What Is The Thyroid Gland And How Does It Work?

Hello All! Dr. Bernard Kim here from Pondworks Psychiatry & Psychotherapy here to talk a little bit today about our thyroid gland. How does the thyroid gland work? I wrote the following article on the thyroid and how it functions in your body. You’ll find information below on where the gland is located, what does your thyroid do, and signs and symptoms if it not working correctly. You can also find out more information on our YouTube channel here

Where is the thyroid gland located?

To locate your thyroid gland, follow these instructions. If you can find your Adam’s apple, the thyroid is located just below your Adam’s apple. You will find your thyroids location on both sides of your neck, right about halfway down on your neck, and either side of the adam’s apple.

What does the thyroid do and how does it work?

The thyroid has several functions, particularly around metabolism and energy level; in psychiatry, we noticed it overlaps with mood, anxiety, motivation, and energy levels. 

What are the signs of my thyroid not working correctly?

I always break that question of is my thyroid is working correctly down into two parts. The first part will happen if my thyroid level is too high.

What are the symptoms if my thyroid level is too high?

If someone’s thyroid levels too high, there are body effects. There are psychiatric effects. Some of the more common body effects are having too much energy. Other products of an overactive thyroid are hot sweating or hot flashes. These are particularly notable if you’re feeling hot in the room and others around you feel just right. These feelings are in terms of physical temperature. 

I mentioned a few to you already regarding psychiatry, and here are a couple more if your level is too high.

You might feel anxious, and you might feel irritable, you might feel as if he can’t slow down. Is there some of the more common side effects or symptoms of having a thyroid level that’s too high? 

What are the symptoms if my thyroid level is too low and not working enough?

What will you experience if your thyroid one was too low well and someone is there of the reverse of having a high level of thyroid slow flow energy essential weight gain cold intolerance that’s the opposite of heat intolerance that I described earlier you’re in a room, and you feel cold, and everyone else feels like it’s a good temperature term of psychiatric symptoms one of the predominant ones we noticed is a low mood or depression in along with that having a low energy level or feeling a motivated

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The Three Essential Pillars To A Great Nights Sleep

The 3 Essential Pillars To A Great Nights Sleep

Hi, Dr. Bernard Kim, here to talk to you today about three pillars of treating sleep. I’m writing to you from Pondworks Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Austin, Texas.

In particular, we’re going to talk about the three pillars of getting a great night’s sleep. Biology, Psychology, and the last one are Social, and with that, I tag in behavioral because they go hand in hand.

Get A Good Nights Sleep

Biology Pillar And How It Affects How Well You Get Sleepy

So let’s get started. The first of the three pillars of treating sleep is biology. This first pillar I’m going to look at is the biology of sleep. I’m going to mention a few short things, and then we’ll move on. It has to do with psychiatry’s medical side and looking at the different interventions we could do. 

For instance, we can tackle sleep directly through a medication called a hypnotic. Those usually help you fall asleep a little bit easier to keep you from waking up during the night. Each of them has their plus and their minus side often grogginess the next day. Being groggy is something likely that one might have to deal with while taking this type of medication.

One other aspect of treating the biology pillar of sleep is if there’s something else going on, what if there’s some depression or anxiety? If you’re having those issues, if we tackle the sleep directly, it could help. 

But it might not. 

So we look at those particular issues and think about whether a medication would be appropriate to address a more specific mood or anxiety. 

Psychology Pillar Of Getting To Bed – Sleepiness And Insomnia

Now let’s move on to the next pillar, which is psychology. I’ve talked a little bit about this before. The most straightforward approach targeted directly at the symptoms is something called cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. 

I recommend this pretty much across the boards to engage with a therapist throughout a formal 12 to 16 sessions. I almost always incorporate parts of CBTI in my general visits with folks. 

Another part that we have to take a closer look at is what stresses are in our lives? Maybe these aren’t directly related to sleep symptoms, but they can affect them. Just like with the biology pillar and medications that we investigate, stress also takes center stage here.

So sometimes I’ll recommend general psychotherapy as well.

How The Social Behavior Pillar Will Effect Your Sleep and Bedtime

Now we’re down to the last pillar, which is the behavior or social pillar. I put these two together because of how we manage our social lives and social engagements. These lead to the actions and behaviors that we engage with, and some of those behaviors can be counterproductive for sleep. 

