Well-being and mental health − diet, supplements, exercise or sleep? A review of reports from the last five years

In the 2020s we are faced with a problem of an ageing society. Not only do we see it and struggle to provide care for the elderly, but we also focus on constantly maintaining a good form related to our well-being as well as physical, mental and social functioning. The publications used in this review were sourced from the PubMed database and from Google Scholar. The paper uses articles published in English which are not older than 5 years. A‪nalysis of the latest literature has shown that there is evidence that modifiable factors have a positive effect on our well-being and health. The best effect can be achieved by combining positive actions in the field of diet, supplementation, moderate but systematic physical activity, and adding the right amount of sleep per day.

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A REVIEW ON THE BENEFITS OF HORTICULTURAL THERAPY FOR RETIREMENT COMMUNITY IN MALAYSIA

Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Environment ◽

10.24191/myse.v2i1.5573 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Amirul Amin Ismail ◽

Ismail Samsuddin ◽

Azman Zainonabidin ◽

Harlina Mohd Ali

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

The Elderly ◽

Retirement Community ◽

Analysis Method ◽

Horticultural Therapy ◽

Seamless Integration ◽

Ageing Society ◽

After Effects ◽

Malaysian Population ◽

The Impact

By the year 2030, Malaysian population will experience the after effects of the rapid growth of ageing society. This paper investigates the impact of seamless integration of horticultural activity in the new residential typology of retirement community. It is believed that horticultural therapy is not only beneficial for physical and psychological but also promotes socialisation opportunities among the elderly. Comparative analysis method on selected precedent studies has been carried out and analysed in accordance with Malaysian context. Initial findings indicate that a retirement community with horticultural activity gives therapy for healthier well-being. This therapeutic activity can be apositive change in elderly lifestyle and essential towards the establishment of retirement community in Malaysia.

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Nachhaltigkeit in Wald und Gesellschaft trotz «Überalterung» und «Unterjüngung» (Essay)

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2013.0236 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 164 (8) ◽

pp. 236-239

Author(s):

Werner Schärer

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Technical Progress ◽

The Elderly ◽

Human Populations ◽

Civil Society Organisations ◽

Care For The Elderly ◽

Economic Reasoning ◽

The Right ◽

Implementation Programme ◽

Effective Distribution

Sustainability in forest and society despite “overmaturity” and “lack of regeneration” (essay) This essay compares efforts to move towards sustainability in the forests with those in the care for the elderly in Switzerland, and tries to draw conclusions which may promote sustainability. It is wrong, for forests and human populations, to talk of “overmaturity”, as this assumes the primacy of economic reasoning. To guarantee sustainability, the balance between all aspects is crucial. To attain true sustainability, we need binding guidelines and the “right” scale of implementation programme. Civil society organisations have been working for decades – often longer than the state itself – to improve sustainability. In many different areas, good cooperation and effective distribution of tasks between these institutions can be observed. This is important, among other things, because the ever greater speed of technical progress may overwhelm the adaptive capacity of both forests and people, which would influence sustainability in a negative way.

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Supporting the Mental Health and Well-Being of First Responders from Career to Retirement: A Scoping Review

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x21000431 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Erin Smith ◽

Greg Dean ◽

Lisa Holmes

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Help Seeking ◽

First Responders ◽

Well Being ◽

First Responder ◽

Help Seeking Behaviors ◽

Holistic Approaches ◽

Pubmed Database ◽

Health And Well Being

Abstract Introduction: First responders are at greater risk of mental ill health and compromised well-being compared to the general population. It is important to identify strategies that will be effective in supporting mental health, both during and after the first responder’s career. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using the PubMed database (1966 to October 1, 2020) and the Google Scholar database (October 1, 2020) using relevant search terms, truncation symbols, and Boolean combination functions. The reference lists of all relevant publications were also reviewed to identify further publications. Results: A total of 172 publications were retrieved by the combined search strategies. Of these, 56 met the inclusion criteria and informed the results of this overview paper. These publications identified that strategies supporting first responder mental health and well-being need to break down stigma and build resilience. Normalizing conversations around mental health is integral for increasing help-seeking behaviors, both during a first responder’s career and in retirement. Organizations should consider the implementation of both pre-retirement and post-retirement support strategies to improve mental health and well-being. Conclusion: Strategies for supporting mental health and well-being need to be implemented early in the first responder career and reinforced throughout and into retirement. They should utilize holistic approaches which encourage “reaching in” rather than placing an onus on first responders to “reach out” when they are in crisis.

