Anxiety and depression affect 25% of the world’s population. Mental health is now recognized as a necessary component of health. Mental health is defined as a state of psychological and emotional well-being, and it is a continuum of how we think and feel.
Traditional therapies from medication to professional help are important, but what about exercise? Exercise has always been considered an important component of good mental health, and if you have ever felt better after a workout you know it makes a difference, but when compared to traditional therapies how does exercise stack up?
A new study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine proves that exercise is a cost-effective treatment for depression and anxiety. The researchers reviewed over 800 hundred studies on depression with 57,930 participants between the ages of 10 and 90. They also reviewed 268 studies on anxiety with 19,368 participants aged 18 to 67.
And the research says,
This meta-meta-analysis provides robust evidence that exercise effectively reduced depression and anxiety symptoms across all age groups, comparable with, or exceeding, traditional pharmacological or psychological interventions.
Researchers looked at a variety of exercise types from resistance training, to mind-body exercises like yoga and tai-chi, and aerobic exercise. They found that all types of exercise improved mental health. For those with depression, researchers found that aerobic activity, especially when done with others, produced the biggest benefits. For anxiety, aerobic, resistance training, and mind-body exercise resulted in improved mental health.
More than therapy
The research proves that exercise is an important component of good mental health, it is cost-effective, proven and comes with a multitude of physical benefits too!
There are challenges to using exercise as therapy when your mental health suffers, as it can be hard to get motivated to start exercising. This is one of the reasons that group sessions offer significant benefits. However, medications can take months to make a difference and can cause side-effects like weight gain that also cause mental health challenges.
Any type of exercise can improve your mental health and even 10 minutes can make a difference. You don’t need any equipment to get the benefits, start simple to get moving. Do any type of exercise you enjoy to get the physical and mental benefits!
Change your mind, change your health,
Shayla
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