Nelson Knight

Yoga

March 24, 2018

Scientific Connection between Exercise and a Sense of Wellbeing

As a child, I grew up watching my mother run 26.2-mile marathons. Exercise, in different forms,

was an important part of her life, which formally started at the young age of eleven when she enrolled in

gymnastics. It didn’t take her long to realize she loved it because it was fun, she loved to dance, and she

found it easier than most, due to being very flexible. After a couple of months of weekly classes, she

began receiving positive feedback from the coaches, and in time, was placed on a team. Competing

against other gymnasts boosted her confidence, and along with her competitive spirit, she excelled in the

sport. She recalls in 7th grade, being the top gymnast on the team, and was asked, on many occasions to

show her skill. For example, during a school assembly, she was asked to do back handsprings across the

entire basketball court. This was the beginning of feeling positive emotional feelings connected to

exercise. As she grew up, she continued to feel passion for dance, cheerleading, and drill team. In

hindsight, she feels these types of exercise were based on fun, popularity, competition, and provided a

strong social network, one element needed for a sense of wellbeing. After high school, she took a liking

for aerobic classes, spinning classes, and tried any new and trendy type of exercise. She admits that

during this phase of life, her motivation to exercise was for weight control and to keep in shape for greater

physical health, and in hindsight, a way to maintain wellbeing.

It wasn’t until she started having children that she was forced to stop exercising. For some

unknown reason, my mom endured high risk pregnancies and spent a majority of the time on bed rest,

which a difficult task for someone use to being so physically active. To regain strength in between her

four pregnancies, my dad gifted her a treadmill so she could start at low impact and pace herself. She

started with walking, to power walking, and when it felt comfortable she started running. It was during

this time that my mom made a connection between exercise, mental health and wellbeing. While she did

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experienced bouts of mild depression, she admits the cause of depression was not only due to lack of

physical activity, but also hormonal changes due to pregnancy, and the stress of life changes.

following the birth of her third child (Spencer), she experienced what she described as more than

baby blues, but more like postpartum depression, that required treatment. Spencer required additional

hospitalization following his birth, due to aspiration of fluids that weakened his lungs, and then, at two

months old, just when life started to feel settled, Spencer was diagnosed with RSV, which required two

more weeks of hospitalization. My mom spent day and night by his side, sleeping in a recliner at the

hospital. She brought him home on December 14th, with Christmas, ten days to come. On Christmas day,

my mom recalls feeling very depressed, with a lack of wellbeing that she had never felt before. As soon

as her health allowed, she quickly retuned to power walking for one hour daily, at least 5 x weekly. With

treatment and exercise her depression subsided, and a sense of wellbeing returned.

After I was born in 1992, my mom was aware that she faced a greater risk of postpartum

depression a second time. To prevent another bout of depression, she asked for help when needed from

her social network, took care of herself by eating a healthy diet, and returned to a regular regimen of

exercise as soon as possible. She states that a combination of factors played a part, in fighting depression,

but it was exercise that was the frosting on the cake in maintaining a sense of wellbeing. She quickly got

bored with power walking and soon incorporated running with intermittent walking. Once her lung

capacity and leg strength allowed, her daily running ranged between four to six miles in length, at least

five times a week. The more she ran, the more my mom loved running. After experiencing the depths of

depression, exercise was a necessity for my mom in obtaining a higher reward… that reward being

physical health, mental health and a sense of overall wellbeing. She has said on many occasions that

running was her therapy. It was difficult for her to miss a day of her new found love…. long distance

running, which ultimately led to training for long distance running, and after proper training she

completed many 5K’s, 10K’s, half marathons, team events, and four full marathons.

I share my mother’s personal story because in many ways, each phase of her life changed the way

she exercised, as did her belief as to why exercise was vital in her life, and why she devoted significant

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time to exercise. Being a mother of four children, she said it was impossible to exercise regularly unless it

was first thing in the morning, and due to dressing at home and walking out the front door, running was

most convenient and became her exercise of choice. After running outdoors, my mom never ran on a

treadmill again. She found that running outdoors alone surrounded by nature aided in prayer and

meditation, and was a power bar, of sorts, for a day of wellbeing. Research states that “the ineraction

between being in nature and being physically active seems to have synergistic positive effects” (Mental

Health Foundation. 2013). During different phases of running, it was beneficial to run with a partner, and

sometimes a small group of women. Together with friends, running became fun, with lots of laughs, and

the time flew by faster. From time to time, my mom enjoyed running alone, as described above, but more

than not, she found profound wellbeing when running with a partner of trust. When choosing a running

partner, my mom states it’s vital to find someone who is your equal… who shared similar goals, proved

dependable when meeting early before the sun came up, and a personality that meshed as one. earned

trust from the bond enabled personal and confidential conversation. My mom says she will always be

bonded to her running partner. Having this type of social network only increases a sense of wellness and

overall wellbeing.

