Relationship between mental and physical health

The relationship between physical and mental health: A mediation analysis

. 2017 Dec;195:42-49.

doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.008. Epub 2017 Nov 8.

Julius Ohrnberger¹, Eleonora Fichera², Matt Sutton³

Affiliations

¹ Manchester Centre for Health Economics, University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Economics, University of Bath, United Kingdom.
³ Manchester Centre for Health Economics, University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

PMID: 29132081
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.008

Free article

Julius Ohrnberger et al. Soc Sci Med. 2017 Dec.

Free article

. 2017 Dec;195:42-49.

doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.008. Epub 2017 Nov 8.

Authors

Julius Ohrnberger¹, Eleonora Fichera², Matt Sutton³

Affiliations

¹ Manchester Centre for Health Economics, University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Economics, University of Bath, United Kingdom.
³ Manchester Centre for Health Economics, University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

PMID: 29132081
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.008

Abstract

There is a strong link between mental health and physical health, but little is known about the pathways from one to the other. We analyse the direct and indirect effects of past mental health on present physical health and past physical health on present mental health using lifestyle choices and social capital in a mediation framework. We use data on 10,693 individuals aged 50 years and over from six waves (2002-2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Mental health is measured by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES) and physical health by the Activities of Daily Living (ADL). We find significant direct and indirect effects for both forms of health, with indirect effects explaining 10% of the effect of past mental health on physical health and 8% of the effect of past physical health on mental health. Physical activity is the largest contributor to the indirect effects. There are stronger indirect effects for males in mental health (9.9%) and for older age groups in mental health (13.6%) and in physical health (12.6%). Health policies aiming at changing physical and mental health need to consider not only the direct cross-effects but also the indirect cross-effects between mental health and physical health.

Keywords: Mediation analysis; Mental health; Older population; Physical health; UK.

Cited by

The Association Between Upper Disorders and Psychological Well-Being and its Implication in Text Neck Syndrome: A Systematic Review.
Bottaro R, Faraci P. Bottaro R, et al. Clin Neuropsychiatry. 2022 Oct;19(5):280-287. doi: 10.36131/cnfioritieditore20220503. Clin Neuropsychiatry. 2022. PMID: 36340273 Free PMC article. Review.
Exploring Depression among the Elderly during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effects of the Big Five, Media Use, and Perceived Social Support.
Li Y, Lin Z, Wu Y. Li Y, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 19;19(20):13534. doi: 10.3390/ijerph292013534. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022. PMID: 36294113 Free PMC article.
The Mediating Role of Extra-family Social Relationship Between Personality and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Adults.
Zhao H, Shi H, Ren Z, He M, Li X, Li Y, Pu Y, Cui L, Wang S, Zhao J, Liu H, Zhang X. Zhao H, et al. Int J Public Health. 2022 Sep 23;67:1604797. doi: 10.3389/ijph.2022.1604797. eCollection 2022. Int J Public Health. 2022. PMID: 36213139 Free PMC article.
The mediation and interaction of depressive symptoms in activities of daily living and active aging in rural elderly: A cross-sectional survey.
Fu X, Su Y, Zeng C, Liu L, Guo Y, Wu Y. Fu X, et al. Front Public Health. 2022 Sep 14;10:942311. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.942311. eCollection 2022. Front Public Health. 2022. PMID: 36187612 Free PMC article.
Community-Dwelling Older Adults' Intended Use of Different Types of Long-Term Care in China and Its Associated Factors Based on the Andersen Behavioral Model.
Che RP, Cheung MC. Che RP, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 15;19(18):11626. doi: 10.3390/ijerph291811626. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022. PMID: 36141900 Free PMC article.

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms

The Connection Between Mental and Physical Health

Posted On: Oct 9, 2021
Written By: Frederick Health

Mental and physical health rely heavily on each other. Our minds and bodies are connected. If you have problems with one, you’re likely to have problems with the other. Research shows that those with mental health problems are more likely to have a preventable physical health condition like heart disease. This can happen due to a variety of reasons:

Genetics. Certain genes make you more susceptible to develop a mental health or physical health problem.
Less likely to receive medical help. Those with mental illness are less likely to get routine checkups that may detect physical health conditions earlier.
Low motivation. Some mental health problems or medications may cause a lack of motivation. This can lead to less physical activity, causing weight gain and physical health issues.

