Category: Mind Space

Exercise Fights Depression

Stay fit, stay safe, stay happy.

Antidepressant medication may not be the best thing to fight depression as regular exercise can be just as good for your mind! I think I need to go out and exercise more considering how good it is for both mind and body.

News Target has an article that explores how exercise is the best antidepressant.

But a recent placebo-controlled study conducted by James Blumenthal, professor of psychology at Duke University and published in the September issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine compared exercise to a common antidepressant medication in a group of individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and found that exercise was as effective as the drug at alleviating symptoms of the disorder. In this study, 202 depressed adults were randomly assigned to one of four groups: one that received the antidepressant sertraline, one that worked out in a supervised group setting three times a week, one that worked out at home, or one that received a placebo pill. Sixteen weeks later, 47% of the group that took the antidepressant, 45% of the supervised exercise group, and 40% of those that exercised at home no longer met the criteria for major depression based on a standard measure of depression symptoms. Although the percent of improvement in the group that exercised on their own was less than that of those that exercised in a supervised group, and the percent improvement in the supervised exercise group was slightly less than that of the group that took the antidepressant, the differences between these three groups were not statistically significant. All groups improved a statistically significant amount over the placebo group, 31% of which no longer met the criteria for depression at the end of the study. This study provides powerful evidence that exercise may be a viable alternative to antidepressant medication in the treatment of major depressive disorder.

Anger is a Myth

Alright, the title is a little misleading, but it’s close. People approach anger in different ways, some “blow off steam” while others will meditate. What’s the best option? I have no clear idea, but the good news is that one blogger explores some myths about anger.

Myth 1: Anger and aggression are natural for humans

The idea that humans are born with a basic instinct for anger and aggression has been used to explain just about everything from marital arguments to global warfare.
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Although this way of thinking makes some sense, it has one major flaw.

Successful evolution has been based on cooperation, not destructive conflict and aggression. Even primates fight in an organized manner.

Improve Your Self-Esteem and Save the Planet

Consumption in itself is bad for the planet, no matter how you cut it. Material things are generally made from finite resources (like how oil is made into plastic); so the less we buy the better we treat the planet.

This isn’t hard to do. In fact, it’s easier for people who have high self-esteem. Apprently, some new reseach is out that argues that the more confidence an individual has the less likely it is that they will buy material objects for comfort.

“By the time children reach early adolescence, and experience a decline in self-esteem, the stage is set for the use of material possessions as a coping strategy for feelings of low self-worth,” they write in the study, which will appear in the Journal of Consumer Research.

The paradox that findings such as these bring up, is that consumerism is good for the economy but bad for the individual. In the short run, it’s good for the economy when young people believe they need to buy an entirely new wardrobe every year, for example. But the hidden cost is much higher than the dollar amount. There are costs in happiness when people believe that their value is extrinsic. There are also environmental costs associated with widespread materialism.

I guess this can be further backed up by examples that billionaires don’t like spending their money.

Esquire Magazine has 6 Ideas

Esquire has an article looking at six ideas that will change the world.

Indeed, these are ideas that will have a huge impact on our lives in ways that we cannot fully predict. Some of these ideas like “burying our CO2” don’t sit well with me though. That being said, I’m torn between “the pollution magnet” and “the next plastic.”

Plastic has changed little since its heyday in the 1960s. It’s still ubiquitous, oil based, and dirty as hell for the environment. Makes you wonder what we’ve been doing all these years.
For one thing, not listening enough to chemist Geoffrey Coates. In his lab at Cornell University, he’s been reinventing plastic. Making it environmentally friendly and biodegradable — with orange peels.