Relationships between physical activity and loneliness: A systematic review of intervention studies

Objectives: Loneliness and physical inactivity are serious public health issues that often co-occur. However, they are often treated separately. Our systematic review aimed to identify components of interventions that most effectively improve physical inactivity and/or loneliness and whether/how these two variables are related. Specifically, we tested the following questions: 1) whether interventions focused on physical inactivity alleviate loneliness; 2) whether interventions focused on loneliness increase physical activity; 3) whether interventions that target broader levels of physical and mental well-being improve both loneliness and physical activity. We further examined 4) common intervention components that influenced loneliness and/or physical activity, with a particular focus on social components of each intervention. Methods: We searched for peer-reviewed journal articles published before May 22nd, 2022 in PubMed Plus, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, EBSCO, and Embase. Both quantitative and qualitative studies that investigated the effects of interventions on physical activity and/or loneliness were included for review. Risk of bias was assessed for each study. Results: We identified 34 papers, including 27 studies examining the effects of physical activity interventions, one study explicitly targeting loneliness, and six studies targeting broader subjective well-being. Studies showed mixed results and a high heterogeneity in intervention design and sample characteristics. Overall, we found group exercise, individualized consultation and education on physical activity, and social support-building during physical activity (vs. other social activities) as promising intervention components that were frequently associated with improvements in physical activity and loneliness. Conclusion: This review highlights that interventions targeting physical activity can also alleviate loneliness. Improved social experiences from such interventions may explain this hidden benefit. Limited data were available to conclusively answer whether physical activity and loneliness bi-directionally influence each other. More research is needed to systematically test the impact of different social components built into physical activity interventions on loneliness

Group analysis data representing the effects of frontopolar transcranial direct current stimulation on the default mode network

The current data provide information about altered activities of the default mode network (DMN) after applying transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the frontopolar prefrontal cortex. To explore whether frontopolar tDCS with a small current intensity and small electrodes can induce changes in the DMN, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected before and after the application of tDCS. The results of independent component analysis using the resting-state fMRI data are reported in this article. Keywords: tDCS, fMRI, Resting-state, Default mode network, Group independent component analysis, Frontopolar prefrontal corte

Effects of Framing on Neural Responses to Persuasive Messaging and Physical Activity

Persuasive health messages can adopt two distinct frames, one that highlights the potential benefits of participating in a health behavior (gain-frame) and another that emphasizes the disadvantages of not engaging in such behavior (loss-frame). We investigated whether neural responses to gain- vs. loss-framed messages that promote physical activity predict message effectiveness among individuals with varying baseline activity levels. We incorporated raw data from four studies (N=240) that linked fMRI responses to health messages with physical activity before and after message exposure. We found that gain-framed messages elicited increased activity in the anterior insula, dorsal striatum, and supplementary motor area, while loss-framed messages recruited key regions in the default mode system. Next, we examined the association between neural responses and physical activity before and after message exposure. Heightened responses in the medial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, and dorsal striatum to gain-framed messages were associated with higher post-intervention activity, but only in participants with lower baseline physical activity. In contrast, individuals with higher baseline activity were more influenced by messages when these brain regions exhibited stronger responses to loss-framed messages. The current mega-analysis underscores distinct neural processing of gain- vs. loss-framed messages, with message effectiveness contingent on individual behavioral differences

Purpose in life, neural alcohol cue reactivity and daily alcohol use in social drinkers

Background and AimAlcohol craving is an urge to consume alcohol that commonly precedes drinking; however, craving does not lead to drinking for all people under all circumstances. The current study measured the correlation between neural reactivity and alcohol cues as a risk, and purpose in daily life as a protective factor that may influence the link between alcohol craving and the subsequent amount of consumption.DesignObservational study that correlated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data on neural cue reactivity and ecological momentary assessments (EMA) on purpose in life and alcohol use.SettingTwo college campuses in the United States.ParticipantsA total of 54 college students (37 women, 16 men, and 1 other) recruited via campus-based groups from January 2019 to October 2020.MeasurementsParticipants underwent fMRI while viewing images of alcohol; we examined activity within the ventral striatum, a key region of interest implicated in reward and craving. Participants then completed 28 days of EMA and answered questions about daily levels of purpose in life and alcohol use, including how much they craved and consumed alcohol.FindingsA significant three-way interaction indicated that greater alcohol cue reactivity within the ventral striatum was associated with heavier alcohol use following craving in daily life only when people were previously feeling a lower than usual sense of purpose. By contrast, individuals with heightened neural alcohol cue reactivity drank less in response to craving if they were feeling a stronger than their usual sense of purpose in the preceding moments (binteraction = −0.086, P < 0.001, 95% CI = −0.137, −0.035).ConclusionsNeural sensitivity to alcohol cues within the ventral striatum appears to be a potential risk for increased alcohol use in social drinkers, when people feel less purposeful. Enhancing daily levels of purpose in life may promote alcohol moderation among social drinkers who show relatively higher reactivity to alcohol cues.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175062/1/add16012.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175062/2/add16012-sup-0001-3_add16012-sup.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175062/3/add16012_am.pd

