Regular exercise appears to lower the risk of anxiety disorders

Maintaining a physically active lifestyle appears to reduce your risk of an anxiety disorder by over 60 percent, according to a new study in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders affect 40 million adults every year in the U.S. That's roughly one in five adults in this country. In this study, researchers compared almost 200,000 Swedish skiers who participated in a long-distance cross-country ski race and compared their rates of anxiety disorders to almost 400,000 individuals in the general population. They couldn't determine exactly why physically active people had lower rates of anxiety, though. It's possible exercise distracts you from negative thoughts as well as lowers inflammation and oxidative stress.