THERAPY SERVICESTRAINING SCHOOL
LOCATIONS
TOOTINGCLAPHAMMARYLEBONE
CALL 020 8673 4545BOOK AN APPOINTMENT
Product has been added to your basket.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • THE AWARENESS CENTRE
      • About The Awareness Centre
      • The Team
      • Centre News
      • Media
      • Collaborative Partners & External Agencies
    • OUR PRACTICES
      • TAC Clapham
      • TAC Tooting
      • TAC Marylebone
      • How to Find Us
    • THE DIRECTOR
      • Michaela McCarthy
  • THERAPY SERVICES
    • NHS THERAPY SERVICES
      • NHS Lambeth
      • NHS Wandsworth
      • NHS Sutton
      • Our NHS Therapists
      • NHS Multilingual Counselling
    • PRIVATE THERAPY SERVICES
      • Online Counselling & Telephone Therapy
      • Low Cost Counselling, Psychotherapy & Counselling Psychology
      • Counselling
      • Psychotherapy
      • Psychology
      • Our Low Cost Therapists
      • Our Private Therapists
      • Private Healthcare Providers
    • SPECIALIST THERAPY SERVICES
      • Addiction Counselling
      • Anger Management Therapy
      • Bereavement Counselling
      • Child & Adolescent Counselling
      • Couples Counselling
      • Eating Disorders Therapy
      • Family Therapy
      • LGBTQ+ Counselling
      • Multilingual Counselling
      • Sex & Relationship Therapy
      • Trauma Counselling & Psychotherapy
    • FURTHER INFORMATION
      • Types of Issues
        • Abuse
        • Addiction
        • ADHD
        • Anger
        • Anxiety Disorders
        • Asperger’s Syndrome
        • Attachment Disorder
        • Bereavement and Loss
        • Body Dysmorphic Disorder
        • Bullying
        • Cancer
        • Carer Support
        • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
        • Communication
        • Dementia
        • Depression
        • Disability
        • Dissociation
        • Eating Disorders
        • Family and Relationships
        • Gender & Identity
        • Guilt and Shame
        • Hearing Voices
        • HIV/AIDS
        • Illness
        • Infertility
        • Isolation & Loneliness
        • Learning Difficulties
        • Life Transitions
        • Low Self-Esteem
        • Mental Health
        • Paranoia
        • Passive Aggressive Behaviour
        • Personality Disorders
        • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
        • Pregnancy & Childbirth
        • Psychosis
        • Rape
        • Redundancy
        • Schizophrenia
        • Self-Harm
        • Sex and Relationships
        • Sexuality
        • Spirituality
        • Stress
        • Suicidal Thoughts
        • Tourette’s Syndrome
        • Trauma (Child & Adult)
        • Trichotillomania
        • Workplace Issues
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Resources
      • Approaches to Therapy
      • Client Testimonials
      • Book an Appointment
  • FEES
  • TAC TRAINING SCHOOL
    • Meet the Faculty
    • Foundation Certificate in Counselling
    • Diploma in Integrative Counselling
    • Diploma in Clinical Supervision
    • Diploma in Working with Couples
    • Diploma in Executive Coaching
    • Corporate Mental Health Workshops
    • Testimonials for the Foundation Certificate
    • Testimonials for the Diplomas
  • PRIVATE PRACTICE
    • Private Practice
    • Hire A Room
    • Wimpole Street Practice
    • Join TAC Directory
    • Therapist Testimonials
  • BLOG
  • WORK AT TAC
  • COUNSELLING PLACEMENT
    • Counselling Placement
    • Counselling Placement Testimonials
    • Placement Training Testimonials
  • CONTACT
    • Appointment Request
    • Contact Us

Can Exercise Help with Depression?

Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms from feeling persistently low in mood to experiencing suicidal feelings. Some of the other common symptoms include feeling constantly tired, lacking in appetite, a reduction in sex drive, and physical aches and pains. 

