Lifestyle behaviors among 4,343 Brazilian adults with severe mental illness and 55,859 general population controls: data from the Brazilian National Health Survey

Unhealthy behaviors associated with mental health disorders: a systematic comparative review of diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use

Background

There are well-established literatures documenting the associations between mental disorders and unhealthy behaviors such as poor diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use. Few studies have attempted to understand the respective findings in light of each other, however.

Objective

The purpose of this review was to assemble comparable data for each behavior-disorder association and assess the associations in terms of their overall strength. The review aimed to include a representative, but not exhaustive, range of studies that would allow for explorative comparisons.

Methods

Eligible studies were identified via Pubmed searches and citation searching, restricted to publications no older than 2015 written in English. To obtain comparable data, only studies that reported findings as odds ratios were included, and risk of bias related to study samples, behavioral measurement disparities, and control variables was assessed via sensitivity analyses. Findings for each disorder were compared on the basis of different measures of central tendency.

Results

From 3,682 records, 294 studies were included. The review found evidence of associations between each of the four unhealthy behaviors and psychosis, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while personality disorder was only investigated in relation to cannabis and tobacco use. In overall comparison, the associations were generally of similar strength, and only the association between cannabis use and personality disorder was exceptional in terms of being significantly stronger than its counterparts across disorders and across behaviors. Analyses of bias risk identified some influence from behavioral measurement disparities and lack of adequate statistical control, but findings were generally robust across a range of sensitivity analyses.

Conclusion

This explorative and comparative review found that poor diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use are about equally strongly associated with a range of different mental disorders. Given the general nature of these associations, we should probably understand them to reflect a general and shared etiology. However, the findings in this review should be regarded as tentative until confirmed by more comprehensive investigations.

The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal Axis in Men with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with a chronic, progressive course. The etiology of this condition is linked to the interactions of multiple genes and environmental factors. The earlier age of onset of schizophrenia, the higher frequency of negative symptoms in the clinical presentation, and the poorer response to antipsychotic treatment in men compared to women suggests the involvement of sex hormones in these processes. This article aims to draw attention to the possible relationship between testosterone and some clinical features in male schizophrenic patients and discuss the complex nature of these phenomena based on data from the literature. PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were searched to select the papers without limiting the time of the publications. Hormone levels in the body are regulated by many organs and systems, and take place through the neuroendocrine, hormonal, neural, and metabolic pathways. Sex hormones play an important role in the development and function of the organism. Besides their impact on secondary sex characteristics, they influence brain development and function, mood, and cognition. In men with schizophrenia, altered testosterone levels were noted. In many cases, evidence from available single studies gave contradictory results. However, it seems that the testosterone level in men affected by schizophrenia may differ depending on the phase of the disease, types of clinical symptoms, and administered therapy. The etiology of testosterone level disturbances may be very complex. Besides the impact of the illness (schizophrenia), stress, and antipsychotic drug-induced hyperprolactinemia, testosterone levels may be influenced by, i.a., obesity, substances of abuse (e.g., ethanol), or liver damage.

Lifestyle Prescription for Depression with a Focus on Nature Exposure and Screen Time: A Narrative Review

Recent lifestyles changes have favored increased time in contact with screens and a parallel reduction in contact with natural environments. There is growing awareness that nature exposure and screen time are related to depression. So far, the roles of how these environmental lifestyles affect depressive symptoms and disorders have not been reviewed simultaneously. The aim of this review was to gather the literature regarding the role of nature exposure and screen time in depression. An emphasis was made on clinical samples of patients with well-defined depression and the different methodological approaches used in the field. A second goal was to suggest an agenda for clinical practice and research. Studies were included if they assessed depressive symptoms in patients with a clinical diagnosis of depression. An overview of the published literature was conducted using three scientific databases up to December 2021. Several interventions involving nature exposure have shown positive effects on depressive symptoms and mood-related measures. The most consistent finding suggests that walks in natural environments may decrease depressive symptoms in patients with clinical depression. Less researched interventions, such as psychotherapy delivered in a forest or access to natural environments via virtual reality, may also be effective. In contrast, fewer observational studies and no experimental research on screen time have been conducted in patients with clinical depression. Thus, recommendations for practice and research are also discussed. Scarce research, diverse interventions, and several methodological shortcomings prevent us from drawing conclusions in this area. More high-quality experimental research is needed to establish interventions with proven efficacy in clinical depression. At this stage, it is too early to formulate practice guidelines and advise the prescription of these lifestyles to individuals with depression. The present findings may serve as a basis to develop strategies based on nature exposure and screen time targeting clinical depression.