Mindful attention promotes control of brain network dynamics for self-regulation and discontinues the past from the present.

Mindful attention is characterized by acknowledging the present experience as a transient mental event. Early stages of mindfulness practice may require greater neural effort for later efficiency. Early effort may self-regulate behavior and focalize the present, but this understanding lacks a computational explanation. Here we used network control theory as a model of how external control inputs-operationalizing effort-distribute changes in neural activity evoked during mindful attention across the white matter network. We hypothesized that individuals with greater network controllability, thereby efficiently distributing control inputs, effectively self-regulate behavior. We further hypothesized that brain regions that utilize greater control input exhibit shorter intrinsic timescales of neural activity. Shorter timescales characterize quickly discontinuing past processing to focalize the present. We tested these hypotheses in a randomized controlled study that primed participants to either mindfully respond or naturally react to alcohol cues during fMRI and administered text reminders and measurements of alcohol consumption during 4 wk postscan. We found that participants with greater network controllability moderated alcohol consumption. Mindful regulation of alcohol cues, compared to ones own natural reactions, reduced craving, but craving did not differ from the baseline group. Mindful regulation of alcohol cues, compared to the natural reactions of the baseline group, involved more-effortful control of neural dynamics across cognitive control and attention subnetworks. This effort persisted in the natural reactions of the mindful group compared to the baseline group. More-effortful neural states had shorter timescales than less effortful states, offering an explanation for how mindful attention promotes being present

Frontoparietal functional connectivity moderates the link between time spent on social media and subsequent negative affect in daily life

Abstract Evidence on the harms and benefits of social media use is mixed, in part because the effects of social media on well-being depend on a variety of individual difference moderators. Here, we explored potential neural moderators of the link between time spent on social media and subsequent negative affect. We specifically focused on the strength of correlation among brain regions within the frontoparietal system, previously associated with the top-down cognitive control of attention and emotion. Participants (N = 54) underwent a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participants then completed 28 days of ecological momentary assessment and answered questions about social media use and negative affect, twice a day. Participants who spent more than their typical amount of time on social media since the previous time point reported feeling more negative at the present moment. This within-person temporal association between social media use and negative affect was mainly driven by individuals with lower resting state functional connectivity within the frontoparietal system. By contrast, time spent on social media did not predict subsequent affect for individuals with higher frontoparietal functional connectivity. Our results highlight the moderating role of individual functional neural connectivity in the relationship between social media and affect

Study protocol: Social Health Impact of Network Effects (SHINE) Study

Humans are a fundamentally social species whose well-being depends on how we connect with and relate to one another. As such, scientific understanding of factors that promote health and well-being requires insight into causal factors present at multiple levels of analysis, ranging from brain networks that dynamically reconfigure across situations to social networks that allow behaviors to spread from person to person. The Social Health Impacts of Network Effects (SHINE) study takes a multilevel approach to investigate how interactions between the mind, brain, and community give rise to well-being. The SHINE protocol assesses multiple health and psychological variables, with particular emphasis on alcohol use, how alcohol-related behavior can be modified via self-regulation, and how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors unfold in the context of social networks. An overarching aim is to derive generalizable principles about relationships that promote well-being by applying multilayer mathematical models and explanatory approaches such as network control theory. The SHINE study includes data from 711 college students recruited from social groups at two universities in the northeastern United States of America, prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed at least one of the following study components: baseline self-reported questionnaires and social network characterization, self-regulation intervention assignment (mindful attention or perspective taking), functional and structural neuroimaging, ecological momentary assessment, and longitudinal follow-ups including questionnaires and social network characterization. The SHINE dataset enables integration across modalities, levels of analysis, and timescales to understand young adults’ well-being and health-related decision making. Our goal is to further our understanding of how individuals can change their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and of how these changes unfold in the context of social networks