Minneapolis St. Paul Mental Health Blog

Anxiety Help | Walking appears to have a bigger effect on anxiety than more rigorous exercise.

"Walking, high-intensity interval training (and continuous aerobic exercise) all have positive effects on a range of mood measures

Mental Health Update | A recent Mendelian randomization study published in the journal Neurology found that lower vitamin D status is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

Approximately one in nine people age 65 and older has Alzheimer’s disease (AD), affecting a total of 5.4 million Americans.

All smokers face a higher risk of heart attack, but the threat is particularly high among those under 50, a new study finds.

Compared to former smokers and nonsmokers in their age group, heart attack risk was nearly 8.5 times higher for smokers younger than 50.

A meditative practice known as Sudarshan Kriya yoga — includes a series of sequential, rhythm-specific breathing exercises designed to bring participants into a deep, restful state.

Mental Health Minnesota | Daily intake of a sugar-sweetened drink for as few as 3 weeks...

caused changes in brain response to beverage-related stimuli in healthy-weight individuals, a researcher found in a randomized controlled trial published online in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Last November, the United States Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, MD, announced the release of the first-ever report on substance use, abuse and addiction.

Dr Murthy had declared in the month preceding the release: “We are going to stop treating addiction as a moral failing, and start seeing it for what it is: a chronic disease that must be treated with urgency and compassion.”

Mental Health Minnesota | Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a common disorder that often goes undiagnosed because of the other disorders it co-occurs with, and overlooking it can lead to significant problems for patients.

At least 50% to 60% of people taking a pharmacological agent have treatment-resistant GAD,

Mental Health | the realities of depression

The vast majority of the estimated 350 million people worldwide suffering from depression are not receiving even minimally adequate treatment, according to an international study backed by the World Health Organization.

Clinicians need to remain vigilant when prescribing tramadol, as its concurrent use with opioids poses a risk of serotonin toxicity.

Prescriptions of tramadol for the treatment of headache and other types of pain have increased in recent years. Because it was not scheduled as a controlled substance by the Drug Enforcement Administration until 2014, the misconception may remain that tramadol is a safer option with less risk of dependence and adverse effects compared with other opioids.

The number of U.S. adolescents and young adults with untreated depression may be on the rise, a recent study suggests.

For youth ages 12 to 17, the prevalence of depression increased from 8.7 percent in 2005 to 11.3 percent in 2014, the study found. Among adults aged 18 to 25, the prevalence climbed from 8.8 percent to 9.6 percent during the study period.