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Chronic Illness

Foundations of Global Health & Human Rights ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197528297.003.0014 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 285-306

Author(s):

Oliver Lewis ◽

Soumitra Pathare

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Human Rights ◽

Independent Living ◽

People With Disabilities ◽

Well Being ◽

Persons With Disabilities ◽

Implementation Challenges ◽

National Implementation ◽

The Right ◽

Models Of Service Delivery

This chapter sets out the connection between disability and human rights, examining how persons with disabilities (including those with physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, psychosocial or mental health disabilities, and intellectual disabilities) are particularly vulnerable to exclusion and discrimination, leading to human rights violations across the world. It has been a long global struggle to recognize the rights of people with disabilities and realize the highest attainable standard of physical, mental, and social well-being, a struggle evolving across countries and culminating in the 2006 adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The provisions of the CRPD relate to three specific rights that are of particular importance to people with disabilities: legal capacity, the right to health, and the right to independent living. Yet, national implementation challenges remain, including finding space for mental health and disability in policymaking and developing models of service delivery that advance human rights.

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COVID-19 pandemic- knowledge, perception, anxiety and depression among frontline doctors of Pakistan

BMC Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s12888-020-02864-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Faridah Amin ◽

Salman Sharif ◽

Rabeeya Saeed ◽

Noureen Durrani ◽

Daniyal Jilani

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Online Survey ◽

Well Being ◽

World Health ◽

Public Health Burden ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Modifiable Factors ◽

Anxiety Depression ◽

Self Reporting Questionnaire

Abstract Background COVID-19 is a global pandemic and has become a major public health burden worldwide. With already fragile healthcare systems it can have long lasting effects in developing countries. Outbreaks especially a pandemic situation evokes fear related behaviors among healthcare professionals and there is always an increased risk of mental health disorders. Therefore, this study aims to determine knowledge and perception about this pandemic, prevalence and factors associated with anxiety/depression among frontline physicians of Pakistan. Methods Data were collected through an online survey released in the last week of March-2020. 389 frontline physicians from all four provinces and 65 cities of Pakistan participated. Survey questionnaire consisted of 4 parts including informed consent section, demographic section, knowledge and perception about COVID-19 pandemic and assessment of depression through World Health Organization Self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20). A score of 8 or above on SRQ-20 was used as cut-off to label the participant as depressed. Data was analyzed using SPSS version22. Results A 43% prevalence of anxiety/depression among frontline physicians of Pakistan was reported. Almost all the doctors had moderate to high knowledge score. Majority of participants marked N-95 mask as “essential” during aerosol generating procedures, assessing patients with respiratory symptoms, in COVID patient-care area, ER triage and direct care of COVID-19 patient. Only 12% of the doctors were fully satisfied with the provision of PPEs and almost 94% felt unprotected. In multivariable model, assessing more than five COVID suspects/day (aOR = 2.73, 95% CI: 1.65–4.52), working 20 h/week or less (aOR = 2.11, 1.27–3.49), having children among household members (aOR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.00–2.50) and moderate to low knowledge of the infection (aOR = 2.69, 95% CI: 1.68–4.31) were found to be independent predictors of anxiety/depression among physicians. Conclusion Anxiety/depression among more than a third of frontline doctors of Pakistan warrants the need to address mental health of doctors caring for patients during this pandemic; control modifiable factors associated with it and explore the effectiveness of interventions to promote psychological well-being of physicians.

