The Brain, Mood, and Mental Health

Right at the start of the pandemic we at leading brains predicted, as did many others, that there would follow a wave of mental health issues. So, at leading brains we developed the Balanced Brains Assessment which aimed to identify the root cause of disruptions and therefore give businesses and individuals a tool to measure this and give direction into how to approach the various issues.

As we prepared this, we conducted a study analysing data from multiple companies, mostly large multinationals. What did we find? Well, we found, surprisingly, that everyone was in surprisingly good shape! It was a surprise because there had been many reports in the general and specialist press, such as the British Psychological Society, of the negative impact and the increase in mental health issues.

So, is there a rise in mental health disorders or not? Well, it seems that…it depends. For example, data on schoolchildren in the USA showed on average an uptick in certain mental health metrics but on closer analysis you can see that this is limited to certain demographics only. This is still bad news, and sad news, because it shows that the under-privileged are indeed experiencing more mood and mental health issues, contributing to a worrying vicious circle for this demographic.

A study into students published in 2020 showed that a lot of the negative effects was also strongly correlated to exercise, or in this particular case, the steps taken daily. Those who were getting their daily steps were much less likely to suffer from depressive symptoms. Cause, effect, contributing factor, or comorbidity?

Well, if we go into the latest research, we can see that much standard health advice contributes strongly to increasing mood, reducing stress, and moderating mental health issues. So, for example exercise which I summarise in a later post has multiple positive benefits.