Scientific evidence: track day better for your mental health than gym session

Endorphins

It is common knowledge that exercising is not only good for your body, but also for your state of mind. Intensive exercise releases the substance ‘endorphins’, a substance that makes you feel more cheerful and relaxed. The more often you exercise, the better the production of endorphins gets going. But those who really want to be cheerful all day should get behind the wheel and hit the track. That’s according to a study by Loughborough University.

Abarth

The university teamed up with Italian automaker and tuner Abarth to investigate how driving on a track can affect an individual’s mood. Using various sensors, the research team looked at facial expressions and heart rate, and gave participants a medical watch and a questionnaire to assess their mood during a track ride as well as during a traditional workout session.

Positive emotional benefits

According to Dr. Dale Esliger, a professor at Loughborough University, the results clearly show which activity provides the most fun chemicals in the brain: “The preliminary figures suggest that both track and gym activities had positive emotional benefits, but in this case the excitement of track riding undoubtedly predominated in elevating the mood of the subjects.”

Co-driver

The study found that, on average, subjects were 59 percent happier after driving around a race track than after working out at a gym. Remarkably, the subjects became even happier by not getting behind the wheel. Being a co-driver alongside a professional driver made participants 77% happier than a workout consisting of cardio and strength training.

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