Apparently, you do not need a lot of exercise to reduce depression levels, a new study has found. Brisk walks for 2.5 hours a week, and one or two times of exercising per week can significantly help reduce depression or its risk, the new data analysis shows. Just getting up and moving around helps.
“Most benefits are realized when moving from no activity to at least some,” the research authors wrote.
You can choose to engage in either moderate or vigorous exercises. Still, aerobic activities like walking, running, or jogging for 1.25 hours each week will make a good deal of positive impact on your mental health.
However, getting up for a run or heading to the gym is difficult. Time is almost unavailable, from working jobs, running errands, and trying to find some rest in between all of it. Experts say that mental health struggles into that mix, and finding the motivation to exercise becomes almost impossible.
You mustn’t make unrealistic and unsustainable changes to your lifestyle.
Simply transitioning from a couch potato to someone who moves around and engages in some activities makes a good deal of difference.
“Our findings, therefore, have important new implications for health practitioners making lifestyle recommendations. Especially to inactive individuals who may perceive the currently recommended target (of exercise) as unrealistic,” the authors wrote.
More research suggests that people who exercise regularly have a 43% chance of depression and less challenging mental health days than people who do not exercise.
Interestingly, the study says that even engaging in household chores can help lift depression by 10%.
Children are not left out. In 2020, a study showed that simple exercises could help protect kids from developing depression.
These exercises include running, cycling, or creative activities like sculpting, painting, or playing a musical instrument.
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