4 ms·

The endorphins from exercise work wonders against depression. Of course, getting the patient to "take their medicine" is non-trivial, but even a short walk can

by lukifer 12y ago

The endorphins from exercise work wonders against depression. Of course, getting the patient to "take their medicine" is non-trivial, but even a short walk can be helpful.

at-fates-hands 12y ago
>> The endorphins from exercise work wonders against depression. When I was a in fairly deep depression, the only thing which kept me sane was playing hockey and pushing my cardio to the max every time I stepped on the ice. The rush of adrenaline and release of endorphins and making my brain engage in something other than why my life is so miserable did wonders for me. A few years later, I was seeing a psychologist and told her about how hockey in essence saved my life. She posited the same thing. The release of endorphins and adrenaline actually help combat the depression and helped me, at least for periods of time, overcome the feelings of despair and isolation.
DanBC 12y ago
> The endorphins from exercise work wonders against depression. There is very little benefit from exercise for people who have depression. Children and adolescents: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004691.pub2/abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004691... Adults: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004366.pub6/abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004366... Exercise is better than a placebo, if the trial is low quality. Once you get better quality trials the benefit is less significant. There's some evidence that exercise might build resilience against depression in people currently not depressed.
- Retric 12y ago
  These are all rather small trials which would require a fairly large effect to be noticeable. 1191 total from 16 studies of children and 2336 from 39 studies for adults. Note: A single stuidy of 200 people is generally better than 10 studies of 50 people because you can't combine raw data from different studies. And treatments for mental issues are generally only useful for sub populations.
  - yid 12y ago
    You absolutely can combine results from different studies, look up meta-analysis.
    - spiritplumber 12y ago
      http://xkcd.com/1447/ http://xkcd.com/1447/ However, don't overdo it!
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
- chiaro 12y ago
  Paper: The antidepressive effects of exercise: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19453207 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19453207 From the abstract: > ...the current meta-analysis examines the effects of exercise on depressive symptoms in 58 randomized trials (n = 2982). An overall effect size of -0.80 indicates participants in the exercise treatment had significantly lower depression scores than those receiving the control treatment. This frac34; SD advantage represents level 1, Grade A evidence for the effects of exercise upon depression.

by lukifer 12y ago

The endorphins from exercise work wonders against depression. Of course, getting the patient to "take their medicine" is non-trivial, but even a short walk can be helpful.

at-fates-hands 12y ago

>> The endorphins from exercise work wonders against depression. When I was a in fairly deep depression, the only thing which kept me sane was playing hockey and pushing my cardio to the max every time I stepped on the ice. The rush of adrenaline and release of endorphins and making my brain engage in something other than why my life is so miserable did wonders for me. A few years later, I was seeing a psychologist and told her about how hockey in essence saved my life. She posited the same thing. The release of endorphins and adrenaline actually help combat the depression and helped me, at least for periods of time, overcome the feelings of despair and isolation.

DanBC 12y ago

> The endorphins from exercise work wonders against depression. There is very little benefit from exercise for people who have depression. Children and adolescents: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004691.pub2/abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004691... Adults: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004366.pub6/abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004366... Exercise is better than a placebo, if the trial is low quality. Once you get better quality trials the benefit is less significant. There's some evidence that exercise might build resilience against depression in people currently not depressed.

Retric 12y ago
These are all rather small trials which would require a fairly large effect to be noticeable. 1191 total from 16 studies of children and 2336 from 39 studies for adults. Note: A single stuidy of 200 people is generally better than 10 studies of 50 people because you can't combine raw data from different studies. And treatments for mental issues are generally only useful for sub populations.
- yid 12y ago
  You absolutely can combine results from different studies, look up meta-analysis.
  - spiritplumber 12y ago
    http://xkcd.com/1447/ http://xkcd.com/1447/ However, don't overdo it!
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
chiaro 12y ago
Paper: The antidepressive effects of exercise: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19453207 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19453207 From the abstract: > ...the current meta-analysis examines the effects of exercise on depressive symptoms in 58 randomized trials (n = 2982). An overall effect size of -0.80 indicates participants in the exercise treatment had significantly lower depression scores than those receiving the control treatment. This frac34; SD advantage represents level 1, Grade A evidence for the effects of exercise upon depression.