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Essay 3 Final Draft
Essay 3 Final Draft
Edward Lagunas Jr
ENGL 1302-223
22 April 2022
Exercise has been a refutable method for losing weight, gaining muscle, and improving
mental stability within individuals for centuries. As of late however, it has been found to
improve coping with anxiety and depression and has even been noted to be a necessary
component for human development among many scholars, scientist, physicians, and therapists
such as Henriksson et al., Gosselin et al., J. Baker et al., Solis et al., Chen et al., Young et al.,
Sokol et al., and Perin et al. In addition to the mental health benefits provided, it has been
discovered to provide the benefits of improving and lowering the risk of cognitive disorders. risk
associated with increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD dementia…” (Perin
et al., 559). In spite of support from experts, some still argue whether or not exercise is as
effective as other coping mechanism leading to many comparisons between exercise, cognitive
behavioral therapy, and social interactions. This paper seeks to rebuke this stance on the effective
of exercise as a proper coping mechanism for mental health while also solidifying exercise as an
alternative coping mechanism to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In addition, this paper
will observe and compare the research done by scholars to support exercise as an alternative
coping mechanism to CBT "There is empirical support for the role of exercise, defined as
structured physical activity aiming to increase or maintain fitness, as a treatment and protection
against depression" (Henriksson et al., 27)., and to further expand upon what exercise can do to
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individuals with mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety and cognitive disorders
such as dementia.
Many scholars have shown support for exercise as an effective coping mechanism
for mental health disorders. "There is empirical support for the role of exercise, …, as a
treatment and protection against depression." (Henriksson et al., 27). Correspondingly, Gosselin
et al. discovered "… changes in exercise were associated with changes in physical quality of life
…; individuals who engaged in more exercise demonstrated greater physical quality of life
improvements versus those who exhibited no change." (Gosselin et al., 370). Exercise is shown
to have a more outstanding physical quality of life change in individuals who suffer from
depression and anxiety. It is important to note that besides improvements in mental health,
exercise also brings about physical changes to the body, which can help improve the self-esteem
of individuals, which leads to improvement in self-confidence. However, some have argued that
other coping mechanisms such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are more effective in reducing
the effects of depression and anxiety. "Adolescents who had received psychological treatment
reported a significantly greater reduction in symptom severity than controls, …" (J. Baker et al.,
773). As stated by the scholarly authors, it was reported that some adolescents who had received
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as a form of treatment were found to have reduced their
symptoms; however CBT can not be relied upon due to many factors one prevalent one being the
wait times to be seen by a medical physician. "…long waiting lists for CBT may worsen
symptoms and long-term prognosis." (Henriksson et al., 27). As stated, CBT may possibly
worsen the symptoms that come with depression and anxiety due to the waitlist for this coping
mechanism leading to it being less effective than exercise as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy relies
On the other hand, social interactions also play a factor in the mental state of individuals
"Changes in family/friends engagement were associated with changes in social quality of life, …,
quality of life improvements versus those who were less engaged." (B. Holt-Gosselin et al., 370).
As the researchers have noted, social activity is another form of coping with anxiety and
still the more effective method due to several factors not considered, such as socialization
phobias like social anxiety. Social phobias prevent many from interacting with the world around
them and can even lead to increased depression and anxiety levels within individuals. "…only
26.0% of the anxiety-only group were consistently recovered, and 32.2% of the depression-only
group were consistently recovered." (E.C. Solis et al., 1272). Due to a low number of individuals
improving and maintaining their depression and anxiety, socialization cannot be a viable form of
coping with mental health disorders due to the phobias associated with these mental health
disorders, i.e., social anxiety. In addition, since anxiety often includes social anxiety and
depression often involves clinical depression, individuals who face these mental disorders are
prevented from interacting socially in multiple environments causing social interaction to be less
Besides the factors that play into the effectiveness of a coping mechanism, one factor
remains prevalent today, the COVID-19 pandemic. "We identified 4.0% and 10.5% of the
sampled respondents as cases that are at-risk for excessive mental distress due to coronavirus
anxiety and obsession, respectively." (J.H. Chen et al., 1135). Researchers have found that
COVID-19 does lead to an increased risk for anxiety and depression, making many forms of
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coping less effective in the long run today. This leads to lower engagement in all activities across
the board for coping mechanisms such as social interactions and exercise; however, exercise can
be an exception due to the varying amounts of exercises available to the individual to perform at
home. "Participants in the lowest physical activity category (no reported physical activity) had
the highest depression and anxiety scores compared to each successive physical activity category
across…" (Young et al. 3). The research concluded by young et al. found that during the
COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals who had reported no physical activity during the
pandemic were found to have had the highest depression and anxiety scores compared to those
who were exercising. This exemplifies the importance of exercise in an individual's life as it
helps reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression, again solidifying its importance as a
coping mechanism.
