Essay Example on How Physical Activity Relates to Mental Health

How Physical Activity relates to Mental Health

Individuals are required to maintain a physically active lifestyle and engage in physical activities. The activities should take one hour for at least three days each week. Physical activities are beneficial, no matter how simple they may be, and can produce physical and mental benefits. Various studies have shown that individuals that engaged in physical activities had the likelihood of living longer and having a healthier mental and physical health compared to those that led sedentary lifestyles.

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Background

Lifestyle modification plays a significant role in the management of mental health illnesses. Exercise is an essential component of lifestyle modification that could improve mental health. Aerobic activities such as swimming, dancing, walking, cycling, and jogging were showed to reduce stress and depression. Exercise promotes improvement in mood through exercise-induced blood flow to the brain. The improved blood circulation to the brain improves the physiological reactivity to stress. Physical activity can thus improve the response of nursing school parents to stress. Exercise has beneficial effects on mental health as it promotes social interaction and promotes distraction. Studies show that exercise could enhance cognitive functioning and alleviate symptoms of social withdrawal and low self-esteem. Moreover, exercise promotes improved sleep, increased mental alertness, and stress relief.

Understanding Physical Activity and Stress

Stults-Kolehmainen & Sinha (2014) reports that stress depicts the psychological status of an individual. Stress could occur after a traumatic event in acute or chronic form. Individuals react differently to stress. The reactions could be an unaccustomed, prolonged, or severe recovery process. Stressful circumstances could perpetuate adverse health outcomes if no interventions are takes (Stults-Kolehmainen & Sinha, 2014). Stress could precipitate cardiovascular diseases and weaken the immune system making individuals prone to infections. Stults-Kolehmainen and Rajita (2014) defined physical activity as "any movement that the body produces through skeletal muscles that result in an expenditure of energy" (Stults-Kolehmainen & Sinha, 2014 p. 3). According to Keyes, the three domains of mental health include social wellbeing, emotional, and psychological (Shellman & Hill, 2017).

Causes and Impact of Stress

Stress is mainly caused by ineffective time management. This occurs if individuals attempt to complete several tasks within an unreasonable time. The result of this is a sense of failure, underachievement, and lack of accomplishment resulting in stress. To prevent this, individuals are encouraged to adopt appropriate scheduling and time management strategies to enable them to prioritize their tasks and set reasonable targets. Various other tools are used to promote effective time management. The tools include task analysis scheduling, list-making tools, and task prioritization techniques. Different life situations, including traumatic experiences, could also result in stress. Stress among individuals can result in behavioral problems and the development of chronic illnesses (Stults-Kolehmainen & Sinha, 2014).

Impact of Physical Exercise on Psychological Stress

Exercise plays a significant role in the promotion of psychological health. Physical activity reduces stress, anxiety, and depression and contributes to cardiovascular and mental health. Physical activities also promote effective coping mechanisms. Recent studies have indicated that individuals that engaged in frequent exercising were less likely to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder. Physical exercises also help to maintain healthy caloric control.

How Physical Activity relates to Mental Health

Mental health and physical exercise have a relationship in participants between the ages of 20 and 79, according to findings by Bernard et al. (2018). Getting involved in physical activities results in low depression, according to findings by researchers. Sedentary time and mental health are linked according to outcomes by the researcher, which means that for psychological benefits to occur, physical activity is significant. The most common physical activities which are accepted in the general population are walking and running. Physical health promotes a state of mental health. When one combines low physical activities with vigorous ones and moderate ones, they are assured of achieving high and better mental health advantages (Bernard, Dore, Romain, Hains-Monfette, Kingsbury & Sabiston, 2018).

