Written by Nahir Abdel Nabi Friday, August 04, 2023 05:00 AM
According to researchers from UniSA University of South Australia; Exercise should be the primary treatment for depression and other mental health conditions. The most comprehensive review of mental health research shows that mild to moderate symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress may be treated with increased physical activity, and according to their research, exercise is 1.5 times more therapeutically effective. of medical advice and medication.
According to webmed, the study found that incorporating exercise into the daily routine for a period of 12 weeks or less significantly reduces symptoms of mental health disorders. Mental health disorders are a major cause of health problems around the world. And it affects the personal level and society as a whole, as recent studies indicate that 1 in 5 people suffer from high levels of psychological distress in middle age.
Previous studies have found that patients with depression, anxiety, or other mental disorders may benefit from exercise as much as from psychotherapy or drug therapy. Although there is evidence that exercise can improve mental health, it has not been widely adopted. as the first choice of treatment.
This may explain that individual studies have looked at large types and intensity of physical activity, subsets of subjects and comparison groups, so it may be difficult for clinicians to understand the evidence that physical activity is beneficial in treating mental health disorders.
So Singh and his colleagues at UniSA conducted a broader type of study, called a comprehensive review, to assess how all types of exercise affected the treatment of depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adults.
The comprehensive review covers all studies looking at the effectiveness of physical activity in treating depression, rather than relying solely on individual studies. Simply put, it provides comprehensive coverage of all studies to give an integrated idea on the topic. When comparing the effect of exercise with the effect of other usual therapies – such as talk therapy or medication – in the treatment of mental health conditions, they found that exercise improved symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress by more than one and a half times.
“We also found that all types of physical activity and exercise were beneficial in improving mental health, including aerobic exercises such as walking, resistance training, Pilates, and yoga,” says Singh.
Some types of exercise seem to help in different ways. For example, yoga and other mind-body exercises helped reduce anxiety the most, while resistance training helped depression the most.
Singh explains: “Exercises that require a lot of effort and give satisfactory results in a short time had a significant effect in treating anxiety and depression, compared to exercises that require a lot of time and little effort.”
As strange as it may seem, long-term exercise was less effective, and the authors suggest that this could be explained by the fact that people may find it difficult to stick to long-term exercise programs even when there is a mental health benefit.
Pregnant or newly born women, depressed people, people living with HIV, kidney patients, and even healthy people; They benefit the most from regular exercise.
The researchers say: “These findings indicate that people with depression and anxiety may have lower levels of physical activity and, as a result, have a greater chance of improving their mental health compared to people who are not under direct medical care.”
It should be noted that the majority of available evidence described mild to moderate depression, with fewer reviews of anxiety and psychological distress. Further research in various areas of mental health may lead to more accurate conclusions.
The results do not exclude the effectiveness of treatment using medication and treatment with a mental health professional. But according to research reviews, exercise is also important and deserves renewed focus.
Finally, the researchers added: “Exercise has been shown to be very beneficial for improving symptoms of depression, anxiety and sadness in a wide range of adults. Such as healthy people, people diagnosed with mental health disorders, and people with chronic diseases.”
2023-08-04 02:00:00
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