Exercise May Be Just As Effective at Relieving Depression As Medication and Therapy

Movement is medicine: It can strengthen your bones and muscles, help your heart, and boost your brain power. Now, a new study provides more evidence that exercise can also reduce symptoms of depression, perhaps as much as talk therapy or antidepressants.

“Exercise provides an option for people experiencing depressive symptoms, along with pharmacological and psychological treatments, which should be offered to people to allow them to choose the best option in consultation with their health professional,” says the study’s lead author, Andrew Clegg, PhD, a professor of health services research at the University of Lancashire in England.