Exercise; A Reliever For Depression and Anxiety
By Rebeca Funes
Depression and anxiety are two of the most common mental illnesses: although there are no cures to these conditions, there are a multitude of different ways to ease the symptoms they bring. These treatments include psychotherapy, medications, and combinational therapy (which includes using medications and psychotherapy). However, a recent systematic review and meta-meta analysis have shown that exercise can be an effective treatment for both these conditions.
Depression, also known as major depressive disorder (MDD), is a mood disorder characterized by persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. Anxiety, also known as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), is a mental condition characterized by an uncontrollable, excessive worry about everyday issues and activities. It’s important not to confuse regular, everyday anxiety with GAD, which was one of the conditions covered in the study.
Approximately 280 million people have depression, and approximately 359 million people have anxiety, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). With these conditions being so prevalent worldwide, it is essential to have at least some treatments to relieve the symptoms associated with it.
Previous meta-data analysis like one from thebmj, has suggested that exercise does, in fact, help those with depression, specifically through walking, jogging, yoga, and intense strength training. The findings show that exercise worked equally on all ages and should be considered alongside other treatments such as psychotherapy.
“I think mental health professionals should encourage exercise for those that struggle through depression and anxiety. If findings from research do show that exercising can alleviate symptoms, it should be implemented in therapies, whether that be as a complement or as treatment itself,” commented junior, Isaias Nieves.
Despite the evidence that exercise has on treating depression, these studies were often done on older individuals with other health conditions that may have affected results, and did not include anxiety. Additionally, researchers lack knowledge of the extent to which exercise effects on MDD and GAD at varying intensities and across different age groups Thus, they set out to evaluate how exercise can affect those with this condition using a large-scale systematic umbrella review and meta-meta analysis.
A systematic umbrella review and meta-meta analysis are high-level syntheses (the process of integrating information from multiple sources to create a comprehensive understanding of a topic) of existing research evidence that is combined from multiple meta-analyses and systematic reviews.
The new study was published on February 14, 2026, covering 800 individual studies alongside 57,930 participants for depression, and 243 individual studies alongside 19,386 participants for anxiety. This totaled 81 meta-analyses, 1079 component studies (studies that involve the “examination of individual components of an intervention or in some combination to determine the contribution of each to the goals of the intervention”), and 79,551 participants.
The different types of exercise were grouped into one of the four categories: aerobics, resistance training like strength training, mind-body, including yoga and tai-chi, and mixed, which meant exercises that were combinations of those mentioned. The results were not specified for each analysis but were combined to show that the benefits of exercise were comparable and at times exceeded other forms of treatment.
“Exercise definitely shouldn’t just be a complement to treatment for depression and other mental illnesses, but I think it can be a solution. I’ve seen it in my own life, exercise has really had a large impact on my mood, stress, and overall enjoyment of life,” said sophomore Angelo Rojas.
The study showed that aerobic exercises and mind-body had the best results for depression, while aerobics, resistance training, and mixed exercises had a “medium-sized positive effect” on those with anxiety. They also saw that these exercises worked best when intense.
Despite the fact that this study had limitations like varying definitions of exercise intensity and limited data on the effects of exercise at different ages, researchers concluded that “the findings of the study support that exercise-based interventions, in all formats and parameters, can help mitigate depression and anxiety symptoms across all populations.”
All in all, exercise has proven to be a great way to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety no matter the age. As researchers continue to investigate the different ways exercise can help those with mental health conditions, the findings can help mental health professionals provide more diverse and cost-effective options that can align with a patient’s needs and wants.
