Everyday Activity Unexpectedly Linked To Reduced Depression And Anxiety

But is washing dishes better than doing math in your head? Why doesn't your doctor and hospital know that answer?

The Daily Chore That Can Increase Mental Stimulation and Decrease Anxiety - Washing dishes.

The newest here: Mental math

Everyday Activity Unexpectedly Linked To Reduced Depression And Anxiety 

The findings could be used to help develop new methods of brain training for treating depression and anxiety.

Doing simple maths in your head has been linked to better emotional health by a new study.

The reason is that the same areas of the brain are involved in both emotional processing and mental maths.
The research could be the first step towards creating brain training exercises to help anxiety and depression.
Mr Matthew Scult, the study’s first author, said:

“Our work provides the first direct evidence that the ability to regulate emotions like fear and anger reflects the brain’s ability to make numerical calculations in real time.”

The study involved brain scans of 186 people who were doing mental math problems from memory.
Researchers were interested in an area of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
This area has been linked to depression and anxiety.
When people learn cognitive-behavioural therapy, more activity is seen in this area of the brain, suggesting it is critical in dealing with emotional problems.

The researchers found that more activity in this reason was linked to more emotional adaptability.
Mr Scult said:

“We don’t know for sure why that is, but it fit into our hypothesis that the ability to do these more complex math problems might allow you to more readily learn how to think about complex emotional situations in different ways.
It is easy to get stuck in one way of thinking.”

The more activity was seen in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the lower people’s levels of depression and anxiety.
It’s not yet clear if mental maths really causes better emotional control.
However, Mr Scult said:

“We hope, with these and future studies, that we can inform new strategies to help people regulate their emotions, and to prevent symptoms of anxiety and depression from developing in the first place.”

The study was published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science (Scult et al., 2016).

The Daily Chore That Can Increase Mental Stimulation and Decrease Anxiety

For all your anxiety caused by your doctor not telling you about stroke protocols getting you 100% recovered. Hopefully you doctor at least can do this minimal amount. Not to be done on your own because of the danger involved. And you would get extra stimulation by warm water on your affected hand. It's a twofer.
http://www.spring.org.uk/2015/10/the-daily-chore-that-can-increase-mental-stimulation-and-decrease-anxiety.php

When done properly, the chore decreased nervousness by 27% and increased mental inspiration by 25%.

Mindful dishwashing can decrease stress and calm the mind, a new study finds.

People in the study focused on the smell of the soap, the feel and shape of the dishes to help them enter a mindful state.
Doing the dishes in a mindful way also increased the pleasurable feeling of time slowing down, the researchers found.
Mr Adam Hanley, the study’s first author, said:

“I’ve had an interest in mindfulness for many years, both as a contemplative practitioner and a researcher.
I was particularly interested in how the mundane activities in life could be used to promote a mindful state and, thus, increase overall sense of well-being.”

In the study 51 people were split into two groups.
One group did the dishes in their normal way — most likely while letting their minds wander to the usual anxieties.
The other group were encouraged to focus on the sensory experience of washing the dishes.
The mindful group showed a 27% decrease in nervousness.
They also reported a 25% increase in mental inspiration.
This was an impressive result given that people were only washing dishes for six minutes.
The study’s authors write:

“It is interesting to note that a task potentially construed as unpleasant or a “chore” can be experienced as reducing nervousness and being inspirational by simply shifting one’s approach to the task and quality of attention.
That mindfulness practices elevate mindfulness, encourage positive affect, and decrease negative affect is well established; however, that these changes were associated with the coupling of a mindful practice with an everyday task is a novel finding.”

Why stop at mindful dishwashing?
Mindfulness can be incorporated into almost any ordinary or even extraordinary activity.
Here are a few suggestions: Mindfulness Meditation: 8 Quick Exercises That Fit into Your Day
The study was published in the journal Mindfulness (Hanley et al., 2015).