For instance, if you tackle large work projects or a deeply emotional conversation with a family or friend late in the evening. It’s going to be hard to fall asleep. Social media can also play a role in riling up your emotions that interfere with getting a good night’s sleep. With examples such as these and many more, these become part of working with me here at Pondworks. And in other cases, perhaps with a CBTI informed therapist. 

So that should sum up the three pillars of treating sleep. As always we at Pondworks are here to help you. If you are having an issue with sleeping, reach out to us. We are HIPAA compliant with telemedicine and video chatting and we can work with you anywhere in the USA now. We can serve people locally as well, in the Austin areas, as well as San Antonio, San Marcos and beyond.

Thank you, and I hope that’s helpful to you, the reader.

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Why You Cannot Get To Sleep And How To Fix Poor Sleeping Habits

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Getting Your Day Started Right With A Good Nights Sleep. Wake Up Refreshed!

Dr. Bernard Kim here from Pondworks and I want to help you get the day started. Today we will talk about napping and how to get to sleep faster.

It started a little bit rainy outside here in Austin and a great day to talk about psychiatry.

And what better topics to talk about on a rainy day than sleep. We all would like to stay under our sheets and sleep a little longer, but I have to be a wet blanket in the quest for good sleep hygiene.

Get Your Best Sleep With Good Sleeping Hygiene

A Regular Sleep Schedule WIll Help You Fall Asleep Faster

The first building block to great sleep is setting your anchor point.

We all do better if we set a consistent and regular wake up time. You can choose whatever time that might work best for you. Typically, when I’m helping someone establish sleep habits, the time to wake up in the morning is not anything extreme. It’s not an outlandishly early time, nor is it noon or 2 p.m. It is somewhere in the range of a reasonable wake-up time of 7 to 9 a.m. 

Once you have established a healthy time to wake up, you must stick with it. If you stick with that time, you’ve done a vital step towards improving your sleep hygiene. I’m going to call that your anchor point, and it’s an important concept to grab on your way to sleep mastery.

How Naps Can Harm Your Sleep, and Why You Shouldn’t Take Them.

The Second building block, which is essential, is no naps.

There is an essential part of sleep hygiene or CBTI (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia), which is called sleep debt. And sleep debt, as the name suggests, can grow. It is one of the fundamental principles of sleep hygiene.

If you have a terrible night of sleep, your sleep debt grows. If you don’t take a nap, your sleep debt stays in place. It is a little counter-intuitive, and by the time you go to bed, sleep debt will make it easier to fall asleep.

When you have a certain amount of sleep debt and take a nap, that debt goes away. 

Sleep Debt and How To Get Rid Of It. 

We call it delayed falling asleep time. That time diminishes, the more your sleep debt goes up. When you decrease that sleep debt by taking a nap, the potential to lie in bed at night, thinking anxious thoughts that are making it harder to go to sleep grows. That makes it harder to fall asleep, contributing to your delayed sleeping time.

Now That You Have Your Perfect Sleep System, You Don’t Have To Be Perfect.

Once you have an anchor point for waking up, and you’re also not taking naps, there’s an additional critical piece to this equation.

If you have set your morning anchor point, it’s important also to remember this. If you’re doing your best, remind yourself that good sleep hygiene is not about being perfect on any given day. It’s about forming an ideal sleep schedule that you’re working for.

The One Thing To Remember For A Quality Nights Sleep

So the tip for this rainy day in Austin, Texas, when we all would like to stay in bed, is to create an anchor point for when you wake up. And if you do not have to work on the weekends, you can some extra sleep. It would be acceptable to sleep in for an hour or an hour and a half. I think that’s fine in terms of getting them sleep structures started. But get that Anchor Point in the morning somewhere between 7 AM and 9 AM. Or if you like, earlier is better. I love waking up earlier. Also, keep in mind to do your best not to take any naps. Taking naps will contribute to not sleeping, as it gets rid of your sleep debt. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.

We’ll explore how to get quality sleep further in another blog post that will come later. Take care and if you’re in the Austin area, enjoy the rainy day!

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7 Stress Busting Daily Rituals To Live By

floodsTheyk7 Stress-Busting Rituals To Live By

7 Stress-Busting Rituals to Live By

Take a deep breath.  Things are not as wrong as it feels.  Nothing is worth weakening your all-important health.  It’s not worth choking yourself into stress, anxiety, and despair. Do you have your stress-busting daily rituals in place?

Your mind can go many directions under stress. It can be positive or negative: on or off. Where your brain will go under stress influences your emotional strength and training.

