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 The study team analyzed data from 33 clinical trials that randomly
assigned a total of 947 adults to participate in resistance training
programs and another 930 adults to be inactive.
Resistance workouts were associated with fewer depression symptoms
regardless of whether participants had a physical or mental health
problem, although the effect was most pronounced in adults with mild
to moderate depression, the study team reports in JAMA Psychiatry.
"Previous reviews have shown that exercise training of all types
improves depressive symptoms among otherwise healthy adults, adults
with a variety of medical conditions, and adults with major
depressive disorder," said lead author Brett Gordon, a researcher at
the University of Limerick in Ireland.
Most prior research, however, has focused more on aerobic exercise
like running and cycling rather than on resistance workouts like
weight lifting and strength training, Gordon said by email.
"In the trials included in our work, the effect of resistance
exercise training on depressive symptoms did not significantly vary
based on the features of the resistance exercise training, such as
frequency or intensity," Gordon added.
On average, the resistance training programs in the small trials
included in the current study lasted about 16 weeks, although they
ranged in duration from 6 to 52 weeks.
Most often, the programs included three weekly exercise sessions,
although some had only two and others had as many as seven sessions
per week. Many of the resistance training programs included
supervised workouts alone or in combination with some unsupervised
sessions.
In the subset of smaller trials that tracked whether people
completed exercise programs as directed, the adherence rate was 78
percent. Some other trials reported only attendance, and this ranged
from 88 percent to 94 percent.
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Resistance training was associated with a reduction in depression
symptoms regardless of how often people exercised. It also didn't
appear to matter whether participants experienced improvements in
strength or gains in muscle mass.
Even though the smaller trials in the analysis were controlled
experiments designed to prove whether resistance training might be
better than inactivity for easing depression, these trials still
didn't determine if exercise might work best alone, combined with
medication or psychotherapy, or as an alternative to those
treatments. The study also didn't compare the effects of resistance
training to aerobic exercise or other types of workouts.
Moreover, several trials in the analysis did not track whether
people who were prescribed antidepressants took these medications as
directed, and this might independently influence the magnitude of
any changes in depression symptoms associated with exercise.
Even so, the results add to evidence that a range of exercises may
be able to help ease depression and other mood disorders, said
Dianna Purvis Jaffin of the Brain Performance Institute at the
Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas.
"The underlying message is to stay active, in whatever manner an
individual will adhere to over the long-term," Jaffin, who wasn't
involved in the study, said by email.
"We should not strive to make it a contest between aerobic exercise
and resistance training," Jaffin added. "Both are essential to
successful aging and independent living."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2L24J12 JAMA Psychiatry, online May 9, 2018.
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