We know for sure that having good cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong indicator of overall physical health. However, is someone with good cardiorespiratory fitness less likely to have mental health disorders or dementia later in life?
A newly published systematic review and meta-analysis provides new updates on this link across all age groups in their study (Diaz-Goni et al, 2026). 22 studies (out of 27 chosen) with 4,007,638 participants were studied in that review.
The participants were between 18 and 64 years old, who had fitness measured at baseline and followed for 4 to 29 years. Different methods were used for measuring fitness. Some studies used VO2 max, others used indirect or submaximal exercise tests while others measured peak workload and exercise duration. Note that this paper talks about cardiorespiratory fitness and NOT about VO2 max values.
Higher cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with substantially lower future risk of depression, psychotic disorders and dementia. However it did not show to clearly help with anxiety.
Each 3.5 mL/kg/ min (or 1 MET) increase in cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with a 5 percent lower risk of depression and 19 percent lower risk of dementia.
Overall, those with higher cardiorespiratory fitness had a 36 percent lower risk of depression, 39 percent lower risk of dementia and 29 percent lower risk of psychotic disorders compared to those with lower fitness.
The authors discussed a few potential mechanisms that may explain why higher cardiorespiratory fitness helps mental or neurocognitive disorders.
From a physiological perspective, improved brain blood flow, vascular function induces structural, cellular and molecular adaptations to enhance neuroplasticity which then support cognitive and emotional regulation.
Exercise and higher cardiorespiratory fitness has been shown to help maintain the size/ volume of the hippocampus. The role of the hippocampus is linked to emotion regulation, memory and cognitive resilience. Atrophy of the hippocampus has been consistently linked to mental and cognitive disorders.
Mental health disorders and neurodegeneration are definitely complex and multifactorial. Please note that the authors also did not just conclude that "exercise is the answer". They concluded that higher cardiorespiratory fitness appears to be associated with a lower risk of several mental and neurocognitive disorders and cardiorespiratory fitness may be a useful marker to sort out groups at risk.
This is also interesting to note. Because only 1 or 2 studies were available, the authors were not able to study them as a group. Those individual studies suggested that higher fitness may be associated with lower risk of bipolar related disorders, dissociative, obsessive-compulsive and stressor-related disorders, sleep apnea as well as anxiety and ADHD in children. Depression in girls also appeared lower with higher fitness.
If the fitness influencers do pick up on this topic, I hope they do not simplify it by making it as easy as doing "some exercise or sports".
So taken at face value, higher cardiorespiratory fitness seems to lower risk across a wide range of psychiatric and neurocognitive disorders. Do note that genetic predisposition, chronic pain, social support, smoking and diet are definitely confounding factors.
The evidence does continue to add up showing that higher cardiorespiratory fitness helps with physical disease and premature death, but also with better mental health, lower dementia risk and other mental disorders.
Reference
Diaz-Goni V, Lopez-Gil JF, Rodriguez-Gutierrez E et al (2026). Cardiorespiratory Fitness And Risk Of Mental Disorders And Dementia: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis. Nat Mental Health. DOI: 10.1038/s44220-026-00599-4
No comments:
Post a Comment