Taking care of mental health is key to enjoying well-being. However, drugs are often used as the preferred option in primary care. What is the best option for depression: antidepressants or sports?
A study asked the same question in order to give a correct answer to all those who suffer from depressive symptoms. Greece and Spain are the European Union countries with the highest prevalence of depression. In the case of Spain, it is estimated that 5% of Spaniards suffer from this mental illness.
By autonomous communities, Castilla y León (10%) and the Valencian Community (9.8%) have the highest prevalence of depressive symptoms among those over 15 years of age, and the lowest figures are in the Balearic Islands and Cantabria, in addition to Ceuta and Melilla . Perhaps awareness of regular physical exercise could help reduce these figures.
Same efficiency
The aforementioned study included 313 people over the age of 65 with depression divided into two groups. In one of them exercise is applied (intervention), in another antidepressants (control). They were followed up for 6 months.
Physical exercise consisted of two sessions a week of 1 hour each. Participants were also encouraged to increase the level of activity in their daily lives. The course of depression was not significantly different between the intervention and control groups at the end of the first month. However, changes were found after 3 and 6 months.
Participants in the intervention group showed a higher dropout rate, but those taking antidepressants experienced more adverse effects . The satisfaction of the participants was high in both groups and the symptomatology was reduced a little more in the control group.
According to the data, physical exercise is almost as efficient in treating depression as the use of drugs. Taking into account that the latter always generate secondary effects, it seems clear to opt for an increase in activity.
To all this we must add that physical exercise not only improves mental health, but many other variables related to well-being. Also, two hours of exercise per week is not enough, so a higher dose will surely generate even more significant benefits.
What is the best antidepressant exercise?
If we don’t like a particular type of exercise, chances are we won’t do it, depressed or not. But if we enjoy what we’re doing, whether it’s tai chi, cycling, or walking, we’re more likely to continue doing it over time.
If we haven’t found the perfect exercise yet, we shouldn’t give up. It is recommended to keep trying different types of exercise classes until we find one that we like. The days when you least feel like exercising are the most important days to get out there and do it. Those are the days when we will feel better when we finish.