The Exercise Effect on Mental Health

It would not be a stretch to say that this past year of pandemic living has taken a toll on our mental health. Restrictions that limited exposure to the outdoors was not only tough physically, but also mentally. Sometimes it felt like we would never see the light of day.

As if that weren’t enough, gym closures exacerbated an already challenging mental health situation by limiting access to physical activity for many individuals.

Many of us depend on our workouts to get us through the day. It’s often an escape from the work desk, the kids, or just the daily grind in general. There are tons of research findings linking exercise to positive mental health, and research into the links continues to grow.

“If you’ve ever gone for a walk after a stressful day, chances are you felt better afterward,” said Michael Otto, PhD, a professor of psychology at Boston University, in an article published in the American Psychological Association. (See: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/12/exercise) “The link between exercise and mood is pretty strong. Usually within five minutes after moderate exercise, you get a mood-enhancement effect. Beyond the positive effects of exercise for the short term, exercise can also help alleviate long-term depression.”

“There’s good epidemiological data to suggest that active people are less depressed than inactive people,” noted James Blumenthal, PhD, clinical psychologist at Duke University.  “People who were active and stopped tend to be more depressed than those who maintain or initiate an exercise program.”

Blumenthal has a history of exploring the effects of exercise on the mood. In one study, he and fellow researchers assigned sedentary adults with major depressive disorder to one of four groups: supervised exercise, home-based exercise, antidepressant therapy, or a placebo pill. After four months, the researchers discovered that patients in the exercise and antidepressant groups had higher rates of remission than did the group on the placebo pill. After one year, the researchers followed up with these same groups of patients and found that those who reported exercising regularly had lower depression scores than the less active group, concluding that exercise is important for both depression treatment and relapse prevention.

Researchers have also explored the use of exercise as a treatment for anxiety and found that regular workouts may help decrease the likelihood of panic during fight-or-flight situations for anxiety-prone individuals. According to their hypothesis, our bodies respond to exercise and panic in similar ways—with increased heart rate and sweating—and it is this similarity that can potentially decrease the panic response. Aligned with their predictions, the researchers discovered that people who exercised regularly learned to associate those shared symptoms with safety instead of the danger, thereby helping to mitigate anxiety.

Although the jury is still out on the type of exercise with the largest impact on mental health, and the duration required to achieve the benefits, it has become clear that exercise offers an almost immediate boost in our mood and our overall attitudes, which in turn, can have positive, long-lasting effects on all of us!

Article contribution: Coach Heather, our HIIT expert!