PhD candidate George Mammen, supervised by U of T professor Guy Faulkner, recently published a longitudinal study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine analyzing physical activity as a tool in the treatment and prevention of depression. This review is the first to investigate the possibility of a causal link between physical activity and the onset of depression.
Mammen and Faulkner analyzed data from dozens of studies that varied in their investigative methods and demographic groups of interest. The review concluded that, generally, even low levels of activity are correlated with lessened risk of depression.
Although the review acknowledges that there are several other factors in the onset of depression, such as genetic and psychosocial influences, the results indicate that physical activity can play a role in preventing depression. Mammen and Faulkner have said that the public promotion of physical activity should now be carried out with the aim of increasing mental health as well as physical health.
