US EditionAnalysis Finds Aerobic Exercise to Be Most Effective for Reducing Depression and Anxiety
A meta-meta-analysis of nearly 80,000 participants finds supervised aerobic exercise matches or exceeds benefits of therapy and antidepressants for depression and anxiety.
- A review combining dozens of prior meta-analyses led by Neil Richard Munro, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2026, found exercise reduces depression and anxiety, with supervised aerobic programs showing the strongest benefits.
- Faced with inconsistent earlier results, the team undertook a meta-meta-analysis because hundreds of studies and dozens of prior meta-analyses produced mixed results, using advanced statistical techniques and excluding people with chronic physical diseases.
- The analysis shows distinct prescriptions: for depression, effect size −0.61 improved most with more than 24 weeks, moderate intensity, and three or more days weekly, while anxiety improved with up to eight weeks, lower intensity, and once or twice weekly.
- Clinicians should consider prescribing exercise and refer patients to aerobic fitness classes or supervised walking/running programs, with specific 'prescriptions' detailing type, intensity, duration, and frequency, despite barriers like underuse and lack of training.
- Despite the findings, researchers caution that low AMSTAR-2 quality ratings, English-language publications, publication bias in anxiety studies, and patient barriers could limit scaling supervised programs.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Analysis finds aerobic exercise to be most effective for reducing depression and anxiety
Aerobic exercise, such as running, swimming, and dancing, may be most effective for relieving the symptoms of depression and anxiety, finds an overarching (umbrella) review and data synthesis of the available evidence, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Depression and anxiety affect up to 1 in 4 people worldwide, with a higher prevalence among young people and women. A new analysis shows that aerobic exercise, such as running, swimming, or dancing, can be more effective in alleviating their symptoms.
This Simple Habit Can Significantly Ease Depression and Anxiety
From dancing to swimming, exercise may be one of the most effective—and overlooked—treatments for depression and anxiety. Activities that raise the heart rate, including running, swimming, and dancing, appear to be especially effective at easing symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to a large umbrella review and data synthesis published online in the British Journal [...]
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