The Effects of an Online Positive Psychology Course on Happiness, Health, and Well-Being.

This study investigated the effects of an 8-week online positive psychology course on happiness, health, and well-being. There were 65 undergraduate students in the course and a comparison group of 63 undergraduates taking other online psychology courses. The participants were assessed on positive mental health (e.g., happiness, positive emotions), negative mental health (e.g., anxiety, depression), general health, and personal characteristics (e.g., hope, resilience) during the first and last week of the courses. The anxiety and depression measures had cut-offs for clinically significant symptoms. The hypotheses were that the positive psychology students would have significant improvements on all measures and a reduction in the percent anxious and depressed relative to the comparison group. The hypotheses were supported with large effect sizes for positive and negative mental health (mean ds = 0.907 and - 0.779, respectively) and medium-to-large effects for general health and personal characteristics (d = 0.674 and mean ds = 0.590, respectively). There was a reduction from 49.2 to 23.1% percent anxious and from 18.6 to 6.2% percent depressed with no change in the comparison group. In addition, improvements in the online positive psychology course were compared with a previous study of a similar face-to-face positive psychology course (Smith et al., 2021) showing the effect sizes for improvements relative to the comparison groups were larger in the online vs. face-to-face course (mean ds = 0.878. vs. 0.593). Possible explanations for these differences are discussed along with the implications for maximizing the benefits of positive psychology courses in the future.

Menstrual Cycle Related Fluctuations in Circulating Markers of Bone Metabolism at Rest and in Response to Running in Eumenorrheic Females.

This study examined potential fluctuations in bone metabolic markers across the menstrual cycle both at rest and after a 30-min bout of continuous running at 80% of V̇O2max. Resting and post-exercise (0, 30, 90 min) sclerostin, parathyroid hormone (PTH), carboxy-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (ß-CTXI), and procollagen type 1 N propeptide (PINP) were assessed in 10 eumenorrheic women (age: 21 ± 3 y, BMI: 23.2 ± 3.0 kg.m2) during the mid- to late-follicular (FP: day 8.0 ± 1.4) and mid-luteal (LP: day 22.0 ± 2.5) phases of the menstrual cycle. Ovulation was determined using ovulation kits and daily measurement of oral body temperature upon awakening. Menstrual cycle phase was subsequently confirmed by measurement of plasma estradiol and progesterone. On average, resting estradiol concentrations increased from 46.3 ± 8.9 pg·mL-1 in the FP to 67.3 ± 23.4 pg·mL-1 in the LP (p = 0.015), and resting progesterone increased from 4.12 ± 2.36 ng·mL-1 in the FP to 11.86 ± 4.49 ng·mL-1 in the LP (p < 0.001). At rest, there were no differences between menstrual cycle phases in sclerostin (FP: 260.1 ± 135.0 pg·mL-1; LP: 303.5 ± 99.9 pg·mL-1; p = 0.765), PTH (FP: 0.96 ± 0.64 pmol·L-1; LP: 0.79 ± 0.44 pmol·L-1; p = 0.568), ß-CTXI (FP: 243.1 ± 158.0 ng·L-1; LP: 202.4 ± 92.3 ng·L-1; p = 0.198), and PINP (FP: 53.6 ± 8.9 µg·L-1; LP: 66.2 ± 20.2 µg·L-1; p = 0.093). Main effects for time (p < 0.05) were shown in sclerostin, PTH, ß-CTXI and PINP, without phase or interaction effects. Sclerostin increased from pre- to immediately post-exercise (45%; p = 0.007), and so did PTH (43%; p = 0.011), both returning to resting concentrations 30 min post-exercise. ß-CTXI decreased from pre- to post-exercise (20%; p = 0.027) and was still below its pre-exercise concentrations at 90 min post-exercise (17%; p = 0.013). PINP increased immediately post-exercise (29%; p < 0.001), returning to resting concentrations at 30 min post-exercise. These results demonstrate no effect of menstrual cycle phase on resting bone marker concentrations or on the bone metabolic marker response to intense exercise.