuracy of psychological profile detection was 88.6%. The F-measure for physical activity recognition was 71%. The proof-of-concept clinical trial in 56 patients showed that the HeartMan system significantly improved self-care behavior (P=.02), whereas depression and anxiety rates were significantly reduced (P<.001), as were perceived sexual problems (P=.01). According to the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology questionnaire, a positive attitude toward HeartMan was seen among end users, resulting in increased awareness, self-monitoring, and empowerment. CONCLUSIONS The HeartMan project combined a range of advanced technologies with human-centered design to develop a complex system that was shown to help patients with CHF. More psychological than physical benefits were observed. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03497871; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/history/NCT03497871. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.1186/s12872-018-0921-2

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Physical activity, exercise, depression and anxiety disorders

Journal of Neural Transmission ◽

10.1007/s00702-008-0092-x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 116 (6) ◽

pp. 777-784 ◽

Cited By ~ 528

Author(s):

Andreas Ströhle

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Anxiety Disorders ◽

Depression And Anxiety

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Correlates of well-being among Canadians with mood and/or anxiety disorders

Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada ◽

10.24095/hpcdp.36.12.04 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 36 (12) ◽

pp. 302-313 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Heather Orpana ◽

J. Vachon ◽

C. Pearson ◽

K. Elliott ◽

M. Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Social Support ◽

Logistic Regression ◽

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Anxiety Disorders ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Life Stress ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Management ◽

Sleep Habits

Introduction Our objective was to examine variables associated with well-being as measured by high self-rated mental health (SRMH) and life satisfaction (LS), among Canadian adults (aged 18+) living with a mood and/or an anxiety disorder. Methods We used nationally representative data from the 2014 Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada–Mood and Anxiety Disorders Component (SLCDC-MA) to describe the association between well-being and self-management behaviours (physical activity, sleep and meditation) as well as perceived stress, coping and social support. We used multivariate logistic regression to model the relationship between these factors and measures of well-being. Results Approximately one in three individuals with mood and/or anxiety disorders reported high SRMH. The logistic regression models demonstrated that several characteristics such as being older, and reporting higher self-rated general health, fewer functional limitations, lower levels of perceived life stress, higher levels of perceived coping and higher levels of perceived social support were associated with higher levels of wellbeing. Self-management behaviours (including starting physical activity, meditation, adopting good sleep habits and attaining a certain number of hours of nightly sleep) were not significantly associated with measures of well-being in our multivariate model. Conclusion Canadian adults with mood and/or anxiety disorders who reported lower levels of perceived stress and higher levels of social support and coping were more likely to report high levels of well-being. This study contributes evidence from a representative population-based sample indicating well-being is achievable, even in the presence of a mood and/or an anxiety disorder.

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