Mind Body Research Articles

The effect of the mind–body intervention on depression in people with cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract PurposeTo assess the effect of the mind–body intervention on depression in people with cognitive impairment.MethodsFive databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO) were systematically searched, the Cochrane Collaboration's tool was used for quality assessment, and subgroup analyses were performed according to participant types, intervention types, and duration of interventions.FindingsA total of 16 randomized controlled trials were included, two of which were unable to obtain complete data and one had high heterogeneity. The overall meta‐analysis of 13 articles showed that the mind–body intervention was not effective in promoting depression in individuals with cognitive impairment (standardized mean difference [SMD] = −0.08; 95% confidence interval (CI) [−0.27, 0.11]; p = 0.419; I2 = 52.4%, 13 studies, 1406 participants) compared with the control group. Subgroup analysis showed that depression was significantly improved in the dementia subgroup after the mind–body intervention compared to the control group (SMD = −0.31; 95% CI [−0.57, −0.05]; p = 0.021. I2 = 29.2%, six studies, 399 participants), while no significant changes were observed in the mild cognitive impairment subgroup. Among different intervention types and durations, no intervention was found to have a significant positive effect on depression.ConclusionThe mind–body intervention is an effective intervention for improving depression in people with dementia, but its effect is not significant in individuals with overall cognitive impairment. Follow‐up high‐quality studies are needed to further verify the effects of different mind–body interventions on depression in people with different severities of cognitive impairment.Implications for Nursing Practice: By proving the effectiveness of the mind–body intervention in improving depression in people with dementia, it will provide evidence for the further development and improvement of the mode and content of the mind–body intervention and increase the attention and support of the healthcare system and society for the mind–body intervention.

Academic Stress: Coping Strategies by Nursing Students

Students across a wide range of industries and educational levels frequently feel academic stress. It is defined as the body's and mind's reaction to the demands and strains of education, such as homework, projects, exams, and clinical training. Particularly when it comes to juggling the demands of their education and their clinical training and practicum, nursing students confront special stresses. To uncover practical coping mechanisms that assist nursing students in their academic endeavors, this study examines the coping mechanisms used by these students to deal with academic stress. Data were gathered from 196 nursing students at St. Michael's College of varying academic levels using a descriptive-correlational study approach. The study looks at how respondents' characteristics, academic stress, and the coping mechanisms they use—such as problem-, emotional-, and avoidant-focused coping mechanisms—relate significantly. The results add to the understanding of how nursing students cope with academic stress by highlighting the importance of including stress management programs into the nursing curriculum to teach a variety of student-specific coping mechanisms. A preliminary investigation including thirty-two nursing students yielded significant information for improving the research questionnaire. Results revealed that there exist notable differences in the academic pressures experienced by the respondents when classified based on their profile. The stresses related to personal time management do not significantly differ according to age, sex, parental marital status, or family rank, except for year level, where fourth-year students exhibit greater stress levels. However, there are notable differences in the stresses associated with academic burden according to age and year level. Participants who are 20 years of age or younger report feeling less stressed than older participants, while first-year students report feeling more stressed than second- and third-year students. In conclusion, the results show that year level and age have a major impact on the stress that academic overload causes for the respondents. To lessen academic stress and improve students' general well-being, recommendations include encouraging peer-to-peer connection to create a friendly environment in educational institutions and advocating for self-care techniques. Important insights from nursing students helped to improve the research technique. One suggestion is to create a welcoming atmosphere in educational institutions by encouraging self-care behaviors and peer-to-peer engagement lessen the burden of school and improve the general wellbeing of children. These suggestions are pertinent to nursing educators and educational establishments that aim to provide nursing students with all-encompassing assistance in efficiently handling academic stress, therefore enhancing their general welfare and scholastic achievement.

