For Depression, Exercise is Comparable to Medication and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Just a couple of days after posting a note about the UK-based Mental Health Foundation’s campaign to raise awareness about the mental health benefits of exercise (“Blood, Sweat, NO Tears Virtual Relay Race”), I noticed an announcement about a recent study indicating the effectiveness of exercise as a treatment for depression.

From the press release:

Prozac and its competitors have spawned best-selling books, racked up sales of more than $10 billion annually and reshaped the clinical treatment of depression.

But an altogether different treatment that shows tremendous promise in alleviating depression has gone largely unnoticed. That treatment is exercise. A growing body of medical literature, including at least three 2005 studies, is showing that aerobic routines as well as weight lifting are effective at combating depression. In addition to the famous “runner’s high,” or endorphin surge that provides a temporary mood lift following a workout, the studies show that there is a round-the-clock relief that sets in several weeks after the establishment of a regular exercise routine.

A study in the January issue of the Journal of Preventive Medicine suggested that a half-hour a day of exercise six days a week – which is the amount the federal government recommends for all Americans – might be ideal. Comparing two groups of depressed patients, the study found that the group that performed only 80 minutes of exercise a week received little to no mental-health benefit. But the three-hour-a-week group had a substantial reduction in symptoms. The study concluded “the response and remission rates in the (three-hours-per-week) group are comparable to other depression treatments, such as medication or cognitive behavioral therapy.”

Unfortunately, the role of exercise in fighting depression and promoting mental health in general gets little attention in the mainstream press. In fact, the article goes on:

Interviews with psychiatrists — medical doctors whose specialty is mental health — suggest that some aren’t even aware of the body of literature supporting exercise as a treatment for depression. When the American Psychiatric Association is asked to provide a psychiatric expert on exercise and depression, it recommends James Lake, a California psychiatrist who says he believes his specialty is too narrowly focused on medication.

“Because of collective professional values and financial interests of academic psychiatry, research priorities have almost exclusively targeted psychopharmacology,” says Dr. Lake. However, Dr. Lake points out that the association recently created a committee to research and provide information about alternative therapies, including exercise.

You can read more of the Associated Press article, carried by the American Psychological Association, at this APA page.