Health & Medicine
Adult Depression Can Be Reduced With Help Of More Frequent Activity
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Oct 16, 2014 11:37 PM EDT
Previous studies have shown that physical activity can help reduce the risk of death, stroke and even some cancers. Now, recent findings published in JAMA Psychiatry show that it can also lower the risk of certain depressive symptoms.
For the study, researchers looked to determine if depressive symptoms were concurrent with physical activity levels. They were influenced by the levels of symptoms and if the level of symptoms influenced activity.
With the help of data from nearly 11,000 participants in the 1958 British birth cohort, they were followed for up to 50 years where more activity frequency predicted a lower number of depressive symptoms.
For this inactive at any age, increasing activity from 0 to 3 times per week five years later helped to reduce the odds of depression by about 19 percent.
Researchers also found a relation between higher levels of depressive symptoms and less physical activity.
"Findings suggest that activity may alleviate depressive symptoms in the general population and, in turn, depressive symptoms in early adulthood may be a barrier to activity," the study authors concluded, in a news release.
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First Posted: Oct 16, 2014 11:37 PM EDT
Previous studies have shown that physical activity can help reduce the risk of death, stroke and even some cancers. Now, recent findings published in JAMA Psychiatry show that it can also lower the risk of certain depressive symptoms.
For the study, researchers looked to determine if depressive symptoms were concurrent with physical activity levels. They were influenced by the levels of symptoms and if the level of symptoms influenced activity.
With the help of data from nearly 11,000 participants in the 1958 British birth cohort, they were followed for up to 50 years where more activity frequency predicted a lower number of depressive symptoms.
For this inactive at any age, increasing activity from 0 to 3 times per week five years later helped to reduce the odds of depression by about 19 percent.
Researchers also found a relation between higher levels of depressive symptoms and less physical activity.
"Findings suggest that activity may alleviate depressive symptoms in the general population and, in turn, depressive symptoms in early adulthood may be a barrier to activity," the study authors concluded, in a news release.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone