Photo: Hamza ButtIt is known that in the process of serious physical exertion in the human body endorphin is released - one of the hormones of joy and pleasure. Directly during exercise, it helps to overcome pain in muscles, joints and tendons. But after a workout the pain goes away - and endorphin begins to act without interference. So it is not surprising that the sport is addictive, and athletes are tempted to increase and increase the load.
The benefits of physical education are not limited to this. For example, physical activity also
stimulates cognitive function and helps to relax after intellectual fatigue .
But power loads have another positive effect. It turns out that they
reduce the manifestation of depressive syndromes in humans . This is very important, because about 300 million people in the world suffer from depression (blues). It correlates well with the risk of cardiovascular disease and death. That is melancholy, sour, dull people die before the others.
According to the ICD-10 classifier, depressive symptoms are divided into typical (main) and additional. According to ICD-10, two main symptoms and at least three additional symptoms must be present for diagnosis.
The main symptoms of depression include:
- depressed mood for a long time (from two weeks);
- anhedonia - loss of interest or pleasure from a previously enjoyable activity;
- severe fatigue , "breakdown", characterized by the stability of this state.
Additional depressive simpotomy:
- pessimism;
- guilt, worthlessness, anxiety and (or) fear;
- low self-esteem;
- inability to concentrate and make decisions;
- thoughts of death and (or) suicide;
- unstable appetite, marked decrease or gain in weight;
- glycogevzia (sweet taste in the mouth);
- disturbed sleep, insomnia or sleep.
A group of scientists from Ireland, Sweden and the United States published the results of a meta-study, which traced the relationship of depression syndromes and regular exercise with the power load.
The meta-analysis included 33 clinical studies involving 1877 people. These are studies published before August 2017, found in Google Scholar, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed and the Web of Science.
As a result, it turned out that strength training is associated with a significant reduction in depressive symptoms. The authors conclude that the effect of strength training, health, and increased strength in patients are not associated with the effects of antidepressants.
This is a significant conclusion, since it is the first systematic analysis of high-quality research on the effect of strength training on depressive syndromes. Previously it was known that aerobic training (walking, running, cycling, cardio) have a positive effect on people's mental health. But for strength training, this effect has not been studied, although it has been observed that
strength training reduces anxiety .
But this type of training has important advantages over aerobic. The fact is that regular strength training
helps preserve muscle mass as it gets older. If you do not exercise at all with weight or take only aerobic exercise, then the average 30-40-year-old man loses about 25% of muscle strength by 70 years and about 50% by 90 years. Routine aerobic exercise is not enough to maintain muscle strength, and without it a person becomes weak and helpless. Therefore, doctors recommend power loads even after 40 years.
Studies have shown that strength training especially effectively relieves depression syndromes expressed in mild or moderate form. But in other cases, the effect is also there. It manifests itself regardless of the actual increase in strength as a result of training, and also regardless of the amount of training. The main thing is to maintain regularity.
Scientists conducted a comparison of strength training with aerobic. They proved to be equally effective in dealing with the blues.
The scientific article was
published on May 9, 2018 in the journal
JAMA Psychiatry (doi: 10.1001 / jamapsychiatry.2018.0572).