Mental Health Professionals That Help You Form Stress Busting Daily Rituals

Over the years, Dr. Bernard Kim and his team of highly trained mental health professionals, have analyzed and tested dozens of strategies that successful people employ when faced with stress. Still, in this article, we want to tell you about seven of the most effective strategy we’ve experienced.  Some of these strategies may seem obvious at first. Then you realize the real challenge lies in recognizing when you need to use them, and having the discipline to do so despite your stress. Let’s take a look.

Stress-Busting Daily Rituals

Managing stress when you’re under pressure directly affects your overall performance in all walks of life.  There are many scientific studies over the years have found that successful people, in various fields of education, are highly skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress to remain calm and in control.

New Research On Stress And How To Relieve It

There’s new research that shows there is a significant upside to experiencing momentary stress. The same study then reinforces how important it is to keep long-term stress under control.  The recent research (From Cal Berkeley) found that the beginning stages of stress challenge the brain. The brain then grows new cells responsible for improved memory and cognitive ability.  However, we see this effect when stress is temporary.  As soon as the pressure continues beyond a few moments into a prolonged state, it starts to interfere with your brain’s ability to function and grow new cells. That’s kind of scary, isn’t it?

And there’s more to the story too.  Besides decreasing your brain cells and mental performance, this type of stress will increase your risk of things like heart disease, depression, and other ailments.  Fortunately, unless a wild animal is chasing you, the bulk of your fear is unnecessary. Many successful people have well-honed coping strategies that they employ in stressful situations.  They lower their stress levels regardless of what’s happening in their environment, ensuring that the stress they experience is temporary and not prolonged.

We here at Pondworks have implemented many strategies that we’ve witnessed that humans use when faced with stressful situations.

Here are the seven best stress-reducing rituals that successful people we know live by:

Monitor And Suppress Negative Self-Talk

One big step in managing your stress involves stopping negative self-talk dead in its tracks. The more you focus on your negative thoughts, the more power you give them. And most surprising of our negative thoughts are just that – thoughts, not facts. Next time you see yourself believing the pessimistic things your subconscious mind says, stop and take a deep breath.

Then ask yourself these questions: “Are these negative thoughts true?  Are they facts?” Take a minute to slow down your thoughts and negative thinking, and you will be clear-headed in evaluating the reality of the situation. Eliminating this self-talk is foundational to your stress-busting daily rituals!

Try And Refocus On The Positives

At times you have to give your wandering mind a little help by consciously selecting something positive.  Positive thoughts will refocus your attention to things that matter.  When things go well, and you’re in a good mood, this is relatively easy.  When times are tough; however, your mind floods with negative thoughts; this is a real challenge. These moments, you should think about your day and identify a positive thing that happened, no matter how tiny. Or reflect on the previous day or even another recent time that you remember.
The point is to have something good and positive, no matter how small, that you’re able to shift your thoughts to when your negativity starts in your mind.  At times you will have to look a little deeper than usual, but it still exists.

Avoid The “Should Have” And “What If” Traps

These statements just add to the fire of needless stress and worry.  Things can go in so many different directions in your life. If you spend time worrying about the missed opportunities (should have) and negative possibilities (what ifs), the less time you’ll spend on taking decisive action. The actions that will calm you down and move you forward.  People know that the “should haves” and “what ifs” will only take them to an emotional state of mind they don’t want.

 

Reach Out To Supporters When You Need Them

It’s entirely ineffective to do everything yourself, but so many of us do. If you want to reduce your stress and increase productivity, you must recognize your weaknesses and ask for others fo help, or just someone to listen to you.  Something as little as talking about your fears will help you overcome them.  Often its other people can see a solution that you can’t because they’re not emotionally investing in your situation.
Remember that everyone has someone who is in their corner and cheering for their success. These people will be ready to help you figure out a difficult life situation when it arises. Make sure you know who these people are in your life and make a real effort to ask for their insight and assistance when you need it most.

Practice Mindful Relaxation Stress Relieving Rituals

You know by now that mindful relaxation is the key to mental and physical regeneration. There are hundreds of ways to do this, but the real foundation of all of them is breathing. Something as simple as breathing is a simple but powerful way to meditate. Breath unites your body and your thoughts together.  When you’re feeling stressed and down, make sure to take a ten-minute break. Then quietly and focus on your breath.  Sit back in a chair and relax with your eyes closed and breathe. No distractions.
The goal here is to spend this time focused only on the feeling of inhaling and exhaling, which will prevent your mind from overthinking and wandering. It is very challenging to do this for more than a minute or two, especially when you’re just starting with this stress-busting ritual.  And it’s perfectly okay when random thoughts sidetrack you, and this happens to expert meditators. Simply bring your focus back to your breathing.
The bottom line is this;  Whenever your thoughts become saturated with the worries and stress of life, use your breath as a powerful means to take hold of your mind. Simply breathe, and be present for a moment. You will feel better.

Sincerely Appreciate What You Have

Take time every day to think about what you’re grateful for isn’t merely a great practice to do; it also will help you be more relaxed. Gratitude reduces the stress hormone cortisol by over 20%.  Research conducted at the University of California, Davis found that those who worked daily to express their appreciation and gratitude openly experienced higher moods, energy levels, and physical energy and health. Sometimes even during bouts of stress! It’s highly likely that their lower cortisol levels played a significant role in this.

Take A Walk, Take A Breath, Relax

Take a walk around Town lake – Walking while practicing ‘social distancing.’

So there you have it, seven stress-reducing rituals we’ve seen work wonders in the lives of some of the most successful people we’ve interacted with over the years.  If you feel like your life has been too stressful lately, it’s time to follow in their footsteps.
Today we challenge you to apply one of these stress-reducing rituals to your routine.  Please contact us and let us know if you would like to talk about strategies for your mental health and stress reduction strategies. Which ritual you want to implement in your life.
And finally, ask yourself, “What’s one small step I can take TODAY to get started?”

***ATTENTION COVID-19 – We are now offering web-based, virtual “telemedicine” appointments that are now available to meet the demands for social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus. ***

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Black Minds Matter!

Motivated by the current heightened awareness and dialogue about racial justice in America, we at Pondworks Psychiatry & Psychotherapy would like to formally say what we wish we didn’t need to say:

We Support and Welcome Black People And All Racial Minorities  

Black Minds Matter

The American Psychiatric Association reports;

“Rates of mental illnesses in African Americans are similar with those of the general population… disparities exist concerning mental health care services.”

There can be many factors that discourage all minority groups from seeking professional mental health care. Some of these reasons include being uninsured or underinsured or experiencing more significant stigma in their communities. There are also factors like a lack of diversity and cultural competency among mental health providers and distrusting the health care system in general. And that is just some of the reasons for the suffering and other inadequate support.

Risk Factors Experienced By Many Individuals Who Are Racial Minorities

In recent years–especially as a result of legislation like the Affordable Care Act, we have had the opportunity to meet and treat a higher percentage of patients who are Black here in Austin, Texas.

Full disclosure:  We do not currently have any Black clinical providers on our staff.

Nonetheless, our goal is to offer high-quality care to everyone, here in our community in Austin, to the whole state of Texas. Especially those from historically marginalized populations who may be reaching out for the first time.  We work to be sensitive to the effects of early adverse childhood events and the heightened stress, trauma, and physical risk factors. This has been experienced by many individuals who are racial minorities.  We are willing to work with you to come up with a treatment plan that meets your goals.

Our medically trained providers combine medication management and psychotherapy.  We see some patients for both and also work in partnership with therapists in the community.  We are contracted with several commercial insurance companies, although we do not currently work with Medicare or Medicaid.

To learn more, please visit our website,

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Why Self Diagnosis and Google Can Have Disastrous Outcomes

Why Googling Your Mental Health Symptoms And Self Diagnosis is Dangerous

Have you ever checked online to self diagnos your mental health? First, we all love Google. It is the best tool out there to find information on a specific subject and in this case, making Google our doctor on call. We have all found ourselves in this situation likely. We are going about our lives, and something out of the ordinary might pop up, and we naturally head to the search engines to find out more about what this ‘thing’ could be in our lives. I’ve even heard of people self-diagnosing multiple conditions before the day is even half over! So its a reality that we live in that we end up checking online to give ourselves a self diagnosis of our mental health! Lets discuss why an online self diagnosis for your mental health can be harmful.

Online Self Diagnosis And Your Mental Health

We all know that this type of self-diagnosing behavior is far from ideal. Begin stressed out and worrying about something like this, and everything else that pops up as possible scenarios on the internet isn’t right for you or healthy in the least. It likely won’t make you feel better about what’s going on, often creating even more anxiety around what you are experiencing.

So first, we’d ask you to try and refrain, and give yourself a significant challenge. The challenge? It’s to stop yourself from going down the rabbit hole of thoughts and emotional rollercoaster that Google makes even worse. Using popular sites such as WebMD less, and your self-control more.

