An hour of exercise protects against depression

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Nobody has to exert themselves to prevent depression. One hour of exercise a week can do a lot, even if you take it easy.

"We have known for some time that exercise is effective in treating depression," says psychiatrist and epidemiologist Samuel Harvey. Now he and his team from the University of New South Wales have determined for the first time whether physical activity can also prevent depression - and how much effort it takes to do it.

A little helps a lot

"The results are remarkable because they show that relatively little exercise is enough to effectively protect against depression," says Harvey.The researchers had collected data from almost 34,000 participants who were mentally healthy at the start of the study and also did not suffer from physical limitations.

They were asked about their physical activity and a number of factors that can play a role in the development of mental disorders. These include, for example, stress or frequent mental illnesses in the family.

40 percent lower risk of depression

After an average study period of eleven years, it turned out that the subjects were able to reduce their risk of depression by as much as 40 percent with very little weekly activity of one to two hours.

This effect was shown regardless of the intensity with which the participants did their exercise. Significantly more exercise only had a moderate additional benefit. On the other hand, the amount of exercise had no influence on the development of anxiety disorders.

Twelve percent of depression cases could have been prevented if all participants had been physically active for at least one hour a week, the researchers calculated.

Unexplained mechanism of action

The scientists suspect that the combination of various physical and social effects of physical activity unfolds the protective effect. “We're still trying to figure out exactly how exercise does this,” says Harvey.

Well-known physical effects of exercise include the breakdown of stress hormones in the blood. If sport is done in society, it promotes social integration.

"If we can find ways to increase the level of physical activity in the population by even a small amount, that could bring about significant physical and mental improvements," the researchers write.

Why more sport is still important

Even if the protective effect against depression can only be increased a little with more exercise - one hour of physical activity per week is not enough for other health-promoting effects.

The World Health Organization recommends that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of high intensity. Children and adolescents should even be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day with medium to high intensity. This can prevent cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and various forms of cancer, among other things.

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