(April 6, 2010 - Insidermedicine)

From Dallas - According to research presented at the annual conference of the Anxiety Disorder Association of America, exercise should be prescribed more often for people with depression and anxiety disorders.  In examining numerous studies, researchers found substantial support for using exercise to help treat mood disorders. The researchers recommend that patients slowly increase their physical activity to 150 minutes a week of moderate activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.

From Pennsylvania - According to a report published in the Journal of Mathematical Psychology using a simple question and answer behavioral test, researchers were able to detect changes in the progression of mild cognitive impairment, or MCI. MCI is typically diagnosed by measuring a decrease in volume of the hippocampus using a MRI scan. This new method would be less expensive, and be useful when MRI imaging is unavailable.

And Finally, from Maryland - Moderate exercise during pregnancy can reduce the birth weight of infants according to a new report published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. High birth weight carries with it a number of complications for the infant. Yet in previous studies in the non-pregnant population, exercise reduced insulin resistance. The researchers were concerned that if this same reduction occurred in pregnant women, it might have a major affect on fetal nutrition. However they found that exercise had no affect on maternal insulin sensitivity.