Mental and Physical Health

Closely Related?

By: Tim Stephens (Scripps Howard News Service)

The good health of the mind can be linked to the good health of the body. Lose the latter, and you could he more likely to lose the former, so to speak.

It's a statement that seems logical, yet millions of people abuse their bodies with poor diet and exercise habits that lead to poor self-esteem, anxiety and depression.

"It's an old idea. The concept of body-mind relationship isn't new at all," said Jim Hilyer, an adjunct pro lessor at the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine as well as the director of fitness for the city of Birmingham.

"The concept has lust come into its own during the past few decades, when there has been so much emphasis on fitness."

What Hilyer and leading researchers found through extensive research is that vigorous exercise can be beneficial to good mental heath. Daily exercise can reduce stress, improve self-esteem and relieve depression.

The body can control the mind.

"A long-term structured program of physical activity has been shown to have a positive effect on a person's mental state," said Hilyer, whose expertise in the field has led to work on some of the nation's leading studies on the subject.

"It's not at a cure-all" Hilyer said. "But it is helpful in most cases and we can expect fairly predictable results."

Those results include an immediate reduction of mental stress associated with daily life in a fast-paced, high-pressure society.

Problems at work? A good workout won’t solve the problems, but it will make the problem easier to deal with, Hilyer said.

Feeling down and out? Go jog a few miles and catch a "runners high."

A lack of exercise has been shown to contribute to high stress levels and mild depression, Hilyer said.

The effects of exercise on the mental state are immediate and long term.

"Vigorous exercise has immediate effects in reducing anxiety," Hilyer said. "Most of the long-term effects center around the improvement of self-concept or how we perceive ourselves. And to get the long-term effects, it's got to become a part of the person's lifestyle to bring about these desired effects."