A new study shows a strong link between upper/lower body strength in middle-aged women and symptoms of depression/anxiety.
My first question is probably yours. How did they measure strength?
Well, for the upper body, researchers tested handgrip strength and for the lower body, they used the famous chair stand test. In other words, how quickly can you pop up and down off of a chair?
So why does this help?
Researchers theorize that strength training increases blood flow to the brain, while releasing the famous endorphins that pretty much make everything in life feel better.
Last June, a meta-study of 33 clinical studies showed just how effective strength and resistance training are at fighting depression.
So how much is enough?
Researchers say you should shoot for 3x/week, and the great thing (at least for weaklings like myself) is that participants saw improvement regardless of how strong they actually got.
In fact, you didn’t even have to get stronger. That’s not the mechanism. If you do, that’s great, but just the act of resistance training itself is what confers the benefit.
