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Psychological effect of physical activity
Dr. Karel Nespor (Swaroop Murti), www.drnespor.eu
Introduction
In May 2006 I attended the workshop by Paramahansa Niranjanananda in Slovenia. He spoke there about beneficial
effects of the Satyananda Yoga pawanmuktasana series of rather dynamic practices on the brain. My curiosity was
aroused to a large extend. After coming home I turned on my computer, even before unpacking my luggage. Eventually
this paper was written as a consequence.
Physical activity and bodily diseases
Physical activity is often mentioned as prevention and treatment of various diseases (Karmisholt and Gotzsche, 2005),
e.g. coronary heart disease, osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive lung disease, type 2 diabetes, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis
in children (Linden, 2006) and adults including postmenopausal women. Positive effects of physical activity on mental
health are usually less emphasized.
Physical activity in depression and anxiety
Untreated depression is associated with the impairment of cognitive functions such as memory. Artal (1998) reviewed
older literature about exercise and expression and considers physical activity effective. Appropriate physical activity
decreased anxiety and depression in patients with cancer treated by chemotherapy (Midtgaard et al., 2005). Lower
depression and increased well-being, after aerobic exercise, was found in normal population as well as in older people
(Antuneset al., 2005). Moderate exercise is as effective as walking in older people (Motl, 2005). On the other hand adult
people with mild or moderate depression responded better to exercise of higher intensity (15,5 kcal/kg/week) than low
intensity exercise (7 kcal/kg/week) (Dunn, 2005).
Physical activity and aging or damaged brain
Rats, prenataly exposed to ethanol, exhibited decreased cell proliferation and development of new nervous cells in the
hippocampus which is the part of the brain important for memory. Those animals engaged in exercise showed a
significant increase in cell proliferation and the development of nervous cells in the hippocampus (Redila et al., 2006).
Even more importantly physical activity increases proliferation and development of cells in the hippocampus in elderly
people. According to a large study by Weuve et al. (2004) elderly women who walked al least 28 km/week (i.e. 4 km
daily) had better memory and other cognitive functions. According to the statement of American Psychiatric
Association (Winerman, 2005) “physical activity may help protect against the brain-cell loss that occurs with
Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, a stroke or even normal aging.“
Physical activity and quality of life and life satisfaction
Physical activity increases the quality of life in healthy people, e.g. at the workplace (Brand et al., 2006) and also the
quality of life in people treated for cancer (McNeely et al., 2006). According to a controlled study by Sakuragi and
Sugiyama (2006) daily walking improved mood, shifted autonomic balance to parasympathetic predominance, and
reduced subjective symptoms in college students. The improvement of the quality of life may be mediated not only by
psychological effect of physical activity but also by improved health and other factors (Zullig et al., 2005).
Some practical aspect of the use of physical activity and yoga in prevention and treatment
Physical activity should be adequate, i.e. sufficiently intensive but not excessive. Excessive physical activity worsens
the attitude to exercise in the people who need physical activity most. For example obese patients tolerate only lower
levels of physical activity compared to their normal peers (Ekkekakis and Lind, 2006). This applies also to the elderly;
walking more than 4 hours/week reduces the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular disease and risk of death
(LaCroix et al., 1996).
 Adequate physical activity is utterly different from professional competitive sports. Professional sports are
associated with severe health risks for sportsmen and sportswomen. Moreover professional sport is often related
to doping, gambling and misleading advertising of alcohol and other harmful products.
 Anderson et al. (2005) compared counseling related to physical activity and simple advice to be more physically
active at primary care. At 24 months women who received physical activity counseling or had significant reductions
in daily stress and improvement in satisfaction with body function compared to those receiving advice only. Men
had reductions in daily stress even with simple advice. If these results are confirmed, women may require more
comprehensive approach in this respect.
 Antidepressants and psychotherapy are used in severe depression. Physical activity is useful even here but it is
difficult to motivate these patients to engage in it. A therapist should be careful not to make depressive patients feel
even guiltier because of their lack of physical activity. On the other hand antidepressants are less useful in mild
transitory depression because the effects of antidepressants take place after weeks whereas physical activity works
on depression and anxiety immediately. It seems that the minimal intensity of exercise to alleviate depression in
middle aged people is 15 to 30 minutes 3 times/week.
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 The kind of physical activity should depend on preferences and capabilities of patients. Usually walking, gentle
exercises, aerobic, yoga (Berger a Owen, 1992) are applicable. Swimming is also considered beneficial but it may
not be accessible sometimes. As an object of interest, it can be mentioned that walking in elderly people was even
more beneficial if they walked a dog (Motooka et al., 2006). One may ask what the effects would be if they walk
e.g. with a spouse instead.
 Yoga integrates physical activity and relaxation, self-awareness, spirituality and life style measures. It is helpful in
anxiety, depression, as the prevention of work related stress and for improving the quality of life (Gupta et al.,
2006, Lavey et al. 2005, Waelde et al., 2004, Bower et al., 2005, Lee et al., 2004).
 Deforche et al. (2006) mention barriers which apply to physical activity in treatment and prevention. e.g. obese
adolescents may be ashamed to exercise in front of his/her normal peers. These barriers should be recognized and
dealt with properly.
The comments of Helen Greatorex to this paper are gratefully appreciated.
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Address
Swaroop Murti (Dr. Karel Nespor)
Psychiatricka lecebna, Ustavni 91,
181 02 Praha 8, Czech Republic
www.drnespor.eu