Section 1: Description of Practice
Exercise is physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive for the purpose of conditioning any part of the body and is used to improve physical health, enhance emotional well-being and maintain fitness (Exercise Definition, 2014). For this assignment, I will explore the mental and physical health benefits of exercise therapy and the potential it has in treating mental illness. Despite the benefits, it remains a neglected intervention amongst mental health professionals. Physical activity is not only beneficial to the physical health, but also the mental health. Persons with mental illness are at greater risk for developing metabolic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol
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There is one staff psychiatrist, one chief resident psychiatrist, and a nurse practitioner (NP) who oversees the daily care of patients and makes adjustments to medications as needed. My role on the unit is to work with the NP. We round daily on assigned patients, address any concerns with patients and staff, order and monitor labs or other tests as needed, make necessary medication adjustments, attend morning nursing report, as well as a collaborative staff meeting to discuss every patient on the team with all disciplines (MD, social worker/case manager, OT, nurse, pharmacist, students/residents from all disciplines). There are two registered nurses (RN), a charge nurse, and two support staff assistants everyday on the unit. The nurses administer daily medications, perform assessments, obtain blood specimens, etc. The staff assistants obtain daily vital signs, provide meal trays and snacks throughout the day, assist with ADL’s as needed, and any other patient support that is required. There is also an occupational therapist (OT) and social worker who see patients daily. The social worker/case manager communicates with family, legal, etc and arranges discharge placement (if going to a facility, group home, shelter, etc) and OT’s focus is on activities of daily living. The facility where I attend clinical offers a 20 minute daily exercise group to patients on the inpatient unit. This …show more content…
In the United States, insurance and government funded programs will pay for disease treatment and physical illness interventions, but these same programs typically will not pay for lower cost interventions that might prevent the onset of mental illness, such as exercise therapy. Another reason for being a neglected treatment option is that exercise is rarely acknowledged as an effective treatment intervention due to the lack of knowledge the role of exercise plays in mental health treatment (Jewell, 2010). We also need to teach patients how to exercise. It’s important to build up stamina, encourage them to start out slow to prevent over exacerbation, so they aren’t quick to give up. It’s something that takes time, just like anything else and can even use medication as an example. We never start out with the maximum dose of medication, always start low/slow and work your way up. Other considerations for teaching are proper shoes and good hydration. Lack of motivation is a potential barrier on the patient’s part, which is why assessing the level of motivation is necessary and using motivational interviewing techniques may be
Lie on your back and place your finger on the cord behind your head. Keep your abs tight, raise your left knee to your right elbow touches. Do it for the right knee, and repeat this exercise 15 times a day.
Kye wants to help the clients know how important exercise is in relation to mental health and to help them rediscover what they’ve lost or what they’re passionate about, whether it be sports or something else. He’s hopeful that sober sports lead to a reduction in stigma and isolation as well as giving them
In the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and The Brain by Dr. John J. Ratey, MD (2008), Ratey discuses how exercise can help treat many mood disorders and how it can help strengthen our brains. This book is divided into ten chapters all with five to ten subsections in them. The chapters include: Welcome to the revolution: A Case Study on Exercise and the brain, Learning, Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Attention Deficit, Addiction, Hormonal Changers, Aging, and the Regimen.
One of the studies showed that a combination of exercise and counseling was more effective than counseling alone (Rueter et al. 1982). Martinsen et al (1985) divided a group of 23 participants with clinical depression into two groups – (i) a control group of 14 patients and (ii) a exercise group of 9 patients who were given TCAs (Tricyclic antidepressants) to augment treatment. It was seen that both the group showed similar improvement in depressive symptoms. This does show that exercise has an impact that is as good as medication to lower depressive
Many mental disorders and diseases can be treated overtime or minimised through physical activity and exercise in studies confirmed by Norway scientists; highlighting that through a four-year study depression, anxiety cardiovascular diseases are decreased in adults that engage in regular exercise (Zshuckle, Gaudiltz and Ströhle, 2013). As research shows us, the relationship between PTSD and poor physical health is predominant in the case of fear; restricting the patient in partaking in physical
A growing epidemic in America is depression. Physicians are able to prescribe drugs to help with the symptoms of depression, but other therapeutic methods have been studied and show great results in recovery. Therapeutic Physical Fitness has shown to reduce depression and anxiety. Ihas been confirmed through experiments that physical exercise can be as effective as antidepressant drugs and some cases suggest that it better prevents symptom recurrence.
