Exercise Boosts Mental Health

Feeling a little down this Valentine’s Day? Exercise might be the cure.

This time of year is a bit tough for a lot of us. Whether you’re a fan or not, the holidays are wildly stressful and probably took a little out of you. Add to that the fact that the sun hasn’t been shining all that much and, wait, what is this stuff falling from the sky? This is San Diego, the word ‘rain’ is not in our vernacular. No surprise then that we get a bit of the Winter Blues (this post is being written while the Midwest is in a state of emergency due to the cold, so… perspective sometimes helps…). Read on for some encouraging news.

45%

Did you know that active people are 45% less likely than inactive people to have depressive symptoms? A study in Lancet Psychiatry by Chekroud, et al. and reported in January’s ACE Fitness Journal followed 1.2 million Americans between 2011 and 2015 and found that incredible nugget.

A highly encouraging correlation came to light during the study: Any exercise helps boost mental health. Any! Don’t like cycling? Screw it, go run. Don’t like running, screw it, go hike. Don’t like hiking? You get the idea. If you like yoga, however, you’re onto something good, as the mindful activities of yoga and tai chi helped reduce the burden of mental health by a whopping 22.9%. Namaste, La Jolla Sports Club.

A couple other takeaways from the Chekroud, et al. study:

• The optimal length of a workout session averaged from 30-60mins, with 45mins being the most effective at reducing mental burdens
  • Longer than 90mins proved less effective, and sessions over 3hrs long were associated with greater mental burdens than not exercising at all
• 3-5 sessions a week were considered the most beneficial
• Vigorous exercise sessions were deemed more favorable than light or moderate exercise
• Team sports / classes correlated to the fewest mental burdens, as the social interaction ‘reduces depression and promotes a hardiness in relation to stress’

Don’t know where to start or stuck in a rut? La Jolla Sports Club Personal Trainers are both award-winning and awesome, and our class schedule has pretty much everything you’d want! Need more info? Stop by our front desk for help and / our a guided tour.

Highly Fit Women and Dementia

A study out of Sweden and published in Neurology showed an association between women who were highly fit and decreased dementia. And not just a little bit. Middle-aged women with high cardiovascular fitness levels were almost 90% less likely to develop dementia in older age than women with moderate aerobic fitness.

The study’s author, Helena Hörder, PhD, stated that it’s possible that improving cardiovascular fitness in middle-age could delay or even prevent dementia. While more research is needed, the data analysis suggested that if highly-fit women developed dementia, it was 11yrs later than their less-fit counterparts. Again, not a concrete correlation, but the analysis is encouraging enough to get started or keep on keepin’ on!

OK, that’s it for this week, but be sure to check the next post where we discuss exercise and the positive effects on cognitive skills in our aging brains.

// Your friends at La Jolla Sports Club

Also: GO RAMS!