{"id":442556,"date":"2026-01-28T08:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/442556\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T08:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:45:08","slug":"exercise-works-as-well-as-medication-and-therapy-for-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/442556\/","title":{"rendered":"Exercise Works as Well as Medication and Therapy for Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever felt that mental boost that comes after a session at the gym, an exercise class, or a walk around your neighborhood? A large and growing body of evidence finds that exercise may relieve symptoms of depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Depression remains one of the world’s leading causes of disability, affecting more than 280 million people globally. Antidepressant<\/a> medications and psychological therapy<\/a> are the go-to treatments. But medications can be expensive and lead to side effects, and therapy is not accessible to everyone.<\/p>\n

Now, an updated systematic review<\/a> published this month in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews finds exercise is equally effective at reducing symptoms of depression compared to medicine or talk therapy.<\/p>\n

The review, led by researchers at the University of Lancashire and supported by the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health and Care Research, analyzed data from 73 randomized controlled trials involving nearly 5,000 adults with depression.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that exercise is moderately effective at reducing symptoms of depression compared with no treatment. When compared with talk therapy or antidepressant medications, exercise showed similar effects.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on here? We know that exercise improves the function of neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine<\/a>, similar to many antidepressant medicines. Exercise also triggers the release of brain growth factors, which help the brain to adapt and change.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best way to incorporate this into your life? The updated review found that light to moderate intensity of exercise was more beneficial than vigorous workouts. Completing between 13 and 36 exercise sessions in total was associated with greater improvements in depressive symptoms.<\/p>\n

No single type of exercise clearly outperformed others, and combining different types of aerobic activity and resistance training appeared more effective than aerobic exercise alone.<\/p>\n

Experts say it\u2019s best to start small and work your way up; even just going for a daily walk can help improve symptoms at first.<\/p>\n

We also know that social support<\/a> is a critical aspect to maintaining a regular exercise routine. Finding a friend to meet for a regular workout can help you to stick with it.<\/p>\n

This new review adds to the mountains of evidence we have about the benefits of exercise. We already know that exercise helps kids perform better <\/a>in school, lengthens your life,<\/a> and helps to prevent dementia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the evidence is conclusive, the review article did have a few limitations. Most studies included relatively small numbers of participants\u2014fewer than 100 people\u2014making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Many studies also had methodological weaknesses in their research design. Additionally, most studies only measured outcomes at the end of treatment without longer-term follow-up, so the duration of exercise’s benefits remains unclear. Some forms of exercise that may benefit people with depression\u2014including yoga, qigong, and stretching\u2014were not included in the analysis and represent areas for future research.<\/p>\n

Despite the limitations, the take-home message is clear: Evidence clearly shows that exercise is an effective treatment for depression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you ever felt that mental boost that comes after a session at the gym, an exercise class,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,538,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-442556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}