Is Exercise The ‘Miracle’ Anti-Depressant Remedy?
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Common wisdom holds that exercise boosts your mood, in addition to benefiting your physical health. Ample evidence seems to suggest that exercise might hold great promise in the treatment of disorders such as depression. So, just how much of a role does exercise play, when it comes to the treatment of Depression & Anxiety?
In the last couple decades, there has been some interest in looking at the mental health value of exercise. Until recently, however, studies investigating the effectiveness of exercise in the treatment of mental health have not been conducted with the same level of scientific rigor as the clinical trials used to bring anti-depressant medications to the market. Limitations of previous studies have included the absence of a control group, individuals not being randomly assigned to study groups, and testing the effects of exercise on individuals who were not suffering from a mood disorder.
Actually, there is a good 40 years of research showing that exercise is a great anti-depressant. I have always felt that benefit is related to intensity. However, I read that even a 10 minute stroll can lift one’s mood. A recent meta-analysis of effect of exercise demonstrates the efficacy. This study looked to address shortcomings of many of the studies.
“Examination of clinical significance in 16 trials with clinically depressed patients found 9 of 16 exercise treatment groups were classified as `recovered’ at post-treatment, with another three groups classified as `improved’. Analysis showed dropout rates for the exercise treatment were similar to those found in psychotherapeutic and drug interventions.”
For an abstract of this study http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/adis/smd/2009/00000039/00000006/art00004
Mike
http://drmikemiller.com