In a new study, researchers found that exercise (defined using daily step count) has a preventative effect on depression. Their findings confirm the results of many previous studies that found exercise to be both preventative and a powerful treatment for existing depression.
âThe results of our meta-analysis indicated that increasing the number of daily steps, even at modest levels, was associated with a reduction in depressive symptoms,â the researchers write. âThese results support a linear relationship.â
That is, the more steps you walk, the better the result. But even low levels of exercise showed a protective effect against depressionâeven a little exercise is better than nothing.
âThese findings suggest that an inclusive, comprehensive public health approach could contribute to preventing depression in adults,â the researchers write.
The study was led by Bruno Bizzozero-Peroni, Vicente MartĂnez-VizcaĂno, and Arthur Eumann Mesas at Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in Spain, and published in JAMA Network Open.
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Maybe the increasingly sedentary nature of modern âworkâ promotes depression. If people did the work nature requires to eat, wear clothes, and enjoy shelter, doing this work would provide enough exercise to keep them physically and mentally fit.
Maybe we can expect depression rates to rise as we become more sedentary.
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Exercise prevents depression, but depression prevents exercise. But the freedom of nature that all animals have prevents both depression and exercise. The proof is in the pudding people. Just see that you are domesticated like a dog or a farm animal, only it isn’t humans that domesticate – it’s the total living social consciousness of humanity which today is in a state of absolute crisis.
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Iâm not saying this is 100% BS. But my own depression and anxiety really became serious at a time when I was an extremely fit champion athlete.
I spent 90% of my time being active outdoors, either skiing in the Rocky Mountains, or working in the mountains in the off-season when I regularly walked 25 to 30 miles per day. You only have to Google âathletes that struggle with depressionâ to see that my own case was not at all the exception.
While exercising is certainly better than not, letâs not fool ourselves into thinking itâs yet another cure-all panacea. Especially if itâs just another way to put the burden of healing entirely on the individual rather than looking more closely at environmental and systemic factors.
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