So you could be asking yourself right now, “What’s the big deal about going online to find out what might be going on with me?”

Let’s Dig Into That Question And Discuss Why An Online Self Diagnosis For Mental Health Should Be Avoided. 

Why Googling Your Mental Health Symptoms And Self Diagnosis is Dangerous To Your Mental Health Wellness

Using Google To Self Diagnose, Your Mental Health Is Unsafe

The most significant factors that are dangerous might be the most obvious at first. If you’re playing the expert by self-diagnosis, it’s likely a real professional will not be contacted for real help. That’s why we want to talk about going online and giving ourselves a self-diagnosis for our mental health.

For instance, one that might try to diagnose themselves about all the negative and depressing thoughts that they might be having. The individual could be taking in information from a few different sites about depression, then conclude the outcome. Later if that condition is temporary or worse, try and self medicate with a drug such as Zoloft, Xanax, or some other prescription drug that they obtained illegally and without an actual prescription. Thinking that they are solving the problem they have and not seeking the trained professional. A trained mental health doctor to help them with this episode and get the real help that they might so desperately need.

To add to all of this, this person and their mental health condition is often more complicated and compounded by many issues that only a professional can truly diagnose. Very rarely are cases so cut and dry as merely ‘popping a pill’ would end all occurrences of this state. Only a trained practitioner or doctor can safely assess your situation and safely help in each case. Each case is a unique opportunity to help you or any other individual.

Misinformation About Googling Your Mental Wellbeing Conditions Online

Even if a person did find what is going on with them, and knew the complexities of their unique situation, they might be getting the wrong information. We all know that there is a lot of misinformation about your health online.

Thousands of buzzwords float around that get many clicks, and with these keywords, people often believe they have the answers they need. Its highly likely this self-diagnosis is incorrect.

With these mental health buzzwords, someone can click a link after another link looking for answers to what their symptoms are. What they likely find is unreliable accounts of what others have gone through or sources that are posing as experts on the subject of depression, when they are not qualified to give such relevant advice.

Why We REALLY Shouldn’t Be Self-Medicating Or Self-Treating Our Mental Health With Google

It’s something that we all need a reminder about, but if we are not a mental health practitioner or doctor, we shouldn’t ever be diagnosing ourselves. And what’s more, we REALLY shouldn’t be self-medicating or self-treating ourselves. Even if we think that we know what it is, that is a dangerous path to go down when you only have an idea of what could be going on inside your head.

Its more often than not that mental health condition, such as depression, need a knowledgeable mental health specialist, that has the experience to give you the therapy you need, the prescription and medication you need, or in some cases, both.

We cannot stress enough that no one, at any time or place, should try to buy their meds without a prescription online or from someone, you know. The only acceptable and 100% safe way to do this is through a licensed pharmacy.

Situations like these are where we must let the professionals do the job they are highly trained and experienced to do, and that gives You a diagnosis!

Stopping Your Undesired Mental Health Behaviours

Breaking habits is hard, and even harder when you don’t want to break the habit. If you’re looking for answers online, and it’s all-consuming behavior, the cycle becomes harder and harder to break. If you have tendencies of overreacting and hypochondriac like behavior, please beware this type of searching can only make things worse. This type of behavior will make this habit harder to correct later, as well.

Pick A Time Limit And Stick With It For Your Sanity

If you find yourself down multiple ‘rabbit holes’ as you are searching online for self-diagnosis, it can be constructive to give yourself time limits. Use your phone and create an active timer and stick to it when your time is up. It is easy to get lost online and practicing this art of self-control, but it will help you.

More Ways To Stop Online Self Diagnosis

One other thing one can do to stop the cycle of online diagnosis is to create distractions for yourself. When you feel that urge coming on, do something different that will help you. Things such as physical activities, like running and riding your bike are fantastic distractions to help you elevate your mood and get yourself out of your mind.

Another solution is to call a trusted friend or family member. Head out and watch a movie, people watch or something that will get you out of your routine and make you concentrate on something new.

In addition to the above, think about your issue logically. Ask yourself questions about your situation and see if other stressors in your life compound it. This line of reasoning and problems can help you understand why this type of behavior continues for you.

Talk To A Professional Mental Health Provider

If you’ve tried to stop or limit your undesired behavior without success, it might be time to consider talking to a mental health provider seriously.

