The ultimate anti-depression workout plan: how to get an hour of exercise a week in manageable chunks
A quarter of us will experience a mental health problem every year. That's 22 million people. Depression doesn't discriminate – it can hit any one of us. However, research has given us plenty of ways in which we can help prevent mental health issues, from two cups of coffee a day to eating well and mindfulness techniques.
And this week, the preventative power of exercise was confirmed by the the largest ever study of its kind. An international research team led by the Australia-based Black Dog Institute, studied 33,908 Norwegian adults whose levels of exercise and symptoms of depression and anxiety were monitored over 11 years. Those who did not exercise were almost twice as likely to suffer from depression compared to those who exercised one to two hours a week, while 12 per cent of depression cases could have been prevented by a small amount of regular exercise. That could be over 2 million people here in the UK.
On the new findings, Stephen Buckley, head of information at Mind said: "This is something we've known anecdotally and through case studies for some while but it's great to be able to put a number to it.
It shows that just little lifestyle changes can have an important impact on most people's health."
Buckley supports the idea that exercise could be used in medical support when treating depression. "Exercise is one of those things that we would hope that a GP would talk to their patients about before reaching for the prescription pad. There's a fair bit of evidence that going for the walk or doing some gardening – fairly gentle exercises – can be really beneficial to people who experience mild to moderate depression."
It can feel like a big effort even to squeeze just an hour of exercise into your hectic weekly routine, but if you cut that down into a manageable 15 minutes a day, four times a week, it surely seems daunting.
Dan Roberts, head coach and founder at fitness and well-being organisation The Dan Roberts Group agrees: "It's much better physiologically and psychologically to do it spread out rather than just do no exercise and then one full-hour slot a week. People have this idea that exercise needs to mean squats and push ups. It doesn't. Exercise is just another word for moving. Go out for a walk at lunch. I get all my clients to hit 10,000 steps a day. No matter what they're doing, that's a minimum."
And for those office dwellers who just have to eat their lunch at the desk, Roberts prescribes a 15-minute full body, balanced workout that will make you stronger both physically and mentally.
