Too much is too little: Estimating the optimal physical activity level for a healthy mental state

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Akiyoshi Shimura¹  Jiro Masuya¹  Katsunori Yokoi²  Chihiro Morishita¹  Masayuki Kikkawa¹  Kazuki Nakajima¹  Chong Chen³  Shin Nakagawa³  Takeshi Inoue¹ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Medical University;School of Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare;Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine

关键词: physical activity;    Exercise;    Mental Health;    Optimal level;    Depression;    Anxiety;    resilience;    insomnia vulnerability;    Quadratic modeling;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044988

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Introduction: Although physical activity and exercise are generally thought to have favorable effects on mental health, excessive physical activity may have unfavorable effects. In this study, the associations between physical activity and the states of mental health with U-shaped dose-response curves were hypothesized, and the ranges of physical activity resulting in optimal effects on mental health were investigated. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 1,237 adult volunteers in 2017 and 2018. Of these volunteers, 526 participants validly answered the self-administered questionnaires asking about physical activity, depression, anxiety, resilience, insomnia vulnerability, and life events. A comparison of mental health measures by physical activity levels and quadratic equation model regressions were performed. Results: No significant linear associations between physical activity levels and mental health measurements were observed; however, the U-shaped, quadratic equation models indicated a significance. The following levels of physical activity per week optimized the mental health measurements values of the participants: 6,953 MET-minutes and 25.70 hours for depression, 5,277 MET-minutes and 21.60 hours for state anxiety, 5,678 MET-minutes and 22.58 hours for trait anxiety, 25.41 hours for resilience, and 9,152 MET-minutes and 31.17 hours for insomnia vulnerability. Conclusion: Physical activities in the optimal range were associated with more favorable mental health measurements. Physical activities that were too much or too long and outside of the optimal range were associated with less favorable mental health measurements.

【 授权许可】

CC BY