About one in three people with a long-term physical health problem also has a mental health problem, such as depression or anxiety. Depression can cause headaches, fatigue, and digestive problems, with anxiety resulting in stomach issues. Both can cause insomnia, restlessness, and difficulty concentrating. But you can improve your mental and physical health simultaneously.

Eating nutritious meals with a balance of proteins, essential fats, vitamins, minerals, and complex carbohydrates can help. Foods you eat can work towards preventing mental health conditions like depression. Eating a healthy diet can also lower your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.

Quitting or not smoking at all can also greatly improve your health and well-being. Adults with depression are twice as likely to smoke than those without depression. ‘Self-medicating’ with smoking is a tactic some will use to help ease stress and anxiety but smoking actually increases anxiety and tension. It also has detrimental effects to your physical health, increasing the risk of heart disease, lung diseases, and many cancers.

Regular physical activity is one of the best ways to improve your mental and physical health. Research shows that exercise improves blood pressure, diabetes symptoms, and arthritis. Exercise can also improve your mood and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Beyond their physical benefits, certain exercises are recommended to improve mental health:

Yoga—Yoga helps with relaxation and easing stress. According to the American Psychological Association, yoga is recommended for anyone with anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Cycling—Studies show that for those with schizophrenia, cycling helps keep the white matter in the brain healthy, allowing brain function to improve.
Running—Running can help control manic symptoms in those with bipolar disorder, providing a calming effect that helps mood regulation.
Boxing—This helps release stress and anger. Boxing releases endorphins that boost your mood.

Frederick Health is here to help. Our Behavioral Health unit offers three levels of psychiatric care to help treat your unique needs: emergency evaluation, inpatient hospitalization, and psychiatric partial hospitalization services. We help link patients to the care they need including counseling, medication management, and case-management services to facilitate recovery.

In addition, our Forensic Nursing team helps those who feel unsafe or are in crisis. This team of nurses and social workers provide emotional support, medical care, education, and more. The Forensic Nursing team also provides support and private care to those experiencing sexual assault, domestic violence, elder abuse, and human trafficking, amongst others. Many services are provided based on each individual’s specific needs.

For more information, please visit FrederickHealth.org/BehavioralHealth.

Share This Article:

How are mental and physical health interrelated?

In the course of a new work, scientists from the University of Basel (University of Basel), Switzerland, and the Ruhr University of Bochum (Ruhr University of Bochum), Germany, when assessing the relationship between the mental and physical health of young people, determined the presence of some temporal patterns. They noticed that diseases of the digestive tract often develop after depression, and pathologies of the skin after anxiety disorders. The results of the work were published in the journal "PLOS ONE".

The health of children and adolescents is the foundation of the health of the population of the future, and therefore experts from the World Health Organization argue that the structure of non-communicable and psychiatric pathologies among people in this age group must be taken into account in a global strategy to improve health, social policy and health care programs. In the course of previous work, scientists have proved the existence of a relationship between physical and mental pathologies in adults. In longitudinal studies, they determined that depression can contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and coronary artery disease, as well as autoimmune disorders, Crohn's disease and type 1 diabetes. In addition, scientists have learned that post-traumatic stress disorder often precedes coronary heart disease, respiratory disease, and type 2 diabetes. The significance of such physical and mental comorbidity is determined by its negative impact on the quality of life of patients and the aggravation of the severity of diseases, and therefore in recent years it has often been the object of strategic research.

In this work, scientists led by Dr. Gunther Meinlschmidt studied this relationship in children and young people. To do this, they assessed the health status of 6,483 adolescents aged 13-18. The researchers noted that some medical conditions were more common in participants with previously diagnosed certain psychiatric disorders. In addition, certain mental disorders are more likely to develop against the background of certain physical pathologies. Thus, affective disorders such as depression are much more likely to develop in people after arthritis (relative risk (RR) 3.36; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.95–5.77) or gastrointestinal pathologies (RR 3.39; 95% CI 2.30–5.00), and anxiety disorders after skin diseases (RR 1, 53, 95% CI 1.21–1.94). Similarly, previous pathologies of the cardiovascular system contributed to the development of anxiety (RR 1.89; 95% CI 1.41–2.52). In the course of the work, scientists were surprised to find an association between epilepsy and eating disorders (RR 6. 27; 95% CI 1.58–24.96). They believe that this result indicates the possibility of applying approaches used to treat patients with epilepsy in therapy for these disorders.

The researchers noted that the results indicate a causal relationship between mental disorders and physical illness, and in the course of the following work, they hope to elucidate the biological processes that determine the occurrence of these associations. The scientists emphasized that treatment for mental disorders and somatic pathology should be closely related in patients of all ages.

