Week of physical inactivity yields similar mental impact as week of broken sleep

A week of physical inactivity has the same negative mental impact as a week of broken sleep, a study by sports equipment company Asics revealed.

These results come from the company’s Mind Race study, in which participants who exercise regularly paused their workouts for a week and reported a 23% increase in racing thoughts after 7 days of physical inactivity.

“We know that exercise is good for our mental health, but the impact of rest and restarting exercise is less clear,” Brendon Stubbs, MSc, PhD, a clinical academic physiotherapist at Kings College London, said in a company release. “Now, thanks to new technology and the contribution of thousands of people, we’ve been able to pinpoint just how much exercise is needed to trigger a positive mental impact.”

In the company’s companion Uplifting Minds Study, which involved thousands of participants around the world, researchers found that just over 15 minutes of physical activity each day can improve one’s mental state, even after periods of inactivity.

Stubbs, who monitored the Asics studies, reported that when active people stopped exercising they saw decreases in confidence levels by 20%, positivity by 16%, energy levels by 23% and the ability to cope with stress by 22%. Participants experienced immediate improvements in their state of mind after resuming exercise, researchers found using technology that mimics electroencephalograms.

“This Asics study helps to quantify the amount of exercise to improve mental health and make it more tangible. Taking time to rest is very important,” Stubbs said in the release. “This study shows that people’s well-being bounces back very quickly after a period of rest when people resume regular exercise again.”

References:

Press Release.

Asics. Mind Race. https://www.asics.com/gb/en-gb/mk/sound-mind-sound-body-impact-mind-race. Accessed March 31, 2022.