THE PANDEMIC OF MALE MENTAL HEALTH

Young adulthood is a time of dramatic change, both mentally and physically. When teens enter adolescence and young adulthood (ages 16-30 years), their thinking capacities, relationship skills, and ability to regulate emotions are still developing. If all goes well, an individual’s biology and environment bring a surge of growth (Simpson, 2018). Cognitive developmental imbalances are the foundation for poorly controlled risk-taking behavior, including drug addiction, risky sexual behaviors, and poor nutrition. Furthermore, young adults entering the workforce have shown an increasing degree of stress and a poorer quality of life. In 2017, college-aged Americans reported levels of stress that were substantially higher than previous generations and did not adequately harness positive coping mechanisms (Lemay, Hoolahan, & Buchanan, 2019). Therefore, it is important for adolescents and young men to adopt health-promoting mindfulness and wellness behaviors that promote physical and mental well-being.

This image summarizes the increasing prevalence of mental health problems in men and the various factors behind such issues, including work pressure, financial issues, and personal health. An alarming 40% of men have not spoken to anyone about their mental health due to reasons including embarrassment and negative stigma.

“40% Of Men Won’t Talk About Their Mental Health” is used with permission and licensed by Priory.

In a sample of students from across 157 colleges in North America, mindfulness – a flexible state of mind in which the individual is actively engaged in the present – was positively associated with psychological well-being and negatively associated with the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and avoidance coping strategies (Copeland et. al, 2020). A lack of effective and efficient wellness and mindfulness behaviors can even lead to vast causes of mortality, such as suicide. In fact, suicide is the leading cause of death for college students and the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-34 in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Many wellness behaviors, especially those used in non-Western countries, such as yoga, meditation, and Ayurvedic medicine are effective methods to combat antagonistic mental health issues due to their emphasis on a state of holistic wellness.

In particular, yoga and meditation are profound practices that utilize health-promoting interventions and are widely accepted as non-western, nonpharmacologic modalities for overall health. Meditation has evinced an improvement in arousal and self-esteem in many populations, including new graduates and young adults.

Hence, wellness and mindfulness practices are extremely influential in decreasing the impact of a pandemic of stress, anxiety, and menial physical and mental health among adolescent boys and young men. While wellness consists of a plethora of healthy behaviors, this chapter centers on meditation, yoga, and Ayurvedic medicine.

RELEVANCE OF NON-WESTERN WELLNESS PRACTICES TO MALE HEALTH

Men are 3.54 percent times more likely to die by suicide than women (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2022).  Mental Health America reports 6 million men are affected by depression in the United States every single year – many being young men. In fact, depression and suicide are ranked as a leading cause of death among men, and yet they’re far less likely to receive or seek mental health treatment than women (CDC, 2022). Recent American studies also show that fewer men than women meditate and practice yoga. This seems ironic because such mindfulness activities can solve predominantly male health issues like heavy drinking, dying of heart disease, and suicide (Cramer, 2016).

Yoga

The yogic ideology embraces consciousness, development, enlightenment, and reconciliation; it emphasizes uniting the mental (i.e. perceptions, awareness, and concentration) with the physical (practice and poses). It is beneficial in developing heightened awareness of body signals and awareness of the body due to its consistent focus on proprioceptive and interoceptive cues (Kramer, 2018). In India, most yoga practitioners are male and young adults (aged between 21 and 44 years) with up to 12 months of experience (Mishra et. al, 2020). The results of the study demonstrated that male practitioners in India were primarily motivated to practice yoga as a hobby, for physical health reasons, to follow guru’s instructions, and for physical and mental disease management. Contrary to India, it’s difficult to find popularity of yoga among men in America, where yoga practitioners are more often female (Telles et. al, 2017). Studies show that the non-competitive nature of yoga, in addition to it being a feminized activity, makes yoga less appealing for men living in western countries. Yoga practice also varies geographically in America: it is more accepted and widely used on the West coast than any other region of America. The study of male yoga practitioners in India inspired the United Nations General Assembly to declare June 21st as the National Day of Yoga and well-being since it is such a factual, monumental holistic approach (Johnathan et. al, 2021).

