A recent study found that exercise is twice as effective in treating depression as compared to antidepressant medications.
The British newspaper The Telegraph reported the results of the research, which researchers concluded that walking or jogging at least two to three times a week is considered the best way to combat symptoms of depression.
The study’s authors analyzed 14,170 cases of people suffering from major depressive disorder, through 218 separate trials, and classified different forms of exercise according to their effectiveness in treating the condition compared to current treatments.
The study found that of all the methods used to treat depression, antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (the most commonly prescribed type of medication) were less effective than exercise and other treatments.
The study also found that taking antidepressants improves symptoms of depression by 26%, while simply walking or jogging improves symptoms of depression by 63%, and that the more intense and intense the exercise, the better.
The Telegraph said that the National Health Service in Britain issued directives to doctors, urging them to stop writing repeated prescriptions for those who have become dependent on antidepressants, and to replace that with other treatments such as art lessons, music, garden care and agriculture, as antidepressant prescriptions It reached a record high between 2022 and 2023, as it was prescribed to 8.6 million people in Britain, indicating that 1 in 6 people suffer from depressive disorder.
