There👍's a reason a lot of people sa🐈y physical and mental health are linked, or exercise helps stave off dark thoughts: it's because it's true. 

There are several ways in which physical exercise can help with complex mental heaಌlth iss๊ues like anxiety and depression. 

published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, evaluated 80 different studies regarding the relationship ꩲbetween physical health and cognitive perform🉐ance. 

Endurance training, strength training, and a mixture of the two were all found to improve mental fitness, helping participants score better on tests after exercise regimes.&n🌼bsp;

However, the interesting part is where improvements were highest: coordinated and challenging sports that require complex movement patterns and interaction with felꦫlow players are significantly more effective. Think boxing, football, basketball, soccer, dance, and martial arts.&n💫bsp;

In these sports, a combination of strength and endurance training is usually present, in addition to a technical skillset. You have to engage your brain to think about complex footwork patterns and proprioception skills with every ball k👍icked, mitt punched or cha-cha danced. 

Boys and men seem to benefit more from a particularly hard workout than women, according to the literature r🃏eview. The study's lead authors write "Differences between the sexes are particularly evident in the intensity of movement, but not in the type of sport. 

"A hard workout seems to be particularly worthwhile forﷺ boys and men. Paired with a gradual increase in intensity, this leads to a significantly greater improvement in cognitive performance over a 🐬longer period of time." 

Of course, this is in additiℱon to exercise's therapeutic qualities mentioned earlier. A study published in the  found "the mechanisms underlying the antidepressant effects of exercise remain in debate; however, the efficacy of exercise in decreasing symptoms of depression has been well established."

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