An increasing number of scientific studies have demonstrated that exercise can alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. It’s even been shown to reduce the risk of depression and anxiety in those who have a genetic susceptibility to these illnesses. The attitudes of many doctors and therapists are changing too, and they’re now prescribing exercise before medication, which they view as a final port of call instead of a first one. Moderate to intense exercise such as running, hiking, yoga, swimming and weight lifting stimulates our body’s production of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin, all of which help boost and regulate our mood. It also helps relieve inflammation, which is often at a high level in individuals suffering from severe depression. The short term result is self-evident i.e. we feel better after exercise, but experts claim that long-term, regular exercise is the best approach for regulating our mental health.
However, curing depression and anxiety is not as straightforward as simply going for a run or a swim unfortunately. Many doctors and other experts suggest that exercise has a healing effect on around 50% of depressed people, while the same amount benefit instead from treatment like psychotherapy and antidepressant medication. But we don’t yet know how to gauge which treatment suits which individual without trial and error. James Blumenthal, a psychiatry professor at Duke University, believes it comes down to our as of yet limited understanding of the brain and how its affected by exercise and medication. “We don’t fully understand how antidepressants work, and we don’t really understand how exercise therapy works on the brain.” All we know is that each approach can work. Until we’ve learned more, it’s still very insensitive to simply tell a depressed person to go get some exercise. But for those of us who struggle with overcoming mental health issues, exercise is a great place to start.
