The February issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (MSSE) is available online now. ACSM members can access the journal for free – simply log in to the ACSM website and click “Access My Journals.”

MSSE Editor-in-Chief Andrew J. Young, Ph.D., FACSM offers his insights into the February issue:

“MSSE’s February issue features two articles addressing effects of physical activity on mental health. Seiverdes et al. report a study of over 9,500 adult men in which the prevalence of symptoms of mental depression decreased, as levels of leisure-time physical activity increased. The authors note that the reduction in the risk of depressive symptoms began accruing even at activity levels below those currently recommended for maintaining physical health. In the other article, Liu et al. report on the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and dementia mortality in a very large prospective cohort studied over an average duration of 17 years. This study, which was unique in that fitness was quantified using objectively measured indices, demonstrated that higher cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease mortality, vascular disease mortality, and total dementia mortality. Both studies indicate that meeting physical activity recommendations will not only produce physical health benefits, but may also help sustain mental health.

“MSSE has published many studies reporting the role of exercise and physical fitness for modulating mental health, but perhaps the first was by Morgan et al. [Psychological Effect of Chronic Physical Activity. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1970; 2(4):213-217] in which they reported that while exercise training did not produce a generalized reduction in symptoms of depression all men who completed a six-week exercise training program, those who began the training with significant depression did experience a reduction in symptoms. That early article is also featured for your review this month.

“Finally this month, MSSE also features a detailed analysis by Hopker et al. of the reliability of measuring gross efficiency during exercise using the Douglas bag technique for quantifying respiratory gas exchanges. The authors conclude that the classical method provides much greater reliability for measuring gross efficiency than computer-automated, metabolic cart systems, and they provide an excellent breakdown of the sources of error in the Douglas bag technique. However, Associate Editor Bruce Gladden points out in his editorial accompanying the Hopker et al. article, that the greater value of this work may be in reminding exercise scientists grown accustomed to using computerized metabolic carts, that they should be mindful of the need to establish accuracy and reliability of their methods for assessing gas exchange, and that the Douglas bag technique remains the gold standard for measuring steady-state respiratory gas exchange. I echo Dr. Gladden’s encouragement that students learn this classical technique to better appreciate the physiological principles of human respiratory gas exchange.”