Unfortunately, depression is becoming more common among older adults and has significant risk factors for major chronic conditions, including cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease and chronic pain, and increased risk of death and suicide.
Depression causes more than 5-10% of the burden of all disease in Europe and the economic cost in the United States alone is estimated to exceed $210.5 billion. Therefore, the identification of potentially easy and low-cost health and lifestyle solutions that could reduce the risk of depression remains a top priority for the scientific community .
In fact, recent research has already shown that Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) was linked to benefits for depression. “However,” explained Dr Eamon Laird, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Limerick’s Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, “there is no agreement on how much physical activity protects against depression in general, or how this may vary among adults with the disease.
Dr. Eamon Laird is lead author of a new article set out to answer this question. And the conclusion has revealed that even moderate daily physical activity can protect adults against the risk of depression.
This new study, carried out by experts in physical activity and mental health from the University of Limerick and Trinity College Dublin, and which has just been published in the Jama Network Open journal, has shown that a dose of physical activity equivalent to just 20 minutes a day (for five days a week) of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as brisk walking, was linked with a lower risk of depressive symptoms and a lower chance of major depression.
This cohort study was conducted among 4,016 older adults, and as Dr. Laird points out, “for this work, we used 10 years of data from the Irish Longitudinal Study of Aging, which included information on depression, levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and other key health-related variables, such as diseases, lifestyle factors, and socioeconomic status. “We tried to identify the lowest dose of moderate to vigorous physical activity associated with protection against major depression and depressive symptoms and the extent to which this varied based on the presence of chronic disease,” he added.
The higher the level of physical activity, the greater the protection against depression
The main finding of the study is that a dose of physical activity equivalent to 20 minutes a day of MVPA (brisk walking) for five days a week was associated with a rate 16% lower depressive symptoms and 43% less likely to have major depression.
But the work also points to a dose-response effect, that is, the higher the MVPA, the greater the protection against depression; thus, doses equivalent to ~30 minutes a day of MVPA were associated with a 7% lower risk of depressive symptoms and a 44% lower odds of major depression; doses equivalent to ~60 minutes per day of MVPA were associated with: 16% lower risk of depressive symptoms and 41% lower odds of major depression; and doses equivalent to ~120 minutes per day of MVPA were associated with a 23% lower risk of depressive symptoms and a 49% lower odds of major depression.
Physical activity at doses lower than the World Health Organization recommendations for general health may offer protection against depressive symptoms and major depression.
These findings remained significant even after controlling for relevant health-related factors such as biological sex, education, age, smoking and alcohol use, obesity, antidepressant use, and time. Furthermore, they were also materially the same for older adults with and without a chronic disease.
According to Dr. Laird: “This study is highly relevant given the high prevalence of depression in our growing population of older adults. Physical activity at doses lower than the World Health Organization recommendations for general health may offer protection against depressive symptoms and major depression; At a minimum, aim to engage in 20 minutes a day of moderate-intensity activity at least five days a week, with more benefits seen at higher doses.
“Try to build it into a routine with hobbies or activities you enjoy, and try doing it with others, as social interactions, particularly activity, can also have mental health benefits. Remember that it is a component, and that nutrition and a healthy lifestyle will also give additional benefits to physical activity.
Dr. Matthew Herring, Associate Professor and Investigator in the UL Center for Physical Activity for Health Research and Principal Investigator of this research, added: “The current findings have significant implications in highlighting that significant benefits of antidepressants appear be associated with doses of physical activity that are lower than current World Health Organization recommendations for general health, although higher doses were associated with stronger protection.
“Clearly, we do not advocate less physical activity among the older adult population, but the findings suggest that the greatest improvements in protection against depression among older adults may be achieved by engaging inactive older adults in physical activity, even in doses lower than those recommended for general health.”
Source: University of Limerick
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