Daily HealthBeat Tip

A brisk walk from depression.

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this is HHS HealthBeat.

Regular physical activity is good for the body. And a new study indicates it is good for the mind.

Researcher Andrea Dunn of the Klein Buendel community health education firm in Colorado looked at mild to moderate depression, to see if moderate activity could reduce symptoms as effectively as drugs or cognitive behavioral psychotherapy.

In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and done at the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Dunn had some people exercise three hours a week. They burned as many calories as people do by walking briskly 30 minutes a day, most days of the week. She found:

Three hours a week is really comparable to what you see in pharmacological treatment studies or cognitive behavioral studies, so we are very encouraged by these results."

While exercise builds its research record, drugs and psychotherapy are still the treatment mainstay.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: July 8, 2005

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