New research has suggested that exercising regularly can lower the risk of developing depression by as much as 16 percent regardless of age or location.
The study, conducted by an international team of researchers and led by experts from King's College London, indicated that people who spend more time exercising had lower rates of depression.
The findings - based on data from 49 studies in the U.K., U.S., Australia, Brazil, Belgium and Sweden - were the same no matter the age and geographical location of the participants.
The research, which was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, involved a total of 266,939 participants, who were checked over a seven and a half year period.
Dr. Brendon Stubbs of King's College London noted that the benefits of exercise when it comes to cutting depression risk were noticeable even when other health factors were considered.
"We found that higher levels of physical activity were protective from future depression in children, adults and older adults, across every continent and after taking into account other important factors such as body mass index, smoking and physical health conditions," he said, according to the Daily Mail.
He noted that the participants who engage in physical activity were 15 percent to 16 percent less likely to develop depression, compared to those who were less active.
Stubbs said that the research should serve as an indication for the need to prioritize physical activity in people's lives.
"It doesn't have to be structured exercise. Physical activity of any type is beneficial for health and well-being. So for young people it might be playing in the playground, or older people it might be gardening. Some is better than none, more is better than some," Stubbs, who is Head of Physiotherapy at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, remarked.
Dr. Joseph Firth, research fellow at NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University, said that the research provides "an even stronger case" to encourage people to exercise "through schools, workplaces, leisure programs and elsewhere."
Dr. Simon Rosenbaum, senior research fellow at the University of New South Wales Sydney and the Black Dog Institute, said he is hoping that the findings could pave the way for a meaningful policy change that would help people engage in physical activity.
He believes that offering social support and providing access to the right environment can help encourage people in taking the first step to exercise.
