Let’s start with the straightforward conclusion.
Just do this:
✅ Do whatever exercise you might like, which is easy to start, to at least a moderate intensity, for 30-60 mins per session, 3-5 times a week, for some months.
🍃 What is really Mental Health?
State of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community, it is more than the absence of mental disorders.
🌀 Can Exercise do anything for Mental Health?
There are several aspects relatively consensual:
1️⃣ Improvement (moderate) in anxiety symptoms among people with diagnosis of an anxiety and/or stress-related disorder.
2️⃣ Aerobic and strength exercise can remarkably reduce depressive symptoms
3️⃣ Regular exercise has been shown to protect against the incidence of depression
4️⃣ Physical Activity is as effective as other therapeutic modalities (like CBT) for mild-to-moderate symptoms of depression
5️⃣ Exercise is a great adjunct to pharmacotherapy
6️⃣ Acute anxiety responds better than chronic anxiety
💃🏽 Does the Type of Exercise matter?
Not really. You can do whatever type of exercise. Strength training and aerobic training have similar anxiolytic effects.
It should elicit Positive Acute Affective Response - an emotional response which makes you feel good and will highly determine the Adherence to the prescription.
💬 At which intensity?
Highly varies. Usually moderate-to-intense or self-selected.
A positive enough affective response of a single session can predict engagement for 6-12 months!
🕝 For how much and how long?
3 important pillars:
1️⃣ Regular = More Beneficial
2️⃣ More is not always better
3️⃣ Sweet spot = 30 to 60 mins of exercise per session 3 to 5 times per week (strongest association)
The mechanisms through which physical and activity and exercise might lead to these benefits, I’ll leave for another post.
Hope you enjoyed!
Articles and useful links:
WHO - Mental Health - https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response
Huge study about physical activity and mental health - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30099000/
Very meta article about articles using exercise/depression as an example - https://faculty.sites.iastate.edu/ekkekaki/files/inline-files/Ekkekakis_2015_MENPA.pdf
Resistance training and Anxiety - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28819746/
German journal SM - https://www.germanjournalsportsmedicine.com/archive/archive-2017/issue-4/current-evidence-and-use-of-physical-activity-in-the-treatment-of-mental-illness-a-literature-review/#l3