More than 20 million adults in the U.S. experience depressive episodes each year. Among youth, the incidence of depression and anxiety has increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
The most common forms of treatment for depression are medications and talk therapy. But a large body of evidence demonstrates that exercise is also effective in treating depression. In fact, some data show that regular exercise is just as effective as medications and therapy in reducing the symptoms of depression.
Now researchers from Australia have created an umbrella review — which combines the information from other systematic reviews — regarding the link between exercise and depression. This is an important step in synthesizing the evidence on how exercise can address depression.
Not surprisingly, the new umbrella review, published in the British Journal of Sport Medicine, found that exercise is “highly beneficial for improving symptoms of depression, anxiety, and distress across a wide range of adults populations.”
The paper combined the data from 97 separate systematic reviews that looked at how exercise affects healthy adults, people with mental health disorders, and those with other chronic diseases.
Researchers found that people diagnosed with specific primary conditions — such as depression, HIV, and kidney disease — benefited the most from regular exercise. Pregnant and post-partum women also saw significant improvements in depressive symptoms with regular exercise. They also found that participants who engaged in higher intensity exercise experienced greater improvements in their symptoms.
The researchers found that over long durations of time, the effectiveness of physical activity interventions diminished; that is, those who engaged in regular exercise over the course of months or years saw some of their symptoms return.
Even so, it is clear that physical activity is an important tool in helping manage mental health, especially for people who have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder or chronic disease.
This new review adds to the mountains of evidence we have about the benefits of exercise. We already know that exercise helps kids perform better in school, lengthens your life, and helps to prevent dementia.
So what’s the best way to incorporate exercise into your daily life? We know that social support is a critical aspect to maintaining a regular exercise routine. Finding a friend to meet for a regular workout can help you to stick with it.
We also know you don’t have to exercise for very long to reap some benefits. Evidence shows that higher intensity exercise for shorter periods of time boosts your health and promotes mental health. (We’re talking about a total of 30 minutes of activity from start to finish including a warm-up, about 10 minutes of intense activity, and then a cool down and stretching.)
The take-home message: The evidence is crystal clear that exercise is good for your mental health.
