Regular exercise may lower risk of developing anxiety by almost 60 per cent

A quick online search for ways to improve our mental health will often come up with a myriad of different results. However, one of the most common suggestions put forward as a step to achieving wellness- and preventing future issues – is doing some physical exercise, whether it be a walk or playing a team sport.

Anxiety disorders- which typically develop early in a person’s life – are estimated to affect approximately 10 per cent of the world’s population and have been found to be twice as common in women compared to men. And while exercise is put forward as a promising strategy for the treatment of anxiety, little is known about the impact of exercise dose, intensity, or physical fitness level on the risk of developing anxiety disorders.

To help answer this question, researchers in Sweden have shown that those who took part in the world’s largest long-distance cross-country ski race between 1989 and 2010 had a “significantly lower risk” of developing anxiety compared to non-skiers during the same period. We found that the group with a more physically active lifestyle had an almost 60 per cent lower risk of developing anxiety disorders over a follow-up period of up to 21 years.