There is a flourishing interest in the use of physical activity or exercise in the treatment of depression because
Heladóttír, Hallgren, Ekblom, Forsell (2016) sought to find an optimal dosage of exercise to elicit positive responses in those diagnosed with depression using three varying intensities. With frequency and duration kept consistent, 620 participants, including ages 18 to 67, were randomly assigned different treatment groups. These included (1) continuing their usual treatment, (2) light exercise like yoga, (3) moderate aerobic exercise, and (4) vigorous aerobic exercise. The training program lasted for 12 weeks, requiring subjects to exercise 55 minutes 3 times a week. The researchers measured depression severity at baseline and post-treatment while monitoring heart rate during every session using a monitor. Following the conclusion of the study, the results indicated that depression severity decreased in al exercise groups. However, the optimal dosage for exercise prescription remains uncertain. These findings suggest that light exercise, such as yoga, were more beneficial than the other intensities
According to Butler et al (2008), exercises that need high energy and regular aerobic practices are likely to cut down the depression symptoms at a rapid rate. Further, the authors are of
Since 1990s, many scientists agree that exercise has positive impacts on people’s physical health and mental health (SIME WE, 1987). From Morgan and O’Connor’s research, people can reduce stress and state anxiety by doing physical activities; also gain emotional pleasure from the process (Morgan and O’Connor, 1988). Later in 1997, Landers states that physical activities can reduce people depression after weeks of regular and routine exercise. In addition, people can benefit from more
One group took part in an aerobic exercise program, another was given SSRI, (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) which is a used as an antidepressant in many athletes struggling to cope with pressure. The third group was to do both of the programs together. At the 16-week mark, depression had lowered in all three groups. In fact, about 60-70% of the participants could no longer be classified as having severe depression (June 2009 Harvard Medical School). The groups scores rating on levels of depression were relatively the same, this suggests that for those who need or want to avoid drugs, exercise in a suitable substitute for antidepressants. Keep in mind though, that the swiftest response occurred with the group taking antidepressants and that it can be difficult to stay motivated to exercise when you are depressed. This shows how beneficial exercise can be when trying to relieve depression in athletes and social sport participants but this is not true for elite athletes as exercise is already a massive contributor to their lives, so although that exercise can help people suffering from depression, there is clearly other severe factors that are affecting an elite athletes mental
Some hypothesize that moderate levels of exercise will decrease the symptoms of mental health conditions (Blumenthal et al., 2007; Diaz & Motta, 2008; Motta, Kuligowski, & Marino, 2010; Rosenbaum, Nguyen, Lenehan, Tiedemann, van der Ploeg, & Sherrington, 2011) and therefore be used as an alternative or complimentary treatment option for mental health (Libby, Pilver, & Desai, 2012).
This report aims to determine the efficacy and benefits of exercise in the management of depression, which is classified by the World Health Organisation as a mood disorder. In order to place exercise therapy into context, conventional methods for treating clinical depression are discussed. A personal meta-analysis is then undertaken, summarising the findings of studies that have explored the clinical significance of physical exercise as an intervention in treating depression. The advantages and disadvantages of such an intervention are described, and
They found that an exercise training programme could be an alternative treatment for MDD. Although antidepressants had a more rapid response than exercise, after 16 weeks of exercise the effectiveness in reducing depression was equal to the anti-depressants. A study also found that a single bout of exercise could result in substantial improvements in mood, which shows that it’s not just duration and frequency. However, it may be that the improvement in mood is only temporary (Dimeo et al., 2001). Lawler and Hopker (2001) stated that effectiveness of exercise on depression couldn’t be determined due to lack of quality research based on clinical populations. They also wrote that the explanations of the results may have been that depressed patients who did regular exercise could have got positive feedback from other people and a sense of self worth, which may act as a diversion from negative thoughts. Physical activity was found to be linked with less coexisting depression, which remains the same after controlling for gender, age, and race. The results of the study showed that physical activity is helpful with medical problems, life stressors and quality of sleep (Harris et al., 2006).
The goal of this paper was to show the benefits of exercise on emotional health and to show how it can effectively be used to help people with mental issues. Through various studies data was collected and while the results may have varied slightly they all told the same general story: exercise is good for your emotional health. This paper explored the impact of exercise on people with various physical issues that had negative consequences on patients mental health. This made for a great analysis of the various ways that exercise can help improve your quality of life. Not only was the impact of exercise examined but the proper amount was also investigated in order to provide as much information as possible to help make the process as easy as possible for the people that are trying to use physical activity to help them.