Effects of physical exercise on anxiety, depression, and sensitivity to stress

Summary & key facts

This 2001 review looked at studies on exercise, anxiety, depression, and stress. It found that short-term emotional effects of exercise are mixed, but many cross-sectional and longitudinal studies report that regular aerobic exercise training reduces anxiety and depression symptoms and may protect against the harmful effects of stress. The clearest evidence is for people with subclinical symptoms, the exact mechanisms and causal links are unclear, and the author suggests exercise might build lasting stress resilience while calling for more research.

Key facts:

• The review is a 2001 paper by P. Salmon published in Clinical Psychology Review (Vol. 21, pp. 33–61).
• Short-term (acute) emotional responses to exercise are confusing in the literature: both positive and negative effects have been reported.
• Multiple cross-sectional and longitudinal studies more consistently indicate that aerobic exercise training has antidepressant (reduces depressive symptoms) and anxiolytic (reduces anxiety symptoms) effects.
• The antidepressant and anxiolytic effects have been demonstrated most clearly in people with subclinical disorders (symptoms not meeting full clinical diagnosis).
• Cross-sectional studies link regular exercise habits to protection from harmful effects of stress on physical and mental health, but these studies do not prove that exercise causes the protection.
• The author proposes a unifying theory that exercise training may recruit processes that give enduring resilience to stress, but details of these processes remain unclear and require more research.
• The paper notes that, clinically, exercise can provide nonspecific social and psychological benefits and might serve as an alternative psychological treatment for some patients, although clinical applications have not been fully developed.

Topics

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Eating Disorders and Behaviors Mental Health Research Topics

Categories

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Aerobic exercise Antidepressant Anxiety Anxiety sensitivity Anxiolytic Causality (physics) Clinical psychology Depression (economics) Economics Internal medicine Macroeconomics Medicine Mental health Physical exercise Physical therapy Physics Psychiatry Psychological intervention Psychological resilience Psychology Psychotherapist Quantum mechanics Subclinical infection