A new research from the Columbia University shows an association between exercising habits and violence related behavior in young girls, reports Medical Xpress.
Physical exercise is beneficial for a healthy life and it helps fight several diseases including obesity and depression. Researchers have now found another beneficiary factor, it can help in preventing one from getting involved in any kind of violent behavior. The study looked at data from a 2008 survey answered by 1,313 inter-city high school students in New York. The survey showed that the questions answered by the students included 56 percent girls, 19 percent blacks and nearly three-quarters were Latino. Students had answered questions about their exercising habits and involvement in any kind of violent behavior in the past.
"Violence in neighborhoods spans the entire length of this country and disproportionately affects the poor and racial and ethnic minorities. It results in significant losses to victims, perpetrators, families and communities and costs our country billions of dollars," said lead author Noe D. Romo, MD, primary care research fellow in community health in the Department of Child and Adolescent Health at Columbia University, New York. "There is a need for innovative methods to identify potential interventions to address this issue and lessen the burden it is having on our society."
The questionnaire that was answered by the students as part of the survey included their exercising habits, as how many sit-ups they did and the time spent on the longest run in the last four weeks. Students had also answered if they were a part of any organized sports in the past year.
Besides the exercising habits, students were asked if they carried any weapon in the past month or if they were a part of any violence or a gang in the past year.
According to the study results, females who said they exercised regularly were less likely to be involved in any violent behavior. Based on the type of exercises the female students performed, the study listed the possibilities of staying out of violent behavior.
The study showed that females who exercised 10 or more days in the previous month were less likely to be involved in a gang. Those females who did more than 20 sit-ups in the last four weeks stayed out of any violent gang and did not carry a weapon. Also, females who said they ran more than 20 minutes the last time, did not carry a weapon and those being a part of any organized sports in the past year were less likely to be a part of any gang, being in a fight, or even carrying a weapon.
However, the results varied with male students involved in the survey. Exercise among males did not show any decrease in violent behavior. Dr. Romo said that the possibility might be because most of the males did not answer all the questions that were asked in the survey, which limited the results of this study.
"This study is only a start," concluded Dr. Romo, who also is at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. "It suggests a potential relationship between regular exercise and decreased involvement in violent behavior. Further studies are needed to confirm this association and to evaluate whether exercise interventions in inner-city neighborhoods can decrease youths' involvement in violence-related behavior."
The study was presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, Monday 6 May, 2013.
