You know the positive effects of exercise on your health: how it can benefit every part of the body and dramatically extend your lifespan. But did you know that—in addition to reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension—exercise also can play a role in helping some mental health issues? Physical fitness and regular exercise appear to buffer against depression and anxiety, promote calmness, enhance mood, and help protect against the negative effects of stress.

Exercise also can benefit your brain in other ways. Exercise benefits learning and memory, protects the brain from degeneration, and increases the brain’s ability to adapt after new experiences. Physical fitness and regular exercise promote both physical and mental resilience—something that is important for all to think about.

Check out HPRC’s Physical Fitness domain and the Family Fitness section of HPRC’s Family & Relationships domain for resources to improve your physical fitness.

Pain is a sensation of both the body and the mind—and it’s within your power to use strategies such as meditation to control the mental aspect to decrease the physical sensation of pain. Meditation can teach you to have a focused, calm mind, and rhythmic breathing. It may sound easy, but it requires practice. The payoffs can be improved well-being, reduced pain, and relaxation. Want to know more? Check out HPRC’s new Pain Management section, where you can find strategies such as meditation that you can use on your own or with the help of a healthcare provider.

Most of us will experience pain at some point in our lives, and Warfighters—in training or in theater—are obviously at an even greater risk. For that reason, pain management has become a priority for the military. Committed to being a comprehensive Warfighter resource, HPRC now has pain management information, tools, strategies, and resources. You’ll also find answers to some of the most common questions about pain, including:

• What is pain?
• Why do some people tolerate pain better than others?
• What is the difference between acute and chronic pain?
• What happens if pain becomes chronic?
• What sorts of things affect my pain?
• How do the DoD and VHA treat pain?

Synthetic drugs are laboratory-made substances marketed and sold as alternatives to illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines. Although most are advertised as “all-natural,” they may have serious health effects and violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). HPRC takes a look at two examples of synthetic drugs, their legal status, and how they can affect service members in “HPRC’s Answer: Synthetic Drugs of Abuse.”

The annual Army “Strong B.A.N.D.S.” campaign is set to launch for another year beginning in May. Strong B.A.N.D.S. promotes physical fitness, nutrition, optimal health, and resilience by focusing on Balance, Activity, Nutrition, Determination, and Strength—forming the acronym B.A.N.D.S. The campaign has activities at numerous garrisons to help educate soldiers, their families, and civilians. Strong B.A.N.D.S. is a campaign of the U.S. Army Installation Management Command Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation directorate and is “designed to energize and inspire community members to live a healthy lifestyle.”

Check out the website for detailed information and to see if there is a Strong B.A.N.D.S. activity near you.

Two techniques continue to be found to be effective no matter the age of the learner:

• Spread out your learning. When you need to learn something new, don’t cram it in right before you need it. Instead, distribute it over time in order to learn the most—and it’ll help you remember more of what you learn as time passes. So start ahead of time and diligently work towards your deadline. Then when you need the information, you may be able to remember it.
• Be put to the test! Testing allows you to evaluate your knowledge on a subject. Practice tests help you sharpen your skills through direct questioning or applying knowledge or skills in a similar task. So don’t be afraid to put yourself to the test: Use practice tests, flashcards, and/or practice problems to help yourself learn as much as you can and retain what you learn.

Some beloved techniques, such as highlighting and summarizing, may not be as effective as widely thought. Although this research focused on academic learning environments, the same information may be able to benefit military personnel as they learn new topics and skills throughout their career.
There is no one method that is the best for everyone and every task. In fact, combinations of learning methods have yet to be studied. Ultimately, you should judge these techniques according to your specific learning goals and determine what works best for you.

Biofeedback teaches you how to control your body’s nervous system in order to reduce pain and stress and promote relaxation. Biofeedback can sometimes relieve musculoskeletal pain such as neck, back, and shoulder pain. It also may work for migraines and stress- and tension-induced headaches. For more in-depth information, read HPRC’s InfoReveal on biofeedback for pain management.

Acupuncture is an ancient form of Chinese medicine. Thin needles are inserted into the skin at points of the body that are thought to regulate the body's flow of energy (also known as qi or chi). It often is used for common health concerns such as headaches and migraines, carpal tunnel syndrome, and back, joint, and chronic pain. For more in-depth information, read HPRC’s InfoReveal on acupuncture for pain management.

The National Center for Telehealth and Technology just released an app called “Provider Resilience,” which aims to help healthcare providers by giving them tools to assess their own burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress—conditions common among caregivers. The app also provides inspirational stories, comics to remind users to take breaks, and inspirational videos from Warfighters sharing stories of how they were helped. Providers can even track their own information over time—for example, the app tracks the user’s last day off and recommends taking at least one day of leave every 60 days (and color coordinates the responses over time accordingly). And as long as the user secures the phone, no one else can access the results.

For more apps from “T2,” check out their featured projects page. For more information about enhancing your own resilience, check out HPRC’s Mind Tactics.

Relaxation, meditation, imagery, and redirection strategies (such as distraction) may be helpful at reducing pain. These mind-body techniques can help you consciously relax your body, slow your breathing, reduce your blood pressure, and improve your sense of well-being. These techniques can also help you shift your focus to other things besides your pain. For more in-depth information, read HPRC’s InfoReveal on “Mind-body strategies for pain.”