Those who met the recommended level of physical activity per week had a 25% lower risk for depression, according to a new meta-analysis. Based on their data, the researchers write that 1 out of every 9 cases of depression could be prevented by exercise.
Even a little bit of exercise helps, the researchers write, because those who met half the recommended level of physical activity per week still had an 18% lower risk for depression.
The study was conducted by an international team of researchers and published in the top-tier psychiatry journal JAMA Psychiatry. The authors write:
âThis systematic review and meta-analysis of associations between physical activity and depression suggests significant mental health benefits from being physically active, even at levels below the public health recommendations.â
The study was a meta-analysis, combining the data from 15 previous studies on exercise and depression. In total, their data included 191,130 participants from various countries.
The studies included several years of follow-up, so the researchers could determine the level of physical activity before the depression diagnosisâwhich helps clarify whether exercise has a causal role to play.
Specifically, they found that âan activity volume equivalent to 2.5 hours of brisk walking per week was associated with 25% lower risk of depression, and at half that dose, risk was 18% lower compared with no activity. Only minor additional benefits were observed at higher activity levels.â
That is, more exercise and more vigorous exercise may be unnecessary for this particular benefit. Just a couple of hours of walking per week appears sufficient to prevent depression in some cases.
Physical activity has also been found to be effective as a treatment for depression. For instance, one study found that those who were randomly assigned to exercise had the same level of improvement at four months, and lower relapse rates at ten months, as those who took antidepressants. According to another study, the combination of exercise and meditation may be particularly helpful.
A study on older adults also found that physical activity helped prevent depression. That same benefit was also found in a study involving children.
And in a 2016 meta-analysis, other researchers found that exercise met the criteria to be considered an evidence-based treatment for depression. In fact, the UKâs NICE guidelines for the treatment of less severe depression recommend exercise after cognitive behavioral therapy but before the use of antidepressants (in fact, those guidelines explicitly note that antidepressants should not be routinely used for less severe depression).
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Pearce, M., Garcia, L., Abbas, A., Strain, T., Schuch, F. B., Golubic, R., . . . & Woodcock, J. (2022). Association between physical activity and risk of depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 79(6), 550-559. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0609 (Link)
Clinical Depression is caused by the Mental Health System. It is not worth worrying about.
What we need is a method for running off all the Psychology Journalists.
Joshua
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Depression isn’t a ‘mental illness’ or caused by a ‘chemical imbalance’. But there is an imbalance.
Depression makes you feel ‘down’. Exercise makes you feel ‘up’.
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Isn’t it a shame that the title can’t just read, “Exercise makes people feel better!” Why do we have to talk about “lower risk for depression?” How about “Better chance of enjoying your life?”
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YES!
Joshua
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Thank you, Peter, for helping to educate “mental health professionals” about the benefits of exercise. I know they need to be educated regarding this because my “mental health” workers not only told me to quit exercising, but also “quit all your activities and concentrate on the meds.”
I’m quite certain ignoring this bad advice was part of what allowed me to escape the insanity of the “mental health” system. Let’s hope and pray these “mental health professionals” will garner insight into common sense health basics some day.
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I smell a rat.
All the ill psychotic traumatized people will be marched off to factories to get excercise “cures”.
If running a mile on an LSD trip does not stop hallucinations then I doubt it would stop my schizophrenia. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and autism and depression are NOT laziness. I can see how they will be made out to be, now they are not deemed illness.
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