A new meta-analysis, published in JAMA, found — once again — that regular physical exercise reduces the risk of depression.
Haven’t I posted a million such studies?
Yes.
But here’s the key take-home.
People who experienced the greatest benefit were those who went from NO exercise to small doses.
For example, going from 0 walks to 1.25 hours, total, of brisk walks/week substantially lowered the risk of depression.
There was even more improvement for those who upped that number to 2.5 hours, but the greatest gain was that transition from couch potato to “Person who at least walks.”
Interestingly, if you exercised over the CDC’s recommended levels, you got no additional benefit.
To frame this in the context of another discipline (finance), the Return on Investment of Doing a Little Exercise is far greater than the ROI of being Gym Bro.
If you want more information on why exercise helps fight depression, Harvard Health has a nice read on it.
(P.S. Regarding the painting, you wouldn’t naturally think of these two nobodies as exercising, but according to studies, just moving from the couch to walking like these nobodies would help
And that’s the point. It’s a really easy thing to do, but oh I know — do I ever — that when you’re depressed, you don’t even care about feeling better. So it’s not that easy to do when depressed. But it is. But it’s not. You get it).
