Exploring the role of sedentary behavior and physical activity in depression and anxiety symptom severity among patients with substance use disorders

Research has consistently shown that regular physical activity may protect against the development and maintenance of depression and anxiety, whereas sedentary behavior may exacerbate depression and anxiety. However, much of the past research in this area has focused on non-clinical populations. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine the relations of physical activity and sedentary behavior to depression and anxiety symptom severity among an understudied patient population, patients in residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. This study also sought to determine the extent to which physical activity and sedentary behavior relate to depression and anxiety symptom severity above and beyond an established transdiagnostic risk factor for depression and anxiety, emotion dysregulation. A sample of 41 patients from a residential SUD treatment facility completed a variety of self-report measures focused on physical activity, sedentary behavior, emotion dysregulation, and depression and anxiety symptom severity. Physical activity, but not sedentary behavior, was found to significantly predict depression symptom severity above and beyond emotion dysregulation. Physical activity and sedentary behavior did not significantly predict anxiety symptom severity above and beyond emotion dysregulation. In addition to providing additional support for the relevance of emotion dysregulation to depression and anxiety symptom severity, results suggest that physical activity may be another factor to consider in evaluating risk for depression among patients with SUDs. Although additional research in this area is warranted, results also suggest the potential utility of targeting physical activity in reducing risk for depression among patients with SUDs.