The Benefits of Exercise for the Clinically Depressed

– Journal of Clinical Psychology Reports- 

30 general population moderately depressed men and women were randomly assigned to an exercise intervention group, a social support group, or a wait-list control group. The exercise intervention consisted of walking 20 to 40 minutes 3 times per week for 6 weeks. The authors reported that the exercise program alleviated overall symptoms of depression and was more effective than the other 2 groups.  Results indicated that the aerobic training program was associated with a clear reduction in depression compared with the control condition, and the improvements in depression were maintained at 3 months post intervention. Research also suggests that the benefits of exercise involvement may be long lasting. Depressed adults who took part in a fitness program displayed significantly greater improvements in depression, anxiety, and self-concept than those in a control group after 12 weeks of training. The exercise participants also maintained many of these gains through the 12-month follow-up period.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470658/

In no way are we advocating exercise as the cure all for depression. However, it is clear the evidence is there that it helps!  Bottom line is:

MOVE YOUR BODY YOU WILL FEEL BETTER