ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2020
A Scoping Review of the Relationship between Running and Mental Health.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Within-person association between affect and physical activity related to depressive symptomatology: A systematic review and methodological reflections.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2025Pooled it
- Mental Health in Ultra-Endurance Runners: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of Sand-Based Plyometric-Jump Training in Combination with Endurance Running on Outdoor or Treadmill Surface on Physical Fitness in Young Adult Males.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2022Trial
- Effects of six weeks outdoorPeerJ · 2022Trial
- Article
- What Can the Running Body Do? The Running Machine's Affective Possibilities and the Limits of Language.Journal of sport and social issues · 2025Article
- Assessing the role of physical activity in shaping students' academic motivation: the mediating role of mental health.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Foot Posture Characteristics and Bilateral Load Distribution in African Male Recreational Runners: Insights from Foot Posture Index and 3D Scanning.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- 'The right advice': a qualitative study examining enablers and barriers to recreational running and beliefs about knee health following knee surgery.British journal of sports medicine · 2025Article
- Affective Responses to Barbell-Based Resistance Training in a 16-Week Barbell-Based Strength Training Program for Recreationally Active Adults.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Runnability: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Using Self-Reported Training Characteristics to Better Understand Who Is More Likely to Sustain Running-Related Injuries Than Others: The Garmin-RUNSAFE Running Health Study.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2025Article
- Alterations in pelvic kinematics with speed, incline, and fatigue in female runners.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Pressure-pain thresholds of the plantar foot reflect relative tissue thickness and are systematically higher in active runners than non-runners.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- The effect of running experience and speed on local dynamic stability in running.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Psychological Assessment and Intervention at the Boston Marathon.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Review
- Relationship Between Training Frequency and Training Session Duration on Vitality in Recreational Runners: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- Building running-friendly cities: effects of streetscapes on running using 9.73 million fitness tracker data in Shanghai, China.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Epidemiology of Bone-Stress Injuries and Health Care Use in Pac-12 Cross-Country Athletes.Journal of athletic training · 2024Article
- Effects of physical fitness on mental health of Chinese college students: across-sectional study.BMC public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Poor mental health contributes significantly to global morbidity. The evidence regarding physical benefits of running are well-established. However, the mental health impacts of running remain unclear. An overview of the relationship between running and mental health has not been published in the last 30 years. The purpose of this study was to review the literature on the relationship between running and mental health. Our scoping review used combinations of running terms (e.g., Run* and Jog*) and mental health terms (general and condition specific). Databases used were Ovid(Medline), Ovid(Embase), ProQuest and SportDiscus. Quantitative study types reporting on the relationships between running and mental health were included. Database searches identified 16,401 studies; 273 full-texts were analysed with 116 studies included. Overall, studies suggest that running bouts of variable lengths and intensities, and running interventions can improve mood and mental health and that the type of running can lead to differential effects. However, lack of controls and diversity in participant demographics are limitations that need to be addressed. Cross-sectional evidence shows not only a range of associations with mental health but also some associations with adverse mental health (such as exercise addiction). This review identified extensive literature on the relationship between running and mental health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.