Benefits and barriers of physical activity for improved mental health
Improving one’s physical health is therefore closely related to mental health
improvements. One way to target improvements of both physical and mental health
is through increasing PA. PA is a modifiable behaviour that has implications for
MHSU (Rouse, Ntoumanis, Duda, Jolly, & Williams, 2011). Physical health
benefits of PA include reducing the risk of several lifestyle conditions such as
cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancers (Lee et al., 2012). Regular engagement
in PA is also associated with psychological outcomes such as enhancing quality of
life through social and emotional well-being, and overall engagement with life
(Rebar & Taylor, 2017). Examples include stress relief, increased self-confidence
and self-esteem, enhanced mood and reduced anxiety, reduced mental fatigue and
enhanced life skills (Rebar & Taylor, 2017). One single bout of PA can provide
opportunities to improve physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing, both
through global measures such as wellbeing, and acute measures such as positive
affect (Cullen & McCann, 2015).
Given the widely documented psychological benefits of engaging in PA,
researchers have recommended that PA should be used as a self-care strategy to
facilitate the mental health recovery process (Deegan, 2005; Staal & Jespersen,
2015). Self-care describes the actions that individuals themselves take to reach
optimal physical and mental health, for example engaging in PA (Staal & Jespersen,
2015). Due to growing research, the National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence have incorporated PA into their formal guidelines as a treatment for mild
and moderate depression, highlighting that the prescribing of daily PA should be
embedded into care by clinicians and policy makers for MHSU (NICE, 2014). It is
suggested that attention should be paid to purposeful daily activities which may
seem ordinary and trivial to others, but for MHSU, finding pleasure in managing
small tasks is part of the daily process of self-care (Staal & Jespersen, 2015).
Incorporating PA into one’s daily routine can act as ‘personal medicine’ creating
inner peace and reducing negativity towards how the individual views themselves
(Staal & Jespersen, 2015).
Barriers to PA engagement
Despite the physical and psychological health benefits associated with PA
participation, MHSU remain reluctant to adopt and maintain PA behaviour (Rebar &
Taylor, 2017; Stanton & Happell, 2014). For many individuals, suffering with poor
mental health and mental illness can prevent engagement in PA partly due to a lack of
awareness of the benefits of PA, and often barriers to engaging in PA are the focus for
the individual (Soundy et al., 2014). A meta-analysis of qualitative studies
investigating the perceived barriers to PA by MHSU (Firth et al., 2016) organised
barriers into three sub-categories; physical (tiredness, fatigue and physical ailments),
psychological distress (low self-confidence or a lack of motivation or interest in
wanting to engage in PA) and socio-ecological (access to facilities and support).
Results found that across all studies, the most influential, and highly cited
socio-environmental barrier towards PA participation by MHSU was a lack of social
support (Chronister, Chou, & Liao, 2013; Firth et al., 2016; Soundy, Stubbs, Probst,
Hemmings, & Vancampfort, 2014). This was congruent with previous qualitative
literature where MHSU had stipulated that adequate support could help them
overcome many of the barriers they faced (Soundy et al., 2014). This demonstrates
that research is required to consider more effective PA programmes that include
ways to help MHSU overcome their perceived and actual barriers to PA, and how
best to provide adequate support.
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