Running and Depression

Abstract

Two studies on the relationship between running and depression among normal persons are reported. Study 1 investigated whether a group of 21 runners were significantly less depressed, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, than a group of 21 nonexercisers who were matched on sex, age, and height/weight ratio. The runners were significantly less depressed than the nonexercisers. Study 2 assessed whether cardiovascular fitness correlated with depression. Using scores on the Beck Depression Inventory as the criterion of depression, 17 depressed subjects and 17 nondepressed subjects took the Harvard "Step Test", the measure of cardiovascular fitness. There was a significant negative r of -.30. It is noted that the basis of the relation between running and depression is still unclear and suggestions for research are presented.

Aerobic Exercise

“…Three of the four subjects expressed an interest in continuing a jogging program after hospitalization This is similar to reports in the literature about work with adults (Blue, 1979;Dope et al, 1987;Greist, 1984;Jones and Weinhouse, 1979;Martinsen, Medhus, and Sandvik, 1985;Rape, 1987).…”

“…Many studies have been conducted which examine the effects of aerobic exercise on depression scores of normal adult subjects (Jones & Weinhouse, 1W9;Rape, 1987), and adult subjects with clinical depression (Blue, 1979;Doyne, Chambless & Beutler, 1983;Griest et al, 1979;Martinsen, Medhus, & Sandvii, 1985). These studies wncluded that depression scores were lower for those who participated in aerobic exercise than for those who did not Brown and Lawton (1986) looked at the relationship between aerobic exercise and depressed mood in normal adolescent girls.…”

A Scoping Review of the Relationship between Running and Mental Health

“…Sixteen of the 47 studies directly compared measures of mental health in runners and non-running comparisons [29,33,36,37,[40][41][42][45][46][47]57,[61][62][63][64]73]. They found that runners had lower depression and anxiety [33,36,37,40,41,[45][46][47]62], lower stress [64], higher psychological well-being [63,73], and better mood [29] compared to sedentary controls. In these studies, there was no evidence of increased prevalence of eating psychopathology in non-elite runners [42,57,61].…”

Psychosocial aspects of physical activity

“…Studies in older teenagers tend to support the benefits of physical activity in treating adolescent depression (18). Improvement in depression scores was also shown when aerobic exercise programs were used in college students (19).…”