LIMERICK, Ireland — There are some days when many of us just want to stay in bed from morning to night or remain glued to the couch indefinitely. While lounging can certainly be a good time every once in a while, researchers from the University of Limerick have uncovered yet another reason for everyone to prioritize a little bit of movement — especially older individuals. Their study finds modest amounts of physical activity each day can reduce the risk of depression.
This research, conducted in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin, reports that a “dose” equal to just 20 minutes per day (for five days a week) of moderate-intensity physical activity (brisk walking, for example) displayed an association to less risk of depressive symptoms and chances of major depression.
Depression, of course, is an increasingly common condition among older adults. Meanwhile, depression is also linked to a host of significant risk factors for major chronic conditions like cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, and even an increased risk of death and suicide.
All in all, estimates show that depression causes around five to 10 percent of the burden of all diseases in Europe. Meanwhile, the economic cost of depression in the United States alone is approximately more than $210.5 billion! Therefore, zeroing in on potentially easy and low-cost health and lifestyle solutions that could reduce the risk of depression is a top priority for scientists and doctors alike.
Recent studies have concluded that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) can benefit those at risk for depression.
“However, there is no agreement on how much physical activity is protective for depression overall, or how this may vary among adults with disease,” says Dr. Eamon Laird, lead author on the paper and a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at UL, in a university release.
“For this work, we used 10 years of data from the Irish Longitudinal Study On Ageing which included information on depression, MVPA, and other key health-related variables such as disease, lifestyle factors and socio-economic status.”
“We sought to identify the lowest dose of MVPA associated with protection against Major Depression and depressive symptoms and the extent to which this varied based on the presence of chronic disease,” Dr. Laird continues.
Source: https://studyfinds.org/few-minutes-exercise-depression/
