Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Physical exercise has long been known to improve or support emotional well-being and a new study from Canadian and British researchers has found that being active three times a week can significantly lower the odds of being depressed.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found a direct connection between exercise and mood – with more sedentary study volunteers exhibiting more depressive symptoms.
“Assuming the association is causal, leisure time physical activity has a protective effect against depression,” said study author Snehal Pinto Pereira, a medical researcher at the University College of London. “If an adult between their twenties and forties who isn’t physically active became active three times per week, they would reduce their risk of depression by approximately 16 percent.”
“Importantly, this effect was seen across the whole population and not just in those at high risk of clinical depression,” Pinto Pereira added. “The more physically active people were, the fewer depressive symptoms they reported. Just as someone might be a little overweight but not clinically overweight or obese, many people who are not clinically depressed could still experience some depressive symptoms.”
In the study, researchers tracked over 11,000 people born in 1958 up until the age of 50, documenting depressive symptoms and physical activity at frequent intervals in adulthood. To determine depressive symptoms, the scientists viewed volunteers’ reactions to the Malaise Inventory, a survey made to evaluate psychological stress at ages 23, 33, 42, and 50 years old.
The study team discovered that each added weekly activity session decreased odds of depression by 6 percent. They also saw that volunteers who reported more depressive symptoms at age 23 were more likely to be less physically active, but this effect was not as strong as participants aged.
“This finding is important for policies designed to get people more active, because it suggests that depressive symptoms could be considered a barrier to activity in young adulthood,” Pinto Pereira said.
In England, 19 percent of men and 26 percent of women are presently classed as ‘inactive’, the British researchers pointed out. They added that the new study implies activity could appreciably boost their mental and physical health.
“Previous studies investigating activity as a treatment for depression have produced mixed results, but this large longitudinal study suggests that exercise has an important role to play for mental health,” Pinto Pereira said.
“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,” said study author Chris Power, a professor of epidemiology and public health at UCL. “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.”
“This latest research highlights just how important it is to ensure that people are working and living in environments that allow them to be both physically active and mentally healthy,” added Mark Petticrew of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who was not directly involved in the study.
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