Julia Kotikovich

"The relationship between mental and physical health" | Consultation on the topic:

Consultation on the topic: "The relationship between the physical and psychological health of children"

Physical and mental development of a person are inextricably linked in a single process of personality development, starting from birth and intrauterine development of a child. During preschool childhood, a child lays the foundations of health, comprehensive motor fitness and harmonious physical development.

Numerous studies have proven the special role of movements for the life of the body, improving its basic functions. The more active the child's involvement in the world of movements, the richer and more interesting his physical and mental development, the stronger his health. And vice versa, a sickly, lagging behind in physical development child gets tired faster, he has unstable attention, memory. Therefore, it is extremely important to organize physical education classes in childhood, which will allow the body to accumulate strength and ensure the comprehensive harmonious development of the individual in the future.

Influence of motor activity on the mental and physical health of children

Motor activity contributes to the development of children's perception, thinking, attention, memory, imagination, spatial and temporal representations, as well as thought processes (observation, comparison, analysis, synthesis, generalization, etc. .). Scientists have established a direct relationship between the level of physical activity of children and their vocabulary, speech development, and thinking. Under the influence of physical exercises, physical activity in the body, the synthesis of biologically active compounds increases, which improve sleep, positively affect the mood of children, increase their mental and physical performance.

When performing movements, the emotional state of children is enriched. They experience a feeling of joy, an uplift from the energy shown during the mastery of motor actions, from looseness and freedom to perform them.

During the performance of movements by children, the teacher actively forms their moral and volitional qualities, determination, perseverance, endurance, courage, etc. In the process of classes, children learn to see and understand those who are nearby, coordinate their actions with their actions, show sympathy, support ; to help overcome obstacles at the right time; do not laugh at those who fell, shows uncertainty, inability. The teacher tries to show the dependence of the overall result on the performance of certain actions by each child, on a kind and fair attitude towards comrades (to help a comrade, if he cannot follow the rules of the game, use polite forms of offering services, comments). The presence of a game moment helps to maintain in all children an interest in performing a common motor task, without which it is impossible to achieve the ability to see another, act with him. Mutual responsibility provides the child with the possibility of self-affirmation, develops confidence, initiative, forms a sense of camaraderie.

Outdoor games are useful, in which a situation is created that increases interdependence from each other. Communication skills acquired in such situations are more easily transferred to other activities, to ordinary life conditions.

In the process of physical education (dramatization games, sports and outdoor games, sports exercises, relay race games), self-esteem is formed. The child evaluates his "I" by the direct efforts that he made to achieve the goal. In connection with the development of self-esteem, such personal qualities as self-esteem, conscience, pride develop. In complex actions, the will of the child is manifested - overcoming obstacles in achieving the goal. It is especially important to support in children the desire and ability to overcome obstacles, independently choosing a method of action depending on the specific conditions that have developed at the moment.

The use of physical minutes in the classroom

The content of the "kindergarten program" provides for a significant amount of knowledge and a fairly high level of mental development of children. Mastery of knowledge is carried out mainly in classes for the development of mathematical concepts, speech, visual activity and others, where children are in a sedentary position. During such classes, the organs of vision and hearing experience a significant load; muscles of the hand of the working hand; muscles of the trunk, especially the back, which are in a static state. It should be noted that the static load is the most difficult for preschoolers. During static stress, there is a decrease in metabolism, a slowdown in blood flow and blood supply to the brain, blood pressure rises, the pulse quickens, breathing is disturbed, congestion in the muscles is observed. These changes lead to a decrease in mental performance, fatigue, which adversely affects the development of the child, his health and behavior. Therefore, it is important to prevent emerging fatigue, to detect its first signs in a timely manner and to remove them as soon as possible.

Studies show that the first signs of fatigue appear in children of the middle group at the 7-9th minute of the lesson, the older group - at the 10-12th, preparatory to school - 12-14th (N. Terekhova, M. Antropova and etc.). An effective means of preventing fatigue, improving the general condition are physical exercises. Physical exercise especially increases subsequent performance during complex mental activity.

Learn more

Relationship between mental and physical health

The relationship between physical and mental health: A mediation analysis

Affiliations

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Similar articles

Cited by

MeSH terms

The Connection Between Mental and Physical Health

How are mental and physical health interrelated?

"The relationship between mental and physical health" | Consultation on the topic: