Mindfulness Practice versus Physical Exercise in Enhancing Vitality.

Vitality is important for subjective well-being and performance, which makes strategies for its enhancement an important research issue. While prior research showed that mindfulness practice and physical exercise are both effective at enhancing vitality, no study has compared their efficacy. This study aimed to address this issue. Seventy-one Chinese adults participated in the study and were randomized to one of the intervention groups, i.e., mindfulness practice or physical exercise. The mindfulness practice group completed guided mindfulness trainings, while the physical exercise group completed self-chosen aerobic trainings for seven days. The levels of vitality and its four factors at three time points (baseline, post-intervention, 7-day follow-up) were measured and compared. Compared with physical exercise, mindfulness practice showed stronger effects in enhancing vitality and maintaining the improvements. The findings suggest that guided mindfulness practice is more effective than self-chosen aerobic physical exercise at enhancing vitality and maintaining its improvements.

Neurofeedback and neuroplasticity of visual self-processing in depressed and healthy adolescents: A preliminary study.

Adolescence is a neuroplastic period for self-processing and emotion regulation transformations, that if derailed, are linked to persistent depression. Neural mechanisms of adolescent self-processing and emotion regulation ought to be targeted via new treatments, given moderate effectiveness of current interventions. Thus, we implemented a novel neurofeedback protocol in adolescents to test the engagement of circuits sub-serving self-processing and emotion regulation. METHODS: Depressed (n = 34) and healthy (n = 19) adolescents underwent neurofeedback training using a novel task. They saw their happy face as a cue to recall positive memories and increased displayed amygdala and hippocampus activity. The control condition was counting-backwards while viewing another happy face. A self vs. other face recognition task was administered before and after neurofeedback training. RESULTS: Adolescents showed higher frontotemporal activity during neurofeedback and higher amygdala and hippocampus and hippocampi activity in time series and region of interest analyses respectively. Before neurofeedback there was higher saliency network engagement for self-face recognition, but that network engagement was lower after neurofeedback. Depressed youth exhibited higher fusiform, inferior parietal lobule and cuneus activity during neurofeedback, but controls appeared to increase amygdala and hippocampus activity faster compared to depressed adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Neurofeedback recruited frontotemporal cortices that support social cognition and emotion regulation. Amygdala and hippocampus engagement via neurofeedback appears to change limbic-frontotemporal networks during self-face recognition. A placebo group or condition and contrasting amygdala and hippocampus, hippocampi or right amygdala versus frontal loci of neurofeedback, e.g. dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, with longer duration of neurofeedback training will elucidate dosage and loci of neurofeedback in adolescents.

Special Issue - Therapeutic Benefits of Physical Activity for Mood: A Systematic Review on the Effects of Exercise Intensity, Duration, and Modality.

In contemporary society, people experience considerable stress in their daily lives. Therefore, developing effective approaches and convenient means to cope with their mood problems is important nowadays. Physical activity has been consistently reported as a cost-effective way to improve physical fitness, prevent mental illnesses, and alleviate mood problems. In this systematic review, the effects of exercise intensity, duration, and modality on mood change are discussed. Results show that moderate-intensity anaerobic exercise is associated with greater mood improvements. The relationship between exercise duration and mood change is non-linear; A regime of 10- to 30-minute exercise is sufficient for mood improvements. For exercise modality, anaerobic exercise improves mood, but the efficacy of aerobic and mindfulness-related exercises remains to be further examined. In addition to the systematic review of potential moderators, a narrative review of psychological and neurophysiological theories of exercise effects on mood is provided; we have highlighted the central role of neuroplasticity in integrating the two classes of theories. An adoption of neuroimaging techniques in future research is critical to reveal the mechanisms underpinning the therapeutic influence of physical activity on affective responses. Some future research directions are also raised.