Mental Health and Exercise pt. 1 PDF

Mental Health and Exercise pt. 1 Dr. Ross Murray KINESIOL 3H03 Nov 4, 2024 Week #10 mcmaster.ca Announcements and Updates Tutorial #4 is next week Assignment 3 due Nov 8th Final 2 lectures Tues Nov 12th and Tues Nov...

Mental Health and Exercise pt. 1 Dr. Ross Murray KINESIOL 3H03 Nov 4, 2024 Week #10 mcmaster.ca Announcements and Updates Tutorial #4 is next week Assignment 3 due Nov 8th Final 2 lectures Tues Nov 12th and Tues Nov 19th Test 2 = Nov 26th @ 10:30am in person Outline and Learning Objectives Explore evidence for the preventative effects of exercise on mental health symptoms Understand the impact of sedentary behaviour on anxiety and depression Analyze research regarding the impact of acute exercise on symptoms of anxiety and depression Compare and contrast the proposed mechanisms by which exercise improves anxiety  Mental Health Recap Mental Health vs. Mental Illness vs. Mental Health Problems 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness or addiction problem every year By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have—or have had—a mental illness Mood and anxiety disorders = most common types of mental disorders in Canada Depression = mood disorder Anxiety disorders = stress disorder Depression 1.6x higher in women vs. men in Canada 5.8% vs. 3.6% Why?  State vs. Trait Anxiety Definition #1: A more general predisposition to respond with apprehension, worry, and nervousness across many situations Increased restlessness, difficulty making decisions, feeling of inadequacy TRAIT Definition #2: A transient emotional state characterized by feelings of apprehension, doom, threat Heightened autonomic nervous system activity STATE  Can physical activity prevent anxiety & depression? General Summary Greater self-reported physical activity is associated with: Better mental health Lower symptoms of anxiety and depression Higher physical fitness correlated with lower anxiety & depression symptoms *Dose-response relationship for depression Overall Regular PA/exercise: Buffers against anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders Prevents against depression disorders and decreases risk of occurrence Why do we think this is happening? Any hypotheses about why exercise is beneficial to mental health? What additional information would you like to know? Are these findings universal? Could we apply to the global population?  What about sedentary behavior? Students asked to be sedentary for 7 days Sedentary = no structured PA & < 5000 steps per day Returned to normal activities after 7-days Control group = maintained normal activities * The Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS) used to measure anxiety symptoms Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) used to measure depression symptoms * Significant reduction in daily step count, P < 0.05 Edwards and Loprinzi (2016) Mayo Clin Proc Edwards and Loprinzi (2016) J Affective Disorders  What about sedentary behavior? Measures of Depression over Time * Measures of Anxiety over Time * * Significant increase in depression scores, P < 0.05 * Significant increase in anxiety scores, P < 0.05 Edwards and Loprinzi (2016) Mayo Clin Proc Edwards and Loprinzi (2016) J Affective Disorders  What are your thoughts? Does the lack of physical activity increase negative symptoms? Is there something about sedentary behaviour specifically? Acute Exercise: Anxiety and Depression  Conclusion for Physicians (1967) People with anxiety disorders should NOT do intense exercise. High lactate provokes panic attacks… when lactate is infused Exercise + Anxiety Research since 1967… Before and After VO2max test  International Affective Picture System Example Regularly active young adults Exercise = 30 min cycling exercise RPE = 13 ‘somewhat hard’ Control = 30 min of quiet rest Reported state anxiety before & 15-min after interventions Viewed 90 arousing pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral pictures from the International Affective Picture System for 30 min Repeated exposure to IAPS shifts mood and increases state anxiety Results State anxiety scores decreased after exercise Decreased after resting period too… why?? Anxiety scores increased after viewing pictures in rest condition No change in anxiety after pics in exercise condition Conclusions? Acute exercise temporarily reduces state anxiety… Are these benefits greater for those with higher levels of anxiety? Are the acute benefits augmented with exercise training? Methods McMaster University Students (19 F; 3 M) Sedentary: ≤1 hr of MVPA per week 9-week exercise training vs. sedentary control group 30-min moderate intensity cycling performed 3x week State anxiety measured at before and 10-min after exercise at the end of each week Analysis split into high and low anxiety individuals How to interpret graph: ∆ STAI = Change in state-anxiety after acute exercise Negative number = improved anxiety score Positive number = worsened anxiety score Results Acute exercise lowered anxiety only in the high anxiety group Magnitude of decrease was larger with longer training No change in anxiety after acute exercise in the low anxiety group VO2max increased with training, but not correlated with anxiety ∆ STAI = Change in state-anxiety after exercise  What would you like to know about the participants? Check out the high anxiety control group over 9 weeks ∆ STAI = Change in state-anxiety after exercise  Possible Mechanisms Acute Exercise and Anxiety 1. The “Time-Out” Hypothesis o Break from everyday worries and work 2. Temperature Hypothesis o Exercise increases body temperature (sensed by hypothalamus) & leads to a reduction in tension o Saunas, hot tub, warm weather… 3. Neurochemical Hypothesis o Exercise increases opioids, endocannabinoids, serotonin, dopamine, BDNF o All have feel-good, mood-boosting effects 4. Alterations in brain activity during / after exercise o Stronger positive and lower negative emotional responses  Altered Brain Activity Role of the Amygdala? Amygdala is responsible for detecting features of the environment… including threats Amygdala reactivity in response to threatening stimuli (anger and fear) associated with anxiety Hyper-reactive amygdala in anxiety disorders (volume knob turned UP!) Greater state-anxiety related to higher amygdala reactivity to fearful images measured by fMRI Chen et al. (2019) Scientific Reports ∆ STAI-S = state anxiety  Altered Brain Activity Role of the Amygdala? Acute running exercise increased amygdala Greater habitual PA related to lower amygdala reactivity to happy images vs. fearful images… reactivity in response to fearful stimuli Acute walking does the opposite! (no clue why…) IPAQ = Habitual Physical Activity Chen et al. (2019) Scientific Reports Any Questions?