More Evidence That Exercise Fights Depression!

Finding the motivation to work out is tough — but it gets easier the more you do it.

Why is that?

Well, the exercise itself cant actually improve motivation and mood!

This is an important find, says the study author:

“This study shows that exercise is associated not only with physical health benefits, but important mental health benefits as well."

They took more than 2,000 patients with heart failure across the U.S., Canada and France — heart failure can cause severe depression, up to 40% — and then tested them for possible depression.

After that, they were randomly assigned to receive either usual care for their heart condition, or usual care plus a program of aerobic exercise.

The exercise group saw modest reductions in depressive symptoms compared with the group that didn’t exercise!

Then, after 30 months, the exercising peeps were also found to have a slightly lower risk of hospitalization and of death!

A psychology professor at Duke University Medical Center said:

“It doesn’t require intensive training for a marathon to derive benefits. We’re talking about three, 30-minute sessions for an accumulated 90 minutes a week. And the results are significant improvements in mental health, reduced hospitalizations and fewer deaths.”

Such fab news!

You don't have to destroy yourself with 3 hour workouts 6 days a week — it's completely doable for you!

It makes us really happy to hear that they're are ways around depression without reliance on medication, but we in no way want to say that it'll work for everyone. Sometimes you need medication — and that's okay too!

[Image via AP Images.]

Tags: benefit, benefits, death, depression, exercise, happy, health, heart, hospital, marathon, medical, muscle, muscles, people, study, training, work out, workout