Physical activity promotes the feeling of enthusiasm and excitement – according to the work published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. According to its authors, the latest discovery will help understand why exercise is effective in treating depression, but not anxiety.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University asked 190 students to keep diaries about their experiences and experiences for eight days. They were also to describe physical activity in free time, the amount and quality of sleep, and mental states, including perceived stress and emotions. Participants in the study were instructed to record only physical activity that lasted a minimum of 15 minutes and to indicate its intensity. At the end of each day, students handed over their diaries to scientists for analysis.
The researchers divided the emotional states of the participants in the experiment into four categories: pleasant feelings that provoke arousal, such as excitement and enthusiasm, pleasant inactivating feelings, e.g. contentment and relaxation, unpleasant feelings that provoke agitation, e.g. anxiety and anger, and unpleasant inactivating feelings, e.g. sadness. and despondency.
“It turned out that those who were more physically active had more positive emotions accompanied by arousal than those who were less active. We also observed that people had more of these emotions on days when they were more physically active than usual, ”says co-author Amanda Hyde. He also notes that the analysis took into account other factors that may affect pleasant arousal feelings, such as, for example, the quality of sleep.
According to the researcher, these results indicate that physical activity brings not only long-term benefits, but also immediate ones. As Hyde explains, by exercising more than usual, we can give ourselves an injection of enthusiasm and excitement.
“You don’t have to be the most athletic person who exercises daily to experience the beneficial effects of physical activity on a good mood,” adds research co-author Prof. David Conroy. According to him, all you need to do is exercise one day to feel it.
As prof. Conroy, the latest results give a better understanding of why exercise is effective in treating depression, but not anxiety. This is due to the fact that it intensifies positive emotions accompanied by agitation, and people with anxiety symptoms do not need to be more active. If anything, they may rather want some reassurance, the researcher explains.
In the future, his team plans to analyze the mental health effects of physical activity.