Physical exercise and risk of common mental disorders among higher education students: A national prospective study

Long-Term Changes in Physical Activity Prescription Competences of Mental Health Professionals Following a Brief Educational Intervention

Introduction Enhancing mental health professionals’ knowledge and confidence in prescribing physical activity (PA) is a priority, given its benefits for mental health. This study evaluated whether a brief, three-hour educational workshop could improve PA-related knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and clinical behaviors. Methods Eighty mental health professionals (58% women; mean age 38.9 ± 10.7 years; mean experience 14.5 ± 10.0 years) with mainly a physiotherapy (33.8%), education (15.0%), and psychology (13.8%) background participated. Outcomes were measured using the Exercise in Mental Illness Questionnaire – Health Professionals Version at pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 12-month follow-up. Results At baseline, 83.8% of participants (67/80) reported recommending PA. Among those completing both baseline and 12-month assessments (n = 44), the proportion never recommending PA decreased significantly from 29.5% to 2.3%. Knowledge improved from 2.1 ± 1.3 to 3.7 ± 0.7 (d = 1.26, p <0.001) immediately post-workshop and remained high at 12 months (d = 1.15, p <0.001). Confidence rose from 2.4 ± 1.3 to 3.6 ± 0.7 (d = 0.97, p <0.001) and remained elevated (d = 1.04, p <0.001). Assessment of patient activity increased from 4.5% to 44.2% at 12 months, and participants increasingly provided personalized, preference-based PA guidance. Discussion A single three-hour workshop was associated with large improvements in knowledge, confidence, and PA-related clinical behaviors sustained at 12 months. These findings should be interpreted cautiously given the single-group design, reliance on self-reported outcomes, and substantial attrition at follow-up (44/80 completers). Brief educational interventions may represent a feasible approach to enhancing mental health professionals’ competencies in promoting physical activity. Future research should examine impacts on patient PA engagement.

Examination of mental health, sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with vigorous physical activity among medical students

Introduction Although physical activity (PA) is a multidimensional behavior, most research has focused on total PA volume, meeting PA recommendations, or absolute vigorous physical activity (VPA), rather than on how VPA is distributed within total PA. Therefore, the proportion of VPA within total PA remains an underexplored feature of activity patterns. This exploratory analysis examined whether depressive symptoms and selected sociodemographic, behavioral, health and study-related characteristics were associated with different proportions of VPA within total PA among sufficiently active medical students. Methods This was a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional study that included 656 sufficiently active fifth-year medical students from five universities in Serbia. PA was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF), and depressive symptoms were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Participants were categorized based on the proportion of VPA within total PA into three groups: no VPA contribution, low-to-moderate VPA contribution, and higher VPA contribution, corresponding to 0%, 0.01%–30%, and >30% VPA within total PA. Results In pairwise multivariable logistic regression analyses, higher PHQ-9 scores were associated with lower odds of belonging to the 0.01%–30% VPA group than to the 0% VPA group, whereas no significant association was observed for the >30% VPA group. VPA categories were also associated with age, sex, meal frequency, alcohol use, perceived social support, and total energy expenditure. Conclusions These findings suggest that, among sufficiently active medical students, depressive symptoms and several sociodemographic, behavioral and health characteristics are associated with differences in VPA distribution within total PA. The association with depressive symptoms was limited to the comparison between no VPA and low-to-moderate VPA proportion. Future longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to clarify these associations beyond the limitations of a cross-sectional self-reported design.

Physical activity reduces mental health burden in adults with a history of adverse childhood experiences.

Mental health multimorbidity and physical conditions in children aged 6–17 years in the United States

