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Exercise

By Admin On April 13, 2017 · Add Comment · In Exercise, Strength

If you don’t currently do about 30minutes of moderate intensity activity every day of the week, you’re in the majority of Australians. As a nation, we generally don’t undertake the amount of physical activity that we should and that’s good for us to do. Exercise has been shown repeatedly to have a number of physical health benefits and mental health benefits. You may know that it can lead to an increase in your exercise tolerance (not feeling exhausted so quickly), a reduction in body weight, a reduction in blood pressure, changes to the ratios of “good and ”bad” cholesterol and increase in insulin sensitivity (which is good news if you have risk factors for Diabetes). But did you know that it can also lead to marked improvements in mental health? Some studies suggest that regular exercise at the right intensity can lead to effects like being prescribed a low-dose antidepressant medication; and even if you’re using antidepressant medication and receiving psychological treatment, there’s evidence to suggest that approaching mental health [...]

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A SAD time of year

By Admin On March 16, 2015 · Add Comment · In Depression, Evidence Based, Mindfulness, Psychological Treatment, Resilience, Strength, Uncategorized

About now, in the southern hemisphere at least, some people are starting to get SAD. Not about anything in particular, but lots of things in general. SAD, in this case, stands for “Seasonal Affective Disorder”. It’s not a stand-alone psychological disorder; rather a “seasonal pattern” is used to specify some occurrences of Major Depressive Disorder. People who are affected by this seasonal pattern typically experience a range of symptoms which we usually associate with depression and can include general feelings of sadness and emptiness, disturbed sleep, increased appetite leading to weight gain, reduced libido, a general lack of motivation or “get up and go” and a widespread loss of interest in things that are normally pleasurable. Interestingly, there seem to be a number of people who have normal psychological health through the year but as the temperature begins to cool and the days begin to shorten, they experience the onset of these symptoms. It’s also the case that if you have a predisposition to experience depressed mood, this is the [...]

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Building Resilience

By Admin On November 26, 2013 · Add Comment · In Resilience, Strength

Resilience is becoming a very popular concept both organizationally and personally. But what does it actually mean? One of my favourite ways of thinking about resilience is the combination of strength and flexibility – think of an enormous old tree – how does it withstand years and years of punishing wind, rain and sun? Well, it has two important characteristics – strength and flexibility. If the tree were inflexible, it would break under strain. Similarly, if it were not strong enough, it would fall over under pressure. Of course strength and flexibility aren’t the only requirements for resilience but they’re a good place to start. So how can you develop these characteristics in yourself, both physically and psychologically? 1. Understand your own “Sphere of Influence”. Think about what you can control and what you can’t and don’t spend time trying to control areas of your life that you can’t. Pilots and Sailors can’t control wind and water currents and they don’t try to. But they do make themselves aware of [...]

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Exercise

A SAD time of year

Building Resilience

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Simon Matthews

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