Scientists have figured out how much you need to exercise to be happy and calm
Sport And Fitness Health / / December 19, 2019
It has long been known that regular physical activity reduces anxietyEffects of Exercise and Physical Activity on Anxiety, Helps to increase the satisfaction of life and raise self-esteemPhysical activity and self-esteem: testing direct and indirect relationships associated with psychological and physical mechanisms.
But until recently it was not clear how much needs to be addressed in order to obtain certain benefits for the mind. Scientists from Oxford and Yale, have devoted this issue a large studyAssociation between physical exercise and mental health in 1 ยท 2 million individuals in the USA between 2011 and 2015: a cross-sectional studyPublished in August 2018.
How long it takes to support the mental health
The study analyzed the activity and well-being of 1.2 million Americans of all ages, compared the amount of physical activity and days with poor mental condition.
The analysis found that physically active people an average of 43% fewer days with poor mental state than the more passive participants. It is best to influence the mental health team sport (22% less mental health problems), bike (21%), and aerobic exercise classes in the gym (20%). A much smaller effect provided housework (10%) and walking (17%), but even with such activity was less mental problems.
With regard to the duration and frequency of sessions, the best results were with people exercising for 45 minutes 3-5 times a week.
The graph at right shows the hours of physical activity and cases of poor mental state in the past month. As you can see, the least problems had people exercising 30 to 60 minutes - about 45 minutes.
The best indicators of the ratio of training per month, and mental status (in the graph on the left) - from 12 to 23 hours. Ie 3-6 workouts per week.
The greatest effect of providing training for 30-60 minutes 3-6 times a week.
What is interesting, after 23 hours of training mental health indicators began to deteriorate.
Why not deal with too often
As the graph shows, people working more than 23 times a month, mental health indicators are reduced. Those who arranged training 28-30 experienced the same amount of mental discomfort, as well as those who are practically engaged.
The same dependence is observed in the duration of training. Those who engaged in more than 90 minutes at a time, have more psychological discomfort than those whose exercise shorter.
However, here we must take into account the type of activity. For example, cycling, outdoor activities and economic affairs are not subject to the rule of "longer means worse." In the case of the bicycle and works at home after 60 minutes is observed decline, and for outdoor recreation inverse relationship: the longer the activity, the better mental health.
We can assume that the long and frequent sports training provide stress to the body and negatively affect in the nervous system. However, few can boast such a rich sports mode, except that the competing athletes.
Three, five and even six hours of training per week will bring only good for the body and the psyche.
see also
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