Poor fitness in young men tied to higher rates of depression, anxiety and ADHD, Tampere study finds

Tuomas Tenkanen, whose doctoral defence is scheduled for Friday 25 September, analysed nearly two decades of Finnish Defence Forces data and found poor physical fitness in young men is linked to higher rates of mental health diagnoses, Aamulehti reports.

Pandemic-era increases in weight and waist size have not fully reversed. By 2021 average weight was 0.7 kilograms higher and average waist circumference 0.4 centimetres larger than before the pandemic, while the share of men with excess waist circumference rose by 1.7 percentage points and abdominal obesity by 0.7.

Men who interrupted military service for mental health reasons performed worse on fitness tests. On average they ran about 170 metres less on the Cooper test than men who completed service.

Diagnoses linked to poorer fitness included depression, anxiety disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Military service tended to improve health measures. Average waist circumference fell by two centimetres and Cooper test results improved by about 60 metres, with the least fit showing the biggest gains, up to a 300-metre improvement and nearly eight centimetres reduced waist.

Tenkanen suggests adopting similar routines outside the armed forces, with more everyday physical activity, active school recesses and the option of paid exercise time at workplaces to help reverse the trend among young men.

The results echo a recent Tampere University study that showed BMI and lifestyle measures predicted middle-aged Finns' future disease risk better than commercial epigenetic 'biological age' tests.