As well as reducing alcohol dependence, exercise may also improve alcoholics' mental and physical health

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-10-31 05:00

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For patients with alcohol use disorder, exercise not only reduces alcohol dependence, but also improves mental and physical health, according to Chinese scientists. They brought together and re-analysed the results of 17 previous 'gold standard' trials of exercise interventions for alcoholics, and say they found exercise helped patients cut how much they were drinking daily and improved scores on a test designed to measure alcohol dependency (the alcohol use disorders identification test, or AUDIT) . Exercise also appeared to have a positive effect on patients' physical and mental health, including fitness levels, resting heart rate, depression, anxiety and stress levels, the experts say.

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Journal/
conference: PLOS ONE

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Xinjiang Normal University, China

Funder: This study was funded by a grant from the National Social Science Fund of China, 22BTY021, awarded to LZ.

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