PHYSICAL HEALTH
& CONCERNS
Background
During this modern age, people are being encouraged to seek mental health support more often, with most of them preferring a non-pharmaceutical option. This makes exercises such as martial arts, swimming, running, and weightlifting an excellent solution for those struggling with their mental health, such as those with a severe cases of anxiety. It is the best period to get into physical activities, like those listed above, as these activities will keep a sound mind and a healthy body. All forms of physical training, regardless of intensity, lead to stimulating the feel-good hormone known as dopamine. Furthermore, endorphins also have a subtle effect on one’s emotional state and leave you with positive energy after these activities are performed every session. All of which leads to an individual gaining a greater persona and a healthy physique.
Exercise for the future
As necessary as it is for one to live in the moment, one can argue that it's just as important to plan for the future. Both can be accomplished by physical activity participation consistently. It has already been established that during and after a bout of exercise, one can experience almost immediate positive effects on one's mood and self-perception. However, does that hold for the future? The answer to that is yes. A ten-year prospective cohort study done in Norway looked at a group of 8983 adolescents, following them from as early as 13 to 19 into their early adulthood (23 to 29) to see how their cardiovascular health, disposition to certain cancers, and mental health improved or a lack thereof, in relation to how active they were throughout the ten years (Rangul et al., 2012).
The results showed that those who maintained physical activity from their youth into adulthood had a better overall cardiovascular profile and less mental distress when compared to inactive participants, those adopted, and those who relapsed to lower activity (Rangul et al., 2012). Furthermore, those who continued to stay active throughout the ten-year study showed reduced anxiety compared to the other groups and lower cardiovascular disease risk—indicating that maintaining participation in physical activity could lead to more satisfaction in life and better mental health status than those who are sedentary (Rangul et al., 2012). Lastly, results also suggest that for individuals to reap the benefits of physical activity in their early adulthood, they should start at a very young age, maintaining it throughout their life to maximize the benefits ten years later (Rangul et al., 2012).
What to do and what not to do
What exercises do you do to get the mental health benefits mentioned above? According to Pascoe (et al. 2020), moderate-to-vigorous intensity interventions were beneficial for young individuals with mental disorders by reducing their depressive symptoms and improving their mood. However, regardless of the intensity, the one intervention that worked the best was the one participants could adhere to, and most importantly, something they find joy in doing (Pascoe et al., 2020). When individuals can determine the type of exercise and its intensity, they are more likely to achieve greater mastery of the activity as they know it is within their capabilities (Pascoe et al., 2020). So, what to do: Pick a form of exercise you love to do, and stick with it!
However, you should not listen to fitness influencers on social media promoting information without credible and reliable resources. Instagram, for example, reaches about 1 billion users, with 71% of users being less than 34 years (Marocolo et al., 2021). That is a large population of young and impressionable minds who are being presented with posts such as “Fitspiration” posts (Marocolo et al., 2021). As influential as those posts are and as helpful as the “health advice” may be, many of the fitness influencers posting them fail to use and source credible sources (Marocolo et al., 2021). A study in Brazil looked at 495 fitness posts from Brazilian influencers, and only 13 of the 495 cited a scientific source; the rest were based on opinion, personal experience, or marketing (Marocolo et al., 2021). These misinformed posts reach 30 million people (Marocolo et al., 2021). Furthermore, even with ~75% of these influencers having an academic/professional degree, their quality scores were as low as 39% regarding technical-scientific accuracy (Marocolo et al., 2021). In these posts, influencers promote supplements and form-fitted sportswear as the most important means of achieving healthy bodies, which ironically leads to more damaging effects (Marocolo et al., 2021).
