Running is secret weapon to happiness: study

Study finds that exercising at moderate intensity can help ease depressive or sad feelings

We all know that running is excellent exercise and has numerous benefits for the body, however, a new study has deduced that running is good for our minds too.

Published in the journal Cognition and Emotion, the new research demonstrates the positive impact of acute aerobic exercise on individuals experiencing emotion regulation difficulties.



Researchers Emily E Bernstein and Richard J McNally tested how a short period of moderate exercise changed the emotional effects of subsequent exposure to an upsetting film clip from The Champ, assuming that all subjects would feel some emotional distress after watching the film.

After watching the distressing video, the 80 participants were assigned an aerobic exercise such as jogging or stretching. All participants completed questionnaires about their emotional state before and after their respective workouts.

Confirming the hypotheses of  the study’s authors, participants who had completed 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise reported feeling less sadness by the end of the study, in comparison to individuals who had not exercised.



Similarly, those who expressed a state of emotional gloom specifically citing that there was "nothing [they] could do to make themselves feel better" felt better after a 30-minute jog.

The study concludes that exercising at a moderate intensity can help ease depressive or sad feelings, and furthermore, can help you regulate your emotions better. Feel like running now?