Decades of research have established that movement has a positive effect on mental health.
When it comes to mental health, most treatments for conditions like depression or anxiety come with caveats. Medications work for some symptoms, but can exacerbate others. Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective for many patients, but not all.
But there’s one strategy that seems to work for most people and almost all experts endorse, and that’s regular exercise.
Decades of research have established that exercise has a positive effect on mental health. In studies of patients with mild to moderate depression, for example, a wide range of exercise regimens has been shown to be as effective as medications like SSRIs (though the best results generally involve a combination of the two).
Moving regularly can improve sleep and reduce stress. While there’s good evidence for the mental health benefits of exercising for about 45 minutes, three to five times per week, even just a few minutes of walking around the block can have positive effects.
“Is this walk going to do anything?” said Jennifer Heisz, an associate professor at McMaster University in Canada and the author of “Move the Body, Heal the Mind.” “Yes! The answer is yes. It’ll do way more than you think.”
Why is exercise good for mental health?
It’s hard to find a brain process that doesn’t improve with regular movement. Exercise boosts blood flow, decreases inflammation and improves brain plasticity. It also triggers the release of many mood-boosting chemicals, including beta-endorphins and cannabinoids (which both play a role in the “runner’s high” feeling), norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin.