People Who Ski Are Less Likely To Have Anxiety
Perhaps we should buy a seasons pass!
There are plenty of reasons that people love to ski, but who would have thought that it may also have an unexpected advantage to your mental health.
That’s right, a new study says that hitting the slopes may help your anxiety levels!
The recent study, published in the Frontiers in Psychiatry, found that skiers had a nearly 60% lower risk of getting diagnosed with anxiety disorders – compared to non-skiers.
The authors looked at 197,685 Swedish people who participated in Vasaloppet – the world’s largest long-distance ski race (56 miles) – between 1989 and 2010 and compared them to non-skiers. Then continued to monitor them over a 10-year follow-up period.
Overall, skiers had a 60% lower risk of getting diagnosed with anxiety disorders – regardless of education level, age, and sex.
The findings of the study do make a lot of sense considering we already know that exercise can be a mental distraction from worrisome thoughts and gets those all-important endorphins flowing.
