How does physical health affect mental health?

Introduction

Over the last decade, maintaining good mental health has become an increasing global priority. More people are committing time to self-care meditation, and other cognitive practices. We have also seen a rise in people taking care of their physical health through exercise and clean eating.

This is fantastic – people are making time for one of the most important aspects of life, their health! But with the fast-paced nature of modern lifestyles, it is hard to devote separate time each week to purely mental and physical wellbeing. 

What if there were ways we could enhance both physical and mental wellbeing at the same time? Are both forms of health completely distinct from one another, or could a change in one have an effect on the other? If you’re looking for ways to improve your self-care efficiency, this may be the article for you!

Healthy heart, healthy mind

Physical health is a lot easier to define, on account of it being largely visible. Mental health on the other hand lacks much of a concrete definition. What is widely agreed is that emotions and feelings play a large part in making up our mental health. 

Emotions are largely determined by how we feel about our current internal and external environment, meaning bad bodily signs (as part of our internal environment) will have a negative effect on our overall mood. This is why being ill puts us in such a bad mood – even a blocked nose can annoy us by affecting how we do everyday activities. 

Poor fitness levels are likely no different – not being the most physically capable  and finding everyday physical tasks challenging will likely have an effect on your mood and your confidence. Recent studies have backed up this idea, namely that signs of bodily inflammation are associated with increased risk of depression and negative mood.

The role of neurotransmitters

So being physically fit is associated with having better mental health, but does that mean exercise itself is mentally health as well, or is it just the effect of exercise that makes us happy? In other words, we seem to enjoy the result, but do we enjoy the process too?

Studies have found that exercise increases dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger in the brain) that signals reward and motivation, similar to when we earn something for the work we put in (Figure 1). Exercise is therefore seen as rewarding to the brain. 

There is also a lot of evidence suggesting exercise increases serotonin levels in both rats and humans. Serotonin is also a neurotransmitter, associated with directly enhancing mood and even having anti-depressant effects. 

Experiments in rats even suggest that increases in serotonin can decrease anxiety levels. Now, this does not mean exercise alone can cure anxiety disorder or depression, but could it be a useful variable in a clinical setting?

Clinical uses

Studies in depressive patients suggest that, yes, exercise does lead to better mental and physical health in patients with depression. This pairs well with another common finding that depressed patients are very rarely willing to complete difficult tasks for reward. 

So even on an extreme clinical scale, mental ill-health can have very damning consequences on maintaining good physical health. On the other hand, simple activities such as light jogs or walks may be the key to reversing negative spirals and getting on the right track towards recovery (Figure 2).

Conclusion and what we can do

So far we have pretty solid evidence that mental health can impact physical health and vice versa, both negatively and positively. Going back to the introductory question, yes! We can find activities that improve both our physical and mental health. The trick is to find exercises that we find enjoyable and rewarding. On the clinical side, this could mean that physical exercise may be as effective at remitting depressive symptoms as antidepressants, likely with a lot fewer side effects. With that said, stay active and have fun, it helps more than you think!

Written by Ramim Rahman

Related articles: Environmental factors in exercise / Stress and neurodegeneration / Personal training / Mental health awareness

REFERENCES

Nord, C. (2024) The balanced brain. Cambridge: Penguin Random House. 

Osimo, E.F. et al. (2020) ‘Inflammatory markers in depression: A meta-analysis of mean differences and variability in 5,166 patients and 5,083 controls’, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 87, pp. 901–909. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2020.02.010.

Basso, J.C. and Suzuki, W.A. (2017) ‘The effects of acute exercise on mood, cognition, neurophysiology, and neurochemical pathways: A Review’, Brain Plasticity, 2(2), pp. 127–152. doi:10.3233/bpl-160040. 

[figure 1]

DiCarlo, G.E. and Wallace, M.T. (2022) ‘Modeling dopamine dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder: From invertebrates to vertebrates’, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 133, p. 104494. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.12.017.

[figure 2]

Donvito, T. (2020) Cognitive behavioral therapy for arthritis: Does it work? what’s it like?, CreakyJoints. Available at: https://creakyjoints.org/living-with-arthritis/mental-health/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-arthritis/ (Accessed: 06 December 2024)