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Reasoning support for risk prediction and prevention in independent living

Theory and Practice of Logic Programming ◽

10.1017/s147106841000058x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (2-3) ◽

pp. 361-395 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

A. MILEO ◽

D. MERICO ◽

R. BISIANI

Keyword(s):

Independent Living ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Population Monitoring ◽

Expressive Power ◽

Well Being ◽

The Elderly ◽

Sensor Data ◽

Care For The Elderly ◽

Prediction And Prevention ◽

Correlation Rules

AbstractIn recent years there has been a growing interest in solutions for the delivery of clinical care for the elderly because of the large increase in aging population. Monitoring a patient in his home environment is necessary to ensure continuity of care in home settings, but, to be useful, this activity must not be too invasive for patients and a burden for caregivers. We prototyped a system called Secure and INDependent lIving (SINDI), focused on (a) collecting a limited amount of data about the person and the environment through Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), and (b) inferring from these data enough information to support caregivers in understanding patients' well-being and in predicting possible evolutions of their health. Our hierarchical logic-based model of health combines data from different sources, sensor data, tests results, common-sense knowledge and patient's clinical profile at the lower level, and correlation rules between health conditions across upper levels. The logical formalization and the reasoning process are based on Answer Set Programming. The expressive power of this logic programming paradigm makes it possible to reason about health evolution even when the available information is incomplete and potentially incoherent, while declarativity simplifies rules specification by caregivers and allows automatic encoding of knowledge. This paper describes how these issues have been targeted in the application scenario of the SINDI system.

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Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Older Adults and Related Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

Medical - Surgical Nursing Journal ◽

10.5812/msnj.99059 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Roohollah Farhadloo ◽

Sarallah Shojaei ◽

Hamid Torabian ◽

Mostafa Vahedian ◽

Masoumeh Zakerimoghadam ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Older Adults ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Good Condition ◽

Well Being ◽

The Elderly ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Distress Scale

Background: Improving lifestyle, increasing lifespan and life expectancy have led to the phenomenon of aging in societies. The increasing population of older adults is one of the most important economic, social, and health challenges in the current century. Objectives: This study was conducted to measure the mental health of older adults in Qom City and its relationship with socioeconomic factors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study on 400 older adults over 60 years in the urban areas of Qom in 2018. A multi-stage sampling method was used for this study. The research tools were a demographic questionnaire, the Kessler Psychological Distress scale (K6), and a standard psychological well-being scale. Data were analyzed by Stata 12 software using the t-test. The significance level was considered less than 0.05. Results: Considering the mental health status, based on the K6, 55% of the elderly showed signs of low depression anxiety, 34% moderate, and 11% showed severe anxiety symptoms. Regarding the status of well-being, 49.50% were in good condition (11.3 ± 3.3), 27.75% were in moderate condition (13.8 ± 2.9), and 22.75% were in poor condition (7.3 ± 2.6). Anxiety and depression had significant relationships with gender, having an illness, marital status, having a caregiver, and income. Conclusions: The results showed that about half of the elderly in Qom had moderate anxiety and depression disorders, as well as moderate mental well-being, which indicates the moderate level of anxiety and mental disorders in the elderly in Qom.

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The Public Health Model for Mental Health Care for the Elderly

JAMA ◽

10.1001/jama.283.21.2844 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 283 (21) ◽

pp. 2844 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Ira R. Katz

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Health Care ◽

The Elderly ◽

The Public ◽

Public Health Model ◽

Care For The Elderly ◽

Health Model

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Mandatory physical exercise for the prevention of mental illness in medical students

Mental Illness ◽

10.4081/mi.2014.5549 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Robert A. Bitonte ◽

Donald Joseph II DeSanto

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Well Being ◽

Dropping Out ◽

Training Experience ◽

Health Counseling ◽

Positive Effect

Medical students experience higher rates of mental illness than the general population. With competition rising for success in medical school, and residency, increasing incidence of distress are leading this population to experience higher rates of thoughts of dropping out of school, and even suicide. Since many stigmas deter medical students from receiving mental health counseling, such as the perceived inability to handle the stresses of medical school, and the potential lack of competitiveness for residencies if reported, prevention of mental illness may be a better course to take in reducing prevalence in this population. Regular exercise has demonstrated a positive effect on not only promoting physical health, but also mental health. Exercise encourages a healthy mood, positive self esteem, and better cognition, while decreasing the chances of depression, anxiety, and burnout. Implementing exercise time into medical school curriculums, just like the basic sciences, albeit for less time in the day, could provide a feasible way to ensure that all students are taking time to partake in this important activity for their well being. Though medical schools are rigid with attempts to make changes in their curriculum, thirty minutes a day, three to five times a week of exercise of the students’ choice not only is more cost effective than counseling, but it also reduces the chances that they will experience burnout, which if left untreated could transcend into a compromised training experience.

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