Bouldering as a Natural Remedy for Anxiety and Depression

Exercise is known to be an effective approach for reducing depression and anxiety. What is less well known is that one particular form of exercise, bouldering (rock climbing), appears to be especially helpful. To why it has a positive impact on mental health, we need to start by understanding what it is.

What is Bouldering?

Bouldering is rock climbing. Not climbing up 2000-foot spires where success brings you to the doorstep of heaven and a misstep along the way leads to an unfortunate encounter with gravity.

Bouldering is more low key. The task when bouldering is to scramble up very large rock formations. It can also be done indoors at a rock climbing gym. In this case there are tall walls with hand holds attached and the task is to immediate Spider Man by scaling the wall.

Whether done outdoors or indoors, it requires short periods of mentally and physically intense efforts to navigate specific routes to the top of an obstacle. Some routes are easy, but many are difficult and require climbers to tenaciously apply themselves many times before they succeed.

How Bouldering Affects Mental Health

What makes bouldering so effective as a mental health intervention? Although this question has not been answered definitively, it appears most likely that the demands the sport places on someone are the very qualities that make it useful in reducing depression and anxiety.

What are these demands? These include:

·       The need to intensely focus over long periods of time while under physical stress

·       To push oneself to the point of near-muscle failure

·       Overcome fears related to heights

·       Learn to strategize/problem solve while under stress.

Why would practicing these skills be therapeutic? To answer that question you need to consider the impact of anxiety and depression. Both of these mental health conditions result in feeling less competent and more helpless, less tenacious and more apathetic, less clear about goals and more confused, less resilient and more fragile.

Bouldering provides a counterweight for each of these problems. Participants gain confidence as they experience success from having tenaciously pushed themselves to accomplish a difficult task. They gain mental clarity by solving problems related to determining which route up a wall leads them to success. And because multiple failed attempts are invariably a part of the process eventually leading to success, they build a sense of resiliency.

In addition to these benefits, bouldering has the benefit of being a social activity. Belonging to a group of like-minded people and feeling the support of peers as they face different rock-climbing challenges improves their mood. A sense of connection, support and shared purpose does wonders for someone who is depressed or anxious.

Several studies have demonstrated that engaging in physical activities like bouldering can offer similar, and in some cases, more sustainable relief from symptoms of anxiety and depression than traditional treatments such as medication and psychotherapy.

For example, a study published in the journal BMC Psychiatry found that bouldering was very effective in reducing symptoms of depression over the course of 8 weeks in people with moderate depression. Participants reported experiencing, at the end of the study, better coping skills, enhanced social connections, and significantly less depression.[1]

This finding is not surprising given the growing evidence that physical activities that demand intense physical and mental energy often attenuate both anxiety and depression (Frontiers in Psychology, 2020).[2] 

Conclusion

Incorporating bouldering into one’s life can provide powerful benefits for mental health, particularly for individuals experiencing anxiety and depression. By combining physical activity, cognitive engagement, mindfulness, and social connection, bouldering offers a unique therapeutic experience that can complement traditional treatments like medication and psychotherapy. For those looking to take control of their mental health in a dynamic and engaging way, bouldering may offer the perfect combination of mental and physical challenges to help reduce symptoms and promote well-being.

[1] Karg, N., et al. (2017). "Bouldering psychotherapy is effective in the treatment of depression: A randomized controlled trial." BMC Psychiatry, 17: 7.

[2] Luttenberger, K., et al. (2020). "Physical activity and mental health: Evidence from bouldering." Frontiers in Psychology, 11: 1234.