Coming to Grips with Mental Health
When you think of grip strength, you think of the gym...or maybe even arm wrestling. Would it ever occur to you that grip strength could potentially be a key indicator of mental well being? Korean researchers sought out to investigate this intriguing link, which held the promise of expanding our approaches in mental health care.
The researchers utilized a longitudinal approach, and followed participants over many years to detect for relevant changes across variables of interest - grip strength & mental health. From then on, it was a straightforward examination for any significant link between the two.
A dynamometer was used to measure grip strength - a simple tool where you grip the handle as hard as you can. Mental well-being was captured by the MMSE (Mini Mental State Exam), which is a popular screening tool to determine cognition. The researchers also used the CESD (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), an ideal method for measuring depressive symptoms.
The scores of the MMSE & CESD were well correlated with grip strength measures. The MMSE was positively correlated with grip strength, while the CESD was negatively correlated. This paints a clear picture where increased grip strength relates well to increased cognition, and decreased mental illness.
With all the background literature suggesting that physical function is well related to mental function, it is not surprising to see grip strength being such a powerful indicator of mental well being.
Grip strength deserves some close clinical attention as yet another tool in the arsenal of approaches to combat mental illness. To pinpoint a specific dimension of physical fitness to mental well-being is a major step in figuring out which exercise methods are key to focus on.
This study raises awareness for the fact that more specific fitness variables should be studied, in order to uncover more specific mechanisms as to why fitness and exercise can be so effective in alleviating mental illness. Figuring out which parts of exercising are effective will allow us to optimize clinical approaches and better disseminate useful treatments.
Source:
Kim, J. (2019). Effect of grip strength on mental health. Journal of Affective Disorders, 245, 371-376. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2018.11.017
Comments