Walking and jogging, yoga and strength training are effective treatments for depression, according to a study published by the British Medical Journal. While low-intensity exercise is helpful, more vigorous activity tends to bring even greater benefits, the study found. The World Health Organization says approximately 300 million people globally have depression. Major depressive disorder is the principal cause of disability worldwide, and has been found to lower life satisfaction more than debt, divorce and diabetes, the report said.
Exercise, along with psychotherapy and drugs, have been recommended as “core treatments” for depression, but guidelines remain unclear on how best to prescribe exercise to treat it. The researchers reviewed 218 relevant trials involving 14,170 participants with depression. Each trial was assessed for bias and the type, intensity and frequency of exercise was recorded.
Walking or jogging were found to be effective for both men and women. While younger people and women reaped the most benefits from strength training, yoga was more effective for men, as well as older adults.
In a linked editorial, Juan Ángel Bellón from the University of Malaga pointed out that regular exercise can prove challenging for people with depression, as they often experience symptoms of fatigue and low energy. Health services “should provide enough resources to make individualised and supervised exercise programmes accessible to the entire population,” he wrote.
Authors of the BMJ study acknowledge the quality of evidence is low and studies monitoring participants for a year or more were limited. They also noted that many patients may also have physical, psychological, or social barriers to participation.
Globally, depression affects an estimated 300 million individuals, according to the World Health Organization. Exercise is frequently advised in addition to psychotherapy and medication, although there is disagreement among treatment guidelines and prior data assessments regarding the most effective way to prescribe exercise for depression.