Sweep Away Your Blues

[Daniel E.]

Sweep Away Your Blues
About.com Depression Blog
by Nancy Schimelpfening

September 16, 2009

Did you know that sweeping your floor could make you feel better?

Actually as a little as 20 minutes a week of any sort of physical activity could help your mood, say researchers from University College London.

They examined data from almost 20,000 men and women participating in the 1995, 1998 and 2003 Scottish Health Surveys who had answered questions about physical activity and "psychological distress."

Daily activity -- such as housework, gardening, walking and sports -- was associated with a 41% lower risk of psychological distress. Vigorous activity like sports had the most effect, however.

The take home message? The more active you are the better it is for your mood, so do something -- even if it's just sweeping your floor.

The study was published online on April 10, 2008 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Related Articles:

• Too Tired to Clean?
• Exercising When You're Depressed

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Doing something like that (and vacuuming or cutting the grass) can be rewarding because you start it and in a relatively short period of time it's done - and you can often see your progress as you go. That's a nice change if your job involves ongoing tasks or projects where you may not see completion for weeks or months.

 

[crzycadn]

That's so wierd! I have been helping the Superintendents rake up the leaves just for something to do! It's a fenced off area, so when I feel like it, Tina (my dog) and I go out for a 1/2 hour or so and she sniffs around and I rake leaves. Maybe that's helping me maintain my good mood as well.