Relaxation for college students is something that is hard to come by. Between tests, extracurriculars, and class, stress can be at an all time high. However, according to research, burning off those extra calories can be the best thing to do to reduce stress. Exercise is great for your cognitive and mental health, and it can help to reduce anxiety.
Some students may prefer to de-stress in front of the TV instead of the gym, but a long jog can help protect against stress further down the road, a recent university study suggests.
In addition to reducing anxiety in the moment, moderate exercise
may protect against longer-term emotional stress, according to a public
health school report released last week. Through the study, published in
the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise journal, author J.
Carson Smith aimed to find out whether the effects of exercise would
last after an individual is exposed to a stressful situation.“There have been a lot of reports about how exercise makes your mood improve afterward, but so do a lot of other things, like relaxing in a chair,” said Smith, a kinesiology professor who specializes in how exercise affects mental and cognitive health. “What I was interested in is, what is it about exercise that helps to not only reduce your anxiety but may actually be more protective over time as you experience stress?”
In the study, Smith and a team of researchers asked 37 healthy and physically active young adults to carry out a 30-minute exercise and then exposed them to 90 images meant to arouse positive, negative and neutral emotions. On the first day, participants spent the time in seated rest before looking at the images for half an hour, and on the second, they cycled at moderate intensity. The researchers measured initial anxiety levels and took measurements 15 minutes after each exercise, and again after participants spent 30 minutes looking at the images, according to the study.
Researchers found that even presenting people with stressful, emotional images did not raise peoples’ anxiety levels significantly after they exercised. However, the images boosted participants’ stress of their initial levels when they had simply rested.
“Exercise protects you in the short term against the potentially anxiety-inducing effects that result from exposure to subsequent emotional events,” Smith said. “[The study] highlights that even though you can obtain an anxiety reduction by just sitting and doing nothing, exercise actually protects you from emotional stress you experience later. You don’t get that same protection by just sitting and relaxing.”
Several students, such as senior kinesiology major Matt Nolder, said they were not surprised regular workouts could help them foster a healthier state of mind.
“During finals week is really big,” said Nolder. “It’ll be my study break for about an hour so I can relax and get my mind off of everything I was doing so I can come back refreshed.”
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