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Single workout can lift mood in depressed
patients
 NEW
YORK (Reuters Health)
- A single 30-minute walk on a treadmill can give a
temporary emotional lift to patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder,
the results of a small study suggest.
Researchers found that among 40 men and women recently
diagnosed with major depression, those who spent just a half hour on a treadmill
reported a short-term improvement in energy and emotional well-being.
Though a single workout is not the answer to clinical
depression, the researchers say, exercise could offer depressed patients a way
to give themselves an emotional boost.
"If you can go out and walk and get the recommended amount of
exercise, then it might help you manage your symptoms on a day-to-day basis,"
said lead study author Dr. John Bartholomew of the University of Texas at
Austin.
Past studies, he explained in an interview, have shown that
regular exercise can help treat depression over time. But the new findings show
that "you don't have to wait" to start getting some benefit, he said.
Bartholomew and his colleagues report their findings in the
journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
A number of studies have found that active adults are less
likely to suffer depression than their sedentary peers, while some clinical
trials have shown regular exercise can serve as a therapy for the disorder --
and perhaps be as effective as antidepressant drugs in some cases.
But the immediate effects of exercise on depressed
individuals have been unclear.
Patients in the current study were randomly assigned to walk
on a treadmill for 30 minutes or spend the time resting quietly in a comfortable
chair. All completed standard surveys of mood and well-being before and after
their exercise or rest period.
The researchers found that both
exercise and quiet rest appeared to boost patients' mood, helping them feel less
fatigue, tension, distress and anger.
But the exercisers reported greater gains in general
well-being and "vigor," the study found.
According to Bartholomew, the quiet-rest group may have felt
better just because they were getting out of the house and interacting with
others. People with depression, he noted, often isolate themselves and avoid
social situations, which can in turn feed the depression.
Experts have speculated that exercise aids depression, in
part, through direct physiological effects. For example, physical activity seems
to affect some key nervous system chemicals -- norepinephrine and serotonin --
that are targets of antidepressant drugs, as well as brain neurotrophins, which
help protect nerve cells from injury and transmit nerve signals in brain regions
related to mood.
But Bartholomew said there may be "cognitive" effects at
work. Exercisers in this study, he explained, may have felt a "sense of
accomplishment" that lifted their general mood.
One of the challenges to using exercise as depression therapy
is that the condition makes it hard for people to find the motivation to be
active, Bartholomew noted. But if they can get outside for even a short walk, he
said, it could help in managing the daily symptoms of the disorder.
SOURCE: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, December
2005.
By Amy Norton
Wed Jan 25, 11:18 AM ET
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