Recently, a study led by Bernadette M. Melnyk PhD, RN, a member of our Medical Advisory Board here at EmpowHER, the dean of the nursing school and chief wellness officer at Ohio State University.
The study, titled Promoting Healthy Lifestyles in High School Adolescents followed roughly 800 teens aged 14 to 16 years at 11 high schools in the Southwest United States.
The goal of the study was to test the efficiency of C.O.P.E. (Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment), a program developed by Melnyk, that teaches teens how to examine the relationships between their thoughts, emotions and actions and replace them with positive ones.
The study, which was covered by Time made the following conclusions:
"Those who exercised for 15 to 20 minutes daily and were taught cognitive techniques to reduce stress and anxiety were less a third as likely to gain significant weight. They took an average of around 4000 more steps per day than those in the traditional health class.
“Only 2.7% of those [in the program] moved to overweight or obese, whereas almost 9% in the control group [did],” says Melnyk.
The participants receiving the cognitive training also had a 35% drop in drinking by the end of the program. And those who were most depressed at the start of the study moved back into the normal mood range if they received the exercise and coping class."
To read the full article from Time, click here
To read more about Dr. Melnyk, click here