Roger Walsh's Eight "Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes" for Increased Well-Being

This brief article from Bella DePaulo, Ph.D's Single at Heart blog (at Psych Central) looks at eight lifestyle changes recommended by Roger Walsh - personal friend and physician for Ken Wilber - that are better than drugs or therapy. There's not doubt each of these is better than drugs, but I won't go so far as these suggestions are better than good therapy. There are many things that simple lifestyle changes cannot address, such as trauma of various forms. 

Still, it's a good list. These are things that are part of building resilience to stress and illness, and part of the coping strategies I teach to my clients (so Roger, some of us are doing this!).

The whole article is linked to below. And if you didn't notice, this blog is focused on single people

Are These 8 Lifestyle Changes Better Than Drugs or Therapy?

By Bella DePaulo, Ph.D

 

Roger Walsh is not a specialist. He is a University of California professor of psychiatry with degrees in neuroscience, psychology, physiology, and medicine, and joint appointments in anthropology and philosophy in addition to his primary appointment in Psychiatry and Human Behavior.

On the basis of all that, and maybe also his stint as a circus acrobat, he has a big tip for you: make some lifestyle changes!


If you are a reader of writings on happiness and self-help, many of Walsh’s tips will sound familiar. What is different is where Walsh is coming from. He’s a mental health professional telling other mental health professionals that they just don’t get it about the profound importance of what he calls TLC – therapeutic lifestyle change.

In fact, on the basis of scientific evidence, he believes that some of these TLCs are more effective than drugs or therapy. What’s more,

“Unlike both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, they are free of stigma and can even confer social benefits and social esteem.”

Professor Walsh is not anti-therapy. Well, not any more. As he explained to a reporter for a publication of the University of California at Riverside,

“I went into therapy because I didn’t have much faith that it really worked, and I wanted to see for myself,” he says. “A couple years later, I staggered out of there a very different person. It was perhaps the most transformative experience of my life.”

Without further ado, here are Professor Walsh’s Big Eight TLCs (not in any particular order), from his article in the October 2011 American Psychologist, “Lifestyle and mental health”:

1. Time in nature
2. Relaxation and stress management
3. Service to others
4. Relationships
5. Recreation
6. Nutrition and diet
7. Exercise
8. Spiritual or religious involvement

From what I have learned about people who are single, and especially those who are single at heart, I think that the suggestion to spend more time in nature is especially likely to resonate. I also especially appreciated that Walsh’s section on relationships begins with a paean not to coupledom but to friendship.

Here is the abstract for the original article, which is available online.

Mental health professionals have significantly underestimated the importance of lifestyle factors (a) as contributors to and treatments for multiple psychopathologies, (b) for fostering individual and social well-being, and (c) for preserving and optimizing cognitive function. Consequently, therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLCs) are underutilized despite considerable evidence of their effectiveness in both clinical and normal populations. TLCs are sometimes as effective as either psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy and can offer significant therapeutic advantages. Important TLCs include exercise, nutrition and diet, time in nature, relationships, recreation, relaxation and stress management, religious or spiritual involvement, and service to others. This article reviews research on their effects and effectiveness; the principles, advantages, and challenges involved in implementing them; and the forces (economic, institutional, and professional) hindering their use. Where possible, therapeutic recommendations are distilled into easily communicable principles, because such ease of communication strongly influences whether therapists recommend and patients adopt interventions. Finally, the article explores the many implications of contemporary lifestyles and TLCs for individuals, society, and health professionals. In the 21st century, therapeutic lifestyles may need to be a central focus of mental, medical, and public health.

Full Citation:

Walsh, R. (2011, Oct). Lifestyle and Mental Health. American Psychologist, Vol. 66, No. 7, 579–592. DOI: 10.1037/a0021769

I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news. It's good to know that we should not be doomed by age to suffer the effects of low testosterone (muscle loss, increased fat storage, heart disease, depression, loss of sex drive, decreased bone density, and on and on). On the other hand, low testosterone in aging men is so ubiquitous that we assumed it to be a normal part of growing old.

