In a society where medication for depression is becoming an epidemic, it is great to see more research coming out showing there are drug-free ways to achieve good mental health and help those who suffer from depression.
We all know that exercise can make us feel better, the more the heart rate goes up the more endorphins are released. These make us feel happy, and the impact of them lasts for days. So it makes sense that exercise would be a great thing for depressed people, but just how much impact does it have? Well it appears a lot!
An American university research group looked at the impact of exercise on depression. The university split clinically depressed people into 3 groups: exercise only; exercise plus anti-depressant drugs; and anti-depressant drugs only, to see what treatment best treated depression.
They thought the best outcome would be those who were in the combined exercise and drug treatment group, but in fact ten months later, it was the exercise-only group that was most successful in maintaining wellness!
The final results showed that 30 minutes of brisk exercise three times a week is just as effective as drug therapy in relieving the symptoms of depression.
They also followed up the group in six months, and found that patients who continued to exercise after completing the initial trial were much less likely to see their depression return than the other patients.
So what kind of exercise? Well any kind really as long as you get your heart rate up 3x a week for 30minutes. Walking is the perfect exercise, as long as you make it more than a gentle stroll, but walking and yoga would be even better!
What you might consider a relatively low impact exercise like Yoga can help reduce depression too - it's not just a gentle stretching for aging hippies you know.

It's common knowledge that yoga improves mood and shrugs off stress, but until recently, we didn't know why. A recent study from Boston University School of Medicine discovered that the reason Yoga enthusiasts tend to be happier is that it may be because of yoga's ability to increase levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an endogenous antidepressant neurotransmitter present in the brain.
They followed several healthy individuals who were divided into two groups. The first group practiced yoga over a 12-week long period, while the participants in the other group walked for the same period of time. At the end of the study, researchers evaluated psychological state of both groups and found that subjects who practiced yoga experienced a greater decrease in anxiety and more significant improvements in mood than those who walked.
So it seems these findings certainly indicate that a modest exercise program is an effective treatment for patients with depression, and also just to help lift your daily mood.
But always remember if you are taking anti-depressant medication always discuss with your doctor or health care practitioner before coming off them.
We all know that exercise can make us feel better, the more the heart rate goes up the more endorphins are released. These make us feel happy, and the impact of them lasts for days. So it makes sense that exercise would be a great thing for depressed people, but just how much impact does it have? Well it appears a lot!
An American university research group looked at the impact of exercise on depression. The university split clinically depressed people into 3 groups: exercise only; exercise plus anti-depressant drugs; and anti-depressant drugs only, to see what treatment best treated depression.
They thought the best outcome would be those who were in the combined exercise and drug treatment group, but in fact ten months later, it was the exercise-only group that was most successful in maintaining wellness!
The final results showed that 30 minutes of brisk exercise three times a week is just as effective as drug therapy in relieving the symptoms of depression.
They also followed up the group in six months, and found that patients who continued to exercise after completing the initial trial were much less likely to see their depression return than the other patients.
So what kind of exercise? Well any kind really as long as you get your heart rate up 3x a week for 30minutes. Walking is the perfect exercise, as long as you make it more than a gentle stroll, but walking and yoga would be even better!
What you might consider a relatively low impact exercise like Yoga can help reduce depression too - it's not just a gentle stretching for aging hippies you know.

It's common knowledge that yoga improves mood and shrugs off stress, but until recently, we didn't know why. A recent study from Boston University School of Medicine discovered that the reason Yoga enthusiasts tend to be happier is that it may be because of yoga's ability to increase levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an endogenous antidepressant neurotransmitter present in the brain.
They followed several healthy individuals who were divided into two groups. The first group practiced yoga over a 12-week long period, while the participants in the other group walked for the same period of time. At the end of the study, researchers evaluated psychological state of both groups and found that subjects who practiced yoga experienced a greater decrease in anxiety and more significant improvements in mood than those who walked.
So it seems these findings certainly indicate that a modest exercise program is an effective treatment for patients with depression, and also just to help lift your daily mood.
But always remember if you are taking anti-depressant medication always discuss with your doctor or health care practitioner before coming off them.
The website www.depression.org also has a lot of great advice on how to help with depression.
No comments:
Post a Comment