Exercise Helps Us Cope With Stress

Yes, we’ve all read about how exercise can reduce anxiety and help lift us out of depression. Now comes evidence that it can help us cope with stressful events that take place long after we work out. A University of Maryland news release reports that researchers at the school split a group of 37 healthy students in two, and asked half of the students to rest for 30 minutes, and the other half to ride a stationary bike at moderate intensity for 30 minutes. The researchers measured the anxiety levels of the students before rest or exercise, after rest or exercise, and long after rest or exercise, when they were asked to look at several anxiety-causing pictures. Unsurprisingly, the anxiety levels of the students dropped significantly after both rest or exercise. But when the researchers looked at the anxiety levels of students who had recently seen unpleasant and anxious-making photographs (30 minutes after rest or exercise), they found that the anxiety of the rested students jumped back up to its initial levels, while the anxiety of the exercisers remained low. Read more from the University of Maryland.