Ever notice how some people seem weirdly unbothered by the horrible news swirling around us, while others freak out at the slightest inconvenience? As it turns out, our fitness habits might have a lot to do with those reactions.
Research published in the journal Acta Psychologica found evidence that those who are physically active tend to be far more resilient in stressful situations, while also displaying lower levels of anxiety overall.
It’s not just a small gap. The team of mostly Brazilian researchers found that people with below-average cardiorespiratory fitness habits face a mind-blowing 775 percent higher risk of hitting peak anxiety levels when confronted with disturbing images.
But those who regularly participated in cardiorespiratory fitness, they found, showed both better emotional control and faster recovery times from stressful events.
To conduct the test, researchers at the Federal University of Goiás and the University of Zurich showed 40 healthy young adults a series of disturbing photos. These included violent scenes that you might see on social media.
The study revealed that those with lower fitness levels tended to also have more turbulent dispositions. When they did get upset, their anger came on faster and stuck with them longer than those who exercised often. As a result, they fall into a self-reinforcing feedback loop: high anxiety made participants less likely to exercise, while not exercising made anxiety worse.
Going forward, researchers will need to replicate the study with a much larger sample size to test the results. Still, the first-of-its-kind study makes one thing clear: next time you’re stressed, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go for a jog, or something else that gets your heart rate up.
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