The Kinds of Exercise That Ease Depression Most

This analysis pooled 218 randomised controlled trials involving more than 14,000 people to compare how different kinds of exercise affect major depression, set against psychotherapy, antidepressants and usual care. Walking or jogging, yoga and strength training emerged with the largest reductions in depressive symptoms, and yoga and strength training were among the best tolerated, with fewer people dropping out. That exercise helps depression rests on a large and consistent body of trial evidence, which is why the headline is graded strongly. The authors were more cautious about ranking one form above another, since confidence in those head-to-head comparisons was lower and some effects may be inflated by study design. For a woman weighing how to protect her mood through a demanding decade, the most useful form of movement is likely the one she will actually keep doing.