Mood and being active - the research

This week, I’m posting about how being active can have a positive effect on how you feel, physically and mentally.
 
And today’s blog is about the psychological effects of being active.
 
I love a bit of research to confirm things we might already know! Here are some recent and very honest reports of studies into activity and mood.

• 10 minutes of activity often appears sufficient to achieve gains in mood (although one study found that 30 minutes was required to achieve feelings of increased vigour).
• The optimum for improving mood is moderate intensity, perhaps because low intensity is too dull while high intensity is too unpleasant.
• The beneficial mood effects of aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, cycling) are less consistent than is found with anaerobic exercise, and anaerobic exercise (lifting weights, sprinting) appears especially to be more beneficial for beating stress and anxiety.

 
The Journal of Psychology, Interdisciplinary and Applied researchers collated evidence from 38 relevant studies that examined the associations between exercise intensity, duration and modality and any effects on mood. They found lots of contradictory results so the information this is a run-down of the main bits.
 
As with anything to do with health and feeling better, you need to do what works best for you!