It has always been said that physical exercise is good for both the body and the mind, and that it is a very effective way to reduce stress. Now, a large study that analyzed data from 395,369 people over a period of 21 years has found that staying active on a regular basis could reduce the risk of developing an anxiety disorder by up to 60% in both men and women, a problem unfortunately very common today.
Participants who did cross-country skiing had a lower risk of anxiety over a 21-year period
The research that affirms it, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, indicates that approximately 10% of the world population suffers from anxiety, being twice more common in the case of women.
The results of the study showed that participants who had participated in the world’s largest long-distance cross-country ski race, called Vasaloppet, had a significantly lower risk of developing anxiety, compared to those who did not practice this sport.
The importance of exercise performance
“We found that the group with a more physically active lifestyle had an almost 60% lower risk of developing anxiety disorders during a follow-up period of up to 21 years,” said Martine Svensson, first author of the study. Although the association was found in both genders, there was a notable difference in the level of exercise performance and anxiety risk between male and female skiers.
A male skier’s physical performance did not appear to interfere with the odds of having anxiety, however female skiers with higher physical performance (measured as finish time to complete the run, which would be equivalent to a higher dose of exercise) They had almost twice the risk of suffering from this disorder, compared to the physically active group but at a lower level of performance. In any case, they observed that the risk of developing anxiety among women who participated in this high-performance sport was even lower compared to the most physically inactive women in the general population.
“We think this cohort of cross-country skiers is a good indicator of an active lifestyle, but there could also be a component of being more outdoors among skiers,” the researchers explain. Although they believe that their findings are very important, they acknowledge that more trials are needed to learn more about the validity and causality of this association between performing intense physical activity, such as cross-country skiing, and anxiety, in addition to checking whether It also happens with other sports.
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