Introduction
Exercise has been shown to influence mental health, including symptoms of depression and anxiety. Although multiple studies have examined the relationship between exercise and these outcomes, evidence is mixed regarding how exercise type, specifically aerobic versus anaerobic exercise, affects symptom severity. This study aims to examine whether the type of exercise is associated with differences in depression and anxiety symptom severity among undergraduate students.
Methods
Undergraduates completed self-report surveys of their type of exercise, anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-8) symptoms. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between exercise type (aerobic vs. anaerobic) and symptom severity, controlling for age, sex at birth, and combined household income.
Results
All analyses were pre-registered (https://osf.io/6zfg4). Most participants exercised (54% anaerobic; 57% aerobic). Anaerobic exercise was related to both fewer symptoms of anxiety (r = -.19, p < .001) and depression (r = -.17, p < .001). In contrast, aerobic exercise was only related to fewer symptoms of depression (r = -.11, p < .001) but was unrelated to anxiety (r = -.05, p = .09). These relations held even when controlling for age, sex at birth, and combined parental income.
Men engaged in more anaerobic exercise than women (t (1014) = 6.44, p < .001, d = 0.47) but no sex differences emerged for aerobic exercise (t (1014) = 0.45, p = .65, d = 0.03). In both men and women, anaerobic exercise was related to fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, aerobic exercise was related to fewer depressive symptoms in women (r = -.15, p < .001) but not in men (r = .005, p = .93); these correlations were significantly different (Fisher’s Z = 2.13, p= .03, two-tailed).
Conclusions
Both anaerobic and aerobic exercise were uniquely linked to fewer depressive symptoms, whereas only anaerobic exercise was associated with fewer anxiety symptoms. Aerobic exercise was linked to less depression only among females but not males. Further studies are needed to clarify causal relationships between exercise and depression or anxiety, particularly comparing aerobic and anaerobic exercise.
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