According to Stults-Kolehmainen & Sinha (2014), stress and physical activity behavior have an inverse relationship. According to the research, individuals who have high stress usually perform low physical activities. Individuals who have stress often have difficulties when it comes to engaging in physical activities. Exercise is one of the most significant ways of managing stress, according to researchers. When an individual is going through stress, it becomes difficult and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Research which was conducted by Vancampfort et al. (2017) revealed that in Sub-Saharan Africa, the primary source of years which are lived with a disability is substance and mental use because of 19% of all the incapacity related to weight accounts from it. The driving reason for disability is depressive disorders because of back pains. Anxiety is one of the factors that cause impairment. The people of SSA will always encounter an increase in YLDs, and according to research, there will be an increase from 20-40 million YLDs in the coming days because of mental and substance are involved according to Vancampfort et al. (2017).

According to research, by 2050, substance and mental issues might be approximately 66% ((Vancampfort et al., 2017). The increasing mental and substance use does not only happen to individuals but also the families and communities. According to the research which was conducted in SSA, individuals with HIV do not involve themselves in vigorous exercise, their self-esteem is low, and they suffer from emotional stress, and their quality of life is diminished (Vancampfort et al., 2017. A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) that was conducted revealed that among teenagers, sports which conveyed via mentors affected the tension of young men and resulted in depression in them while in young ladies, there was no impact. An RCT revealed that when grown-ups are discouraged, high, moderate, and vigorous exercises brought less depression to them, according to Vancampfort et al. (2017). According to a three cross-sectional investigation on young people, they indicated that depression effects are related to less physical movement.

According to Van Dyck et al. (2015), attributes such as distal social, physical environment, and proximal social are linked to mental health, which is highly related to the quality of life. The previous researchers from previous studies talk about the benefits of including different attributes at different levels when analyzing the relationship between mental health and physical exercise, which shows consistency in the findings of this particular research. According to the outcomes of this study, some of the direct affiliations happen as a result of relaxation time, time strolling, cycling, strolling related to transport, and MVPA. The association between mental health and physical exercise was found to be 32.9% with various physical activities, according to Van Dyck et al. (2015).

One of the explanations to support findings is that commitment of natural elements, proximal social to clarify physical exercise, is grounded in no small extent than environmental factors and physical factors commitment. The findings of researchers are that MVPA and walking for a long time are the main activities that are linked to social, environmental factors, and physical factors that relate to the quality of life as well as mental health. Physical activities that are associated with transport and leisure time are linked to the mental health of a person positively. Mental health and physical activities are linked according to Shellman & Hill (2017), where they found out in their study that outdoor programs foster mental health, psychological resilience, and well-being in a positive way. According to the analysis of the data, resistance, and mental health gain positively in the two-week program, outdoor education. The participants who engaged in the outdoor activities were able to interact with one another.

Conclusion

Conclusively, stress and physical health are related. Some of the causes of stress are failure to accomplish things, lack of priority, and doing many things at the same time. The origins of stress usually make people use unacceptable methods of releasing them, for instance, overeating. One of the most efficient ways of releasing tension is physical exercise, according to various studies that were conducted. Physical activity reduces depression on individuals, gives an individual a high-quality of life, and also gives specific psychological benefits. According to the findings of this study, physical activity reduces mental illness through social interaction, distraction, and self-efficacy.

References

Bernard, P., Dore, I., Romain, A. J., Hains-Monfette, G., Kingsbury, C., & Sabiston, C. (2018). 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).

Shellman, A., & Hill, E. (2017). Flourishing through resilience: The impact of a college outdooreducation program. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 35(4).

Stults-Kolehmainen, M. A., & Sinha, R. (2014). The effects of stress on physical activity and exercise. Sports medicine, 44(1), 81-121.

Vancampfort, D., Stubbs, B., De Hert, M., du Plessis, C., Giri, C. A. O., Kibet, J., ... & Mugisha, J. (2017). 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.

Van Dyck, D., Teychenne, M., McNaughton, S. A., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., & Salmon, J. (2015). Relationship of the perceived social and physical environment with mental health-related quality of life in middle-aged and older adults: mediating effects of physicalactivity. PloS one, 10(3).