Yule Heibel's Library tagged mental_health →  View Popular, Search in Google

Ok, remember to kick the depression if you want those synapses to fire well into old age...
QUOTE
... a mathematical model to estimate how the seven risk factors affect the likelihood of someone developing the disease. The factors are:

Smoking
Depression
Low education
Diabetes
Too little exercise
Obesity
High blood pressure in mid-life

In the U.S., inactivity has the biggest impact on the number of cases because a third of the population is sedentary, Deborah Barnes, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California and lead author of the study, told The Associated Press.

Depression is also a key factor, followed by smoking and high blood pressure.
UNQUOTE

depression mental_health alzheimer ctv

One of the many thought-provoking statements in Ethan Watters's article on modern mental health (and its diagnosis & treatment):
"Since the illness was seen as the work of outside forces, it was understood as an affliction for the sufferer but not as an identity."

Watters writes about how a Western (often American) conception of mental health has shaped global understanding of illness/ disease, sometimes with negative consequences. In earlier times and in other cultures, mental states were diagnosed with a view to "culture bound syndromes," but modern mental health refutes this. In turn, however, cultural attitudes to mental health can grow more rigid (and unforgiving): your brain is broken (neurological disorder), vs. your spirit is (temporarily?) discombobulated. The former view exacts a harsher response than the latter, according to experiments conducted by researchers.

mental_health cultural_norms americanization nyt ethan_watters

Intro page from the Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds (RSPB) to a report by a Dr. William Bird (ha!) called "Natural Thinking," available as a PDF download. Bird's report is an "investigating [of] the links between the natural environment, biodiversity and mental health."

This could be a useful reference for urbanist writing, insofar as it underscores the importance of amenities as a necessary complement to density. You don't want to have density while simultaneously "automating" everything (no more walking, driving only, no interaction with nature, etc.). Even small "hot spots" of natural interaction will work, or more walking with actual natural elements at hand.

health mental_health nature amenities stress research rspb