The benefits for the mental health of exercise depend on the context

Summary: A new study reveals that the mental health benefits of exercise depend not only on the amount of physical activity, but also on the context in which it occurs. The researchers found that free time activities such as yoga or team sports tend to improve mood rather than mandatory tasks such as domestic tasks.

Factors such as social interactions, the environment and even the style of the instructor can deeply influence how exercise affects mental well -being. The results suggest that the adaptation of the exercise to personal preferences and environments can improve their positive impact on mental health.

Key facts:

Context Account: Social environment, purpose and enjoyment of exercise forms its benefits for mental health. Ganes of legislation: voluntary activities show stronger effects than mandatory or stressful exercise. Focus on chance: Understanding personal and situational factors can improve results.

Source: Georgia University

Research often points to exercise as a good way to increase mental health, but a recent study from the University of Georgia suggests that it is not only the physical movement that affects mental health.

It is how, where and why you exercise what makes the difference.

“Historically, physical activity research has focused on how long someone is exercised or how many calories were burned,” said Patrick O’Connor, co -author of the study and professor of the Department of Kinesiology at the College of Education of Mary Frances.

“The ‘dose’ of exercise has been the dominant way in which researchers have tried to understand how physical activity could influence mental health, while they often ignore if those minutes pass them exercising with a friend or as part of a game.”

While research shows that physical activity in leisure time, such as running, taking a yoga class or riding for fun, correlates with better mental health results, these benefits may vary significantly depending on the environment and the circumstances surrounding the activity, according to researchers.

To analyze these factors, the researchers reviewed three types of studies. These included large -scale epidemiological studies that examined health patterns in populations, random controlled essays where some groups received exercise treatments and others, and a much smaller but growing set of research on contextual factors.

Mental health and health

Multiple studies found that people participating in regular physical activity of free time tend to inform lower levels of depression and anxiety. But it is less clear for other forms of activity, such as cleaning the house or working for a lawn care company. The context can import as much as the intensity or the amount of physical activity.

“For example, if a soccer player runs through the field and kicks the game’s winning ball, his mental health is fantastic,” O’Connor said.

“On the contrary, if you do exactly the same exercise but you miss the goal and people are blaming you, you are likely to feel very different. Anecdotes like these show how the context is important even when people perform a similar dose of exercise.”

Numerous random controlled essays also showed that the adoption of regular exercise routines increased mental health, especially for people with existing mental health disorders. However, these studies were typically based on small, short -term and homogeneous samples, so the results are probably not generalizable for larger and diverse groups.

“The average effects on mental health are small in all random exercise controlled studies, and that is partly due to the fact that most studies focused on people who were not depressed or anxious: it has greater effects on those studies,” O’Connor added.

“We are communicating to scientists that long -term controlled studies are needed to present a convincing case, whether exercise or does not really affect mental health.”

Why the context is important

Where the evidence is thinner, but potentially more important, is to understand the contextual factors. The same physical activity may feel very different depending on who the activity was carried out, as well as where, when and how.

The context can vary from peer dynamics and the style of the instructor to external conditions such as the weather or the time of day.

“If you are outside and it’s hot, and you have to walk to work, that’s part of the context,” he added.

“Or if you go and take a group exercise class, some instructors that you really like and others do not. So, that is also part of the context.

“If we are trying to help the mental health of people with exercise, then we not only need to think about the dose and mode, we must also ask: what is the context?” O’Connor said.

For O’Connor, bearing food is clear. It is not just the movement that matters. It is the meaning, the environment and experience surrounding the activity that determines the impact of the exercise on mental health.

Study co -authors include Eduardo Bustamante of the University of Illinois Chicago; Angelique Brellenthin of Iowa State University; and David Brown, who recently retired from the centers for disease control and prevention.

About this news of the exercise and mental health research

Author: Cole Sosebee
Source: Georgia University
Contact: Cole SosEbee – University of Georgia
Image: The image is accredited to Neuroscience News

Original research: closed access.
“To debate: does regular physical activity really improve mental health?” By Patrick O’Connor et al. Medicine and science in sports and exercise

Abstract

For debate: Does physical activity really improve mental health?

Physical activity is often promoted as beneficial for mental health.

This article, based on an ACSM 2023 colloquium, highlights the strengths and key limitations of evidence with respect to physical activity and mental health from three perspectives: epidemiological studies, experiments of random controlled tests and research that explicitly consider the potential role that contextual factors, such as the social climate in which physical activity is completed, can play in the interactions of physical health in mental activity.

A great body of epidemiological evidence supports that the physical activity of regular leisure time is associated with less depression and anxiety.

The greatest amounts of physical activity are often associated with less depressive symptoms, but there may be a dose point -response in which for some more people it is not better, but can go to bed or even get worse.

Epidemiological evidence is emerging but is currently inappropriate to support associations between mental health and the types of occupational activity, active transport/displacement or domestic/domestic physical activity.

A large body of random controlled trials, typically small, of short duration and made with biased samples towards white -to -medium -up -state targets, supports that the adoption of regular exercise improves aspects of mental health; However, the mechanisms are not clear and for those without mental disorders, the average effects are small.

The benefits for the mental health of exercise can partially be a placebo response or result of contextual factors surrounding exercise programs.

A small body of evidence supports that the contextual elements, such as the quality of the implementation of the program and the social environment, can influence the mental health results associated with physical activity programs, but the evidence is currently inadequate to identify which contextual variables have moderate or higher consistent effects.

Greater progress will be made in this area when research designs are extended to include consideration of the potential influence of contextual factors in relationships between physical activity and mental health.