Stress Management

Does yoga help quickly with stress?

72.8 % of respondents indicated moderate to severe psychological distress according to a fall 2021 survey from the American College Health Association, of a reference group of 33,204 college students across the country (1).

Previous posts discuss a variety of strategies to help with stress.

A recent study looked at the immediate and lasting benefit of yoga for stress (2).

What was the study (2)?

Tong and colleagues (2) studied healthy undergraduate students from four yoga and four fitness classes in Study 1 (n = 191) and Study 2 (n = 143), respectively.

How much yoga was done? (2)

Study 1 evaluated the immediate effect (a 60-minute practice) while Study 2 evaluated the durable effect (a 12-week intervention) (2).

What type of yoga was done in this study (2) ?

Both studies involved Hatha yoga which comprised of meditation (5 min), breathing (5 min), posture-holding exercise  (including 12 postures after warm-up such as waist rotating, downward facing dog, cat stretch, warrior, 40 min), and 10 minutes of relaxation practice (2).

What were the results (2)?

Study 1 Showed that immediate stress reduction and mindfulness was greater in the yoga group than in the fitness group (2).

Study 2 showed that effect of yoga on stress reduction through mindfulness was a lasting one (2).

Both yoga and exercise showed benefits in reducing stress (2).

What are some caveats?

  • Further study is needed.
  • There are many forms of yoga. Students may find some forms of yoga more helpful than others.
  • Check with your healthcare provider to make sure that doing yoga is safe and appropriate for you.
  • Additional resources:
  • Yoga classes through OSU Wellness
  • Group fitness classes through OSU RPAC
  • Online resources for yoga
  • Yoga classes in the community

 

By R. Ryan S Patel DO, FAPA OSU-CCS Psychiatrist

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 Disclaimer: This article is intended to be informative only. It is advised that you check with your own physician/mental health provider before implementing any changes. With this article, the author is not rendering medical advice, nor diagnosing, prescribing, or treating any condition, or injury; and therefore claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or injury caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the material presented.  Permission to use/cite this article: contact patel.2350@osu.edu

References:

  1. American College Health Association. American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment III: Reference Group Executive Summary Fall 2021. Silver Spring, MD: American College Health Association; 2022.
  2. Jiajin Tong, Xin Qi, Zhonghui He, Senlin Chen, Scott J. Pedersen, P. Dean Cooley, Julie Spencer-Rodgers, Shuchang He & Xiangyi Zhu (2021) The immediate and durable effects of yoga and physical fitness exercises on stress, Journal of American College Health, 69:6, 675-683, DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2019.1705840

Team Sports and Mental Health

Over the last several years, college campuses have experienced increasing demand for mental health services (1).

A 2021 survey from the American College Health Association showed 75% of survey participants reported moderate to serious psychological distress (2)

While there are many options for mental health treatment, a recent study looked at the potential benefits of team sports (3).

What was the study? (1)

A meta analysis (1) looking at 371 queried articles, 34 studies from 10 countries across 4 continents (3).

What were the results? (1)

The results of this review article showed the following benefits of team sports (3):

  • 5 studies showed that sport participation was associated with decreased depression/anxiety rates (OR 0.59, 95%CI 0.54–0.64). (3)
  • 7 studies showed improved social health outcomes with team sport participation. (Social health outcomes included academic performance, commitment, psychosocial health, social behavior/identity, and delinquency/high-risk activity. (3)
  • 5 studies showed that team sport participation decreased rates of cigarette/tobacco use (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.69–0.76) (3).
  • 7 studies showed that team sports participation decreased alcohol/drug use (1) (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.69–0.77). (3)

What are some team sports options on campus?

  • Take a class involving team sports for course credit.
  • Join a team through OSU rec sports.
  • Play a team sport with friends on a regular basis.

Other thoughts:

  • You don’t have to be very athletic to participate in recreational sports.
  • Some students join team sports as a substitute/extra player so that you don’t have to play every week.
  • Some students may not be able to participate in team sports due to scheduling limitations.
  • Some students may find it stressful to participate in team sports.
  • Check with your health professional if participating in team sports is appropriate for you.

By R. Ryan S Patel DO, FAPA OSU-CCS Psychiatrist

If you would like to be notified about future monthly posts, enter your email and click the subscribe button above.

 Disclaimer: This article is intended to be informative only. It is advised that you check with your own physician/mental health provider before implementing any changes. With this article, the author is not rendering medical advice, nor diagnosing, prescribing, or treating any condition, or injury; and therefore claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or injury caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the material presented.  Permission to use/cite this article: contact patel.2350@osu.edu

References:

  1. https://ccmh.psu.edu/assets/docs/2021-CCMH-Annual-Report.pdf
  2. American College Health Association. American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment III: Reference Group Executive Summary Spring 2021. Silver Spring, MD: American College Health Association; 2021.
  3. Scott L. Zuckerman, Alan R. Tang, Kelsey E. Richard, Candace J. Grisham, Andrew W. Kuhn, Christopher M. Bonfield & Aaron M. Yengo-Kahn(2021) The behavioral, psychological, and social impacts of team sports: a systematic review and meta-analysis, The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 49:3, 246-261, DOI: 1080/00913847.2020.1850152

 

Virtual Hope Box for stress and emotional regulation

While there are many options to help with mental health, one particular app called the Virtual Hope Box (VHB) can be useful for coping with unpleasant emotions and thoughts which can impact a variety of mental health symptoms.

Is there research to show that this app is helpful?

  • This app can help with emotional regulation and reducing stress according to a randomized controlled trial (1). Future studies are ongoing.
  • Numerous research studies support many features of the app like relaxation skills and distraction techniques.

What is the cost?

  • Free. It was developed via a government grant and was awarded the DoD Innovation Award in 2014.

What are the features of the VHB app?

  • It comes with preloaded features like inspirational tools, relaxation skills, coping tools, distraction techniques, emergency contact numbers.
  • It can also be customized to include your own music, images, phone numbers of supportive contacts, and reminders of reasons for living.
  • You can fill out coping cards and activity planners with help of a mental health professional.
  • These features are shown in the image below:

Screenshot ImageScreenshot ImageScreenshot Image

Additional resources:

By R. Ryan S Patel DO, FAPA OSU-CCS Psychiatrist

Disclaimer: This article is intended to be informative only. It is advised that you check with your own physician/mental health provider before implementing any changes. With this article, the author is not rendering medical advice, nor diagnosing, prescribing, or treating any condition, or injury; and therefore claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or injury caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the material presented.

References:

  1. Bush NE, Smolenski DJ, Denneson LM, Williams HB, Thomas EK, Dobscha SK. A virtual hope box: randomized controlled trial of a smartphone app for emotional regulation and coping with distress. Psychiatr Serv. 2017 Apr 1;68(4):330–6. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201600283.