One in five people have suffered or will suffer from depression in their lifetime, according to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). To treat this mental health condition, patients may be given antidepressant medications. However, these are only effective in 70% of cases…
Exercise to cure depression
According to a new study de l’University of South Australia, published in the journal British Journal of Sports Medicineplaying sports would be more effective than drugs in relation to certain pathologies linked to mental health such as depression or anxiety.
Depression can occur at any age. It is characterized by a succession of characterized depressive episodes which result in symptoms such as pathological sadness or loss of pleasure. For anxiety, when it is permanent, we speak of anxiety disorders which are manifested by multiple and very varied symptoms, both psychological and physical: anxieties, fears, irritability, etc.
Australian researchers have made the link between the beneficial effect of physical activity and mental health by analyzing data from previous work which, in total, includes 128,119 participants. In detail, scientists have observed that sport improves symptoms 1.5 times more than treatments. And the results would be quite quick, because within twelve weeks – and sometimes less – there was an improvement in mental health symptoms.
Mental health: improvement in symptoms with all sports
Especially people with depression, postpartum depression, pregnant women, patients with AIDS or kidney disease, but also healthy individuals showed the best improvements.
“All types of physical activity and exercise are beneficial, including (…) walking, Pilates and yoga, explains Dr. Ben Singh, one of the authors. Research shows that you don’t have to do a lot of exercise for there to be a mental health benefit.”
The researchers therefore plead for sport to be better integrated into the follow-up of people with mental health problems.
