The World's Best Book Summaries
What advice can help depressed Christians? What does the bible say about negative thinking? A negative mindset can create a destructive chain of thinking that impacts your behavior, self-esteem, and personal relationships. Depressed Christians can turn to the bible for support and advice when times are tough. Here is some of the best biblical advice for depressed Christians.
Do you need to exercise to lose weight? Is losing weight through diet alone possible? According to John Walker, the author of The Hacker’s Diet, you can exercise for an hour and only burn 300 calories, but it only takes one Snicker’s bar to offset your workout. That’s why Walker suggests primarily relying on a calorie deficit to lose weight rather than on exercise. Here’s why, when it comes to losing weight, diet outweighs exercise.
Do you cycle through losing and gaining weight endlessly? How can you keep the weight off for good? In his book The Hacker’s Diet, John Walker says that most people who go on diets tend to gain back all of the weight they lost and sometimes more. Walker proposed two methods for keeping weight off: daily weight tracking and meal planning. Keep reading for Walker’s advice on how to maintain weight loss.
What are the benefits of social prescribing? Why is Big Pharma against social prescribing? The major benefits of social prescribing are holistic treatment, community support, and opportunities to reconnect with nature. Social prescribing ensures that the doctor will not only prescribe drugs to treat biological issues but also address environmental factors. Big Pharma doesn’t like this because it treats the underlying cause of depression and threatens their profits. Read on to more about the benefits of social prescribing.
How do meaningful relationships help prevent loneliness and depression? Why does the collective lifestyle of Amish communities help members avoid loneliness and depression? Meaningful relationships restore us to our natural states as social animals living in close-knit societies. This prevents loneliness and provides a support group that can help you heal from depression. Amish communities share everything and everyone is regarded as family. This style of collective living creates a connected community and drastically reduces the risk of depression. Read on to learn more about how meaningful relationships help prevent depression.
What is the relationship between religion and mental illness? Is a belief in God a sign of psychopathology? Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck explores the connection between religion and mental illness in his book The Road Less Traveled. Examining the stories of two different women—one a theist and the other an atheist—Peck determines that dogmatism, rather than particular beliefs, is a more likely cause of psychopathology. Read more to learn about the connection between religion and mental illness.
What are the biological causes of depression? Why does biology play an important role in our understanding of depression? The two primary biological causes of depression are genetics and neuroplasticity. People with the 5-HTT gene are vulnerable to depression, while neuroplasticity describes the changes that occur in your brain when depression is triggered by psychological and social factors. Biology helps explain depression that cannot be attributed to unfavorable environmental factors. Read more about the biological causes of depression.
How does having no hope for the future cause depression? Why is it so important for you to feel in control of your life? Having no hope for the future makes it impossible to plan ahead since you can’t picture a better and secure life for yourself. This can cause depression to set in. Being able to envision an attainable, happy life is very important because, without it, you lose control over your life. Loss of control naturally triggers depression. Read more about how having no hope for the future leads to depression.
Why does being disconnected from nature lead to depression? Why are modern humans less connected to nature? Humans have an innate desire to stay in touch with nature because we evolved outside, doing the physical work of hunting, building shelters, and connecting with the natural world. Depression can set in when we start feeling disconnected from nature. Read on to learn more about the dangers of feeling disconnected from nature.
What is the EWMA formula? Why shouldn’t you rely on raw, weight loss measurements to track your progress? EWMA stands for the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average. In The Hacker’s Diet, John Walker suggests using this formula for tracking your weight loss progress rather than focusing on the daily weight fluctuations which can be caused by a number of variables. The EWMA formula, on the other hand, tracks the trend of your weight loss. Here is how to use the EWMA formula to track your weight loss.