Student Research Report: Can Exercise Help Your Depression?
In Spring 2022, students in Dr. Emily Stark’s Research Methods and Design course completed multiple hands-on data collection projects. They were also assigned a blog paper where they discussed one of the topics they chose to research and explained their findings to a general audience. The goal of this assignment was to give students an opportunity to explore a different form of writing from APA-style research papers. Some of these blog papers will be featured here to showcase the students’ findings. Please feel free to contact Dr. Stark through the contact form on this site for additional information about this course or the assignments used.
By Shaya Zabel
Although a common disorder, there is no cure for depression. However, there are many treatments available, including therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes. An important lifestyle change that can be made is exercise. Prior studies have looked at the effects of exercise, specifically aerobic exercise. Adults were separated into an exercise group and a control group. The exercise group did aerobic exercises of a moderate intensity three times a week, for roughly nine weeks. The control group was a non-exercise group and did not participate in any exercise for the study. When exercise groups were compared to control groups, there was a large antidepressant effect found (Morres, 2019). This specific study focused on only adults, with ages ranging from 18-65.
Why is this antidepressant effect present? There are several different explanations that could explain it. One explanation is that exercise releases endorphins, a “runner’s high,” that reduce pain and increase positive feelings in the body. Another explanation is that being exposed to sunlight during outdoor exercise can facilitate serotonin release; the main chemical deficit involved in major depressive disorder (Myers, 2021).
So, what types of exercises should you be doing? Anything that gets your body moving is a great place to start because that is when endorphins are released. Also, exercises that keep you focused on the task at hand are recommended (Myers, 2021). Some examples include running, walking, and strength training. Some more focus-based exercises include yoga, team sports (such as volleyball), tae kwon do, and dancing. Again, anything to get the body moving is great for treating day-to-day symptoms associated with depression.
It is great that exercise can be used for helping treat depression, because there is no cost associated with it, and it is relatively easy to do. Medications and counseling, although effective, can be very expensive forms of treatment. Typically, exercise would want to be used with medication and/or counseling as a treatment plan, however, even exercise by itself can help manage daily symptoms. It also has great health benefits on the physical side as well, like improving cardiovascular health and strengthening muscles.
After reading previous research and learning more about major depressive disorder and aerobic exercise, I decided to conduct my own experiment on the topic. I conducted this study during my Research Methods and Design course at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Using survey research, I asked participants questions about overall mood and mental well-being, as well as questions about whether they exercise or not, and the frequency of their exercise habits. The survey was done online through Qualtrics. In my sample, I ended up having 48 women and 9 men. My hypothesis in this research was that a higher frequency of exercise would be correlated with better mental well-being.
After conducting analyses, it was concluded that my hypothesis was correct. There was a negative correlation between frequency of exercise and poor mental health symptoms. This means that as frequency of exercise goes up, poor mental health symptoms go down. It also can be perceived the other way: as frequency of exercise goes down, poor mental health symptoms increase.
Another thought I had while conducting this research was that even a little bit of exercise was better than none when talking about increasing mental well-being. I formed two groups from the survey results: an exercise group and a non-exercise group. I then formed another hypothesis that the exercise group will have better mental health ratings than the non-exercise control group. My results supported my hypothesis. The exercise group did in fact have better mental health ratings in comparison to the non-exercise group. So, some exercise is better than none when it deals with symptom management.
I learned a lot from this study, but it also had some limitations. There were much more women that completed the study than men, so that could have greatly affected my results. The total number of participants was also smaller than I would have liked it to be. Having more participants, as well as more from each gender, would have generalized my results better to the overall public.
As mental health discussions have become increasingly prevalent in society, more and more research has been done on topics like these. Although there is still a stigma attached to mental health disorders, it has gotten better in recent times. My research as well as all research that explores topics on symptom management is important. Exercise is not a cure for depression- there isn’t one. However, it is an easy lifestyle change that could help manage day-to-day symptoms that can affect things like relationships, job performance, academics, and much more. Further research could even explore more lifestyle changes that could help, such as nutrition.
Making lifestyle changes is not always easy. Beginning to exercise regularly can be a daunting task. However, the hardest part about it is taking that first step. Once you start to see even the smallest changes in your depressive symptoms, it will encourage you to do it more often. It can’t cure you, but it can be impactful on your day-to-day well-being. So, get moving and start to see some results for yourself.
References
Morres, I. D., Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Stathi, A., Comoutos, N., Arpin‐Cribbie, C., Krommidas, C., & Theodorakis, Y. (2019). Aerobic exercise for adult patients with major depressive disorder in mental health services: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Depression and Anxiety, 36(1), 39-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.22842
Myers, W. (n.d.). 7 great exercises to ease depression. EverydayHealth.com. Retrieved April 19, 2022, from https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression-pictures/great-exercises-to-fight-depression.aspx