What are the benefits of exercise for mental health?
Are there studies that suggest if you are struggling with depression, that you should consider exercise for mental health?
Everything or nearly everything that I have written about has been through the lens of how real food and lifting myself up off of the ground, out of the chair and into the gym, how they have helped me in my battle against anxiety, depression, and obesity.
But, what does the science say? What studies have been done which either prove or disprove the link between food, and exercise for mental health?
Here is one study which does show that exercise for mental health does provide benefits for fighting depression. My comments are under the Notes section.
The Benefits of Exercise for Mental Health
Exercise may benefit people suffering from depression, according to a recent review. Evidence has been found to suggest that exercise reduces symptoms of depression, although they say more high-quality trials are needed.
Depression is a Worldwide Problem
Worldwide, more than 120 million people suffer from depression. Antidepressants and psychological therapies are recommended as effective treatments for depression. However, antidepressants have side-effects and some people prefer not to receive, or may not have access to, psychological therapies.
Physical exercise is also used as a treatment for depression.
There are a number of reasons why it might work such as changing hormone levels that affect mood or providing a distraction from negative thoughts.
Notes:
I have been saying all along, from the first days when I began to experience some relief from depression, that eating real food and exercise were helping me.
Below I found an article that claims that the USA has the highest rate of depression worldwide, at a whopping 9.6% of the population.
Could our proclivity for processed food and minimal exercise be related?
United States – 9.6%
Back to the article from Science Daily:
The previous version of the Cochrane review found only limited evidence of the benefits of exercise for mental health. However, more trials have now been completed, leading researchers to carry out a further update.
Altogether, they reviewed the results of 39 trials involving 2,326 people diagnosed with depression. The severity of patients’ symptoms was assessed using standard scales of depression.
In 35 trials comparing exercise with control treatments or no treatment, the researchers saw moderate benefits of exercise for treating depression.
They found that exercise was as effective as psychological therapy or taking antidepressants, although these findings were based on only a few, small, low-quality trials.
Notes:
If exercise provides some benefits for depression, then exercise should be the first stop before psychotropic medications!
In addition to exercise, I believe when studies are done between the relationship of real food to depression, you will see the alleviation of depression symptoms going up as well.
“Our review suggested that exercise might have a moderate effect on depression,” said one of the authors of the review, Gillian Mead of the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, UK.
“We can’t tell from currently available evidence which kinds of exercise [regimens] are most effective or whether the benefits continue after a patient stops their exercise programme.”
Exercise for Mental Health Experience
I could tell them that the benefits will not continue after the exercise program is stopped. I can also tell them that the benefits will likewise cease once the real food has given way to processed food.
Of course, I am just one person, but hopefully, you can carry out a high-quality study on yourself. You are the scientist of your body! If you are struggling with depression, why not start a beginner deadlift program or beginner powerlifting program?
What have you got to lose? Nothing and you have everything to gain besides more lean muscle mass.
Conducting high-quality trials involving exercise can be problematic.
For example, it is difficult to conceal which patients have been allocated to treatment groups, and which have been allocated to control or no treatment groups.
Therefore, the researchers carried out a separate analysis focussing on high-quality trials. In these six trials, the effect of exercise was weaker.
“When we looked only at those trials that we considered to be high quality, the effect of exercise for mental health was small and not statistically significant,” said Mead.
“The evidence base would be strengthened by further large-scale, high-quality studies.”
Benefits of Exercise for Mental Health – Final Thoughts
Before you focus on antidepressant pills to alleviate depression, you have everything to gain if you begin a full-body strength training program like the 3×5 workout.
It should come as no surprise that moving your body will help you shift your mood. The skeletal muscles are the only muscles in your body that you have neural control over, meaning that you need to think first and then move your voluntary skeletal muscles.
You have these voluntary muscles so you can move your skeleton, otherwise, you would only be a heap of bones.
A life of inactivity and a sedentary lifestyle is an invitation to a decreased or worse, depressed mood.
The superiority of the deadlift as an exercise for mental health is because it is a compound exercise that targets multiple muscle groups at the same time.
Also, the deadlift is an accessible exercise that people of all ages, and mobility can begin to perform.
However, any exercise you enjoy will be a much better choice than antidepressants!
