February 2024 - Progressive Health - Mental Health
It’s cold and dark! Getting depressed? It’s pretty normal to get down this time of year.
That’s why this month we talked about depression, anxiety and positive psychology in our monthly Successful Aging program. You can see our 30-minute video and a free 1-page summary here.
Lots of things can help your mood! I will highlight just 2. Well 3 actually because I will sneak in here that MULTIPLE research studies suggest that our mood is improved when we eat 8+ servings per day of fruit and vegetables, and the next day too!
1. Framing
Researchers put participants through a stressful event (preparing to do public singing or public speaking). Before they performed, participants were asked to say “I am excited” or “I am stressed” or “I am calm” with feeling. Guess which group did the best?
You’ll never guess! Those who said “I am excited” went on to sing better and speak better than those randomized to say that they were stressed or calm. What a difference can 1 word of self talk make!
Self talk matters. Stop kicking yourself. You got this.
Also interesting that sometimes, the better strategy when you are feeling stressed may not be to try to calm yourself down, but to harness your stress as excitement. It may help if you can avoid wallowing in your stress and rather emphasize the degree to which you are in control and in this mission for a reason. Above all, if some cognitive science researchers come calling to include you in their study on stress, walk away…
2. Walking Outdoors
Speaking of walking: Tto optimize our mood, we need to see bright light. We are exposed to far more light outdoors on a cloudy day than a brightly lit room. So try to get outside of you can, even if for a short time. The best is to get outside for a walk (or ruck!). The big news with walking is that people who walk more steps live longer, feel better, and the evidence favors that the steps actually prolong life:
So now that the snow and ice has melted, there’s no excuse! Get your 8000 steps outdoors every day!
Potluck Friday, Feb 9th 6pm! Pizza Dinner + salad provided. Bring a healthy plant-based dessert.
These potlucks have been awesome. Great food and great time meeting with others. The food comas are so real that people are literally considering donating organs, which we do not condone. Homemade vegan pizza will be provided! We will have gluten free and oil free versions, plus a nice spring mix salad.
We encourage you to bring a healthy dessert. Avoid the saturated fats (dairy, coconut, palm) and sweeteners as much as possible. Your healthiest sweetener is whole fruit! I will bring my famous “Cranberry + mixed berries compote w/ boiled chilled purple sweet potato, and tahini schlabang” as it’s called in various circles, recipe below.
Recipe for Cranberry + mixed berries compote w/ boiled chilled purple sweet potato, and tahini*
Directions: Mix ingredients and Schlabang!
*Note that I never actually made this dish but anticipation is growing relentlessly.
Join Successful Aging in February for Vascular Health and Blood Pressure Health
Successful Aging will meet on February 14 at noon and February 26 at 5pm to revisit how to lower our blood pressure and heal our blood vessels. More details about Successful Aging here. This is open to any Progressive Health patient and covered by your insurance.
Dr. Donohue to Present at Delaware ACP Conference on “The Wonder of Lifestyle Medicine”
This conference is for internal medicine physicians (internists). So you likely would not be able to attend.
FAQ: Dude, am I an internist?
Normally, if you were an internist, you would probably know, since it takes 7 years of intense training. But if you are not sure, we don’t judge. Internists don’t usually say “Dude”. But regardless of any controversy, if you would like to watch the video presentation here it is.