What mental health benefits does physical activity really bring?
by Doug Stewart
This week I’d like to look at the findings of a meta-analysis around domain-specific physical activity and mental health. This study (cited below) dates from 2017, but holds lots of interesting information applicable today.
Despite being widely encouraged, the relationship between physical activity and improved mental health is not as well established as you might think. Prior to this analysis, there’s been little research into how the specific domains of activity influence the relationship between physical activity and mental health. I feel this is particularly relevant to understand from a coaching perspective, as the way training and exercise is prescribed and / or encouraged can significantly affect the benefits it gives to participants. This meta-analysis reviewed 98 studies ranging from 1988 to 2015 to explore this relationship in more detail, with a total sample size of over 648,000 people.
One of the conclusions of the analysis was that workplace initiatives to be more active (such as active travel / standing desks, etc) were not correlated with reducing the prevalence of mental ill-health. Interestingly, individuals working in occupations that involve higher amounts of activity, such as manual labourers, were actually more likely to experience mental ill-health. This finding suggests that physical activity is not automatically associated with better mental health (and reduced mental ill-health), and that contextual factors are crucial to this relationship, despite any benefits increased activity may bring for physical health.
Another key message from this meta-analysis is that promoting physical activity, specifically during ‘leisure time’ compared with other domains, may be most beneficial in terms of mental health improvement. Notably, another key factor to be considered is motivation. ‘Leisure time’ physical activity is one that’s typically being pursued out of enjoyment, which is likely to affect mental health outcomes.
This is one of the factors that influences my coaching the most at TMR. The term ‘athlete centred’ approach is banded around with little acknowledgement to what this really means in practice, and for me it’s an emphasis on the person and what they need and want from the sport. When a person is happy and content, they’ll be able to engage in activity or “training” in a far more sustainable way. Ultimately, they’ll be more consistent and eventually perform better. As per this analysis, understanding what people thrive on (or don’t!) is key to supporting positive outcomes, both mentally and physically!
References:
White, R.L., Babic, M.J., Parker, P.D., Lubans, D.R., Astell-Burt, T. and Lonsdale, C., 2017. Domain-specific physical activity and mental health: a meta-analysis. American journal of preventive medicine, 52(5), pp.653-666. - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.12.008