The exercise pill: How exercise keeps your brain healthy and protects it against depression and anxiety

  As with many other physicians, recommending physical activity to patients was just a doctor chore for me – until a few years ago. That was because I myself was not very active. Over the years, as I picked up boxing and became more active, I got firsthand experience of positive impacts on my mind. I also started researching the effects of dance and movement therapies on trauma and anxiety in refugee children, and I learned a lot more about the neurobiology of exercise.

Emergency alerts and news notifications can make us stressed and anxious — here’s what you can do to cope

  When there’s a disaster, it’s helpful to know what’s going on — and know whether you’re truly at risk. But as essential as emergency alert systems are, they can leave many of us feeling anxious — even when the alert may be a false alarm or test.

  This is because emergency alerts, whether real or tests, can activate the same neural circuits involved in real danger. This can trigger stress, confusion, and anxiety.

Is ‘headline stress disorder’ real? Yes, but those who thrive on the news often lose sight of it

  It began with a basic “news you can use” feature from National Public Radio. Titled “5 ways to cope with the stressful news cycle,” producer Andee Tagle’s piece, published in late February, offered tips on how to cope with anxiety caused by news consumption in tense times.

  Among Tagle’s tips: “Do something that feels good for your body and helps you get out of your head.” Also: “The kitchen is a safe space for a lot of us. Maybe this is the weekend that you finally re-create Grandpa’s famous lasagna … or maybe just lose yourself in some kitchen organization.”

How exercise keeps your brain healthy and protects it against depression and anxiety

  As with many other physicians, recommending physical activity to patients was just a doctor chore for me – until a few years ago. That was because I myself was not very active. Over the years, as I picked up boxing and became more active, I got firsthand experience of positive impacts on my mind. I also started researching the effects of dance and movement therapies on trauma and anxiety in refugee children, and I learned a lot more about the neurobiology of exercise.

  I am a psychiatrist and neuroscientist researching the neurobiology of anxiety and how our interventions change the brain. I have begun to think of prescribing exercise as telling patients to take their “exercise pills.” Now knowing the importance of exercising, almost all my patients commit to some level of exercise, and I have seen how it benefits several areas of their life and livelihood.

Hoarding, stockpiling, panic buying: What’s normal behavior in an abnormal time?

  Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorders have emerged or worsened for many during the pandemic. This is no surprise to clinicians and scientists, who have been increasing worldwide access to mental health information and resources.

  But what effect has the pandemic had on another common but often misunderstood problem – hoarding? The issue first received attention when people piled up paper towels, toilet tissue, and hand sanitizer in their shopping carts at the start of the pandemic, leading some people to wonder whether they or a loved one were showing signs of hoarding disorder.

The Matrix is already here: Social media promised to connect us, but left us isolated, scared and tribal

  About a year ago, I began to follow my interest in health and fitness on Instagram. Soon I began to see more and more fitness-related accounts, groups, posts, and ads. I kept clicking and following, and eventually, my Instagram became all about fit people, fitness and motivational material, and advertisements. Does this sound familiar?

  While the algorithms and my brain kept me scrolling on the endless feeds, I was reminded of what digital marketers like to say: “Money is in the list.” That is, the more customized your group, people, and page follows, the less time and money is needed to sell you related ideas. Instead, brand ambassadors will do the work, spreading products, ideas, and ideologies with passion and free of charge.

Feeling disoriented by the election, pandemic and everything else? It’s called ‘zozobra,’ and Mexican philosophers have some advice

  Ever had the feeling that you can’t make sense of what’s happening? One moment everything seems normal, then suddenly the frame shifts to reveal a world on fire, struggling with the pandemic, recession, climate change, and political upheaval.

  That’s “zozobra,” the peculiar form of anxiety that comes from being unable to settle into a single point of view, leaving you with questions like: Is it a lovely autumn day, or an alarming moment of converging historical catastrophes?

  It is a condition that many Americans may be experiencing.

As reopening begins in uncertain coronavirus times, you need emotional protective equipment, too

  As millions across the U.S. return to work – and maybe, a level of normalcy – the phrase, “We’re all in this together,” heard constantly in the media, turns out to be both true and untrue. Yes, the pandemic is a global experience. But it’s also very much an individual enterprise.

  Your race, age, socioeconomic status, where you live, and whether or not children are in the house all have a dramatic impact on how you’re responding to the pandemic. For many, aside from the isolation, life has changed little. But others have lost family, friends, a paycheck, or a business. For some of them, any sense of security has vanished.

How to listen to your loved ones with empathy when you yourself are feeling the strain of social distancing

  COVID-19 has revealed a great many things about our world, including the vulnerabilities inherent in our economic, health care, and educational institutions. The pandemic and the resulting orders to shelter in place have also uncovered vulnerabilities in our relationships with others.

  Many of us are not just dealing with our own feelings of anxiety, anger, and sadness; we are dealing with the anxiety, anger, and sadness expressed by the people with whom we live and other loved ones with whom we’ve maintained virtual connections. How do we respond with empathy when we are feeling a host of emotions ourselves? Is it even possible?

Feeling overwhelmed? Approach coronavirus as a challenge to be met, not a threat to be feared

  You have a choice to make when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.

  Do you treat this time as an insurmountable threat that pits you against everyone else? This option entails making decisions based solely on protecting yourself and your loved ones: stockpiling supplies regardless of what that leaves for others; continuing to host small gatherings because you’re personally at lower risk; or taking no precautions because the effort seems futile.

4 ways to help kids relax as the coronavirus upends everyday life

  Families everywhere are adjusting to a new way of life due to social distancing measures like closed schools, workplaces, and more. Given that anxiety was already among the most common mental health problem in kids before the COVID-19 pandemic, what can parents do to help keep this problem at bay? Childhood anxiety scholar Mirae J. Fornander outlines strategies parents can follow.

Why we are hard-wired to worry, and what we can do to calm down

  A new year brings both hopes and anxieties. We want things to be better for ourselves and the people we love but worry that they won’t be, and we imagine some of the things that might stand in the way. More broadly, we might worry about who’s going to win the election or even if our world will survive.

  As it turns out, humans are wired to worry. Our brains are continually imagining futures that will meet our needs and things that could stand in the way of them. And sometimes any of those needs may be in conflict with each other.