Exercising can boost your mental health, researchers say

By Fedor Villard-Lopez
MiamiDadeHealth.com

Exercise is not just about aerobic and muscle size, but mental health too.

Research is increasingly showing that exercising, besides its physical benefits, it’s also powerful medicine for many common mental health challenges.

Wondering just how active you need to be to get a mental health boost? It’s definitely not as much as you think. You don’t need to devote hours out of your busy day, train at the gym, sweat abundantly, or run 10 miles each day.

According to doctors and researchers, you need to exercise just 30 minutes daily five times a week in order to get a mental boost. Two 15-minute or even three 10-minute exercise sessions can also work just as well.

Research divulged by the US National Institutes of Health shows that aerobic exercises, including jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening, and dancing, have been proved to reduce anxiety and depression. These improvements in mood are thought to be caused by an exercise-induced increase in blood circulation to the brain.

While structured group programs can be effective for individuals with serious mental illness, lifestyle changes that focus on the accumulation and increase of moderate-intensity activity throughout the day may be the most appropriate for most patients, says the study developed by physicians Ashish Sharma, Vishal Madaan, and Frederick Petty.

Exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function, say the authors.

The study points out that exercise is especially important in patients with schizophrenia since they are already vulnerable to obesity and also because of the additional risk of weight gain associated with antipsychotic treatment, especially with the atypical antipsychotics.

Among the benefits of exercising highlighted by the researchers are:

1. ) Improved sleep
   
2. ) Increased interest in sex
   
3. ) Better endurance
   
4. ) Stress relief
   
5. ) Improvement in mood
   
6. ) Increased energy and stamina
   
7. ) Reduced tiredness that can increase mental alertness
   
8. ) Weight reduction
   
9. ) Reduced cholesterol and improved cardiovascular fitness