The association of physical activity and physical fitness with mental health, with an emphasis on determinants and mechanisms underlying depressive symptomatology

Michiel van Elk completed his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Donders Institute in Nijmegen (cum laude). He worked as a visiting researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara (2010), as a Marie Curie post-dotoral fellow at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland (2010-2012), as a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University (2017), as a Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Amsterdam (2019-2010) and as Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam (2013-2020). Since 2020 Michiel is affiliated as Associate Professor to the University of Leiden and as an affiliate researcher at VU University. Supported by grants from the Templeton Foundation, NWO and the BIAL Foundation he supervises the PRSM Lab, which focuses on the study of Psychedelic, Religious, Spiritual and Mystical Experiences.  By using a variety of different techniques, including self-report measures, interviews, expectancy manipulations, neuroimaging tools, psychophysiological techniques and pharmacological challenges the aim of the lab is to understand how PRSM experiences come about, the effects they have on our behavior and well-being and the philosophical implications of PRSM experiences for our views on the self and reality.

The research protocol article for the NoHow project, first-authored by Marta Marques, has been published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. JMIR the leading digital health journal in quality / visibility (IF 5.43), ranking Q1 in the medical informatics category. It is also the largest journal in the field. https://www.jmir.org/2021/12/e25305

Arlen Moller is an Associate Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago) in the Dept of Psychology. He holds a Bachelors in Psychology from Cornell University, and Masters and PhD degrees in Social and Personality Psychology from the University of Rochester. His primary research interest is in promoting sustainable lifestyle changes across multiple health behaviors. This work frequently involves using principles from social and health psychology, motivation theories (especially self-determination theory), emerging technologies (e.g., wearables, VR). His research is often cross-disciplinary, and he’s worked to develop skills for doing team science well (see: https://www.teamscience.net/home/aboutus). He is an active member of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), and serves on the Editorial Board of the Center for Self-Determination Theory. For more info see: http://humansciences.iit.edu/faculty/arlen-moller 

Henrique Brito. Well-being benefits of green exercise in healthy adults: systematic review and meta-analysis. Cruz Quebrada: FMH [Mestrado, 2018].

Catarina Luís. Successful weight loss maintenance: a systematic review of weight control registries. Lisboa: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública [Mestrado, 2019].

Sofia Franco. Boas Práticas em Intervenções Comunitárias para a Promoção da Atividade Fisica: Desenvolvimento de um instrumento de apoio à sua identificação. Cruz Quebrada: FMH [Mestrado, 2019].

Bruno Rodrigues. Atividade física e doença oncológica: qualidade de vida dos sobreviventes e perceções dos oncologistas relativas à promoção de atividade física. Lisboa: Universiade Lusófona [Mestrado, 2018].