Exercise and Stress

Indeed.

Well, friends, I have done you a favor. My social work research class (which is indeed about experimenting on people but not really how it sounds) required us to conduct a "single-study research design" with a literature review on our project. This means that I picked a person, asked what he wanted to change in his life, came up with something to hopefully affect the specific change, and then measured whether or not that something was effective. And I had to spend a bunch of time looking up the journal articles of other more scholarly folk who have done similar experiments. The study question ending up being whether or not exercise improves a person's perceived stress level.

Here in are the articles I read. I put them in exceptionally tiny print so that you can scroll through them faster.

References

Blomstrand, A., Bjorkelund, C., Ariai, N., Lissner, L., & Bengtsson, C. (2009). Effects of leisure-time physical activity on well-being among women: A 32-year perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 37, 706-712.

Brown, J. (1991). Staying fit and staying well: Physical fitness as a moderator of life stress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 555-561.

Brown, J., & Siegel, J. (1988). Exercise as a buffer of life stress: A prospective study of adolescent health. Health Psychology, 7(4), 341-353.

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385-385.

Gerber, M., & Puhse, U. (2009). Do exercise and fitness protect against stress-induced health complaints? A review of the literature. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 37, 801-819.

Kwag, K., Martin, P., Russell, D., Franke, W., & Kohut, M. (2011). The impact of perceived stress, social support, and home-based physical activity on mental health among older adults. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 72(2), 137-154.

Melinda, C., Denis, C., & Clare, M. (2010). Direct and buffering effects of physical activity on stress-related depression in mothers of infants. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 32, 23-38.

Roberti, J., Harrington, L., & Storch, E. (2006). Further psychometric support for the 10-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale. Journal of College Counseling, 9, 135-147.

Perales, F., Jesus, P., & Borja, P. (2014). Impact of physical activity on psychological distress: A prospective analysis of an Australian national sample. American Journal of Public Health, 104(12), 91-97.

Vasterling, J., Sementilli, M., & Burish, T. (1988). The role of aerobic exercise in reducing stress in diabetic patients. The Diabetes Educator, 197-201.

The conclusion of all of them is: exercise helps reduce your stress level. Turns out even a little bit every day or a moderate bit every few days helps. Drat. That's what the magazines in the check-out stand have been telling us for years! The trick is that when you are stressed, the thought of exercise makes you feel more stressed. I personally loathe exertion. Good news! If you exercise too much (i.e. "vigorously" at high intensity for prolonged periods of time) you actually lose some of the stress improving benefits. If you get too attached to exercising it becomes a project or an addiction and causes more stress. So, the take away is that something is better than nothing--even if it doesn't feel like it in the moment. 

And tying back in to our opening hook: Calvin wins again!