What kind of exercise can pick up your spirits?
San Jose Mercury NewsMay 10, 2018
A new paper, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found that resistance exercise training (RET), such as weightlifting and strength training, is linked to a major reduction in symptoms of depression. It's also good for your body, of course, because it can make your bones stronger and help prevent chronic conditions.
More than 300 million people worldwide are affected by depression, according to the
Gordon and his colleagues scoured 33 clinical trials--including 1,877 people--to examine the effects of resistance exercise training on symptoms of depression, as Time reported. They found that strength training was associated with improvements in depressive symptoms such as low mood, a loss of interest in activities and feelings of worthlessness. This seemed to hold regardless of a person's age, sex, health status, specific exercise routine or improvements in physical strength.
"Interestingly, larger improvements were found among adults with depressive symptoms indicative of mild-to-moderate depression compared to adults without such scores, suggesting RET may be particularly effective for those with greater depressive symptoms," Gordon says, as Time cites.
The best news of all is that improvements in mood did not depend on how much exercise was done, baseline health or the amount of strength gained from the exercise program, the researchers found. The important thing was to, well, just do it.
So when you are feeling down, it might be a good time for some leg lifts.
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