A variety of daily movements are related to better well-being, according to a small new study of psychiatric patients, a finding that may help explain why pandemic blockages have been hard on so many of us.
Staying active during a global pandemic has been quite difficult, especially when many people are afraid to go out even outside. Some have been exercising at home, but in a normal world, spontaneous outings are important health factors that we often underestimate.
When most of us think of mental reinforcement activities, we imagine intentional and intense exercises, such as jogging, cycling, or swimming, but it seems that just visiting multiple locations is associated with greater well-being of people. with depression or anxiety.
A study recently published by researchers at the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel (Switzerland) has found that the more varied places people visit, the better they feel for their emotional and psychological well-being, even if their mental health symptoms continue.
The study was conducted before the success of the pandemic and examined 106 patients with mental health problems, including affective disorders, anxiety, mood disorders, personality disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Some were hospitalized in hospitals and others were outpatients, living at home but seeking regular care in medical institutions.
For a week, these patients carried an additional phone to track their movements with GPS. They also completed several surveys on their subjective well-being, psychological flexibility, and mental health symptoms.
When comparing GPS maps with the results of these surveys, the authors found that greater movement in space and time seemed to coincide with a greater sense of well-being, although symptoms of mental health problems remained the same.
Outpatients spent almost a third of their day at home, but it is understandable that they exhibited considerably greater movement than hospitalized patients, who spent most of their time in the hospital.
As expected, those patients with phobias or anxieties to leave safe spaces were strongly related to much lower mobility and a much smaller area of activity. However, no other symptoms of mental health problems appeared to have the same effect on the patient’s daily movements.
In contrast, higher levels of emotional well-being and, to a lesser extent, psychological flexibility were constantly associated with more movement and a greater variety of movements.
“Our results suggest that activity alone is not enough to reduce the symptoms of mental disorders, but it can at least improve subjective well-being,” explains Andrew Gloster, a clinical and health psychologist at the University of Basel.
The findings add to a limited group of research on the effects of daily activities among those with mental health problems. In fact, this is one of the first studies to use GPS tracking as a measure of spontaneous movement.
Viously, obviously, in the real world, this data could be seen as a violation of patient privacy, but in a study environment, it allows researchers to examine the effects of simple activities that are often overlooked.
Physical activity has been shown to substantially improve well-being and mental health, but most research on this topic has so far focused on deliberate exercise. Today, it is unclear how spontaneous movement affects daily life in patients seeking mental health treatment.
Last year, a small study of 67 participants found that daily activities, such as walking to the tram stop or climbing a ladder, made people feel more alert and energetic.
More MRI images of participants ’brains showed that those who felt more energetic after movement had a larger volume of gray brain matter in the subgenual cingulate cortex, a part of the brain associated with emotional regulation.
Finding out how to apply this knowledge to prevent and treat mental health problems is another matter, but simple movements can be a harmless place to start.
“We are currently experiencing strong restrictions on public life and social contacts, which can negatively affect our well-being,” neuroscientist Heike Tost said in November 2020.
“To feel better, it can help you climb stairs more often.”
Just going out can also play an important role. Physical activity in nature since childhood has been linked to better mental health outcomes as adults, and doctors in some parts of the world have begun to “prescribe” time in nature as a boost to mental health. and physics.
The new GPS study is small and limited, but findings suggest the movement may be a predictor of how patients with mental health problems are faced.
“The results point to the fact that movement patterns (e.g., distance, number of destinations, variability of destinations, etc.) can serve as a marker of functioning and well-being,” the authors of the new study conclude.
Much more research is needed to confirm and expand these findings, but the authors suggest that the use of GPS could be a non-intrusive way to better examine simple daily activity and its effect on mental health and well-being.
The study was published in BMC Psychiatry.