New research suggest that being a gym addict is about a healthy as being a couch potato.
According to the new study, teenagers who exercise too much are just as likely as their peers to have low self-esteem, anxiety and stress as those who would prefer to play video games. People who do more than 17.5 hours of exercise a week have the same ‘wellbeing’ levels as those who do less than 3.5 hours of exercise a week.
As you probably know, regular exercise does have a positive impact on mental and physical wellbeing, because it reduces stress and anxiety and also boosting self-esteem and brain power.
The study revealed exercise nuts were a minority, at just five per cent of the population, while a third admitted to either just lying around or only managing 3.5 hours of weekly exercise.
In conclusion, the researchers said that while doubling the recommended weekly time spent playing sports to 14 hours seems to be good for mental and physical health at this age, going beyond this appears to have a negative impact on health and overall well being.
