2023-07-08 16:29:44
In Austria, concepts for the primary prevention of psychological problems should be implemented as a matter of urgency. More exercise, less mobile phone use, stress reduction and, above all, better knowledge of health among the population would be necessary. Experts explained this on Friday evening at the start of the Praevenire health talks in Alpbach (until July 10th).
The incidence of mental illness is increasing rapidly. Although the Covid 19 pandemic would have further intensified this development, the causes cannot be seen as monocausal, explained Christoph Pieh from the Department for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Danube University in Krems.
The expert cited data from epidemiological studies. 80 percent of those surveyed said they were often stressed. 30 percent are stressed every day. The unemployed would also suffer from mental stress. Another stress factor is that you have too high expectations of yourself. As a large US study with around 35,000 people has shown, two and a half hours of real free time every day would be the optimum. More or less of these would increase the stress level as well.
Even if it is undisputed in science that exercise, healthy nutrition and behavior have a positive influence on mental health, this knowledge is largely lacking in the population, the expert explained. A lack of health literacy also leads to stigmatization of mentally ill people, and those affected only seek help late out of shame.
“Rather, we should focus on the early detection of mental illnesses,” emphasized Pieh. It is also important to start early because most mental illnesses appear in the first third of life. In Austria, however, the period between the first symptoms and a professional diagnosis is several years – even with pronounced diseases such as schizophrenia, it lasted on average about a year.
Between 2014 and 2019, the time that people from the general population spend on recreational sports etc. decreased by 24 percent. In the same period, the number of young people who do not exercise has more than doubled from seven percent to 15 percent, according to Pieh. But exercise is a massive factor against mental illness. A high percentage of people who do not get enough exercise develop mental illnesses that become chronic over the course of childhood and adulthood. “As studies show, a daily exercise unit in schools increases the well-being of 50 percent of the participants, and improves sleep and concentration in 60 percent,” explained the expert.
At least as important for mental health is the “screen time” on mobile devices, especially through the use of social media. In Austria, the average usage time for children and young people is four to nine hours a day, explained Pieh. However, for every hour that you use these applications, the probability of developing a mental illness increases by ten percent. In British schools, a ban on mobile phones would have even improved school grades.
“Exercise, like brushing your teeth, must become a matter of course,” appealed Monika Peer-Kratzer, chairwoman of the Tyrolean association of Physio Austria, after Pieh’s keynote speech for more exercise and prevention in Austria. She also referred to a report from the Court of Auditors last January, which showed a decline in healthy life years for the first time in years. Physiotherapy can provide valuable assistance here in the area of movement. For example, simple tests could be used to determine the risk of falling among older people and the risk could be significantly reduced with targeted preventive exercises. “From the point of view of the physiotherapists, it would make sense to carry out a mobility check in infancy and to inform parents accordingly about exercise. Here the wish would be to integrate this into the parent-child pass,” says the expert.
In Austria, money for prevention is apparently also sometimes wrongly spent, namely primarily for rehabilitation (secondary prevention) instead of for so-called primary prevention to prevent health problems from the outset. “If you analyze the just over two billion euros that are spent on prevention in Austria, it shows that the lion’s share of 1.7 billion euros goes into the area of rehabilitation. 250 million euros are used for secondary prevention measures and only 300 million Euros flow into the actual primary prevention with exercise, nutrition, vaccinations, etc.,” said Alexander Biach, Deputy Director of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and former head of the Main Association of Social Insurance Institutions. Only 15.1 percent of the total population would take advantage of the annual check-ups. In the meantime, 51 percent of people over 15 in Austria are overweight.
1688834282
#Praevenire #Health #Talks #Urgent #Prevention