Exercise and Dietary Restriction for Promotion of Neurohealth Benefits

Archer, Trevor; Garcia, Danilo

doi:10.4236/health.2015.71016

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 157 publications

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“…Although increased levels of physical exercise are associated with better health and well-being [35][36][37][38], and better prognosis in psychiatric conditions, the observation of greater exercise frequency in the present study may not necessarily be an entirely positive manifestation. On the one hand, it has been observed that female patients with AN engaged in caloric restriction and excessive exercising prior to clinical treatment had larger hippocampal volumes than healthy comparison women.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

Emotional Well-Being in Anorexia Nervosa: Negative Affect, Sleeping Problems, Use of Mood-enhancing Drugs and Exercise Frequency

Archer¹

2015

Arch Depress Anxiety

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The purpose of this study was to ascertain emotional well-being among patients presenting ninety anorexia nervosa (AN) and healthy age-matched controls using the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule and the Emotional Well-Being Scale together with background health information. The results indicated that AN patients displayed higher levels of negative affect and negative emotions, more stress and depression, greater sleeping problems, pain, and use of analgesics and mood-enhancing drugs, as well as lower levels of positive affect and positive emotions, compared to the age-matched healthy controls. Despite their negative self-report, on the variables pertaining to affect, sleep and pain, the AN patients reported a higher frequency of physical exercise. Regression analysis indicated that the AN condition, from diagnosis, was predicted from negative affect, sleeping problems, use of moodenhancing drugs and exercise frequency. Hence, suggesting that excessive exercise together with depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, additive behaviors and sleep problems represent AN from a perspective of multiple comorbidities.compared with healthy volunteers, assessed on Estonian versions of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, positive affect and negative affect (measured by the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule), and Neuroticism made the largest contribution to Eating Disorder-2 subscales, with Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness (measured by the NEO Personality Inventory), predisposing individuals to eating problems [5]. It has been shown also that patients with AN inhibit expressions of both positive and negative emotions, even after controlling for neuroticism, with higher levels of hostility and neuroticism; they were less aware of their inner thoughts and feelings, "private self-consciousness", and had a heightened awareness of the thoughts and expectations of others, "public selfconsciousness", [6]. Patients presenting eating disorders often report alexithymia, an inability to identify and describe their emotions and affective status [7,8]. They show a paucity of words expressing feelings and demonstrate difficulties in identifying and distinguishing feeling of physical sensations. Alexithymia and personal distress seem to predict the vulnerability features of Anorexia Nervosa (AN) with higher levels of personal distress in the latter linked to poor selfregulation and emotional awareness [9].There is a high comorbidity between AN and anxiety and/or alexithymia disorders [10], moreover, AN patients display certain features similar to those abusing substances/exercise, through a 'narrowed' behavioral repertoire such that weight loss, food intake restriction, and excessive exercise interfere with other activities in a similar fashion to substance/exercise abuse [11]. Further, comorbidity between AN, anxiety, depression and psychoactive substance use has been described [12]. It is likely that the disorder elevates anxiety, depression with stress presenting a predisposing factor to poorer ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

Emotional Well-Being in Anorexia Nervosa: Negative Affect, Sleeping Problems, Use of Mood-enhancing Drugs and Exercise Frequency

Archer¹

2015

Arch Depress Anxiety

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“…The enduringly, but disturbingly, high level of variation depicting the physical exercise/activity profiles of AN patients that is attributed to the, either low or very high, patterns of these behaviors presents a highly relevant issue in AN [22]. It has been shown that there are differences expressed between those parents with and those without core eatingdisorder psychopathology; those parents presenting eating-disorder psychopathology reported greater perceived feeding responsibility, stronger concerns about their children's weight management and spent more time monitoring the children's intake behavior than those parents not presenting eating-disorder characteristics [23]. The notion concerning the conceptualization and measurement of pathological exercise in association with eating disorder, not least AN, is not novel, not least in its connotations with perfectionism and compulsive behaviour [24].…”

Section: Editorialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exercise in Anorexia Nervosa: Complexity of Pathology and Health

Archer¹

2016

Clin Exp Psychol

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EditorialAnorexia nervosa (AN) condition presents a serious and potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by episodes of self-starvation and excessive weight loss that may be accompanied by excessive exercise [1]. The notion that the condition offers a dysfunctional system of individuals' self-evaluation of self-worth, where self-worth as determined from perceived body shape and weight and the degree to which they consider themselves to be in control of their own shape and weight. The control need and necessity for specific body shape and weight appears to drive the pathologic dietary restraint and the consequent operationalization of these tendencies into various behavioural expressions and dietary rules that may either lead to success, e.g. outcome weight loss, or fail in implementation, e.g. resulting in subjective or objective binge eating episodes for example, often induced by the failure of restriction to dietary rules [2]. These notions support the essential over-evaluation of weight and shape and that this cognitive mind-set in its turn influences the attempts at eating restraint [3]. It has been observed also that low individual self-esteem exerts a general influence on over-evaluation of weight and shape [4]. Since low self-esteem in its turn has been shown to be associated with higher negative affect as measured with Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule [5,6], it appears conceivable that individuals afflicted with the psychopathology condition experience less positive and more negative affect, as a consequence of low self-esteem. Physical exercise influences cognitive, emotional, learning and neurophysiological domains, both directly and indirect, thereby rendering it essential that this noninvasive, non-pharmacological intervention ought to form a part of children's and adolescents' long-term health programs [7,8].Introducing exercise regimes has been found to be beneficial to the health and well-being of individuals, both under laboratory and clinical conditions and has been demonstrated using a variety of health guidelines and biomarkers [9]. Physical, bodily, activities enhancing or maintaining physical fitness mobilize the engagement of regular and frequent exercise thereby ensuring physical fitness to the exclusion of agents associated with health problems, e.g. pro-inflammatory cytokines and cortisol. Taking into account, the large proportion of individuals with more-or-less sedentary preoccupations, physical exercise presents uniquely one of the most potent health-promoting lifestyles available by rendering positive outcomes for both neurologic and psychiatric conditions [10][11][12][13][14][15]. It is beneficial also within domains defined by neurocognitive capacity, quality-of-life, postural and motor efficacy and affective status [16][17][18]. Generally, exercise has been defined as a planned, structured physical activity with the purpose of improving one or more aspects of physical fitness and functional capacity [19]. Health status may be estimated by the level of...

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“…The purpose of this treatise is to examine the notion of physical exercise as intervention to facilitate a positive developmental trajectory, as has been observed both under normal conditions and those associated with developmental disturbance, e.g. ADHD [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Motor skills difficulties, such as balance, posture and gait and movement speed, are present in children diagnosed with ASD [15,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%