The “runners’ high” or the boost in mental wellbeing people often feel after working out is not coincidental, as research indicates that exercise has a positive impact on mental health.
Movement helps us feel healthier and happier and has a positive impact on our mental wellbeing, said Dr. Brendon Stubbs, a leading exercise and mental health researcher based at King’s College London.
“This was demonstrated with studies we did on large data sets who we followed for over seven years. We found consistently that active people were less likely to develop depression in the future compared to the least active, particularly those who do 150 minutes of exercise over a week,” said Stubbs.
“Even if you are genetically predisposed to mental health issues, our research found that being active offset the genetic risk of developing depression, anxiety or PTSD,” he added.
Any type of movement that gets the heartrate up – be it tennis, running or a group sport – and that is enjoyable to the person is “effective treatment to help control mental health symptoms in addition to promoting wellbeing and physical health,” said Stubbs.
When it comes to frequency, Stubbs said the consensus is that if one is already physically active then maintaining a challenging programme is likely to encourage more exercise. For those who are not physically active yet, just getting started with a realistic weekly target and experiencing some of the success and benefits of movement is likely to be encouraging.
However, Stubbs explained that this data is based on averages and populations and that the ideal frequency and type of exercise for optimal mental health may differ by individual, and this is where sports equipment company ASICS’s live study into the impact of movement on the mind comes in.
“When it comes to the type of exercise and frequency that is most effective, responses may differ from person to person, and this is the type of information that can result from the study,” said Stubbs.
ASICS is enabling everyday athletes all over the world to see the impact of movement on their own mind. Using a combination of facial scanning technology and self-report data collection, people will be able to capture the impact of sport across ten emotional and cognitive metrics to see how different sports impact how they think and feel.
This data will feed into a live global study, capturing individual mind uplifts from around the world and visually transforming them into a dynamic and interactive world uplift map. Through the live study, ASICS will deepen its understanding of the relationship between movement and the mind on a global scale, underpinning its belief that sport has the power to uplift minds all over the world.
Since exercise has been proven be as effective as therapy or medication in elevating some of the symptoms of depression – and a combination of those elements is probably the best method of treatment going forward – Stubbs offered the following advice for those with depression who want to reap the benefits of movement.
1. Have a small realistic goal that you can achieve, even if it is just walking for five minutes.2. If you are feeling up to it and you have a trusted group of friends, go with them for a walk or run. The social connection is really important to get people moving.3. Even five to 10 minutes of meaningful activities is good for mental health so don’t discount it. Once you become active, you can build up on that.
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