Be Physically Active: Benefits for Mental and Physical Well-Being - Research Paper

Introduction

It is essential for every individual to be physically active for at least one hour for three days a week. Even the simplest physical activities that one engages has benefits. There are both mental and physical benefits of engaging in physical activity. Several pieces of research have shown that the individuals exercising have healthy bodies, live longer, and have a positive psychological state as compared to the ones who do not exercise.

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Background

Industries and organizations have developed initiatives, which prioritize and focus on well-being. However, even in the workplace, employees have continued to have stress, which prevents them from performing the assigned tasks efficiently. Even though physical activity is usually associated with mental health, the researches that have been conducted in the past shows inconsistency. Currently, stress is a global problem, and it can sometimes result in mental illness. Moreover, there is a growth of diseases related to mental illness like anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder, which can only be reduced through physical exercise.

Understanding Physical Activity and Stress

According to Stults-Kolehmainen and Rajita (2), stress explains the experiences which are physiologically and emotionally challenging to an individual. Stress might be chronic, acute, or traumatic. The reactions of stress are usually followed by prolonged, unaccustomed, or severe recovery processes since people react to stress in different ways. At times, stressful events might accumulate and, in the future, result in different health outcomes (Stults-Kolehmainen and Rajita 3). It might result in diseases like coronary heart disease and immune system alterations. On the other hand, Stults-Kolehmainen and Rajita define physical activity as "any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure" (3). The three domains of mental health, according to Keyes, include social well being, emotional, and psychological (Shellman and Eddie 62).

Causes and Impact of Stress

Some of the things that make people have stress in their current life are being connected constantly through technology and trying to do so many things at the same time. Also, not prioritizing activities can cause stress as one can feel a lack of accomplishment and having poor ways of releasing stress. These issues have made people suffer in silence as they do not have individuals whom they can share freely. The impacts of stress on an individual include engaging in degrading behaviors, including dietary practices, smoking, and the use of alcohol and getting cardiovascular-related diseases (Stults-Kolehmainen and Rajita 4).

Impact of Physical Exercise on Psychological Stress

Different health benefits are encountered when one performs the physical exercise. For instance, engaging in physical activity leads to less rate of anxiety, depression, and negative affectivity. It can also improve the mental health or general health of an individual and the capacity for coping with stressful events whenever they come up. In research conducted on post-traumatic stress disorder, the findings indicate that the people doing physical activities do not suffer from it. Furthermore, physical activities improve the quality of life of a person since calories are banned. Engaging in physical activity improves memory and boost the overall mood of an individual.

The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Mental Health

The research conducted by Bernard et al., (8) for about 8150 participants who are aged between 20 and 79 years old found out that mental health and physical exercise are associated. The researchers found out that engaging in physical exercise results in a low depression score. Another finding is that mental health is linked to sedentary time. Therefore, physical activity is essential for psychological benefits. In the general population, the accepted activities include self-paced running and walking. Physical activity is further considered as a tool for mental health promotion. Combining moderate to vigorous physical activity and low physical activity results in high mental health benefits (Bernard et al., 12).

The study conducted by Stults-Kolehmainen and Rajita (10) found out that there is an inverse relationship between physical activity behavior and stress. The research found that high stress is mainly associated with the low physical activity performed by an individual. Stress usually makes it difficult for individuals to engage in any activity. Thus, exercise can be used as a way of managing stress. When having stress, people usually do not have control, and maintaining healthy behaviors is very costly.

According to Vancampfort et al., (1) substance and mental use issues are the primary sources of years lived with disability in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and it accounts for about 19% of all incapacity related weight. Main depressive disorders are considered as the subsequent driving reason for disability due to back pains. Furthermore, anxiety is considered as the fifth factor that causes disability. As far as mental and substance use disarranges, all SSA locales will encounter an expansion increased YLDs will ascend from between 20 to approximately 45 million YLDs in the future (Vancampfort, et al. 1).

By 2050 mental and substance use issues might be equal to around 66% the YLDs of the whole non-transmittable ailments gathering (Vancampfort et al. 1). The results of the rising and pulverizing weight of mental and substance use scatters are extensive and dependable, not just for the individual yet in addition to the community and family. In the research conducted by Sub Saharan Africa, in the two individuals who are living with HIV, vigorous exercise diminished melancholy, self-esteem, quality of life, emotional stress, and body picture (Vancampfort et al. 4). Furthermore, in one Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) in teenagers, sports conveyed via prepared network mentors negatively affected tension and depression-like side effects in young men while no impact on young ladies. In one RCT in discouraged grown-ups, just moderate and high yet not light force, the vigorous exercise brought about fundamentally less depression side effects (Vancampfort et al. 4). When taking a gander at the three cross-sectional investigations in young people, every one of the 3 analysis reliably indicated that less physical movement support is related to progressively extreme depression side effects.

The study conducted by Van Dyck, Delfien et al. (10), proximal social, distal social, and physical environmental attributes are linked to mental health, and it related to the quality of life. These findings from the researchers are consistent with previous studies that emphasized the importance of including different attributes at different levels when understanding the relationship between physical activity and mental health. Besides, the outcomes indicated that some of these immediate affiliations were intervened by recreation time strolling, relaxation time MVPA, transport linked cycling, and transport-associated strolling. The most grounded interceding impacts were found for the connection between mental health and physical activity. The association was found to be at 32.9% through varied kinds of physical activities (Van Dyck et al., 11). Different explanations support the findings, and for instance, it has been accounted for that the general commitment of proximal social, natural elements to clarify physical action is a lot more grounded than the commitment of physical and social environmental factors. Moreover, the researchers found out that MVPA and long time walking are the primary mediators who are linked to physical or social environmental factors and quality of life related to mental health. Transport associated physical activities and leisure time are positively linked to the mental health of an individual.

Shellman and Eddie further confirmed that mental health is linked to physical exercise. In their study, they found out that there is a positive relationship between outdoor programs with fostering mental health, well-being, and psychological resilience. The data analysis of the research, which was conducted, revealed that there were positive gains in mental health and resilience due to the two-week program of outdoor education. While engaging in outdoor activities, the participants interacted with each other and

Conclusion

The study concludes that there is a relationship between stress and physical exercise. The different causes of stress in modern life, including doing several things at a time, not prioritizing activities, and lack of accomplishments. These life stressors usually make people choose improper methods of releasing stress like overeating. From the different studies conducted, it is evident that physical exercise is a right way of releasing stress. The reason is that it reduces depression among individuals, heart-related diseases, leads to a high quality of life, and psychological benefits. Moreover, from the studies, physical exercise reduces mental illness through self-efficacy, distraction, and social interaction.

Works Cited

Bernard, Paquito, et al. "Dose-response association of objective physical activity with mental health in a representative national sample of adults: A cross-sectional study." PloS one 13.10 (2018).

Shellman, Amy, and Eddie Hill. "Flourishing through resilience: The impact of a college outdoor education program." Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 35.4 (2017).

Stults-Kolehmainen, Matthew A., and Rajita Sinha. "The effects of stress on physical activity and exercise." Sports medicine 44.1 (2014): 1-68

Vancampfort, Davy, et al. "A systematic review of physical activity policy recommendations and interventions for people with mental health problems in Sub-Saharan African countries." The Pan African Medical Journal 26 (2017).

Van Dyck, Delfien, et al. "Relationship of the perceived social and physical environment with mental health-related quality of life in middle-aged and older adults: mediating effects of physical activity." PloS one 10.3 (2015).