The study only looked at a five year span, but it still seems useful to know that, according to this research, lifestyle factors play a greater role in declining testosterone than age.

Declining Testosterone Levels in Men Not Part of Normal Aging

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2012) — A new study finds that a drop in testosterone levels over time is more likely to result from a man's behavioral and health changes than by aging. The study results will be presented June 25 at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

"Declining testosterone levels are not an inevitable part of the aging process, as many people think," said study co-author Gary Wittert, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Adelaide in Adelaide, Australia. "Testosterone changes are largely explained by smoking behavior and changes in health status, particularly obesity and depression."

Many older men have low levels of the sex hormone testosterone, but the cause is not known. Few population-based studies have tracked changes in testosterone levels among the same men over time, as their study did, Wittert said.

In this study, supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the authors analyzed testosterone measurements in more than 1,500 men who had measurements taken at two clinic visits five years apart. All blood testosterone samples underwent testing at the same time for each time point, according to Wittert.

After the researchers excluded from the analysis any men who had abnormal lab values or who were taking medications or had medical conditions known to affect hormones, they included 1,382 men in the data analysis. Men ranged in age from 35 to 80 years, with an average age of 54.

On average, testosterone levels did not decline significantly over five years; rather, they decreased less than 1 percent each year, the authors reported. However, when the investigators analyzed the data by subgroups, they found that certain factors were linked to lower testosterone levels at five years than at the beginning of the study.

"Men who had declines in testosterone were more likely to be those who became obese, had stopped smoking or were depressed at either clinic visit," Wittert said. "While stopping smoking may be a cause of a slight decrease in testosterone, the benefit of quitting smoking is huge."

Past research has linked depression and low testosterone. This hormone is important for many bodily functions, including maintaining a healthy body composition, fertility and sex drive. "It is critical that doctors understand that declining testosterone levels are not a natural part of aging and that they are most likely due to health-related behaviors or health status itself," he said.

Unmarried men in the study had greater testosterone reductions than did married men. Wittert attributed this finding to past research showing that married men tend to be healthier and happier than unmarried men. "Also, regular sexual activity tends to increase testosterone," he explained.

The study findings were presented by Andre Araujo, PhD, who was a visiting professor at the University of Adelaide and is vice president of epidemiology at New England Research Institutes, Watertown, Mass.

Citation:

Endocrine Society (2012, June 23). Declining testosterone levels in men not part of normal aging. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 24, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2012/06/120623144944.htm 

Dr. Roger Walsh - Physical and Psychological Benefits of Physical Activity, Diet, Relationships, Fun, and Spirituality

Would you like to live longer? Healthier? Happier? With more vigor, enthusiasm, sex drive, curiosity, and joy? You can - the choice is yours.

Roger Walsh released a research study conducted at UC Irvine that offers a comprehensive, integral approach to mental and physical health - a lot of what he offers is nearly identical to the material that has come out of resilience research.

Walsh is one of the founding members of the Integral Institute - and he is Ken Wilber's personal physician. This press release from UC Irvine details some of the findings from his recent study (to be published in American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association) on the benefits of an integral approach to health.

This came to my attention through a promotion from Integral Life and Boulder Integral (which I posted at Integral Options Cafe: Jeff Salzman and Dr. Roger Walsh - Integral Health and Healing). The video at Integral Life is very good, but it is subscription only. Fortunately, the link in the article gives us a pre-print PDF of the whole article - very cool.

Below this, I want to include a documentary on stress featuring Dr. Robert Sapolsky.

Therapeutic lifestyle changes as useful as drugs in improving mental health

UCI study details benefits of physical activity, diet, relationships, fun and spirituality

— Irvine, Calif., February 22, 2011 —

Getting more exercise, spending time outdoors and helping others are among the activities that can be as effective as drugs or counseling in treating an array of mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety, according to a UC Irvine study.

