Conscious Choice: Exercise: Beyond Toning & Weight Loss

May 2004 | Choice Health

Exercise: Beyond Toning & Weight Loss

by Bob Condor

Psychology researcher James Prochaska is credited with pretty much single-handedly convincing thousands of Rhode Islanders to stop smoking. That’s why the federal government gave him a $10 million, multi-year grant to figure out how to get Americans to exercise more.

Prochaska has dedicated his career to studying how to motivate people to make positive health changes in their lives. He says he is making progress on his new assignment. His approach is simple. He asks his volunteer subjects to come up with 52 reasons why they want to exercise more. “Then each week, post a new reason on your refrigerator, in your car, on the bathroom mirror, wherever you will see it,” he explains. “You keep reminding yourself why you are making the effort to exercise. There is fresh inspiration every week.”

The ingenious feature of Prochaska’s plan is getting people to understand there is more to exercise (which has almost become a dirty word) than toning your body or losing a few pounds. Being active is as good for the mind and spirit as it is for the body.

Some exercisers would say more so. A runner’s axiom is “the first half-hour is for my body, the second half-hour is for my head.” A theology professor and friend says swimming laps is his “best prayer time on workdays” because there is no room in the pool for phone calls, e-mails or meetings.

Scientists are confirming the deeper value of exercise. A growing number of studies shows regular bouts of exercise can “treat” depression as effectively as antidepressant medications — without the side effects. One Duke University study found a regular exercise program (three 30-minute sessions a week) was interchangeable with a Zoloft prescription for quelling mild, moderate and severe clinical depression.

There were two telling differences in the Duke research. The drugs acted a couple of weeks faster than exercise in providing a full therapeutic effect. But six months after the study’s conclusion, only eight percent of exercisers had relapsed while 30 percent of the medication group were again suffering depressive symptoms.

Other highlights from the exercise-depression research:

Physical activity stimulates brain regions that control and regulate emotions. Exercise can keep us on an even keel. Interestingly, researchers say aerobic gain (heart and lung endurance) directly correlates with less depression.

Because exercise affects neurohormone levels, it can lead to a more measured stress response. Some studies suggest regular exercise helps us in times of crisis.

Single bouts of exercise can reduce anxiety for several hours afterward. The recommended pace for optimal stress-busting is at about 60 percent of maximum heart rate during exercise (which is figured by subtracting your age from 220).

Not surprisingly, regular physical activity enhances self-esteem, especially if the activity requires any skill mastery (such as navigating a hiking trail rather than simply walking around a local track). With the self-confidence comes less negative thinking.

Researchers have found many patients with depression are looking to avoid drug treatments, which provides extra motivation for staying with an exercise program. Plus, in about a third of all cases, medications don’t work. The hope is exercise might help some of those individuals.

One caveat to all this mind and spirit building: exercise or physical activity works best when it’s performed regularly. Pick an activity that you see yourself doing six months from now (which rules out some of those wacky infomercial contraptions). Thirty minutes three times per week is an accepted minimum, while working up to four or five times per week is most uplifting for the body — and mind and spirit.

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