The University of Michigan’s Arline T. Geronimus, Sc.D., and Shervin Assari, M.D., contributed to an Everyday Health story about stress in the United States. The research shows that “chronic stress is a national epidemic for all genders and ages.” Geronimus is a professor in the U-M School of Public Health, while Assari is a research assistant professor in the U-M Department of Psychiatry, which houses the U-M Depression Center. Below is an excerpt.

Stress on steroids. That’s how life feels for many Americans today. Consider senseless shootings, a nasty political climate, catastrophic weather, increasing suicide rates. Factor in close-to-home stressors such as caring for a loved one; parenting a learning-disabled, autistic, depressed, or anxious child; managing your own chronic condition or addiction; looking for a job. Now layer in everyday annoyances — traffic, train delays, a nasty coworker, a long supermarket line after an even longer day. No wonder we feel overloaded, overwhelmed, out of control, and unsafe.

Chronic stress zaps brainpower by damaging neural pathways and skewing judgment. It compromises the immune system. It taxes the heart, kidneys, liver, and brain.

Stress in the modern world is a constant. When stress doesn’t let up and is paired with the feeling that we have little to no control over the circumstances that are creating it, that’s called chronic stress. Over and over again, the research points to one key fact: Prolonged or unremitting stress exacts a stunningly toxic toll on the body, brain, mind, and soul. Its ongoing assault wears us down, measurably aging — or “weathering” — our insides, for some of us much more than others. Chronic stress zaps brainpower by damaging neural pathways and skewing judgment. It compromises the immune system. It taxes the heart, kidneys, liver, and brain.

But does living in the world today mean that no matter what we do, we’re doomed to swim in a sea of stress and its ill effects, including anxiety, meltdowns, and panic attacks? Or could it be that everything we thought we knew about stress and how to manage or alleviate it is outdated or outright wrong? Maybe it’s time for everyone to get on the same page when it comes to stress.

Everyday Health’s United States of Stress special report surveyed 6,700 Americans nationwide [download survey data], ages 18 to 64, cutting a wide swath across demographic groups, gender, and health conditions to find out what stresses us and how we cope. Our survey panels were chosen to closely mimic the geographic distribution of the U.S. population. (Our respondent distributions won’t match up directly with Census percentages because we phrased our questions about demographics, such as race/ethnicity, differently, with survey participants selecting as many identifiers as applied — including “other” — from a list.) Then, we invited some of the nation’s top “stress response” thinkers to weigh in on the survey data and offer insights.

Even our expert panelists — among them some of the nation’s top researchers — say they’ve been genuinely surprised about the extent of harm wrought by chronic stress and the lack of attention paid to it.

Read the rest of the story on everydayhealth.com.

Read the original story on News Medical

Sport has long been known to promote a sense of well-being, but at an elite level, athletes are just as likely to suffer from depression as people who don’t do any sport, a new study has found.

The research from the University of Portsmouth is the first of its kind to compare symptoms of depression in elite and non-athletes. It found that elite athletes are no more likely than people who don’t do sport to report mild or more severe depressive symptoms.

Led by Dr Paul Gorczynski from the University’s Department of Sport and Exercise Science, the study examined data from 1545 high-performance athletes and 1811 non-athletes.

The researchers analysed data from five studies involving elite athletes ranging in age from 12 – 41 years, 54 per cent of whom were female. For the non-athletes, 52 per cent of individuals were female and ranged in age from 12 to 81 years. Female athletes were more than half as likely to report symptoms compared to male athletes, which also mirrored non-athletes.

Read the rest of the story

Dr. Amit Sood, Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, is one of the world’s leading doctors in the areas of stress and happiness.  He helped launch the Global Center for Resilience and Wellbeing (GCRW), whose stated mission is:

1. To help people be stronger physically, cognitively, emotionally, socially and spiritually.
2. To help people be happier with healthy self-worth, creating meaningful, altruistic contributions.

His website, stressfree.org, is full of short, helpful videos that teach us the role our brains play in our anxiety, depression, happiness, fulfillment, and much more.  Dr. Sood’s approach to well-being is backed by science, and is explained in easy-to-understand doses.  In other words, you don’t need to be a neurologist to start training your brain for happiness, resilience, and fulfillment.

This article from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune also provides a good summary of Dr. Sood’s work: Mayo Clinic doctor has your prescription for happiness.

Read the original story on SwimSwam.com

May was mental health awareness month.  In that month, we had the opportunity to read many individuals trials and tribulations in dealing with their own mental health.  From the incredibly talented Allison Schmitt speaking about her post Olympic depression to others in our community expressing how common it is to work through depression, anxiety, eating disorders and many other mental health struggles.  A common theme in these personal accounts is how these individuals sought help and got better because of it.  The conversation has begun nationally, MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS.

I wanted the opportunity to share some of the research I have been involved with or my colleagues have conducted, to help continue the shift in the way we think about mental health.

• Half of all serious adult psychiatric illnesses – including major depression, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse – start by 14 years of age. Three-fourths of them are present by 25 years of age.
• An estimated 26 percent of Americans ages 18 and older – or about 1 in 4 adults – live with a diagnosable mental health disorder.
• More than half of college students have had suicidal thoughts and 1 in 10 students seriously consider attempting suicide. Half of students who have suicidal thoughts never seek counseling or treatment.
• Mental health issues in the student population, such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, are associated with lower GPA and higher probability of dropping out of college.  (Active Minds Network)
• 90% of student athlete’s who are struggling with a mental health concern, do not seek help.
• 63% of student athletes surveyed stated their mental health affected their performance in the last 4 weeks. (Athlete’s Connected Research)

These research findings are substantial and critical in moving forward with encouraging help seeking for those around us.  Continuing to reiterate the message that you are not alone is not only seen from these facts and figures but heard from the honest and forthcoming accounts recently.   We are in a position to change these statistics as mentioned above those who have shared their story have gotten better from the help they sought.  Let us continue to reduce the stigma!  As mentioned in a previous article working on your mentality is no different than working on your stroke or strength.

It does not matter if you are struggling with depression, anxiety or just want to live a happier, fuller, and more-well rounded life your mental health is important and key to achieving the goals you set forward.  Here at Michigan, we emphasis meeting the student athlete where they are.  Whether the individual feels they are at a 2 or a 7 out of a 10 we want them to be better, to feel better, and to live better.  You do not have to be at Michigan to embrace this mentality.  We have seen through research conducted and through our work that the better an individuals well being the better student, athlete and person they become.

We now have the opportunity to make a push in changing the culture, starting the conversation, and encouraging help seeking in those around us.