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Fitness

Exercise Is Effective Medicine for Depression

People talk about “exercise high,” but research recently published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry states exercise can actually be effective medication for clinical depression.

Becca Borawski

Written by Becca Borawski Last updated on August 31, 2011

People talk about “exercise high,” but research recently published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry states exercise can actually be effective medication for clinical depression. In this particular study, conducted at the UT Southwestern Medical Center, exercise was prescribed as a “second medication” for patients who were not fully responsive to a single antidepressant.

Participants in the study suffered from depression on an average of 7 years and were administered a serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant. After 12 weeks of exercise almost 30% of participants were fully recovered from their depression. An additional 20% experienced significant improvement in their condition. Different patients responded better to different intensity levels of exercise, leading researchers to believe exercise can be prescribed, similar to medication, in varying manners to different populations.

Earlier this year, Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine also published research regarding the relationship between exercise and antidepressant medication. This study found exercise alone to be as effective as a pharmaceutical named sertraline at the 4 month mark of treatment. In the long term, researchers found continuing to exercise could extend those early benefits and could increase success rates of recovery when paired with a prescription antidepressant medication.

Based on these studies it could be stated exercise is as effective as a second medication, with the added benefits of exercise being good for a patient’s overall fitness and health, being less expensive, and having no pharmaceutical side effects.

Becca Borawski

About Becca Borawski

Becca found her way to a career in health and fitness through Martial Arts and CrossFit. Originally a music editor for film and television, Becca started studying Martial Arts in 2000. Though she started with traditional Martial Arts it was not long before she discovered Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and her path was forever altered. She began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Muay Thai and started working with professional MMA fighters, building websites, working on fight promotions, and producing videos.

As a competitor in BJJ herself, Becca wanted to get stronger and fitter. In 2006 she discovered CrossFit and became a student at CrossFit Los Angeles. In only a couple of years she became CrossFit Level III Certified, left her career in the film industry, and dedicated herself full time to coaching. She has since been certified through CrossFit in Olympic Lifting, Powerlifting, Nutrition, Endurance and Kids coaching. She also held an NSCA-CSCS from 2006-2008 and is a certified IndoRow instructor. In addition to coaching adults, she founded the CrossFit LA Kids program in 2010 and taught children aged 5-17.

Becca regularly takes on new sports, which have included indoor rowing, fencing, and most recently, cycling, as she believes it makes her both a better athlete and a better coach. In order to reach more people with her coaching, Becca also created ModernAthena.com – a website dedicated to women in pursuit of physical fitness and self-improvement.

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