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The Walk To Washington Countdown
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The Benefits of Physical Activity on Mood Disorders
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The Benefits of Physical Activity On
Improving Mood Disorders
Chalk up another benefit to being active, as even meager levels of
physical activity can improve the mood of people with serious mental
illnesses (SMI) such as bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia.
The
new study from Indiana University both reinforces earlier findings that
people with SMI demonstrate low levels of physical activity and
supports the consideration of physical activity as a regular part of
psychiatric rehabilitation.
“We found a positive association
between physical activity level and positive mood when low to moderate
levels of physical activity are considered,” said study author Bryan
McCormick, associate professor in IU’s Department of Recreation, Park
and Tourism Studies.
“Physical activity interventions that
require lower levels of exertion might be more conducive to improving
transitory mood, or the ups and downs people with SMI experience
throughout the day.”
McCormick said physical activity often
is advocated in addition to psychiatric treatment for people with SMI
because of the significant health concerns common to this population.
The
low levels of physical activity also common to this population poses a
major hurdle, however. For this study, physical activity is considered
most forms of sustained movement, such as house cleaning, gardening,
walking for transportation or formal exercise.
“The
challenge is how to use naturally motivating activities that people
have in their everyday lives to get them out and engaged,” McCormick
said.
About the study:
For seven consecutive
days, researchers randomly paged study participants, who then filled
out questionnaires about their mood and recent activities. The
responses were matched with data collected during the previous 10
minutes using small, lightweight accelerometers worn by the study
participants. The equipment measured activity levels and duration.
McCormick
said this is the first time these research methods were combined,
allowing researchers to look at study participants’ daily ups and downs
as they occur rather than trying to average the experiences.
The
study involved 11 people from the U.S. and 12 people from Serbia.
Central Europe is experiencing a shift from institutional care to
community care for its citizens with SMI, similar to the shift seen in
the U.S. in the 1970s.
McCormick’s research has been
examining this, too, in comparison to U.S. populations. The findings
were surprising in this particular study.
“I was expecting a
higher level of physical activity within the population of Eastern
Europeans,” he said. “We didn’t see any differences.”
The
average physical activity level for both groups was comparable to that
of sedentary adults, less than that of adults with a developmental
disability and considerably less than that of active adults, according
to earlier research by study co-author Georgia Frey, associate
professor in IU’s Department of Kinesiology.
The least active experiences captured in this study correlated with less positive moods.
The
study notes that walking is one of the most frequently advocated forms
of physical activity in psychiatric rehabilitation programs. Such
programs, according to the study, would appear to afford both
physiological and psychological benefits.
The study is published in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry.
Source: Indiana University
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