Daily activities can improve a person’s well-being

Review by Emily Henderson, Bachelor of ScienceNovember 25, 2020

Physical activity is important for being happy and maintaining mental health. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim have studied areas of the brain that play a central role in this process. Their findings show that even daily activities, such as climbing stairs, greatly enhance the well-being of people who are particularly vulnerable to mental illness. This study is published in Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126 / sciadv.aaz8934).

Exercise promotes physical and mental health. However, little research has been done on the impact of daily life on human mental health, such as climbing stairs, walking, or going to a tram station instead of driving. For example, it is not yet clear which brain structure is involved. The teams at the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim, the Institute for Sport and Sports Science at KIT, and the GIScience / Geoinformatics Research Group at Heidelberg University are now engaged in daily activities that account for the largest share of our daily exercise. I am studying. “Climbing the stairs every day may help us wake up and feel energetic, which enhances happiness,” explains the first author of the study. Dr. Markus Reichert, who studies at CIMH and KIT, and Dr. Urs Braun, who is in charge of the Complex Systems Research Group. Psychiatry And CIMH Psychotherapy Clinic.

The findings are particularly relevant to the current situation with corona restrictions and the coming winter.

Today, we are experiencing strong restrictions on public life and social contact, which can adversely affect our well-being. It may help to climb the stairs more often to feel better. “

Professor Tost Heike, Head of Systems Neuroscience Psychiatry Research Group, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Clinic

Daily activities increase arousal and physical energy

“Our research combines a variety of research methods in our daily lives and in the laboratory,” said the head of the mHealth method of the Psychiatric Research Group, the deputy head of IfSS, and the head of the Mental mHealth Lab. One Professor Ulrich Ebner-Priemer said. kit. Among the methods used were pedestrian assessments using motion sensors and smartphone surveys of health status triggered by geographic location data as soon as the subject moved.

67 people underwent a gait assessment to determine the impact of daily activities on 7 days of arousal. Immediately after the activity, people felt more careful and found that they were exploding with more energy. Arousal and energy have proven to be important components of participants’ well-being and mental health.

Areas of the brain identified for daily activity and well-being

These analyzes were combined with magnetic resonance tomography at CIMH for another group of 83 people. We measured the amount of material in the gray brain to see which brain regions play a role in these daily processes. The cingulate gyrus, which is part of the cerebral cortex, has been found to be important for the interaction of daily activity with emotional well-being. It is in this area of ​​the brain that emotions and resistance to mental illness are regulated. The authors identified this brain region as the definitive neural correlation that mediates the relationship between physical activity and subjective energy. “People with low levels of gray brain material in the area and at high risk of mental illness felt less energetic when physically inactive,” Heike Tost explains. .. “But after daily activities, these people felt even more energetic than those with larger brain volumes.”

Specific use of physical activity in daily life

“The results suggest that physical activity in daily life is beneficial to the well-being of people who are particularly vulnerable to mental illness,” said Andreas Meyer Lindenberg, director of CIMH and medical director of psychiatry and psychotherapy clinics. I conclude. In the future, the findings could be used in smartphone apps that motivate users to actively increase their well-being when energy is depleted. Whether daily activities can change happiness has not yet been studied. The volume of the brain and how these results can help prevent and treat mental illness, “says Urs Brown.