New research shows that small lifestyle changes are linked to changes in adolescent mental health

Judging by recent headlines and policy ideas, you might think that screen time is the only lifestyle factor that affects adolescent well-being.

But for young people struggling to deal with a growing number of mental health issues, it’s important that we don’t take tunnel vision and instead remember all the lifestyle levers.

Our research, published today, followed Australian high school students from 71 schools in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. Improvements in sleep, fruit and vegetable consumption, and exercise over time were associated with small but significant improvements in mental health.

The opposite was true for unhealthy behaviors such as screen time, junk food, alcohol, and smoking.

A holistic approach to adolescent lifestyles

A new study of more than 4,400 Australian high school students looks at a range of lifestyle behaviors: sleep, moderate to vigorous physical activity, sedentary (passive) screen time, fruit and vegetable consumption, junk food, sugary drinks, and alcohol consumption. consumption and smoking.

First, we asked 7th graders (students aged 12–13) to report their levels of these lifestyle behaviors and to rate their psychological distress (a general indicator of mental illness) using a well-known measure.

We then examined how changes in each lifestyle behavior between years 7 and 10 (ages 15–16) were associated with levels of psychological distress at year 10. Importantly, we calculated participant rates of reported psychological distress at year 7. In the 7th year, their lifestyle rituals. This means that regardless of where people start, they can see average benefits associated with behavior change.

Our study showed that increases in healthy behaviors over time were associated with lower levels of psychological distress. Conversely, increases in health risk behaviors were associated with higher psychological distress.

How much difference?

Looking at changes over an average period of 7 to 10 years, each additional hour of nighttime sleep was associated with a 9% reduction in psychological distress.

Each additional day of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week was associated with a 3% reduction in psychological distress. Each additional serving of fruit or vegetable daily reduces depression by 4%.

In contrast, each additional hour of screen time was associated with a 2% increase in psychological distress, and each unit increase in consumption of junk food and sugary drinks.

Because drinking and smoking are rare in adolescence, we only examined whether drinking or smoking had occurred in the past six months. We saw a 17% increase in psychological distress from non-drinking at year 7 to drinking at year 10. Switching from never smoking to smoking was associated with a 36% increase in psychological distress.

It is important to note that our study cannot definitively say that changes in lifestyle behaviors led to changes in depression. This study also fails to account for changes in student family life and relationships. A baseline survey in 2019 and a 10-year survey in 2022 also include the potential impact of COVID.

However, our longitudinal design (following the same subjects over time) and the structure of our analysis help to show relationships over time.

Although smoking was not measured in our study, evidence suggests that smoking is clearly associated with adolescent mental health.

What does this mean for teens and parents?

These national behavioral guidelines define aspirational goals based on optimal health goals. But exercise guidelines and dietary guidelines may seem out of reach for many teenagers. In fact, most of our study participants did not meet the guidelines for physical activity, sleep, screen time, and vegetable consumption at year 10.

Our research shows that healthy lifestyle changes are all or nothing.

Even relatively small changes—getting an hour of sleep each night, eating one serving of fruits and vegetables each day, reducing screen time by one hour, doing moderate-intensity physical activity one day a week, etc. associated with improved mental health. And making changes in many areas will make you feel better.

Parents play a key role in shaping lifestyle (even into adolescence!). Cost and time can be barriers, but anything parents can do within their means is a step in the right direction.

For example, modeling healthy social media use, making affordable changes to your grocery store to improve nutritional content, or even adjusting your bedtime routine. Parents can also gather information so that young people can make positive choices about alcohol, tobacco and other substance use.

Bigger picture

Lifestyle changes can help improve teen mental health, but they’re only one part of the puzzle. We can’t put the burden of solving youth mental health crises solely on youth lifestyles. There is much to be done at school, community and policy levels to create a society that supports youth mental health.

Young people struggling with mental health may need professional help, and parents and carers can support them in reaching out. Teens or young adults can contact ReachOut or Kids Helpline directly for resources and support.