A research article published in the Frontiers in Psychiatry (2024) examined associations between the “big 3” health-enhancing behaviors of nutrition, sleep and physical activity along with mindfulness and social connectedness, and psychological distress/wellbeing in early adolescents.
The authors reported that early adolescent nutrition, sleep quality, and mindfulness should be prioritized in efforts to reduce psychological distress, and physical activity prioritized as a protective factor for wellbeing.
In addition, they recommended expanding the “big three” healthy behaviors to include mindfulness and social connectedness.
The authors cited the need for interventions that target multiple healthy behaviors comprehensively and tailor strategies to the needs of early adolescents to foster positive mental health outcomes.
This study adds to the increasingly growing literature indicating that key health habits, particularly the “big-3” along with others are critical protective factors for youth mental health and wellness.
Evidence-based multi-health behavior interventions such as the SPORT Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) program for adolescents and InShape PPW for young adults address the “big-3” healthy habits as well as stress control/relaxation behaviors such as mindfulness, along with avoiding alcohol and drug use.
These types of comprehensive interventions are increasingly shown to be needed to cost-effectively address multiple health-related behaviors for improving the mental health and wellbeing of young people.
Read the study article: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1413268/full
Learn more about PPW interventions: https://preventionpluswellness.com