Depression had been found to affect more than 340 million people worldwide. It is an important cause of morbidity and mortality and it will become the second largest contributor to the global burden by year 2020. Exercise has been shown positive effect on the symptoms and prevalence of depression. However, there is limited experimental evidence on the effect of aerobic exercise on young adult population with depression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise on depression state, level of monoamines, and physical fitness in college students with depressive symptoms.
Method
Thirty Chinese female college students (20.20±2.26 years old) with a Center for Epidemiological Survey Depression Scale (CES-D) score of 16-29 were recruited for this study and were randomly assigned to experiment (exercise) and control group. The exercise group was exposed to 8 weeks of aerobic exercise (jogging) of 50-min per session, 5 sessions per week at 70%-80% HRmax intensity. The CES-D rating, serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE) and cortisol levels, body composition and peak oxygen uptake were measured at pre- and post-intervention.
Analysis/Results
The exercise group showed a significant decrease in the CES-D total depression score (Control group=21.12±4.23 vs. Exercise group=14.87±3.97, p<0.05), reduced cortisol level (Control group=657.16±91.56 vs. Exercise group=459.95±69.37, p<0.05), weight (Control group=52.99±8.93 vs. Exercise group=50.83±8.05, p<0.05), and body fat percentage (Control group=23.06±5.15 vs. Exercise group=21.79±3.64, p<0.05), while increased in the 5-HT level (Control group=20.77±2.93 vs. Exercise group=21.93±4.05, p<0.01), NE level (Control group=23.06±2.30 vs. Exercise group=25.09±3.64, p<0.05), and peak oxygen uptake (Control group=25.03±3.57 vs. Exercise group=27.68±4.34, p<0.05).
Conclusions
Eight weeks of aerobic exercise can sufficiently improve the physiological fitness, mental health, and monoamine transmitters in female college students with depression symptoms.