A follow-up study of depressed patients who were treated for depression with exercise has shown that exercise was better than medication at maintaining remission of depression.
In the original study, 156 older (50 and over) depressed patients were divided into two groups with one group exercising and the other group treated in a traditional method with antidepressant medication (Zoloft).
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. Six months after the study was over, the patients were evaluated for depression and were questioned as to how much they were exercising. The original exercise group displayed a lower rate of depression (30%) compared to the participants in the medication group (52%). A further analysis of the amount of exercise and the level of depression showed an inverse relationship between time exercising and depression. In other words, the more people exercised, the less depression that had. Each extra 50 minutes of exercise each week reduced the odds of being depressed by 50%.
So one might conclude that if one went for a brisk walk instead of watching a soap opera, one might get as much relief from depression as taking pills. The only side effect from exercise is usually just a much healthier heart and maybe a loss of weight.