Good news: exercise is also good for the mind! A new study shows that it helps even with serious mental health issues.
Studies have shown that exercise helps combat depression, anger, and stress. It may even play an important role in managing serious mental health conditions, such as anxiety disorders, depression, and psychosis.
Lots of Effect
A large-scale study of the mental health of 1.2 million Americans has shown how unwise it is to skip weekly workout sessions. In this context, the experimental subjects were divided into two groups: those who did sports and those who did not. The groups were otherwise similar in age, gender, race, income and education. They also included people with mild or severe mental health problems.
For three years, the participants reported their mental health at the end of each month. For example, whether they had been stressed, depressed, or experienced emotional problems. The group of athletes had an average of 43% fewer mental health problems per month than the group of those who did not exercise; this amounted to one and a half days per month. For a subgroup of people who had previously been diagnosed with depression, the effect was even greater. Among them, athletes struggle on average about four days per month less with their mental health problems compared to those who did not do any sport.
Boost your Brain
The reason why exercise works so well for mental health problems is that it triggers a whole series of mechanisms in your brain.
Take anxiety, for example: exercise releases serotonin and noradrenaline. These neurotransmitters calm the anxiety counter in your brain (the amygdala) and stimulate the part of the brain that helps plan and control impulses. This effect is already felt during light exercise, but more intense forms that make you breathless, such as jogging, swimming, windsurfing, or rowing, work even better. Because the same thing happens as when you are anxious: your pulse quickens, and you breathe faster. Your brain learns that this does not necessarily mean that you are in danger.
Compliment Yourself
Exercise has other major benefits. It reduces the production of the stress hormone cortisol, while stimulating the secretion of happy hormones like dopamine and oxytocin. With an extra dose of endorphins and serotonin, they can help you achieve runner’s high: the feeling of inebriation often experienced by long-distance runners. This same conscious shift can also occur during meditation or yoga.
And that’s good news for those who don’t like to sweat too much. The positive effects of exercise aren’t just explained by chemical processes in the brain, but also by psychological processes. Because exercise simply distracts you: by exercising, you focus your thoughts on something else. You shift the focus, for example, from your feelings of anxiety about the presentation you have to give to your performance on the squash court. While other forms of distraction can help—breathing exercises, meditation, reading a magazine—the effects of exercise last longer.
Additionally, it has additional benefits, such as improved muscle circulation, which makes it more supple. When you exercise, back and neck pain decrease. Furthermore, exercising gives you a sense of overcoming obstacles and greater control over your life, for example, when you can congratulate yourself because, despite your lack of desire, you still went to the gym.
Or when you ran a little faster than last time or lifted more weight. This feeling of self-control is a powerful preventative against anxiety and depression. Finally, you realize that, thanks to exercise, you feel better physically, and this affects your mind.
Boxing or Yoga?
What sport is best? A large-scale American study showed that any form of physical activity is better than none at all. It didn’t matter whether the participants jogged regularly or did strength training at the gym: All athletes show fewer mental health problems than those who do not participate in sports. That said, team sports are slightly more effective than individual sports.
Popular team sports (alongside cycling and aerobics, which score high) have been shown to have a greater effect on mental health. The social element, that is, contact with others, certainly plays a role. Social activities make us more resistant to stress and reduce feelings of depression, loneliness, and rejection. Additionally, a healthy dose of social control encourages you to continue exercising, because you don’t let your teammates and coach down for nothing.
Jogging therapy, for example, is a well-known form of depression treatment, but it doesn’t always work. Other factors can also be important when choosing a workout, such as the location. A crowded gym with loud music is less suitable for those who are sensitive to stimuli. It would then be better, perhaps as a couple, to opt for yoga or bike rides in nature.
Don’t Overdo It
The American study shows something else: doing more and more exercise isn’t the answer. People who sweat for long periods every day don’t feel any better. Ideally, exercise should be done three or a maximum of five times a week, with a training duration of 45 minutes per session. After a 90-minute workout, the effects diminish, and longer exercise sessions are even more detrimental to mental health than not exercising at all.
Probably because intensive training is similar to competitive and high-level sport, where the pressure to perform, exhaustion and dietary control represent a risk to mental health. But with progressive training and the right sport, almost anyone suffering from mental health issues can benefit. Even if the beginnings can be difficult and the problems can temporarily worsen.