Implementation of a lifestyle and life‐skills intervention to prevent weight‐gain and cardiometabolic abnormalities in young people with first‐episode psychosis as part of routine care: The Keeping the Body in Mind program

Abstract ObjectivesIn 2013, a cluster‐controlled pilot study found the 12‐week Keeping the Body in Mind (KBIM) lifestyle and life skills intervention was able to prevent weight gain in a small sample of youth experiencing first‐episode psychosis (FEP) with fewer than 4 weeks of antipsychotic exposure. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of KBIM as routine care on anthropometry and metabolic biochemistry in a larger sample of youth with FEP across three community mental health services.MethodThis retrospective chart audit was conducted on youth with FEP, prescribed a therapeutic dose of antipsychotic medication, and who engaged with KBIM between 2015 and 2019. Primary outcomes were weight and waist circumference. Secondary outcomes were blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood lipids. Outcomes were collected in at baseline and at 12 weeks. Data on program engagement were obtained from the participant's medical file.ResultsOne‐hundred and eighty‐two people met inclusion criteria, and up to 134 people had baseline and 12‐week data on one or more outcome. Mean number of sessions attended was 11.1 (SD = 7.3). Increases in weight and waist circumference were limited to 1.5 kg (SD = 5.3, t(133) = 3.2, p = .002) and 0.7 cm (SD = 5.8, t(109) = 1.2, p = .23) respectively. Eighty‐one percent of participants did not experience clinically significant weight gain (>7% of baseline weight). There were no significant changes in blood pressure or metabolic biochemistry.ConclusionThe prevention of substantial gains in weight and waist circumference observed in the initial pilot study was maintained with implementation of KBIM as part of routine clinical care for youth with FEP.

Folie et Société: eroding the body-mind relationship via dysfunctional paternalistic systems.

This theoretical perspective examines the proposition of shared complex trauma between a parent and child, arising from blurred relational boundaries and societal oppression, leading to inequality both at home and within the larger paternalistic system of society. Specifically, the focus is on living within a paternalistic, authoritarian system where rules are unjust, demanding obedience and compliance without questioning the behaviors of the authority. Individuals growing up in these circumstances are subject to adverse and emotionally overwhelming experiences, which lead to the creation of emotional memory images (EMIs). The delusion in which the child is caught up becomes a reality for the child as time passes. This phenomenon is recognized in psychiatry as "Folie à deux" (the madness of two or more) at the micro level, and "Folie et Société" (the madness of society) on the macro level. Complex trauma, derived from a child's exposure to multiple adverse events, can erode the mind-body relationship, impacting both mental and physical health. These traumatic experiences in early childhood can manifest as body-focused disorders in adolescents, prevailing throughout adulthood if left unattended. This article provides a theoretical perspective on dealing with the dissociation and chronic stress related to oppressive and authoritarian family systems. The broader implications of this article include highlighting the psychophysiological underpinnings of complex trauma, the relationship of a highly oppressive paternalistic authoritarian system imposed on children and adolescents, and the role of Split-Second Unlearning as a therapeutic intervention to clear EMIs and improve overall health outcomes.

A Simple, Testable Mind–Body Solution?

Neuroelectrical panpsychism (NP) offers a clear, simple, testable mind–body solution. It says that everything is at least minimally conscious, and electrical activity across separate neurons creates a unified, intelligent mind. NP draws on recent experimental evidence to address the easy problem of specifying the mind's neural correlates. These correlates are neuroelectrical activities that, for example, generate our different qualia, unite them to form perceptions and emotions, and help guide brain operations. NP also addresses the hard problem of why minds accompany these neural correlates. Here, the real nature of matter-energy (beyond how it appears to sense organs) is consciousness that occupies space, exerts forces, and unites neuroelectrically to form minds. This doesn't reduce consciousness to observable neural activities, nor posit any radically different entities. NP also deals with panpsychism's combination problem by explaining how the mind's subject and experiences arise by electrically combining simple experiences in brains.

Altered emotional mind-body coherence in older adults.

Coherence between subjective experience and bodily responses in emotion is assumed to have a positive influence on well-being, which might be particularly valuable in late adulthood. Previous studies of young adults' continuous subjective, behavioral, and physiological responses to emotional films reported emotional mind-body coherence. In contrast, research regarding emotional coherence in older adults has been scarce. In this study, we examined emotional coherence in older adults between continuous valence ratings and behavioral responses (facial electromyography [EMG] of the corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major muscles), as well as between continuous arousal ratings and physiological measures (electrodermal activity [EDA] and fingertip temperature), in response to four emotion-eliciting film clips (anger, sadness, contentment, and amusement) film clips and an emotionally neutral clip. Intraindividual cross-correlation analyses revealed that the coherence between valence ratings and corrugator EMG activity for the anger-eliciting film was weaker in older adults than in young adults, who completed an identical experiment. Age differences also emerged in the coherence of arousal ratings with EDA and fingertip temperature measures, respectively, while participants watched the anger-eliciting and contentment-eliciting films; while negative correlations were found for older adults, positive correlations were found for young adults. These results indicate that emotional mind-body coherence somewhat differs quantitatively and qualitatively between older and young adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Physiological effect of Bhastrika Pranayama on Cardio-Pulmonary variables among healthy individuals - A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background And Objectives: Bhastrika Pranayama boosts airflow into the body, which produces heat both physically and subtly, igniting both the body's and mind's internal fires. This fast-breathing Pranayama increases energy, cleanses and regenerates the lungs, tones the diaphragm, heart, and abdominal muscles, improves circulation. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess the physiological impact of Bhastrika Pranayama on healthy individuals using cardio-pulmonary variables. Materials and Methods: 110 healthy male and female participants between the ages of 18 and 25 were enrolled, and they were randomly divided into a control group and a Pranayama group. The parameters SpO2, SBP, DBP, HR, RR, and PEFR were noted for pre and post values for both groups were recorded. The parameters were measured using a peak flow metre, cardiac monitor, and pulse oximeter. The Pranayama group received Bhastrika Pranayama for 4 weeks whereas the control group received no intervention. Result: The Pranayama group showed a significant improvement in SpO2 (p≤0.05), RR (p≤0.05) and PEFR (p≤0.05) and a small reduction in SBP, DBP and HR. Whereas, no significant changes were observed in the control group. Discussion: Following 4-week of Bhastrika Pranayama shows improvement in PEFR, RR, and SpO2 while lowers HR, SBP, and DBP somewhat. The benefits of Bhastrika Pranayama in healthy people in terms of fitness-related health conditions, both in the short and long term, may also be revealed by future research.

Knowledge structure and future research trends of body-mind exercise for mild cognitive impairment: a bibliometric analysis.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a common neurodegenerative disorder that poses a risk of progression to dementia. There is growing research interest in body-mind exercise (BME) for patients with MCI. While we have observed a rapid growth in interest in BME for MCI over the past 10 years, no bibliometric analysis has investigated the knowledge structure and research trends in this field. Consequently, the objective of this research is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of global publications of BME for MCI from 2013 to 2022. A total of 242 publications in the field of BME for MCI were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Bibliometric analysis, including performance analysis, science mapping, and visualization, was performed using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Microsoft Excel. Publications and citations in the field of BME for MCI have shown a rapidly increasing trend over the last decade. Geriatrics & Gerontology, and Neurosciences were the most frequently involved research categories. China (78 documents) and the USA (75 documents) contributed to the largest number of publications and had the strongest international collaborative networks. Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine contributed to the largest number of publications (12 documents), and Chen, L of this institution was the most prolific author (12 documents). Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (16 documents), and JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (12 documents) were the most prolific journals. Tai Chi and Baduanjin, as specific types of BME, were the hotspots of research in this field, while evidence synthesis and guidelines might be future research trends. In the last decade, there has been a rapid growth in scientific activities in the field of BME for MCI. The results of this study provide researchers and other stakeholders with knowledge structure, hotspots, and future research trends in this field.

