Surprising Benefits Of Exercise For Fighting Stress, Depression, And A Bad Mood

[LoShiNi]

Ladies, are you depressed? It’s time to hit the gym! Everyone who has experienced severe emotional stress in their lives knows what the term ‘clinical depression’ means. According to WHO, women are two times more likely to suffer from depression.

Sometimes women also have depression after giving birth and during pregnancy. So let’s find out how to know whether you have a serious condition or just a bad mood


We are offering you to take this simple test called the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) which will help you find out how prone you are to depression. And we will also tell you about a few simple and effective ways to both stay fit and prevent depression.

You can find the questionnaire here www.mdcalc.com/phq-9-patient-health-questionnaire-9. Come back once you’re done with it.

So, is your score more than 5 points? Let’s fight depression together with the help of exercise!

More than 850 participants took part in an international study performed by the University of Bristol (Lawlor D.A., Hopker S.W., 2001); the study found that aerobics is as effective as cognitive therapy to fight depression. In addition to that, researchers at Duke University found that aerobics is no less effective than antidepressants. A study performed by Behavioral Science Research Center, Cooper Institute (Dunn AL, 2005) concluded that aerobics is the most effective against depression when it’s intense, and it doesn’t matter how often you exercise – you will still get a result.

See how the body-and-mind connection works? Depression makes you feel unwell physically; exercising can lift your spirits. Doing intense aerobics a few times a week will help you get into shape and feel good about yourself again!

Are you worried about an important upcoming job interview or exam?

Dancing will help you relieve your stress! It comes as no surprise that doing any kind of sport helps you decrease your levels of stress and inner tension. Dr. Bella Agarwal, MGM School of Physiotherapy, India (Agarwal B., 2014) studied academic stress in depth and came to the conclusion that the best thing you can do before a job interview or exam is… dance a little! Dr. Agarwal performed a brilliant study that showed freshman students who did freestyle dancing regularly were significantly less stressed during final exams. Dr. Agarwal recommends using the same method before job interviews. Dance and be successful!

Don’t like sports?

Even short exercise sessions are beneficial for your mood! A Korean study (Kim S, Kim J, 2007) of about 300 people was performed to find out which types of physical activity are beneficial for your emotional condition. It turned out, short physical activity sessions in the form of fitness and ice sports were not very effective, but hip-hop and aerobics can improve your mood and keep your spirits up throughout the day. Even if you don’t like sports, you can still fit 15 minutes of dancing or brisk walking into your schedule every day. It will give you energy and a good mood for the whole day!