Exercise for Depression

Natural Health Care Canada has reported on a groundbreaking experiment which took place at Duke University in North Carolina. In this experiment a group of 156 adults, all of whom were diagnosed with major depression, were randomly assigned to three treatment categories: exercise; Zoloft; and a combination of both. Those in the exercise group engaged in brisk walking, jogging, or stationery bicycle riding three times per week. All three groups had "vastly improved" or were symptom free at the end of the four-month period. However, in a follow-up study completed ten months after the beginning of treatment a remarkable difference with regard to the durability of these different treatments was seen. In the follow-up analysis the researchers examined what percentage of subjects whose symptoms had fully remitted suffered a return of depressive symptoms when all forms of treatment had ended. The subjects who had continued their to exercise were least likely to become depressed. Researcher, James Blumenthal, said his findings suggest that exercise 'is an effective, robust treatment for patients with major depression.'