Anxiety can be effectively treated with exercise

Stockholm: According to a study led by researchers at the University of Gothenburg, both moderate and strenuous exercise relieve anxiety symptoms, even when the disorder is chronic.

The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, involved 286 patients with anxiety syndrome who were recruited from primary care services in Gothenburg and the northern part of Halland County. Half of the patients had been suffering from anxiety for at least ten years. Their average age was 39 years, and 70% were female. Participants were randomly assigned to either moderate or strenuous group exercise sessions for 12 weeks.

The findings show that their anxiety symptoms were significantly reduced, even when the anxiety was a chronic condition, when compared to a control group that received physical activity advice based on public health recommendations.

After the 12-week programme, the majority of people in the treatment groups went from a moderate to high level of anxiety to a low level of anxiety. The likelihood of improvement in terms of anxiety symptoms increased by a factor of 3.62 for those who exercised at a low intensity. For those who exercised at a higher intensity, the corresponding factor was 4.88.

Participants were unaware of the physical training or counselling that people outside of their own group were receiving. “There was a significant intensity trend for improvement,” says Malin Henriksson, a doctoral student at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, a specialist in general medicine in the Halland Region, and the study’s first author.

Previous research on physical exercise in depression has shown significant symptom improvement. However, a clear picture of how exercise affects people with anxiety has been lacking until now. The current study is said to be one of the largest to date. Under the supervision of a physical therapist, both treatment groups had 60-minute training sessions three times a week.

Cardio (aerobic) and strength training were both included in the sessions. A warmup was followed by 45 minutes of circle training around 12 stations, followed by a cool down and stretching.

Long wait times for CBT can also have a negative impact on the prognosis. Maria Aberg, associate professor at the University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Academy, general medicine specialist in Region Vastra Gotaland’s primary healthcare organisation, and corresponding author, led the current study.

“Primary care physicians require treatments that are individualised, have few side effects, and are simple to prescribe. The 12-week physical training model, regardless of intensity, represents an effective treatment that should be made more widely available in primary health care for people suffering from anxiety “According to Aberg.