Exercise and Mental Health: A New Approach based on an Ancient Philosophy

随着加拿大人越来越关注自己的健康，健康和健身行业正面临着新的机遇， 挑战大多数锻炼计划声称类似的，一般的健康益处，很少，如果有的话，有证据表明 支持他们的主张。因此，运动提供者有机会评估他们的计划， 他们提供的具体好处，并向目标市场传递明确的信息。在目前的提案中， 行业合作伙伴Chrysalis Yoga希望将室内瑜伽课程的效果与跑步进行比较 身体、精神、认知和社会支持的能力。根据以往的研究，我们预计：1）瑜伽组 在心理健康和认知能力方面，与跑步组的得分相似， 瑜伽组在感知社会支持方面得分更高。本研究结果可 因此，确定客户可以通过参加工作室瑜伽课程（与 非工作室的团体锻炼计划）。这个项目是蛹瑜伽，麦克马斯特之间的合作 大学和亨伯学院。研究人员将比较12周跑步计划和 12周的瑜伽课程对抑郁症的症状，压力和焦虑，学习和记忆，身体健康 （心血管健康，力量，灵活性）和感知的社会支持。受试者将被随机分配至 瑜伽或跑步，并将在进入研究时完成评估，在12周的锻炼计划后， 在这三个月里，我们将跟踪他们的日常锻炼。预期的结果是，瑜伽 该计划将提供与压力，焦虑和抑郁症状相当的好处。本研究 还将提供新的数据的作用，感知社会支持和具体的好处，有氧运动 与力量和灵活性在学习和记忆上的作用相比。该项目的成果将使 蛹瑜伽，以改善他们提供给客户的服务，通过提供证据来支持的好处， 在工作室上课的标准此外，研究结果将提供深入了解的科学效益， 瑜伽，并加强我们对运动如何改善身心健康的认识。

As Canadians focus increasingly on their health, the health and fitness industry is facing new opportunities and challenges. Most exercise programs claim similar, generic health benefits, and few, if any, have evidence to support their claims. Thus, there is an opportunity for exercise providers to evaluate their programs, identify the specific benefits they offer, and deliver a well-defined message to their target markets. In the current proposal, industry partner Chrysalis Yoga wants to compare the effects of in-studio yoga classes to running on measures of physical, mental, cognitive and social support. Based on previous research, we expect: 1) the yoga group will have similar scores to the running group on measures of mental health and cognitive performance and 2) the yoga group will score higher on measures of perceived social support. The results from this study may therefore identify specific benefits that clients can expect by attending in-studio yoga classes (compared to non-studio based group exercise programs). This project is a collaboration between Chrysalis Yoga, McMaster University and Humber College. The investigators will compare the effects of a 12 week running program to a 12 week yoga program on symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety, learning and memory, physical fitness (cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility) and perceived social support. Participants will be randomized to yoga or running and will complete assessments at study entry, after 12 weeks of exercise program, and after a three month period during which we will track their exercise routine. The expected findings are that the yoga program will provide comparable benefits to running on symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression. This study will also provide novel data on the role of perceived social support and the specific benefit of aerobic exercise compared to strength and flexibility on learning and memory. The results from the proposed project will allow Chrysalis Yoga to improve the service they offer to their clients, by providing evidence to support the benefits of regular attendance to in-studio classes. Further, results will provide insight into the scientific benefits of yoga, and strengthen our knowledge of how exercise can improve mental and physical benefits.