The Truth About...
Sign in to watch this content please.
- Episode
- Improving Your Mental Health
- Broadcast Info
- 2021 (57 mins)
- Description
- Clinical psychologist Professor Tanya Byron teams up with former England footballer Alex Scott, who has suffered from depression. They set out to discover how the latest science can help us gain greater control over our state of mind and improve our mental health and wellbeing. Even in normal times, 1 in 4 of us in any year will experience mental health difficulties. But living through a global pandemic has put our mental health under unprecedented strain. Over the past year, a team from Imperial College London, in collaboration with the BBC, have surveyed the mental health of over 350,000 people across the UK. This unique study provides a snapshot before and during the pandemic, revealing its shocking impact. One mental health condition has become more widespread across every age group: anxiety. Alex tests a surprising new technique to deal with anxious feelings. Together with Professor Sarah Garfinkel from Brighton and Sussex Medical School, she learns how to tune into her heart beat, which can help control a racing mind and anxious thoughts. She then puts her new skills to the test when faced with one of her biggest fears - heights. Exercise is well known to boost our mood - but how do you get the maximum benefit? At the University of South Wales, Prof Damian Bailey shows Alex a surprising technique to get maximum mood-enhancing benefits from exercise by working her brain at the same time as her body. More than 50% of people in the nationwide survey reported feelings of disconnection from family and friends. Wider research shows that a chronic lack of social connection can be as dangerous for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Tanya visits the Bromley by Bow centre in London, where an innovative method called social prescribing is being used to help people overcome loneliness and social isolation. The initiative has been proven to reduce visits to primary care and A&E by a third. With half the nation struggling with sleep during lockdown, Alex tests a new device that uses electrotherapy stimulation in the brain to help increase the type of brain waves that encourage a good night’s rest. Alex knows first-hand what it’s like to experience depression as a result of being trolled on social media. But our nationwide survey revealed we are using social media apps more than ever because of the pandemic. Alex teams up with Dr Lee Smith from Anglia Ruskin University to find out if there are ways of using social media that can actually benefit our mental health.
- Genre
- Mental Health
How to cite this record
The Open University, "The Truth About...". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/238117 (Accessed 09 Jan 2025)