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend that those suffering with depression should exercise for around 45-60 minutes three times per week, or for around 150 minutes per week. 

Regular exercise has been proven to:

  • Reduce stress
  • Prevent anxiety and depression
  • Boost self-esteem
  • Improve sleep
  • Strengthen your heart
  • Increase your energy levels
  • Lower your blood pressure
  • And so on

If you are suffering with depression, you are likely to feel depleted of energy, making exercise seem very unappealing. This can leave you in an ongoing loop of depression. However, exercise doesn’t have to be running, Zumba, or weightlifting. It can be anything that gets your body moving, including yoga, walking, or swimming. 

Hormones

When you exercise, your body releases endorphins which interact with the brain receptors that reduce your perception of pain, acting as an analgesic. These endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine (without the addictive qualities). 

Regular exercise can also positively impact the release of serotonin and dopamine, which boost your mood and overall sense of wellbeing. Dopamine can also impact your appetite and sleep cycles, both of which are usually compromised in those with depression.  

Furthermore, regular activity can stimulate the release of noradrenaline, which balances your body’s level of stress hormones (such as adrenaline). 

The Brain

Dr William Walsh, Director of the Walsh Research Institute, asserts that most people who suffer with depression have something wrong with their brain chemistry. He states that although life experiences can make things worse, the dominant problem is usually in the brain. 

So, how does exercise impact the brain?

Regular exercise has been shown to increase the volume of certain areas of the brain; partly through increased blood supply to the brain, and partly through an increase in neurotrophic factors (i.e. the growth of nervous tissue) and neurohormones that support neuron signalling, growth, and connections. Essentially, regular exercise boosts the health of the connections in certain areas of your brain. 

One of the main areas of the brain that is impacted by regular exercise is the hippocampus. The hippocampus plays an important role in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and in spatial memory that enables navigation. It is also involved in emotional regulation and learning. 

The Harvard Health blog has reported that exercise leads to hippocampus growth in animals, and emerging research is showing that the same is true in humans. 

There is also accumulating evidence that many mental ill health conditions, but particularly depression, are associated with reduced tissue growth in the hippocampus. For example, research published by Molecular Psychiatry has shown that antidepressants promote the growth and development of neural tissue in the hippocampus, where they were previously thought to only impact serotonin. 

Increased neural tissue development, especially in the hippocampus, increases our mental flexibility, which allows us to break free from unhelpful thought patterns, see opportunities, and change our behaviour. As much mental ill health is characterised by a cognitive inflexibility that keeps ups stuck in unhealthy thought and behaviour patterns, and unable to see solutions, it is plausible that exercise leads to better mental health through the impact that it has on the increased capacity for flexible thinking. 

Which Exercise?

The type of exercise that you choose to participate in, will largely depend on your preferences and physical ability. Anything from running up mountains to yoga will have a positive impact on your mental health. 

MyProtein, a sports nutrition brand) conducted a survey and found that the most effective exercise for lifting depression (among those who answered) was weight training, followed by running, jogging, walking, and gym cardio. 

It is worth trying out a few options to see what works best for you.  However, if you enjoy dancing, then a dance-based fitness class would probably be best for you. Equally, if you hate dancing, but enjoyed netball or football as a child, perhaps finding a local team would be your best option.

Exercising outdoors comes with increased benefits including giving you a boost of vitamin D, a change of scenery, and a breath of fresh air. Alternatively, exercising with friends or in a group is likely to give you additional mental health boosts as you can enjoy the physical stimulation of exercising while also getting social stimulation as well. 

If you’d like professional therapeutic support then get in touch with us by calling 020 8673 4545 or emailing [email protected] We have appointments available at our centres in Clapham and Tooting, seven days a week.

