With Mental Health Week in full swing, CBC Radio aired a story earlier this week about mental health coping strategies that included an interview with Dr. Gary Goldfield about the psychological benefits that are associated with physical activity.
Some sound bytes from Dr. Goldfield in the interview:
I think one of the novel contributions of this study is it challenges the perception that you need to lose weight to feel better about yourself and improve your emotional well-being.
…
I think the findings of the Game Bike study are important to show that even if they don’t lose weight, that increaing their physical activity and exercise can improve emotional well-being and psychological benefits, most notably self-esteem and body image and social functioning. The take-home message or conclusion can be: throw away the scale. Just get out there and move. It doesn’t matter if you lose weight or not. You’re going to not only improve your physiological health but will also derive some psychological benefits as well.
Click on the button below to listen to the full audio.
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