Increased physical activity improved mood

Increasing physical activity has been shown to improve mood in many past studies.

A recent study once again shows movement is an good way to improve mood.

The study was published online in JAMA Psychiatry.

The researchers found increases in physical activity for adults was followed by increases in mood and perceived higher energy levels.

This positive effect was even greater for those who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.*

This is important.

Bipolar disorder is common, effecting about 3% of US adults. Depression is even more common at about 8% of US adults in any given year.

*You don’t have to have bipolar disorder to benefit from increasing activity.

Activity, Mood, Energy, and Sleep

Researchers found that more physical activity was followed by improvement in mood and then better energy levels. The higher energy levels were then associated with more physical activity.

…While lower energy levels were associated with more sleep and less activity.

In a profoundly important statement by one of the authors…

“Systems regulating sleep, motor activity and mood have typically been studied independently.”

“This work demonstrates the importance of examining these systems jointly rather than in isolation,” says Vadim Zipunnikov, PhD, who led the data analyses.

This is a recurring theme since we have gotten in the modern habit of looking at one isolated body part, an isolated dysfunction or an isolated disease.

Our bodies are not just a collection of individual parts.

Our body is a system with all the parts designed to work together.

Health problems are complex and inter-related.

One dysfunction causes many others because of this.

Chiropractors improve health often by improving movement and this can have profound other effects.

If you move better, you will often move more which as this study suggests… improves move, sleep quality, and energy levels.

This is a complex process in our bodies.

Movement drives a huge part of our nervous system’s activity and function, including our brain.

This is why so many studies have demonstrated that moving more will improve how you feel… your mood, emotions, energy levels, pain levels, and more.

We suggest not just moving more for health.

The starting point is to move better… which is what we help you do in our Texarkana office.

Once moving better, it’s easier to move more because you will:

• have less pain and stiffness,
• sleep better (which helps you feel better and have more energy),
• leading to better being able to increase physical activity, …
• and feel better leading to a positive viscious cycle of health instead of a negative one.

The final important point is that it’s important to have a health practitioner that understands movement and how it relates to your health help you choose the right activity so that you can do what is appropriate for you right now.

Too often, people try to do it on their own and end up causing more problems and many times injure themselves.

We help people get started with what is right for them right now.

If you need to see Dr. Hagebusch in our Texarkana Clinic, contact us.

We’re here to help Texarkana area residents live a healthier, pain free life.

Reference:

Real-time Mobile Monitoring of the Dynamic Associations Among Motor Activity, Energy, Mood, and Sleep in Adults With Bipolar Disorder.

JAMA Psychiatry, 2018. Kathleen Ries Merikangas, Joel Swendsen, Ian B. Hickie, Lihong Cui, Haochang Shou, Alison K. Merikangas, Jihui Zhang, Femke Lamers, Ciprian Crainiceanu, Nora D. Volkow, Vadim Zipunnikov.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.3546