Amy Launder
Amy Launder is a content writer for The Awareness Centre, writing and editing blog posts for our Talking Therapy blog. She enjoys writing and exploring ideas within the mental health and wellness fields that excite and intrigue her. Amy is also a qualified and practising psychotherapist, with an MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling from the University of Leeds.
The January Blues
Dating After Lockdown

Related Posts

Addressing Christmas Depression: You’re Not Alone

How Can Thinking Too Much Cause Depression?

sleep in the dark

This Is Going To Sound Ridiculous, But I Can’t Sleep In The Dark.

Is it possible to be depressed and not know it?

Can You Be Depressed Without Knowing It?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.

Subscribe to our newsletter



    Please add me to the list

    Categories

    • Abortion
    • Abuse
    • Acute Stress Disorder
    • Addiction
    • ADHD
    • Agoraphobia
    • Alcoholism
    • Anger Management
    • Anxiety
    • Ask Michaela
    • Attachment
    • Bereavement & Loss
    • Bipolar
    • Borderline Personality Disorder
    • Bullying
    • Children and Adolescents
    • Co-Dependency
    • Coaching
    • Coronavirus
    • Counselling
    • Counselling Placements
    • Couples
    • Dementia
    • Depression
    • Divorce
    • Domestic Violence
    • Dreams
    • Eating Disorders
    • Echoism
    • Ecopsychology
    • Empty Nest Syndrome
    • Family
    • Guilt
    • Health
    • Imposter Syndrome
    • Infertility
    • Insomnia
    • LGBTQ
    • Life Stories
    • Loneliness
    • Masochism
    • Meditation
    • Menopause
    • Mental Health
    • Mindfulness
    • Narcissism
    • News
    • OCD
    • Panic Attacks
    • Parenting
    • Personal Development
    • Personality Disorders
    • Porn
    • Postnatal Depression
    • Pregnancy
    • Psychology
    • Psychosexual
    • Psychotherapy
    • PTSD
    • Relationships
    • Sadness
    • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
    • Self Esteem
    • Self-Care
    • Self-Harm
    • Sex
    • Sexual Harassment
    • Sleep
    • Social Anxiety Disorder
    • Stress
    • Suicide
    • The Awareness Centre
    • Therapy
    • Training School
    • Trauma
    • Uncategorized
    • Workplace Issues

    TAC Brochure

    DOWNLOAD

    TAC has BACP Membership

    TAC Clapham

    41 Abbeville Road
    London SW4 9JX
    [email protected]
    020 8673 4545

    Available Services

    check_circle
    Low Cost Therapy
    check_circle
    Private Therapy

    Appointments

    Monday – Thursday:
    7.00am – 10.00pm

    Friday:
    7.00am – 9.00pm

    Saturday:
    9.00am – 5.30pm

    Sunday:
    10.00am – 2.00pm

    TAC Tooting

    74-80 Upper Tooting Road
    London SW17 7PB
    [email protected]
    020 8673 4545

    Available Services

    check_circle
    Private Therapy

    Appointments

    Monday – Thursday:
    7.00am – 10.00pm

    Friday:
    7.00am – 9.00pm

    Saturday:
    9.00am – 5.30pm

    TAC Marylebone

    85 Wimpole Street
    London W1G 9RJ
    [email protected]
    020 8079 0708

    Available Services

    check_circle
    Private Therapy

    Appointments

    Tuesday and Thursday:
    8.00am – 12.00pm

    Email
    Facebook
    Twitter
    LinkedIn
    YouTube
    Instagram
    Pinterest

    © 2023 The Awareness Centre Ltd.

    • OUR THERAPISTS
    • TYPES OF ISSUES
    • OUR LANGUAGES
    • FAQS
    • HOW TO FIND US

    The Awareness Centre Limited. A company registered in England and Wales, Number: 06194423. Registered Office: 74-80 Upper Tooting Road, London, England, SW17 7PB.  Trading as The Awareness Centre.

    This site uses cookies and data collection for personalised advertising. Your data may be shared with third parties for this purpose. Learn more about how we collect data and use cookies, and check that you consent. Manage PreferencesI Consent Learn more
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT