Review Article
Year: 2022 | Month: April-June | Volume: 7 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 358-364
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijshr.20220450
Effectiveness of Physical Activity as an Intervention for Clinical Depression: A Narrative Literature Review
Dr. Hetshree Paresh Bhavsar1
1BPT Graduate, Ashok and Rita Patel Institute of Physiotherapy, Charusat University, Changa, Gujarat.
ABSTRACT
The WHO report states that almost 56 million of Indian’s population (4.5%) suffer from depression at this moment. Depression is typically managed in primary care using both pharmacotherapy and psychological interventions; however, less than 25% of the population has access to these treatments. However, the role of exercise as an adjunct to conventional therapies is gaining momentum with large number of recent studies having demonstrated exercise to be effective in reducing depression symptoms. The primary objective of the review is to evaluate the clinical benefits of physical activity in reducing severity of depression symptoms in patients with clinical depression. An English-language literature search using MEDLINE, PUBMED, GOOGLE SCHOLAR for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating effects of physical activity among patients with clinical depression. Three RCTs, pharmacotherapy in combination with supervised physical activity showed significant reduction in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) score of up to 10% from baseline compared to control (drug only) group. Further 4 RCTs demonstrated that exercise group had 16% reduction in HAM-D & Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score from baseline; compare to control group. 4 RCTs showed no significant difference among exercise and control group out of which 3 RCTs reported 5% higher remission rate in exercise group compare to control group. High frequency, moderate intensity exercise either treadmill or outdoor walking or stationary cycle has effective in lowering the symptoms of depression, determined by significant reduction in HAM-D & BDI score from baseline (50%) and compare to other exercise intervention. Use of aerobic exercise to improve physical activity might be beneficial in improving symptoms of clinical depression. Improvement in functional capacity through aerobic exercises may be associated with antidepressant efficacy. This approach may decrease the use of high dose medications to receive the antidepressant response. However, only moderate effect size with significant remission rate have been reported.
Keywords: clinical depression, major depression, physical activity