- Replacing 30 minutes of social media use per day with physical activity can improve emotional well-being and reduce stress, German researchers say.
- The benefits of exercise persisted up to 6 months after the study ended.
- Participants who reduced their social media use and exercised more experienced greater happiness and less stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Reduced use of social media was also correlated with lower tobacco use.
Social media usage skyrocketed with COVID-19 lockdowns and contact restrictions. Millions turned to Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and other platforms to escape feelings of isolation, anxiety, and hopelessness.
Nevertheless, excessive screen time it has led to addictive behaviors, stronger emotional attachment to social media, and deeper mental anguish for many people.
Researchers of the Ruhr-Universitätt in Bochum, Germany, investigated the effects of reducing social media use (SMU) and increasing physical activity, or both, on emotional well-being and tobacco use.
Julia Brailos vskaiaPh.D., an assistant professor at the university’s Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, led the two-week experiment.
Brailosvskaia and her team noted that the interventions they suggested may have helped improve participants’ life satisfaction. At a 6-month follow-up, subjects continued to report spending less time on social media, maintaining physical activityfeel happier and smoke fewer cigarettes.
the Journal of Public Health recently published these findings.
The study authors noted that mental health “consists of two interrelated but separate dimensions: positive and negative.”
Using this paradigm, they hypothesized that the positive dimension of their intervention would “increase life satisfaction and subjective happiness.” The negative dimension would decrease “the symptoms of depression and the addictive tendencies of SMU”.
Today’s medical news discussed this study with Dr.yesHeldedon Zablow, author and nutritional psychiatrist. He was not involved in the investigation.
When asked about the effects of social media on mental health, Dr. Zablow stated:
“If the activities interfere with basic age-appropriate habitual milestones of economic self-sufficiency, socialization, or health maintenance, then they are detrimental. The activities could be alcohol use, substance use, dietary choices, exercise choices, or entertainment choices, specifically social media.”
Dr. Zablow warned that excessive use of social media weakens interpersonal social bonds, which can negatively impact mental health.
MNT also spoke with Dr. David A. Merrill, adult and geriatric psychiatrist and director of the Pacific Brain Health Center at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, regarding this study. She was not involved in the investigation.
Dr. Merrill argued that the term social media is a “misnomer that is almost like bait and switch,” designed “to increase user engagement.”
Too much use of social media, he said, “could end up exacerbating” mental problems for people with behavioral health problems or addictive vulnerabilities.
“There’s the brain reward system that you get when you click, scroll, or keep using social media,” Dr. Merrill said.
“I think [that the authors are] causally demonstrating that both must be aware of the need to limit the reassuring aspect of social media use, and must also have alternativesso you need to have some other way to bring joy into your life, and especially during the pandemic.”
As a psychiatrist, Dr. Zablow emphasized that “the essential part of any recommended treatment program is exercise. Psychotherapy and, when indicated, medication, will not work well if a person does not exercise.”
Dr. Zablow added that exercise increases the production of neurotransmittersthe “natural antidepressants and anti-anxiety molecules” of the brain.
Consequently, more exercise can improve mental health, while less activity due to excessive use of social networks can reduce healthy brain chemistry.
Dr. Brailosvskaia and colleagues reasoned that a “conscious and controlled reduction in time spent in SMU, as well as an increase in time spent in physical activity, could causally reduce negative effects.” mental health consequences of the COVID-19 situation. They also believed that the combination of both interventions could amplify this effect.
The professor mentioned that the methods can be easily adapted to everyday life with little cost, effort, or risk of violating COVID-19 protocols.
In addition, the scientists hoped that their experiment would reduce the stress caused by COVID-19 and decrease smoking.
The researchers recruited 642 healthy adult social media users and placed them into 4 experimental groups.
The social network (SM) group had 162 people, the physical activity (PA) group 161, a combined group of 159, and a control group of 160.
Over 2 weeks, the SM subjects reduced their daily SMU time by 30 minutes and the PA group increased their daily physical activity by 30 minutes. The combination group applied both interventions, while the control did not change their behaviors.
Following the recommendations of the World Health Organization physical activity recommendations for adults, the first three groups increased their exercise time by 30 minutes.
Participants completed online surveys and “daily compliance” diaries at the start of the trial, 1 week later, and after the 2-week period. They also sent follow-up surveys at 1, 3, and 6 months after the experiment.
Dr. Brailosvskaia and her team concluded that their interventions helped people decrease the time they spend with MS.
Even 6 months after the experiment, “participants had reduced their initial daily SM time by about 37 minutes in the SM group, about 33 minutes in the PA group, and about 46 minutes in the combined group.”
Additionally, participants reported having a decreased emotional attachment to social media.
All interventions also encouraged increased physical activity. “Six months later, our participants improved their baseline weekly physical activity time by 26 minutes in the SM group, by 40 minutes in the PA group, and by 1 hour and 39 minutes in the combined group,” the authors wrote.
Even the control group increased their activity within 20 minutes.
Dr. Merrill was impressed with the study’s “surprising findings with the combination of reducing social media with increasing physical activity.” He agreed with the notion that SMU restrictions need a complementary activity that brings joy or a sense of accomplishment.
According to the study authors, the “experimental longitudinal design” of their current investigation allowed them to establish causality.
However, the study population lacked diversity. All participants were young, female, German, Caucasian, and highly educated.
Dr. Merrill felt that while it would be “interesting” to replicate this research in the United States with a more diverse group, the results would likely be similar.
The study did not consider which form of EMS the subjects used or specify what type of physical activity the participants engaged in. The researchers hope that future work will focus more on these factors.
Dr. Brailosvskaia’s research suggests that modest changes in SMU and physical activity could help protect and improve mental health in convenient and affordable ways.
The professor and her team recognize how SMU can minimize isolation and help spread information.
“From time to time, it is important to consciously limit online accessibility and return to human roots: […] a physically active lifestyle, to stay happy and healthy in the digital age,” the researchers wrote.
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