Body in the forefront, again? Distance learning drawbacks and implications for policy

The COVID-19 pandemic launched a challenge on the education system and required schools to make organizational changes in order to continue serving the local community. Essential to this process are support teachers who play a key role as agents of change. Despite their role, the perspectives, desires, and needs of these teachers have since been neglected, despite their centrality in contemporary Italy. Accordingly, the specific aim of this study revolves around supporting teachers’ experiences with digital technologies (i.e., learning applications, telecommunication media, and interactive devices) within a pandemic context, especially technologies used to maintain the educational bond with students with disabilities. Attuned to an interpretative paradigm, this qualitative research has an ethnographic design, which was implemented in a secondary school in a Northern Italian city. Throughout the article, we discuss the three main drawbacks found in fieldwork: (i) the prevailing change in bureaucratic management; (ii) the pervading mind–body binarism in teaching; and (iii) a long-term vision for inclusion being subject to a passive logic of adaptation. Finally, we reflect on some emerging implications. The first points to a necessary move from a rationalistic school management to an alternative model focused more on guaranteeing social justice among educational stakeholders. The second is that the very introduction of a new technology should be aimed at engaging actors whose work has been invisible to date in a school setting to empower them as key agents for change. The third suggests that, to overcome community disaggregation and mind-body binarism, a teacher-researcher figure is needed, a figure with holistic skills in addition to those of a technical nature delivered by institutional training programs.

An Exploratory Study on Astrological Patterns in Ten Cases of Madhumeha W.S.R to Diabetes Mellitus - A Case Series Report

The horoscope is the blue print of the whole being reflecting the complex interaction of the body mind and the soul. By the complimentary combination of the Kaalachakra the wheel of time and Rashichakra the circle of zodiac and thereby distinguishing various ailments on various organs as indicated by the zodiac circle a diagnostic methodology has been instituted by Medical Astrology. Medical Astrology claims that all the planets showcase particular body part or a group of parts. The dasha period and subperiod and unfavorable transit of planets results in health issues in that part of the body the planet represents. In this study the birth chart of 10 diabetic patients taking daily medications were analyzed using the astrological parameters such as date of birth time of birth place of birth and age of detecting diabetes. Affliction of Jupiter Venus and 5th house which are the significances for the diabetes mellitus were analyzed in each chart.

How Entropy Explains the Emergence of Consciousness: The Entropic Theory

Abstract Aim: Emergentism as an ontology of consciousness leaves unanswered the question as to its mechanism. I aim to solve the body–mind problem by explaining how conscious organisms emerged on an evolutionary basis at various times in accordance with an accepted scientific principle through a mechanism that cannot be understood, in principle. Proposal: The reason for this cloak of secrecy is found in a seeming contradiction in the behavior of information with respect to the first two laws of thermodynamics. Information, the microstate of particles within an isolated system’s macrostate, can, like first-law energy, be neither created nor destroyed, yet the information in the system, like second-law entropy, will inevitably increase. To explain information increasing without being created, Laplace’s demon is invoked, able to predict where each particle is destined. This doesn’t work for emerging events like consciousness, which are unpredictable. This can be understood in terms of the derivation of entropy, and the emergence of classical physics, from the Relativistic Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. I propose that the increased entropy in a time-irreversible, unpredictable (emergent) isolated system requires the simultaneous deletion of information concerning the steps, or calculations, involved. Conclusion: Thus, the steps leading to consciousness are immediately destroyed and must remain a mystery. Implications include that entropy, not panpsychism, is the universal principle generative of consciousness, that our being conscious proves that we are not predetermined, and that consciousness requires assuming an “entropy debt” that can only be repaid by living organisms, prohibiting the emergence of conscious machines.

