Research published in mental health and physical activity Just one exercise or mind-body exercise session was found to reduce anxiety, improve well-being, and reduce biomarkers associated with inflammation and neurogenesis in hospitalized patients with depression. These findings indicate that aerobic exercise and mind-body practices such as yoga and mindfulness may be practical interventions for people experiencing severe depression.
Depression is ubiquitous around the world, with an estimated 16% of people experiencing depression at some point in their lives. Severe depression can be debilitating and very difficult to treat, requiring hospitalization. Most people with depression receive medication, but finding the right medication may be time consuming or less effective than necessary, and other interventions are needed.
Both exercise and mind-body engagement have been shown to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other clinical disorders. I was interested in whether any of these would affect anxiety, happiness, and emotions. Furthermore, they hypothesized that inflammatory biomarkers would decrease and neurogenesis biomarkers would increase. bottom.
Participants in this study were 33 hospitalized with a depressive episode. Each participant was exposed to all three conditions. Conditions include aerobic exercise, control conditions, and mind-body conditions. The control condition was always placed in the middle, but which condition came first was randomized and he had 48 hours between each experience.
The exercise condition was 20 minutes of circuit training including warm-up, weights, and aerobic exercise. The mind-body state consisted of 20 minutes of yoga, breathing exercises, and meditation. Finally, the control condition asked participants to “spend time coloring”. Colored pencils and crayons were provided.
After each condition, participants underwent measures of anxiety, positive and negative effects, and well-being. Blood was also drawn for analysis. The results of this data collection revealed that both exercise and mind-body exercise increased well-being and positive effects and decreased anxiety and negative effects. However, mind-body activity was good at reducing negative effects.
Regarding biological effects, mind-body activity decreased the inflammatory biomarker interleukin-1β, and exercise decreased tumor necrosis factor-α, which is also an anti-inflammatory biomarker.
This study was limited by the small sample size, and the severity of the depressive episodes makes it difficult to generalize the findings to mild or moderate depression. may be limited to The study was unable to determine how long the effects would last. Finally, control activity for coloration was also used as treatment activity and may have influenced assessment scores.
The research team believes their research will contribute to the search for effective treatments for depression. It supports the ability of mind-body activity and exercise to have acute positive effects in people facing depressive episodes, including patients with resistant and refractory conditions.”
The study “Acute Effects of Mind-Body Practices and Exercise in Hospitalized Patients with Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial” by Gabriela Aquino Torrey, Priscilla dos Santos Novaka, Jovana Bristoz, Felipe Barreto-Shuk, Marcelo Written by Pio de Almeida Fleck.