Working out regularly may brighten the mood of people with chronic health problems like cancer, heart disease and back pain, according to the first sweeping look at previous research.
But it’s no miracle cure: On average, six people would need to hit the gym or go for a jog for one person to see a mood improvement.
“It’s a nice piece of evidence and I’m pleased because I like the concept,” said Dr. Alan J. Gelenberg, who chairs the department of psychiatry at Penn State University in Hershey.
Gelenberg, who wasn’t involved in the new work, said the findings jibe with guidelines from the American Psychiatric Association, which recommends regular exercise against the blues.
"There is some evidence for its use to prevent depression, and there actually is evidence for exercise as a treatment in itself,” he told Reuters Health.
With the new study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers wanted to weigh the evidence that training can also help chronically ill people who don’t have a diagnosis of depression, but nonetheless may feel down.
That’s important because depressive symptoms could make people less likely to take their meds, could increase their use of health services and decrease their quality of life, said Matthew Herring of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
We know that exercise has positive effects on the brain. Researchers at Duke University demonstrated several years ago that exercise has antidepressant properties. Other research has shown that exercise can improve the brain functioning of the elderly and may even protect against dementia. How does exercise improve mental health?
One theory for some of the benefits of exercise include the fact that exercise triggers the production of endorphins. These natural opiates are chemically similar to morphine. They may be produced as natural pain relievers in response to the shock that the body receives during exercise. However, researchers are beginning to question whether endorphins improve mood. Studies are showing that the body’s metabolism of endorphins is complex, and there are likely additional mechanisms involved in the mental health effects of exercise.
No. 1: Exercise controls weight
Exercise can help prevent excess weight gain or help maintain weight loss. When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn. You don’t need to set aside large chunks of time for exercise to reap weight-loss benefits. If you can’t do an actual workout, get more active throughout the day in simple ways - by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or revving up your household chores.
No. 2: Exercise combats health conditions and diseases
Worried about heart disease? Hoping to prevent High Blood Pressure? No matter what your current weight, being active boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good,” cholesterol and decreases unhealthy triglycerides. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly, which decreases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. In fact, regular physical activity can help you prevent or manage a wide range of health problems and concerns, including stroke, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, depression, certain types of cancer, arthritis and falls.
No. 3: Exercise improves mood
Need an emotional lift? Or need to blow off some steam after a stressful day? A workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help. Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. You may also feel better about your appearance and yourself when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem.
No. 4: Exercise boosts energy
Winded by grocery shopping or household chores? Regular physical activity can improve your muscle strength and boost your endurance. Exercise and physical activity deliver oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and help your cardiovascular system work more efficiently. And when your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you have more energy to go about your daily chores.
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By Mayo Clinic staff
John Briley. “Feel Good After a Workout? Well, Good for You.” The Washington Post, Tuesday, April 25, 2006.
He and his colleagues combed through 90 previous studies including more than 10,000 people with health problems like cancer, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), fibromyalgia, chronic pain or obesity.
In each study, people had been randomly chosen to do exercises - on average, three times a week over 17 weeks - or not.
Is Exercise the Best Drug for Depression?
At his research clinic in Dallas, psychologist Jasper Smits is working on an unorthodox treatment for anxiety and mood disorders, including depression. It is not yet widely accepted, but his treatment is free and has no side effects. Compare that with antidepressant drugs, which cost Americans $10 billion each year and have many common side effects: sleep disturbances, nausea, tremors, changes in body weight.
This intriguing new treatment? It’s nothing more than exercise.
That physical activity is crucial to good health - both mental and physical - is nothing new. As early as the 1970s and ‘80s, observational studies showed that Americans who exercised were not only less likely to be depressed than those who did not but also less likely to become depressed in the future.
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By Laura Blue
According to Herring, people’s depressive symptoms, as rated on a variety of psychological scales, dropped about 22 percent with exercise overall. That’s similar to the effects on fatigue, anxiety, pain and other mental health outcomes.
“The magnitude of the effect of exercise training on depressive symptoms among patients found in our review is small but significant,” he told Reuters Health by email.
Herring added that moderate - at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week - and vigorous - at least 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise per week - seemed to help the most.
HOW LONG WILL BENEFITS LAST?
Still, the report comes with several caveats. For instance, it’s not clear how many people with chronic illnesses are able to work out at sufficient intensity, and many participants did in fact drop out of the studies.
Also, it’s not clear how long the effects last, how much to exercise and what kind of exercise works better - aerobic training like running or walking or strength training like weightlifting.
“What we don’t know is much more than we do know,” said Gelenberg.
Why don’t more people exercise?
Here are 3 big reasons:
It’s giving to yourself instead of others (mothers!)
It takes time, and it’s not a habit.
The benefits don’t happen right away, nor are they obvious.
Most people, by the time they have mood problems they think need treating, have children and/or jobs. These are essential responsibilities, right? You can’t put your needs ahead of these kinds of needs without serious trouble. Most people lose out on exercise right there. They’re good, responsible people. They get their jobs done first, then if there’s anything left, which they might take for themselves, they still consider giving it to their kids or their work! Isn’t that how you do it?
Now of course in the long run those kids and jobs would be better off with a mom or dad who’s not troubled by mood problems, and exercise can definitely treat mood problems (evidence below). But our brains are not designed for long-run type decision making! This is crucial, and I invite you to read an additional essay about human brains making decisions, but maybe you’ll come back for that.
Most people in the USA have tight schedules (we won’t pause here to examine that one). So most people would have to change their schedule to make room for regular exercise. Exercise is not the routine thing, it’s an extra thing. There’s the second huge reason why it doesn’t happen: people leave their plan for exercise to a repeated decision. That’s like repeatedly deciding to take a medication. One of those times, taking two minutes to do so will seem less important than something, like getting the kids to school on time, and poof! medication missed. And if it requires 30 or 40 minutes, like exercise (in some people’s minds; we’ll see below how to shoot for 15 minutes), poof again!
Thirdly, the benefits don’t happen right away. That’s another predictable way for human brains to miscalculate, as discussed in the decision-making essay: something else of more immediate value will win out, even if it’s nowhere near as valuable in the long run. Worse yet, the benefits of exercise are subtle. So even when they’re happening, they’re pretty easily missed: increased strength (how often do you use that?); increased stamina (same problem); better weight control (too many ways to mess that up!); less depression (unless you have other reasons to stay depressed or get depressed again, like stresses or genetics). And the well-know, undebated benefits like lower heart disease risk and osteoporosis protection are invisible, especially to our decision-making brains.
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PsychEducation.org
Still, he added, “exercise has a lot of benefits… if someone doesn’t exercise in a stupid way, like a 65-year-old man trying to bench press 200 pounds.”
Gelenberg said people with chronic disease who feel depressed should exercise within a physician’s guidelines and eat a healthy diet.
“I would suggest they indulge themselves in healthy pleasures: people, books, walks, sitting in a pretty place. If they still feel ‘down,’ I’d suggest professional attention to consider psychotherapy or an antidepressant medicine,” he said.
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SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, January 23, 2012.