If you live here in Austin, Texas, you can contact Pondworks Psychiatry. Our goal at Pondworks is to be Austin’s first choice in psychotherapy and general psychiatry for your mental health.

The ability to openly talk with our therapists in a safe setting about your fears and concerns will help immensely. Our mental health providers can provide you with reliable, up to date information that can help. We can reduce your symptoms of depression and anxiety or any other mental health issues you may be experiencing. Letting thoughts that do not help you linger in your head can be overwhelming. Sharing these thoughts with highly trained and empathetic professionals will help you sort these out. Contacting a mental health professional, either here in Austin, Texas, or wherever you might live, is recommended for your well being. Its always a benefit to know you are not the only one that is dealing with this similar situation. 

Feel No Shame About Seeking Mental Health Help

And on a final note, you shouldn’t feel ashamed about what you are going through. Many try to find out what is going on by searching online. Most, if not all, do look to the internet for answers. You should know that it is widespread to do so in this connected age. We at Pondworks want you to know that self-diagnosis can lead to dangerous situations, and we are here as professionals to listen to you.

If you feel that you are suffering from a mental health condition and live here in the Austin area, please get in touch with us. We can work on this together with you. We can work with you to find a solution that is right for you and help you find the path to feeling great.

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Take A Hike And Lose The Depression And Medicine!

Hike or Walk And Stop Depression!

Meet an Austin Psychiatrist on Town Lake! Taking a walk or hike really helps with depression. If you hike or walk you could possibly stop depression in its tracks! Meet me for a hike and let’s exercise on the Town lake trail!  If you do (with or without me) on a regular basis you are fighting off your chances of depression.  Forget the psychotherapy and psychiatric medications for today’s blog.  Those are important, but exercise on its own can really help keep those blues away.  I’m dusting off my running shoes and pen to write an exercise blog. Why? Because we have more research evidence for the benefits of exercise.

Jordan Smoller, MD  helped us understand just a little bit more about how important exercise can be in his November 2019 article in Depression and Anxiety.  In the article, he outlines how exercise can significantly decrease the risk of depressive episodes. That’s even in individuals who have a higher genetic risk!

Take A Walk And Help Depression

Don’t Forget To Remind Yourself That A Walk or Hike Is Vitally Important For Depression And More!

Thanks, Dr. Smaller for the reminder that exercise is vitally important!  So let’s talk about an amazing place to get moving in Austin, TX!  How about Town Lake?  What a great place!  First, let’s start with the trail.  It is 10 miles long stretching from Mopac all the east of Interstate 35.  Don’t worry there are many places to enter and exit the trail.  You can choose how much of the 10 miles you use.  The entire trail offers different kinds of scenic beauty and some of the best people-watching in Austin.  Move through areas that are forested and shaded.

Texas Rowing Center is one such place.  Nestled in the trees, there’s always fun activity here.  People are putting boats, paddleboards, and canoes in the water.   Crew teams are getting organized.  By the way….rowing, paddle boarding, canoeing, and kayaking are more than just recreating…. I think they might be exercise too.  Just saying!  Let’s get back to the trail and our scenic jog/walk around it.  Open fields create long–view vista’s at the edge of the legendary Zilker Park.  If you’re lucky, you’ll also see the extra small Zilker Zephyr train with little people waving at you as you walk/jog by.  Further east the trail moves out over on a beautiful “over the water” bridge.  How cool to walk/jog so close to water! 

Exercise Like Walking Protects Our Mental Health No Matter Where We Do It. 

Although exercise in a beautiful place like Town Lake is great, let’s not forget the central point.  Exercise protects our mental health no matter where we do it.  This could be lower intensity things like yoga, stretching and walking.  It could also be big-time aerobic stuff like running, aerobics classes, etc…   You choose according to Dr. Smaller.  The protective benefits exist for both low and high-intensity exercise. 

The next question to ask might be “how much do I need to do” to get these benefits.  The numbers from Dr. Smaller’s article could sound a bit daunting.   He defined the benefit differences in a group that exercised at least 3.2 hours a week or on average 45 minutes or more per day.  This could sound like a lot.  Maybe too much?  Take heart that the American Medical Association guidelines suggest a more modest 2.5 hours per week or about 22 minutes a day.  And take even more heart,  that Bernard Kim, MD an Austin psychiatrist says any amount of exercise helps and sometimes helps tremendously! 

Exercise and our new information about it’s benefits is a great reminder that mental healthcare is more than psychotherapy and medication. 

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