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Hopkins Health
Leaner Means Happier
If you want to be happier, be thinner. That’s the message of a recent Hopkins study that found that older people who are more fit and have less body fat also have a better outlook on life than their less active, less lean counterparts.
After undergoing treadmill testing, muscle strength testing and body fat measurements, those who were more fit said they were less tired, less depressed, less angry, less tense and in an overall better mood than those who were less fit. By contrast, participants with higher percentages of body fat said they were more depressed, more angry, more tense and not as happy.
“We encourage all older people to increase their levels of fitness and maintain a healthy body weight not only for their physical health but also for their mental well-being,” says Kerry J. Stewart, Ed.D., director of cardiac rehabilitation and clinical exercise physiology at Johns Hopkins. “We showed that being more fit and having less fat also is associated with better mental health and mood.”
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