Introduction
Physical activity and exercise have been associated with improvement of mental health. People with mental disorders tend to spend most of their lives in sedentary lifestyle settings, which makes them at high risk of acquiring chronic diseases and experiencing negative side effects of medication that include hyperlipidemia and diabetes. Therefore, exercise is an important component of enhancing the lifestyle of people with mental disorders. However, both mental disorder patients and health care professionals do not extensively understand the physiological benefits of exercise. In fact, available evidence suggests that physical activity and exercise may be a neglected method of intervention …show more content…
Some forms of clinical disorder include the persistent type that lasts for a minimum of two years, perinatal depression faced by women after giving birth and psychotic depression that includes psychosis (National Health Institute of Mental Health, 2016). Common characteristics of depression include having less energy, having difficulty in concentrating and decision-making and also having headaches, aches, and restlessness. These symptoms make it difficult for depression patients to openly embrace any form of exercise.
However, according to the meta-analysis research on effects of exercise on depression patients by Lawlor and Hopker (2001), exercise is an effective form of intervention to depression patients. This is in comparison with other traditional therapies administered to depression patients including behavioral interventions and group and individual psychotherapy interventions. Additionally, exercise, as a form of intervention to depression patients, has additional benefits including association with low-level cases of obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases.
This is because mental patients that participate in physical activity have better physique and their body tends to experience increased metabolic …show more content…
The magnitude of the physical activities included 2 to 3 times of intense exercise on a weekly basis for a duration of between 3 to 6 months. Despite conflicting results on how exercises affect the hippocampal measure in schizophrenic patients, the research supported that physical activity enhanced the hippocampal measure in individuals with schizophrenia. The reason for the increase in this volume was associated with the increase in short-term memory of the patients (Vacampfort et al., 2014). Therefore, physical exercise is an important intervention in schizophrenic patients since it helps greatly alleviate their executive functioning symptoms associated with brain