Sport as Medicine - New Findings on Therapy for Depression

More and more people worldwide suffer from depression. Often, the illness remains untreated. In the future, however, sports could represent another treatment option alongside medication and psychotherapy. In a comprehensive study, Dr. Andreas Heissel, research associate at the Chair of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Potsdam, together with renowned colleagues from Australia, Belgium, Great Britain, Sweden and Brazil, evaluated studies on the effectiveness of sports interventions on depressive symptoms. They have now published the results in an article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the world's leading scientific journal in the field of sports medicine and science. Depression is a widespread mental illness that is associated with a reduced quality of life and often with further illnesses and increased mortality. It causes high costs, for example through incapacity to work and the treatment of secondary illnesses.