The Effect of Physical Exercise on Depression; Case study: Professional and Nonprofessional

Transcription

1 Available online athttp:// International Journal of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Science Volume 1, Issue 8, 2013: The Effect of Physical Exercise on Depression; Case study: Professional and Nonprofessional Male Athletes in Mahabad Amir Mohammad Amini 1, HadiGoreki 2*,EsmaelDarvishi 3, EehsanGoreki 4 1. Department of Physical Education and Sport, Islamic Azad University Malekan branch 2. PhD Student of Motor Behavior, ShahidBeheshti University, Tehran 3. Undergraduate Student of Physical Education and Sport, Islamic Azad University Mahabad branch 4. Masters in Physical Education and Sport Abstract The present study examines the relationship between physical exercise and depression among professional and non-professional male athletes in Mahabad. Using the methodology, 90 male athletes with an average age of ±22.5years in Mahabad (45 professionals and 45 non-professionals) who were working in the fields of ping pong, wrestling and bodybuilding were selected by stratified random sampling. Beck Depression Inventory (1998) was used for data collection. Psychology professionals were employed for the validity of questionnaires, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used in a preliminary study on a sample of 30 subjects for the reliability and was obtained as α =0/924. The collected data were analyzed based on research hypotheses using standard deviation and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results with the obtained confidence of p<%5 indicates that: Professional athletes have less depression than non-professional athletes and this suggests that the mental health of professional athletes is significantly better than the non-professional athletes. Key words: depression, athlete, professional, non-professional Introduction Sports Psychology is one of the special issues in psychology and studies the subjects such as personality, psychological social factors, motivation, anxiety control, self-esteem, depression and other mental skills that affect reading and learning skills. The study of motor behavior in sport and physical activities, effective psychological factors, the quality of early experiences of motor behavior influencing the mental factors, are issues that are considered in sports psychology. Several studies have shown that exercise in addition to being a valuable tool for maintaining fitness are closely related to mental health, particularly the prevention of mental disorders. Exercise, especially in childhood and adolescence is used to free up energy and would be enjoyable and relaxing. Participation in sports activities helps people to be more sociable, obtain skills and competence, become friendlier and have healthy relationships with others. Depression is one of the common problems in today's society. (Kessler et al, 1994). Clinical depression has affected 2 to 5 percent of Americans. (Wissmann and Klerman 1992). In some developed countries, the figure is 5 to 10 percent of the total population (Keaton and Shulberg, 1992). 6 to 8 percent of patients referred to physicians have clinical depression. Depression is costly for the social welfare system. (Simon et al, 1995). Depressed people use insurance 1.5 times more than the others and the medical costs of those depressed people who are treated with antidepressants is three times more than the others. (Hill, 1996). Currently, the reference method for the treatment of depression is drug therapy, although psychotherapy Corresponding Author hadi.goreki@ymail.com 1161 Page

2 and electroshock therapy are also used (Mather, quoted landers and Arendt, 2000). The use of drugs, electric shock and weekly sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy or psychotherapy are very costly and its supply does not often match with demand. In the treatment plan of depression effective and affordable treatments that have no negative side effects, should be considered. (Hill and Travis, 1987; Martnis 1990 and 1987). Physical exercise is recommended as an alternative method or a method which is implemented with other methods. In this study, the researcher is looking for the issue of whether exercise can reduce depression or not? Literature Review MahvashNourbakhsh (2004) studied the effect of aerobic exercise on depression (75 subjects from Ahwaz University), who gained scored between 15 and 40, in three groups of aerobic, swim and control. The subjects of aerobic and swim groups participated in the exercise for three times per week for six weeks (collectively eighteen sessions). Results showed that at the end of the training period, depression score of the aerobic group was significantly differed from the control group. (Kraft and landers, 1998). They found that physical exercise reduces depression more than relaxation or engaging in enjoyable activities, but does not vary with the effects of psychotherapy. The effect of exercise was equal to the effect of psychotherapy, behavioral interventions and social contact and both of them reduced depression (Kraft and landers, 1998). The physical exercise had its most effect of when it was done with individual psychotherapy or drug therapy. However, these effects were significantly greater than the effects of exercise, and in some cases, treatment methods that have been used in this research have not been the best types of therapy for depressed patients. A study in Finland showed that those people who exercise at least 2 or 3 times a week are significantly less depressed and angry, have less stress and distrust compared to those who do not exercise at all. They also have a better understanding of health and hygiene and a high level of sense of belonging and a stronger social connection. Finally, there is a strong relationship between the psychological well being and regular exercises. Exercise reduces the symptoms of anxiety and depression and improves the sense of well-being. Even a single session of aerobic and anaerobic exercise can have positive effects on fatigue and nervousness. 9 weeks of aerobic exercise and three times per week for 20 minutes reduced depression and increased the coping mechanisms of depressed women. Psychological stress of female athlete employees was significantly lower than non-athletic employees. The average of athlete students depression was significantly less than non-athlete students Exercise will reduce stress and depression in the workplace. Research Hypothesis There is a significant difference between the depressions of professional and non- professional athletes. Methods of data analysis 90 male athletes with an average age of ±22.5years in Mahabad (45 professionals and 45 nonprofessionals) who were working in the fields of ping pong, wrestling and bodybuilding were selected by stratified random sampling. For data collection, the researcher referred to sports clubs and coordinated to attend training and athletic competitions. Selected athletes engaged in sports and competitions of this city. Then the researcher attended in the exercise field, presented the necessary information and distributed the Beck depression questionnaire to the athletes. It is important to note that the questionnaire was distributed and collected by one person in a certain time of exercise and competition among the subjects to make the same condition for all subjects for data analysis, descriptive statistics (mean ± SD) and analysis (ANOVA), SPSS statistical software has been used Page

3 Research Findings Table 1: Descriptive statistics related to the depression of professional and non- professional athletes Depression rate athlete number mean Standard deviation professional non- professional Depression rate Homogeneity of variances Nonhomogeneity of variances Table 2: Independent t-tests of the hypothesis F Sig T Degrees of freedom Significa Mean nce level difference Standard error of the mean Table 3: Frequency of subjects with depression divided into professional and non- professional athletes Group Status of depression Frequency Percent Normal 0 0 professional athletes A little depressed Need to consult with a psychiatrist2 4.4 Relatively depressed Normal A little depressed professional athletes Need to consult with a psychiatrist3 6.7 Relatively depressed The results in Table 3 indicated that 93/3 % of professional athletes had a normal mood, while 53/3 % of non- professional athletes had a normal mood. Therefore it can be said according to the results that a greater percentage of non- professional athletes had depression than professional athletes. The score mean of depression in professional athletes (5/155± 5/53) was less than non- professional athletes (10/40±5/96) and this difference was statistically significant. Statistics Depression Table 4: one way ANOVA of depression rate in athletes sum of squares D f mean square statisticsf Sign 1163 Page

4 Between groups Intergroup Table 4: Given the obtained significant level (sig =0/000), in ANOVA table with a significance level of less than 0/05, the null hypothesis is rejected. In other words, with the confidence level of 0/95 it can be argued that the above mentioned hypothesis is statistically significant at the level of 0/05. Figure 1: Percentage of depression rate in professional and non-professional athletes Figure 2: Percentage distribution of athletes (professional and non- professional) Conclusion The results of the present study showed that there is an inverse and significant relationship between the level of professionalism and the depression in athletes. In other words, the increased level of professionalism reduces the depression of athletes. Also according to the results of the depression scores it can be said that the depression level is at a low level for professional athletes. The results show that there is a relationship between the professionalism and sport experience in reducing the depression of athletes regardless of their nationality and culture. The test results also confirm the hypothesis. To assess 1164 Page

5 the relationship between the two variables, independent test was used for data correlation. Results of hypothesis testing showed that there is a significant relationship between the two variables with the confidence of over 95% and it indicates the inverse relationship between the levels of professionalism and depression. In other words, increasing the professionalism of the individual reduces the depression, thus it can be said that the research hypothesis is confirmed. According to psychologists, exercise is the best, the most convenient and low cost with minimal side effects way to suggest and can be considered as one of the ways to prevent and even treat mild depression. References Asci FH. The Effects of physical fitness training on trait anxiety and physical self-concept of female university student. J Psychol Sport Exercise 2003; 4(2): Dunn AL, Trivedi MH, Kampert JB, Clark CG, Chambliss HO. Exercise treatment for depression efficacy and dose response. American J of Preventive Medicine 2005; 28(1):1-8 Esfahani N. The effect of sport activities on mental health, body, anxiety, sleep disorder, disorder in social efficiency and depression among alzahra university students. J Harekat 2002; 10 (5): [Persian] Hasty S. Gender studies: obesity Increases risks of depression & suicide in women, decreases risks in womans health weekly. [Cited 2000 feb 26]. Available from: Kaviyani H. Study of validity and reliability of hospital scale on anxiety and deprission(hads) general health questionnaire (GHQ28) mood adjectives checklist and Beck deprission inventory in clinical and nonclinical Reseaech Report, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, RoozbehHospita; [Persian] Moharamzadeh, Mehrdad, (1384), "Psycho-social Foundations in Physical Education Tehran:" PNU Nourbakhsh, Mahvash. (1383), "The effect of physical activity on depression martyr Chamran University Girls" Volume 21, Number 21 Pahlavanzadeh S, PakPour M, Nassiri M. Depression in athlete and nonathlete students of Isfahan.BehavioralSci Res J 2006; 3 (1): [Persian] -Razavi MH. The effect of physical and psychological pressures on employer women. J Olympic 2003;22: [Persian]8-Pahlavanzadeh S, PakPour M, Nassiri M. Depression in athlete and nonathlete students of Isfahan.BehavioralSci Res J 2006; 3 (1): [Persian] VaezMousavi, Seyed Mohammad Kazem. Mosayebi, Fath Allah (1386). "Sport Psychology" Tehran, Samt 1165 Page