This image explains the various benefits and uses of yoga, including for both physical and mental health purposes. It is a proven intervention and can even function better than usual medical care.

“NIH Image Gallery Yoga Infographic” by NIH Image Gallery is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Ayurvedic Medicine

Ayurveda (pronounced ai·yr·vay·duh) – a natural system of medicine – is based on the idea that disease is due to an imbalance or stress in a person’s consciousness. Ayurveda encourages certain lifestyle interventions and natural therapies to regain a balance between the body, mind, spirit, and the environment. Ayurveda treatment starts with an internal purification process, followed by a special diet, herbal remedies, massage therapy, yoga, and meditation. Herbs are considered natural medicine and have excellent properties for affecting the central nervous system to treat panic and anxiety without the negative side effects. For example, lemon balm is good for relieving stress and anxiety; chamomile tea and passionflower have been a highly touted herb for anxiety; the roots of kava are used for anxiety and are also well known in the treatment of sleep disorders such as insomnia (Balkrishna, 2017). For centuries, the Chinese have used ginseng as a natural immune booster, for anxiety, and cannabis sativa (smoked or eaten) for anxiety relief (Balkrishna, 2017).

An American study demonstrates that a statistically significant larger fraction of women in America believe in Ayurvedic medicine than men (Kessler et. al, 2013). This can be seen in the way men don’t pursue the “green drinks” movement to the extent of women – these drinks are seen as a feminine practice. Furthermore, results support the thesis that Ayurveda is being used by a predominantly wealthy, female clientele. Differences with respect to income between groups suggest that hybrid forms of Ayurveda in the West are part of “luxury” medicine; their usage is predominantly reserved for people with higher incomes (Kessler et. al, 2013). The reality is that these practices are normalized in non-western countries. When we consider western countries, however, practices like Ayurvedic medicine carry a level of hierarchy that is often given to the wealthy over non-wealthy. This phenomenon, for example, can be seen in the general use of detoxification/internal purification practices, special diets, massage therapies, and herbal remedies predominately utilized by wealthier people. Many wellness practices are created and used by the rich first but eventually diffuse to the public; ayurvedic medicine is in the process of diffusing to the mainstream population from solely wealthy people. If American men adopted Ayurveda as a justified medical system including physical, psychological, and medical elements, as well as a philosophy and a healthy way of life, it could be a great complement to “modern western medicine.” Men should embrace Ayurveda as a practice where they can express notions of masculinity while protecting their health, which can play a curative role in many current-day health issues among men.

Transcendental Meditation

Meditation is a common type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and the evidence for its usefulness for health promotion is growing. Transcendental meditation (TM) involves sitting with eyes shut for 15–20 minutes twice a day while saying a mantra. TM differs from other meditation practices in that it does not require visualization. Instead, TM practitioners come up with a mantra, which is a word or phrase that has no real meaning. The practitioners silently think this mantra, allowing the mind to naturally transcend, while both the mind and body remain awake, yet relaxed. This practice has advantages for mental health.

New findings point to measurable effects in the brain of TM practitioners (Nidich et. al, 2016). After 3 months, 90 male inmates from Oregon who practiced daily TM perceived feeling markedly less stress and anxiety compared to a no-treatment control group (91 members). The participants perceived the benefits of meditation as stress reducer, general wellness/disease prevention, emotional improvement, and improvement of overall health. The study’s findings suggest that TM plays a role in helping people develop skills to better care for their own well-being and overall health (Nidich et. al, 2016). Most people can learn TM in a few months, and benefits from regular practice may include reduced feelings of stress and anxiety in the everyday life of men.

