To Cut Depression, Exercise in Your Free Time


by Bob Curley on November 2, 2010



It doesn’t hurt to get a little exercise during the work day, but if you want to stave off depression then you need to work out during your leisure hours, a new study suggests.



The BBC reported Oct. 31 that researchers from King’s College London, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the University of Bergen in Norway studied depression and exercise patterns in more than 40,000 Norwegians.



“Our study shows that people who engage in regular leisure-time activity of any intensity are less likely to have symptoms of depression,” said lead researcher Samuel Harvey of the King’s College Institute of Psychiatry.



“We also found that the context in which activity takes place is vital and that the social benefits associated with exercise, like increased numbers of friends and social support, are more important in understanding how exercise may be linked to improved mental health than any biological markers of fitness,” added Harvey. “This may explain why leisure activity appears to have benefits not seen with physical activity undertaken as part of a working day.”



The findings were published in the November 2010 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.