I came across an interesting study today. Teens who participate in extracurricular activities have better mental health, study finds
Researchers with the University of British Columbia in a study published in the journal Preventive Medicine found that teens — especially teenage girls — reported better mental health outcomes if they participated in such activities compared to those who did not.
The findings were based on a survey of some 28,712 seventh graders in 365 schools across 27 school districts in Britsh Columbia. The researchers gathered data on the teens' “recreational screen time,” such as watching TV, playing video games, or browsing the Internet, according to a news release accompanying the study. They also gathered data on the teens’ extracurricular activities before comparing the association “with positive and negative mental health indicators.”
By the end, the researchers found that teens who reported more than two hours of recreational screen time per day had lower levels of “life satisfaction and optimism, and higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms.” This was particularly true for teenage girls, they found.
By comparison, the teens who participated in extracurriculars “were significantly less likely to engage in recreational screen-based activities for two or more hours after school,” per the findings. And, unlike their counterparts, these teens were also more likely to report life satisfaction and optimism, as well as lower levels of anxiety and depression symptoms.
-----------------------------------
So let us delve a little deeper here and discuss the question of WHY?
Stress is driven by chemical chains within our bodies. Under stress our bodies release a cascade of hormones. Unless these chemicals are used up, they are stored in the muscles and nervous system of our bodies. They can throw our bodies out of balance which can lead to distress such as anxiety and depression.
So how do you vent stored stress energy? This stress chemical energy is stored in primarily 6 areas of the body. These are our two legs, our two arms, our neck and our core. This stress energy can be vented in our arms and legs by a very specific type of exercise called Maximal or Supramaximal exercise, interspersed with passive recovery intervals. This is a very intense exercise for a short duration of time with rest periods in between. One example is running a series of 50 yard dashes at breakneck speeds. It turns out that many extracurricular sports fall into this category of exercise.
If you vent the chemical stress energy build-up within the body; anxiety and depression will be minimized. This is one of the key reasons why Aspies experience significantly greater levels of stress than the average NT. As an Aspie, I am a klutz. I never did well in team sports. I tried but I was always out of sync. I never made the grade and was always the last one chosen.
But I was good at the 50 yard dash. Even though I was very short, I could move my little legs like the wind. We have to seek a different path.
05 Nov 2020, 9:42 am