Physical inactivity and elevated TV-viewing reported changes during the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with mental health: A survey with 43,995 Brazilian adults

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the associations of physical activity and TV-viewing reported changes during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine with mental health among Brazilian adults with and without depression.

METHODS

Data of 43,995 Brazilian adults from a cross-sectional, nationwide behavior research were used. Participants reported the frequency on loneliness, sadness (feel sad, crestfallen or depressed) and anxiety (feel worried, anxious or nervous) feelings during the pandemic period. Frequency and duration of physical activity as well as duration of TV-viewing before and during the pandemic period were also reported. We created four categories of reported changes in physical activity (1-consistently active, 2-become active, 3-become inactive or 4-consistently inactive) and TV-viewing (1-consistently high, 2-become low, 3-become high or 4-consistently high). Participants also reported previous diagnoses of depression [yes (PD) or no (nPD). Logistic regression models separating people with and without depression were created.

RESULTS

Compared to consistently active participants, to become inactive during the pandemic was associated with a higher odds for loneliness [nPD:OR:1.32 (95%CI,1.02-1.70); PD:2.22 (1.21-4.06)], sadness [nPD:1.34 (1.01-1.77); PD:2.88 (1.54-5.36)], and anxiety [nPD:1.71 (1.30-2.25); PD:2.55 (1.20-5.42)]. Also, people with depression and consistently physically inactive presented higher odds for loneliness and sadness. Compared to consistently low TV-viewing, participants that become with high TV-viewing showed higher odds for loneliness [nPD:1.59 (1.37-1.86)], sadness [nPD:1.68 (1.44-1.96); PD:1.61 (1.21 to 2.15)] and anxiety [nPD:1.73 (1.48-2.02); PD:1.58 (1.12-2.23)].

CONCLUSIONS

Reported increases in physical inactivity and TV-viewing during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with poorer mental health indicators. People with depression and consistently physically inactivity were more likely to present loneliness and sadness.

Lifestyle behaviors changes during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine among 6,881 Brazilian adults with depression and 35,143 without depression

Our aim was to analyze the association between previously diagnosed lifetime depression and changes in physical activity (PA), TV-viewing, consumption of fruits and vegetables as well as frequency of ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption. Data of 41,923 Brazilian adults (6,881 with depression and 35,042 without depression) were used. Participants reported PA (≥ 150 min/week), TV-viewing (≥ 4 h/day), frequency of eating fruits or vegetables (≤ 4 days/week) and UPF (≥ 5 days/week). For incidence indicators, we only considered participants without the risk behavior before the quarantine. People without and with depression presented, respectively, incidence of physical inactivity [70.1% (95%CI: 67.4-72.8) vs 76.3 (70.3-81.5)], high TV-viewing [31.2 (29.6-32.8) vs 33.9 (30.5-37.4)], low frequency of fruit or vegetable consumption [28.3 (25.8-31.0) vs 31.5 (26.1-37.5)] and elevated frequency of UPF consumption [9.7 (8.9-10.7) vs 15.2 (13.0-17.7)]. Participants with depression were more likely to present elevated frequency of UPF consumption incidence [OR:1.49 (95%CI:1.21-1.83)]. Thus, participants with previous diagnosis of depression were at risk for incidence of unhealthy diet behaviors.