Did someone talk to you about how important is exercise to remain healthy? No, it doesn’t just mean to be physically fit. While it’s great to have the muscles jamming up and blood flowing in all through your body (which is sure to make you feel better), you need a healthy mind too.
Physical health, as everybody knows, is the state of well-being of the human body. It involves the state of internal systems, blood pressure and more. Mental health, on the other hand, is the psychological and emotional state of the human mind and soul[1]. It is how we think and feel. It’s how we express our thoughts and emotions.
So, what is mental health?
Mental health involves everything from our dreams, ambitions, feelings, to our love life. When people are aware and comfortable about who they are, they feel relieved and happy. They get to push themselves to do better. A fatigued mind, on the other hand, doesn’t lead to happy outcomes.[2]
The concept of mental health is fairly new. For the better part of the last few centuries, talking about mental health wasn’t something that households normally discussed. In fact, having different views or thoughts, was often discouraged.
Today, scientists recommend an easy way to stay fit – exercising.
How can exercising help?
Research by scientists has shown that working 150 minutes every week can be very beneficial in treating anxiety and depressive mental illnesses. They concluded that when you exercise outdoors, you get far more benefits than people who choose to work indoors. This data supports the fact that when it comes to mental health benefits, it is much better to work out outdoors than indoors.
Researchers say that when it comes to team sports, playing sports in a team or even individually helps reduce mental illnesses. Team sports, for instance, has great health benefits just as any other individual activity.[3]
Also, for most people moderate exercise is good enough to still give the mental health benefits required.[4]
You may think that playing sports isn’t a good idea – especially if you don’t like to interact with people. Get yourself on the field though and push yourself – you will be surprised as to what you can do.
Scientists say that exercising can help deal with mental disorders like anxiety and depression.
Researchers findings on how Exercise helps to reduce anxiety and depression
A study carried out by the Sports Sociology from the University of South Australia[5] looked at how sports can protect people from mental health disorders.
In the study, researchers studied the anxiety and depression levels in 682 German recreational athletes. Researchers ensured that they performed the study under different conditions to ensure that they can check the exercise and intensity levels in different situations.
The researchers also assessed indoor settings vs. outdoors, and also saw how results between the team sports and individual sports varied. They did this to get different results and have more accurate tests.
World Health Organization (WHO) exercise guidelines and their relation to mental health benefits
Athletes who meet the World Health Organization (WHO) exercise guidelines experience have been seen to be in a better mental health. This is another insight to remember while tracking your exercise habits. Make sure you are meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) exercise guidelines to ensure the best of exercise benefits.[6]
The World Health Organization states that adults between 18 to 64 years need to exercise around 150 minutes every week to remain healthy.
Exercise can help you
Drugs may play an important role when it comes to mental health and managing pain but at the end of the day, they have certain limitations.
The actual effects of exercise on mental health
You need to recognize the different types of exercise and how it affects mental health in different ways.[7]
Understanding the different factors that is causing depression is important, but the problem is there is very little data out there as to what is the correct type and amount for positive mental health.
Researchers found that people who did not meet the WHO guidelines met high depression scores, and it didn’t really matter as to where they worked out. This again emphasizes the importance of exercising according to exercise guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
The benefits you get from exercise are different. Group exercise for instance, keeps you motivated and strong, while exercise is more thoughtful and less stressful. The authors found significantly lower scores for anxiety and depression among inner-group players.[8]
Keep in mind not to over exercise in any case.
The study, for instance, found that people who are more involved in high physical activity tend to have higher levels of stress. Even centuries ago, our ancestors knew that exercising can help improve mental health. All you need is thirty minutes of exercise a day to stay fit.[9]
However, exercise alone can’t do everything. Sure, it’s going to help you battle anxiety, depression and self-esteem but you still need medical help if you are suffering from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.[10]
[1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2004.00751.x
[2] Folkins CH, Sime WE. Physical fitness training and mental health. Am Psychol. 1981 Apr;36(4):373–389. [PubMed]
[3] Regier DA, Goldberg ID, Taube CA. The de facto US mental health services system: a public health perspective. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1978 Jun;35(6):685–693. [PubMed]
[4] https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-199009060-00001
[5] https://www.unisa.edu.au/Media-Centre/Releases/2020/red-card-depression-linked-to-low-sports-activity/
[6] https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_adults/en/
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1424736/
[8] Naughton J, Bruhn JG, Lategola MT. Effects of physical training on physiologic and behavioral characteristics of cardiac patients. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1968 Mar;49(3):131–137. [PubMed]
[9] http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1807-59322005000100012&script=sci_arttext