suits the individual, there is also vital importance in the benefits provided. "…individuals who
engaged in more exercise demonstrated greater physical quality of life improvements versus
those who exhibited no change." (Gosselin et al., 370). Researchers have found that exercise
brings forth the benefits of physical quality of life changes, improving an individual's health
drastically. "Their TSA profile more closely resembles the consistently positive and linear
trajectory of the euthymic group, though it is lower overall and appears to be associated with a
negative bias regarding their past, present, and future selves." (Y. Sokol et al. 337). Research
done by scholars shows that individuals with depression and anxiety do often improve in self-
perceptions over time. However, with the inclusion of exercise, it is possible to boost these
effects as exercise brings forth the physical quality of life changes such as weight loss, muscle
gain, muscle toning, and other benefits that are not of importance. With these benefits in mind, it
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On the other hand, with exercise being as effective as it is in reducing depression and
anxiety, it also carries the possibility of reducing dementia risk "When levels of depressive
symptoms reach clinically-meaningful thresholds, they become associated with increased risk of
mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD dementia, with risk ratios ranging from 1.05 to 4.39"
(Perin et al., 559). Research shows that depression, especially at the clinical stages, carries the
risk of increased cognitive issues and possible dementia. With exercise, it is possible for an
individual can lower this risk and improve cognitive function, making it a more beneficial coping
In all, exercise is just as if not more effective as a coping mechanism than cognitive-
behavioral therapy and social interactions. The ability to improve an individual's physicality,
confidence, self-perception, depression, and anxiety alone is a fantastic benefit that makes
exercising a worthwhile activity for individuals. In addition, the ability to lower the risk of
cognitive disorders such as dementia are significant benefits provided by exercise, which makes
this coping method more wonderful. However, the looming presence of the COVID-19 pandemic
has made this form of coping a little less effective compared to the day and age of the research it
was recorded, but that does not make the validation of this coping mechanism any less viable.
Furthermore, exercise should also not be viewed as a cure for these mental and cognitive
disorders; instead, it should be looked at as a proper form of coping with the everyday distress of
depression and anxiety; to clarify, exercise is not the end all be all for treating mental and
cognitive health disorders. Instead, it is a form of treatment that should be used in conjunction
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with other treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and social interactions to improve
Works Cited
Baker, Holly J., et al. “The Effectiveness of Psychological Therapies for Anxiety Disorders in
Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis.” Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, vol. 24,
Chen, Juliet Honglei, et al. “Measuring Covid-19 Related Anxiety and Obsession: Validation of
the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale and the Obsession with Covid-19 Scale in a Probability
Chinese Sample.” Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 295, 2021, pp. 1131–1137.,
ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.104.
Henriksson, Malin, et al. “Effects of Exercise on Symptoms of Anxiety in Primary Care Patients:
A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 297, 2022, pp. 26–
Holt-Gosselin, Bailey, et al. “Greater Baseline Connectivity of the Salience and Negative Affect
Circuits Are Associated with Natural Improvements in Anxiety over Time in Untreated
Participants.” Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 295, 2021, pp. 366–376., ScienceDirect,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.039.
Perin, Stephanie, et al. “Elucidating the Association between Depression, Anxiety, and Cognition
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.007.
Sokol, Yosef, et al. “Anxiety and Temporal Self-Appraisal: How People with Anxiety Evaluate
Themselves over Time.” Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 296, 2022, pp. 309–314.,
ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.09.081.
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Solis, Ericka C., et al. “The 9-Year Clinical Course of Depressive and Anxiety Disorders: New
NESDA Findings.” Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 295, 2021, pp. 1269–1279.,
ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.108.
Young, Deborah Rohm, et al. “The Longitudinal Associations of Physical Activity, Time Spent
Quarantine and Social Distancing in the United States.” Preventive Medicine, vol. 154,