In determining this, Dr. Roger Walsh, professor of psychiatry & human behavior, philosophy and anthropology, as well as adjunct professor of religious studies, reviewed research on the effects of what he calls “therapeutic lifestyle changes.” Other TLCs might relate to nutrition, relationships, recreation, relaxation, and religious or spiritual involvement.

“I found that lifestyle changes can offer significant advantages for patients, therapists and societies, yet they’re insufficiently appreciated, taught or utilized,” Walsh said. “TLCs can be effective, inexpensive and enjoyable, with fewer side effects and complications than medications. In the 21st century, therapeutic lifestyles may need to be a central focus of mental, medical and public health.”

Study results appear online in American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association. Among Walsh’s findings:

• Exercise doesn’t just boost people’s sense of well-being. It can help children do better in school, improve cognitive performance in adults, reduce age-related memory loss in the elderly, and increase neuron formation in the brain.
• Diets with plenty of fruits, vegetables and fish may enhance kids’ school performance, help maintain cognitive function in adults, and reduce symptoms in schizophrenic and affective disorders.
• Spending time in nature can promote cognitive function and overall well-being.
• Good relationships can reduce health risks ranging from the common cold to strokes, as well as multiple mental illnesses, and can dramatically improve psychological health.
• Recreation and fun can lessen defensiveness and foster social skills.
• Relaxation and stress management can treat a variety of anxiety, insomnia and panic disorders.
• Meditation can enhance empathy and emotional stability; decrease stress and burnout; and boost cognitive function and even brain size.
• Religious or spiritual involvement that focuses on love and forgiveness can promote well-being and reduce anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
• Contribution and service, or altruism, can foster joy and generosity, benefit both physical and mental health, and perhaps even extend lifespan. A major exception, Walsh noted, is “caretaker burnout experienced by overwhelmed family members caring for a demented spouse or parent.”

Obstacles to TLCs, he said, are the sustained effort they require and “a passive expectation that healing comes from an outside authority or a pill.” Walsh also observed that people contend with a daily barrage of psychologically sophisticated advertisements that promote unhealthy lifestyle behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol and eating fast food.

“You can never get enough of what you don’t really need, but you can certainly ruin your life and health trying,” he added.

Everything that Dr. Walsh teaches in his article is essentially designed to prevent or combat stress - and we suspect that stress is the fundamental cause in 80% of all illnesses, including cancers. But we must take a proactive stance, and maybe this documentary will help motivate you to do so.

Stress: Portrait of a Killer

The stress response: in the beginning it saved our lives, making us run from predators and enabling us to take down prey. Today, human beings are turning on the same life-saving physical reaction to cope with 30-year mortgages, $4 a gallon gasoline, final exams, difficult bosses and even traffic jams — we can’t seem to turn it off. So, we’re constantly marinating in corrosive hormones triggered by the stress response.

Now, scientists are showing just how measurable — and dangerous — prolonged exposure to stress can be. Stanford University neurobiologist, MacArthur “genius” grant recipient, and renowned author Robert Sapolsky reveals new answers to why and how chronic stress is threatening our lives in Killer Stress, a National Geographic Special. The hour-long co-production of National Geographic Television and Stanford University was produced exclusively for public television.

In this revelatory film, discoveries occur in an extraordinary range of places, from baboon troops on the plains of East Africa to the office cubes of government bureaucrats in London to neuroscience labs at the nation’s leading research universities. Groundbreaking research reveals surprising facts about the impact of stress on our bodies: how it can shrink our brains, add fat to our bellies and even unravel our chromosomes. Understanding how stress works can help us figure out ways to combat it and mitigate negative impacts on our health.

Tags: Dr. Roger Walsh, Physical benefits, Psychological Benefits, Physical Activity, Diet, Relationships, Fun, psychology, strength, mental health, lifestyle, nutrition, exercise, spirituality, Robert Sapolsky, Baboons, integral health, National Geographic, adenaline, cortisol, meditation, relaxation, service, UC Irvine, Integral Life