An international team of researchers, including experts from King's College
London, found people with higher levels of physical activity had lower rates of
depression later in life, regardless of lifestyle factors such as age, smoking and body mass index (BMI).
Meeting the NHS's recommended minimum
weekly exercise level cut depression risk by a third compared to people
who did not meet the requirement of 150 minutes a week.
The
protective effect was shown even when considering other health factors,
said Dr Brendon Stubbs, of King's College London, who is Head of
Physiotherapy at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
He
said: 'We found that higher levels of physical activity were protective
from future depression in children, adults and older adults, across
every continent and after taking into account other important factors
such as body mass index, smoking and physical health conditions.
'Given the multitude of other health
benefits of physical activity, our data adds to the pressing calls to
prioritise physical activity across the lifespan.'
Data
was collected from 49 unique studies in the UK, US, Australia, Brazil,
Belgium and Sweden of people who did not have a mental illness, to
determine whether physical activity levels were associated with the risk
of an individual becoming depressed.
In total, 266,939 individuals were looked at over a seven and a half year period.
On average, the participants were followed up with after 7.4 years and the data compared.
Authors
of the report now want to see their research implemented in policy
changes which reflect the importance of physical exercise.
Dr
Simon Rosenbaum, senior research fellow at the University of New South
Wales Sydney and the Black Dog Institute, said: 'The challenge ahead is
ensuring that this overwhelming evidence is translated into meaningful
policy change that creates environments and opportunities to help
everyone, including vulnerable members of our society, engage in
physical activity.'
Dr Joseph Firth,
research fellow at NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney
University, added: 'The compelling evidence presented here provides an
even stronger case for engaging all people in regular physical activity;
through schools, workplaces, leisure programs and elsewhere, in order
to reduce the risk of depression across the lifespan.'
