In this video I focus the discussion on the exercise/physical activity portion of lifestyle medicine for psychiatry. Exercise is an underrated and underutilized tool for fighting depression. It can have a profound impact on mood, and helps people learn to be more resilient.
Key Findings Include:
- For resistance training, higher intensity and shorter duration provides improvement in mood symptoms
- For aerobic exercise, durations of 45-60 minutes appear to provide the most improvement in mood symptoms. Longer and shorter durations showed less benefit.
- Keep it simple and just get started. There are a million different programs, and you can easily find yourself worrying to much about getting all the information and not enough time worrying about exercising.
- The simplest way to start is with a daily walking routine. Spend six months consistently walking for 45-60 minutes. That’s it, no special equipment or significant out of pocket expenses required.
- A walking routine will set the foundation for adding additional forms of exercise including resistance training