Why do I feel this way?

College is extremely stressful. Depression is a common emotion that during the year when students reach that week were 3 papers are due along with 2-4 exams. Based on recent studies by the Medical University of South Carolina, there is a direct correlation between anger, depression, and stress to the use of other outlets such as the use of unhealthy lifestyles including fatty foods, and physical inactivity. Surprisingly alcohol was not directly connected with a poor mental state. So what do us as college students need to do to bypass this unhealthy lifestyle? I suggest that staying positive and refrain from unnecessary anxiety and depression looks like the best possible choice to stay in physical and physiological good standing. This article intends to enlighten the public to how individuals who have a negative state of mind are less likely to engage in positive health habits and that the way these feelings are expressed also play a role in these habits. The main goal is to learn how to identify these risks of and become healthier because depression, anxiety, and anger influence health behaviors.

The author begins the first paragraph by suggesting that development of the leading health risk, Coronary heart disease and stroke, is directly correlated with lifestyle factors. This makes the connection of health risks with inadequate physical activity and a poor negative mental state very easy for the reader to make. If a person is depressed this leads to more saturated fat intake which can lead to more health risks and decreased life expectancy. “More specifically, higher levels of depression and trait anger were positively associated with and predicted saturated fat consumption.”

The second reason the author believes it is important to become more positive and happier is because exercise is negatively reflected upon a poor mental state. The tests subjects were broken up into two categories; physical activity and strength training. The results showed that the angrier someone is the more likely they will participate in strength training rather than aerobic training. The more depressed the subject was the less overall physical training they reported. One thing that shocked me was that there was a negative correlation between alcohol consumption. The studies did not connect the increase of alcohol use with a negative state of mind including anxiety and depression. I guess I always feel like people use alcohol or forget their troubles and move into this different state of mind. Kind of like washing away their sorrows, but according to these studies there is not such a connection with alcohol.

“The key findings of this study were that anger levels and expression style were strongly associated with health behavior patterns.” This is more detailed when the author breaks down the two ways expression was evaluated. First, each person was classified as either an external expressionist or internal expressionist. External anger expression tends to lead to more of a fat intake filled diet which included decreased aerobic exercise. Internal anger expression was more positively engaged with strength training as mentioned earlier. Therefore, to become a physically fit individual and live in a healthier body it is better to refrain from a negative state of mind and express our emotions openly to reduce depression and increased physical involvement.