Physical exercise is a well known healthy approach that lowers the risk of several serious health complications such as Heart Disease, Diabetes, Obesity, High Blood Pressure, etc., in accordance with MedicineNet.com. However, a recent study had found out that regular exercise is not only recognized as an effective way to maintain a healthy body, but also, an effective way to prevent depression, as stated by Mayo Clinic.
Define Depression
American Psychiatric Association defines depression as a major mental health condition that heavily impacts a person’s mood, way of thinking, behavior, emotional state, and probably other aspects of life.
Massive Scale Statistics of Depression
The World Health Organization mentioned that there are almost 350 million people across the globe who suffer from depression, which is equivalent to 5% of the world’s population. Every year, there were approximately 1 million depressed patients who died from suicide, which is equivalent to one death per 40 seconds and the mortality rate of 16 patients per 100,000 people. It was also discovered that women are more likely to develop this disorder.
Regular Exercise and Its Advantages
Aside from the fact that regular exercise reduces stress, boosts self esteem and improves sleep, it also helps the body release some chemicals called ‘endorphins’, WebMD stated. Endorphins serve as analgesics that interacts with brain receptors and may lessen the perception of pain or anxiety. Another purpose of endorphins in the body is to activate positive feelings like excitement and alertness. These ‘euphoric’ feelings are said to be comparable to reaction after taking morphine but the only difference is that endorphins do not result in drug dependence.
Findings
Experts from The Black Dog Institute, UNSW Sydney with the collaboration of Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute gathered some important data from 49 studies worldwide regarding the effectiveness of exercise, involving 266,939 participants. Dr Joseph Firth from the University of Western Sydney revealed that most of the findings stated that physically active people were at 15% reduced risk of developing depression, and 15% is already a big number. He added that the results came from long-term studies (7 or 8 years). Meaning, the protective aspect of exercise comes from being active in a long period of time.
Health and Entertainment
Dr. Firth articulated that regular exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous. Instead, it’s more about enjoying the type of exercise or sport the patient finds comfortable to do. So that, it may help the patient turn into a regularly physically active individual. He added that there is no exact amount of required exercise for a patient, for as long as it will not harm the body. 150 minutes per week is enough exercise to make a person 22% less endangered in developing depression.
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