New research suggests that exercising for four or more days can modestly reduce sadness and suicidality in bullied adolescents.

Researchers found that physical activity reduced both suicide ideation and attempt in bullied adolescents in the United States by 23 percent.

Across the U.S., nearly 20 percent of students report being bullied on school property. Bullying is associated with academic struggle, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and self-harm. Exercise has been widely reported to have robust positive effects on mental health including reduction in depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 13,500 adolescents in grades nine to 12 to examine the relationship between exercise frequency, sadness, and suicidal ideation and attempt.

They found that overall 30 percent of students reported sadness for two or more weeks in the previous year, 22.2 and 8.2 percent reported suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt in the same time period. Bullied students were twice as likely to report sadness, and three times as likely to report suicidal ideation or attempt when compared to peers who were not bullied. Exercise on four or more days per week was associated with significant reductions in sadness, suicidal ideation, and suicidal attempt in all students.

Based on these results, the authors concluded that exercise may represent a safe, economical, and potentially highly effective option in the response to bullying in schools. Bullying is a severe and growing public health burden with consequences reported across the life span.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.