What exercise does for anxiety
Exercise reliably eases anxiety and low mood. It also produces the same sensations as panic, which turns out to be part of why it helps.
Key takeaways
- Across hundreds of trials, regular physical activity reduced anxiety, depression and distress. Walking, weights and yoga all helped, and harder exercise helped more.
- Some people are afraid of the sensations of anxiety themselves, and quietly avoid anything that makes their heart pound, including exercise.
- Exercise works as exposure to those sensations. In studies, two weeks of short, brisk sessions made people much less afraid of them.
What the research shows
In 2023, researchers in Australia pulled together 97 reviews covering more than a thousand trials of exercise for mental health. Physical activity reduced depression, anxiety and distress across a wide range of adults, healthy or not. Walking, strength training, yoga and mixed workouts all helped, and more intense exercise helped more.
Exactly why is still being worked out. Better sleep, a sense of getting something done, time away from worry and changes in the brain probably all play a part. One reason matters especially for anxiety.
Afraid of your own heartbeat
Some people are frightened by the feelings of anxiety themselves. A racing heart means a heart attack. Breathlessness means they're about to suffocate. Dizziness means they'll faint. Psychologists call this anxiety sensitivity, and it is one of the strongest predictors of panic attacks.
People high in it often avoid exercise without quite knowing why. Exercise brings on exactly the sensations they dread: a pounding heart, fast breathing, heat and sweat. So do stairs, hills, coffee and saunas. Avoiding them all keeps the fear going, because the body never gets to learn that the sensations pass and nothing bad happens.
Exercise turns that round. In studies by Jasper Smits, Joshua Broman-Fulks and their colleagues, people high in anxiety sensitivity did six 20-minute sessions of brisk treadmill exercise over two weeks. They ended up much less afraid of their body's sensations than people who didn't exercise. They felt the racing heart again and again, safely, and their fear of it shrank.
Why might someone who has panic attacks avoid the gym?
Sources and further reading
- Singh, B., Olds, T., Curtis, R., Dumuid, D., Virgara, R., Watson, A., Szeto, K., O'Connor, E., Ferguson, T., Eglitis, E., Miatke, A., Simpson, C. E., & Maher, C. (2023). Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: An overview of systematic reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57(18), 1203-1209.
- Smits, J. A. J., Berry, A. C., Rosenfield, D., Powers, M. B., Behar, E., & Otto, M. W. (2008). Reducing anxiety sensitivity with exercise. Depression and Anxiety, 25(8), 689-699.
- Broman-Fulks, J. J., Berman, M. E., Rabian, B. A., & Webster, M. J. (2004). Effects of aerobic exercise on anxiety sensitivity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42(2), 125-136.
Finish the lesson
Answer the question above to complete the lesson.