Effect of exercise for depression: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Review (218 studies, 495 arms, n=14,170) found exercise is an effective treatment, with walking or jogging, yoga, and strength training more effective than other exercises. Effects appeared proportional to intensity of exercise prescribed and were stronger for group exercise.
Source:
British Medical Journal
SPS commentary:
An editorial points out the benefits of exercise in preventing or treating chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cognitive impairment should also be taken into account. It adds that physical exercise has also been shown to help prevent depression and for adults with severe or treatment resistant depression, the available evidence currently favours combined psychological and drug treatment. It acknowledges that taking regular exercise can be challenging for people with depression due to fatigue, low energy, and poor motivation, whilst most of the RCTs in this network meta-analysis were conducted in a highly simulated and standardised context. It adds that as many people have no access to exercise facilities, or live in neighbourhoods where it is unsafe to walk or jog, health services and local authorities should provide enough resources to make individualised and supervised exercise programmes accessible to the entire population.