Exercise may relieve depression and anxiety: CrossCurrents Spring 2004

CrossCurrents

The best-documented mental health benefits of exercise are in the area of treating depression. In fact, research out of Duke University has found that exercise is better than medication as a treatment for people with depression.

In a 1999 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, James Blumenthal and colleagues worked with 156 older people with major depression. The participants were divided into groups: one group attended a group exercise program, another group attended the exercise program and took the anti-depressant Zoloft and a third group took the anti-depressant only. Participants who exercised only showed greater improvement than the other two groups. "Our findings show that a moderate exercise program is an effective treatment for patients with a major depression," writes Blumenthal. A follow-up study found that those treated with the exercise-only model were less likely to relapse into depression than those who exercised and took Zoloft.

Exercise also seems to help reduce anxiety. A 1994 analysis of studies from 1960 and 1991, presented by Daniel Landers and Steven Petruzzello at the second International Conference on Physical Activity, Fitness, and Health, found that 81 per cent of the studies concluded that physical activity and fitness were related to anxiety reduction following exercise.

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