Walking Daily May Improve Depression, Research Shows: Shots

Are you feeling depressed? Taking a walk could help, new research suggests.

The more steps we take, the less likely we are to feel depressed, study finds. Open JAMA Network article published in December.

Researchers analyzed 33 studies examining the movements of nearly 100,000 adults using smartphones, pedometers and other fitness trackers. Those who took more steps daily were less likely to report depressive symptoms or be diagnosed with the condition than those who walked less.

“This is promising evidence that even small amounts of movement can contribute to better mental health,” said Karmel Choi, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the meta-analysis. .

Participants ranged in age from 18 to 91 and lived in 13 different countries. Those who logged at least 5,000 steps per day or more were less likely to experience depressive symptoms, with the largest effect seen among those who logged more than 7,500 steps per day: they were 42% less likely to experience depression. depressive symptoms.

“Studies like these are encouraging because they don’t say you have to be a marathon runner or take a very intense class, but that you can build up the kind of movement that benefits your mental health in a more gentle way,” Choi said. . .

A subset of studies included in the meta-analysis found that for every increase of 1,000 daily steps, adults reduced their risk of developing depression by 9%.

“Setting goals for daily step counts could be a promising and inclusive public health strategy for depression prevention,” write the authors of the meta-analysis. The study was led by Dr Estela Jiménez López from the Center for Health and Social Research at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain.

Studies included in the new meta-analysis excluded people with depression at the time of enrollment and may not include people already diagnosed with clinical depression.

Yet previous research has shown that exercise can reduce symptoms in adults with a diagnosis. A 2024 meta-analysis published in The BMJanother medical research journal, showed that exercise reduced depression to the same extent as antidepressants and that, in some cases, exercise was more effective. However, for some people, medication, therapy, or a combination of both are essential to managing depression.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges adults to get 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity for both physical and mental benefits. Some adults may have trouble knowing what constitutes moderate exercise and how much time to spend on it, Choi said. Tracking your daily steps with a smartphone or wearable device might be easier, she said.

“Choose the metrics that motivate you the most,” she advised. “It’s not about putting step counts on a pedestal, but it’s important to think of step counts as just a way to track movement.”

Dr. Evan Brittain, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, finds fitness trackers useful in his cardiology practice because his patients tend to overestimate their physical activity.

“These data are welcome because they start to give numbers that patients can understand for an important illness like depression,” he said of the new study.

More than 330 million people worldwide suffer from depressive disorders, and a 2019 study showed that 7% of Americans reported moderate or severe symptoms of depression in the previous two weeks.

Previous research has consistently shown that physical activity can protect against the emergence of depression, write the authors of the current study.

“I am a strong advocate for physical activity in general for my patients,” Brittain said. “I think it has many benefits for virtually every organ in the body, and that extends to mood conditions,”

Brittain was not involved in the current research, but his 2022 study examining Fitbit data from more than 6,000 adults was included in the new meta-analysis. His research found that those who walked more than 8,200 steps per day reduced their risk of obesity, sleep apnea, reflux and major depressive disorder.

“The message is very consistent: more is better, and some is better than none,” he said. “I warn all my patients that we are not asking you to run a marathon. Taking a walk is beneficial in itself.”