Apples for Health- Activity improves mood in mentally ill

Activity improves mood in mentally ill

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Indiana University researchers suggest that even meager levels of physical activity can improve the mood of people with serious mental illnesses.

The study, published in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry, found a positive association between physical activity level and positive mood when low to moderate levels of physical activity are considered.

"Physical activity interventions that require lower levels of exertion might be more conducive to improving transitory mood, or the ups and downs people with serious mental illnesses experience throughout the day," study author Bryan McCormick said in a statement.

For the study, physical activity required some form of sustained movement, such as house cleaning, gardening, walking for transportation or formal exercise.

For seven consecutive days, researchers randomly paged study participants, who then filled out questionnaires about their mood and recent activities. The responses were matched with data collected using small light-weight accelerometers that measured activity levels and duration.

The study involved 11 U.S. adults and 12 people from Serbia. The average physical activity level for both groups was comparable to that of sedentary adults, less than that of adults with a developmental disability and considerably less than that of active adults, the researchers said.