Research: Strength Training and Mental Health

Almost anyone who works out regularly will tell you that they’ve experienced what we might call the Elle Woods effect: “Exercising gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy.”

Image curtesy of MGM Sudios

Increasingly though, this bit of wisdom is makings its way out of culturally inherited knowledge and into clinical practices and scientific journals. In this article, Dr. David Puder discusses recent research studies on the relationship between resistance training, intensity, and mental health. Dr. Puder has begun prescribing (quite literally) medium to high intensity strength training to his patients with depression, and they’re seeing some amazing results that don’t surprise us much at all.

Research like the studies Dr. Puder cites in his article may seem redundant—why spend time studying what most of us already know? However, projects like these are essential to helping change the face of our current medical system. If doctors are going to leave the pills in the pharmacy and send their patients out to train instead, they need documented research that supports that decision. If insurance companies are going to assist people with getting the help they really need, then there needs to be research that establishes the efficacy of high intensity strength training as a treatment for mental health.

Read the full report here