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Exercise doesn't help depression, study concludes. A study into whether physical activity alleviates the symptoms of depression has found there is no benefit.

Exercise doesn't help depression, study concludes

Research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that adding a physical activity intervention to usual care did not reduce symptoms of depression more than usual care alone. This contrasts with current clinical guidance which recommends exercise to help those suffering from the mental illness, which affects one in six adults in Britain at any one time. To carry out the study researchers recruited 361 patients aged 18 to 69 years who had recently been diagnosed with depression.

Trial participants were then split into two groups to receive either the physical activity intervention in addition to usual care, or usual care on its own and were followed up for 12 months to assess any change in their symptoms. Exercise, depression and science miscommunication. A thousand years ago, the Japanese diarist Sei Shōnagon wrote: "If writing did not exist, what terrible depressions we should suffer from.

Exercise, depression and science miscommunication

" This I know all too well, and I when I look back at the articles I've written in the last four years, I can trace the ups and downs of my life in the frequency of my postings and the tone they convey. The battle against depression is a very personal thing: services for those with mental health problems are still poor, and as we go through life we tend to develop our own coping strategies, with varying degrees of success. For me it's writing and tidying; others swear by exercise. The relationship between exercise and depression has been the subject of three recent articles in the Guardian, each based on a press release by the University of Bristol, based in turn on a research paper published in the BMJ on Wednesday. First came the paper. 'Facilitated physical activity intervention' is a rather clunky term. Exercise Found Effective Against Depression. Exercise works at least as well as a popular prescription drug in treating clinical depression and keeping the condition from returning, researchers say.

Exercise Found Effective Against Depression

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center tested exercise against the drug Zoloft and found the ability of either -- or a combination of the two -- to reduce or eliminate symptoms were about the same. But they found exercise seemed to do a better job of keeping symptoms from coming back after the depression lifted. The findings suggest that a modest exercise program ''is an effective, robust treatment for patients with major depression,'' said the report in the October issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. The findings go well beyond the idea that exercise fights the occasional blues. ''It was not just that they had a bad day -- or a bad several days,'' said Dr. Mastery of physical goals lessens disease-related depression and fatigue. Physical activity is known to reduce depression and fatigue in people struggling with chronic illness.

Mastery of physical goals lessens disease-related depression and fatigue

A new study indicates that this effect may stem from an individual's sense of mastery over -- or belief in his or her ability to achieve -- certain physical goals. Study: Antidepressant lift may be all in your head. By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY A small new study provides more evidence that, on average, antidepressants may be little more effective than a sugar pill in most patients who take them. "I think we've made decisions (about how to treat depression) more difficult," says co-author Robert DeRubeis, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Placebos Work Even Without Deception, Says Study. <br/><a href=" US News</a> | <a href=" Business News</a> Copy Could you be healed by the power of a placebo drug—even when you know it's a fake?

Placebos Work Even Without Deception, Says Study

It might sound strange to some, but a new study published in the most recent issue of PLoS One may have turned the conventional idea of a placebo on its head. Researchers found that placebo pills benefited patients, even when doctors explained that they were only taking sugar pills. "Until now, doctors have thought they had to lie about the placebo pill in order to tap into the effects," said Dr. And, according to this study, it seems they did. Researchers divided 80 study participants who suffered from irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, into two groups. Three weeks later, 59 percent of study participants who knowingly took the placebos reported reduced symptoms and adequate relief for their IBS symptoms, while only 35 percent of the control group reported similar results. "I was hopeful from the beginning," said Kaptchuk. Dr. Scientists explain how ketamine vanquishes depression within hours.

Many chronically depressed and treatment-resistant patients experience immediate relief from symptoms after taking small amounts of the drug ketamine.

scientists explain how ketamine vanquishes depression within hours

For a decade, scientists have been trying to explain the observation first made at Yale University. Today, current evidence suggests that the pediatric anesthetic helps regenerate synaptic connections between brain cells damaged by stress and depression, according to a review of scientific research written by Yale School of Medicine researchers and published in the Oct. 5 issue of the journal Science. Ketamine works on an entirely different type of neurotransmitter system than current antidepressants, which can take months to improve symptoms of depression and do not work at all for one out of every three patients.