A lot is said about exercises/workouts in the context of hypertrophy, fat reduction – generally improving body composition, figure (who wouldn’t want to have a bigger bicep or a visible “six-pack”?). It is also not uncommon to mention the impact of physical activity on diabetes, hypertension, or various diseases related to the cardiovascular system. Less is said about the impact of exercise on mental health. However, last August, an interesting paper by Chekroud and colleagues was published in the prestigious Lancet journal that discusses this very issue.
INTRODUCTION
Physical activity is associated with many health benefits, such as improved musculoskeletal function, stress regulation, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, heart attacks, cancer, and overall mortality. However, the data on the impact of training on mental health is inconclusive. Most studies show that exercise is an effective action, either alone or as an adjunct, in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. It is also often believed that the more physical exercise the better. However, there are also studies, mainly long-term, that have not shown such a positive effect of training on mental health. In addition, it is not clear whether each type, frequency, intensity or duration of exercise is equally effective (it can be assumed that it is not), and if not – what are the optimal values/ranges of these parameters?
Given the significant negative impact of depression on the quality and length of life of many people around the world, a better understanding of the role of physical exercise in counteracting this condition seems to be important. Hence, the aim of today’s work was to investigate the relationship between exercise and mental health and to determine the impact of different types, intensities, frequencies and durations of exercise on this mental well-being.
STUDY CHARACTERISTICS
This is a cross-sectional study, on a very large population (over 1.2 million adults!). Participants reported whether they had ever been diagnosed with depression, and how many days over the past month their mental health was subjectively poor (the questions were more nicely framed ;)). The researchers also determined how often people exercised, what types of exercise they were, at what intensity and for how long. They then did some technical work to account for the different variables that affect mental health and to make it possible to make sense of all this data, and compared and analysed it – we won’t go into too much.
RESULTS
The mental burden, as determined by days of mental ill health over the past month, averaged 3.36 days among the participants. Among people who exercised physically, this value was lower by 1.49 days than in non-exercisers, which gives us a 43% difference in favor of the first group. So we know that training is associated with better mental health. And what about their more precise components? Well, all types of exercise were associated with a reduction in the burden on mental health, the greatest effects (a reduction of over 20%) were observed in the case of popular sports (team sports such as volleyball, basketball, football, etc.), cycling and aerobics, and gym (they strangely combined the last 2). Interestingly, even being involved in chores/housework was beneficial (10% difference) compared to no physical activity! In the case of frequency and duration of training, a U-shaped relationship was noted. The most beneficial for mental health seems to be exercising 3-5 times
a week, for 30-60 minutes. Both the lower and much higher frequency and length of exercise were associated with greater mental burdens than those I gave as “optimal”. To put it another way, the lowest mental health load was observed among people who played sports for 120-360 minutes per week. As for the intensity of exercise, every range of exercise had beneficial effects, except that vigorous/heavier exercises, although better than no exercise, were more “affected” on the psyche than light or moderate. Similar results in all the parameters/factors studied were recorded in the subgroup of people diagnosed with depression.
TRAINING SIGNIFICANCE SCALE
It is worth noting how important exercise is for our mental health. Let me remind you that their individual types were associated with a reduction in mental load by ~20%. For comparison, the difference in this mental charge between graduating from high school and the first cycle of studies (in terms of lack of education) is about 18%. Similarly, by 17%, the mental burden decreases in the case of an increase in household income from $15,000 to $50,000… Therefore, including physical exercise in your daily routine affects your mental health to a greater extent than completing 3 years of study or earning several times more… It is quite meaningful and illustrative. Nothing more needs to be said.
A BIT OF COMPLAINING…
Of course, there may be voices that this work has some limitations. This is absolutely true – each test has limitations. They often result, paradoxically, from the same advantages as its advantages. In this case, you can “cling” to, for m.in, the fact that the data were self-reported by the participants. In addition, the questions addressed to the respondents were inaccurate, and no specific, extensive questionnaire was used. What is the reason for this? Mainly from the size of the study group – OVER A MILLION PEOPLE! This, in turn, also determines the strength of this work. Another downside is the inability to demonstrate causality – this is the case with cross-sectional studies. We can’t be sure that better mental health is the result of more exercise, not the cause (maybe healthier people are more likely to move). Other available randomized studies come to the rescue, which supplement the available knowledge and suggest that workouts are not only correlated with lower mental load, but actually contribute to it.
Exercise has a positive effect on our mental health, regardless of other variables that play a role in this regard. Benefits are observed with all types of physical exercise, as well as in a wide range of their frequency, intensity and duration. However, popular team sports (a possible role of the socialization aspect), cycling and gym seem to be particularly beneficial. In addition, the optimal dose of exercise (if the goal is to improve the mental state) is suggested to be 30-60 minutes of activity, taken 3-5 times a week (i.e. a total of 120-360 minutes/wk). It should also be remembered that moderation always wins over extremism, and thus huge amounts of exercise will be as or even more taxing for our psyche as inactivity. It is also worth noting that the positive impact of exercise on mental health is greater than that of other modifiable factors, such as income growth or additional education.