Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
12 October 2020 | Story Arina Engelbrecht | Photo Supplied
Arina Engelbrecht
Arina Engelbrecht from Organisational Development and Employee Well-being believes physical activity has a number of benefits for one’s health, including stress relief.

Being physically active plays a big role in preventing the development of mental-health problems and in improving the quality of life of people experiencing mental-health problems.

Treatment for depression

Physical activity can be an alternative treatment for depression. It can be used as a stand-alone treatment or in combination with medication and/or psychological therapy. It promotes all kinds of changes in the brain, including neural growth, reduced inflammation, and new activity patterns are formed that promote feelings of calm and well-being. It releases endorphins – powerful chemicals in the brain that energise your spirit and make you feel good.  

Physical activity can be very effective in relieving stress. Research in adults has found that physically active individuals tend to have lower stress levels compared to individuals who are less active.  It also leads to improved sleep. When a person sleeps better and feels more rested, overall quality of life improves. They cope better with daily life stressors.

Reduce Alzheimer's risk

Regular physical activity can reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to 50%. It can also slow down further deterioration in those who have already started to develop cognitive problems.  It stimulates the brain’s ability to maintain old connections as well as to make new ones.

A study asked people to rate their mood immediately after periods of physical activity (e.g. going for a walk/run, cycling, doing housework) and periods of inactivity (e.g. reading a book or watching television). Researchers found that participants felt more content, more awake, and calmer after being physically active compared to after periods of inactivity.

In conclusion, people who are physically active feel a sense of well-being, feel more energetic throughout the day, sleep better at night, have sharper memories, and feel more relaxed and positive about themselves and their lives.

“Being physically active not only changes your body, it changes your mind,
attitude, and your mood.” – Arina Engelbrecht

News Archive

New publication on groundwater remediation soon to be introduced
2017-05-05

Description: Prof Abdon Atangana groundwater remediation Tags: Prof Abdon Atangana groundwater remediation

A new book from Prof Abdon Atangana from
the UFS Institute for Groundwater Studies
proposes new techniques for groundwater
remediation, including guidelines on how chemical
companies can be positioned in any city to avoid
groundwater pollution.
Photo: Pixabay

A new publication, Fractional Operators with Constant and Variable Order with Application to Geo-Hydrology, will be published later this year, on 1 November 2017. The author, Prof Abdon Atangana, from the Institute of Groundwater Studies at the University of the Free State, said the book proposes new techniques for groundwater remediation, including guidelines on how chemical companies can be positioned in any city to avoid groundwater pollution.

Focus of the book
Prof Atangana said researchers and practitioners interested in groundwater modelling and remediation from applied mathematical and geo-hydrology backgrounds, will benefit from reading this book.

According to Elsevier, the book provides a physical review of fractional operators, fractional variable order operators, and uncertain derivatives to groundwater flow and environmental remediation. It presents a formal set of mathematical equations for the description of groundwater flow and pollution problems using the concept of non-integer order derivative. Both advantages and disadvantages of models with fractional operators are discussed.

“Researchers and practitioners
interested in groundwater modelling
and remediation from applied
mathematician and geo-hydrology
backgrounds, will benefit from
reading this book.”

About the author
Prof Atangana specialises in applied mathematics, groundwater modelling, fractional calculus and their applications, methods for partial differential equations, methods for ordinary differential equations, iterations methods, asymptotic methods, perturbations methods, and numerical method for fractional differential equations, uncertainties analysis. He has participated in 18 international conferences, organised six special sections and symposiums in international conference in Europe, Africa, Asia and USA, and has been invited as plenary speaker in eight international conferences. He also serves as editor on 20 international journal of mathematics and applied mathematics and editor-in-chief of two international journals of applied mathematics.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept