You’ve heard it before: Exercise gives you more energy.
But what if you’re exhausted from a long day of sitting on your duff?
Health professionals encourage regular exercise to prevent or improve symptoms of conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, but the scientific evidence on whether exercise increases or reduces fatigue had never been reviewed quantitatively. (Scientists) analyzed 70 randomized, controlled trials that enrolled a total of 6,807 subjects. They found strong support for the role of exercise in reducing fatigue.
“More than 90 percent of the studies showed the same thing: Sedentary people who completed a regular exercise program reported improved fatigue compared to groups that did not exercise,” said Patrick O’Connor, co-director of the University of Georgia exercise psychology laboratory. “It’s a very consistent effect.”
The study, published in the November issue of the journal Psychological Bulletin, quantified the magnitude of the effect of exercise and found that it was stronger than the treatment of fatigued people with drugs such as the narcolepsy drug modafinil.
So there you have it. It’s tempting to slug Diet Coke instead, but now we know better. Read the University of Georgia’s press release on the study here.