Anxiety disorders can affect up to 10 percent of the population, according to a Frontiers statement, and typically tend to develop early in the individual’s life. According to the same release, anxiety disorders are twice as common in women than in men. However, the impact on anxiety levels of the intensity of physical activity and physical fitness in general have actually been little analyzed and those times that have been analyzed mainly considered men. Furthermore, in this case, the subjects analyzed are hundreds of thousands.[1]
And give
A team of researchers from the Department of Experimental Medical Sciences of the University of Lund, Sweden, therefore wanted to investigate this link and found that physical exercise actually seems to help reduce the risk of developing anxiety up to a good level. 60%.
The researchers analyzed the data of a group of athletes who took part, between 1989 and 2010, in what is the largest cross-country ski race in the world in terms of distance, that of Vasaloppet. They then analyzed this data with those of hundreds of thousands of non-skiers collected during the same period.[1]
More physical activity, lower risk of anxiety
Analyzes showed that skiers showed a “significantly lower” risk, as reported in the release, of developing anxiety. As Tomas Deierborg explains, people with more active lifestyles surveyed during the follow-up period (21 years) show an up to 60% lower risk of developing anxiety disorders. The connection seemed to exist for both men and women.[1]
Difference between men and women
The researchers however noticed a difference between men and women. The intensity level of physical performance appears to influence the risk of anxiety in women. In fact, the researchers noted that, while for men the levels of physical performance and therefore of effort did not seem to influence this risk, in women those subjects active at lower levels of physical performance showed a double risk of developing anxiety disorders. to subjects who engaged in more performing performances.
“The total risk of contracting anxiety among high-performing women was even lower than among the most inactive women in the general population,” the researcher explains.[1]
Link may not be linear
According to Svensson they show that the link that exists between “may not be linear” in the sense that the link itself could also be influenced by other factors including genetic, psychological and personality traits. These factors, and others, were not taken into account in the study that was published in Frontiers in Psychiatry.[2]
Notes and insights
- Regular exercise may lower risk of developing anxiety: Study (IA)
- Frontiers | Physical Activity Is Associated With Lower Long-Term Incidence of Anxiety in a Population-Based, Large-Scale Study | Psychiatry (IA) (DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.714014)