Exercise is important for young people, too

The last couple of blogs have been about the importance of exercise for adults either in midlife or in our senior years, but regular exercise (or more fittingly, probably, being fit) is important in young people, too, and not just for the obvious reasons we usually cite.

Being fit is probably very important for mental health, as well.

Thus, in a huge study from Sweden (over 1 million patient – all male - records examined) published online in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the researchers found that "Lower cardiovascular fitness at age 18 years was associated with increased risk of serious depression in adulthood” up to 40 years down the road.

Now, clearly it may just be that people less prone to depression are more likely to be fit (by, for example, engaging in sports, which is a social activity) than people who are perhaps less outgoing and more prone to depression.

But whatever that connection between being and depression may be, the bottom common sense line is that at the very least it can’[t possibly hurt to be more fit, so if as a parent you can convince your kids to participate in more sports and less sitting-around activities (the best way is to participate in sports and other activities yourself, ahem, ahem),  then it may do them a lifetime of mental good.