Exercise, depression-anxiety disorders and sex hormones

Abstract

Depression, predicted to be the second leading cause of global disability burden by 2020, is twice as common in women versus men. In addition, women are roughly twice as likely to suffer from anxiety disorders, compared to men. Observations that mood and anxiety disorder prevalence appears to increase concomitant with reproductive steroid hormone changes occurring across the female life span (including puberty, the menstrual cycle, the perinatal period, and the menopause transition) have led to the hypothesis that reproductive-related hormones may play a role in the development and maintenance of mood and anxiety disorders in women. Regular participation in physical activity may offer women a non-pharmacological means to relieve depressive and anxious symptoms during these life periods; however, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are still being understood. Moreover, depression and anxiety are commonly associated with low levels of physical activity, and even among individuals with mental illness, these phenomena appears to be more prevalent in women than in men. This chapter aims to provide an overview of women’s mood disorders, the role of sex hormones in the development and maintenance of women’s reproductive-related mood disorders, and the associations among physical activity and women’s reproductive-related mood disorders.