For more than 20 years, studies have consistently shown that exercise is as effective or more effective than medications for treating depression. The most commonly studied forms of exercise for depression treatment have been jogging and lifting weights, and when compared, both have been found to be equally helpful. Some studies suggest that higher intensity, short-term exercise (such as sprinting) would have a larger effect because it releases more beta-endorphins, which are linked to elevated moods. Other research suggests that no additional benefit is gained from exercising at more than moderate intensity or more than three times a week. What is clear is that beginning to exercise has an equal or better chance at improving your depression compared to drugs.
Beginning to exercise
There are two main issues to think about in beginning to exercise to improve your mood. The first is how to exercise safely. In general, it is safest to get some supervision from a trainer at a gym or to talk to your doctor. Please listen to your body, which means resting when you need rest and not pushing yourself if you feel any pain. Second, in order to stick with it, it is important to have support. This can mean exercising with a friend, going to a gym where you feel comfortable, or talking with supportive people about your successes in exercising.
If you want to try higher intensity exercise (the kind that has been shown to raise your beta-endorphin levels in a much shorter amount of time), you can look up“high intensity interval training.” If you are new to exercise, you should definitely have the supervision of a trainer or doctor for exercising at a high intensity. Some doctors can be available online or over the phone.
Research support exercise as a treatment for depression
Blumenthal, J; Babyak, M; Moore, K; Craighead, W; Herman, S; Khatri, P; Waugh, R; Napolitano, M; Forman, L; Appelbaum,M ; Doraiswamy, P.; K. Krishnan, R. Effects of Exercise Training on Older Patients With Major Depression. Arch Intern Med. 1999;159:2349-2356.
One hundred fifty-six men and women with MDD (age, >=50 years) were assigned randomly to a program of aerobic exercise, antidepressants (sertraline hydrochloride), or combined exercise and medication. Although antidepressants may facilitate a more rapid initial therapeutic response than exercise, after 16 weeks of treatment exercise was equally effective in reducing depression among patients with MDD.
Michael Babyak, PhD, James A. Blumenthal, PhD, Steve Herman, PhD, Parinda Khatri, PhD, Murali Doraiswamy, MD, Kathleen Moore, PhD, W. Edward Craighead, PhD, Teri T. Baldewicz, PhD and K. Ranga Krishnan, MD. Exercise Treatment for Major Depression: Maintenance of Therapeutic Benefit at 10 Months. Psychosomatic Medicine 62:633-638 (2000)
After 4 months patients in all three exercise groups exhibited significant improvement; the proportion of remitted participants (ie, those who no longer met diagnostic criteria for MDD and had an HRSD score <8) was comparable across the three treatment conditions. After 10 months, however, remitted subjects in the exercise group had significantly lower relapse rates (p = .01) than subjects in the medication group. Exercising on one’s own during the follow-up period was associated with a reduced probability of depression diagnosis at the end of that period (odds ratio = 0.49, p = .0009).
A . Dunn , M . Trivedi , J . Kampert , C . Clark , H . Chambliss. Exercise treatment for depression: Efficacy and dose response. American Journal of Preventive Medicine , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , Pages 1 – 8
Participants were randomized to one of four aerobic exercise treatment groups that varied total energy expenditure (7.0 kcal/kg/week or 17.5 kcal/kg/week) and frequency (3 days/week or 5 days/week) or to exercise placebo control (3 days/week flexibility exercise). The main effect of energy expenditure in reducing HRSD17 scores at 12 weeks was significant. Adjusted mean HRSD17 scores at 12 weeks were reduced 47% from baseline for the high-intensity group, compared with 30% for low-intensity and 29% for control. There was no main effect of exercise frequency at 12 weeks.
Salmon, P. Effects of physical exercise on anxiety, depression, and sensitivity to stress: A unifying theory. Clinical Psychology Review. Volume 21, Issue 1, February 2001, Pages 33-61
Results of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are more consistent in indicating that aerobic exercise training has antidepressant and anxiolytic effects and protects against harmful consequences of stress.
Schwarz, L. et al. Changes in beta-endorphin levels in response to aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Sports Med. 1992
Exercise-induced increases in the peripheral beta-endorphin concentration are mainly associated both with changes in pain perception and mood state and are possibly of importance in substrate metabolism. A more precise understanding of opioid function during exercise can be achieved by investigating the changes in beta-endorphin concentrations dependent upon intensity and duration of physical exercise and in comparison to other stress hormones. Published studies reveal that incremental graded and short term anaerobic exercise lead to an increase in beta-endorphin levels, the extent correlating with the lactate concentration.
MH Klein, JH Greist, AS Gurman, RA Neimeyer, DP. A comparative outcome study of group psychotherapy vs. exercise treatments for depression. International Journal of Mental Health, 1985.
Found that group therapy, jogging and weight lifting all have equivalent effect sizes for decreasing measures of depression.
