2021: April is Stress Awareness Month
Each year, a group of non-profit wellness and mental health awareness organizations sponsor National Stress Awareness Month during the month of April. Along with Stress Awareness Month, they also promote a National Stress Awareness Day. This year we observe Stress Awareness Day on Sunday, April 18th. Last year at this time – mid-April 2020 – […]
New CDC Guidelines on Exercise and Activity: What They Say for Adolescents
In 1996, the Surgeon General of the United States released a report that served as a wake-up call about the general state of health and wellness of people in the U.S. The Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health outlined serious issues in two areas. First, the report identified a disturbing, wide-ranging, population-level prevalence […]
Research Report: Boost Happiness and Wellbeing by Getting Outside
The shelter-in-place guidelines that have been in effect for millions of people in the U.S. since March take their toll. Evidence shows an increase in the symptoms of mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, as well as an increase in binge-drinking, consumption of recreational drugs, and opioid-related overdose deaths. Over the past year, we’ve […]
National Hobby Month: Where do Hobbies Come From?
Every year during the month of January, people in the U.S. celebrate National Hobby Month. Enthusiasts around the country share information about their hobbies with friends, try new hobbies that interest them, and dive deeper into the hobbies and activities they love. It seems like hobbies have been around forever. They’re a natural way to […]
Five Steps to Achieve and Maintain Mental Wellness
Now that we’re well into 2022, we won’t mention why we want it to be an amazing year, or why we – at the very least – want it to be better than 2020 and 2021. Suffice it to say we can all agree on looking forward to the new year. One thing we can […]
Research Report: Wisconsin Student Athletes, COVID-19, and Depression
We recently published an article about the relationship between teen mental health, coronavirus, and high school sports. That piece was based on a study initiated by a Canadian high school student who analyzed the effect of coronavirus lockdown on student athletes in her school district in Ontario. She found that after six weeks of shelter-in-place […]
COVID-19, High School Athletes, and Mental Health
The coronavirus pandemic touches almost every facet of life for people in the U.S. The way we work, the way we play, the way we socialize – it’s nearly impossible to find an area of day-to-day living that coronavirus does not affect. At the start of the pandemic, most of us thought we were at […]
Brand New To Exercising? These Tips Can Help
Exercise and Recovery The evidence is in. Regular exercise can help people in recovery. Studies show that an exercise routine can help people in recovery from alcohol and substance use disorders, combat depression, relieve anxiety, decreases cravings, and develop healthy coping mechanisms. Regular exercise also offers people in recovery new alternatives to old habits, decreases […]
Does My Teen Have a Psychosomatic Disorder?
Your child has been complaining of a stomachache. Or a headache. Or ear pain, chest pain, nausea: take your pick. Problem is, the doctor can’t find anything wrong. He’s checked out your adolescent, and everything looks all clear—physically, that is. Which leaves you puzzled. It doesn’t make sense that your teen is exaggerating their symptoms. […]
The Role of Exercise in Teen Depression Treatment
Teen depression is a complex disease that doesn’t always respond to traditional therapeutic approaches. Many mental health treatment providers use a trial-and-error approach to establish what works and what doesn’t for each client. Initially, the therapies treatment centers use include antidepressant medications and talk therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Complementary approaches like exercise […]