EAST MEETS WEST: Strategies for Bridging Mindfulness Across Continents

Institutional Counseling Services

When evaluating wellness and mindfulness practices, colleges and universities serve as a major governor in activity level. In 2017, college-aged Americans reported higher levels of stress than older generations and often did not adequately address their stress through positive coping mechanisms (APA, 2017). A potential organizational method of positive coping and purposeful mindfulness is demonstrated in the use of college campus’ psychological and counseling services. Mental health issues are quite common among college students, especially young men, and campus mental health directors should be sensitive to the changing atmospheres on campus and adapt to provide mental health services accordingly: many male students struggle with communicating their mental health issues, so counseling and psychological services should remain sensitive to the needs of male students by encouraging coping strategies that protect masculinity.

Academic Centers: The role of stress reduction

Academic centers, according to researchers, may be the best location for stress reduction and prevention programs since so many stressors are directly tied to the academic environment and these stressors impair students’ performance in academic centers. In response to rising levels of anxiety disorders, despair, drug misuse, and disengagement among male students especially, educators and health professionals are developing research-based interventions at academic institutions. The project collaborates with academic centers to develop and implement site-based policies and practices that may minimize male stress and encourage higher participation, academic integrity, and physical and mental health. While the stress reduction process varies depending on the conditions of each academic center, some tactics that have been employed effectively in academic centers include:

1. Reduce the emphasis on “grades for the sake of grades” and instead concentrate on learning and comprehension.
2. Identify male students/learners who exhibit high levels of stress.
3. Include stress curriculums in schools.
4. Alter the daily agenda of the academic centers.
5. Examine homework policies.
6. Examine testing policies.
7. Minimize exam anxiety.
8. Make certain that students receive appropriate assistance.
9. Share information about the causes and implications of academic stress.
10. Encourage healthy practices.
11. Assist young men in establishing strong coping mechanisms (Sheykhjan, 2015).

YouTube

Certain video-sharing platforms, such as YouTube, have positively influenced students with the promotion of healthy daily routines, such as yoga seminars, exercise videos, and nutritious meal preparation ideas; this platform even offers access to millions of healthy lifestyle tips for free, and for those willing to pay, there is a plethora of reliable exercise options. YouTube allows young men to have access to mindfulness options at their fingertips. These videos are catered for optimal convenience as these workout classes or informational videos can be streamed right from the comfort of one’s home, so mindfulness can be practiced privately and anonymously to “protect” masculine gender norms. “YouTube doesn’t keep official stats on how many videos are tagged ‘fitness’ but the company reported that last year, viewers watched 5,500 years-worth of yoga videos alone. That’s double the number from the previous year, according to the company” (Liz, 2015).

Interpersonal Curriculum

Mindfulness should take place in the support of books, lectures, classes, and conversations with like-minded peers: it’s not something that needs to be practiced alone. Male bonding reduces stress and the “we’re all in this together” mindset reduces the anxiety men may hold towards practicing mindfulness activities. A prototype project at the University of Washington that promotes coping practices has offered trainees with effective approaches for stress management, emotional stability, and acquiring self-kindness. The “Be REAL” curriculum was widely made available to students in residence halls by non-clinical staff members, and it fostered the casual atmosphere of a group to integrate conventional cognitive behavioral methodologies with actions focused on controlling respiration, meditation, and retrieving a sense of respect, sensitivity, and appreciation toward oneself and others. Pre- and post-survey results revealed substantial gains in mindfulness and self-compassion, as well as increased resilience and decreased stress (Eckart, 2021). Perhaps curriculums like “Be REAL” can be initiated in all-male dorms.

Conclusion

Wellness and mindfulness practices are extremely profound in decreasing the impact of a pandemic of stress, anxiety, and menial physical and mental health among college students. Hence, we must chalk out and traverse the path towards better global wellness and serve as catalysts who help ignite the flame for even a small, but remarkable difference.

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