Study: Exercising will lift up your spirit and boost up mood

If you’re feeling down in the dumps, hit the gym. It’s the best way to perk yourself up, according to a growing number of studies.

In fact, researchers are now saying vigorous exercise may be just as effective — if not more so — than such “mood-boosting” drugs as Prozac for fighting depression.

The latest evidence that exercise can be a powerful natural antidepressant comes from a German study of people with clinical depression. Dr. Fernando Dimeo and colleagues at Freie University in Berlin found that as little as a half-hour of cardiovascular exercise improved the patients’ symptoms — faster, in fact, than antidepressant drugs typically do.

The study, which is presented in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, reports that half the patients had improved significantly.

“Our results indicate that, in selected patients with major depression, aerobic training can produce a substantial improvement in symptoms in a short time,” the researchers write.

This is just one study in a recent flurry of research suggesting exercise to be the best way to beat depression.

Another recent study from Duke University also found physical activity to be more effective at combating depression than prescribed medication.

Hopefully, this new wave of research will change the way some depressed patients are treated — especially those who are not interested in taking antidepressants, which oftentimes carry unwanted side effects. This article was taken from www.hlifestyles.com