You will get leaner, stronger, and look and feel much better. Give exercise for mental health a whirl, you will not be disappointed!
What’s Next
The deadlift was my road to freedom from antidepressants.
Any exercise you enjoy can help you beat obesity, manage depression, and live a better life.
If you want to tackle the deadlift, be aware that it is more complicated than picking a weight up off the floor. It might look simple but be forewarned that you either respect the deadlift, otherwise you run the risk of injury.
Therefore, before you start lifting, first learn How to Deadlift for Beginners – A Step by Step Guide.
Related Posts:
- 10 Reasons Deadlifts are the Best Natural Alternative To Prozac
- 12 Simple Tips for Depression; Practical and Effective Strategies
- How the Holstee Manifesto Can Change Your Life
- Albert Einstein’s Definition of Insanity Changes Everything
- Action Speaks Louder than Words; Leviathan Fishing Documentary
- 13 Devastating Ways How Your Depression Affects Others
- Fighting Depression With Exercise Tips from Three Continents
- What Natural Remedies for Depression Can You Learn From Nature?
- The Dewey Bozella Story: How Boxing Saved His Life
- Gilbert Tuhabonye Will Inspire You To Never Get Discouraged In Life
- Learn How to Overcome Depression from Raju the Elephant in India
- The Best Exercise for Depression – How the Deadlift Saved My Life
- Weaning Off Zoloft is the Best Decision You Ever Made
- What Is The Definition of Clinical Depression & How Can You Cope
- How to Help Depression and Obesity
- Male Suicide – How to Deal with the Silent Epidemic
- How to Treat Depression Naturally and Rebuild Your Life
- Bitter or Better? A Quote That Can Change your Life
- 3 Great Augustus Caesar Quotes to Power Your Training
- Suicide after Divorce: 17 Reasons Why Men Give Up on Life
- Fat and Depressed; How to Escape the Nightmare
- How to Stop Being Depressed (and Start Being Awesome)
- 5 Depression and Obesity Links You Need To Know
- Antidepressants DOUBLE your Risk of Suicidal Ideation
- How to Deal with Depression; A New Way with Zehhu
About Squats and Deadlifts:
- 7 Greatest Deadlift Muscles Worked That Can Change Your Life
- 37 Remarkable Benefits of Deadlifts to Unleash Your Fitness Fast
- 15 Safe Deadlift Alternatives that Will Protect a Bad Back
- What Muscles Does a Hex Bar Deadlift Work?
- 27 Sensational Ways How Deadlifts Change Your Body
- Top 7 Halting Snatch Deadlift Lessons from Dmitry Kolokov
- 20 Greatest Benefits of Squats – The King of Free Weight Strength Training
- 7 Powerful Squats Muscles Worked Will Improve Your Life
- Squats for Weight Loss and Body Transformation
- Best Deadlift Shoes: Review & Buying Guide For 2020
- 5 Best Deadlift Shin Guards on the Market Today in 2022
Squat and Deadlift Workouts and Programs:
- 3×5 Workout Plan: The Only Strength Training Program You Will Ever Need
- Phraks Greyskull LP Variant vs. Starting Strength vs. GSLP
- 5 Powerful Franco Columbu Workout Routine Tips You Can Use Today
- One Great Beginner Deadlift Workout Routine for Powerlifting and Fitness
- 7 Reasons You Should Do Banded Deadlifts (With or Without a Barbell)
- One Great Beginner Squat Workout Routine for Powerlifting and Fitness
- Powerbuilding Program for Beginners: Get Big AND Strong + PDF
- How To Do A Dumbbell Deadlift: Proper Form, Benefits + Variations
- 12 Week Deadlift Program for Beginners in Fitness or Powerlifting
Never Give Up on Getting Fitter Than You Are Today
- Fat to Fit Men Training Plan for Men Over 50
- The Best Men’s Fitness Over 50 Tips That Will Change Your Life
- 11 Getting Fit at 50 Before and After Results Photos; Fit Apprentice
- 7 Best Rob McElhenney Workout Tips to Get Ripped in 7 Months
- The Hashi Mashi Plan; Fitness Tips for Your Mind and Body
- What Muscles Do Push Ups Work?
Infographic – The New SIGECAPS Roadmap