An article published October 25, 1999 in Archives of Internal Medicine found that exercise is as good as antidepressants at relieving the symptoms of depression. In this study of 156 depressed older people (age 50 and above), a 16-week program of supervised exercise resulted in 60% of the patients having a remission of depression, compared to 66% of patients receiving medication. Statistically, the results of the two groups were similar.
The exercising group did 45-minute sessions 3 times per week. Exercise was done by walking on a treadmill or riding a stationery cycle. After a 10 minute warm-up, they tried to keep their heart rate between 70-85% of their maximums for 30 minutes. At the end of this aerobic portion, they did a 5 minute cool-down. A trained exercise physiologist monitored and recorded the pulse rates three times during each exercise session. This workout is a bit harder routine then the 50-70% maximum that some exercise experts suggest.
The participants were really depressed; they did not just say they were depressed to get into the study. All were evaluated by a licensed clinical psychologist. The medicated groupÕs members were often seen by a psychiatrist, instead of just being given a bottle of pills. Due to this frequent contact with a psychiatrist, the results for the medicated group may be somewhat better than what is displayed in real life, where there may be minimal contact with a doctor after a patient receives a prescription.