Positive thinking

Scott Lear, Simon Fraser University In Canada, approximately one in five adults will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, with similar numbers reported in the United States . Preventing mental illness is just as important as preventing other chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. As with these chronic conditions, regular physical activity plays a key role. A recent meta-analysis (a large study combining other studies together) with a total of 266,939 participants reported that being active for 150 minutes or more per week was associated with a 20 per cent reduction in risk for depression . Mental health week in Canada — which runs from May 7-13, 2018 — offers us an opportunity to consider what science says about the impacts of exercise on mind and body. Reduce your stress and anxiety Exercise offers immediate as well as long-term benefits. Research shows that after just one session people have a greater chance of experiencing p...

Carl J Hodgetts, Cardiff University Reliving and sharing our personal past is part of what makes us human. It creates a sense of who we are, allows us to plan for the future and helps us form relationships. But we don’t all remember our past in the same way. In fact, the nature and quality of memory differs considerably between people. For instance, when asked to remember something about a party, one person might describe vividly their sixth birthday: how the gifts were laid out, the sweet, chocolatey taste of the hedgehog cake and going to bed really late. Another person might not recall this precise detail, but remember that their aunt despised parties and that hedgehog cakes were massive in the 80s . So, our personal memories contain different types of information. Some of this is very specific about when and where things happened – and what it felt like. This collection of personal experiences is known as “episodic memory”. Other bits are general facts about the w...