Exercise reduces long-term risk of anxiety disorders in men and women, study finds

A physically active lifestyle was associated with a 62% lower risk of anxiety disorder diagnoses among men and women in a study with the largest population size to date, researchers said.

To conduct the study, researchers drew data on psychiatric and other diagnoses from the Swedish National Patient Registry and excluded individuals with severe disease to lessen the bias of their inability to participate, while also analyzing race completion times to assess the impact of physical fitness and extreme exercise doses on anxiety disorders. "We found that having a physically active lifestyle (being a skier) is associated with around 60% lower risk of developing anxiety disorders compared to matched individuals from the general population in an observational study following almost 400,000 individuals for up to 21 years," the study reads.