The title of this post does not match the title of the paper.<p>The report does not say "exercise does not make you less depressed".<p>The report mentions some of the weaknesses; some comments to the article do a good job at pointing out other weaknesses.<p>Exercise is not just pushed at people with depression to treat that depression; it's to help with other stuff too:-<p>* medication side effects (sometimes include weight gain or overeating)<p>* improving social life<p>* improving general health
To me, more interesting than the study itself was the rather brutal criticism it got from the scientific community posted on the same website.<p><a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e2758?tab=responses" rel="nofollow">http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e2758?tab=responses</a>
In my own experience, diet had a much more dramatic effect on my day-to-day mood. Switching to basically a slow carb diet helped my mood and outlook tremendously.<p>EDIT: I wanted to add that exercise also has a great effect on my mood, but only temporarily. By following a consistent diet that (in my case) is low glycemic and high in protein, the stability of my mood was much greater than exercise alone.<p>I do not have time to read the whole paper right now, but one question I have about the results is the prescribed exercise. In my experience, the type of exercise I do can have very different affects in how it makes me feel afterwards. For example, my mood is stabilized for much longer if I do 15 minutes of interval sprints rather than a 30 minute run. Cycling will also make me feel much different than high-weight/low-rep weightlifting.<p>What I am getting at is that if the "exercise" routine was run for 30 minutes 2 time a week, I could easily see how that would not affect depression. However, if it was a regime of HIIT or heavy compound exercises (squat/deadlift/bench), I would be very surprised if people didn't see long term mood benefits.
Would anyone be surprised to find out that externally facilitated exercise, as offered in the study, has different emotional effects than self-motivated exercise?
In my own experience, casual or minimal exercise has done little to affect my mood and since my early twenties depressive periods have been a very real problem, even effecting my employment at one point.<p>But going hard, and really pushing my body and pushing myself beyond my preconceived limits has done wonders. There have been times when getting that "runner's high" feeling has completely sidelined the depressive state I've been in. When it happens, I'm still astonished at how much that endorphin release can really make a difference to my mental well being. I realise this is all only anecdotal, with a sample size of one! But I believe runner's high is a recognised phenomenon:<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphin#Runner.27s_high" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphin#Runner.27s_high</a>
Anecdata: Earlier this year, I was exercising regularly. I had a lot of energy and felt great about my body and my brain.<p>Some stuff happened that made me stop exercising. It's been several months. I am generally kind of mopey, lethargic, and unhappy with myself. And putting on weight, which only makes me grumpier.<p>YMMV.
I almost wonder if the authors didn't read the analytic-rheumination hypothesis. Adding another thing to a depressed person's plate, and then hounding them when they don't do it, is exactly what they <i>don't</i> need.<p>> The addition of a facilitated physical activity intervention to usual care did not improve depression outcome or reduce use of antidepressants compared with usual care alone.<p>I wonder, did they think this was a good idea, or did they see no other way for the clinician to increase the incentive to do physical activity?<p>Any depressed entrepreneur out there: if you're thinking about exercise, do it! Outdoors if you can, but by any means, listen to Nike: just do it!
I'm annoyed that the study does not go into details about what the "physical activity" consisted of. The only thing it says is "self reported level of physical activity (≤1, 2-3, ≥4 days per week, with at least 30 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity)" which does not mean much.<p>Anecdotally speaking, lifting heavy weights vastly improves my mood. This is in contrast to, say, cardio, which simply makes me feel tired. I wish the study had accounted for this too.
This is all my personal experience, but while struggling with emotional problems I tried exercise (cardio/weight lifting at the gym) for a period of 6 months. Although the exercise itself was not helpful in lifting my mood, having something to do (a routine if you would) helped me keep my mind off the "bad stuff". That itself was a plus but I could have easily replaced exercise with WoW, gambling or piano lessons and the result might've been the same.
This study is not about 'making you feel good', it' about improving cases of clinical depression. If this study is sound, it would generalize to saying "exercise in addition to usual care is no more effective than usual care alone at reducing self-reported levels of depression measured by standard means".
I've often wondered about this. I've been through a couple major depressive episodes even as I was in peak physical condition. I was doing high-intensity boot camps 4-5 days per week.
Exercise does relieve, at least, some stress, but that does not mean that it will make you less depressed in the long run. I think these are somewhat different things, the depression being a more complex issue that seems to depend on more factors than stress.