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Love spending time relaxing? Well, here's why you need to spend time unwinding. According to a new study engaging in leisure time physical activities could improve your mental health. Researchers have also found that being physically active three times a week reduces the odds of being depressed by approximately 16 percent. The study found a two-way relationship between depression and physical activity. People who increased their weekly activity reported fewer depressive symptoms but those with more depressive symptoms were less active, particularly at younger ages. 'Assuming the association is causal, leisure time physical activity has a protective effect against depression,' said lead study author Snehal Pinto Pereira from University College London in Britain. 'If an adult between their twenties and forties who is not physically active became active three times per week, they would reduce their risk of depression by approximately 16 percent,' Pereira pointed out. (Read: What NOT to say to a depressed person)
The researchers followed 11,135 people born in 1958 up until the age of 50, recording depressive symptoms and levels of physical activity at regular intervals in adulthood. They found that each additional activity session per week reduced odds of depression by 6 percent. 'Importantly, this effect was seen across the whole population and not just in those at high risk of clinical depression,' Pereira said. The more physically active people were, the fewer depressive symptoms they reported. The study was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. (Read: Top 6 signs that you might be depressed)
Here are some facts you didn t know about depression
1. Depressed people have smaller brain parts Scientists have found that people who tend to suffer from depression have a smaller hippocampus (brain part responsible for controlling emotions and memory). The reason behind this is not very clear. However, the researchers have speculated that a stress hormone, cortisol that releases in higher amounts in the brain of the depressed people may have a shrinking effect on the hippocampus. They have also found that people who are born with a smaller hippocampus are also likelier to suffer from the condition.
2. Depression is linked with inflammation Scientists have found a link between depression and inflammation. They have theorised that chronic inflammation associated with some diseases may lead to depression. To validate their findings, experts administered endotoxin (drug that help stimulate inflammation) to healthy people and found the onset of depressive behaviour among these individuals. Read more about 5 facts you didn t know about depressionWith inputs from IANS Photo source: Getty images
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