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Lecture Notes

There are many possible explanations for why physical activity has positive effects on mental health, and in the last few slides of this lecture we'll look at five possible mechanisms for this relationship, and when I say mechanisms I simply mean reasons why there exists a relationship between physical activity and mental health. And the first of these is cognitive behavioral theory, and so this theory really poses that as someone engages in physical activity, they feel more confident in their ability to continue to engage in physical activity and that they're in control of their own behavior, and these feelings of control and competence are really not compatible with the feelings associated with anxiety or depression, and so people think that that might be one reason why physical activity or exercise help to improve mental health. The second possible explanation here is the social interaction theory, and this is really just that physical activity might provide opportunities for social support and interaction with others that we know improve mental health, and so, as you can see here in the picture, there are several older adults stretching together, most are smiling, they're interacting in a positive social environment, and so you can see how that might ward off some feelings of anxiety or depression.