Exercise as a treatment for depression: A meta-analysis

Summary & key facts

Researchers reviewed many clinical trials testing exercise as a treatment for people with depression. Overall, taking part in regular exercise tended to reduce symptoms of depression more than doing nothing. But the benefit was smaller in the higher-quality studies, and the research is mixed because studies used different exercise programs and some small positive studies may be overrepresented. That means exercise can help, but we cannot say it is a proven replacement for other treatments from this evidence alone.

Key facts:

• The authors combined results from many controlled trials that tested exercise programs for people with depression.
• Across all the studies, people who did exercise showed larger drops in depressive symptoms than people who did not exercise.
• When the reviewers looked only at the better-quality studies, the size of the benefit from exercise became smaller and less consistent.
• The reviewers found signs that publication bias — meaning studies with positive results are more likely to be published — could make exercise look more effective than it really is.
• The studies differed a lot in what kind of exercise, how often, and for how long it was done, so we still do not know the ideal type or dose of exercise for treating depression.

Topics

Eating Disorders and Behaviors Physical Activity and Health Sleep and related disorders

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Physiology

Tags

Clinical psychology Depression (economics) Economics Internal medicine Law Macroeconomics Medicine MEDLINE Meta-analysis Political science Psychiatry Psychology

Conditions & symptoms

Depression Lack of energy or motivation Sadness or low mood