Ten Minutes of Activity a Day Keeps Anxiety at Bay

Liz Scherer

12 January 2024

TOPLINE:

Engaging in moderate-to-intense physical activity for as little as 10 minutes daily for five times a week appears to reduce the risk for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) in older adults.

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METHODOLOGY:

Researchers quantified the lowest dose of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity associated with reduced odds for GAD with/without chronic disease over 10 years.
Data were collected from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (Waves 1-5 during 2009-2018), a prospective cohort study of adults aged > 50 years, and comprised computer-assisted interviews, self-completed questionnaires, and comprehensive nurse-led health assessments.
The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (score > 23) or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV of Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form (yes/no) defined probable GAD.
Physical activity data were self-reported and summed to estimate the total number of weekly metabolic equivalent of task (MET) minutes, which was categorized as follows: low (< 600 MET/min/week), moderate (600 to < 1200 MET/min/week), and high (≥ 1200 MET/min/week).

TAKEAWAY:

Among 7650 participants (women, 54.9%; mean age, 65.9 years), mean GAD rates decreased from 18.7% (95% CI, 17.8%-19.7%) to 16.5% (95% CI, 15.4%-17.17%).
Compared with the lowest physical activity, participants with the highest physical activity had 23% lower odds of GAD and those with moderate physical activity had 19% lower odds of GAD.
Post hoc analysis demonstrated that participants performing as little as 1 to < 200 MET/min/week had 47% lower odds of GAD vs those performing no activity.
Among participants with comorbid conditions, those with the highest physical activity had 25% lower odds of GAD than those with the lowest physical activity.

IN PRACTICE:

Although they "are not advocating for reduced activity levels in any population, the present findings suggest that the greatest increase in protection against GAD may be made by engaging physically inactive older adults in any/some physical activity," the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Matthew P. Herring, PhD, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, and appeared online in Psychiatry Research.

LIMITATIONS:

Limitations included self-report bias, missing confounders, and limited generalisability.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was funded by the Health Research Board of Ireland. The authors reported no conflict of interests.

References

Herring MP, Rasmussen CL, McDowell CP, Gordon BR, Kenny RA, Laird E. Physical activity dose for generalized anxiety disorder & worry: results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Psychiatry Res. Published online January 7, 2024. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2024.115723

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Cite this: Liz Scherer. Ten Minutes of Activity a Day Keeps Anxiety at Bay - Medscape - 12 January 2024