The Benefits of Exercise on Depression
Studies of the effect of physical activity on depression tend to have design limitations and inconsistent findings. The subject is important, though, because physical activity is already known to reduce rates of mortality, stroke, and some cancers. If physical activity also could reduce depressive symptoms, it would be an even better low-risk, low- or no-cost benefit to the greater population.
A current study from University College London (UCL) was structured to address previous studies’ design problems, and it found that being physically active three times a week reduces the odds of being depressed by approximately 19 percent.
“There is some evidence to suggest that activity can be used as a treatment for depression, but our study goes beyond examining the depressed group and suggests a benefit of activity to curb depressive symptoms in the general population,” says senior author Chris Power, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the UCL Institute of Child Health, in a press release. “If everyone was physically active at least three times a week we would expect to see a drop in depression risk, not to mention the benefits for physical health, as pointed out by other research, including reduced obesity, heart disease and diabetes risk.” The study was published online in JAMA Psychiatry on October 15, 2014.
The Study. The University College London study used data from the1958 British Birth Cohort, a record of all people born in Great Britain during a single week in March 1958. Study authors were able to isolate 11,135 people who had provided researchers with data on both their depression and physical activity at ages 23, 33, 42, and 50 years.
The researchers were curious to find out the effects of activity on depression as well as whether activity could prevent onset of the disease. Another endpoint was whether people with depressive symptoms might be less likely to engage in activity than the non-depressed.
Bidirectional Association. They found an association between physical activity and depression at each of the ages, and described this association as “bidirectional.” In other words, the more frequently people were active, the lower the number of depressive symptoms they had. Conversely, higher levels of depressive symptoms predicted less frequent physical activity. Exercising three times a week resulted in a 19 percent reduction in the odds of depression. The association of high depressive symptoms with less frequent physical activity was strongest in young adulthood (the 23-year-old group), and then diminished until it was no longer apparent in middle adulthood.
Even low levels of physical activity were protective against depression, the authors said, and recommended strategies to maintain and promote physical activity at all ages, including when depressive symptoms were a barrier to activity.
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