ABSTRACT Background The rising prevalence and early onset of mental health problems among children and adolescents pose a critical public health challenge. Aims This study aimed to identify distinct profiles of mental health multimorbidity, examine their associations with physical conditions and evaluate the dose–response relationships between the number of mental health multimorbidities and physical condition risk. Methods Using cross‐sectional data from 30 556 children aged 6–17 years in the 2023 United States National Survey of Children's Health, we applied latent class analysis to derive multimorbidity profiles from nine mental health problems. Multivariable logistic regression assessed associations with 15 physical conditions. Dose–response relationships were evaluated based on the number of co‐occurring mental health conditions. Results Four distinct profiles were identified: developmental delay/intellectual disability with mixed problems (DD/ID with MP, 8.0%), emotional problems (8.2%), attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder with behavioural problems (ADHD‐BP, 8.0%) and low mental health concerns (75.8%). The three clinical profiles exhibited a significant physical disease burden. DD/ID with MP showed the strongest associations with neurological and hearing conditions. Although emotional problems and ADHD‐BP shared a similar risk profile, emotional problems showed stronger associations with headaches and respiratory issues. A dose–response relationship was observed, with physical disease risk increasing for each additional mental health problem, particularly among children with > 3 disorders. Conclusions Mental health multimorbidity is significantly associated with increased physical condition risk in a profile‐specific and dose‐dependent manner. This underscores the need for integrated clinical strategies that account for transdiagnostic patterns and comorbidity burden to enhance risk stratification and tailor interventions in paediatric populations.

Dose-Response Associations between Physical Activity and Poor Mental Health among High-School Students: Sleep Duration as a Potential Mediator

: Backgrounds: This study examined whether sleep duration may potentially mediate the association between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and mental health between in a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students. Methods: Data from 15,671 U.S. high school students participating in the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) were analyzed. MVPA was measured as weekly days achieving at least 60 min of activity, and frequent poor mental health was defined as reporting poor mental health most of the time or always during the past 30 days. Sleep duration was evaluated as a mediator. Survey-weighted regression and Karlson–Holm–Breen mediation analyses were performed, adjusting for relevant sociodemographic and health-related covariates. Results: Each additional day of MVPA was associated with a 7.5% lower odds of frequent self-reported poor mental health (OR = 0.925, 95% CI: 0.898–0.954), while each additional hour of sleep was associated with a 29.0% lower odds (OR = 0.710, 95% CI: 0.668–0.756). KHB mediation analysis indicated that sleep duration emerged as a potential mediator of this association. The total association between MVPA and frequent poor mental health was β = − 0.048 (95% CI: − 0.072 to − 0.025), with an indirect effect through sleep duration of β = − 0.025 (95% CI: − 0.031 to − 0.019), accounting for 52.0% of the observed association. The proportion of the association accounted for by sleep duration was higher in females (55.68%) than in males (44.22%). Conclusions: More frequent achievement of the 60-min PA guideline was associated with lower odds of frequent poor mental health among U.S. high school students. Sleep duration accounted for approximately one-half of this observed association, supporting its potential role in the relationship between physical activity and mental health. Strategies that promote both regular physical activity and adequate sleep may help improve adolescent mental health.

Association of physical activity domains and television time with mental health profiles in Brazilian adolescents: a latent class analysis

Abstract: This cross-sectional study identified mental health profiles among Brazilian adolescents and examined their associations with domain-specific physical activity (leisure time, school, and active commuting) and television (TV) viewing time. Data were obtained from 144,046 adolescents in the 2019 Brazilian National Survey of School Health (PeNSE, acronym in Portuguese). Self-reported indicators included the frequency of five emotional states, weekly minutes of physical activity in leisure time, physical education, and commuting, and daily TV hours. Latent class analysis classified adolescents based on their mental health profiles, and multinomial logistic regression estimated associations between physical activity domains and TV viewing time with mental health classes, adjusting for covariates. Six mental health profiles were identified: (1) school-related concern; (2) anxious and stressed; (3) subthreshold internalizing; (4) anxious, sad, and angry; (5) low symptom; (6) severe internalizing. Adolescents who engaged in physical activity in their leisure time and at school were more likely to belong to the low symptom class, while those who engaged in physical activity during commuting were more likely to be in class 6 (severe internalizing). Adolescents who watched two to four hours of TV per day were more likely to belong to class 1 (school-related concern), class 4 (anxious, sad, and angry), and class 5 (low symptom), whereas those who watched TV more than four hours/day were less likely to belong to class 3 (subthreshold internalizing) and class 6 (severe internalizing). These findings underscore that both the context and quantity of physical activity and TV time are differentially related to adolescent mental health profiles, implying the need for targeted surveillance and interventions.