Researchers at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham N.C., studied 156 majorly depressed patients 50 and older and found that after 16 weeks, those who exercised showed significant improvement compared to those who either took medication alone or those who combined the therapies. In a six-month follow-up study, Duke psychologists found that depression returned in only 8 percent of the patients in the exercise group, versus 38 percent for the drug-only group and 31 percent for the drug and exercise combined group.
Study participants in the exercise group engaged in one half-hour of brisk walking three times a week.
"The main conclusion is that maintaining an exercise program can significantly help in reducing depression," says the study's lead researcher, Duke psychologist James Blumenthal, whose work is published in the current issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. He believes this is the first study that actually looks at exercise as a treatment for depression for any age group, but says the results, "just confirm what a lot of people think exercise can do anyway."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2OUk-GEhTs
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Depression/story?id=117946
