2 Ways To Significantly Reduce Feelings of Depression

If you are guessing, I’ll start with a hint.  One’s for the mind and the other is for the body.

The answer… for the body, it is aerobic exercise and for the mind, it’s meditation.  And a quick qualifier here, when it comes to exercise, it doesn’t have to be aerobic. There are numerous studies showing that all forms of exercise work and generally the more intense the exercise the better.

But I digress, moving on.

For the study we are going to focus on today, researchers in the journal, Translational Psychiatry (Alderman et. al., 2016), conducted an 8-week study that compared who were mentally healthy with those struggling with major depression.

Two days a week the study participants were instructed to do 30 minutes of meditation, followed by 30 minutes of aerobic exercise.

The result?

All study participants improved with an overall reduction in depressive symptoms of 40%.

Take Home Message

Both aerobic exercise and meditation (also known as mindfulness) work individually. When utilizing both approaches they work even better to help manage mood, even when used as little as 2 days a week.

And for those of you who aren’t particularly fond of aerobic exercise, just get moving! The research is on your side here!