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Exercise should be ‘core treatment’ for depression – study (www.standard.co.uk)

submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

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Exercise should be a “core treatment” for people with depression, academics have said, after a new study suggested that some forms of exercise were just as good as therapy and even better than anti-depressants.

Walking, jogging, yoga and strength training appeared to be more effective than other types of exercises, according to a major new analysis.

And the more vigorous the exercise, the better, according to a research team led by academics in Australia.

But even low intensity exercises such as walking and yoga had meaningful benefit.

The effect of exercise appeared superior to antidepressants, according to the study which has been published in The BMJ.

But when exercise was combined with antidepressants, this improved the effect of the drugs.

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[–] Lumelore@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I hate when people tell depressed people to "just go work out." When I was struggling with depression, I could hardly get out of bed and put on a fresh change of clothes, and somehow, they thought that I'm going to go outside and go for a walk! They really need to start with something more realistic like telling them to finally go and brush their teeth, because that is a lot more doable for them, and that still feels good too.

I do recognize that exercise does help. I'm in a lot better place now and I exercise daily, but if you're asking a depressed person to do that, you might as well be talking to a rock. Also sometimes people are just really depressed, and even if they do exercise, it hardly helps, since exercise probably isn't fixing the root issue.

[–] lapping6596@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

During my deepest depression I would go to the gym to lift weights because it was an invisible way to punish myself.

[–] Lumelore@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 9 months ago

I'm curious, did that make you feel better or worse? I used to punish myself by slicing up my forearm and it did make me feel happy even though it was a terrible way to go about doing that.