Exercise is therapy: A cross-sectional study evaluation of the impact of exercise on affect, arousal and distress in an inpatient mental health service

Positive affect leads to improved engagement in care, decreased risk of aggressive incidents and reduced use of mechanical restraints. Exercise improves affect in the general population; however, minimal research has explored this relationship in the acute state of severe mental illnesses. This study aims to evaluate the change in arousal, affect and distress following a self-paced exercise group in two mental health facilities in metropolitan Sydney. Affect, arousal and distress scores were routinely recorded by clinical staff, before and after each exercise group. Questionnaires used were the feeling scale, felt arousal scale and subjective units of distress. Data from a period of four months were accessed retrospectively for this study resulting in 141 individual data sets. Exercise significantly improved affect ( p < 0.001) and decreased distress ( p < 0.001) however had no effect on arousal. Response to exercise did not change across subsequent sessions for affect ( p = 0.147) or arousal (p = 0.727). The magnitude of change in distress decreased with subsequent sessions ( p > 0.001). Participation in ward-based exercise significantly improves mood and distress outcomes. Further research is required to investigate the relationship between exercise and arousal in this population. Exercise is a beneficial therapeutic tool to improve affective outcomes in consumers of an inpatient mental health unit.