Causative..

Upping your physical activity level may lower your risk of developing neuropsychiatric diseases such as anxiety, depression and dementia, according to new preliminary research.

And the protection for your brain applies no matter how intense your exercise is, “highlighting the importance of regular movement in promoting mental health,” said lead study author Dr. Jia-Yi Wu, a researcher at Huashan Hospital at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

Researchers analyzed accelerometer data from more than 73,000 adults with an average age of 56 years old to compare their amount of physical activity with instances of neuropsychiatric diseases, according to the abstract published.  

The results have strengthened by the large sample size, the reliability of accelerometer data, and the large body of work supporting a strong connection between exercise and improved outcomes for conditions that affect the brain, said Dr. Scott Russo, Leon Levy Director of the Brain and Body Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. He was not involved in the research.

“In this case, there’s so much data, both correlative and causative … that I’m pretty confident,” Russo said.