{"id":517474,"date":"2026-03-06T05:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/517474\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T05:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:16:10","slug":"one-10-minute-exercise-can-reduce-depression-even-a-month-later-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/517474\/","title":{"rendered":"One 10-Minute Exercise Can Reduce Depression, Even a Month Later : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

A well-designed 10-minute online exercise can spark small reductions in depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That’s the key finding of my team’s paper, published in Nature Human Behaviour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many people believe that to start overcoming depression<\/a>, they need a therapist, medication, or a radical change in their environment. However, our study shows that taking small steps to learn practical skills can lead to measurable improvements in depressive symptoms.<\/p>\n

In 2024, my team and I took to social media to pose a question to the field of mental health: If you could get 500 people struggling with depression to give you just 10 minutes of their attention, how would you spend that time?<\/p>\n

We received 66 responses from people around the world, including scientists, mental health app developers, popular YouTubers, and students.<\/p>\n

We chose what we considered the 12 most promising submissions to develop and rigorously test in one of the largest randomized controlled trials of mental health interventions ever conducted.<\/p>\n

These 12 “single-session interventions” ranged widely. Some used science-backed approaches emerging from in-person psychotherapy, while others were entirely novel.<\/p>\n

One featured a generative artificial intelligence-based expressive writing exercise. Another repurposed an inspirational Thai Life Insurance ad<\/a> to show how helping others in small ways can make life more meaningful.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen” frameborder=”0\u2033>This Thai life insurance ad on “believing in good” went viral and became the basis of an effective program for managing depression.<\/p>\n

Each intervention took under 10 minutes and was entirely self-guided.<\/p>\n

In the study, we randomly assigned 7,505 American adult participants to complete one of the 12 single-session interventions or a control condition where they learned about trout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Participants answered questions about their well-being immediately after completing the intervention and again a month later. Each participant only completed the intervention (or control) one time.<\/p>\n

Nearly all the interventions left users feeling hopeful and motivated to make positive changes immediately after completing them. But a month later, only two \u2013 Interactive Cognitive Reappraisal<\/a> and Finding Focus<\/a> \u2013 meaningfully reduced depression.<\/p>\n

\"Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n

These month-long gains were small on average \u2013 around a 4% greater reduction on a standard depression measure for the top two exercises compared with the control \u2013 but small average effects can make a real difference, especially because these programs’ free, brief nature gives them a unique ability to reach people at a global scale.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

Depression is a profound burden for the 332 million people<\/a> it affects each year globally. While evidence-based treatments like psychotherapy are effective<\/a>, long-term professional care is not an option for most people due to barriers<\/a> like lack of access, cost, and stigma.<\/p>\n

\"girlDepression affects hundreds of millions around the world. (Africa images\/Canva<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Our study is the first to show that single-session interventions can lead to month-long reductions in depression in adults.<\/p>\n

My team’s objective in studying single-session interventions is simple: If we can distill core elements of effective psychological treatments into short, user-friendly formats, many more people will be able to access science-backed support when they need it.<\/p>\n

The goal is not to replace therapists or psychiatrists, but to offer a reliable option for people who may otherwise receive no support at all. Single-session interventions like these can also be used to support traditional treatments, such as for people on a waitlist to see a therapist.<\/p>\n

What’s next<\/p>\n

Having identified effective single-session interventions for overcoming depression, our top priority is to spread the word that these evidence-based, brief mental health resources are available online at no cost.<\/p>\n

For example, Koko, the team that created the most impactful intervention in our study, created free five- to 10-minute interventions for a range of mental health challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also try all 12 of the single-session interventions we tested<\/a>. Our published paper has more information about each one’s effectiveness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: Major Review Reveals The Best Exercises For Easing Depression<\/a><\/p>\n

My team<\/a> is continuing to research single-session interventions and study their implementation in a range of settings, including social media, schools, and therapy waitlists. Our collaborators are exploring how AI can make single-session interventions more engaging and personalized to users’ needs.<\/p>\n

For many people, depression can make gaining control of one’s thoughts and feelings seem out of reach. This study shows that taking just 10 minutes to learn evidence-based skills can be a valuable first step toward longer-term improvement.\n<\/p>\n

Benjamin Kaveladze<\/a>, Postdoctoral Fellow in Mental Health Resources, Dartmouth College<\/a><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A well-designed 10-minute online exercise can spark small reductions in depression. That’s the key finding of my team’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49,48,407,84],"class_list":["post-517474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fitness","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}