Effect of yoga training on handgrip and endurance in young individuals

Background: Pranayama and asanas of yoga have gained popularity, providing a coherent set of comprehensive exercises and altered ways of length, pattern, and depth of breathing patterns into a unified body–mind strengthening tool, ultimately improving the quality of modern life. The particular effects of yoga on handgrip and endurance have been taken as a study tool in this article. Aims and Objectives: The aims and objectives are to study the effect of pranayama training on handgrip strength (HGS) and endurance in young, healthy individuals. Materials and Methods: 60 healthy volunteers in the age group of 18–25 years, including male and female staff working in Madurai Medical College and Hospital and their friends and relatives, were recruited for the study. Results: There is a significant (P < 0.05) increase in handgrip endurance (HGE) and a very highly significant (P < 0.0001) increase in HGS in study group subjects. Conclusion: Regular practice of pranayama has shown improvement in HGS and HGE in both hands. Thus, yoga may be helpful in improving the overall health and performance of young individuals.

Ameliorate and purify the body mind and soul for society by keeping with Indian archaic yoga

The root of Yoga is a Sanskrit word Yuj, it means to join together, attach, bind, directly our body, mind and soul. The traditions and the systems of yoga comes from ancient India's Indus valley civilization, Vedic, Upanishadic heritage, Buddhist and Jain traditions, Darshana's, Epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana, Historical, Mughal, British and now the Modern age, it's just like a water of river provide the fertile soil to her bank, but in the case of yoga fertile our body, mind and soul from one civilization to another. Yoga is a totally systematic and scientific from the beginning of its birth. Though the ancient saint and monk introduce the different types of yoga and stage of yoga to control, bind, attach, and purify our body, mind and soul by following these stages -Karma Shuddhi through observing Yama and Niyama, Ghata Shuddhi through practicing Shat-Karma, Snayu Shuddhi by regular practicing of Asana, Prana Shuddhi through Pranayama, Indriya and Mano Shuddhi by adopting Pratyahara, Mana, Buddhi, Ahamkar, and Chitta Shuddhi through Dharana, Dhyan, and Samadhi. These shuddhi prakriyas covers from the dimensions of Astanga Yoga which is prescribed by founder of Yoga, Maharshi Patanjali and they ameliorate and purify the body mind and soul for creating a wonder and blissful society.

Dancing with the Demons – Making sense of schizophrenia

ABSTRACT This paper explores the empathic nuances of the therapeutic process with a person experiencing ongoing psychosis associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and with a history of severe relational trauma. Incorporating the self psychological principles of working with the therapist’s and client’s forward edge, utilizing experience-near empathic attunement, and the somatic psychotherapy essential for kinaesthetic conversation were essential elements for the ongoing integration of the client’s self. This work demonstrates the development of a nuanced understanding of pathological accommodation with its internal self-organizing dynamics as well as offering examples of forward edge movement. Interweaving vignettes from a two-year period with the subjective and intersubjective somatically animated experiencing of the therapist, the puzzle of how to work with all parts of the client unfolds gently and carefully. This paper outlines how connections were made between the two participants, in a clinical sense and within the client, creating a sense-making structure within the nuclear self experience of the client. Real life clinical experiences of what somatic psychotherapy, undertaken within a relational, intersubjective psychodynamic process, looks and feels like are in short supply. The presentation of this case hopes to remedy that by demonstrating the body mind integration required to work this way.

Body in Mind

In the last few decades, emotion became one of the central topics in many scientific disciplines. Neuroscientific research has developed many tools and approaches for studying emotions in humans and animals. In this regard, the work of Antonio Damasio has been important for uncovering physiological mechanisms of emotions and feelings and their role in homeostatic regulation. In some aspects, his theory has challenged our own everyday intuitions about what emotions are. The aim of this article is to show that Damasio’s account of affects has underlined the importance of the body in generating feelings and subjective conscious experience and that this view of the two-way communication between the body and brain can offer a fresh perspective on the mind-body problem.

