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Purpose: An emerging body of evidence has shown the therapeutic effect of both mindful and non-mindful physical exercises on the treatment of depression. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of mindful and non-mindful physical exercises as an intervention in managing depression or depressive symptoms based on a systematic literature review.
Methods: Our review was conducted among five electronic databases to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs), which tested the effects of mindful or/and non-mindful physical exercises on depression. Studies were classified according to the baseline depression status of participants and its relation to allocation concealment, blinding at outcome assessment, follow-up, and whether intention to treat analysis was employed.
Results: The results based on 12 RCTs indicated that both the mindful and non-mindful physical exercises were effective in their short-term effect in reducing depression levels or depressive symptoms. However, most of studies had methodological problems that only small sample size was used, and the maintenance effects of physical exercise were not reported. Specific comparisons between RCTs on mindful and non-mindful exercises were not performed because of the limitations on the designs.
Conclusions: We recommend that more well-controlled studies have to be conducted in the future to address the short- and long-term effects of physical exercise on alleviating depression. Efforts should be focused on unveiling the differential effects of mindful and non-mindful exercises on depression and the underlying mechanisms of their therapeutic action.
Earlier cross-sectional research showed that a higher level of mindful eating is associated with less depression. This study investigated associations of attentive mindful eating with change in depressive symptoms, as well as mediation by psychological eating styles, in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (n = 946). The mindful eating domains Focused Eating, Eating in response to Hunger and Satiety Cues, Eating with Awareness and Eating without Distraction were measured by the Mindful Eating Behavior Scale. Three-year change in depressive symptoms was measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Emotional, external and restrained eating were measured by the 20-item version of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. Higher baseline scores on Focused Eating, Eating with Awareness and Eating without Distraction were associated with a 3-year decrease in depressive symptoms. Eating in response to Hunger and Satiety Cues was not associated with a change in depressive symptoms. Multiple mediation models showed mediation by external eating for the domains Eating with Awareness, Eating without Distraction, and Eating in response to Hunger and Satiety Cues, but no mediation by emotional and restrained eating. No mediation by the eating styles was found for Focused Eating. In this study, higher scores on three mindful eating domains were associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms. Mediation analyses suggest that three domains are associated with depression through external eating.
The present study examines the relationships between mindfulness and rumination, repetitive negative thinking, and depressive symptoms, employing a newly developed paradigm for the assessment of mindfulness. Derived from a central exercise of mindfulness-based interventions, 42 undergraduates were asked to observe their breath for about 18 min. Within this time period, they were prompted 22 times at irregular intervals to indicate whether they had lost mindful contact with their breath as a result of mind wandering. The results show negative correlations between the degree of the ability to stay mindfully in contact with the breath and measures of rumination, repetitive negative thinking, and depression. Moreover, positive associations with self-report data of mindfulness and a negative relationship to fear of bodily sensations support the construct validity of our new approach for the assessment of mindfulness. In summary, findings suggest the healthy quality of mindful breathing regarding depression-related processes.
This study was supported by a Ph.D. Fellowship awarded to Jan Burg by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, and in part by German Science Foundation Grant DFG: Mi 700/4-1 awarded to Johannes Michalak.
For many people, depression is a lifelong battle. If you have one episode of depression, there is a 30 percent chance of recurrence within 10 years, increasing to an 80 percent chance after two episodes. Only about one quarter of people achieve remission after six months of antidepressant medication treatment.
Eisendrath emphasizes that depression-fueled thoughts are just thoughts and not facts. Leaning into them often triggers negative thought spirals, where you keep replaying the same thoughts over and over in your head. However, learning to distance yourself from these self-critical or catastrophizing thoughts through mindfulness can help you choose to react differently the next time they bubble up.
Rumination about past failures and catastrophizing about the future take up a lot of mental space in depression. Eisendrath recommends mindfulness practices that can help you focus on the present, break your attention away from these thought spirals, and, over time, change these tendencies.
Loving-kindness meditation: There are different variations of this practice, but Eisendrath suggests that you start by sitting comfortably in a quiet place, noticing your breath. Placing your hand to your heart, repeat the following with each breath:
What if depression could lead to positive change? Written by acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) cofounder Kirk Strosahl and Patricia Robinson, this revised edition of the best-selling classic, The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression includes updated research on self-compassion, mindfulness, and neuroscience to help you live a more meaningful life.
Kirk D. Strosahl, PhD, is cofounder of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a cognitive behavioral approach that has gained widespread adoption in the mental health and substance-abuse communities. He is coauthor of Brief Interventions for Radical Change and In This Moment: Five Steps to Transcending Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroscience. Strosahl provides training and consultation services for Mountainview Consulting Group, Inc. He is a pioneer in the movement to bring behavioral health services into primary care. He resides in Portland, OR.
Patricia J. Robinson, PhD, is director of training and program evaluation at Mountainview Consulting Group, Inc., a firm that assists health care systems with integrating behavioral health services into primary care settings. She is coauthor of Real Behavior Change in Primary Care and The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression. After exploring primary care psychology as a researcher, she devoted her efforts to its dissemination in rural America, urban public health departments, and military medical treatment facilities. Robinson resides in Portland, OR.
Foreword writer Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor and director of clinical training in the department of psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. An author of forty-one books and nearly 600 scientific articles, his career has focused on analysis of the nature of human language and cognition, and its application to the understanding and alleviation of human suffering and promotion of human prosperity. His work has received several awards, including the Impact of Science on Application Award from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.
For over 25 years, Dr. Cheryl Crumpler has taught classes on behavioral medicine, mindfulness, anxiety and depression management, stress reduction, mind-body medicine, parenting, and burnout among healthcare workers.
Nancy Lovering is a writer with a background in public education, where she works as an education assistant. Her training and experience encompass neurodivergent profiles such as autism and ADHD, as well as medical realms covering conditions such as diabetes, autoimmune disease, and traumatic brain injury. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Although different things work for different people, mindfulness is a science-backed intervention for depression. A significant amount of research suggests mindfulness can help regulate emotions, reducing depressive symptoms.
Much of the research around mindfulness and depression revolves around mindfulness interventions, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). MBSR is a therapeutic program that was created in 1979 by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn.
A questionnaire-based 2019 study looked at how mindfulness could affect depression. Based on a sample of 1151 adults, the study concluded that mindfulness could reduce symptoms of depression by soothing worry and rumination.
One tip is to keep practicing meditation. It gets easier when you do it more often. Plus a 2019 study suggests that meditation can improve depression symptoms over time if you keep at it. In other words, when you continue to meditate, you could benefit even more than if you did it for a short period of time.
The attention piece is about tuning into your experiences to focus on what's happening in the present moment. It typically involves directing your awareness to your breath, your thoughts, the physical sensations in your body and the feelings you are experiencing. The acceptance piece involves observing those feelings and sensations without judgment. Instead of responding or reacting to those thoughts or feelings, you aim to note them and let them go.
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