the study
This new study, conducted by researchers in Taiwan, compared data from two large datasets. One is the Taiwan National Student Physical Fitness Test, which measures students’ fitness performance at school, and the other is the National Insurance Survey Database, which records medical claims, prescription diagnoses, and other medical information. information. Although the researchers did not have access to the students’ names, they were able to use the anonymized data to compare students’ physical fitness and mental health outcomes.
The risk of mental health disorders was weighted based on three indicators of physical fitness. Muscular endurance as measured by the number of sit-ups. Muscle strength is measured by standing long jump.
Improved performance in each activity was associated with a lower risk of mental health disorders. For example, a 30-second reduction in 800-meter sprint time was associated with a lower risk of anxiety, depression, and ADHD in girls, and with a lower risk of anxiety and disorders in boys.
They found that doing five more sit-ups per minute was associated with a lower risk of anxiety and disorders in boys, and a lower risk of depression and anxiety in girls.
“These findings suggest that cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness may be protective factors that reduce the development of mental health disorders in children and adolescents,” the researchers wrote in the same journal paper. There is.
Physical health and mental health were already assumed to be linked, but whereas previous research relied primarily on questionnaires and self-reports, the new study uses independent assessments and objective It was based on the criteria, they added.
big picture
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy has placed youth mental health at the center of his mission, calling mental health “the defining public health crisis of our time.” In 2021, he issued an unusual public advisory on this topic. Statistics from the time revealed a worrying trend. From 2001 to 2019, the suicide rate among Americans ages 10 to 19 increased by 40%, and the number of emergency hospital visits related to self-harm increased by 88%.
Some policymakers and researchers have blamed the surge on heavy use of social media, but research is limited and results are sometimes contradictory. Other experts theorize that frequent screen use impacts adolescents’ mental health by interfering with sleep, exercise, and in-person activities considered essential for healthy development. I am. New research appears to support the link between physical fitness and mental health.
“This finding highlights the need for further research on targeted physical fitness programs,” the authors concluded. Such programs “have great potential as primary prevention interventions for mental disorders in children and adolescents,” they added.
