The Effect of Exercise Modality on Anxiety Symptoms

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation was to explore exercise’s anxiolytic effect and find the extent of exercise effectiveness. In addition to investigating the most effective mode of training that reduces symptoms of anxiety, whilst identifying the ideal intensity, frequency, and session duration. The search was conducted using online databases, including PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar and concluded that aerobic training has the highest effect amongst all the other modes of exercise, and had the largest reduction of anxiety. Nevertheless, anaerobic training, balance and stretching and wellbeing-based exercises did show a degree of positive effects, with the ideal intensity of all modes to be set between low to moderate with a frequency of three to four sessions per week for a duration of twenty to thirty minutes, for each session. Furthermore, additional studies need to investigate the mechanisms of how stability exercises can promote anxiety reduction, and to explore how much anxiety can be lessened with the improvement of joint range of motion. Nevertheless, more investigation is needed to understand the correlation between exercises and anxiety severity by trying to find the mechanism of work.