According to a report by foreign media on August 10th, it is widely believed that exercise can improve mental health, and a study targeting 1.2 million Americans has confirmed this viewpoint. But researchers have also found that excessive exercise is actually harmful to people's mental health. The most suitable amount of exercise is three to five times a week for 45 minutes each time, which is the most beneficial for mental health.

      The study, conducted jointly by Yale University and Oxford University, was published in the renowned medical journal The Lancet Psychiatry. The results indicate that people who exercise for a long time have an average of 1.5 fewer days per month of poor mental health compared to those who do not exercise. In addition, research has shown that although various types of exercise seem to improve mental health, the most effective exercises are actually group sports, cycling, aerobic exercise, and going to the gym.

      Researchers reached this conclusion by analyzing survey data from the US Behavioral Risk Factor Monitoring System in 2011, 2013, and 2015. The data includes information on the physical and mental health and healthy behaviors of participants. Based on stress, depression, and emotional issues, participants were asked to estimate how many days in the past 30 days they had poor mental health, as well as the frequency, frequency, and duration of exercise outside of normal work during the past 30 days.

      The researchers considered factors such as age, race, gender, marital status, income, education level, employment status, body mass index, self-reported physical health status, and previous diagnosis of depression. The conclusion drawn is that exercising for 45 minutes three to five times a week is the most suitable for mental health, and they also found that on average, each person has 3.4 days of poor mental health per month. Although activities such as household chores have a relatively small impact on mental health, engaging in such activities can also reduce the number of days of negative mental health by about 10%.

     Dr. Adam Checkrod, who led the study, stated that it is widely believed that exercise can improve mental health. However, the results of this study contradict the general belief that exercising for an average of more than 90 minutes per day or more than 23 times a month may be detrimental to mental health. People who exercise for more than 3 hours per day have poorer mental health compared to those who do not exercise. And it is stated that people who exercise excessively may have OCD, which may expose them to greater mental health risks. (Intern compiler: Zheng Tingting Reviewer: Liu Yang)