Using my mom’s experience with exercise and wellbeing as a model, I will back up what she

learned in her life with research from peer-reviewed articles and other relevant material. Before

discussing the exercise/wellbeing connection, it is significant to understand the definition of wellbeing.

Most dictionaries, including Oxford, Cambridge, and Miriam Webster, define wellbeing as “the state of

being happy, healthy and comfortable.” This definition is short, direct and true. Researchers of wellbeing

suggest, there is no consensus around a single definition of wellbeing, but there is general agreement that

at minimum, “wellbeing includes the presence of positive emotions and moods (e.g., contentment,

happiness), the absence of negative emotions (e.g., depression, anxiety), satisfaction with life, fulfillment

and positive functioning. In simple terms, wellbeing can be described as judging life positively and

feeling good” (CDC.GOV).

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 In the past 30 years there has been increasing research into the role of exercise in the treatment of

physical health, diseases prevention, mental health, and in improving overall wellbeing in the general

population. There are now hundreds of studies and over 30 meta-analytic reviews of research

summarizing the potential for exercise as a therapy for clinical or subclinical depression and anxiety.

Furthermore, the use of physical activity shows to be a means of upgrading life quality through enhanced

self-esteem, improved mood states, resilience to stress, or improved sleep. Together, this body of meta-

analysis suggests that moderate regular exercise should be considered as a viable means of treating

depression and anxiety and improving mental wellbeing in general. (Fox, K. 1999).

Given the positive effects of physical activity on physical health and mental health, one has to

question why so many people do not engage in regular exercise. Data from research reveals that people

who do not exercise, state their reason being, “not having enough time” (Wicker. 2015). Researchers

studied the role of time, on physical activity and subjective wellbeing. Along with the amount of time

spent on physical activity, the study factored in the time needed before and after the time of exercise,

including time to drive, time to park, time to check-in, time to change clothes, time to shower, etc. In a

nutshell, the results suggest that time needed to drive and park before exercise decreased one’s

satisfaction for exercise and wellbeing, while time for showering and wellness after exercise increased

one’s satisfaction for exercise and wellbeing. The findings of the study suggest the importance of finding

time efficient exercise programs and/or nearby fitness centers for subjective wellbeing (Wicker, Coates &

Breuer. 2015). On a personal note, these findings correlate directly with my mother’s feelings of why she

enjoyed running as her method to exercise. She woke early, changed into running clothes, and walked out

the front door to begin the activity. She states that if she had to drive somewhere to start running,

especially when she was raising children, she wouldn’t have been successful in maintaining a regular

exercise regimen.

Does intensity and duration of exercise play a factor in mental health and overall wellbeing?

Researchers studied both intensity and duration and what they found was individuals who engaged in

moderate intensity exercise had increased wellbeing, while individuals who engaged in rigorous intensity

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exercise had decreased wellbeing. Similarly, for duration, the more minutes spent on moderate intensity

exercise significantly increased wellbeing, while more minutes spent on vigorous intensity exercise

significantly decreased wellbeing. These findings challenge the World Health Organization’s

recommendation in the sense that activity at moderate and vigorous intensity is not interchangeable if the

aim is to also improve wellbeing, and not only physical health (Wicker, & Frick, B. 2015).

