How Swimming Helps Soldiers Slim Down And Boosts Health

A new programme has been developed to help soldiers who are struggling either with their cardio/heart health or with their weight control. This was developed by Sgt. Corey Bell of the 4^th Brigade Combat Team, 1^st Armoured Division.

He is one of a number of non-commissioned officers who need to ensure that their wellness, wellbeing and fitness are at such a level that they would be available for any mission. These officers are the backbone of the army and need to be ready at a moment’s notice, making it extra important for them to keep on top of their physical health and fitness, but this can be a hard thing to achieve.

Sgt. Bell was faced with this situation as he tried to help one of the soldiers in his command to improve his run time and to lose some extra weight, too.

At the same time, Bell began to take part in a long-distance swim programme, which was a period of intense preparation for the German Armed Forces Military Proficiency Badge.

He took his soldier along with him, and they went to the pool every day at lunchtime, swimming for the whole of lunchtime and eating their lunch on the way back to their posts. This plan that he devised was intended to take swimmers from being able to swim only a little way to gradually increasing their stamina to the stage of being able to swim for a mile without stopping.

Bell is enthusiastic about the opportunity that exercising in the water offers, as it raises the heart rate without the risk of injury, as the impact when swimming is virtually nonexistent. It takes far less time to burn off the amount of energy that you would when participating in another sport on the land.

The soldier in his command lost over 30 pounds during the time of swimming and is grateful that he trusted Bell’s swimming plan, as well as a diet that Bell devised for him.

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How Swimming Helps Soldiers Slim Down And Boosts Health

Categories: slimming, soldiers, Swimming

Could Screening Soldiers Reduce Mental Health Problems?

If soldiers were to be screened for mental wellness before deployment, it could significantly reduce the number of psychiatric and behavioural problems experienced by military personnel. This is according to a new study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in Advance, which found that pre-deployment screening reduced mental health issues by 78% and cut suicidal thoughts in half.

The mental wellbeing of soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan is seriously under threat, as a disturbing number return home with mental health problems. For example, a recent study in the Archives of General Psychiatry reported that posttraumatic stress disorder and depression affects an average of 10% of returning soldiers. The number of soldiers who are forced to leave the Army solely because of a mental illness increased by 64% from 2005 to 2009, according to another recent study’s findings, and it was reported a recent military suicide prevention conference 18 veterans of all wars commit suicide each day in the United States.

A total of six combat brigades, who were all part of the 2007-2008 surges of forces to Iraq, participated in the new study, which was led by Warner CH et al.  10,353 soldiers in three brigades were not screened for mental health issues and served as controls, whilst 10,678 soldiers in three other brigades underwent mental health screening. Of this latter group, 7.7% (or 819 soldiers) were identified as needing additional mental health evaluation.

This led to 74 of the 819 (9%) not being deployed and 96 (11.7%) were deployed with additional requirements. If you are not deployed, this can be for a variety of reasons, such as the presence of psychosis or bipolar disorders. However, you are still allowed to serve if you are currently on a stable medication programme, and your care is tracked during deployment.

The study also found that, at the six-month follow-up, soldiers who had been screened were significantly less likely to have clinical contacts in the areas of suicidal thoughts (suicidal ideation), combat stress, psychiatric disorders, occupational impairment, and the need for air evacuation for behavioural health reasons, in comparison with the control soldiers. This is the first time that researchers have systematically evaluated pre-deployment mental health screening, and the results suggest that mental health screening of soldiers before they are deployed can make a significant difference in the prevalence of mental health problems, including suicidal ideation.

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Could Screening Soldiers Reduce Mental Health Problems?

Categories: mental health screening, Research, soldiers

Returning Soldiers To Have Mental Health Checks

Going away to war can have a profound effect on a soldier’s mental health. Being involved in the sorts of activities found in a warzone is an experience that nothing can prepare you for and for some people it’s simply too much to cope with. That means that a lot of soldiers return home feeling very low with severe depressive symptoms.

Now it has been announced that American troops returning from combat will be required to submit to be interviewed by counsellors to help them with issues of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other depressive symptoms. Currently there are no laws in place that can force soldiers to expose their feelings, but officials said the program has the potential to save many lives.

The idea was in a bill that was introduced earlier this year by U.S. Representative Harry Teague, D-N.M., and was then signed into law very recently by President Barack Obama. It is estimated that the cost of the program up to 2014 will be around $45 million. It is a perfect way to deal with the so-called ‘unseen wounds’ of soldiers returning from war.

It is hoped that the program will have the ability to remove much of the stigma that surrounds mental health in the military. For too long it has simply been assumed that soldiers coming home from active duty should just deal with their problems on their own terms. Of course, there’s no reason that soldiers shouldn’t deal with mental health issues, but often it’s the soldiers themselves that deny the opportunity for help.

It’s hoped that troops will be able to open up which will help doctors and counsellors to deal with their problems in case they become a danger to themselves or others.

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Returning Soldiers To Have Mental Health Checks

Categories: Emotional Stress, postwar, soldiers