Working out seems to have huge benefits for your mental health. Now in a review of studies newly published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers say that resistance training can also help treat depression.
This is a significant finding since it’s the first systematic analysis of top-quality studies that assess the effects of resistance training on depression. Plus, it shows that people get mental-health benefits from a type of exercise researchers say is crucial for maintaining muscle mass as you age.
- Resistance training, also known as weight or strength training, can reduce symptoms of depression, according to a new meta-analysis of studies.
- This form of exercise is about as effective at treating depression as aerobic exercise, according to the research.
- That finding gives medical professionals a fresh way to fight depression, which is an extremely common form of mental illness, with major depression diagnosis rates rapidly on the rise, according to a new report.
The finding also comes at an important time.
Rates of major depression are rapidly rising in the US, according to a new report published by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Since 2013, major depression diagnoses have increased by 33%, with even bigger increases for millennials and adolescents, according to the report. Of all conditions affecting Americans, depression has the second biggest impact on overall health, behind hypertension.
The power of getting stronger
Resistance training – often called strength training – includes weight lifting and body-weight exercises such as push-ups.
We already knew that resistance training makes people stronger, builds muscle, and can improve endurance and power. There’s also good evidence that strengthening exercises can reduce anxiety. Strengthening exercises helped reduce depression symptoms whether or not the study participants grew physically stronger, and it worked regardless of how healthy people were when they started the resistance training. Find the complete article in the link to the author below.
