One gym visit a week can drastically reduce depression risk in women – UCT study

Research has long shown that when it comes to depression, medication and therapy aren’t the only treatments that can help.

Regular exercise is also considered to be effective in treating low mood.

Now, the findings of a recent University of Cape Town (UCT) study have shown that engaging in physical activity significantly reduces the risk of depression in South African women.

Our analysis indicated that increasing physical activity from low to moderate or from low to high in the female population could prevent 19.3% and 16.3% cases of depression, respectively.

Seranne Motilal, PhD candidate at UCT and first author of the study

Even a small increase in physical activity, 5,000 steps one day in a week to one low-intensity 30-minute physical activity in a week or one gym visit in a week, was proved to reduce depression risk in women.

But interestingly, the same was not true of their male counterparts.

The study found no effect of physical activity on depression in men.

Researchers provided several possible explanations for the sex difference:

The diagnosis of depression in men is not made as often in men as in women, reducing the power to detect an effect in men. In our study population, 1,761 women and 882 men were diagnosed with depression. This aligns with prior studies showing that depression is twice as likely diagnosed in women than in men.

Seranne Motilal, PhD candidate at UCT and first author of the study

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This article first appeared on CapeTalk : One gym visit a week can drastically reduce depression risk in women – UCT study