Like my mom, many enjoy the benefits of lifelong exercise, even in older years. I didn’t finish

my mom’s story until the end of the paper for a purpose. It’s ironic that while running in the Wasatch

Back Mountains for Ragnar 2009, my mom was infected with Lyme disease from a tick bite. Three days

later, she became very ill. Symptoms of neck pain, joint, muscle and bone pain, headaches, muscle

dystonia, extreme brain fog, and relenting fatigue were debilitating. She saw over a dozen different

doctors. At the time, she was attending the U of U, finishing her master’s program in Social Work, and

feels that if she didn’t have her pursued goal of graduating, Lyme would have bedridden her much earlier,

and the rigors of schooling was a great distraction from the illness in her body. She eventually needed to

take painkillers from time to time to manage the pain of sitting in a desk for long periods of time, as well

as durations of time on a laptop. Days following graduation, my mom experienced a brief manic episode,

which she identified as the first in her life, which led to a complete physical and mental breakdown. She

didn’t seek treatment because her intuition told her that her illness was caused by a physical ailment, but

due to having psychiatric symptoms, she felt doctors would misdiagnose and treat her for a psychiatric

illness. After allowing time for wellness, she did extensive researching on the computer and discovered

the diagnosis of Lyme. She then sought out a Lyme-literate doctor, for testing, which came back positive!

She began treatment, which makes the illness worse before getting better. She is still struggling to get

well, due to co-infections, stress from caretaking elderly parents and environmental living conditions. My

mom states that Lyme has stolen her life in many ways, especially her love for regular exercise. She has a

bouncer tramp, and she does low intensity yoga, from a guided DVD, and is hopeful for regular moderate

exercise again. Her life long dream was to be a young grandmother, who could jump on trampolines and

take hikes with her grandchildren. The hope and dream of being a lifelong exerciser is still in her future.

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 She believes in the research that shows, no matter how old you are, exercise is positive for health

and wellness, and can help get out those aches and pains, while non-exercise is much riskier and can

speed up the aging process. A health and fitness expert states, “Fitness is timeless! At every age, it makes

a huge difference in how you feel and move, helps you whittle down those numbers like your weight,

cholesterol, or blood pressure that your doctor keeps bringing up, and even brighten your day.” Studies

suggest that older people are afraid of falling and getting hurt, but it’s just the opposite. When you are

physically fit, you are less likely to get injured because improving your balance and strength will help

avoid falls in your everyday life. Those with heart conditions may think they are not strong enough for

activity, but regular exercise, like a brisk walk, can strengthen your heart rather than put it at risk (Mental

Health Foundation, 2013). A similar study from Yale University found that seniors who walked 20

minutes a day had lower risk of mobility disability after two years than those who did not. Good advice

for seniors is to find a friend with commonality in physical activity and they get a double reward…

exercise and human connection, both so crucial in end of life years (Business Daily, 2018).

In conclusion, research shows that there is a positive connection between moderate intensity

exercise and overall wellbeing during the entire lifespan . Studies show one significant element; physical

activity during the lifespan seems to have a positive effect on cognition and a protective effect against

developing dementia (Mental Health Foundation). Without such aging ailments, wellbeing is a positive

effect during senior years. I have learned from the example of my mother, who has learned from both

personal experience, and the above research I shared with her, that this connection between exercise and

overall wellbeing is true. I too, wholeheartedly agree with this given connection.

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 Works Cited

Business Daily. 2018. Why old age is bad excuse for not going on with exercise. Retrieved on March 15,

2018 from https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/lifestyle/fitness/4258372-4238372-

6PV2SA/index.html

CDC.ORG. 2016. Well being concepts. Health-Related Quality of Life, Retrieved on March 1, 2018 from

https://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/wellbeing.htm

Fox, R. (May 1999). “The influence of physical activity on mental wellbeing.” Public Health Nutrition,

Volume w, Issue 3a, pp. 411-418. Retrieved on March 1, 2018 from

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/influence-of-physical-

activity-on-mental-wellbeing/3C363AEECE5C8CAC490A585BA29E6BF8

Mental Health Foundation. 2013. “The impact of physical activity on wellbeing. Let’s Get

Physical. Retrieved on March 1, 2018 from

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/lets-get-physical-report.pdf

Wicker, Coates, & Christopher Breuer. (May 2015). “Physical activity and subjective wellbeing: The role

of time.” European Journal of Public health. Vol. 25, No. 5, 864-868. Retrieved on March 1,

2018 from https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/25/5/864/2399011

Wicker, P. & Frick, B. (July 2015). “The relationship between intensity and duration of physical activity

and subjective wellbeing.” European Journal of Public health. Vol. 25, No. 5, 868-872. Retrieved

on March 1, 2018 from https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/25/5/868/2399173