Overwhelming evidence
It’s a fact: Exercise is an effective tool in preventing and treating depression. You don’t have to take our word for it: A literature review in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine combed through more than 26 years of research on physical activity, or PA, and its value in protecting against the onset of depression. The author, George Mammen, found that, “There is promising evidence that any level of PA, including low levels … can prevent future depression.” He concludes by saying, “From a population health perspective, promoting PA may serve as a valuable mental health promotion strategy in reducing the risk of developing depression.”
Exercise boosts important brain chemicals.
Exercise is thought to boost powerful brain chemicals, such as endorphins and neurotransmitters, which are linked to mood. For example, a 2016 imaging study from the University of California Davis Health System found that intense exercise increases levels of two common neurotransmitters — glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA — that are often depleted in major depressive disorder but return to normal when mental health is restored, says study lead author Dr. Richard Maddock. The brain consumes a lot of energy during exercise, Maddock says, “but nobody knows what happens with all that energy. Apparently, one of the things it’s doing is making more neurotransmitters.”
Exercise builds brain cells — and self-confidence.
Exercise may also mimic the action of antidepressants in helping the brain grow new neurons in an area of the brain linked to major depressive disorder, according to a study in the Journal of Psychiatry Neuroscience. And it helps those with depression build self-confidence. In his book “Keys to Unlocking Depression,” Michael D. Yapko writes that, “Depressed people generally have ‘low-frustration tolerance’ and tend to give up easily if things don’t improve right away when they expend some effort. Exercise is an area where the gains are clear and pretty rapid: You could only walk a block last week, and this week you’re walking several.”
Five other ways exercise helps.
The Mayo Clinic reports that regular exercise has many other psychological and emotional benefits, as well:
— Exercise can distract someone from the negativity that sometimes fuels depression.
— Exercise offers the opportunity to meet or socialize with other people. Social isolation is a risk factor for depression.
— Exercise is a healthy way to cope with anxiety or depression.
— Unhealthy behaviors like drinking alcohol, doing drugs or overeating only make depression worse.
— Exercise reduces immune system chemicals that can worsen depression.
— Exercise raises your body temperature, which helps calm the mind.
Which types of exercise work best?
“There hasn’t been any one form of exercise that has been shown to be significantly better than another,” Yapko writes. “Just about anything you can do that you feel good doing will make a helpful difference.” Whatever you choose, aerobic exercises that raise your heart and respiration rates seem to be the best, says Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and an assistant clinical professor at Harvard University Medical School. “You gotta get your heart pounding,” he says, to trigger the release of mood-enhancing endorphins. “It is pretty clear that if you do regular aerobic exercise, it can help mild to moderate depression.”
How much exercise is enough?
The Mammen study found that walking less than 150 minutes a week — or about 20 minutes a day — was beneficial. Another study, in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice, recommends a bit more than that to treat major depressive disorder, or MDD. It suggests that clocking three to five exercise sessions per week (45 to 60 minutes per session) is optimal. However, “these findings suggest that exercise doses below the current recommendations may still be beneficial for patients with MDD,” the authors state. Depression patients should “engage in at least some exercise, even if they do not exercise enough to meet current public health recommendations.”
“Activity” counts as exercise.
People sometimes think that only structured exercises like running, biking, swimming or playing tennis “count.” But, the Mayo Clinic says, “exercise includes a wide range of activities that boost your activity level to help you feel better.” Some mood-lifting physical activities to consider:
— Gardening.
— Washing the car.
— Vigorous cleaning.
— Taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
— Parking far from the entrance to work or shopping and walking.
Yoga is helpful.
A study released in March 2017 says that yoga and deep breathing classes, along with some home practice, significantly reduce the symptoms of depression. Participants took a 90-minute Iyengar yoga class two or three times per week, and did 30-minute sessions at home three or four times a week. The classes included 20 minutes of breathing exercises. After about three months, the majority in both groups reported lower scores on a depression-screening questionnaire by 50 percent or more. Though subjects in the high-dose group did better, the researchers said that two weekly classes and home practice is still effective and less time consuming.
Take a walk in the woods.
Combining activity with nature may enhance its mood-elevating effects. A Japanese study in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine found that Shinrin-yoku (“forest-bathing”) promoted lower concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic nerve activity and lower sympathetic nerve activity than do city environments. Another study randomly assigned participants to a 50-minute walk in either a natural or an urban environment in and around Stanford, California. The nature walkers experienced decreased anxiety, rumination (repetitive, negative thought patterns) and negative affect (feelings or emotions), and preservation of positive affect, along with cognitive benefits such as better memory when compared to urban walkers.
Is exercise a cure-all?
No, says Duckworth. “Depression is sneaky,” he says. “You can’t tell someone who can’t get out of bed that they should work out. It depends on where the person is at in terms of the severity of depression.” Those who are more severely depressed typically lack the motivation or energy to exercise, he says. “It is important to frame this as, if you are able to do it, it is a good preventive treatment and can be helpful early on. Exercise is a great tool for those who can use it.” For those who can’t, psychotherapy and medications may be in order.
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The Many Ways Exercise Fights Depression originally appeared on usnews.com
