Physical Activity for the Prevention of Depression

Abstract

Data suggest there is a 2-4 year window between the onset of the first symptom of depression and diagnosed illness during which prevention programs might be targeted (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009). Depression is most likely to develop around vulnerable periods in life, such as adolescence, peripartum, and old age (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and when stressful life events occur, such as major illness, divorce, loss of a loved one, or job loss (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009). Thus, depression prevention efforts would perhaps be best targeted at adolescents and young people those between the ages of 10 and 24, to help foster healthy habits and skills to combat depression that can be carried into adulthood. As discussed in this chapter, promising evidence exists to support physical activity (including leisure-time, occupational and transportation physical activity, as well as more structured aerobic exercise and resistance training) as an effective method of prevention for depression throughout the lifespan. In this chapter, we present the extant evidence, cross-sectional, prospective, and experimental regarding the relationship between physical activity and incidence of depression, and discuss a number of hypothesized although generally untested mechanisms by which the relationship between exercise and depression might exist. the authors focus on the period of childhood and adolescence, due to the emergence of depression, developmental processes that may be particularly amenable to physical activity intervention, and the establishment of what could be lifelong physical activity habits during this time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)