Movement are act against depression! An actuall study of Clininc of Universiy on Psychatry from the Univesity of Bochum are showing this. Actively of Body are decline symptoms of depression. They also raise up the willingness of alteration from the brain. The alteration is the condition for Process on adaption and learning. The study is published in specific journal Frontiers in Psychatry.

Bochum, August, 04th 2021 – People with depression often withdraw and are physically inactive. In order to investigate the effect of exercise, two groups were formed, with one group completing a control programme without physical exercise and a second group with exercise. At the heart of the exercise programme developed by Dr Thomas Schack was the necessary cooperation between the participants. „In this way, motivation and social interaction were also specifically promoted and fears of challenges and negative experiences with physical activity – keyword school sport – were reduced,“ explains Karin Rosenkranz.

Before and after the programme, the study team determined the severity of depressive symptoms such as lack of drive and interest, lack of motivation and negative feelings. In addition, the brain’s willingness to change, known as neuroplasticity, was measured. This can be determined externally using transcranial magnetic stimulation. „The willingness to change is important for all learning and adaptation processes in the brain,“ explains Karin Rosenkranz.

„The results show how important supposedly simple things like physical activity are in the treatment and prevention of illnesses such as depression,“ explains Dr Karin Rosenkranz, head of the study.

The results show that the brain’s willingness to change is lower in depressed people compared to healthy people. After the physical activity programme, this willingness to change increased significantly and reached the levels of healthy people. At the same time, symptoms of depression decreased in the group. „The more the willingness to change increased, the more clearly the clinical symptoms decreased,“ summarises Karin Rosenkranz.

These changes were not as pronounced in the group that had taken part in the control programme. ‘This shows that there is an effect of physical activity on symptoms and the brain’s willingness to change. To what extent the change in symptoms and the brain’s ability to change are causally linked cannot be answered from these data,’ the doctor qualified. „It is known that physical activity is good for the brain, as it promotes the formation of new nerve cell connections, for example. This could also play a role here.“

Funding

The project was funded by the research fund for the development of transdisciplinary, medically relevant research collaborations in the OWL region.

Text: Meike Drießen

Originalpublication:

Wanja Brüchle, Caroline Schwarzer, Christina Berns, Sebastian Scho, Jessica Schneefeld, Dirk Koester, Thomas Schack, Udo Schneider, Karin Rosenkranz: Physical activity reduces clinical symptoms and restores neuroplasticity in major depression, in: Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2021, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.660642

Picturesouce: Pexels Alex Green