A review of 14 studies from mainland China found that exercise cut internet addiction symptoms in college students. Together the studies presented 19 experimental trials and covered 760 students with internet addiction or a similar problem such as smartphone addiction. The paper appeared in Addictive Behaviors.
The authors, led by Yan Yan, searched six databases of published research: Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI and Wan Fang. The first sweep turned up 3,102 results. Only 14 studies were randomized controlled trials that compared an intervention with no intervention, as the team required.
What the students did
Programs lasted from 4 to 18 weeks. Students trained two to five times a week at moderate intensity, and sessions ran 50 to 120 minutes. Control groups carried on as usual.
The team sorted the exercise into three types. Open motor skills mean reacting to a changing environment, as in basketball or soccer. Closed motor skills are repetitive movements in a stable setting, such as running, swimming or weightlifting. The third type combined both.
Results
Exercise had strong effects on addiction symptoms. It also brought significant drops in anxiety, loneliness, stress and feelings of inadequacy, and overall mental health improved. Fatigue and depressive symptoms fell by a moderate amount.
“This current review demonstrated that exercise-based interventions can effectively reduce the level of Internet addiction and improve the psychological symptoms of college students with Internet addiction,” the authors concluded. They found open motor skill exercise and the combination of open and closed skills worked best.
There are limits. Every study came from China, so results for other cultural groups, or for people who are not students, might differ. The individual studies also produced quite varied results.
Internet addiction is defined in the paper as a compulsive need to use the internet excessively, with negative effects on daily life, relationships and mental health. It can involve social media, gaming, online shopping or endless browsing. People with it struggle to control their time online, which can lead to neglected responsibilities, poor sleep and emotional distress. The paper is titled “Effects of exercise interventions on Internet addiction among college students: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials”. Its authors are Yan Yan, Xiangrong Qin, Liangru Liu, Weiyang Zhang and Bowen Li.