Epidemiology of engagement in physical activity behaviors in people with epilepsy from National Health Interview Survey 2017

Epidemiology of engagement in physical activity behaviors in people with epilepsy from National Health Interview Survey 2017

Physical healing as a function of perceived time

In this study we wounded study participants following a standardized procedure and manipulated perceived time to test whether perceived time affected the rate of healing. We measured the amount of healing that occurred across three conditions using a within-subjects design: Slow Time (half as fast as clock time), Normal Time (clock time), and Fast Time (twice as fast as clock time). Based on the theory of mind–body unity—which posits simultaneous and bidirectional influences of mind on body and body on mind—we hypothesized that wounds would heal faster or slower when perceived time was manipulated to be experienced as longer or shorter respectively. Although the actual elapsed time was 28 min in all three conditions, significantly more healing was observed in the Normal Time condition compared to the Slow Time condition, in the Fast Time condition compared to the Normal Time condition, and in the Fast Time condition compared to the Slow Time condition. These results support the hypothesis that the effect of time on physical healing is directly affected by one’s psychological experience of time, independent of the actual elapsed time.

Translating Renaissance Neoplatonic panpsychism into seventeenth-century corpuscularism: the case of Sir Kenelm Digby (1603–1665)

ABSTRACT Kenelm Digby was among the first authors in England to embrace Cartesianism. Yet Digby’s approach to the mind–body problem was irenic: in his massive Two treatises (Paris, 1644), the author advocates a corpuscular philosophy that is applied to physical bodies, whereas the intellectual capacities of human beings remain inexplicable through the powers of matter. The aim of the present article is to highlight the (rather reticent) relationship of Digby’s corpuscularism with doctrines of spirits in connection with the Renaissance Neoplatonic tradition. Not uncommon in seventeenth-century natural philosophies, such “spirits” are notoriously evasive entities: half spirit, half matter acting as mediators between the realms of bodies and souls. This article suggests that Digby sought to preserve the inveterate ideas of a universal spiritus and a world soul and, in particular, that Kenelm Digby translated (rather than “overcame”) Marsilio Ficino’s (1433–1499) spiritus doctrines into the language of seventeenth-century corpuscularism.

Socio-Phenomenological Reflections on What Digital Death Brings and Denies in Terms of Relational Experiences to Orthodox Romanians

Informed by Alfred Schütz’s phenomenology of social relations and its recent developments addressing online relationality, this essay reflects on the differences between online and offline death-related experiences in contemporary Romania. In Orthodox death cultures, religious, social, and familial bonds overlap. Orthodox Christianity is sceptical about body–mind separation and values unmediated liturgical communities. It is, thus, pertinent to ask what death online brings and denies in terms of experience to Romanian internet users. Some preliminary findings from our fieldwork are discussed. So far, on Romanian Facebook, three clusters of experience emerged widely: 1. A realm of belief where faith, unchallenged by digital practices, “decodes” deadly events across life-worlds; 2. Experiences of resistance and ambivalence of those who are stuck “in-between“, that is, those less competent in their traditions, yet sceptical about digital change; 3. Death experiences seem less synchronised across life-worlds for those who value electronic proximity: digital death and real death obey different rules. Historical specificity, we shall conclude, sets typified combinations of motives for what Romanians do in the proximity of death and how they do it. Digital technologies modulate the “hows” and, less notably, the “whats”.

Panpsychism and the mind-body problem in contemporary analytic philosophy

ABSTRACTNot so long ago, the idea that analytic philosophers would be taking panpsychism seriously would have been hard to believe. That is because in its early, logical positivist, stage, the analytic movement earned the reputation of being militantly anti-metaphysical. But analytic philosophy has come a long way since the heyday of logical positivism; and, in fact, the dialectic of recent debates on the mind–body problem among analytic philosophers has pushed many of them in the direction of panpsychism. In this paper, I want to explain how this has come about and take a look at some of the versions of panpsychism that have emerged. This will involve running through a quick history of debates on the mind–body problem since about 1960, focusing on how panpsychism has been proposed as a promising, though not unproblematic, way of breaking an apparent impasse that has emerged between more standard physicalist and dualist theories of mind. Along the way, I will also have occasion to comment on the prospects of panpsychism as a respectable scientific theory and how a number of scientists stand on this.