Statewide Iowa — Iowa State University research has found adults who spent a higher amount of time sitting during the early months of the pandemic were more likely to have higher symptoms of depression.
ISU kinesiology professor Jacob Meyer says a follow-up survey this fall found those effects lingered among study participants who tended to be inactive for longer periods of the day.
Meyer is director of ISU’s Wellbeing and Exercise Laboratory. He led the research team that surveyed three-thousand adults from all 50 states and the District of Columbia during April, May and June of last year, then did a follow-up survey this year. Meyer’s team asked study participants to keep track of how much time they spent exercising versus sitting and whether they’d experienced changes in feeling stressed, lonely, anxious or depressed. They were also asked if they were no longer enjoying things that used to bring joy or pleasure.
Meyer says moving benefits our physical and mental health.
Meyer joined the ISU faculty in 2017 and his research focuses on developing new treatment approaches that incorporate exercise in the treatment of depression.
